Lieutenant Ari Tayrey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astrogator) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
come_sailaway2022-10-20 04:10 pm
astrogator) wrote in come_sailaway2022-10-20 04:10 pm
[OTA] Looking for answers
Who: Arilanna Tayrey and OPEN - meet the newbie!
What: Looking for logic on an illogical ship
When: Late October
Where: Various places (general catch-all intro post)
i. O my fair North Star (outside, on deck)
[Accustomed to second-shift as she is, Lieutenant Tayrey works best at night. She's up on deck, starboard side, and a fair amount of her time is spent pacing back and forth, back and forth, as if she owns the place. She's thinking. She's trying to puzzle all this out. When she's not pacing, she's tapping at her slate computer, or leaning over the side, holding out a black rectangular box. Or she's making marks on paper, some sort of chart. Once or twice, she seems to be using a genuine, old-fashioned sextant, wherever she managed to get hold of that.
She's not interested in the sea, or where the ship is headed. No, the way she'll get her bearings is by charting the stars - but no matter what method she tries, there's something decidedly odd about them.
Do come and join her, but try not to disrupt her concentration! She might not be too happy if you do.]
ii. A little bit stronger (the gym)
[Ari might not be too happy with the state of the stars, or indeed the state of the ship, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to appreciate about her new (and temporary, she reminds herself. Very temporary if she has it her way) home. Every other day, she's in the gym, and this girl lifts heavy.
There she is, squatting down with an impressive amount of weight on her back, and when she finishes the set, she turns around with a tired smile for any nearby fellow gym-goers]
iii. Lost in space and time (Spirit Halloween)
[This store can only be infinite, thinks Ari, if there's a loop in the programming. She might have to walk a very long way before she finds the loop, but it has to be there.
It's not what she's planning to do today, however, because it might be a very large loop, and it's best to be prepared, treat it like an expedition. No, what Ari Tayrey is looking for today is much simpler. Basic clothing. Plain white shirts. Socks. She arrived on this ship with only one set of clothes, and she's been doing her best - laundry in the sink in her cabin every night, making sure that uniform of hers stays fresh and clean - but there comes a point where enough is enough. She's found a way to justify it as not-theft, even by the exacting standards of the Tradelines. She'll take what she wants.
She's utterly dismayed to find only row upon row of ridiculous costumes. No. No. She has some dignity; any amount of laundry is better than this. Still, her frustration spills over.]
This is ridiculous. Completely ridiculous! If I could file a complaint, I'd...file it!
iv. Wildcard!
[Want to find her somewhere else on the ship? In her initial explorations, she could end up in any (public) place. PM me to plot, or just start something and I'll roll with it :) ]
What: Looking for logic on an illogical ship
When: Late October
Where: Various places (general catch-all intro post)
i. O my fair North Star (outside, on deck)
[Accustomed to second-shift as she is, Lieutenant Tayrey works best at night. She's up on deck, starboard side, and a fair amount of her time is spent pacing back and forth, back and forth, as if she owns the place. She's thinking. She's trying to puzzle all this out. When she's not pacing, she's tapping at her slate computer, or leaning over the side, holding out a black rectangular box. Or she's making marks on paper, some sort of chart. Once or twice, she seems to be using a genuine, old-fashioned sextant, wherever she managed to get hold of that.
She's not interested in the sea, or where the ship is headed. No, the way she'll get her bearings is by charting the stars - but no matter what method she tries, there's something decidedly odd about them.
Do come and join her, but try not to disrupt her concentration! She might not be too happy if you do.]
ii. A little bit stronger (the gym)
[Ari might not be too happy with the state of the stars, or indeed the state of the ship, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to appreciate about her new (and temporary, she reminds herself. Very temporary if she has it her way) home. Every other day, she's in the gym, and this girl lifts heavy.
