JANUARY (MINI) PLAYER PLOT: I'LL SEND AN S.O.S. TO THE WORLD

[sailmods]

[After their return from the Village, many of the Serena Eterna's inhabitants have been taking time to nurse their psychological wounds. Arilanna Tayrey was no exception, until she was reminded that there was still work to do. Still hope of working towards the escape that she longs for.

The space probe. After months of preparation and testing, on the fifth of January, it's ready. The probe itself was found by Sparkles, and it carries a wealth of encoded information about the passengers (or 'prisoners' depending on whom you care to ask) aboard the ship. Ari and Cassandra collected the letters and videos contributed by the population, and through careful selection and editing, present a picture of a group in desperate need of rescue by anyone – or anything – that might find their message. Also affixed to the probe is a long-range emergency distress beacon, from Ari's home universe via Sundries.

The rocket which takes the probe to the heavens is a remarkable blend of science and magic. Ari and Crichton, Rita and Fever all used their expertise to put it together, but as Sparkles warned them, the success of the launch depends on their ability to distract the Captain and Friday.

This group know how to cause some appropriate chaos. To split Friday's attention, a grand distraction takes place. You may notice some of the following:

- signs around the ship declaring that there are no more rules, and daring you to do something forbidden – smoke wherever you like, 'steal' from a shop, start fires...
- mutiny banners, assorted fires across the ship (mostly courtesy of Natsuno), unknown sigils scrawled on walls
- also look out for a text message from a friend on the space probe team, either inviting you to join them in mutinous mayhem, or, if they don't want to show their hand or don't see you as the mutinous type, to participate in a mass rule-breaking experiment

And as Friday has all this to cope with, the Captain has an unexpected visitor on the bridge…]

Comments

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis covers her face with her hands to avoid screaming, and it takes a moment to compose herself.

"Why do you feel like you've done something successful? I could feel the elation from across the ship. I don't feel like the man I know would feel happy about running around and setting fires, or harming others on the ship, or breaking the place that will be repaired on the suffering of his friends. Or do such things knowing it will actively harm someone he claims to care about."

Is she being selfish in being so pointed? Yes. But she doesn't care.

[ss_buttcrack]

"What I'm feeling is my own damn business." Frell. He didn't think she'd be paying such close attention. He didn't think she'd actually come shake him down. He can't lie to her. He doesn't want to lie to her. But she's not on the need-to-know list. Telling her now would be breaking Ari's trust.

"I don't like seeing the ship like this, no. I don't want people getting hurt and I never have. Valdis... I'm sorry. I'm asking you, as a friend, drop this."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Unfortunately for me, helping you get rid of Harvey has had the wonderful side effect of linking me to your emotions at all times. You're welcome to hate me for that like Ari does, but I'm not dropping this. Whatever the fuck you did obviously worked how you wanted it to, so I fail to see why telling me is such a problem now."

She still wants to scream at him. Wants to shake him. Wants to break his neck.

"And no matter what your intent was, you knew people would get hurt. Tiamat was right," she scoffs. "You humans only care about yourselves and don't care who gets hurt in the process of reaching your goals. It was your kind who created the Atom Bomb after all, can't believe I let myself forget that."

[ss_buttcrack]

"I don't hate you for that. If I did you'd know about it by now."

He paces an angry loop, running his fingers through his hair. That is not fair. She wanted to help him. He didn't know then what it would mean for her. And now, it feels like a slap in the face to have it thrown back at him. In the same breath, she's proving to him exactly why he cannot tell her about this because if Ari hates her then no wonder Valdis wasn't invited to the team.

"Us humans? Where have I heard that before?" he snaps. He's heard it over and over from peacekeepers and scarrans and nebari, the list goes on and on, but he didn't expect to hear it from Valdis. Not like this.

"Is that really what you think? You're so above us all? So much better than us little human insects just trying to struggle through our pathetically short little lives? Is that it? Have you just been humoring me all this time like I'm your pet labrador retriever? I don't bark at your command."

[redlightgreenlight]

Yes, the humans, who use their short lives to justify atrocities against each other. The ones who slaughter each other over foolish things. The ones who leave the messes for their children to clean up. Who wage war over ego and money. She wishes she could hate them. She wishes she didn't have feelings for them. That she could just be the Queen of Hounds and nothing more.

"Look around you, Crichton. This place is in chaos. Fio is hiding in the library terrified that her one sanctuary will be next on the list to be destroyed. Max is trying to defend the place he loves most on this ship. Siffleur is a whole a new level of angry and agony combined. My head is killing me."

Not just her head, her chest hurts too, like it's being cut into with a knife over and over again.

"I hope it was worth it, Crichton. Because from where I'm standing, it's like the Village all over again, except this time, no one was brainwashed."

