driftfleet | a proper introduction?

Entry tags:

a proper introduction? | video;

Who: Ciel Phantomhive
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Vanquish
When: Two days after shuffle/Sunday

[There's a teenaged boy on the screen who looks a bit tired. Someone clearly hasn't been sleeping too well but he brushes it off easily enough. As if it's something he's used to. Those who might know the young Earl Phantomhive though, know that he's actually very used to it.]

Judging by what I arrived during, and what followed, it stands to reason that everyone has been understandably distracted.

Now seems like a suitable time though to properly introduce myself. I'm Ciel Phantomhive, current head of the Phantomhive Earldom. [A very brief pause.] I was, at least. I haven't held the title in a little over a year now. It wouldn't hardly matter here anyway, I'm sure.

Otherwise, it seems I am ow a cook on board the Vanquish. It's a very good thing Undertaker had been teaching me to cook.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He can't help but still be just a little wary. Except, Randolph has been nothing but helpful so far and wouldn't have any reason to mislead him as far as he can tell.]

I appreciate that. It's actually quite the reassurance, coming from someone from home.

Not at all. The whole environment is rather more technologically advanced than we are used to. It's normal to find it a bit... overwhelming at times.

I am sure your shipmates can explain most of it, though. Some people here are actually familiar with space travel from their own worlds.

That's certainly an understatement. I'm sure I'll adjust though. I won't really give myself a choice, if we're honest.

[He absolutely hates being at a disadvantage for too long.] I do hope my shipmates will be as generous as you have been.

We unfortunately have little choice, yes.

Most of them will be, I am sure. We are all stuck here, after all.

What year was it, when you left England? [He can't help his curiosity. It's paid off, somewhat, in the past.]

I certainly hope so. People were much the same on the last world I visited but we had far more freedoms there.

It was June 1896.

... So this is not a first for you, then? Some other people have mentioned that.

It was November of 1889 for me.

[Good bit of time but not the worst he could have ended up with.]

No. I live in Riverview for a year after their portal grabbed hold of me.

You have been away from home for quite some time, then.

[Although... it has also been a year for him, almost.]

Ah, if you visit, though, it will have to be during the night hours. I am afraid I am asleep the rest of the time.

A year of experiences but others, yes, quite some time. There's a lot to catch up on that even Riverview couldn't prepare me for.

[Kindred spirits.
Almost.]

Ah- I do try to keep a normal sleep schedule but I'm sure I could adjust it. I don't have anything particularly important requiring me up at early hours.

I apologize for the trouble. Werewolves sleep during the day. I am old enough to stay up if I need to, but it's uncomfortable.

Werewolf?

[He should be surprised, with all he's seen. But after the trouble in Wolfsschlucht, he can't help but imagine any werewolves as soldiers wearing costumes with custom breathing apparatuses inside.]

You don't have to apologize. It sounds more inconvenient for you, really.

[maybe what should be surprising is that Lyall is apparently thinking nothing of disclosing the fact that he is a werewolf. And yes, not weird suits or breathing stuff, here. He's wearing totally normal Victorian suit.]

You get used to it after a few hundred years.

[The only thought he has for a moment is 'Why am I always finding the supernatural?' but that's not precisely true. And he knows it. He's not alone in meeting a werewolf now that he's joined the fleet, is he now?]

Is... I apologize if this is rude but, does it work like the stories?

[Still a curious little boy inside.]

Well, I suppose that would depend on what stories you have heard. In my time here, I have learned that while the basics seem to remain the same, others details seem to vary wildly from one world to the next.

I was mostly thinking about how stories would have werewolves change during the full moon.

[It seems ridiculous and he feels a little embarrassed at having asked.

We can change at will at any time, but during the full moon we do not have a choice. The change is forced upon us then.

However, there is nothing to fear. We have made sure to have a space for confinement on our ship, just like we do back home. Myself and my Alpha, Lord Falmouth, have been here for a year and there have been no incidents.

[That's actually very interesting. Interesting and mildly inconvenient at least once a month.]

It's alright, I'm not worried. The only 'werewolves' I ever encountered were in Germany and they were, ah... frauds.

[Mildly inconvenient unless you know how to handle, which they are proficient at, thankfully.]

... Frauds? Fake werewolves? I had hoped they would stop at the vampires, but humans really will try anything...

[He supposes time and practice would make things easier to handle.]

They were using the suits to manipulate a child genius. The were fitted with breathing masks to protect them from mustard gas.

.... I'm not quite sure I follow. Suits and mustard gas?

[What do those have to do with werewolves?]

[He is doing a bit of a bad job explaining it. He's usually much better about it but, in fairness, he'd spent much of that 'trip' blind and terrified of everything but his gardener.]

It was some kind of project the German government was working on. A young child genius shut away from the world to develop chemicals for them under the guise of protecting a village and calming the 'werewolves' that inhabited the forest when, in reality, they were nothing but soldiers in costumes that protected them from mustard gas they would release on anyone who entered the forest.

So they were not actual werewolves, just humans pretending to be.

... I cannot say mustard gas would not be disagreeable, though. We have sensitive noses, even in human form.

Exactly so. [Even now, he can't help but think of how ridiculous it was. However effective it might have been.]

I would imagine. Mustard gas, or mustard, I can't say I'm fond of either. Though my senses would be understandably weaker.

Well mustard itself does go quite well with raw meat. But we do tend to stick to milder variety, although we are not allergic to it like we are with other things.

Oh, and in case you do wish to have something to protect yourself, which I would recommend anyway although we make sure to be secured for full moon, silver does work as a repellent. Silver-coated bullets or blades.

[He can't help a bit of a cringe. Raw meat and mustard. He's has raw meat before. Once. It wasn't something he would have asked Sebastian to prepare again and it had been a last minute rescue to a ruined meal.]

Silver? I'm not sure I have any but I suppose I could find something eventually.

(no subject)

sandywolf - 2019-04-04 15:46 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

sweetlies - 2019-04-07 04:35 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only