sailmods (
sailmods) wrote in
come_sailaway2022-06-10 12:13 am
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Entry tags:
- !event,
- arcane: ekko,
- arcane: jinx,
- mcu: bucky barnes,
- mcu: marc spector,
- mcu: steven grant,
- murderbot diaries: murderbot,
- mushi-shi: ginko,
- original: aiden copeland,
- overwatch: maximilien,
- pokemon: ingo,
- prodigal son: malcolm bright,
- reign: nostradamus,
- sherlock holmes: john watson,
- skulduggery pleasant: skulduggery,
- sleepless domain: undine wells,
- tales of the abyss: jade curtiss,
- the 100: clarke griffin,
- the locked tomb: palamedes sextus,
- westworld: maeve millay
JUNE EVENT: CAMP
early on June 10th, Friday's morning announcements end with a request for everyone going on the latest excursion to meet her in the atrium. she seems in noticeably better spirits than she had been last time, and she leads them cheerfully to the tender. once they are all aboard, and the door is securely shut, the interior fills with gas, and, perhaps, their last thought before they slip into unconsciousness is "oh shit, not again."
passengers wake up on a rickety old school bus, driving down a dirt road surrounded by woods. what is it that they notice first? that, no matter what they were wearing before, they are now wearing a camp t-shirt and legitimately horrifyingly short shorts? the overstuffed backpack between their knees? the words "take one down and pass it around" dying on their lips? the fact that Friday is absolutely driving the bus?
or, maybe the fact that it's already slowing down, pulling up in front of a massive wooden sign, saying:
when they get out of the bus, Friday is the one to divide them up into their cabin groups, and she is the one to give the counselors their very official-looking clipboards and whistles. she explains that they are in charge, and that she will be back to pick them up in a week, and... very little else. she responds to nothing outside of whatever is on her unseen little script, and she gets back on the bus shortly after, leaving them there.
welcome to camp. let's make some summer memories!
passengers wake up on a rickety old school bus, driving down a dirt road surrounded by woods. what is it that they notice first? that, no matter what they were wearing before, they are now wearing a camp t-shirt and legitimately horrifyingly short shorts? the overstuffed backpack between their knees? the words "take one down and pass it around" dying on their lips? the fact that Friday is absolutely driving the bus?
or, maybe the fact that it's already slowing down, pulling up in front of a massive wooden sign, saying:
CAMP AION
when they get out of the bus, Friday is the one to divide them up into their cabin groups, and she is the one to give the counselors their very official-looking clipboards and whistles. she explains that they are in charge, and that she will be back to pick them up in a week, and... very little else. she responds to nothing outside of whatever is on her unseen little script, and she gets back on the bus shortly after, leaving them there.
welcome to camp. let's make some summer memories!
fire pit (late evening)
For a moment Jade can picture it so clearly in memory that he can imagine them all here and now: Anise chattering across the way, roping Natalia into believing yet another ridiculous tall tale beside her; Tear off to one side, torn between trying to debunk said tall tale and discreetly playing with Mieu; Luke and Guy off to the other side and immersed in their own conversation, Guy already laid down for the night and Luke always stubbornly trying to stay up as long as he can before inevitably nodding off where he's sitting--always needed a blanket draped on him later.
...Hm.
Someone drifts beside him, a silhouette dark enough by the fire to promptly break the illusion, and in some ways it's a relief. Jade straightens, and turns his attention to the new company promptly enough; his rather unfocused staring into the flames might have been coupled alongside a rather blank sort of expression, but an idly pleasant smile easily falls upon his features now.]
Oh, if you're wanting marshmallows, I'm afraid I didn't bring any over. --Difficulty sleeping, hm?
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[It's much more vulnerable than sleep is. Back on the ship, it had worked out plans for someone guarding it while in that state, but that someone isn't in Murderbot's cabin, so...