There she is, squatting down with an impressive amount of weight on her back, and when she finishes the set, she turns around with a tired smile for any nearby fellow gym-goers]
iii. Lost in space and time (Spirit Halloween)
[This store can only be infinite, thinks Ari, if there's a loop in the programming. She might have to walk a very long way before she finds the loop, but it has to be there.
It's not what she's planning to do today, however, because it might be a very large loop, and it's best to be prepared, treat it like an expedition. No, what Ari Tayrey is looking for today is much simpler. Basic clothing. Plain white shirts. Socks. She arrived on this ship with only one set of clothes, and she's been doing her best - laundry in the sink in her cabin every night, making sure that uniform of hers stays fresh and clean - but there comes a point where enough is enough. She's found a way to justify it as not-theft, even by the exacting standards of the Tradelines. She'll take what she wants.
She's utterly dismayed to find only row upon row of ridiculous costumes. No. No. She has some dignity; any amount of laundry is better than this. Still, her frustration spills over.]
This is ridiculous. Completely ridiculous! If I could file a complaint, I'd...file it!
iv. Wildcard!
[Want to find her somewhere else on the ship? In her initial explorations, she could end up in any (public) place. PM me to plot, or just start something and I'll roll with it :) ]
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[Oh. Oh. Bad news about the normal clothes thing.]
[ALSO wow: he really likes hearing people ask him for help. That's NEW.]
[Usually all the farmers and denizens of his empire try to act like they have their shit together. And Crichton straight up failed to ask for help and died because of it.]
[Nobunaga bows!] Right this way lieutenant. [Literally a sharp right from the entrance.] They don't have a lot of tabi, but I put the shoes and feet things [Yes. Feet things. He has no word for stockings, or tights etc.] this way.
Siffleur is a cougar! [Nobunaga thinks this is very "cool and badass."] He says it's the closest to a forest he can get on the ship. He helped me find demon horns. [Which Nobunaga still needs to ask Eridan about to make sure he doesn't do something extremely offensive to the troll noble.] I will bring him extra offerings for your safe passage should you like. [Standard demon king things. Offer tributes to the spirits/denizens that haunt places. Even if you mean to hunt them later, it can also lure them into false security.] The Bahamanal is a giant clothing monster. Like a typhoon of clothes and chaos. A lesser demon given shape from the lost souls of those trapped here unable to find their way out and seeking others to join them. [.... he is almost 99% making that up! Or at minimum: HEAVILY over dramatizing the cryptid.]
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Cougar translates well enough as a predatory planetsider animal, but at the mention of offerings, Ari reaches out to clutch at Nobunaga's arm.]
No. Tradeliners don't pay tribute in return for safety. It never ends well. I'll deal with the threat if I have to. [She's not frightened. She doesn't intend to spend more time in this place unless it's for infinity-based research. The clothing monster she dismisses as Nobunaga having credulously believed some wild tale, but she's too polite to say so.]
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Why? What happens? Okay, but don't shoot Siffleur. He's cool.
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As for what happens, think it through. Let's say I'm running some little clipper ship down the Keturah line, and some heavily armed nightmare flies out in-system and demands a tenth of the cargo in return for my safety. If I give it up, then the next system down there's going to be another one asking the same. Or the next time I'm on that line, the same one is going to demand an eighth. It never ends. So we don't do it. We evade the threats, or we arrive with sufficient force to fight them.
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[A quiet hum.] And does Tradelines ensure the territories they pass through are able to offer comparable trade and sustain themselves without declaring tolls for passing through? [Just a sly grin, testing to see what she remembered of what he said about Owari in his father's days.]
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You're picturing the Keturah line as a road, aren't you? It's more like the swiftest known route to cross the ocean. It doesn't do the water any harm to pass through it, and nobody can really claim it as their territory. Deep space lines are like that.
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In this case, Siffleur is another denizen of the ship. He'd have to leave to go to the buffet at Windjammer, since there's not a lot of natural hunt on board. It's more like paying him to be a guide, or respectfully honoring going through his space. Sometimes claiming territory as your own means folding in those already here, making them one of your own army.
