pleased to meet you

[sailmods]

CW: murder

[it is the morning of the 17th when the usual morning announcement is replaced with the sort of tentative, nervous tone that Friday takes on immediately before something insane happens.]

Good morning, passengers! It's, um... Well, I sure hope everyone had an interesting time on their shore excursion! The Captain sure did! In fact, he had such a good time, he's asked me to inform you all that, tonight, he's going to be hosting his usual captain's formal in the main dining room, but with a twist! This time, it's going to be a, um... victory party! For Natsuno! Because he won! [small laugh] And also to celebrate the opening of a new shop on the Promenade! Gosh, and that really is something to celebrate; I haven't seen that happen since he--

[LOUD STATIC NOISES]

-- Yes, well! The dress code will be cruise formal; everyone can find a new set of clothes in their cabin to celebrate the occasion! I-- Oh, right, we'll see you all tonight! 8PM sharp!

[the connection cuts off. today, for the first time that anyone can remember, Friday can't be found in the atrium. or any other room. smoke 'em if you got 'em.

at 8PM sharp, the door to the dining room swings open. it is mostly empty: the only tables left are a dozen or so under the main chandelier. there are name cards at each table setting, written in Friday's neat script; the seatings seem mostly random, except for everyone who was on the island, who will find themselves at a table with their killer and/or victim(s). except Natsuno, of course, whose name is displayed proudly at the head table, next to an unnamed place. once they are inside, all of them find themselves under the same sort of compulsion that they felt during the muster drill, and their legs will stop working until they have gone to their assigned seats.

Friday enters the room first, dressed up nicely, but with hunched shoulders and her hands clasped firmly in front of her. the door shuts behind her. she says nothing, and acknowledges no one, not even Natsuno, as she takes her spot behind the chair.

a few fashionable minutes pass. it starts as smoke pouring out from under the door, moving towards the table as it slowly solidifies into the form of... a rather normal-looking man. he sits, cross-legged, in the chair that Friday pulls out for him. he looks over the assembled crowd, visibly considering something... there is a flash of silver in the light, and the knife he'd had in his sleeve is across Friday's throat quicker than she can react, and she falls bonelessly to the ground, a spray of arterial blood across the table setting.]

There, perfect.

[he looks out at them again. and he smiles. the knife is placed back in his sleeve, and he holds his hands out, palms up.]

Well. Here's your chance. [he waves a hand lazily, and the compulsion keeping them seated fades like pins and needles.] Try not to embarrass yourselves.

Comments

[decohere]

"I think you are," Ava thinks his relative normalcy is quite fascinating. Yet she still feels like she barely knows much about him, Malcolm keeps so much to the chest. Conan had suggested he liked her, and he certainly is kind, but he hasn't been so responsive to her flirting attempts so it's probably time to back off. How much could a little kid really know about that sort of thing anyway.

But his comment on her dress brings out a pleased little smile, he's the only one that's commented upon it. "Not what I'd have picked out for myself, the color, but it is pretty."

[light_mischief]

Jade is not the first person to not appreciate Skulduggery's obvious inclinations, and he'll probably not be the last. It would probably sting more if he didn't suspect Jade's curiosity might be as voracious (perhaps as stupid) as his own. Still, it doesn't do either of them any good to pretend he's not about to do something extremely foolish.

The suggestion that he might hang around just to ensure Skulduggery doesn't fall head-first into an endless void is honestly appreciated, but most likely unnecessary. "There's no harm in asking. I can't imagine he'll actually agree, but nothing ventured, nothing gained."

That's not strictly true. Skulduggery has a feeling the captain will allow it regardless of the danger, but he'll likely be upfront about that danger beforehand. He straightens his jacket, stepping away from the wall. "I doubt it will be anything dramatic. At most, I'll lose a fingertip. People get along without those all the time." Right? Right.

[fonomena]

That suspicion certainly wouldn't be unfounded, now would it? The possibilities that lie in the way that void in the captain's head might react to all sorts of things are positively endless already--to say nothing of the questions surrounding just what it is, or why it exists in the first place...the more voracious a curiosity is, the more stupid it definitely tends to become.

