come_sailaway | To infinity...and beyond? (Semi-open)

Entry tags:

To infinity...and beyond? (Semi-open)

Who: Ari Tayrey + willing CR + anyone else who wants in
What: Mini-plot: an expedition to determine what kind of infinite this store really is
When: 25-29??? November
Where: The Infinite Tommy Bahama
Warnings: None yet
Notes: First prompt is a text message sent to Ari's friendly-ish CR - replies are welcome even from people who don't want to take part! Other prompts are open but please note that participating characters will potentially be in the store for up to 4/5 days. Party post rules are fine, start your own toplevels and tag people other than Ari if you like. ((I checked with our lovely mod about what would happen if they tried this!))

1. Texting

I have a plan. I want to see just how infinite this Tommy Bahama is. Multi-day expedition for data collection? It could be informative. Maybe fun, too. Interested in coming along?

- Tayrey

2. Preparing

Even people who don't know Ari well may notice that something is up. It's not often that people walk into Tommy Bahama wearing backpacks full of supplies. There's some last-minute preparation going on here, as well as a last-minute opportunity to join the expedition. Expect Ari to want to check and make sure everyone has all the essentials with them. She's used to preparing for trips to uninhabited and potentially hostile planets, and it shows. Don't mind the fussing. She wouldn't do it if she didn't care.

3. Exploring

Despite all the promises, the expedition is - well, boring might be an accurate description, unless you're really invested in the outcome. There's a lot of walking past the same racks of clothes, over and over and over. Infinite length doesn't mean infinite variety.

Ari's fascinated, and she'll be chattering about loop programming to anyone who will listen, and attempting to measure the distance between one rack of garishly-patterned bikinis and the next iteration of that very same rack. She'll encourage tests, too - what happens if you completely destroy one of the displays? Is the destruction repeated? (Spoiler alert: no, it's not that kind of loop, but let's try it a few times anyway and make sure?)

Maybe you give up and head back after a few hours. Maybe you have a run-in with the Bahamanal. Maybe you join in with Ari's ridiculous spacer song singalong - she is in a good mood. It's Tommy Bahama, anything could happen.

4. Relaxing

Ari pushes the pace on the first day, because it comes naturally to do so, and possibly, subconsciously, to weed out anyone who isn't serious about this and is going to cause them problems once they're a long way in. Eventually, though, it's time to stop for the night. There's not a campfire, but it's a fine social occasion just the same. Ari's brought some Serena Eterna branded playing cards, and she's up for a little gambling. Maybe you have some other entertainment ideas. Don't stay up too long, though - see if you can't make a nice nest of clothes to bed down in. There's plenty of walking to do tomorrow.

5. Emerging

Plenty of data has been collected about the repeating displays, but there's no end in sight to this store. Is it really infinite? If there's a way to answer that question, this expedition won't do it. It's over two days in when the group realises that they're over halfway through the supplies they brought. Time to turn around, whether that leaves you disappointed or delighted.

Unfortunately, there are no tricks of perception or proportion here. It'll take just as long to walk out as it did to walk in. Look on the bright side, at least you're carrying less weight? Finally, on the fifth day, the intrepid explorers who stayed the distance catch sight of the store entrance up ahead. Who saw it first?

6. Wildcard

Anything else you want to do! (Just let me know if I need to add warnings to the header :) )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anti-grav sled. [It's a gentle correction, because she knows he's interested in these things.] It's like - imagine a little cart, but instead of having wheels, it hovers, the way Klaus can, so you can take it with you even over bumpy terrain. It doesn't take any effort to pull it along, either.

[She nods as he explains about the tattoo. They'd discussed it before, but in truth she hadn't believed he'd really do it, to the point where she'd have guessed the 4 was painted on.]

I'm all in favor of you travelling the stars, but in your position you can do whatever you want, really. If you unified your country, and then you wanted to go to court, you could declare that nobody without a tattoo was allowed to be there. Turn everything upside-down. [She laughs.] As you said. You're free.

[Then Ari starts unbuttoning her jacket, and she lifts up the shirt beneath, to show him her bare midriff. Above her navel, slightly to her left, there's an eight-pointed star in shades of blue, outlined in silver. It's sophisticated work, finely shaded, and seems to shimmer in the light as she walks.]

