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

[abracafcku]

[He rolls his eyes and cleans his hands off in the sink.]

Would you rather eat paste for the entire time we're here? I can let you eat bland, tasteless, you-wish-it-was-textureless paste if you want.

Or you could eat roast chicken that just happened to be made using magic by the Fleet's best chef.

[Take your pick, Bull. He starts transforming more of the gel into carrots and potatoes.] And liches are generally bad news - they fuse themselves to their power so they can turn into undying magical powerhouses. Totally badass if you ask me, but also crazy dangerous since they usually lose control, go whacko, and start killing everybody. Not my cuppa at all. Taako's good out here with the regular ol' magic.

[theirondragon]

Great. So, the magic crap gets weirder. [He scoffs, still looking side-eye at the transmogrified food. Because what?]

Yeah, I think I like you better this way, too. [He pauses for a moment, watching him work.] And you're sure it's real food?

[abracafcku]

[Taako smirks as he starts peeling the vegetables, deftly chunking them into appetizing bite-sized shapes.]

Magic's always been weird; there's just a big difference between the good weird and "holy fuck, we're all gonna die" weird.

[After cutting a piece of carrot off, he takes it in hand and tosses it at The Iron Bull.]

Eat it and find out for yourself.

[theirondragon]

It may be a big difference, but it's a really thin line.

[And the Bull's seen too many mages cross it to feel comfortable with it.

He watches Taako cut the vegetables for a moment, before just snatching a chunk of carrot from the cutting board and chomping it down slowly, analytically. It tasted real.]

Huh.

[abracafcku]

Pfft, not if you're a good wizard.

[He'd never fall prey to the messed up side of magic. He may be chaotic, but he's not a total asshole.

Still, he watches as Bull takes the vegetable and eats it experimentally. He knows it tastes and feels like the real thing because it is the real thing essentially. Transmutation is all about changing one thing into another and if he couldn't transmute properly, he wouldn't be doing this at all.

As he finishes the vegetables, he tosses them into the bottom of the roasting pan and cleans his knife.]

And I'm a very good wizard. I wouldn't be cooking with magic if I didn't think it was safe and palatable.

[theirondragon]

In my experience, the ones who think they're good are the most dangerous.

[But he'll let it slide for now, but he'll give him a bone.]

It takes okay. We'll see how it lasts.

[abracafcku]

Then I must be the most dangerous, gorgeous elf ever to walk the earth.

[Taako smirks as he spins the knife in his hand, dropping it into the knife block.]

It'll last as long as it needs to for people to eat it. Come back, uh, two hours though. It'll take that long to slow cook this bird properly.

[theirondragon]

[He chuckles, grinning.]

You know, Taako, I'd offer to show you how right are about that, but I'm in a committed relationship.

[He nods.]

We'll see about your bird in a couple hours.

[abracafcku]

[He laughs easily and takes a small bow.]

Oh, I already know how right I am.

[He has, after all, managed to charm Death into dating him.]

But thanks, bubelah. I appreciate the thought.

[Taako finishes his prep and slides the roasting pan into the oven, giving Bull a wink.]

See you in a few for one of the best meals you'll have on the Fleet.

[theirondragon]

[He laughs.]

Yeah, we'll see about that.

[abracafcku]

You're on Lup's ship, right?

[He's pretty sure this guy is the only "big burly tiefling" looking fella that fits the bill of what he's heard of her captain.]

Well, she and I? We're in a competition to see who's the better cook so you know this is gonna be good.

[Then he shoos The Iron Bull off and out of his kitchen. If he returns later at the time he said, he'll find roast chicken and vegetables, fresh ciabatta bread rolls, a peach and apple pie, a hearty lentil stew, and roasted garlic mashed potatoes waiting out on the table for people to come by and snack on. It's a little insane how much food is out and, despite all that, Taako is still in the kitchen fiddling with something or another.]

[theirondragon]

[He'd thought there was something familiar about Taako, but familial relation was never something Bull was good at picking up on. It came from not being raised in family units. He nods, though.]

That's me.

[He chuckles as he's shooed away, though, because if this guy's food was anywhere near as good at Lup's, this was going to be a very good day.]