unknownseas | And we're all adrift together through the cold mist, 'til we're lifeless together

And we're all adrift together through the cold mist, 'til we're lifeless together

[The preparations hit differently this time.

Last weekend was at least an attempt at being festive, even with the light supplies they have; at being joyous, at giving people at least one nice thing to look back upon before things inevitably took a turn for the worse. And now two people are dead, and instead of trying to figure out structure placement and how best to keep everyone entertained and occupied and well-fed, the preparations now are given to much more practical purposes.

Large amounts of bottled water from the machine. Bagels and bread and muffins, light starchy things to avoid forcing anyone to keep meat or seafood down after seeing a corpse. Fruit for the sake of providing energy. Avoiding including bananas for any reason. Quietly pulling aside one of the first people she sees with any experience in the matter and asking them to help her make tea.

Once she's got one of the tables at the party zone set up and the tea is on its way to being prepared, she'll set around letting people know; the invitations are simple, written in Freyja's broad, elegant handwriting:

I think another gathering tonight would be beneficial. Not to celebrate, but to remember; perhaps more importantly, to ensure that no one is alone if they don't want to be.

Tonight is hard. There is nothing further to do but get through it.]

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[Lalli had a rather visceral reaction to that particular death. Even though I slept through it we're absolutely pretending that he went dead silent at the execution and immediately left and hid as soon as he could.

Where did he go? Who knows. But some hours later if anyone goes by his room they will notice the door is open, and he is sitting cross-legged on the floor looking at the origami instructions he got. The other crap he got from the vending machine is around him too if anyone wants to claim his shit.

He's going to be reclusive the rest of the day though. If anyone wants him, come find him.]

[ Well this is Albedo's room too, so it's only a matter of time before Lalli finds himself with company. He'll leave the door open after he comes in as that's the way he found it, and it's quite late enough to worry about sleep.

Albedo's not particularly one for greetings, but Lalli's probably used to that by now. And that book catches his attention pretty easily too, he had seen Zero make origami earlier in the week. ]

Do you need paper?

It didn't come with any.

[So yes, he does need paper. It is much appreciated.

By the way there's now someone sleeping on Lalli's bed. She is a calico longhair cat and is curled up in ball form currently.]

[ Albedo's been carrying around a notebook, so he tears out a view pages and sets them near Lalli without another word. They have some scribbles on them, mostly runes that are unrecognizable and the occasional quick sketch of an object including a banana. ]

With someone making use of your bed, the efficiency of this room has increased twofold. [ It's slight but there's some lilt with how he says it. Cats aren't all that interesting to him truth be told, but he does look at the feline with some interest. ]

Mhmm.

[Lalli, on the other hand, likes cats. They're easy to understand and can be good company if you know how to treat them.

He's also biased because his luonto is a cat. But shhh.

Lalli is also taking those papers, thanks.]

she won't cause trouble. She's trained to search out trolls and alert humans nearby to their presence. She's a very smart cat.

[ Y'know he's prob had Klee running around his lab at times so a cat is nothing. ]

I didn't know cats were capable of such a thing, but I also do not know precisely what a troll is. How does she locate them?

By smell. All cats can smell trolls easily, and they're immune to the rash. But it takes training for them to know how to report it to humans.

Impressive. I've seldom worked with animals, but I've heard cats are more difficult to train than dogs. Can she detect other anomalies?

[ Looking to the feline again. There's some genuine interest here but also Albedo doesn't exactly smell human given the whole homonculus thing, though in his case it's more a lack of scent than a distinct one. ]

She can hunt rodents and keep them out of food supplies.

[That is a much more normal cat thing though. Also Albedo will probably be fine, Kissa is a very friendly cat. Lack of smell is better than troll smell.]

[ Good. He's yet to have that conversation with anyone here and he doesn't really intend to change that, at least for now. ]

It seems she'll more than earn her keep. What is her name?

Kissa.

[Wait for it.]

That's what was put on her training paperwork. But we all just call her different words for 'cat'.

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calx - 2021-02-13 18:04 (UTC) - Expand

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silentscout - 2021-02-14 00:37 (UTC) - Expand

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calx - 2021-02-16 15:22 (UTC) - Expand

[Data doesn't happen by until several hours later, on his way back to his own room. Upon seeing the door open, he hesitates. He's observed that Lalli is a bit socially weird. That's fine; Data himself isn't exactly a model of ordinary social behavior. But he's an android. Lalli might feel lonely.]

Good afternoon. [is it afternoon? let's say it is] How are you?