But Skulduggery's still the one actually getting ready to put that thoroughly ill-advised curiosity to actual motion, here...so. Really, offering to at least try pulling him out, in one of the many potential possible ways this could go horribly wrong, feels like the least to offer at this point. The latter steps away from the wall, and Jade resists the urge to move alongside him in favor of a bit of a sigh instead.

"Nothing gained, perhaps, but hopefully nothing lost either. Losing a fingertip tends to be a painful experience no matter how irrelevant that fingertip might actually be--but you know that already, I'm sure." ...Really. Some form of 'be careful' sits at the tip of his tongue, but Jade does manage to at least bite back such a banal remark as that. Surely that should go quite without saying in itself. Still...instead, he shakes his head a bit, and settles for an utterly dry sort of recommendation in the end. "--If it does actually hurt him, do at least try to make it even more painful while you're at it, would you? For science, of course."

[light_mischief]

Skulduggery has a sinking feeling that nothing will actually hurt the captain, at least not in this form, but the sentiment is appreciated. All the same... if he could withstand Serpine's right hand, he's fairly certain he can withstand a little endless void. If he can't, he'll just have to hope that he's been interesting enough to be worth putting back together again.

"If he starts laughing maniacally, or if I begin wailing in some unknown language, that will be your cue that things have gone terribly wrong and I'm in desperate need of rescue." He tilts his head to accentuate his permanent grin, "Otherwise, I'll be back in just a tick."

This is most definitely a terrible idea, but Skulduggery still heads forth to do exactly what it sounds like he's planning to do. What's the worst that could happen, really?

[opheliac]

Ladies, first.

(and she is addressing to him and not her.)

[techniques]

[Reigen for his part actually takes it in stride rather than be offended, already examining the door as he starts checking his pockets for something he can potentially use to pick the lock with. He seems to find what he's looking for as he soon starts fiddling with the door.]

Give me a heads up if he starts looking in our direction.

[opheliac]

Aye aye. Just don't do it so loud, either.

(how can it when there's so much communion going on already? but as instructed, she stands near by with her hands on her hips -- watching over everyone. huh, there's a table flip over there.)

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm offers her a half smile. "You're interesting... I'm not sure what's interesting about me." Unfortunately for both of them, Ava's flirting efforts have been strange at best and Malcolm doesn't know how to interpret someone flirting with him anyway. Somebody help these idiots.

"It looks good with your skin tone," he replies. "What color would you have picked?"

[fonomena]

Skulduggery sets off to speak with the captain and--other things, no doubt, inevitably--and Jade can't even try to properly return that impression of a smile beyond the skeletal on Skulduggery's own part, right before breaking away. Quite against his own better judgment--against every nerve tense in his frame, as a newly well-respected associate proceeds to promptly take up the stress-inducing mantle where Clarke and Natsuno had left it--Jade settles his weight back against the wall at length, and finishes off the rest of the wine in his wineglass, attention a distracted thing flicking back and forth between counting the familiar faces slowly trickling out of the room and Skulduggery approaching the captain with some form of evident candor.

There's some talking, probably, though Jade can't exactly hear the conversation from this distance. The captain's good cheer does not visibly diminish. And then there's...less talking happening, and more touching of the skull void happening, really quite too prematurely for Jade's own spectating tastes. But of course, once that starts being a Thing, it's pretty much impossible to pay attention to much of anything else. The captain still doesn't seem to actually mind it, and Skulduggery is at least not laughing maniacally or wailing in tongues or disintegrating from hand outwards...but still. But still.

He dips in his bony fingers deep enough to start swirling around, and it's probably a very good thing that Skulduggery's field of vision is nothing but myriad soul tones, else he might have inadvertently spotted the face Jade sure can't help but make, beholding this. Doubtless his own emotional shrimp colors are skewing rather more utterly dubious and alarmed in equal measures, if only such a shrimp-color reference legend actually existed.

Nobody will ever know how truly sorely tempted Jade is to get another glass of wine, after Skulduggery finally pulls his hand back out of the captain's skull. --Intact? Probably intact? Hard to say from here...no, too much anxious curiosity keeps Jade right where he is near the door with his empty glass, and by the time Skulduggery finally breaks away from the captain's company Jade's given up on leaning upon the wall yet again. At least the latter's moving for the entrance, and this time Jade's moving to fall into step beside him as soon as he can, one last glance cast back the captain's way before--no, far more important matters to attend, here and now. He cannot possibly hope to try fielding any kind of interview of his own at all, tonight...