Regardless, it takes a seat on the ground near Jade, curling up and hugging its knees, a little ball of metal parts and cloned flesh, wishing it wasn't here.]
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Still more glad for the distraction than he has any right to be, Jade turns his attention fully in Murderbot's direction, and wonders if perhaps the latter could use a bit of a distraction too.]
Ah, I suppose that does make more sense, in your sort of case. [...The metal parts over there surely do flicker rather clearly with reflected firelight, from here...] Though it does seem to me that perhaps you're having difficulty with recharging, too. ...Or is the frequency needed rather different, for you, than the amount for most humans?
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[It gestures, and it's sort of clear that when it says cubicle, it means more like...storage box than desk-style cubicle.]
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If you can't awaken until the process is finished...yes, I can see how security would be a high priority. There isn't much in the way of secure spaces in the cabin, is there? [Here, a slight and dry sort of laugh.] Quite frankly, I've been finding it rather troublesome to sleep particularly well in there too...not that our cabinmates seem particularly prone to stabbing anyone overnight, but.
[Jade makes a small and idle gesture at the dim surroundings about them in turn; the quiet, you know...]
Do you also find it strange, how...nothing has yet happened, on this particular excursion?
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[Optimism is not in Murderbot's programming. But it feels right, somehow.]
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I must say, though--even if this does happen to be one of the "good" and murder-free sorts of excursions, to keep us tempted...I'm not yet sure I quite understand the appeal of this one. This whole setup reminds me rather a lot more of a military outpost, yet without any of the actual discipline. Is all this supposed to be enjoyable, I wonder? [Here, a wry sidelong look Murderbot's way.] Are you perhaps enjoying yourself particularly, so far?
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[It pauses, considering the question more thoroughly.] I did make a rabbit figurine using the provided craft supplies. That was sort of nice, I guess. But beyond that, the whole of the experience has not been particularly pleasant. It feels like...
...like jumping into watching a new genre of serial, or one from a corporation you don't know, so you don't understand the tropes the show is playing on. This is all referencing something that holds meaning to some people, but I'm not one of them.
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Not understanding the tropes--yes, exactly. I'm glad you've put the words to it about like this, actually...I daresay that's about how the whole thing has been parsing for myself, as well. Much in the same way the last excursion was apparently based off the plot of some sort of book...all this surely does feel like it's referencing something or another, doesn't it? [Here, a bit of a scoff, though at least it's directed more at the general situation than Murderbot particularly.] You aren't alone in missing it, at least; I can't make any connections for the life of me either. ...I imagine it must be some sort of Earth thing. The captain seems so terribly fond of Earth, for some reason.
[Multitudes of Earth-origin passengers, apparently Earth aspects to the cruise ship...and general Earth references abounds, too. Oh, not that Jade's about to complain too much, of course. It'd be even more unsettling if there were more overt references being made at Auldrant's expense, probably...but it's still kind of exasperating all the same, too.
Although. After a slight pause, a bit in Murderbot's earlier words does sink in belatedly, too.] Made something with arts and crafts, though, did you? Are figurines something you'd make in the past, or was this more of an experimental sort of thing? [Jade does recall Murderbot essentially implying it doesn't usually have much in the way of idle hobbies, he thinks, in a conversation awhile back...]
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More experimental. Trying to make the best use of the time and the resources available. Or a use, at least. I read about rabbits in a book and thought the fuzzy colored sticks might make a good one. [Pipe cleaners, MB. They're called pipe cleaners.]
I think I'm going to give it to Friday.
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But anyway. "Fuzzy colored sticks" is as good a descriptor as any; having no idea what pipe cleaners are supposed to be called himself, Jade certainly isn't about to correct Murderbot on that front.]
