come_sailaway | And everything I stir into my tea, comes back to conquer me

Entry tags:

And everything I stir into my tea, comes back to conquer me

Who: Ava and whoever

When: Early June

Where: Various

Summary: More Cute! More Fun! Pre-camping ponderings. Possibly some thievery!

Warnings: Currently none

i. NOT TOO BAD - (closed to Ed)
Ava narrows her eyes suspiciously as she reads over the changed details of the new yet shamelessly the same sign up sheet. Is it really that simple? Or is it just a false sense of security to lure more people in, fall for the same trick twice. It's got to be different, right? Somebody's been texting that annoying call for unity letter around, and she doubts they'd be given much a chance to attempt pulling it off.

She traces her finger over where she'd written her name before, now covered in a scribble, and ponders whether she ought to put her name back on the list.

"What do you think?" she asks, aware of the presence of somebody nearby, turning her glance and, oh, it's Blackbeard. She smiles.

ii. DOOM SCROLLING - (ota)
Since the new sign up sheet went out, Ava periodically checks back to see who else has added their name, how many more are willing to chance the excursion. If it's anyone she knows, what their plans might be to prepare.

"Are you worried?" she asks, either to somebody that's just signed up, or somebody that's instead turned away.

iii. INTO THE WOODS?
Back in the library, Ava is flipping through books that might take place in a forest, involves camping. Mostly she's going by covers, as much as she knows the old saying not to judge a book by one. A lot of them seem to be horror stories, but there's plenty of fairy tales that take place in the woods as well.

This really isn't getting her anywhere at all, and she gives a frustrated sigh at her growing pile, resigning herself to the fact they'll be eaten by bears or sacrificed in some weird ritual and there's nothing she can really do to prepare. The book in her hands gives her a confused pause though.

"You ever go on vacation?" she asks whoever else in the library.

iv. FINDERS KEEPERS? - (ota)
Other passengers seem to keep getting all sorts of neat stuff, and Ava has no idea why all she's gotten so far is some giant Hello Kitty. Is she doing something wrong? Is she supposed to want things a bit harder? Does whoever summon those gifts simply not like her? ~~Is her player just too lazy?~~

Whatever, Ava knows one whole way to get what she wants. Stealing. She'll lurk about in common areas and the hallways, invisible, watching to see if anyone's got anything neat worth taking. Better not turn your attention, or she's going for it.

Alternatively, she might find another reason to spy on your character. Are they looking suspicious? Up to anything odd? Having a hushed conversation? (Feel free to even link to another thread that she's welcome to come spy on!)

v. KNOCK KNOCK - (open to cr or their roommates?)
It's the middle of the night, which is when Ava tends to be most active, most bored, and most likely to seek out somebody to talk to. She knocks quietly at a cabin door, dressed in pajamas and fuzzy slippers and holding a mug of tea.

vi. STEWING - (ota)
There's an uncomfortable awareness that the population of the ship is growing. Which has made the use of the hot tub a bit more competitive, and other areas of the ship far more busy as well. There's less and less place to simply be alone and undisturbed. But she catches the hot tub empty at some point and slips in, a piña colada in one hand and one of those Baby-Sitters Club books in another. Yes, the pages are a bit damp. No, she doesn't care.

If anyone choosing to join her is somebody she knows, Ava will give a small "hey" in welcome. If it's somebody she doesn't, she'll simply glare over the top of the book.

vii. WILDCARD - (ota) HIT ME UP!

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"It's alright. I'm already dead," Steven replies with a big grin. "But-- I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to..." It's just. She has really bad taste in books. He couldn't help but be a little bit judgemental.

"Should we read a book?" he offers, noting with interest the way she looks at the forest spirit. His gaze keeps travelling downwards as he studies the bunch of fairy tales scattered on the floor. Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood... Oh dear. Hopefully the elves and all the single ladies trying to put A Ring on it won't throw her for too big of a loop.

"How's about. We sit down. And we'll read one of these classics together?" Is it presumptuous if he does the voices?

Ava wants to reassure him that he'll probably die several more times before he's gone for good, but whatever. Books are more interesting. And the tween camp tale is not her usual tastes, just something that stood out to her and she has no intention on defending it. She will definitely read it just to spite him. Later. In the hot tub.

"This was just research," Ava kicks a copy of Goldilocks aside, revealing a rather obvious horror story beneath it.

But the offer to read together is... well, she enjoyed it when Stede read her Watership Down the other evening. Even if her choice in children's stories seemed to disturb him as well. "Fine, but only because you owe me."