But had Skulduggery gleaned anything from his own rhetorical captain sit-down, for that matter? Besides...you know....

Yeah, let's just tackle the distressingly huge elephant in the room right now, before they're even entirely out of it-- "You really did just about stick your entire hand in there, didn't you? Your capacity for self-preservation is impressively in the negatives, I must say." Warranted or no, the judgment is plain both in tone and expression, on Jade's end...even if, pretty much immediately after this vote of utter disapproval: "--All your fingers accounted for, there? How are you feeling?"

[light_mischief]

Skulduggery is all smiles on his way out, without so much as a backward glance as he heads for the doors. Jade filling the spot beside him is a welcome addition because, obviously, he is bursting at the seams with new information and restless to get it out there. The fact that Jade is deciding to use this time to judge him? Water off a duck's back.

Alright, it's a bit embarrassing to have it happen before they're even out of earshot of the banquet room. Thankfully, his poker face hides it well. "Hardly my entire hand," he replies, although he waits just until they're outside the doors to hold up his hand and wiggle his fingers at Jade. "All digits present and accounted for. No tingling sensation, no lingering vertigo or..." Whatever that was. Skulduggery trails off for just a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. He'd gotten entirely sidetracked there, honestly and truly blindsided.

Still. Nobody can say he hasn't come away with some interesting tidbits. "It wasn't what I was expecting to happen," he offers as an excuse for his momentary pause. And, to prove he's in fairly the same mood as he always is, he chuckles and asks, "Would you like to judge me a bit more, or shall I get straight on to what happened when I touched the void?"

[fonomena]

Is he all smiles in the genuine sense or the skeletal sense, though? --Well, not that it's terribly relevant one way or another, here. Besides, look, Jade has been about as readily bursting at the seams with judgment over Skulduggery's choices as Skulduggery's bursting with information about now--Jade just manages to get his bit in first, you know. Rest assured the curiosity on his own part hasn't actually diminished any, but really though.

"Practically your entire hand," Jade interjects, in an exasperated sort of way, unable to quite let the judgment go until this particular semantic's properly ironed out. "Nearly down to the palm at the very least, I'm quite sure that's over half! Values over half ought to be rounded up, in these matters."

And alright, so maybe it's more of a vent in lieu of now being too far out of the room to actually get more wine at this point. But anyway! They're through the doors, and Skulduggery's holding up his hand, and all those fingers in question are still there...

So, between this and the fairly stable bent of Skulduggery's mood at present, Jade's own disapproving tension might finally be easing somewhat. They drift further into the hall as Skulduggery works his way through something of an assessment of his recent...experience. Because it sounds like it was an experience, even if not a harmful one--now doesn't it? With any sign of injury or ailment finally more or less off the table, Jade does find himself letting the curiosity rise back up to supersede his own incredulity soon enough.

"--Still, I suppose I've had my judgment fill for now. If you're amenable to speaking of it so soon afterwards....what did happen when you touched the void, then? Were you...able to actually divine something of the captain's headspace, perhaps?"

You know, his thoughts and feelings, or something like that? Jade's first very tentative guess here, now that "potentially lethal and inexorable" have been gingerly scratched off the list (where animate skeletons are concerned, anyway...)

[light_mischief]

"You're welcome to continue judging me later, if you'd like," Skulduggery chuckles. He has the good sense to be slightly embarrassed by his open display, although maybe it's more over the optics than the actual action itself. He'd been the one urging caution around the captain, and now that slightly higher-than-average horse has been thoroughly cut off at the knees. Sort of like what would happen if a horse were to stick its hoof in the head void!

"I think it's best to try and explain it now, while the memory's fresh." It's not as though he can simply experience something so baffling and not immediately tell somebody. "Fortunately, there was no psychic warfare involved, which had been my biggest concern. Unfortunately, there were no flashes of insight into his thoughts or motives."

He waits until they're a bit further away, maybe out of the larger population of fleeing dinner guests, to go into further detail. "I did ask if it would be harmful." Sort of. "He confirmed that it was caustic to human flesh, but not bone." As far as he knew. "He also told me that I would, and I quote, 'See shrimp colors," which obviously, I didn't understand. I took a calculated risk then and there to find out."

