<> <> <> (*watches History of the World* BEA. My precious Bea. :( ) ( ;_; ) * Zeke is on the ship! It's awesome to be on ships. * Hestia is on the ship. She's been on and off the ship for days. Why? Because she's poking at that walphin dictionary, not that it's actually doing her any GOOD. * Tomas arrives at the Hitching Post via public bus and makes for the ship, eventually boarding. Today he's wearing a set of ex-DunnoCorp fatigues strikingly similar to those you've seen him in before. <> (Given my comparative text, I can now probably say "Tone" and "The Bugs are about to kill us send help") (You can also vocalize "QQ") (Hurray. That will be fantastic when they nerf pearl divers in World of Warphincraft) * Amadeus comes comes walking up in the ship, jacked in datapad in hand and eyes flicking rapidly in that 'using headputer' kind of way. He glances up at hearing the walphin "words", nods approvingly at Tia, and walks off for the cargo hold / research area to check on stuff before take off. * Kyle has already been there since the morning, doing his final checkups and rundowns of the system, making sure the sensors are reading accurately and that the ship is still structurally sound. While it should still be, it's important to make sure it's all good before going off into space again. * Zeke moves to near Tia's fiddling and says, "Still as wrapped in it as you were before?" <> (Not untouched! Zeke put one in his in-suit disintegrator or whatever to pretend it's not just a brain in a jar in that suit.) (I stand corrected! Then there is one slice missing.) (I actually ate 3.) (I only ate one on screen.) (THREE SLICES MISSING, AH AH AH) * Lexi rubs her eyes she is slightly hungover, and by slightly I mean she is trying to figure out which of the ship's weapons are firing into her head. She has had to do a lot to deal with the forced marriage. She wanders blearilly around the lounge before climbing blearily up into the cockpit and flops blearily into her seat and holds her head in her hands. "Blergh..." * Tomas approaches Tia and glances over her shoulder at the dictionary and asks, "You make any headway with-- " but halfway through is suddenly distracted by a tingling at the back of his mind. He heads to the fridge to investigate. * Hestia pauses the recording from the dictionary (hey, if we can grab the prophecy, the dictionary can't be that much harder) and, by way of reply, turns to Zeke and warbles, as best as she can with two lungs and one larynx, the word for 'Tone'. (Suddenly: the Wind Fish appears.) (TIA IS WHISKED AWAY BY A TALKING BOAT) * Zeke's holoface looks slightly surprised, then, "You have been learning." Or I have an amazingly coincidental past life that just asserted itself. (What ended up being on this pizza? Was it really old gym socks?) (No, it was a normalish pizza with some toppings.) * Kyle walks into the cockpit from the engine room. "Hey Lexi, how you doin'?" * Tomas returns to Tia with open pizza box in hand, "Sounds like you've made some headway. Did you manage to learn anything more about this prophecy?" * Lexi opens one eye and stirs a little towards Kyle. "why... are you yelling at me?" * Hestia glances at the pizza box with a very measured expression, before shrugging and turning off the playback off the dictionary, flipping the datapad in her hand a few times. "Nothing useful, I'm afraid, although there's some support for the Professor's theory that the... whatevers... could see the future through this..." She considers warbling the 'word' again, then stops herself and opts for "Tone." (Did that cut off? I heard the 'you're posing like you do on MotM' bell.) (Nope!) ("Tone") (Tone was the end of it.) * Zeke adds, "It is uncertain if the noise we experienced assisted them in this or reflected it." * Kyle , for the record, wasn't yelling. But he talks a little softer anyawys. "Not yelling. You okay?" Well, more okay? * Hestia shrugs. "Or if it's not just walrus person religious nonsense. For now all we can do is wait and see if another civilization that contacted the sleythin pops up and if they had a similar prophecy." What was on the tape if there wasn't any more information? * Lexi steadies her gaze a bit... "Uh... yeah. I guess so... This is the first time I've been someplace not a bar or home for two days..." * Hestia holds up the datapad. "We have a dictionary. I'm now physically incapable of stating words I know, rather than words I don't understand." She taps her finger on the pad's edge idly, her nails making a *click-click-click* sound. "Their language is... weird, to say the least." (That statement confuses me.) (Humans can't really speak the language. It was a sarcastic way of pointing out that I know the words but I can't speak them in any event.) (As in, "Now I know what the words I'm incapable of saying actually mean.") (ok. I get it now.) * Kyle rubs Lexi's shoulder. "Well, it'll all be lightyears away soon. Literally." * Hestia blinks. "...huh. Actually." She pauses, then calls up the transcript of the prophecy as delivered by walphins, glancing