The first day I was here one of the pirates was reading a book and ignoring me. He said I needed to use manners, and I thought much as you do now. That if I gave in even once, it would be demanded, expected, of me ever after. It's very exhausting to fight everyone on board, to expect to have to. You can if you wish, but sometimes, an exceptionally clever woman like you can think of a better solution. [Socks! Behold!]
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I'm not going to fight everyone. I will fight anyone who attacks me, or who makes unreasonable demands. I'll do no harm to Siffleur, ever, if he does no harm to me, but he has no more right to claim territory here as his own than you or I do.
[She speaks calmly, not combative. Her solution is to stand her ground, because the alternative is weakness. Once people know you can't be pushed around, they stop trying.
Nobunaga is spared further argument, though, because she spies the socks up ahead, and grins.]
There! There they are! Thank you. [Most of them, predictably, she dismisses as unsuitable - even if nobody is going to see them under her boots anyway, she'd know. She finally settles on the most subtle she can find - grey with a spooky black bat pattern.] These will do.
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Exactly, so that's why him being there first and willing to charge the most for it should be respected. [Also because he's a cougar. This makes sense to him, he doesn't expect it to make sense to others. He already freaked out Crichton by saying he wants Siffleur to eat him if he dies in the Spirit Halloween / Tommy Bahamas, so... There's that.]
[Nobunaga just nods about the socks, glad to help kind of.] Are you really so adverse to the others? Halloween seems to be the greatest holiday ever.
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Her thoughts about this ridiculous holiday she keeps to herself, because she doesn't understand it and he seems to like it.]
The others wouldn't really go with my uniform. It's difficult enough to stay presentable, don't you think? [Pumpkin socks would be an affront to the dignity of the Tradelines, or something of that sort. That, and Ari's much more vain than people might expect. She likes to look perfect.]
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Everyone in my time is drab and boring. [Well, except the Oda army, his country on the side of his dream.] The monks are against bright colors, putting too much into clothes even for practicality. It's an issue of modesty, and trying not to stand out from the others. All of this they would hate, so I feel an additional surge of affection for it.
It's the most excess of luxury. [Points to some extremely bright pumpkin slippers.] Why are there demon faces on it? It's an absurd color, even my Azuchi castle is not so bright! [LAUGHS.] It's so ridiculous! It's fantastic. Only someone in the height of absolute prosperity could afford something this decadent.
To wear something like this requires supreme confidence. Our geta are smooth wood, none of this fluffy pillow cushioning. [Shakes his head and beams.] It's amazing.
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[There's only one correct answer to that, Nobunaga. She's not drab and boring, at least, despite her uninspired choice of footwear. Ari's uniform is all bright blue and shiny silver.]
I do think practicality matters, in that it's silly to dress impractically. [She points down at the pumpkin slippers.] I couldn't run in those. Could you?
[Ari pauses for a moment, looking at him, and then relents a little.] But I do understand. You like all this because the monks wouldn't. That's not unreasonable, and of course you can wear it if you want to. I'd never tell anyone they shouldn't wear whatever they liked. All this is just... not my style. I'd feel uncomfortable.
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Come with me, they have pants that might work with what you like. [Princess Jasmine pants. Nobunaga made mental note of it because Klaus.] There is also some practical tops. [Han Solo -- Guess who picked up that holster while he was carrying around Crichton's Pulse Pistol? Yeah, of course.] It's not as armored as your current, but it offers some practical armor application for knives and martial arts.
It's definitely better like this. The previous outfitters was very emphasized on the outrageous. I assume because there are a lot of movie references now I just don't recognize.
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You're very kind, but it's alright. I'll make do with what I have. [Which makes you pickier and harder to please than any brat from upper Cardalek, Ari, but oh well.]