And he pauses there, for a moment, trying to figure out how to best describe it. "The world was leeched of all color, except for the guests, who were... many, many colors, all at once. The colors supposedly represent emotions, and the captain... was lacking in that department. He was just a black... shape."

[decohere]

Strange at best is the best she can manage. Maybe some guys are into that. She's just getting the impression Malcolm isn't.

Her skin tone really isn't something Ava takes much into consideration when dressing herself, but she glances down and has to admit it's a nice... contrast? But Ava often defaults to her comfort colors. "Grey?" Which admittedly isn't interesting or exciting or the most flattering. Which is exactly the point, she doesn't like standing out.

"I wish I could sit next to you," Ava frowns, because try as she might there's no overcoming the assigned seating.

[fonomena]

Rather conflicting optics to be sure, there, though it's not exactly as if Jade can't actually relate to the course of action Skulduggery had chosen in the end. Caution around the captain is still very arguably the most prudent course of action to take by far, but...on the other hand, if he hadn't done what he did--they probably wouldn't exactly be talking about shrimp colors about now, would they?

They end up drifting into a connecting hall from the main one leading to the dining room at length, the sound of steps and disconcerted voices attached to their fellow scattering passengers diminishing with the moderate distance rendered from the crowd. Jade finds his own steps drawing slowly to a halt for a moment once Skulduggery starts speaking once more--less because he thinks they're sufficiently out of the immediate vicinity of the captain just yet necessarily (though would they be anywhere on this ship, really?), but more on account of the information now rising to light. Yes, judgment sure is promptly being put to the wayside for now, a slight frown settling on Jade's features as he takes it all in.

Caustic to human flesh, but...not bone? Why the disparity? A question already being tucked away for later mental review. Besides, following that--

"...Emotions?" Honestly, of all the potential results to sticking one's hand in a void-space headwound that Jade might have tried to guess, something like this is entirely out of left field. Why does it only apparently affect one's visual field? And why is the 'sight'...like that? Emotions...

Truth be told. There's an extremely brief moment in which the most utterly inane sort of question flickers up in Jade's thoughts--namely whether he had many of those emotional colors himself--but it's a very stupid and completely useless sort of thing to wonder about, as the sensible rest of his brain promptly points out before just as immediately squashing that thought in its tracks. (Skulduggery likely did not see any difference in Jade from anybody else in the room, anyway. He may have a bit of a constant disconnect from his own feelings as a general rule, but that doesn't exactly mean he doesn't have any of them at all....unlike the captain, apparently--)

"...I haven't the faintest idea what such colors would have to do with shrimp either. But that's...very interesting." Jade's glance falls back down to the hand Skulduggery had dipped into the emotional-sight portal in question, as if staring at those bony fingers hard enough again might yet yield some other hint as to just what all this might mean, exactly. There's...certainly a few implications to choose from. "If he was the sole black thing in the room, under such sight, I suppose 'lacking' would truly be the term for it. --Perhaps that's what he's drawing from us all here, then, those colors. Or at least what they might represent. But why...?" Hmmm. "What makes him the exception, then? If he were ever human before, this would imply that's certainly no longer the case. ...I wonder why he let you see that at all, actually..."

[light_mischief]

Jade can see his hand perfectly well, but Skulduggery has stubbornly decided not to look at it again, at least until he's safely back in his cabin. There, he'll check more thoroughly for damage; while he expects to confirm his senses, there's still the lingering worry that he's letting his pride miss a more serious injury. It wouldn't be the first time.

"That's exactly what he's doing. He's taking from us the things that make us who we are. And the only reason he ever gives me is that he wants more power. 'There's a peak to every mountain.'" Sadly unsurprising. But is reaching the summit really worth all of this? "As for why he let me..." The thumb of the offending hand taps against the first knuckle of his index finger, subconsciously already searching for fissures in the joint. "He probably wanted to see what would happen, just the same as me." He chuckles. "Not-so-great minds think alike."

[fonomena]

Well, here's hard confirmation for the 'passengers as fuel' theory multiple people have bandied about since Pirate Jenny's visit that while back. Hardly a happy confirmation, to say the very least, but in this way they do have something of an idea of the nature of that siphoning now, even if the how might remain up in the air. ...Simultaneously, there's now hard confirmation as to exactly what the captain's motives are too, and...it is unsurprising, in the most disappointing sort of way. Jade sighs the moment he hears that bit.