Ah, the ones with metal that bend quite easily, yes? They do seem quite conducive to shapes in such ways. ...I'm sure Miss Friday would appreciate such a thing. [Huh, peering a bit speculatively at Murderbot as the connection's made...well, both it and Friday are 'artificial' in one sense or another; no surprise it's been associating with her lately at least enough to think of her with these sorts of tokens. --But then Jade realizes the thoughtful pause and similarly thoughtful look being leveled Murderbot's way are probably both lasting a second or two longer than entirely necessary, and he's breezily continuing on.] That does remind me I've not really sat down and thought about the intended applications of those crafts myself...I've been borrowing them more for future tools, really. --But you've probably already made far more progress than I, on the crafting front. [Cheerfully:] I haven't a single creative bone in my body, after all! Or so I've been told, anyway...
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Hmph...you're one to talk.
[Did she hang back for a while and see him staring at the fire for an awful long time? Maybe. Yes. Not that she could see anything besides his outline from that far back, so she can't guess what might have been on his mind, besides the current situation in general. She moves to sit down on one of the adjacent wooden logs, leaning forward to prop her elbows on her knees and chin in her hands.]
It's weird. Nothing's happened yet.
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--A tangent avoided, all the same. Jade sits up a bit straighter as Rita's features register properly between the gloom and the fire's glow, the bent of his posture shifting to watch as she ends up sitting on an adjacent log. His smile takes on a wry edge on cue--it's a pleasantly easy façade to raise, as the vague impressions of his party dissolve from their phantom positions about the campfire and the odd heavy thing in his chest takes rather longer to do the same. No, it's only Rita over here now...and that's fine. Very fine. (Even if she does still occasionally remind him of at least one of them, sometimes, in the oddest sorts of ways--)]
Now, now! For all you know, perhaps I've overcome all need for sleep altogether, hm? Perhaps I'm drawing my true powers from the night, even as we speak! [Like a vampire, or something!!!! Truly, who could say? Between his paleness and the menacing red of his eyes....!! Oh, but such a joke does fall rather flatter around here, all told. To say nothing of how the cheerily sardonic lilt in his voice promptly gives it away anyhow...before fading, in favor of a rather more somber response to the rest of her words.] ...But it is quite strange, isn't it? How nothing at all has happened here. I'm not sure what I was expecting, on this expedition, but...it assuredly wasn't any of this.
[With a breath of a sigh, Jade leans his weight back a bit where he's seated, hands idly flattening on either side of the wood log's surface beneath him. His glance casts back in the fire's direction, and then over it--to the array of cabins still barely visible through the gloom.]
I don't suppose you've ever done any 'camping' quite like this back home, have you? ...I still don't really agree with calling any of this camping, honestly...
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Maybe he's just waiting until we drop our guard.
[There has to be something more in store, after all. Though if nobody's found anything out of the ordinary yet, grumbling about it here won't really get them anywhere, either.
As for...camping, well...]
I've had to camp on the road, but this sure isn't camping. It seems more like some knight training getaway. Why do we all have to get up at the crack of dawn?
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His joke is ignored, of course, which is quite fine by Jade; the way Rita rolls her eyes and scoffs is all the reaction he really needs, and met with a humored smile in turn--since it's confirmation, hopefully, that she isn't aware of the gloomier slant his thoughts had been taking before her approach. Nope, nothing amiss here, just bad humor at the campfire and nothing more...!
Still, the topic of the background tension at hand does prompt that earlier humor to taper off too.]
Hm...the possibility remains, doesn't it? Three days of quiet--four more to go, if the sign-up sheet is to be believed. Most unfortunately for the captain, I've kept my guard up for rather longer stretches of time than that.
[Honestly, he does tend to be on some vague kind of guard on a constant basis of daily life anymore anyway; this was true back home as well, and remains doubly so on the Serena Eterna, precarious as their collective situation remains even in more peaceful stretches of time. Equal parts a habit of being in the military and just being a rather more alert sort of person in general...]