That's my astrogator's mark, that I told you about.

[She pulls the shirt down again, quickly, before anyone else can take notice.]

Neat. Anti-grav sled.

No, I couldn't back on Earth, in my time, or even afterwards. It isn't just that I'm responsible for everyone else's dreams and ambitions, not just my own, but in the end, if I didn't change people's hearts and minds, it wouldn't be enough. I might do such a radical thing, but I already pushed everyone to the absolute limits of what they would accept, I think. It's the hardest part of my fight. I can't just jump ahead, have things be the way I want, I have to incrementally get them there so that the backlash doesn't result in them doing the opposite of what I want. Ah, it is politics as much as you hate.

You should Klaus, he'll love it.

Another reason you should avoid Hell, Teyrey. If anyone ever saw that, they might kill you. Usually untouchables don't get killed, only because doing so isn't considered worth the bother. Like getting your hands dirty just by interacting with them at all.

[Ari walks on in silence. It's true, she hates politics, and she hates when she thinks she's understood something about him but it turns out that she really hasn't. It's inevitable, given the cultural divide, the massive gulf in time and space between them - but it's still difficult for her.

She'd shown him because she'd thought he'd like it, and because he disregarded the conventions of his homeworld himself, so she didn't think they'd matter to him. Part of her discomfort isn't to do with Nobunaga at all; it's the idea that people might treat her poorly, even kill her, over such an unimportant thing.

After a moment:]

If I were going there, I'd remove it first. I wouldn't be that careless! You're the only one here who has seen it, and only because I wanted to show you, and if I were going, I wouldn't even take that risk.

[He grabs her into a one-armed hug around the shoulders, an instant glomp of extreme affection, the kind even Crichton and Klaus do not get from him.]

Okay. I know you won't under contract with me anyway. [He doesn't kiss the top of her head, but he does lean his head down to hers briefly before finally letting go.]

It's gorgeous, I love it. When did you have it done?

[The hug takes Ari by surprise, but she leans in. It's comforting. It's enough to tell her that whatever she's misunderstood, it can't matter all that much. She smiles, softly.]

Of course I won't. [Said in a low voice, reassuring. She might have been trying to prove a point about her ability to survive in such places, but the truth of it is that Ari Tayrey would never break contract.]

It was two parts. The first four points were after my first L-space test. I think I was just as worried about how much the tattoo would hurt as I was about the test. [A little laughter. She'd been young then.] It was fine, I had my friends there. Lilah Montero told me all these silly stories to distract me. Second half was after I passed for lieutenant. Properly qualified astrogator. [She grins. Still very proud of that.]

Will you get more added to it back home when you rank up more? Turn into a total sun?

I'm surprised they don't give you local pain lotions in the future. Or your sector. With the advanced technology.

You know, I'm not sure. I've never seen one of these on a captain who is a former astrogator, and the other departments have different designs.

[She shakes her head.] There are numbing creams in our infirmary, but this was - it's sort of an initiation, if that makes sense? [That's going to sound odd to an outsider, she guesses, but it's the truth. There were a lot of spacer customs that seemed strange to planetsiders.]

[A nod!] It does. Though usually that's more for monks, in the army, you get pain in other ways, but I understand. I believe that Klaus' flying tiger was the same way.

For monks? [She's amused by this, because she doesn't picture herself as being monk-like in any way.] But the monks can't have had tattoos! [Not after what he'd told her about them.]

That's very true! [Laughs.] I meant their other initiation rituals. Oh! And karaoke is like that. It's Japanese, did you know? Mutual humiliation ritual. Very Japanese. It seems in the future since the current things are gone, the corporate world adapts to that instead. Definitely preferable.

[He might not have understood entirely. Ari shakes her head, and explains.]

There's nothing humiliating about spacer tattoos. They're like badges of honor. You've got to achieve something to get one.

I didn't know karaoke was Japanese. [Although if that's the kind of ritual it is, all the more reason never to join in.] How does it work for corporations? The directors try to make people they dislike sing?