at it. * Amadeus comes wandering back towards the lobby, still jacked into his datapad. "Are we about ready to leave?" * Lexi nods and faceplants her control panel. "Ugnnnn...." * Tomas turns to A-man as he walks in, "I think Tia just figured something out with that Walphin prophecy." We have a hung-over pilot. But everything else reads out all-right. * Amadeus nods to Kyle and blinks at Tomas. "Really?" This is followed by him looking towards Tia! (NO PRESSURE) (Gimmie a sec to run something by Cham before I run the ball off the edge of the world.) (I will be there to shellack sidewalk under you, Tia!) (Until you cross him. Then he falls conveniently behind.) * Hestia makes a 'hmmm' in the back of her throat. "It's... minor. Really minor. But the... christ, did we give these people a *name*? Calling them the 'whatevers' is making me sound like a complete idiot." * Zeke replies, "Walrus Beings." Uh, well, they're kinda like walruses, aren't they? Maybe like a Walphin or somethin'? (*sounds of the fourth wall cracking*) (:D) (haha. Z with the save.) (Uh, you would need to say they're kinda like _dolphins_.) (Walrus + Dolphin.) (No I don't. :smith:) * Hestia mmphs, in an Amadeus-like displeasure at this scientific inexactitude. "Wal-whatever. Anyhow. I didn't even think about it until you asked but their language works in pairs. A statement is always paired with a question. But the prophecy is all statements, no questions." That must have made for fun newscasts. What's the media callin' them, anyways? <> I'm not certain. And yes, they do that; it was actually a point of contention when I was talking to the PI. (I had more important matters at the moment. <.< >.>) * Hestia raises an eyebrow at Amadeus. (I might have expected Kyle to name them himself on his blog as he broke the story.) (o/`) (Kyle was.... busy.) (I recommend more retconning.) PI? Did you return to Tuskany? <> * Amadeus flicks his eyes one more time, then pulls the cord from the back of his neck and starts wrapping it around one hand. He blinks at Tomas. "Er, no. I was talking to it while you loaded up the ship." * Tomas nods Is that so. What did it have to say? (HOW YOU DOIN') In any case, it seemed extremely confused every time I offered a statement without a question, and he eventually asked me if we recognized 'fairness', and after asking it about linguistics, it told me that they've had many languages over their history, some of which were purely interrogative-based. Huh, that's pretty funky. * Amadeus takes a breath, then adds, "I had to adjust and follow the answer-question conversation pattern in order to communicate smoothly." Pause. "So given that, a prophecy composed of direct statements is highly unusual." * Hestia hmms again. "One word that kept coming up was..." She pauses, then knits her brow and ATTEMPTS to 'sing' a word. * Amadeus knits his brow in response and pushes his glasses up. "What does that mean? I have no gift for languages." 'Equity'. Maybe 'parity'. Something like that, anyway. * Zeke says, "The same as the mentioned fairness." * Amadeus nods. "I wasn't able to ask if they had any class or caste system, though it did say they found the Sleythin highly confusing at first... perhaps because the Sleythin did once have a rigid caste system." * Hestia nods. "Sounds like it was an important concept." She pauses, then glances at Kyle. "Speaking of fairness or lack thereof, does Miss Calhoun plan on flying us out to our undisclosed location anytime soon?" <> (I have realized I've spent 0 of my CP.) (Well, gained CP.) (Get a hat.) * Hestia blinks. "Maybe Mr. Secretive changed his mind?" Hm. * Amadeus goes to investigate, datapad still in hand. * Hestia follows! It's better than staying here where the conversational black hole will suck out all her roleplay. * Tomas figures he should follow in case something's up, so he does. * Kyle stays chillaxin' with Lexi. * Zeke slowly follows as well. <> (Sorry, phone from parents) <> "Hey, crew, how's the Weird Piece holding up?" * Hestia raps a knuckle on the side of the hatch. "She has yet to subject us all to explosive decompression." Hopefully a deck plate doesn't fall off after this statement but you never know. (Hopefully one DOES so they'll get us a better ship!) (I think if 24 hours of walphin dictionary didn't vibrate the bolts out of the hull, it's probably fine.) It is functional. Structurally sound as it can be. Needed some patchwork after the last mission, but that's pretty normal at this point. <> "Good, good. I have to say, you all have done an amazing job of making me look like I have good judgement. Some amazing samples, and now an alien species! In less than a month!" Let's hope the luck holds. * Kyle nods. Where you sending us next, boss? * Hestia says nothing. She's digesting 'making me look like I have good judgment'. Well that and the conspicuous heavies. "The powers that be have evinced a slight interest in your success, and they've sent me a top-secret document - for your eyes only! - with an extremely important mission. Even I don't know what