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

[axi]

[They stay there in silence for some time before Kaname draws back to see his face and speak with him better.]

During everything, you asked me about Mikumo, didn't you?

[this_loser]

Yeah! And you said "story for another day".

[He straightens up a bit.]

Is it another day?

[axi]

Seems like one to me.

[There are many ways she could explain this, but it might be better to do it at his pace.]

What would you like me to explain first?

[this_loser]

[Might as well dive right in.]

What were those tanks?

[He has a good idea, but he'd like to know for sure.]

[axi]

I'm not entirely sure, but it's where they had her recovering she reacted to some ruins. [Kaname pauses, the decides to hazard a guess.]

It might have been how she was kept before she joined Walkure. My clearance wasn't high enough to know anything concrete, though.

[this_loser]

Kept.

[It puts a bad taste in his mouth. All he can think of are rows and rows of bodies suspended in tanks. He has to remember that things are different where she's from.]

So, she's ... Is she like me?

[When Mikumo told him she was only four years old, he thought maybe she was a fast-growing alien or something.]

[axi]

[She looks at his expression and presses her lips together. Kaname shifts on the bean bag so she's somewhat sitting up.]

In the sense you're thinking of, yes. It's a long story, but she was created by Xaos, the company we work for. Her DNA is from a relic found on Windermere dating back thousands of years. Some would try to use her voice as a weapon.

[The last part is mentioned to include another form of similarity between the two.]

We didn't know that until after the memory you saw. Neither did she.

[this_loser]

[He draws in a sharp breath. A weapon. Oh.]

Would she be okay with me knowing this?

[axi]

[He's offered a soft smile.]

She would be all right with me telling you, since she'd know I did it because I thought you needed to know. Mikumo's not very secretive about it either way. It doesn't really bother her.

[this_loser]

[He nods slowly.]

Okay. Thanks ... thanks for tell me.