Unknown Seas Mods / NPCs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bathymetric) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
unknownseas2021-01-24 10:36 am
bathymetric) wrote in unknownseas2021-01-24 10:36 am
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!
...
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!
no subject
It is nice to meet you as well. I am Lieutenant Commander Data, of the Federation starship Enterprise. We are an exploratory vessel, so I have been involved in making first contact with other intelligent species before - though, of course, I am not here now in an official capacity.
no subject
[With title and all. It's only respectful to address people in high roles with their full title, he figures.
Yeah, apparently Filbo doesn't interact often with anyone with a title]
Well, since that's your job, uh...do you mind if I ask for a tip or two? I'm really nervous about meeting other species here, and screwing up would be a big disaster. I better listen to the expert around here.
[More like a big disaster for his own pride, really. Filbo should stop staking his pride onto things like his job and now interactions with people he doesn't even know]
no subject
Of course. I would be glad to help. The fact that you are asking for help is a good sign - it is best not to assume that your culture's ways are universal, and to approach new encounters in the spirit of learning.
no subject
That'll be easy -- not that this ship is a good place for having spirit of learning, but...if not now then when, right?
[murderboats are great for cultural enrichment]
It already is a surprise we all speak the same language, anyway.
no subject
[You know, comforting stuff to think about.]
But it will probably be to our benefit. We will all have to cooperate to get out of this. [Even now, when the exact situation is unclear, that much seems plain.]
no subject
...]
Easier said than done, but...it's worth a try.
[He does hope they'll all get along! But, well, things happen]
no subject
[But, hell, we gotta try. Not to mention, someone's from a utopian sci-fi series.]
Will you tell me more about your people? I have never heard of a grumpus before.
no subject
[Filbo stares at his paw as if it'd have answers. He had never been asked to talk about his species because, well, who was going to ask that anyway? Another grumpus? Should the answers be coming easily to him? It's like talking about himself, it shouldn't be too hard!
Then why does it feel like trying to define a whole species is something a bit above his paygrade?]
I mean, we're just what you see: kind of...short, and also colorful? There are all sorts of colors, it's not like we're all teal. Some have big fangs instead of blunt teeth, others have snouts, but most are like me.
I guess we have good technology? And democracy, that exists too. We're all over the planet, and...peaceful, for the most part? I mean, crime exists and what not, but I guess that's what comes with society...
[No, really, why is it hard for him, he wonders. Maybe it's because he was unprepared to ever introduce himself to another species, really]
no subject
[They hit a good few of the markers for admission to the Federation, mostly in terms of being peaceful and having an apparently unified planetary government.]
Have you ventured into space travel at all?
no subject
[As long as 'getting started' is in the recent 100 years, but yeah]
no subject
That is no small feat. You should be proud of your progress!
no subject
[Filbo responds really well to praise, it seems -- even if it's not directed at him]
But there's plenty more to do, right? I mean...that's got to be only the start. We probably will get further after my lifetime. But then again...I'm here. With you all.
No matter how I see it that's another step forward. Just...not one that was planned, I guess. And nobody's going to believe a word of this if I ever mention it to anybody.
no subject
Sometimes it can be best to take things at your culture's natural pace. It can be difficult for some people, to learn that the universe is bigger and contains more things than they imagined.
no subject
[It's great to know everyone here exists? But seriously, it's also overwhelming]
I'm sure it was like that for...for...uh, for you all the first time.
['You all', he says, because he realizes he doesn't know what to call Data's species -- not even realizing he's, well, a tin man, so to say]
no subject
I am an android, the only one of my kind. I do not have a people to speak of. But my first encounter with Starfleet was...memorable.
no subject
Filbo quietly shoves this realization faaaaaar deep into his mind or else it's one thing more for the pile of overwhelming stuff he has dealt with during the last 25 minutes]
Really? Did Starfleet find you somewhere?
no subject
[Which, I can hold enough of a grudge about that on Data's behalf.]
Before doing so, he wiped my memory of my early development. The first thing I remember now was being reactivated by Starfleet officers who had come to investigate.
no subject
So it's like you started your life over again. I'm glad you got to start all over, even if it was in that kinda circumstances.
[Does it count as starting over when literally everything that happened to you was because of someone else? Someone else destroyed everything, someone else reactivated you?
Well, probably what matters is that Data is alive]
no subject
I suppose so. It was difficult, but I am glad that it happened.