END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[broshaw]

Sharky furrows his brow and nods along pensively to Mulcahy's catch-up, which may seem light on details for most people, but it's all the info Sharky needs to realize how messed up things are.

"Man," he sighs after a moment, "I can't believe I missed out on hot, authoritative Crichton. This is like the Ava foot massage all over again."

There is no further explanation as he rises to his feet and stretches his arms over his head until his back pops. "At least none of this is like, some kinda personalized Bad Place sitch. Just more magic buffoonery." He shakes his head, then remembers what Mulcahy asked him when he first woke up... "Oh, shit, man, sorry, you can't like, see for shit right now huh. Well, the crib as of now is just three concrete walls and some bars, which is like, pretty nostalgic for me, NGL..."

[lovethyneighb_or]

... It's an unusual reaction, but truly, Sharky seems to Mulcahy like he's got his priorities all sorted out. 'More magic buffoonery' is absolutely, completely correct. It's always these powerful types who love to just throw around their weight and pull the rug out from everyone's feet, and it's much harder to stop them when they've got magic and not just some shiny medals and badges that theoretically mean they can do things.

Mulcahy goes to adjust his glasses but just kind of ends up putting his fingers on his nose.

"I can't say this kind of situation is unfamiliar to me, either, although this is the first time it's been this literal. And so cramped." ... "What does 'NGL' mean?"

[broshaw]

"Oh, sorry, uhhh, it means 'not gonna lie.' When'd you go to jail?" Whoops, distracted. He's probably gonna have to be nudged back into giving Mulcahy any information, now that it's time to trade stories!!

[lovethyneighb_or]

"Well, I've never been imprisoned in a jail before, but before I was taken by the Captain, I was drafted as a chaplain to an mobile army hospital near the front lines. Nobody wants to be in a place like that, least of all the surgeons putting men and teenage boys back together every day, but we were all quite stuck; you can't desert without getting tried and punished in court, you know."

Mulcahy doesn't mind! Trading stories is a wonderful way to pass the time until somebody weirder than them can do something about the situation they're in.

"After that I was on the Captain's voyage, and, well--you're already familiar with that kind of prison. After that... I don't suppose you happen to be familiar with Number 2 and his Village...?"

[broshaw]

Average dudes of the Serena Eterna unite!!

"Ugh. I got mixed feelings on the military industrial complex, what with my cousin's liveliehood relyin' on it, and its direct hand in the end of the fuckin' world..." He makes a face. "Less mixed with the Village. Still pretty pissed I didn't get to pop that guy for Giles' sake." Still, he got what he deserved for being a mind-washing little freakoid.

[lovethyneighb_or]

Mulcahy nods. “I don’t know if you’ve all been told how we ended up there. The Captain had been on the verge of ‘disposing’ of our batch of voyagers. There was quite a lot of clergy; perhaps he got sick of all the righteousness going around. He didn’t speak to us very much.”

A pause as he recollects. “Number 2 cut some kind of deal with the Captain in order to create the Village. He said it was to ‘save’ us. That’s what we were told when he was leading us out. I have to say—between the Army and Number 2, at least the Captain never lied.”

[broshaw]

Sharky's heard the stories about that Jenny chick and what she did to get her own ship, and he knows that a dude who likes to play the Literal Devil is obviously gonna love making weird, monkey-paw-curling deals. He probably knew exactly what the rest of them were gonna get with the Village, he just didn't say anything.

Then again, for all his general dislike for the Captain, "He doesn't lie and he doesn't go brainwashing people. Two-zero, and since Kevin's dead and all..." He shrugs, exaggeratedly enough that Mulcahy probably sees it even without his glasses. "Guess that settles that. And this new dealio isn't shaping up to be much of a fuckin' contender, that's for sure."