We're stuck on a boat that is being followed by a giant sea beast.

[It's a factual statement of how not okay he is. But then again, he seems okay enough to read an origami book? And he's also not hiding anymore, so maybe he is getting better.]

Yes.

[It's a factual statement!]

I had not realized origami was so popular here.

The book came from the vending machine. People use what they can get.

[Man, for all this guy talks big and gets up in everyone's business when it suits him he's almost as elusive as the late Carmen Sandiego. Luckily, Allenby is practiced at both purposefully and accidentally finding elusive people, so she immediately stumbles upon him once everything is said and done.

Apart from the rest of the fashions that have been foisted upon them, at least their bathrobes are fluffy, and she's making use of that fact when she shuffles by his door and then sees all the crap on the floor.

Seems like it's room yard sard day on board--]

Oh, so this is where-- [!!!] --hey, are those Neo Sweden colors? Hang on.

[She's actually fairly good with not barging in on people most of the time or encroaching too much, but Lalli is definitely experiencing room invasion now as Allenby pops in to take a look at his wares -- or more specifically, at one (1) plug suit.]

[Oh. Now there's a word he's familiar with. And despite Lalli's usual habit of staying away from others, Allenby suddenly has his undivided attention.]

You're from Sweden?

[He's not even going to protest her going through his stuff to get the plug suit.]

Hmm? Yeah! Neo Sweden, but it's based off the old Earth one. What, I didn't mention it?

[She says that very offhand, because she's busy giving a little whoop of vindication when she unearths the plug suit proper. It's all kinds of ridiculous bright colors, has strange antennae all over it, and moreover it's made of some kind of crazy rubbery material that looks pretty strong... Also there's like, a bow on it?

That's some magical girl shit. Going to line it up against herself, but considering it's one of those skintight deals, it's pretty hard to size.]

We're still technically neighbors in space, too. Neo Finland, I mean.

You didn't.

[Honestly, he never really asked either. It's hard for him to really get interested in other people, usually others have to push him to interact with them at first until he warms up a bit. But that isn't really working here, or so he's finding out.]

You're in space. So you're not on Earth anymore? You're up in the heavens?

Sometimes I forget this isn't the same Earth. Then again, I don't think they had as many cruise ships going there. Maybe they all got lost?

[Who even knows the state of the Bermuda Triangle in weird crapsack Gundam world. But hey, it's a new experience either way -- Allenby seems a bit more rejuvenated now than after the trial, it's nice to have her suit back and she spends a lot more time in the sea breeze than strictly necessary.

Speaking of skies and outside though, there's a bit of a laugh as she joins him on the floor.]

Space, yeah! That's a pretty poetic way of putting it, though. They just put together big whole hunks of land and rock and metal in space. Whole lot bigger than space stations.

Edited 2021-02-09 23:15 (UTC)

I wonder if my world could have managed that.

[If not for the zombies.

But moving on!]

I know a little Swedish.

[Like this is important here.

Btw the DVD is in the pile too, she can find that as well.]

Edited 2021-02-09 23:17 (UTC)

What, space or cruise ships? Or the Bermuda Triangle?

[It's a little cheeky, given that it's probably space, but look when you come from entirely disparate universes sometimes it pays to ask. Now if only she bothered to do that with something other than ridiculous conversations.]

Hard not to pick up a little of everything -- I've got a few words in Finnish, German, pretty sure I learned some Russian curse words... Oh, and I know how to order a few dishes in Cantonese. [this is mostly distracted prattle as she squints at that elusive DVD and then just nabs it] ... Does that say Gundam Fight? Did it come with the suit??

Space. Humans can't fly anymore, in my time. I've seen the ruins of what used to be large machines that let humans fly, but things like that haven't actually flown in decades.

[He looks over at the DVD.]

It came out separate. Is that yours too?

Earth's in pretty bad shape back home for you too, huh? Think we would have hit that if we didn't escape to space first. It's hard to tell when that happened ages before I was even born.

[Wow tfw you come from mirror crapsack universes. Huzzah!

She's suspiciously perusing the DVD, which is dual-labeled in English and Cantonese, with a few other languages thrown in for good measure.]

It's got Gundam on it. Actually, it's got the name of mine on it. Huh.

Your 'Gundam'?

[This is way more interesting than talking about fucked up worlds. He's coming over to look at the DVD cover.]

That's a movie. Did you make a movie?

me realizing they don't have a DVD player so F

ignobel - 2021-02-10 03:36 (UTC) - Expand

none movie for them

silentscout - 2021-02-10 04:24 (UTC) - Expand

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