He gestures to her, sweeping his hand across the space between them. "Have a seat, mademoiselle." He sits down next to her, not too close but still within reach, and sets his own books down to the side, careful not to disturb whatever arrangement she's got here. He treats Goldilocks with a kind of reverence that she clearly doesn't, picking it up and stacking it neatly on top of the other kid's books she's got.

In amongst her spread of proper horror novels and horror because of how bad the writing is, Steven finds a few of his namesake's works scattered in the spread. He's not sure that he's going to be able to sleep if he reads Pet Sematary to her, even if he does do all the voices, puffs out his chest and acts out some of these scenes as dynamically as he can manage whilst still staying seated next to her. But a promise is a promise so he opens the cover and clears his throat, opening the cover and holding the book out between them. Actually he didn't have his reading glasses on him when he died, so this is going to be a bit of a struggle. But holding it at arm's length, sharing the book with her, he can just about manage.

"I'll warn you now, love - and I'm not taking the piss, I promise. This book is very scary. We might not sleep tonight. Are you sure you want to read this?" If she's going to read it anyway, they might as well suffer together.

You should see what she did to the copy of Battle Royale if you think Godilocks got it bad. But the ghosts put everything back so she's not overly concerned about keeping anything neat and tidy.

Ava sits with a bit of a giggle at being addressed in such a way, and his warning earns another, fingers pressed over her lips almost apologetically for not taking it quite seriously. Well-meaning and misguided as the rest of their interaction has been, honestly. It's almost endearing how wrong he's got her.

But she can play along, drawing her legs up into the chair to tuck beneath her. "I hardly sleep anyway, it's fine."

"Alright. Well stop me at any time, alright?" He probably should have brought at least some water, or taken this out with them and gone to the buffet area where they can snack or drink and read at the same time, but since he's committing there and then, he figures they'll just keep going until one or the both of them want to stop.

While he does try and keep his voice down, he reads loud enough for her to hear, and unconsciously he ends up dialling up the Queen's English element of his accent, enunciating syllables he's usually too lazy to pronounce. Just a force of habit when he's actually reading text rather than just blurting out whatever comes to mind.

He can manage Louis's and Jud's voices just fine, and to a certain extent Rachel's, but it's a little hard for him to do the children's voices. That doesn't stop him from trying though. Steven doesn't try and do any jump scares on her, but he does vary his pitch and his tone, and he doesn't shy away from the gruesome details either. It's probably entertaining in its own right, and not necessarily in a good way, it's more like someone who's socially awkward and not confident but just throws self-consciousness to the wind and goes for it anyway. But he's a shameless nerd at least, and hopefully it's not too terrible of a slog for her to watch him take it seriously.

Her arm curls over the arm of the chair, her chin settling into the crook of it to properly watch. He seems to get quite into the whole storytelling, gives Ava the impression he's the type that's just enthusiastic to share and he hadn't intended to offend. But there's that element of somebody that knows a lot, and maybe underestimates the fact that others may too. A proper nerd, really.

She's rather fascinated by the shameless performance, no idea how much time is actually passing or how far into the book he's willing to go. Ava punctuates the more gruesome moments with soft gasps and oh my gods, and, yes ends up giggling through some of the more over the top parts. "No why!" Ava finally exclaims, hand over her mouth.

"That's just nasty."

"Yeah. Imagine moving and just-- having to deal with all that awful," Steven mutters with a shudder. She can possibly look forward to murderous zombies in their next excursion into the forest is the morale of that story.

"Do you like it? This man is known for a lot of his horror stories. I'm sure you'll find a few more of his works in and around here." Although they might be slightly less entertaining if Steven doesn't read them aloud.

She's definitely expecting something creepy and terrifying indeed. Thanks for fueling that fire.

"Oh, might he have one about a murderous clown, or a girl with fire powers? Or perhaps a haunted hotel?" Yes she knows Stephen King, but he's such a prolific writer that she can't claim to have read all his works and this one she'd only heard by name before. It's just a bit amusing to her, that he's acting like it's some indie band that nobody has ever heard of when he's one of the most famous authors of their time. (She can only assume they're from roughly the same era, because of it.)

"Yes, I liked it."

"Oh! A fellow connoisseur!" Colour him surprised and pleased and dear god, why is she reading those children's and young adults' titles when she could be enjoying better books? Honestly...

"Have you heard of London?" A surprising number of people on this boat haven't, and it's left him feeling rather confused. Like, he's not presumptuous enough to think that everyone knows where or what London is, but. England at least. There was an empire and everything you know, not that long ago.

"You sound like you're from England." But Steven didn't want to get his hopes up in case she tells him she's from Moomooland or whatever.

