the white noise is deafening silence

[thespaceopera]

[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. ]

Comments

Thor | MCU

[rebuildyourruins]

a. so many books and nothing to read

[This is the worst. It's something Thor thought on his first day on the Marsiva, and he's continued to think it ever since. Bad enough that he's already struggling with recent events from home, without being zapped onto the one ship he most wants to break into only to find his mind's becoming an open house in his sleep. It's intensely frustrating.

So he finds ways to vent that frustration. The living space briefly becomes a hazardous place to be whenever Thor swings by and looks for a book to read. He does this by pulling a book out, looking at the title, then tossing the thing over his shoulder if it doesn't look suitable. He does this a lot, without giving much of a damn about leaving them all over the floor when he's done. They all reset at the end of the day.

Don't get hit by a flying book.]

b. raise a little hell

[It's when Thor is feeling slightly more productive that things get more actively dangerous. Because if he's going to be stuck on the Marsiva? He's going back to his time-honoured tradition of trying to break his way through it.

He grabs one of the kitchen tables in the morning, snapping off the legs and using it as a battering ram against the wall. The weights in the gym come next, taken up and thrown at the walls in increasingly loud bangs. He drags his own bed out of his room at one point and takes to slamming it against one of the unopen doors in the corridor, intense concentration on his face.

Once or twice he even resorts to just punching the damn walls, drawing back and slamming them with as much lightning force as he can muster. Those times are obvious - a loud boom of thunder always echoes down the corridor when he tries it.

Followed by a slightly quieter shout of:] Oh fuck you!

c. hot tub

[The Atroma, for whatever reason, saw fit to leave Thor with his board shorts as one of his items of clothing. It means he's often roaming the place in board shorts, sandals and a silver-and-black sports jersey, none of which match. It should be terrible but Thor clearly doesn't care and makes it work.

It also means that when he gives up on being 'productive', he can sometimes be found sitting in the active hot tub, reading a copy of Homer's Odyssey with the jets going. Even the very annoyed need to take a break sometimes.

It's less relaxing when the lights flicker and go off, causing Thor to look up with a disgruntled noise.]

I'm trying to read here.

d. wildcard

[If you want to chase Thor down after a calibration, hit me up here!]

a!

[axi]

[That thing you said not to do? Yeah that's happening, despite her attempt to move out of the way. At least it wasn't her face. Still, a hardback to the shoulder does hurt.]

Ouch! [Kaname doesn't seem angry. She's rubbing her shoulder as she crouches down to see what he just threw at her.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[It's a copy of Eat Pray Love.

Thor hadn't been paying attention to anyone else entering the room, but he turns around fast when Kaname cries out. He's equally surprised and guilty - he wasn't aiming for her. He wasn't aiming at all, really, other than at the Atroma's stupid floor.]

Oh - sorry. I didn't see you there.

[axi]

[Kaname's simply happy it's not a hardcover copy. She sticks it off to the side then stands up.]

Are you going a little stir crazy?

[She offers a sympathetic smile.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[Well, at least she isn't mad about it. Thor snorts, pulling out another book and barely glancing at the cover before throwing it aside -- to the left this time, nowhere near where Kaname is standing.]

I usually am on these ships. This is worse than usual though, I'm sure you agree.

[axi]

It's far from anyone's ideal.

[Kaname peers over to see if she can get a read on that one. ... nope. She'll opt for searching through a small pile near her. Might be something to entertain her if not him.]

I'm used to spacecraft and the like, so it's not so out of the ordinary for me. What I don't appreciate is being forced to stay in the same spaces for weeks on end.

[rebuildyourruins]

I doubt anyone does. [He rakes his fingers back through his hair, staring at the books with displeasure.] I have been on spaceships before for long periods, but usually with purpose. And because I decided to be there.

This is none of those things.

[axi]

I doubt any person here would disagree with that.

[She finds a book in the pile that looks sort of promising, so she sets it aside for later.]

But I'm not sure what throwing books around does to alleviate that irritation.

[If he makes eye contact, he'll see the almost amused expression on her face.]

raise a little hell

[theirondragon]

[Bull understands the frustration. Really, he does. Being trapped in such close quarters with no outlet for his need for violence? It was starting to wear on him, too. Maybe that was part of what drew him to investigate Thor's little outburst: the hope he could get in on it. The last thing he wanted to do was snap here, lost control of his bestial nature and murder all of them.

That was a thought.]

Hey, Thor. Why don't you take that out on somebody your size?

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor pauses in the midst of swinging the table back for another slam against the wall, raising his eyebrows at Bull. Strangely enough, Thor seems to have gained a new eye since he last saw the other man, though it doesn't match his blue one.

The ship is pissing me off more.

[theirondragon]

Yeah, you and me both. [He takes a deep breath, noting the differences in Thor's appearance for later evaluation and potential questions. Now, though? Now he's stressed, feeling closed in, and really needing to hit something, to find an outlet for his violent tendencies. That's what he likes about Thor. He's durable.]