I meant the pain. Doing it without the cream. It shows you're tough.

No no! It's the opposite! [Laughs.] It's overcoming the humiliation. The embarrassment of being on the spot and having all eyes on you, and not knowing what they're thinking or whether they'd all wish you got offstage, and still going, still singing. You do it as team-building. When your senior officers go through something, they help walk the younger generation through it. "I did it, and you see how well I handle things now, you will be okay too." That sort of thing.

[Then he did understand after all! Ari smiles. Finding that unexpected recognition pleases her more than it should.]

It shows you're tough - or that even if you're nervous and you think it hurts a lot, you do it anyway, and don't let anyone see the fear. You get the same outcome as if you weren't afraid at all, and that's a lesson. And then for most people, when you get the second part, it really doesn't bother you, because you've been through it before and know it isn't that bad, and you're further on in your career, and stronger. Tough for real.

[She's trying to understand about the karaoke. It seems oddly displaced. She'd often been reassured by Savitskaya telling her just that - everything Ari had gone through as a trainee, she'd been through herself, and now she was first astrogator and made everything look easy. But that related to difficult tasks, and real dangers.]

I suppose business is not very dangerous. Maybe they have to find artificial challenges like that. Still, I'd take pain over embarrassment. [Just in case he thinks this is reasoning for her to try singing next time!]

Yes.

[Laughs!] Me too, Teyrey. That's why I admire the future so much. They get so strong. Gatling guns, perfecting martial arts, and so much luxury.

In my time... [A headtilt.] Shame is worse than death. [His mood darkens then, but he doesn't elaborate it on like he does most things.]

I suppose for us it would depend on what the shameful thing is. [Betraying your people is worse than death. Or being a coward. Plenty of things. Ari looks over at Nobunaga then, and she reaches over, touches his arm lightly. He seems troubled.]

I saw you brought a book with you. What is it?

[Just in case he doesn't want to talk about difficult things. She can be that tactful.]

[Bless her. He's not tactful ever, hence the giving people code words to tell him to fuck off.]

At the Mountains of Madness. The only other full Japanese here, Ryan is half Japanese, but Yuuki recommended I read Lovecraft, I think I mentioned him before regarding L-Space.

[It doesn't come naturally to her - hence her ready acceptance that he has a word that signals she should stop asking awkward questions - but Ari does try.]

You did mention him, yes. I don't think I've ever seen any mad mountains in L-space before, but maybe I could borrow it, when you're finished?

Yeah, of course. It's all the Captain's library anyway. Public library, not private. I had one like that. Mitsunari Ishida was, or is, in charge of it. He gets lost in reading so easily that Hideyoshi has to remind him to eat. Half of the reason he decided to be a mother hen, I suspect.

I see.

[She's suddenly uninterested in the book, because he's wrong but it's not important enough for her to explain how. Public library. What a mad idea.]

He sounds like some of the Cardalek scientists. The ones who get really invested in their work.

[A headtilt.]

Explain your thought, or is it a banned topic?

Depends on what the Cardalek scientists study I suppose. Ishida isn't -- we don't have scientists in my time. This is a very fanciful idea. Commander Crichton has me completely sold on it, I'd love more. But the closest we have is more engineers and architects, and smiths. Ishida is a tactician. I mentioned before Oichi would have to be able to be near the battlefield to work as one, yes? [A nod.] Mitsunari helps coordinate things between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, on the back end, so I can meet the enemy on the frontlines. With my entire army behind me backing me up.

So his experiments, field tests, are all while playing Go instead. Though sometimes if I need a legal doctrine or theory, or obscure historical text, I can set him to find it for me. Ieyasu has him look up antidotes if he doesn't know them by heart.

Do you have simulation games in your sector? I've heard some of the biggest can encompass a whole universe. Be careful with Eridan. He has tricolor demon horns, [Imitates horns to his head with fingers!] And a purple striped noose. [It's a scarf... ANYWAY.] His people conquer whole universes. He's a master of strategy simulation games. If Ishida were here, I'd set him to play against Eridan just to see who'd win. There's a paintball FLARP game of his I want to try sometime.