[ss_buttcrack]

"Careful, you almost sound like Arthur right now," he says through gritted teeth. The flash of rage that rears up in him at the same time he says his ex's name might tell her exactly how close she is to an unforgivable tipping point.

"From where I'm standing, this place IS chaos! And we are all trapped in it like a living nightmare. How is this any different than The Village, huh? I don't want to waste the rest of my life like this. So, yes, I hope it's worth it, too. Because, if it is, then you won't have to put up with any of us for much longer. That's all I'm going to say about it because you are asking me to betray the confidence of a friend and I can't do that again. I won't."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis flinches so violently that it's almost like he physically struck her instead of just snapping at her with his words.

"You already have." She says it so quietly he might not even be able to hear. "Goodbye, Crichton. I wish you luck in your endeavors."

She turns to go, pulling out her phone to text Ash.

[ss_buttcrack]

"Valdis!" He rushes after her.

"That's not fair. You know it isn't. Why do you get to hold things back from me and I don't get to do the same?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Get away from me, John Crichton." She says quietly, continuing to walk away from him. "I have nothing more to say to you."

[ss_buttcrack]

"So that's it? You're walking away from me too. Like everybody else."

[redlightgreenlight]

She spins around to face him, tears in her eyes.

"Not everything is some big symbolic gesture, Crichton. I am in pain, I do not want to be out here and you have made it very clear that I am lesser in this than whatever you have done, so I'm not going to waste my breath any longer because I don't have very much of it."

[ss_buttcrack]

"Lesser? Valdis, you were the one that..." he tamps down a frustrated growl.

"What are you really mad at me for? Why did you come out here to find me?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"You thought I would hide to protect myself, didn't you?" She asks, the tears half furious and half pain. "I came out here to check on the people I care about, only to feel elation and success and excitement from one of them. I knew that person had answers to what was happening and could maybe help me understand why this chaos was necessary."

Sure, she had been pissed off, but that had been born of fear, and she hates such feelings.

"That person has now lied to me, refused to answer my question, has expressed that my feelings don't matter and has compared me to someone who murdered him out of hatred."

[ss_buttcrack]

"I thought you might, sure, if things got bad enough. I didn't think people would try to blow holes in the frelling ship." He really didn't want things to go this far, but he can't say he didn't know it was a possibility.

"I'm trying not to lie to you right now, Valdis. I'm telling you as much as I can without breaking a promise. You're the one who brought up the brainwashing. I already had to take an emotional beating from Arthur about that. You know how I feel about having my mind messed with."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I brought up the brainwashing in relation to us turning on each other, it wasn't a targeted comment, but congratulations on showing me that there are indeed sides on this ship and for preemptively deciding that I'm not on the same one as you."

Why does it feel like she's been stabbed again? It's not fair that these people are making her decisions for her. That they are forcing her to choose between them.

[ss_buttcrack]

"I'm trying to help us. I'm on our side. The survival side." This rings true to his very bones. Everything he's doing on this project is for the goal of getting them away from here.

"What side are you on?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Ari's announcement rings out over the ship and Valdis takes it in for a moment.

"Apparently no one's. The Captain's people don't want me. Your side clearly doesn't want me either. So sure, let this whole place burn."

She almost starts to shake her head, but it hurts too much.

"I hope whoever finds that thing is all you want them to be. I hope you and Ari get to go home. I hope Ava and Peter get to stay together. Hell, maybe whoever finds us will give me what I want most too."

She turns away from him again, texting Ash about where he can meet her.

[ss_buttcrack]

As Ari's voice rings out he can feel his heart sinking. Dammit, Ari, you didn't have to paint an entire bullseye on yourself like that!

His attention returns to Valdis, expression and soul both tinged with regret. He wanted to believe Valdis could trust him at his word. She said she thought he was a good man once. Now, finally, she can see the truth.

There's no such thing. Good? Evil? Those are for celestial beings like her. She's the one who said it best, humans are selfish, because they only have themselves in the end.

And mortals, human or otherwise, don't have the luxury of endless time. All they get is what's in front of them. In front of him, all he saw was an eternity of pain and misery stretching out until the nothing swallowed his wayward soul. So he did the only thing he could, he chiseled his own escape hatch out of hell's basement. Whatever comes, be it rescue or another fight, it's still better to finally be moving in any direction at all. He's frelling sick of waiting.

"Valdis," he says to her turned back. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I hurt you."

[redlightgreenlight]

He's hurting, but his pain is nothing compared to hers and hers still makes no sense. It seems to just keep growing, faster now that she feels so incredibly betrayed by everyone around her. Maybe she really is alone.

"Speak your lies to someone who might believe them, John Crichton."