"So, power for power's sake after all." As they'd mutually guessed but hoped against to begin with, in that initial speculation they'd shared at the wall in the dining room earlier. Oh, Jade surely does hate when worst-case-scenario theories turn out to be correct in this sort of way...

But that last bit there does have his attention shifting back up, from Skulduggery's hand to the features of his skull instead. "Not exactly as if your own curiosity's being sourced from some form of omnipotent boredom, though," Jade points out wryly. He can pick up on that very slight bent of self-deprecation, there, couched in dry chuckling though it might be, and this feels like something that bears outlining aloud. "The captain remains entirely disparate from yourself and most any other normal person in that sort of sense, at the very least. ...But it's true that you're a rather unique sort of case, most likely, where interaction with that void might be concerned. I do wonder if the nature of your current existence was a factor in being able to acquire that...'sight', the way you did, when you made contact like that."

Whatever it is holding Skulduggery together at present--giving him awareness, and perception of his surroundings--is likely not exactly conventional. He doesn't even have flesh eyes with which to behold the world as the rest of them do normally, does he? The consummate scientist part of Jade is already poring over the implications of this sort of variable...and so he can't help but wonder, in turn, if the captain had perhaps viewed this opportunity in the same sort of way.

"If it's harmful to flesh I'd imagine no other human's ever been able to give him particularly lucid feedback on the matter, assuming similar attempts were made in the past..." But Jade pauses, then, before shaking his head; a humorless sort of smile falls upon his features. "...Perhaps you've the privilege of being different from most, in that sense, as far as he's concerned. --Not a terribly enviable position to be in, I'd imagine..."

[prodigalmess]

"Hmm." Grey wouldn't be a good color on her. It would wash her out and make her look invisible, but he's sure that's what she wants. She's unsure, and she likes to be able to hide if she has to. "I think you would look good in an emerald green or royal blue as well," he says.

"You don't have to because I'm getting up." He's seen enough. Even if they can't leave, they don't have to watch the tableau before them. "Wanna take some laps around the room?"

Malcolm offers her his arm.

[light_mischief]

"Mmm, you're probably right." After all, Skulduggery's boredom is more likely to manifest in reckless, short-term satisfaction. Whatever all of this is, it doesn't appeal to him at all. "On all fronts, really. It's likely that anyone else would have been unable to stand the pain. Ahhh, maybe somebody inorganic? Like Maximilien? But, then again, maybe not." It would be worth the investigation, although he doubts there will ever be a second shot at somebody opening a hole in the man's head.

It's better, in the end, to assume that anyone could have asked and been granted the same permission. The only reason it went so well for him is because, as Jade says, his state of being has afforded him some unnatural resilience.

He's only mildly dripping with sarcasm when he says, "I do so enjoy being special."

[fonomena]

The name is unfamiliar, though apparently attached to somebody 'inorganic'; Jade's stowing it away for reference, should he ever bump into the person in question somewhere down the line. He's sidetracked from asking anything further about it, anyway, absorbed as he still is in the many implications now being unfolded here--between the captain's utter bizarre state of soul affairs, and...Skulduggery's 'special' status, which sure is being taken with about as much enthusiasm as could be expected. There probably ought to be some credit given to Skulduggery about now, really, for keeping the sarcasm only mildly dripping; Jade chuckles dryly in turn.

"This is probably what the definition of 'unpleasant flattery' truly looks like, isn't it? Perhaps you'd have preferred it weren't pointed out quite this bluntly, but considering how likely it actually is to be true...it'd probably be disingenuous of me to apologize, too, at this point. But you do have my word that I'm not even the slightest bit jealous, I must say."

To hold the captain's attention for any reason at all is probably not a good thing, objectively...even if it does seem to open up opportunities for more information in these sorts of ways, too. Talk about a nasty sort of tightrope to walk...

"At the very least," Jade continues, after a slight and pensive sort of pause between them, the wry humor falling away from his tone at length in favor of thoughtfulness, "we can safely assume, through this train of thought, that this is a discovery as novel to passengers as it is to the captain--acquiring this sort of perception, and surviving the experience well enough to clearly tell the tale afterwards. It's information that may yet prove to be very useful for our own purposes, somewhere down the line...though I'm afraid I cannot draw any specifically useful connections to the details myself. My areas of expertise do not deal in souls whatsoever."