Ava laughs lightly, it's not quite an apology but she'll take it.

And she understands his need to ask, because yes, people here tend to be from all sorts of strange times and places. Constants in her own world, things that seem to define history, don't even exist in others. She's heard of countries from others that simply aren't on any of her maps. And poor Undine is from The City, the last one on her planet...

"Yes, fog and all. I was born in Argentina," Ava tells him, sitting up a bit straighter in her chair. "But my parents were from England. And then I was smuggled across the border and raised in America, after they died. So I'm not much from anywhere, really."

Anything excited he could have exclaimed about wanting to go to Argentina, the things he would want to do there and all that are muted by the revelation that her parents had passed away.

"Oh. I'm sorry, love." He purses his lips and lowers his head. "I don't think that makes you not much from anywhere... but I am sorry to hear that. Do you... remember much about them?" he asks gently, tilting his head a bit as he tries to gauge her reaction, not really sure if this topic is going to be off-limits or whether she'd want to talk.

"Don't have any records or identification to prove I'm from anywhere, so I may as well not be. Earth. Year 2018. Last known location, San Francisco," she's not overly attached to it. Mostly she just misses Bill. And wishes he never shows up here at all.

"I remember that I loved them. That's enough, I think. I was five, so I've had plenty of time to get over it." Except the part she hasn't, her existence is a constant reminder of the accident. "Sorry, I'm telling you about my dead parents and you don't even know my name. I'm Ava."

"Oh, love, you don't need bits of paper for that. I mean, I don't either." But his situation is... a wee bit complicated, innit? He doesn't really want to get into it too much.

"2018? Wot?" That throws him for a bit of a loop. It has him actually scratching his head. That-- well alright. Other aspects of this boat doesn't really make sense. Might as well throw time travel into the mix.

"Right. Ye'. Of course. Pleasure. I'm Steven Grant. With a V, not with a PH like that bloke," he gestures over to the horror novel.

"I was uh... in Egypt. 2024 though. Not really a holiday, before you ask. But parts of it was nice."

"I rather not call myself American, it's difficult to want to identify with those that kept me captive," Ava stares at the back of her Baby-Sitters book a bit more intently. "And I might have relatives in England, but we've never met, and it's best we don't."

Something about that name sounds... familiar, but of course it does. It sounds like every other dude's name because they all tend to recycle the same dozen or so. She's not thinking of low-budget adventure films at the moment.

Until he mentions Egypt. "Ah, tomb raiding were you? What's the future like? Has the housing market managed to crash yet?" She's so blissfully unaware.

"Well in 2024 you can call yourself whatever you like, but honestly, housing market talk - are you sure you're not British?" Steven jests with a little laugh.

"We discovered a tomb, oh yes we did! I was-- definitely on track to being the most famous Brit. Other than the Queen." Hopefully they'll waive any charges they were planning for crocodile goddess kaiju vs the great pyramids incident. If anything, nasty Big Bird should be footing the bill.

"The uhhhhh... right. 2018. Ummmh..." He tilts his head and isn't really sure how to gently let her down about everything going to shitters.

"Something catastrophic happened, not long after 2018. Half the population was-- gone for five years. Just a random half. Lots of accidents. Families torn apart. We were lucky, we weren't-- snapped." He's so used to just referring to Marc as his +1 that the word 'we' just slips out.

"We were rebuilding and things were looking to get better for a bit. And then everyone just-- came back one day. But people had moved on, you know? Mourned and accepted the new normal and remarried and-- moved into unoccupied houses and all that. And now we're back to all hating each other again. House prices went up higher than ever, I'm afraid. Least of our problems though..."

"Maybe I'll just identify as nothing at all, then," Ava insists. She feels no real connection to much of anywhere.

Ava wants to ask whether there were mummies or such in the tomb, but she rather leave the intrigue of mystery rather than hearing about a boring archeological dig or whatever.

But what she's expecting of the future, well... yeah, she's heard a share of apocalyptic stories from other passengers. What makes her uncomfortable is just how close to the end of the world her own year apparently was.

"Where did they even go in the first place?" Ava looks rather puzzled by the whole and then everyone else came back aspect though. Snapped?

"Ah, I can imagine the chaos that would cause," Ava frowns, already overwhelming her brain with all the various what ifs and legal battles and disputes. "Sounds like your world's in a rather sorry state. Mine's bound to fall apart eventually, what with all the super powered idiots running about."

"Nowhere I think. They just-- blipped out of existence."