it is." <> "Our courier here has the details, and will observe you on your mission." <> "It'll be a pleasure. My name is Mr. Jackson." (Just didn't have the guts to go 'Johnson'?) (MAYBE IT'S HIS REAL NAME) (MAYBE) (WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT) (I THINK IT'S SILLY) (Which other man is Mr. Jackson? There's 2.) (You boys ever been to meh-heeko?!) (There are two men, one of which is Preston, the other of which is Mr. Jackson.) (My description could have been a little clearer.) * Amadeus eyes Mr. Jackson, but he holds his hand out to shake anyway. "Dr. Cheung." One lack of first name deserves another. (OH okay sorry. The sentence made it sound like 3 to me somehow.) (Don't worry Cham. I understood.) (WHATEVER YOU DIDN'T STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME LOOK BAD.) * Tomas gives Mr. Jackson a quick, informal salute, "Tomas Holliday." <> "Pleasure to meet you. Mind if I come aboard?" (I don't have to try l o l) (*shoves Tomas out the airlock*) (*holds his breath?*) * Hestia crosses her arms over her chest and doesn't go in for introductions at this time! Instead she turns and heads to the map room. People are suspicious! Especially Tia! Not at all. * Amadeus heads back on board, all back to being professional. <> "Very nice. Where should I sit?" (AFK a sec to pose on MotM) * Amadeus gestures vaguely towards the lounge chairs and couches. "Anywhere you like." * Tomas follows the rest into the lounge eager to hear where he's headed. <> "You all have fun!" * Amadeus has a seat more or less across from Mr. Jackson. He nods to Preston. <> "Dreadfully anachronistic, I know, but they insisted on paper for security." <> "I'm supposed to give this to the pilot. Where is she?" * Kyle motions torwards Lexi. She's either in the cockpit or the head. * Lexi moans and looks over. "Buh?" <> * Lexi looks down then. "Ah, there we go." <> * Hestia emerges from the map room to watch this little tableau from the hallway, but says nothing for the time being. Instead she leans against the wall, arms crossed over her chest still. * Lexi opens the envelope and looks over some documents, narrowing her eye confused "Um...." * Kyle looks over Lexi's shoulder. <<... one of y'all's gonna have to say SOMEthing, the dude doesn't know what's in the envelope.>> (I'm kinda at a loss.) (Lexi has the letter and the envelope. I assumed she'd say something.) (Kyle and Lexi BOTH know what's in the envelope.) * Lexi shrugs. "Uh.. there are some numbers. Here someone take it." She hands it out. * Kyle takes it and reads over it more carefully. "This is our destination. Who's plotting our course?" He looks at Amadeus and Hestia. We'll get to it. * Kyle hands the envelope over to the prof. * Amadeus holds his hand out for the envelope, and he looks to Mr. Jackson. "Is there anything else?" * Amadeus gets one envelope! * Hestia glances at Amadeus, then at the group. "Make yourselves comfortable. This may take a minute or two." * Tomas picks up the now empty pizza box and heads to the Galley to clean up while Tia does her thing. <> * Hestia turns and glances at the prof, in the security of the map room. "That's not suspicious at all." (Did the guy LEAVE yet?) (He's coming with us.) (Is he? I'm so confused.) (Our courier here has the details, and will observe you on your mission.) (He is.) (That's why they're talking in the map room!) (It is.) * Amadeus pushes up his glasses and rubs at the bridge of his nose, double checking to make sure the door to the map room is closed before responding, "I hate the very idea of people like him. Better get those coordinates in." (OH NO AMADEUS! *SECRETS*) (They're coming for you!) (AAAAAAAAAARGH) (You know, I thought about that. The prophecy being a secret seemed surprisingly unbothersome!) (We're keeping it secret from secretive people.) (I guess it cancels out.) * Hestia typeity typeity typeity! Bam, course plotted. ~ Whenever you're ready, people. ~ (AND NOW AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER WE HEAD INTO SPACE.) (YAAAY SPACE) ~Ready to rock.~ * Tomas finishes up in the galley and takes a seat in the lounge, ~I'm good here, chief~ <> * Lexi groans and then shakes herself and sits up and opens the comm. "Everyone ready to er....go?" ~You need some help up there, Lex?~ ~Uh... I should be... okay. Hang onto your seats.~ She smiles and pulls the ship up and out. (We're going to get cut in two when we collide with the interstice then Cham won't have to worry about any more plot makings.) * Amadeus settles in and preps for whatever trouble is going to occur this time. * Kyle turns to Lexi thumbs-up, then prepares for damage control. (blargh.. that post should be in purple) (Ah well) (You using color codes?) (No I mean. I should have done an /me because I tagged an action on at the end) (More that she mixed text and /me) (Well, she's pretty hungover. It's ok.) (Haha. Lexi gets drunk, narrates her own actions.) (That would be funny.) (Clearly she is narrating her own actions) (Ha yes) (Next she's going to lose her internal monologue.) <