[ OPEN MINGLE ] welcome to the friends who have come from away

[goodweather]

Who: Everybody and everybody! (and phil!)
What: PUTTING UP A SIGNPOST FOREST!!
When: Mid-October and a few days afterwards
Where: Between the pool deck and the pool bar
Warnings: none yet

[MAKING SIGNS] if you're comin' from toledo or you're comin' from taipei

Paper signs go up all around the ship with dots punched for braille. They all advertise the same thing: make a sign, pointing to home or to where you wanna go. On the empty deck between the pool and the pool bar. And a helpful demonstrative drawing.

Getting there, there's a clearer picture. The empty stretch of deck has several tall wooden poles set up, currently empty but hopefully soon to be filled, and scattered all around on carts and tables with chairs dragged in from nearby establishments, are craft materials of all kind; wood, knives, paints, crayons, pencils, plates of metal, nails, tools, glue, fabric. All manner of things either sourced from César's hoard or from various places of the ship, especially the infinite spaces. It's a pretty eclectic collection. There's also snacks further off in the peripheries.

A large sign, which also has the drawing, reads:

Make a sign!
Point towards home or to where you want to go.
Make up a direction and a distance. Whatever feels right to you.
Ask Phil or César if materials run low.
Have fun!

[SALVAGING] because we come from everywhere

With all these people showing up, sometimes things run a little short. Phil makes rounds picking up requests, and then, since he's usually busy managing this or that among the group or making his own run, others will be asked to go fetch things as well. Or maybe they take initiative themselves and go for a run! Either way, this is a scavenging mission. Come back with something fun.

[TAKING IN THE VIEW] we all come from away

Whether you're just taking a break, you've finished, or you're just here to watch, there's time to sit back amongst the refreshment tables and look at the signs that have gone up so far and the signs that are still being made. This can be any time, during the initial rush or maybe you're just passing by later. Feel free to take a a gander. So many strange names... one wonders which all belongs to who.

It's probably not a coincidence that these signposts have a clear view of the memorial, is it?

[WILDCARD] welcome to the rock

If you come up with anything else, feel free to include it!

Comments

[businessorlibation]

"Multiple experiences, none literal, and I am counting this ship as a few of them all at once. We're not going to pretend the ship's moving, just to make the metaphor pretty. But my first one was a situation where I was held captive in my own home by someone exploiting me for space and money. 'Keep going' really didn't apply in that case, except in the most existential sense."

He shrugs, content to tell the tale.

[professionalriot]

"Yeah. This ship is...something." He's not sure what yet. Maybe not hell but he died very painfully this month.

"Like you said, stuck. Shit, man, that's...how does something like that happen?"

[businessorlibation]

Deep breath.

"When I had finally achieved the goal of owning the Margrave Building and building the champagne club I'd dreamed of on the top floor, my building started to have...accidents. Things broken. Staff followed home at night. A porter fell down an elevator shaft and died. I received a letter that promised it would all stop, if I reserved one floor of the building and paid a 'stipend'. Protection racket, nothing better. I tried to stand up to the villain who occupied that floor. I tried..."

His hand lifts to touch his cheek, remembering old bruises from backhands.

"And eventually, I grew scared to leave. I'd have the fear my building wouldn't be there when I got back. So I...stopped going out. It wasn't hard, there were two restaurants and I had a penthouse apartment. Why would I ever need to leave?"

[professionalriot]

"Shit." Ashley muttered. Living in New York his tribe has connections to the mob. He knows how they operate and what that means. While they work with and use the mob to serve their own purposes, they don't get involved in their business. They don't stop things like this from happening to people like Johnny. There is a sting of guilt listening to the story. "How did it end?"

[businessorlibation]

The Black Note was worse than the mob in many ways, but the differences were negligible--for this part of the story, at least.

"Do you know Honoria Crabb, yet?" His lips quirk in a smile.

[professionalriot]

"I know of Crabb. Haven't met in person yet."

[businessorlibation]

"Mmm, heard of her from Erin, I'd bet." Look, he knows her social life. "Anyway, she, a seven foot tall lady detective, a masked vigilante and a housemaid-spy were on his trail for other reasons, but saved me in the process."