It's not banned! Mitsunari Ishida sounds as smart as the scientists, and the ones I am thinking of used to get so focused that they'd forget to eat or leave the labs. [She smiles.] Engineers are important too! They are some of the most important people on a starship, because you really don't want it to stop working when you're out in deep space.

I don't know what flarp games are, but we have training simulations? They seem real, once you're in them. We use them for practising what to do in emergencies, or to simulate battles. I had to do a lot of them during my command training. [Ari laughs.] My very first simulation where I was the captain, I got everyone killed. I was so upset! [She's amused by it now, but only after years of distance.] Savitskaya saw me and told me to go right back and do it again, and I thought she was awful for not caring about my feelings, but of course she was right. I did much better the second time. The more complicated simulations aren't just a battle, they're when multiple things happen and there's no perfect solution so you have to make decisions about priorities. It's harder to know whether you've won or not, then. But that's what it's really like.

[She nods.] I'll avoid this Eridan. [No need to draw his attention to her sector, just in case.] Are there any simulations here?

Ah yes, that's how Mitsunari is. Hideyoshi brings him food sometimes. It's very cute, but don't tell them I said that.

[He laughs softly.] Why did everyone die?

[Waves a hand!] Don't avoid him. Just be careful. He's fun. Troll species, though I don't know if his people's science outclasses yours or Starfleet. It's hard to imagine anything beyond Starfleet, but even they had space pirates once.

There's -- [Squints.] The video games in the arcade, I expect, is not what you're thinking of. I come from an archaic time where we use actual stones to play games, so it's all very advanced to me.

I think it's safest if I don't tell anyone they're cute, don't worry. [Never going to mention that she told Klaus that Nobunaga was cute, definitely not.]

They died because I was so indecisive! I spent so long trying to figure out what the right decision was that by the time I decided what to do, the enemy already had the advantage - and then I was just reacting, and slow about that, too. I had to learn to analyse situations much faster, and make decisions even when I didn't have all the information, when waiting for it would be too costly. [She's very critical of her younger self. In her defence, she'd been thirteen at the time.]

[Ari shakes her head.] I think avoiding a demon troll who conquers universes sounds sensible, no? Not an enemy you want to risk making.

No, not the flatvid games, they're just... odd. [She might enjoy some of them if she tried, but she's wary. Not a very productive use of her time.] Do you mean throwing stones? Seeing who can throw furthest, or closest to a target? That can still be a good game. Not everything needs a lot of technology.

[Laughs.] You can call Klaus cute. Oh! And Ranmaru.

Ah, the perfectionism. I think that makes sense. Going from the tower to the ship. I wonder if it's lucky then I was in battle since I was six.

Perhaps. But what if he knows more about wormholes and how to jump universes and is the way out of here, but even he doesn't know it. And he's a very young demon troll. About the age of when you were going through those simulations I think.

Flatvid, yes. Right. [A small laugh and he shakes his head.] No. Throwing stones isn't a game. We have skipping stones, but that's different. I mean Go. And mancala. I played mancala with Eridan using bottlecaps and beer glasses. Board games. Chess. Shogi. Ah, there are also -- more elaborate simulations with the maps! That's what Ishida does. You draw up maps of all the battlefields you might encounter and use little markers for the troops and your advisers and generals play as the enemy.

If I say it to Klaus, he'll think he's allowed to say it back to me, and he's not. [Joking? Half-joking. Lieutenant Tayrey is not cute.]

Yes, the Tower was so different! It took me a while to get used to things. [Culture shock. Not quite as bad as on this ship, but then young Ari had wanted very much to be a spacer, and had been eager to adapt.] I'm not sure if lucky is the right word, because it would have been more fortunate if you'd lived in peace [and prosperity] when you were young. But it was certainly an advantage to you. You made it one.

[She chuckles.] If he knows about those things, you'll find them out from him, won't you? You don't need me for that.

[She listens to the list of games, and they don't really mean anything to her - until her eyes light up at the mention of map simulations.] I want to do that! [Ari grins.] Maybe not now. Maybe when we're finished with the Art of War project, we can do map simulations instead. We can take turns in using land maps and space maps. [This sounds like the best idea ever. Say yes, Oda!]

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