driftfleet | the white noise is deafening silence

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the white noise is deafening silence

[In the very early hours of January 20th, as the Marsiva and her captives drift nonchalantly through the depths of the universe, there is a call. Every single personal communicator and console springs to life, spitting out a stream of indecipherable static and showing only gray snow on screen. It continues like this for a few seconds longer, going black and then going staticky, and then the signal switches to the encrypted channel generally used for speaking to the Interceptors when something big goes down.

This is a little more successful. The voice may be familiar to some, at least through the static.]

Zhade here! I trust I ███ your attention? I'm having some ██▓▓ble ██tting through. Some of the ░▓██▓█ are missing. I can't ░▓▓▓ read on their loc█████ns. [A particularly long burst of static.] ███stening. I'll s█▓▓█ more inf██▓▓▓▓▓█ I get it.

Stay sharp! [There's the sound of someone actually doing the fingerguns wink noise, and then static.

Any messages sent back won't get through, and Zhade isn't there to answer.]

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome.

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round three of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[His ears instantly perk up at the mention of that song and his fingers start swiping back through the menus.]

Holy shit holy shit, pleeeeeeeease say they have it. Fuuuuuuuuuuck I miss good shitty music.

[Well shit, now she's searching in earnest. Who was it by again? Would the name even be the same? Whatever, she'll search by the word-

-there is a weirdly high number of songs that have "thong" in them somewhere. The Atroma are kind of wild, huh.

Finally she gestures him over with a huge, victorious grin.]

Maybe put a pin in the Pussycat shenanigans for, ooh, I dunno, three and a half minutes?

Did you find it?

[He's a bit too excited now, his words tumbling out in a rush as he scoots over to her panel. He doesn't even seem to care that he's crowding her, the anticipation of hearing the song again pushing everything else out.]

What's that? Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of this sick beat.

[She cranks the volume, the song already kicking in. Pretty much just how they remember it, too! She doesn't comment on how close he's suddenly gotten to her, but she doesn't move away, either. No complaints about that.]

YESSSSSSSSS!!!

[Taako throws both of his arms into the air in triumph. There are some small differences between this version and the one he remembers, but it's almost exactly the same. Without thinking, his head is bopping to the beat and he starts lip synching to it, over-exaggerated facial expressions and all.]

[....Oh. Oh shit, she didn't think he'd actually do it. She quietly slides a hand over her mouth to keep her sudden burst of giggles quiet, not wanting him to realize what he's doing and stop before the song is over.

And with her other hand she fiddles with her communicator, subtly turning the video recorder on. For... private consumption. It's hard to hold the camera steady while she cackles like an idiot behind her hand, so it's probably the shakiest video she's ever taken in her life. Gods, though, it's so great to see this again.

Eleven years and his stupid awesome thong dance can still make her laugh so hard she cries.]

[Honestly, it's been so long since he's had a reason to dance that it's nice to be able to do it again. Sure, he's not as enthusiastic as he might have once been considering his injuries are healed but they're still around, but he thinks he's doing a pretty damn good job of rocking this song and his bod.

He's about halfway through the song when he notices Lup snickering and taking a video. He pauses for a brief moment, seeing her filming and?

He's doubling down because if this is going to get recorded, he's going to abso-fucking-lutely smash this song like his life depends on it. Fuck his side still being sore, he's going to ascend to a higher plane and commune with Sisqo on the Astral Fucking Plane.

By the time the song finishes, he's dying, but he's laughing at the same time.]

[She was already struggling, but when he notices and the dance gets wilder she just loses her shit. Her muffled sounds become full-on giggles, and she has a hard time keeping the communicator straight. Every time he does an especially whack move she gets lower to the floor, and slightly louder.

By the time he finishes she's on the floor, abandoning the communicator in her lap and hunching over as tears of laughter escape her eyes, and she claps for him delightedly. She can't even talk, she's laughing so hard.]

[He finishes with a final pose and then grins at Lup, collapsed on the floor and laughing. He's out of breath, but it feels good to put on a show that requires nothing but his own natural talents and his excellent dancing skills, thank you very much.

He takes an exaggerated bow to the laughing pile on the floor and smirks.]

I'll take your reaction as a compliment.

As you should!

[It's still taking her a little bit to get her voice under control, lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes. Gods, that was good shit. It's been far too long, yet it still gets her. The last time he'd done that was the night she left- the last time in eleven years that they'd spoken to each other as brother and sister.

It's a sobering thought, but she buries it deep, clinging happily to the laughter and this rad gift he's given her. These new memories are important too, not just the old ones.]

You could put on a show with moves like that. Everyone would dig it.

Pfft, nah.

[He's better than he was when he was stuck in bed, but he's not exactly up for a repeat performance right now. Or really, ever. It feels like this? This was something he reserved for people who he deemed worthy of it.]

One time only engagement - exclusive tickets and they're all sold out. Everyone else will just have to lament missing out on my rad as hell moves.

