unknownseas | COMMENCE VOYAGE

Entry tags:

round 2,
week 1

COMMENCE VOYAGE

Fun Fact: Did you know the Atlantic Ocean has a surface area of 41.1 million square miles? No reason.

...

There's something uneasy in the air as you come to.

Well, "come to" is an interesting word in this case. It implies waking up, which is not exactly what happens. None of you are in beds, nor are you really asleep in the traditional sense. One moment you're somewhere else, doing something else with your time, and the next? You're somewhere on board a massive cruise ship - maybe lounging on a deck chair by the pool, maybe getting some Gains in the exercise room, maybe enjoying the tasteful décor in the buffet - and you have no idea how you got here or how you might get back. This is not your beautiful house. If you have a beautiful wife, she isn't here.

What you do have, apart from 25 other unlucky souls, is a small smartphone-like device in your pocket with only a handful of things on it: a clock reading 11PM, a pdf of a ticket in your name on a special Atlantic Liners New Year's Eve Cruise, an app labeled Passenger Profiles with some basic information on your traveling companions, and a message:

Welcome aboard, passenger! Please feel free to partake of any of the facilities while you wait for the big event! Remember: when midnight comes, you better make your way to the theatre at the back of Level 1 for the main event! The Captain and the First Mate will be there to take care of you all personally, and to help you ring in the new year in style!

Well, that's a start. But what you do until then, it seems, is up to you!

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... Come to think of it, I've got no idea where this cruise is going. They're usually supposed to be going someplace, aren't they? Even if it's only a circle itinerary somewhere.

[There's a hmm of affirmation and thought from Allenby where she's leaning against some vending machines seemingly contemplating the drink options -- there's a great deal here, but she looks mostly unimpressed and more of her attention is on the newcomer.

There's a faint cock of her head as she takes in the appearance, her eyes wander in recall, and then she snaps her fingers.]

Ah. You're the girl who was lookin' like a whole funeral on the top deck there for a while. Hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but I don't think this is a real vacation either...

[She does seem somewhat regretful to be the messenger!]

Aw, what? [ Chloe rubs at her forehead, a bit embarrassed. ] You take a little while to have a...early-life crisis one time...

[ Ugh. It's fine. Just shrug it off. ]

Yeah, I figured this isn't a vacation, way before any of that. [ Considering...everything that's happened this week. ] There's nothing normal about bizarro ghost ship cruise.

Heheh, don't worry about it. If not on a random ship in the middle of nowhere, where else can ya have one?

[A random shady ship, but that's neither here nor there. Look, it was the top deck, who isn't going to go up there at some point -- maybe the real miracle is that Allenby in fact passed up the opportunity to stick her nose in it, or maybe there was someone there already, you never know.

When in doubt, it's hard to say if she errs on the side of tact or not.

Just now she's doing her best!!]

I haven't heard a thing about this being a ghost cruise, though! You'd think that'd be in the pamphlet or I'd notice, or something.

[Though now you've got her looking around... maybe she's expecting the actual ghosts to come after the funeral (of Chloe's dignity? of their collective peace of mind? who knows).]

Figurative ghost ship. I...haven't seen any ghosts. [ ...Are ghosts real? Oh, man, is she gonna have to deal with ghosts now? ] I just meant... You see any staff around here? Duh it's not a real cruise ship, they're supposed to be crawling with 'em...or, so I hear.

Well, it is pretty late at night. I figured either the ghosts are out, or the staff is sleeping along with everybody else. But it looks like all of us are still up... and pretty confused.

I still don't know what to make of this, but-- Coffee? Soda?

[She's actually fiddling with the vending machine now -- she's somehow already got two cans of soda in a hand and is experimenting with the buttons some more. They might end up with way too many drinks but hey, maybe this is her way of helping!!

Somehow, some way.

Maybe she just wants a drink, but multitasking is surely acceptable here.]

If I say yes, you gonna try and give me enough to keep me up all night? ...Actually, that might be a good plan, if we're gonna need to snoop around for those crewmates.

[ She gestures to the multiple sodas Allenby's already got in-hand, a somewhat amused smirk on her face. ]

Yeah, sure, I'll take a coffee. Nice job getting it to spit 'em out without putting anything in.

[ Chloe, who hasn't realized these vending machines are completely free, just assumes Allenby's getting her thief on. ]

I've been asleep already, and apparently I was asleep for long enough to wind up here, so you better believe I'm staying up for a bit? Catch.

[She manages to tap a coffee out of one of the machines with a quirk of a grin, because she's realized that it looks like she's magicianing them out of there, but really -- who is she to shatter people's dreams in the dead of night? For the five or more seconds Chloe isn't looking at the vending machines, anyway.

So she'll toss her her drink instead and settle with her sodas. No bitter-tasting things for her, apparently.]

The pool an' the party zone's full of weirdos and confused people, too, so I've just been looking to see where the captain's at. That seems the easiest way to find anything out.

[But why is this cruise ship so huge.]