No for a lack of trying, of course, but--not that anyone here needs to know that. Not like all said trying had ever mattered in the end, anyway; ultimately, he'd never gotten close. Jade shrugs his shoulders, slightly. "But this would almost certainly be worth telling to anyone who does have such expertise..."

--Though he trails off around this point, glance flicking down the hall behind them in the approximate direction of the dining room. The racket of departing passengers is starting to quiet, now, but it does occur to thought that they're...not exactly out of the range of certain kinds of eavesdropping yet, considering they're not actually within a cabin at present. "...Something to discuss more extensively at a later point, either way. I'd guess you're feeling about as drained as I am at the moment, if not more! Investigating a void must be a rather tiring affair, surely...?"

[decohere]

"Oh," Ava responds. She doesn't own anything in either of those colors, but she does make a mental note to keep an eye out. There's supposed to be a new store, after all.

Maybe he feels restless, being a literal captive audience. Trapped and not much to do, other than make a fool of yourself in front of everyone. "Sure," Ava agrees, taking the offered arm. "Wait, hang on," and she removes her heels.

[light_mischief]

"The whole night has been exhausting," Skulduggery says, somewhat more wearily than he'd normally let on. "Between Darcy, the captain, and the looming threat of crowd crush, I think I'll be ready for a few days of absolutely nothing happening at all."

He's going to have to deal with Darcy sooner or later; she'd been clearly demoralized from her attempt on the captain, and as much as he'd like to say he told her so, he'd really rather make sure she can overcome the blow to her confidence. He also has a few messages to send, to let those who might be interested know what happened.

"If I'm right in assuming you know the young lady who just opened a hole in the captain's head, I hope you'll make sure she's alright. No telling if she accidentally brushed across it or something." That would probably not be good. Then again, they probably would have heard her react. Probably.

[prodigalmess]

She's right that he's restless. Malcolm feels as if there's nothing he can do about this situation right now. Magic and all things supernatural are beyond his abilities. He's going to need some time to think.

He looks down as she removes her heels. "Are they uncomfortable?" he asks.

[fonomena]

"We can surely only hope," Jade agrees, mirroring the fairly audible weariness on Skulduggery's part with a dryly matching sort of his own. ...They're still too close to the vicinity of the dining room for the slight tension to ease out of his shoulders just yet--present ever since the very beginning of that paltry excuse of a dinner party, really--and something of a mild headache is honestly beginning to form at this point, to doubtlessly persist for the rest of the night as time is spent mulling over all this new information later. ...Still, it would seem they've weathered the worst of some kind of storm here? For now, anyway...

But then Skulduggery makes his assumption, and--well, actually, it shouldn't be so surprising at all. (Because it was pretty obvious, really, all things considered...) All the same, something vaguely startled flickers across Jade's features anyhow, before settling back into a wry sort of smile. He nods, a bit. "You do assume right--we're fairly acquainted...and truthfully, I can't even claim to be at all shocked it'd be her pulling a stunt like that. We first met when she broke into my room and punched me in the face, several weeks ago..."

--And here, Jade holds up a hand pretty much as soon as that verbalizes, very aware of exactly how that sounds out of context-- "It's a bit of a story! For another time, perhaps. Or maybe you can snoop about and unearth the finer details for yourself, sometime." Humor manages to tint the words, quite despite himself. "We are on fairly decent terms nowadays, at least, which is the main thing. She didn't act like she was injured...and Natsuno didn't seem too concerned in that sort of way either, but. Never hurts to check on these things."

Ah, stubborn teens. Truly, where would they be without them? "Similarly, I do hope you're able to touch base in a somewhat more peaceable way with your own young friend soon..." Jade's shoulders roll in a slight shrug, before he tucks his hands idly into the pockets of his suit pants and sighs. "...I suppose we ought to part ways for now--leave you to some well-earned rest after the very productive night you've had, hm? Or at least, that's what I'll very optimistically assume you're going to do." Though they both know that in reality, neither of their brains (metaphorical or otherwise) are getting any actual relaxation time in anytime soon...