I don't think I'll ever - well, someone did try to stab me once, I'll admit, but I don't know anything about martial arts. A movie's something like a holovid, right? A flatvid, that you watch on computer?
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I have no idea. I've seen the Muppets when Erin showed them. That's about the extent of it for me so far. Klaus is very fond of them. Cartoons: Lion King and Disney, like the muppets but all drawn instead of monster puppets. And one called Velocipastor which I really want to see. Apparently it's to quote Klaus, "so bad it's good." [A shrug.] They're recorded Noh plays. But with more genre variety since this is another thing the monks couldn't stop. There are devices in the cabins to view them, and the great big on on the pool decks. I'm not sure these are computers, however.
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I don't know. I was told there was no point, that I'd be no good at it and I should rely on my gun instead. [At the time she'd been thirteen, and even shorter than she is now. She's put on a fair amount of muscle in the intervening years, too. Do you think it would be worthwhile? [They might be disagreeing about a lot today, but she'll trust his opinion on this.]
I can show you some holovids, but I think the only ones I had in local storage were a compilation of the stupidest shuttle crashes and a few episodes of For the Company. But you might like to see them anyway.
1/2
[He wonders who told her that, and why. Was it even true in her own time?] Like I told Ruby, you should never rely on one form of anything. One of Sun Tzu's rules I do actually live by [Actually that's not fair, he nearly embodies ALL of them, but moving on-] is never to repeat the same tactics twice. If you get too comfortable finding a common exploit in the majority of your enemies' defense, one will come along who will do better than you, and you'll be helpless. If you want to learn katana, you'd have to ask Maeve. That, I cannot teach. Other than daily kata for rote muscle memory, once I unsheathe the blade, it's for war, nothing short of.
If you want to learn boxing or use speed over the brutal basics to save your life, then talk to Pollux. She's overwhelmingly faster than me. But basic martial arts? Between monks and my father, I've been doing that since I could walk. I can teach you sumo throw and weak points for knives. I can't think of any circumstances where it wouldn't help. Other than true peace, but I don't think that's an option on board here. You can always double it up. Train with me, and then train with others as well, if you'd like.
2/2
How do the shuttle crashes happen?
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I don't want to end up in debt to strangers on this ship, but you and I could - if you teach me, in return I'll let you borrow my slate computer, and you can watch the holovids or read the sector histories or whatever you'd like. [A small smile.] But you've got to be honest with me, Oda. If I'm not suited to it, you'll tell me, and don't pretend I'm better than I am because if I believe you, that might get me killed. [She really has internalised that early message, Lowell from security laughing and telling her not to bother even trying.]
I think you'll like the holovids. Shuttle crashes happen for a lot of reasons, but the ones you'll be seeing are so stupid that I have to think it was because their pilots were drunk - and For the Company is fiction, but it's a serial drama about the lives of a Director and his family - the fortunes of them and their rivals, and the business of the Company. Again, not entirely accurate, but the inaccuracies are amusing. It's seeing what people from the outside think of Company families, really. I don't know how much will translate, culturally, but I enjoy it. I think it'd be fair contract, trading all that for the martial arts basics.
1/2
My father wasn't noble-born, just the Emperor's best general. Because he was obsessed with Sun Tzu's Art of War. A book. From nearly two thousand years ago, my time, so even older to everyone else. My father was actually a Buddhist monk. [But cEliBaCY yeah right.] Sun Tzu was a general. Damn I guess the book wouldn't be here, but I could probably recite it word for word. It was deeply drilled into me. "Know yourself, know thine enemy." You said I was very aware of my flaws. That's why. "To win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without ever fighting, is."
Sounds like a fair contract. [Though he's puzzled for a moment.] It is my pride to ensure any soldier I train, especially personally, could have no better chance of survival than what I give them. I take exceptionally good care of everyone in my army, down to every last worker. There is no... being ill-suited for it.