In that case, aren't I a lucky sucker, getting to see the one and only show.

[She rolls herself back to her feet, tucking her communicator into her pocket.]

Seriously though, you're looking pretty spry again. You must be glad to finally get your ass out of bed.

Ugh, you have no idea.

[He was going to have to make some people some rad godsdamn desserts in a silent way of saying thank you later.

He sighs and puts the back of his hand to his forehead, draping himself against the wall.]

I had to read, Lup. Boring books. A lot of them. Do you know how terrible that is?

Nope, can't imagine it. I've never had to suffer such an indignity. I got enough secondhand embarrassment just visiting the library on your behalf.

[In retrospect she could probably have gotten Belthazar to do it, that nerd, but it had also been a convenient excuse to keep visiting Taako without too obviously checking on him, so. Oh well.]

I need to get super drunk and just, I dunno, go to a club or go partying or fucking-- [He pops his lips, trying to think of something that isn't "blow stuff up."] hit a strip club or something, just so I remember what it's like to be cool. Play some pool, steal someone's shoes, something.

[He pauses, then waves at the control panel.]

Other than this.

[She bites her lip at the mention of pool - and the shoes, of course, how many years had they held onto those things like damned trophies after losing everything else? - but shrugs her shoulders, tapping at the console to add a few more plays of whatever terrible song he'd chosen for this room-wide punishment about to be dished out.]

Y'ever wanna swindle some assholes at pool, give me a ring. I play a mean game. Though we'll probably have to wait until whatever it is that'll go down- the thing they've stuck us here for.

[He thinks about that for a moment, rubbing his chin. Then he shrugs and nods.]

Yeah sure, why not? Could be fun havin' a partner for once.

[Probably make it easier to dominate a table, too, if they were playing doubles.

But the mention of whatever is going on here drains some of the mirth from Taako's face. That counter on the screen in the middle of the room was ominous as fuck and he'd been doing his best to completely ignore it up until right now.]

But uh yeah, I've noticed a lot of the older crew are antsy about being here. Can't blame them, this entire place is fucking eerie, don't you think?

[For once, he says. She'll never get used to those jarring moments where their memories clash in subtle ways. His comment about their situation is a welcome distraction, even though it isn't, as a whole, much better.

She glances over at the counter and frowns. What the fuck does "calibration" even mean?]

Yeah, I didn't really like this place the last time we were here, and all of this doesn't make it feel any better. Plus I hate waiting for something to happen. Countdowns like that don't end with something fun.

[He slides his finger idly along the touch panel to give him something to do. He's bored of putting in that one song, it's going to last well past the thirty minutes he can burn Otiluke's already, so he starts searching for something else. It'll never get heard because he's pretty sure as soon as the forcefield goes down someone will punch the panel and break it, but he wants them to feel the horror as they realize they just ended with this What's New Pussycat stuck in everyone's head.]

Uuuusually not, no. Doubt everyone'd be so on edge if it was a countdown to party town.

[He flicks idly along the list of artists, his ears mimicking the motion and betraying his nerves. He doesn't like thinking about that clock and the inevitable answer that will come when it hits zero.]

But more than that? Can you believe they just up and moved us here without consulting us on the wardrobe? We only get two outfits. Two. Who knows how long we're stuck here and I have to make due with two? It's inhumane.

Wouldn't it be inelvane?

[hurr hurr]

Technically between the two of us we've got four outfits, but that's not much of a consolation.

[He snorts at that and chuckles a little.]

Yeah okay, inelvane if you wanna be all technical and shit, you giant nerd.

[He motions to his current outfit. He's honestly fine with wearing the same thing day in and day out, but he has a reputation to uphold here and if he has the choice to wear something new everyday? Why not do it? He'd lived with patching and repatching the same shirt for long enough.]

We'll look amazing, obviously, but we can only really rearrange and swap pieces so many times before it gets boring.

Ugh, yeah. Okay, well...

[She fetches her spellbook, flipping through the options. A lot of the good shit requires spell components that she does not have on her thanks to their impromptu abduction, but there's definitely some options for- oh, hey.]

How about Seeming? Disguised for eight hours- it can just change clothes if you want it to. It won't last the whole day but I've got a few slots for that spell level.

As long as it lasts long enough to get me through facing any of these numbskulls, it's good enough.

[Taako doesn't have Seeming, but he definitely has Disguise Self. He could afford to burn a spell slot on his vanity.]

As long as I lay off on doing things like this.

[He waves toward the touch panel with a grin.]

Gotta be strategic about it anyway. Can't let the losers get used to my excellent music tastes.

I don't know, this makes for a pretty good show.

[Or it will, ideally, once they get things going and people come through to try and utilize the space. She tucks away her book and pokes at more of the songs to see what else might be familiar.]

You can cast at 5th level, right? If you've got some scrap paper I might be convinced to copy it out for you.

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