Steven inwardly cringes at her disdain for super powered idiots, wringing his hands a little anxiously. Marc kind of fits the bill, even though he doesn't really think of himself as super anything. They probably had a hand in bringing everyone back, whether that worked out or not. But people who could change the world for the better - really make a difference with the kind of resources and abilities in no time at all - devoting their lives to weaponising themselves is... not the choice Steven would have made, personally.

Maybe that makes him a bit of a hypocrite. But he's just part of one struggling's man attempt to do the right thing. He has enough on his plate just trying to get Marc through everyday in one piece.

"Anyway. Not much we can do about it from here. All we can do is be good to each other and keep a look out, make sure everyone's alright."

Huh. Sounds eerily like what Ava fears will happen to her. Except less of a blip and more of a painful rip.

She notices the anxious habit, because it's one of her own, and wonders what it is that she said that's causing such a reaction. Or if it's just the subject in general.

So when Steven changes it, she goes along. "I don't have a whole lot of practice in being alright," Ava admits. "But. This place is much nicer than what I'm used to. Have you tried the buffet?"

"Yeah! They have decent vegan options, which was surprising." He was expecting to wander through a whole array of food he couldn't eat before getting to a tiny little vegetarian spread that he can only pick half the things from. So he was pleasantly surprised that there were decent enough options to fill a plate.

"Are there any other interesting places on the ship, d'you know? Or anywhere I could-- buy some some extra clothes, perhaps?"

Ah, perhaps not the individual to express appreciation to for the daily lunch plate she piles high with shrimp. "I'm happy for you and your quinoa," Ava says with as much sincerity as she can manage. Because being vegan means you can't even eat cheese, isn't it? Or add too much honey to your tea? Couldn't be her.

"There's all sorts of interesting places, depending on what you're looking for. But the Bahama Mamas is your best bet for cruise appropriate attire." Because she truly cannot remember the actual name of the store. And she's suspicious of whoever Tommy might be.

That gets a small laugh out of him. Not many people can throw shade on his diet so gently. But seeing as the last time he had a piece of steak everything went crazy, he's not touching meat unless he has no other options left available to him.

"Mostly just books and a fresh change of clothes for the moment. Some toiletries maybe. Emergency supplies. Maybe a-- place with weapons." That's more for Marc's peace of mind though. Steven is more likely to accidentally blow off half his face or drop a knife through his left foot than to know what to do with any of that.

"Is it quite dangerous on this ship, d'you know?"

"That's hardly the weirdest diet onboard, there's a vampire that sips blood out of a mug. So." And she won't mention the time Claudia dragged Friday's lifeless body underneath a table to feed. Hey, she figures eating preferences are quite a personal thing. She used to have her meals all prepared under a rather strict diet for her with no real room to be picky about it, so she's not about to tell somebody else how they should be eating.

Ava nods along, because she knows where to get the clothes and toiletries, wonders how this bookish nerd might define emergency supplies, and then raises her eyebrows at weapons. "Ah, I'm not really one for weapons. Some people came with their own. Some have received them... as gifts. But I think the only weapons you can get outside of that are limited to your own creativity." She's pretty sure you could easily take somebody out with the cord to the karaoke mic, for example.

"It can be. We've had a visiting pirate turn into a giant hurricane. And a particularly gruesome dinner show. But most of the death has been off the ship." Is killing people vegan, Ava wonders.

"A wot?" Steven seems alarmed by the revelation, shrinking back a bit and picking at the hem of his shirt nervously. Is it hypocritical to be judgy? He's not really judgy, he's just-- hoping to make it off this boat in one piece, you know.

"Have they attacked anyone?" Should he be prepared? Does garlic even work? Will he get in trouble for breaking the furniture if they're stuck in a rut?

"Wait, you mean like-- the excursion into the forest? Do you mean like, hunting deer, or...?"

"A mug. You know, like a teacup but sturdier." She knows what you meant.

And sighs. "Nobody not already dead, that I know of?" But there's a lot going on that she doesn't hear about. So maybe! Vampires gotta do what they gotta do, in the shadows and all that.

"Sure. That's why I was doing research," Ava gestures to all the forest-themed books. "Hard to know what to expect. Some people are bracing for it to be like last time. Calling for unity and all that, to not hurt each other."

"No I-- know what a mug is... it's also a face." Actually he knows what a vampire is too. He just-- he thought he might've misheard.

"Aren't we all already dead?" Steven whispers almost conspiratorially. Oh no. What if he's on the menu? He doesn't want to get bitten and sucked off! That's terrible! It sounds painful. What an awful way to die die?

"What happened last time? I signed up for something-- I thought it'd just be a day trip out! Camping or something?!"

And everything I stir into my tea, comes back to conquer me

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