[ So, this girl was asleep... Okay, that's one person she doesn't have to ask about Chaos Theory bullshit. Ugh, she used to feel so much smarter about that when it was just a theoretical.

Anyway. Chloe avoids having hot coffee splash all over her. ]

Whoa—nice throw, sister, but a little more heads up next time, yeah? [ Ahhh... A nice burst of caffeine through her veins. ] Anyway...Captain Flake's gotta be lurking under a rock here somewhere. Can't really man a ship if you aren't on it, right?

[On the bright side, Allenby knows better than to open a canned coffee before tossing it, so at most the coffee is just hot and hard to hold on to.

Chloe can have her juggling act in peace without too many splashes! Is hot canned coffee a thing? Anything is possible!!]

Ah-- Haha, was that not enough heads-up? Sorry, guess I got used to people with different reflexes. My bad! [she does seem sincere about this!!! there's a thoughful bubbling noise as she hums into her soda] Captain Flake's a good one, but there's always remote steering... It wouldn't make too much sense in this case, though. Doesn't sound like any of us want to be here, so why leave us alone with this thing?

[ You know, canned coffee makes a lot more sense than what I was picturing. Proceed, carry on!

She waves a dismissive hand, the one that's not popping open the coffee. ] Don't worry 'bout it. [ Careful not to burn her tongue... ] Guess they're waiting for the "orientation."

[ Yes, Chloe does provide air quotations for that. ]

Watch the New Year's ball drop with our new BFFs.

[Vending machines are mysterious beasts. Really, anything is possible. ☆]

'Least we won't starve in the meantime. I've never seen a place with this many vending machines all at once, and I was in Hong Kong a minute ago.

[There's a grin at the air quotes.]

Dunno if "main event" an' "orientation" come out to the same thing, but this New Year's thing is sounding weirder and weirder. I don't know if everything that isn't adding up here cancels out, but there sure is a lot of it.

What's with the dropping, though? Is that a cruise thing?

[ Chloe frowns, a little confused. ]

Nooo, it's a New Year thing... Do they not have that, around the world? You just said Hong Kong, but, I figured everywhere's at least a little familiar... Time's Square? They drop a huge fuckoff ball at midnight for some kind of...celebration for not dying, or some shit?

Ohhh, so that's a Neo American tradition? Hell if I know whether they're still doing the exact same thing, but Times Square's somewhere around Manhattan, right?

I heard they recreated that whole area in space, right down to the Statue of Liberty! [she finishes off her soda at record speed, so she's now just juggling the can; she holds it up like it's the Statue, because why not be dramatic] There's always fireworks for all the holidays. Can't say I've ever been there except through TV, though.

Uhhh, what's with the Neo stuff...? [ Chloe's going a little slower on her drink. Damn, girl, slow down! ] East coast's fine.

Oh. Right... Force of habit.

[She seems to have lots of unusual habits?? Or she's just an unusual girl, or-- There's a quick gesticulation with her stand-in soda Statue, a nod.]

The colonies of the Federation are the real seat of government nowadays, so places like old America are pretty much left to the locals. It's the same the world over.

East coast, west coast... It's a big place, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were cowboys running it by now.

[ Chloe steeples her fingers around her can of coffee. ]

Okaaay, so...there ain't any cowboys back where I'm from, so I'm starting to get the feeling this is one of those...alternate universe things.

Ah, are you American? Or from someplace else?

[She seems properly bamboozled by the lack of cowboys, or maybe it's just the inescapable encroachment of alternate universes and branching realities. Seriously, this is above her paygrade.

She copes by flipping open the second soda. Maybe not the best idea in a situation where she's already antsy, but eh.]

Mmm, well, a whole different universe would be someplace else. But I'm guessing there's a lot of Americas, too.

[ Chloe hates being the one to have to explain this... Someone else could probably do so much better. ]

Yes- uh, yes, American, I'm from Oregon. My point is— no one's ever rebuilt anything in space, where I'm from. And...with all the bullshit going on here, I don't think you're lying. So, either you're on hella drugs, or you're telling the truth.

[Could certainly be worse. Could be like the Captain trying to explain literally anything sometime in the near future, by which we mean, dude's not trying at all. An attempt is made here.

Allenby gives a sort of half-laugh, like when you're confronting the tininess of your own existence or maybe just plain existential crisisville. But in a laughing way, with a dash of sugar.]

Well. I mean? So far I've met an android and a guy in a weird blue fur suit and they both just came out of the swimming pool? And there's another guy who might be a robot and a girl with horns... you get the idea.

What I'm saying is, you being American but not properly from America is probably the least of our problems...

That's just the thing, see— I've met some of those guys too? And that's like, all the evidence I need to tell me yeah, hello! We're all from not just different places, but different realities. Like... Everything I know and everything you know? Totally different! ...Okay maybe not totally because I do know the like, concept of cowboys or whatever. But...you're following, right? We're all in the- [ snrk- ] in the same boat, yeah?

[ Ah. Her first really bad pun. ]

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COMMENCE VOYAGE

not-deck and only robot-adjacent, we're breaking this combo more!! ret's go!!

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