Meanwhile on the loveboat (mingle log)

[destinyembrace]

Who: Crew of the Blue Fish, anyone who's been invited, and any visitors! So basically everyone
Broadcast: Nope
Action: On the Blue Fish, mostly probably in the kitchen and the mess hall because PARTY
When: Today~

[If there's anything this freaking ship loves, it's food. Somehow, a dinner got planned to welcome the new member. And then other people got invited. And then the dinner pretty much turned into a party with a lot of food. Needless to say, Kairi has been very busy preparing food all the day for this.

There's a lot of meat, per the captain's request. But there's also veggies, some fruit, pasta, and even brownies! There are also two pizza pies. Basically, Kairi just cooked a bunch of food and hoped it would be enough, as she had no idea how many people were coming.

SO DIG IN, BLUE FISH AND GUESTS. Also mingle and be social and all that jazz!]

Comments

[forsometimenow]

Stolen wine? [Jennifer feigns shock.] Why, I never. We can pretend it's grape juice...

[dancingmd]

[Beverly winks before taking a sip of hers. She makes a little "hooo" sound and blinks a couple times in surprise.]

Really strong grape juice.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer toasts the air before also taking a sip and blinking.]

... wow. Yeah, I think I'm just gonna stick to one cup of it. I've never been much of a wine person, anyway... but I can't imagine alcohol of any sort is easy to get ahold of here.

[dancingmd]

I love wine but this... this is not good wine.

[Not that that is going to stop her from taking another sip, though she does frown disapprovingly at it, as if it is the wine's fault that she chose to keep drinking it.]

I'm going to have to have a talk with Hawke about his life choices.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer laughed at that.]

Sure it'd be a good idea to have that conversation? I mean, you'd have to open it with "so I stole some of your wine and had a cup with a friend..."

[dancingmd]

[She waves a hand dismissively.]

He won't mind. Well, he might, but mainly because we didn't invite him.

[forsometimenow]

Well, if you say so... bottoms up. [She makes a face.] I think I'll stick to beer, though. Not like I drink too often, mind- I was on call pretty much constantly. I think in this case, I've earned a drink, though.

[dancingmd]

I'd say so! To be honest, I don't drink much either. Usually we have synthehol. Real alcohol is reserved for special occasions.

[forsometimenow]

Synthethol- synthetic alcohol, huh? That doesn't sound very tasty. Of course, maybe it would taste good here, after a few months of a steady diet of protein cubes.

[dancingmd]

There are those who would agree with you, my captain's brother being one of them. He owns a vineyard and doesn't think much of synthehol. But for the most part, it tastes and looks like actual alcohol, with few of the intoxicating effects.

[forsometimenow]

Sounds like the perfect comprimise to me- you get the taste and none of the buzz. Hey- maybe the audience will take pity on us and send us a care package of some good wine.

[dancingmd]

I don't know that I'd trust them with that. [She's still bitter about the whole fruity coffee thing.] I mean, can you imagine? Floot Loops wine?

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer wrinkled her nose.] OK, you have a point there. The audience seems to think whatever they send will make us happy, even if it's some weird flavor combination.

[dancingmd]

Of course, we don't even know if they're humanoids or not. Maybe they don't know any better.

[forsometimenow]

Hmm... I didn't even think about it that way. If they're not human, it could explain a lot about why they find us so entertaining to begin with.

[dancingmd]

It seems highly likely to me. In my universe, there was a species of energy-based lifeforms that became very interested in humanity.

[She takes another sip of wine.]

They were a complete nuisance if you ask me.

[forsometimenow]

Energy-based lifeforms usually are. I wasn't on Atlantis at the time, but apparently Rodney and some of the other members of our crew once got caught up by some who gave them very realistic hallucinations- made them believe they'd gone back home. The beings wanted them to be happy, so they made everything perfect or even better than it had been when they left, so it wasn't out of malice, but still... I'd hate to have something like that happen to me.

[dancingmd]

[Shuddering, she thinks about Atroma's April Fool's "prank."]

Finding out what you've been experiencing isn't real is an awful experience.

[forsometimenow]

I can only imagine. I have yet to experience something like that, and I'm kinda grateful- being taken over by an alien entity was bad enough.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly's jaw tightens as she stares into her cup for a minute. Being reminded again of Ronin...it's difficult.]

It's hard for me to say which is worse.

[When she looks back up at Jennifer, her expression softens sympathetically.]

I'm sorry you had to go through that too. I know what a horrifying experience that is.

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer actually looks visibly relieved- someone else understood. It had happened to most of the others at some point, and Carson could understand a bit about how she felt thanks to the whole "I almost destroyed the city and killed my friends" thing, but still.]

It was awful. This particular one made these... tentacles grow out of me... they started consuming the city. I was unconscious for most of it, but my friends had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to get me out of it.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly nods her head emapthetically.] To lose control over your actions... it's terrifying, especially if those actions end up hurting others.

[Ronin at least didn't make her physically harm anyone but god, the look on Jean-Luc's face: it's not something she's likely to forget.]

I wasn't myself when he was with me.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah... and when you're helpless to do anything about it... that makes it worse. The organism did quite a bit of damage to the city and hurt two of my friends... though not badly.

[Jennifer traced a finger around the top of her glass.]

I saw evidence that something was wrong a few nights before it got that bad, but it was like every time I thought to run a scan on myself, I'd get distracted by something else and forget about it. It was already affecting me before I realized it. It was creepy.

[dancingmd]

I know. I didn't... I thought everything was perfectly fine. The worst part is, this entity had been doing this to generations of women in my family, and I had no idea.

[She makes a scoffing noise, not directed at Jennifer, just at the situation in general.]

Just some lighthearted party talk, huh?

[forsometimenow]

[Jennifer gave a half laugh at that.]

Hey, at least "alien entities and the humans who were possessed by them" is interesting conversation. It's... not something everyone can understand, so in a way I'm kinda glad to have someone to discuss it with.