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. ]

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[ 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. ]

[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.]

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

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

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

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

[ loki quirks an eyebrow, bemused. ]

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

[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.

[ loki shrugs. honestly, he feels mostly fine. the other pieces are adrift, but that's the usual. and putting himself back together is rather normal at this point. ]

It is a little outside of the norm, but I doubt they'll keep us here forever. Eventually they'll want to change the setting.

That does not comfort me.

[It really only serves to piss him off more, guessing at the purpose of it all. This isn't the normal planetary visit. This is something much more personal.]

[ loki isn't too perturbed. ]

Is there something else on your mind, brother?

Plenty, yes. [He rubs a hand over his face, shoving a book back into place before stepping away from the shelves and the temptation of lobbing more items across the room.] But that isn't out of the ordinary these days.

Perhaps we can find some way to vent some of that, ah, stress.

[ he wonders if something else happened in calibrations. loki holds vague memories of his own but he cannot recall anything too painful or terrible. either way, he moves closer, resting his hand on his shoulder. ]

I am here. I can . . . try and help.

[Thor looks at Loki, then at the books littering the floor. If this doesn't count as venting he's not sure what else does. Other than his hourly attempts to punch his fist through the damn walls in here, that is.]

What do you have in mind?

I could bring what is bothering you to the forefront of your mind and help expunge it.

[ loki shrugs. ]

Or we could just talk.

[ his lips twitch, wry. ]

You used to do that all the time, barging into my room whenever you were in a mood.

[That's -- not a good idea. Thor stiffens in response and it's only when Loki keeps talking that he relaxes again, as much as he's able to. He heaves a sigh, moving away from the bookshelves at last.]

Yeah, and more than once you flung a knife at me for it.

[ loki sniffs. ]

You should give me credit. It was the only way for me to teach you how to knock.

[Thor just snorts derisively. Teaching was no part of that, he's pretty certain. Walking over to one of the couches he flings himself down on it, shaking his head.]

You would think that. Maybe if you had left your door open at all it wouldn't have been such a surprise to you that anyone would enter.

[Lapsing into silence for a moment, Thor knows there's one question he needs to ask. It could go poorly, considering how their last conversation went after one of these calibration things. The cut on his neck might have healed but the ugly tension will take longer than that to depart.]

Do you recall last night at all?

[ loki purses his lips slightly as he head over to thor, gently sitting down. ]

A little. I think you . . . saw what was important.

[There's no hiding the sag in Thor's shoulders. If Loki had known nothing, he's certain this conversation would have deteriorated very fast. Thor's own memory of the night isn't complete; he recalls most of the conversations, a flash of some awful abyss. And he had woken up still with that lingering sense of sheer surprise at the emotion of the place.]

I won't claim I'm not grateful to have seen it. [Because he is, very much so.] It's still just so weird to do.

To see all of that?

[ yeah, loki can understand. he's private still by nature and nothing will change that. but he's learning not to hold onto it so tightly that it overshadows the rest. ]

I am not . . . bothered by it.

Really?

[It doesn't exactly match with Loki's behaviour in the past.]

[ loki grimaces slightly because that's true. he doesn't like that so much of his history and past was seen. now most are aware of his circumstances, his past. but he's also . . . well, dead. he has to work with it. ]

There isn't much I can do about it now. And I rather not dwell on it either.

[ he rubs his palms together, picking at it. ]

It's not that important, in the . . . grand scheme of things.

[Blowing out a breath, Thor nods. It's true - there's nothing they can do about it. He remembers enough of his own dreamscape to know that that version of himself had no issue letting people look around at his experiences. Up to a certain point, at least. It's only upon waking up that discomfort coils around him.]

Maybe not, but I still intend to add it to my list of grievances.

[ loki's lips twitch, despite himself. ]

Who am I to disagree with that?

You wouldn't be very smart if you did.

[Not that Thor ever thought that was a possibility. They might have grown jaded over time, but their frustration continues to burn.]

Still, I am relieved you remember it. I wouldn't want to be telling you I was there if you had no idea.

No one has ever said I was smart.

[ loki nudges thor slightly with his shoulder. ]

Though it seems some of it has finally trickled down to you.

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