No matter how much regret he feels, he would make the same choice again. The lifespan of humans is too short to do anything else.

[professionalriot]

Ash paused as he got closer to reaching Valdis to listen to the announcement. He feels a spike of fear and anger as the announcement comes to an end.

The look of concern on his face becomes more deeply etched as he approaches Valdis and Crichton in time to catch the end of their conversation. Ash is a bit of a mess. He's been running around the ship with Siffleur putting out fires to give Friday some relief, likely not enough. Siffleur seemed scared for what was going on and how it would hurt her.

Sweaty, clothes singed in several places, he huffs out a breath as he approaches. He isn't an empath like Valdis but has a gift for manipulating emotions, he doesn't feel them in the way Valdis does, they don't effect him but he can sense them especially when they are very strong like they are now.

Regret and pain. The anguish he senses is coming from Valdis.

"What's going on?" His eyes dart from Valdis to Crichton. She says she wasn't feeling well but this is something else.

Ash steps closer to her so he can take her hand and squeeze it gently in his fingers. His demeanor is eerily calm as he focuses on keeping his own emotions in check for her sake.

[ss_buttcrack]

He isn't lying and he knows she knows that. How many times has she told him she can feel when he lies? He's about to open his mouth for another inadvisable comeback when Ash shows up.

"H-hey, Ash..." count down to the loss of yet another friendship, he guesses. There's no way Ash isn't going to want to rip his throat out after this. Is it too late to take up drinking again?

He squares his shoulders, lifts his head, and gathers what's left of his pride to him. "Cat's out of the bag now." He motions skyward. "I helped send that rocket up. And I didn't tell any of you I was working on it because we couldn't risk the Captain finding out before we did it. You can hate me for it if you want, but I'm sick and tired of sitting around here twiddling my thumbs in between torture sessions. I saw a chance to do something; I took it."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis knows deep down that even if he does feel bad for hurting her, he would make the same choice again, so in her mind, it doesn't matter that he regrets it, doesn't matter that he feels bad. She squeezes Ash's hand as he slips it into hers, and resists the urge to cut Crichton off, to keep his secret. Angry as she is, she doesn't want him getting hurt.

"I don't hate you, Crichton." She says, turning into Ash. "I could never hate you."

Valdis can feel his rage growing, even though he's trying to keep it in check. She's in too much pain to consider staying upright for much longer.

"Let's go."

[professionalriot]

Ash doesn't have all the details and he knows it. He's angry because he doesn't know. Because it feels like a huge decision was made for him with no thought about how he would feel or anyone else on the ship would feel. As much as they find the ship to be a prison, he doesn't. Many of his gifts don't work here. He has lost all of his money and the power that comes with it. But he can be himself here. He doesn't have to hide what he is.

It isn't fair to react right now. Ash takes a hand over his jaw and his stormy eyes fall on Crichton.

"We're going to talk, me and you, when things settle down." Another deep breath. "Be careful. Siffleur is fucking livid over how Friday was hurt by all of this. Give him a wide berth and watch your fucking mouth if you do talk to him."

Ash is pissed but he doesn't hate Crichton. The waves of pain he can feel from Valdis ground him, remind him why he needs to control his emotions.

"I need a fucking shower." He grumbles as he glances at her pristine hand in his filthy one.

"Crichton," He glances back. "Don't you forget the deal we made when we met. Give up now and I'll beat your ass."

He doesn't care if she scolds him, Ash scoops her up into his arms. She has that look like she did in his room telling him about Siffleur's mother. The pain she was in then made her pass out. Looking at her now she looks like she might drop like she has that day. His concern outweighs his anger.

"Where am I taking you?" He asks her as he starts to walk away.

[ss_buttcrack]

"I could never hate you, either." But he knows that's not the same as being friends after this. He doesn't know if they still will be, and it tears him up. But she's right, he would have done the same again because he always thought it was the right choice. They need to get out of here before it's all too late.

"When you're ready, Ash, we'll talk. I'll give it to you straight." Valdis, too, if she wants to hear it.

"I ain't giving up. You got my word on that. I ain't givin' in." Even if it is tempting. "Thanks for the warning. I'll stay clear of any big, angry cats." He was already doing that, to be fair.

"See you later..."

[redlightgreenlight]

When Ash picks her up, it's like he knows exactly what she needs without her saying a word. It even helps her stubborn pride that would have had her trying to drag herself back to her room, or taking a seat somewhere unhelpful until she could get herself there. Part of why it's so frustrating that he feels he isn't enough. She puts her arms around his neck and breathes in his scent, ignoring Crichton as much as she can. She'll find him later if he wants to explain, she has too many feelings right now.

"Just back to my room. I need to sleep this off."