Either way, I really must agree; this setup seems to have all the pieces of a more remote training outpost--with none of the structure. [...Although, Rita's complaint at the end there sure is earning an amused sort of sidelong glance.] You know, if these were proper training grounds, we'd be getting woken up at least three hours earlier than that! It's already too late if you're seeing sunlight on the horizon. They do say such early rising builds character, though!
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[It sure feels kind of long, though, with no books to read or research to do. She has no interest in the crafts or kayaks or whatever other pointless "activities" the camp has available. So she might be starting to get impatient over this whole excursion (and maybe, like Flynn, a part of her wants to believe that Yuri's going to be there when they return to the ship...even as she suspects that's not going to be the case).]
You mean it builds compliance. I'd rather do things on my own schedule.
[She matches his sidelong glance with a grumble, before returning her gaze to the fire.]
Say...nobody knows yet what happens to people who just vanish, do they?
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[Probably. Jade would still judge anyone who doesn't get out of bed until noon or something, honestly, but it does all boil down to personal preference in the end. ...And seeing as there's plenty of people within this excursion gathering, Rita included, who likely aren't soldiers in any capacity--it makes the camp elements here and now that much more bafflingly inane, as far as Jade's concerned.
Anyhow, though. ...The tangent Rita shifts to after that strikes a vaguely odd chord, as seemingly out of the blue as it parses from Jade's end of things. She returns her gaze to the fire, but Jade's sidelong glance at her lingers all the same now, the idle humor in his tone fading as thoughtfulness takes its place.]
...No, not from what I've heard. There are a handful of theories to be made, but nothing concrete. So far as I've learned, there are occasions in which passengers simply...are no longer in their quarters, or found on the ship in general, apparently. [A slight pause, in which Jade studies Rita speculatively...and wonders.] Was there someone you knew, recently?
[Who vanished, that is to say. Call it a...well, not-so-wild guess, when you just do the basic math in this sort of way...]
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And...well, that's about the answer she expected, anyway, even if having Jade confirm it isn't exactly reassuring, either.]
Apparently so.
[He's right on the money, of course, which isn't surprising. (Isn't that part of why she's bringing it up to him, after all?) Rita's face turns toward Jade again, brows furrowed seriously (seriously worried? her? of course not, no......)]
You must have noticed Yuri's not here. He went missing right before this. Even Flynn couldn't find him. He seems to think--or hope, I guess--that Yuri's back on the ship right now, but...
[It's wishful thinking; Rita and Flynn both know he wouldn't have stayed behind while the two of them went. There's no way. And yet, he might as well have just vanished into thin air as far as anyone can tell.
Where did he go--the implied question hangs heavily in the air, and Rita both wants and doesn't want to know the answer.]
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rolls in here late!!!
Marshmallows? [ A slight curious tilt of her head. Sorry, she's actually unfamiliar with s'mores. She might have seen some people with the marshmallows? Though, maybe she should learn about that at some point.
So far, it's been surprisingly peaceful. Even Fio is aware of the possibility of the situation turning for the worse, to the same extent as the battle royale. It scares her and she buries the thought to the back of her mind, hiding her worries with a small smile as she usually does. Though it may be this concern that keeps her up tonight and spotting a lone, familiar figure by the flames, she's drawn to the light of the fire pit.
She shakes her head, speaking softly. ] You were looking kind of lonely...
never too late!!! we're all snails in this club tbqh
No, Jade might not label it anything as definitive as relief just yet--so early into this expedition, the unease of expecting a second shoe to drop still lingers--but at least here and now...
...'Lonely', is it?]
Hm, was I? How very strange. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight! ...Besides--rather hard to be lonely when there's good company at hand, I daresay. [Considering he's been seated by himself right up until this particular moment...well, just who that good company might be is probably pretty clear. Fio's small smile is returned with an idly cheery one of his own, quite promptly enough; Jade straightens where he's seated.] Good evening to you, Miss Fio. ...We're approaching a rather late hour of the evening, aren't we?
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Good evening!
