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]

Natch, Taako's a rare commodity that you're privileged to partake of.

[He's flippant and waves his hand dismissively, but Thor's reassurance means a lot to him. Even if he knows it isn't his fault, that he wasn't the one who filled the chicken with poison, that most people wouldn't blame him, it's good to hear. It's nice to know that his biggest regret and the blackest mark on his record doesn't change how people feel about him.

Because as much as Taako likes to pretend everyone around him are simply NPCs to his life, he does...well, he cares what they think of him.

And that thought makes him uncomfortable in a way. He shouldn't care. They'll just leave eventually and getting attached? That's the fast track to getting his heart ripped out again.

After a moment of reflection, Taako blows a raspberry and pushes himself off the hot tub.]

Okay so - I'm done with talking about that because it's depressing as fuuu-uck and I came in here to see your bare chest. It's gone now, so Taako's gonna get gone, too.

[rebuildyourruins]

I may as well leave too, before these cursed lights go out again.

[He dumps his towel on the floor for the last time, raising his eyebrows at Taako as if daring him to comment.]

And don't worry, I don't plan to speak any more of it.

[abracafcku]

[The darkvision spell he gave Thor should tide him over for another few hours, but that would preclude Thor wanting to sit in the dark like some creeper for a few hours. And there was no telling if the hottub would even stay warm for that long. This place's plumbing was as shitty as Lucas Miller's adherence to moral codes.

Thor drops his towel again and Taako has to bite back another remark, raising his eyebrow in kind.]

Good, 'cause I plan to pretend like it never even happened.

[He knows the towel thing is just to get a comment out of him, and...well, he can't not rise to the occasion.]

Oh, but you should know? Droppin' your towel like that and raising eyebrows? Sends veeeery mixed signals, my dude.