Maybe we can give each other a hand.

[rebuildyourruins]

[It isn't hard to see the markers of stress on the other man. Thor knows them fairly intimately in himself, even beyond his more unique habit of sparking furiously with electricity when it gets really bad. At least there are no skies here to give away his mood. He understands though what Bull is saying.

After a moment he grunts, throwing the table away down the hallway. It can be someone else's problem. He's not about tidying up for the Atroma.]

You want to have a bout? I wouldn't say no.

[theirondragon]

[At Thor's words, the Bull grunts his ascent, rolling his shoulders to flex out some of the tension, loosening up.]

Shit yeah, and no going easy. If the Atroma didn't want a mess, they should have let us stay home.

[ a ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ when a book comes flying at him, loki doesn't hesitate. by instinct, his powers halt the book in its path and send it flying back into thor's face. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor wasn't truly paying attention to anyone else being here. Certainly he wasn't expecting retaliation, so the book smacks into his face and he yelps. He spins on his heels with another book raised up ready to launch at whoever decided to attack him -- only to find Loki standing there.

There's a brief moment where he pauses. Then he tosses the book at Loki anyway, mulish.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ this time loki simply lets it fall with a flick of his fingers. ]

This show of petulance is rather unbecoming of you, brother.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Crossing his arms, Thor is unmoved by the jibe.]

I find myself lacking a reason to behave well in this place.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki quirks an eyebrow, bemused. ]

That is still no reason to take it out on the literature. What bothers you so?

[rebuildyourruins]

[A snort is all Loki gets in response. Thor wouldn't call much of this 'literature', even if his standards are lower than his brother's. What kind of person would really be entertained by a book about cats wearing hats? He's been in here a few times already and found the selection to be alternately dismal or baffling.

Shoving a book aside with his shoe, Thor just shakes his head.]

Nothing in particular. It's this whole situation. We've been here for weeks now.

[Trapped with no genuine relief. It's an even smaller box than their usual one to be placed in.]

I'm surprised you need to ask.

c

[abracafcku]

[The lights and the unpredictability of this place has been trying to put it lightly (har har). Taako's memory of what he sees at night is fuzzy, but some parts of it are almost cruelly crystal clear. As if Fate, in all her talk of being hands-off and 'go with the flow,' really wants to flip him the bird and leave him with only the worst bits.

He's not surprised, of course, but it's still annoying.

So when the lights go off just as he passes by the hot tub area and he hears Thor's disgruntled voice call out, Taako figures what better way to kick it a little than with the God of Luck, Lightning, Thunder, and the Shittiest of Families. He slips in while the lights are out and checks his component pouch. He honestly hadn't meant to leave a carrot in here long enough to dry out, but hey it's coming in handy now, right? Squeezing off a pinch of it, he grins and drops a hand on Thor's bare shoulder.]

Hey homie, lemme help you out with that.

[And he casts Darkvision. One of the few spells he honestly thought he'd never need to use.]

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor jolts a little at the unexpected hand in the darkness -- and then he's blinking stupidly because it's not dark anymore. No, it is dark, but he can see in it. Somehow. With one eye, at least. At least that's something he's familiar with.

Swivelling around in the tub his eyebrows shoot up when he finds Taako grinning at him.]

Thank you! That's a useful trick, especially when this place seems to be falling apart.

[abracafcku]

Mmhmm, ol' Taako's just chock full of useful little tricks.

[Like being naturally gifted with Darkvision so he can see Thor in his board shorts. It's kind of like when he goes to see the god swim, but with more up-close-and-personal audience participation. Taako grins a little wider and reaches over to the book Thor's got in his hands.]

So whatcha up to? A little light readin' in your off hours from trying to blow this place up?

[rebuildyourruins]

[They're both lucky Thor didn't drop it into the water at some point. Thor lets the book go when Taako reaches for it, letting him take it. The cover reads 'The Odyssey' and is emblazoned with an image of a sailing boat.]

It gets tedious after a while, trying to destroy things that refuse to do so. [Wrinkling his nose in displeasure, Thor lets his hand fall into the water with a splash.] And most of the books look terrible, but this one isn't bad.

[abracafcku]

[He takes the book and skims a few pages. No pictures, a whole lotta talking about ships. The only thing Taako knows about ships is that you can get scurvy and he definitely doesn't want that. Taako hums halfway between interested and disinterested, then taps the book on top of Thor's head.]

Fair, this place's idea of entertainment is super fucked.

So, you're into sailing, huh? Never had much interest in it myself.

[rebuildyourruins]

[With a grunt, he reaches up and plucks the book out of Taako's hands before tossing it onto the edge of the tub. He's not going to get through any more of it right now.]

I've sailed a few times in my life but not for pleasure. There's a lot of sailing in the book but it's more about a man trying to return home after war. It seems to have taken him a long time.