Lieutenant Ari Tayrey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astrogator) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
come_sailaway2022-11-23 06:04 pm
astrogator) wrote in come_sailaway2022-11-23 06:04 pm
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 :) )
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 :) )
no subject
"I don't think it was you. You've had to do some pretty hard things, learn to cut people out because there was no other way to survive. And I don't know how anyone does that. It can't be easy." A beat. "But I know how you make me feel...and I know...you didn't mean it. Just...sometimes there's things people are dealing with that we don't know about and we sometimes stumble right into it...and when we do, we have to realize that the conversational safeword is implied even if it's not said, yeah?"
They're just gonna cuddle him closer. "You make me feel like I'm enough, though. No one's ever made me feel like that. Like just being me is enough. Like it's a good thing. And I love you for that. I love your ambitions and your dreams. Just two traumatized idiots, remember? Sometimes we fuck up, but he fucked up, too. So you're not the only one. He shouldn't have said that to you. But we're learning together, okay?"
no subject
"You are enough. I love everything about you. I'm not glad you've been traumatized too," traumatized is a funny word. Like all these open and gushing wounds on hearts and heads. Invisible, but not to the future. Like wind, still strong and cutting. So powerful. "But I'm grateful you're my guide through it all." Nobunaga gently rubs his nose to Klaus before giving him a teeny tiny nervous kiss on the lips. "It's okay." He takes Klaus other hand, only just now realizing they were still holding hands and getting flustered, but it's okay! "He probably was worried about Crichton. Crichton is still kind of shy about sexy things. I can't even say I forgot that. I didn't. But you know me. I want to shoot social taboos and do the opposite. This is the price I must pay."
Kisses Klaus' nose tip, and slowly calms way the fuck down.
"At Sharky's Disco party, he called me his friend and said he loves me. I don't think he even remembered. He was very drunk. You Americans act like it's not a big deal, I think. But for me... it is. If I'm going to soon... acting too fast... it's because I don't know any other way. Life is so short in my time. Men live to about 50. Teyreys time is 3 times that. And besides... if it wasn't for Crichton, I wouldn't have met you. And I wouldn't have cared about your kind of music, only what I like. And I wouldn't have seen Muppets to understand the Lion King and velocipastor references. Or -- I wouldn't have tried so hard with Teyrey. She came the night Crichton died right before you and I went on our date."
He gently squeezes the hands, then moves off one hand to superfocus both hands on one, gently stroking and massaging it. "Crichton told me about astronauts, and space, and aliens, first day I was here. And I knew I wanted to explore all of that. And I remember how scary the first day is, and getting drunk with Crichton and talking about Halloween and space made it okay. So I wanted to do that for Teyrey."
Gently noms a knuckle! "He hugged me too, that bastard. I didn't know whether to stab him or throw him, but he's my friend I promised to protect, so I just froze. I will get stronger though, and surprise you both." Deep breath.
"I still don't deserve you. Or any of this," gentle oh so gentle strokes between Klaus' fingers, genuinely trying not to cry and failing a little. "I don't want to fuck up," heartbreakingly quiet whisper.
no subject
Klaus smiles a little at the story. "I'll do everything I can to make it easier for you," they say after a moment. "To help you acclimate a little bit." They just want to hug him even more. The little nom of his knuckle gets a very obviously faked owww followed by a laugh. "And I'm honestly surprised you didn't throw him. But I guess that's fair."
"You deserve me and so much more," he whispers back. "Sometimes fucking up is just...a part of learning and you will learn and you'll get better at knowing when to say something or not say something." He's just going to use his free hand to lightly tilt up Nobunaga's chin. Just wants to look him in the eyes. "I love you. And later, when we're all calmed down after a little sleep, we'll go together and apologize."
That being said, they're going to press a quick kiss against his lips because he deserves it and the sadness is too much for Klaus in this moment. "Also I'm gonna make him apologize to me for having see you cry and making me have to be more of an adult tonight. And we missed Go Fish! Honestly, his crimes are adding up! He better pay me in cookies and ice cream. Probably ice cream sandwiches." This is an attempt at levity.
no subject
Nobunaga burrows straight into Klaus' chest, dropping the fort for now and hugging back, and listening to all the words. "I love your voice. You should talk more." People probably tell Klaus the opposite, so here is Nobunaga out here being contrary.
As his chin is pulled up, he almost flinches at the idea of apologizing, but melts into the kiss, dragging it out a little longer.
"What? No!" Forceful tone but weak in volume. "You can't tell him that! That's too embarrassing!" But then he starts laughing and rubs his eyes with a fist. "Tomorrow we can play Go Fish, I want to learn. And he can owe you ice cream sandwiches. Because you are ice cream." Chu! "Wait. Go Fish isn't a children's game, is it?" He gently grabs Klaus cheeks and tugs! "And I don't care if people call me human. They're allowed to be wrong." Nobunaga plz.
no subject
The words give them a moment of pause. No one's actually ever said they liked his voice before. At least...they don't remember anyone ever saying that. If anything, people more often accused him of liking the sound of his own voice too much. "I'll talk as much as you like," he says quietly.
Kisses help everything. Obviously.