[ Fio beams, adding more cheer to her tone. Good company, he says. Her smile widens, then she moves to take a seat next to him, propping her hands on her lap. She's glad to have him as company. If she were in her own world, this is around the time of night where she would wake up in a cold sweat. Tonight, she's merely awake on her own volition. ]
Hm. It is pretty late... [ She does try to be a "good girl" and sleep at what would be considered normal hours for a child. There isn't really anyone to enforce that. And she just doesn't really feel too tired at the moment. ] Why're you still up, Mr. Specs?
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...Hmm. No, in the end, it's far easier to talk about the late hour--now isn't it? For the meantime, at least.]
My my, and here I was just about to ask you the same question! [Jade is aware, vaguely, of how it's generally recommended that children Fio's age retire earlier for proper amounts of sleep. His memories of such things mostly stem from earlier curfews set for Nephry when she around the same age, though. Presently there really isn't anyone around to enforce such curfews for Fio, is there...? Jade doesn't find himself terribly eager to be that enforcing person himself at the moment, either. Not like an occasional late night here and there could hurt too much, surely...not like he'd also be a massive hypocrite, to even try. Case in point:] Still, I guess I'm obliged to answer first now, since you did beat me to the punch. Mm, you could say I'm still up because I've rather a lot to think about lately...but, I'll admit! It's also because my normal time for bed is rather later than most people's anyhow, I suppose.
[Here, he turns to Fio beside him properly, smile still in place as he lowers his voice in that conspiratorial fashion he seems to rather enjoy leaning into for matters of...rather dubious secrecy.]
Have you ever tried sleeping with glasses on, Miss Fio? Just between you and me--it's really quite a hassle...
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And she can imagine a lot must be on his mind... there's always something to think about when you're left alone. But before she can even think about asking what might be on his mind, he suddenly goes into a more secretive tone. ]
Um... no? I don't wear glasses! [ Clearly. Asides from the occasional Tommy Bahama sunglasses. A beat. She similarly lowers her voice, in a matching volume for only Jade to hear, even though it's unlikely anyone else is around to hear them. But you never know! ...This might be as important as the crow romancer secret. ] You don't remove your glasses when you sleep?
[ Guess she doesn't have to change his "Mr. Specs" nickname ever! ]
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(like crow romancing smh....), but Fio just takes it up so wholeheartedly every time...it's hard to resist! Ah well.Actually, for a moment the temptation is also very real to come up with yet another utterly ridiculous sort of lie about his eyes and glasses, but...hm. This is a different time now, than it was before at that sticker party. (The peace of the camp still seems to sit so fragile around them.....not that even he's sure why that thought arises, alongside this topic, but--)
Well, a little honesty every now and then surely wouldn't kill him. Especially if it can seem secretive in this sort of way too...]
Oh, no no--I simply must remove my glasses when I sleep, too. After all, if I so much as turned over I'd probably break them! But, I can't have leave them off for very long either...my eyes don't do very well without them, you see.
[Possibly she's noticed it in the past, the unnatural red color of his eyes--even if it might look more like a reflection of the fire across the way from them, currently.]
So, I've taught myself to sleep for fewer hours than most people, so that my glasses aren't removed for long. But it does mean I end up staying awake rather longer into the night than most others, too.
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Fio tilts her head slightly. She knows the more obvious reasons for wearing glasses, like being able to read texts more easily. Or see signs from far away. Perhaps there's another reason that doesn't cross her mind as easily, which is why they're having this conversation. ]
...Is it 'cause your eyes are special?
[ Standing around with nothing but your thoughts can be distracting. Sometimes the mind drifts off to somewhere darker. Which is why she usually tries to immerse herself in a fairy tale. She doesn't know what sorts of books grown-ups like to read though. And being out in a forest, there's no library, of course... ]
I like reading a nice fairy tale if I stay awake too long. Too bad there aren't any books here...