[Holds up a hand, because this is actually extremely important to him.] My sister Oichi would have made a fantastic general. I didn't marry her off into exile, [That's a bit of an emotional exaggeration on his behalf, based on his not quite regret, but definitely not happy either feelings about the action.] because she was ill-suited for war, but because I didnt want her to sacrifice herself to save me. Ruby Rose has what I called a "princess heart," but apparently this grows different meaning in the future. To me, a princess heart means always trying to find the best in people, even if it doesn't exist. Extreme idealism. Trying to make it exist. Do not give me or the Captain room to take advantage of you or others, or we will. Do not try to save a soul that has been consumed by darkness, or it will gladly take you too.
I don't know if that is what the other meant. So far, your negotiation training isn't much different from practical application of Sun Tzu strategies. Ruby already has the physical training, her Crescent Rose dual wields as a rifle and scythe, and it's heavier than I could personally use. She just hasn't been taught how to work around making her princess heart a strength. Not wanting to mindlessly destroy the enemy IS a strength. Someone who can convert the enemy to their side is the strongest, no doubt about it. You can't if you just kill them all. But you haven't struck me as that far gone either. Another Sun Tzu edict. Only someone who hates war and seeks to avoid it can be the best at it. Someone who seeks death will always find it and forever lose everything. Quite like the Captain really.
I will never go easy on anyone. I am incapable of it. That is why I cannot teach katana. It took all my concentration not to kill Stede, and it was the height of my weakness. A stronger person can win without killing. A smarter person uses everyone to their advantage so your strength and skill would increase my own.
I can ask my partner to help demonstrate. Klaus is durable. Then I will show you unarmed throws. [Nods.] If anything, the failure would be on me as your teacher, so my pride demands I teach you to be much stronger than I am myself. You cannot be ill-suited for it, because it works with your enemy's chi. The way they attack, turning it against them. The more aggressive they are, the easier it is to turn it back against them. And when they are not aggressive, that will give you the time to breathe, think, assess, and corrupt them to your side with negotiations, yes?
2/2
Sensei April might enjoy such things too. Her face is kind of ... [Makes a hand gesture to his own.] Tricky. Like when you glance away it's different. But she taught me much about the corporate realm and new dungeons of hell for workers. She might understand it better. And enjoy it if I understand her humor correctly.
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[On to more serious business, and Ari's actually very impressed by the attitude he takes. She smiles again.] With talk like that, if you were a starship captain, you'd have my contract. [It's lightly said, because of course the young lieutenant is in contract to Captain Kavarai for the next four and a half standard years, come what may, and she may have her faults but contract-breaking isn't one of them; she's unfailingly loyal.] I'll do my best not to let you down, so you can be proud of your efforts. [That part, she's serious about.]
I don't have a princess heart, not in the sense that you mean. [She may have been called princess once or twice behind her back by annoyed spacers, but that has far more to do with the vanity and meticulousness and Company-style expectations.] I follow code. What that means is that negotiation is always preferred. We don't want to fight. If we can settle matters peaceably, we will, and we hold to a principle which means that the Tradelines don't initiate aggression. We don't start the fight - but if someone picks a fight with us, attacking our ships or protected colonies or obstructing our business? We answer it decisively. No hesitation, no mercy. Their choices are to leave and not return, to surrender, or to be destroyed. Everyone knows that, and that's how we keep peace, up and down the lines.
I will give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and treat them with kindness, right up until the point that they betray or hurt me - and then I'll know better, and I'll make them pay for what they did, and never trust them again. I don't know what your Sun Tzu would have to say about that. I suppose it's possible that someone could take advantage of me, but they'd only ever be able to do it once.
[She looks thoughtful for a moment.] Your sister. What did she want to do?
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Perfectly reasonable. [Everyone negotiates their own terms.]
No, you don't strike me as having a princess heart, so when it comes to stabbing someone in the eye, or making them unflinchingly falter in their pursuit, I don't think I need to worry.