"Well, I am emotionally compromised because he made you cry, so he owes me some sort of payment for this." Klaus laughs before making a soft, complaining noise as his cheeks are tugged. "Owwwww. Let me gooo." They are gonna swat your hands, you demon brat! "It is MAYBE a children's game? I dunno. It's just the easiest game. Like poker is a lot and I don't remember the rules." Another light swat. "Babe. You realize that you're..." Nevermind. It's not worth it. "Totally hot, right?" Nailed it.
no subject
Nobunaga blushes when Klaus phrases it like that, made him cry, that's ridiculous, he didn't cry, right? Well he did. But it wasn't Arthur. It was Nobunaga's idiot brother, and all of Hell, and the past, and the fact that Nobunaga is such a mess, a traumatized mess, that Crichton was the first person to tell Nobunaga he loved him, so of course it meant a lot to him.
He lets go of Klaus' cheeks and laughs softly about poker. "Ah, is it because you want to win Go Fish?" Another laugh. "I'm what? Oh. Human?" He kisses Klaus deeply. "It is good you think so. That means my disguise is flawless, fufufufu." No, no, he knows. Even if he gets a bit confused sometimes. And WONDERS.
no subject
"I do like to win," they agree, laughing a little. He returns the kiss, drawing Nobunaga in a little closer. "Hottest disguise ever," he says, with a hint of a laugh.
Still...they glance around for a moment, focusing enough to lift them both up off the ground and find a place where Nobunaga can lie down and feel safe. There's a wall sort of close by, but he's gonna just casually steal a bunch of clothes for a makeshift bed and make Nobunaga hold them in his lap as they slowly move closer to the wall. So he can put his back against it.
Once they get there, Klaus casually pushes their boyfriend on the floor, peeking at them. It's not a long fall, but...still. "You good, babe?" Before lowering themself to the floor and starting to lay things down for them to sleep on while also making sure there's stuff to cover themselves with. "Okay. Get comfortable. And I'll tell you a story about something until you sleep."
no subject
The blush gets so much worse, but he likes it. This is so reversed. Nobunaga tries to imagine Kichou doing it, and it's nearly hysterical. Not ever. "Do we want to go sleep near Ari?" But he's comfy, and feels small, and he just curls up on Klaus to be a pillow. "You are so much stronger than you like to act," a small laugh, a kiss, he rubs their noses together.
"I command you to tell me a story," big talk, but he's going to fall asleep pretty instantly!
no subject
"Mmm. I think we want to sleep here." Klaus rolls their eyes at the comment about them being stronger than they like to act. "Ehhh. I'm okay, I guess." But he'll take the kiss and the cuteness. A cute little sad demon king. They're just gonna cuddle up to him a little more, snuggle together under the Tommy Bahama clothes.
Okay. Now he has to think of a story. He's never actually been good at storytelling. Like real storytelling anyway. So he tries to remember a Disney movie he hasn't talked about. Or like one of the bad movies. Since apparently spiders have been a thing, he's gonna go with Lavalantula.
"There was this tar pit in LA. That's Los Angeles. Well, Los Angeles is known for like fucking awful volcanos, you know? Like somehow all the volcano movies happen there. The tar pits are famous." Yeah. Totally. "But deep down in the deep beneath LA, there were giant tarantulas." A nod. "And the tarantulas were able to break free, crawling from beneath the surface. But they were no ordinary tarantulas. They could spit lava on people. So...you know...terrifying."
no subject
That was actually interesting enough he stayed awake through the first part, congratulations.
"I want a lavantula..." Of course he does.
Ironically this probably will give him less nightmares than usual. Because his nightmares about fire mountains, are not so much about volcanoes. Ironically. "How big were they?"
no subject
"That sounds dangerous for you, so I'm gonna veto that." Like a parent with a child that just wants everything. God. Why is he a grown up in this situation? At this point, Arthur might have to MAKE his ice cream sandwiches.
"Huuuge. Like bigger than people." Which is true. "Colton West..." A beat. "He's the main guy in the story. He's an actor." Yep. That's why this is a so bad it's good movie. "Well, he sees the lavalantulas and goes home to get his wife and son and tell them that they need to evacuate. Only...his son snuck out!" The drama. "So basically...his car gets destroyed by lava and he has to steal a bus to get to where he's going. Only a lavalantula jumps onto the bus and he stops fast, which makes it fall off!" Yes. He very clearly remembers details. "I think when he runs it over...it's like...bad cause lava? I don't remember." Mmhm. "Anyway. So he has to evacuate the WHOLE BUS...and then the bus EXPLODES!"
no subject
That's all very exciting, but Nobunaga falls asleep at the name Colton West. He might be dreaming of riding around on a giant lava spitting spider the size of a truck though. Yay explosions!
no subject
She takes a couple of steps closer. She's trying to be very quiet and not wake anyone, but Ari Tayrey is not a ninja. It's probably very obvious she has arrived.]
no subject
Mine.
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Still, she hesitates a moment longer than is necessary. It's brief, all the same, and then she goes over and sits by them, and slowly lies back into the space Klaus has made. And then she has Nobunaga's foot over her and it should feel awkward but instead Ari does feel safe, for real now.]
I'm sorry if I woke you. [Spoken very quietly.]
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[She's not cuddling, exactly, because she'd be far too embarrassed by someone else seeing, when she gets woken up to stand her watch, and because of home. She can imagine if Savitskaya could see this. Nobunaga would be getting a lecture about his behavior towards the young and impressionable and recently-qualified, because it'd never be seen as innocent. Even though it really was.
But she's there, and she's close, and she's staying.]