...what is the Lavender League? A lot of gay bullshit, all at once.

"So, it was more a matter of enduring my hell than 'going through'."

[professionalriot]

"I did, yeah."

Oh. Ash looks impressed.

"Crabb did that?"

Ash nods. "Kinda think you are exactly the kind of person my sign is for. Keep going."

[businessorlibation]

"Crabb and friends. She...there's another whole angle to the story, one I can't tell. One that's hers. But the fact of the matter is, no one can handle all of a situation alone. The same is true here, in my opinion."

He smiles brightly.

[professionalriot]

"Couldn't agree more. People need people. We do better together." He's a pack animal, he gets that. Ash slides over another piece of wood. "What will you put on your sign?"

[businessorlibation]

"I think I need two signs to express the right sentiment. One to point home. The other to say 'be here now'."

Johnny's lips quirk. "I'm of both minds about this whole thing."

[professionalriot]

"I like that one, be here now." Present in the moment because they can't change shit. May as well embrace it. Ash sighs. "Do you think you can go home? That it will be the same? Hard to think after this that it can be the same."

[businessorlibation]

"I got married here. That says something about my stance on my life here, and what going home means."

He lowers his voice to say that, and glances to make sure no one's close by who's going to react poorly to that.

[professionalriot]

"I, yeah, I get that. I miss home." He sighs and smiles softly. "But, I miss it a little less every day and I'm terrified of what happens if I wake up back at home without Valdis and Max."

[businessorlibation]

"Everyone back home would think you've suddenly gone mad. Changed so much over no time at all."

For him, a year and a half in, it would be so much worse.

[professionalriot]

"This place, man. Fucking wild. Let's make your sign. The be here now one. I like that."

[businessorlibation]

"Find me the right piece of wood, and let's do that, yeah."

He can't help but grin at Ash's enthusiasm.

[professionalriot]

Ash digs around in the supplies until he finds a suitable piece of wood.

"You said you got married here...tell me about your partner."

[businessorlibation]

Johnny pauses. It's a dramatic pause, not a hesitation, and he allows his smile to be slow and warm, like the sun rising on an April morning.

"Which one? I'm greedy and have two husbands."

[professionalriot]

Ash laughs softly and shakes his head.

"Ambitious. Tell me about them both...how does that work?"

[businessorlibation]

"Well. They're also married to one another. It's not like there's any laws against a marriage being more than two people here, right?" He smirks. "This is the drum I will beat at all hours of the night: any arbitrary societal rules we're carrying that tell us something's not allowed can be discarded here. So many people are holding themselves to limits that don't exist."

Alright, tangent over, time to gush.

"So, I'm married to John Watson and Cesar Salazar, because intelligence is the thing that tends to attract me most. Watson was my assigned roommate from the beginning, and Cesar and I were flirting. And then I made out with Watson, and when I went to apologize to Cesar, well...we decided to see if a triad could work for us."

[professionalriot]

"Well, yeah, it's not societies rules I worry about."

He's working on the finishing touches on his sign.

"I haven't met them yet. And it works for you then? How long have you been married?"

[businessorlibation]

"Almost a year. December 11th will be our anniversary. It hasn't always been easy. Watson likes to be in the center of adventure. Cesar's mind works too fast sometimes. And I'm a stick in the mud."

Okay, that's not giving himself grace, given he's alluding to his agoraphobia there.

"But Watson's compassion is a beacon of light, Cesar reminds us both to find joy in life here, and for some reason they both like me."

[professionalriot]

"A stick in the mud? How so?"

Ash smiles at the way Johnny describes his husbands. It's nice to know a relationship like that can actually work.

"And for some reason they like you, interesting way of putting it. What would they tell me they like about you?"

[businessorlibation]

“They’d say I’m clever and scrappy and resourceful. That I pay attention to their needs, even when they don’t. That I saw them, early in the voyage, and that I seduced both of them in my way.”

He allows himself a smile, one that grows slowly. “They love me dearly.”