It's... not very different from what I do. You'd get along with the rest of my generals. I think Sun Tzu would just say don't do it emotionally, or out of vengeance. Do it simply because it's the correct course. Strategically. Once someone betrays you, the closer they were to you, the more you've lost all chance to get them back and change their mind, because it's a deliberate course of decision for them, and they won't change their mind.
2/2
Not to be sent away. [A little roughly, hoarsely.] She wanted to save my soul. A fool's errand. She begged me to take her onto the battlefield even when she was only five years old. [In retrospect, was that why Nobunaga was willing to take Mai onto the battlefield without thinking twice about it? Because if such a person was going to fight for their capacity to be in danger so relentlessly...] I couldn't though. I'd never be strong enough that if she tried to save my life, she wouldn't fail to save me from wanting to destroy the whole world that was so foolish as to harm her. I would never be able to use her like my other generals. She does like being cute. But she didn't have Ranmaru's devious side. Ranmaru can embrace being cute, embody the deception of war, as Sun Tzu advised, but it's an overlay to his poison daggers. Oichi is just... too pure. A princess who believes in the best of people's hearts even if the rest of world tries to convince them they're wrong.
[Hugs are violence. -- Oda's thinking of this based on the information gathering about the Captain. And Oichi being his weakness.]
I exiled her. Sold her into a political marriage. [Nobunaga's being overly dramatic and too hard on himself about this. He let/ordered one of his best generals to retire and look after her, and Katsuie and Oichi were deeply in love, so it's not really like he "sold her," but he refuses to be soft about it, doesn't think he deserves to be anything less than harsh, after all.] I can't even contact her. Or, couldn't back home. I'd have to have Hideyoshi, my right hand, do it. I made sure I have no idea where she is, and politically had to ensure complete exile so no one could think to use her to hurt me. I exiled my other siblings thusly as well. So they wouldn't be in my shadow. It's not what she wanted, she wanted to stop me from becoming the Demon King of 6th Heaven, hated by all, unrelenting in the face of ambition, but I took that decision away from her. Princesses are the well known weakness of all Demon Kings, and I refused to take that risk. [Because if she fell, he could never forgive himself. If she was on the battlefield, he wouldn't have been able to protect her, and his men at the same time, use her like a weapon like the others. And she could either trust him to fight without her, at the cost of never seeing him until the dream was completed, or try and fail impossible missions. Lose-lose; as all war is.]
You're an heiress, right? Did your cousins or other siblings avoid Tradelines contracts or do what was most beneficial for your grandmother's dream and ambition?
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Sun Tzu does sound wise. You can't help having emotions if something like betrayal happens, but you mustn't let your decisions be guided by them. I think you're right, I'd get along with your generals. [Which pleases her immensely, because Ari's cultural translation for 'general' right now is something close to 'planetary captain'.
She's less happy with Nobunaga's treatment of his sister, but she had asked.
It's not really my place to pry into other people's family business, I suppose, but where I'm from we wouldn't accept that one person had any right to sell another, under any circumstances. Or to stop someone from becoming what he wanted. [There, that's Ari Tayrey at her most diplomatic, and she quickly moves on to slightly safer ground.]
I'm... Cardalek is complicated. My geneparents were never in contract. I was adopted as a baby by one of my great-grandmother's Directors - I suppose you might consider them like generals, only in a business sense. He has no other children, so I might inherit from him, but I'll get nothing through the Carrington bloodline. And I left home at thirteen to be a spacer, so maybe that rules me out anyway. [She looks thoughtful for a moment, then shakes her head.] That wasn't what you were asking. My Carrington cousins - none of them are out on the Tradelines, but none of them wanted to be. They do what's expected of them, mostly. What's good for the Company. But nobody's forcing them to.
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tldr history lesson on castes / official positions of authority in Sengoku Japan
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cn: talk of suicide
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