they can be persuaded to rest, every now and then. io didn't give them much choice. but, yeah. i can meet you at the observation deck. there's privacy in the lounge if you sit back far enough anyways.
[ but they will come! they're tired, but they're dealing with it, as everyone has to. the weekend's usually when you're supposed to get a break from your job and worrying about things, but not so in space. :pensive:
ganymede enjoys shoma's company, though, so a breather with him is good. ]
[ there's a light, tired, synthesized laugh, but ganymede reaches up to undo the clasps that create the seal on their helmet as they come to join shoma. easier, to drink from to-go cups without a helmet anyways. ]
I think most of us run on coffee or caffeinated tea. I've taken an energy drink, too, but I haven't resorted to mixing yet.
...I've never tried the energy drink mix-in, but I've done cola and espresso before and it's not as bad as you'd think it is. Not that we should be resorting to this but it sounds like we're all kind of overworked here.
We don't exactly get a five day work week like you'd typically expect. [ it's a weak joke... goodbye, weekends off. but they hesitate for a moment before -
well, they actually do take off the helmet. the way they do it, there's a tuft of white hair visible, first, as they duck their head and then lower the helmet. but there's ganymede, in all of their - his - unmasked glory. he's seen better days, though. ] We'll see if we wind up getting to the energy drink mix-in before too long.
[ i do pretend to be shocked. shoma grins faintly at the joke because oof. yeah. but then ganymede's removing his helmet and he pauses for a moment to look him over. ]
If we have another couple of weeks of this, we're getting there sooner than later. I'm calling it now. [ but he does offer a vaguely sympathetic look. ] I'd say it's nice to see you face to face, but...[ man. ] Does it hurt?
[ i was never trying for subtle with the purple and the cat herding it's fine. sometimes you just accept you'll have an easy to guess NPC. ]
Looking like we're aiming towards the full eight weeks, at this rate. But maybe the person in charge of the station we're docking at tomorrow will have something we can use. [ she does not. it's fine. ] ... only when the gravity is heavier, or the weather's cold. Anoria was a nice place, but I was packing a muffler with those hand warming packs any time I went off-ship.
Acid burns, mostly. The wetware is to keep the structural integrity and functionality. I lost so much tissue and some of the bone in my jaw that the recovery pods couldn't salvage it otherwise.
That...sounds incredibly horrifying, actually. [ like not just the aftermath, he is very much clearly thinking about actually getting those burns in the first place. ] It makes sense that it's a little sensitive in different conditions.
[ also yeah okay he suddenly understands why mizuki went "nvm im not leaving until we help them." ]
Was that...from the last tour then? If it's wetware you're using and you were able to use the pods. What happened?
[ he touches along the edges of it, considering the answer to that question. no one's actually asked him what happened. ]
We had to clear up storms on our tour, too. I went on one of the missions to investigate the anomaly, and to answer a distress call from a colony ship that had gotten trapped in the storm. The whole thing was a ghost town, for a while, until we met the monsters that were trying to take their places. They spat and bled acid.
[ lol lmao. he kind of dodged it with keith but no one's outright asked. it's fine. ]
No, no. I went with other crew - not the seven others, the original Eudora crew before us. But we've all been on missions of our own. [ shaking his head sightly as he answers. ] We all made it out, albeit by the skin of our teeth.
[ but. ]
... no survivors. The Nostos was completely wiped out before we'd even gotten there, and we used our boarding craft to propel it into the eye of the storm to prevent the doppelgangers from getting off the ship. Whole thing collapsed and imploded.
...do you remember the other crew you went with? [ this may be too early for him to ask, but curious. ] Again, gonna reiterate that I'm glad you made it out, but it's...hard knowing that it was a close call.
[ he ponders over that though. ]
Doppelgangers...? [ he'll get back to the rest in a sec, he wants to question that first. ]
Not... clearly. Two women, I think about my age, but I can't picture their faces or remember their names. [ he shakes his head again, looking down slowly at the coffee. ] ... god, I hope they made it out of all this.
[ not holding his breath, clearly. but - another question. ]
Meant it when I said that the monsters were trying to take their places. They were too uncanny, though - and they moved wrong, too, like they didn't understand how to emulate human motion. Wrong angles on their joints. Too many teeth. Things like that.
[ ...man that would actually truly suck to just. you know. not have memories if people you were working with died or not. he's going to offer a sympathetic little look before drifting from that for a moment. he's not holding his breath either, and it's the only reason he does not offer verbal platitudes. ]
That's...really, really horrifying. I think I'd launch the whole thing into the eye, too. I'd ask what they were planning to do but that doesn't matter so much. They're gone. [ ... ] What're the chances of us running into something else like that though?
[ ganymede is used to not having his memories in proper working order, so it's both familiar and disconcerting at the same time. it doesn't scare him in the same way it would others, maybe, but it does leave him feeling like a wound up spring. he takes a breath. takes a drink. ]
Space is as beautiful as it is horrifying. [ a callback, to one of their earlier conversations. ] I've seen any number of monsters and races, since I was first picked up off of Pluto's Kerberos by the ones that gave me my arm. The chances... aren't zero, unfortunately, but we're better prepared now than we were then. And I can just hope that us destroying that ship stopped it from spreading beyond what poor souls they already took.
[ stop i hate that. he's patient though, letting ganymede take time to compose himself and doing his best not to just stare at him. ]
I'm believing that more and more with each passing week. I don't like the idea of not knowing what we might come across, but it helps to know we're a little more on guard. [ a glance to ganymede's arm though, fleeting as it is. ] ...it's gonna depend on how they were able to accomplish becoming dopplegangers, isn't it? I mean not that I'm anticipating or hoping something or someone escaped, it's just...we always have a lot of possibilities. You did the best you could in the time you were given. That's the important part.
[ the glance gets a small flex of fingers, no longer gloved because - well, if nothing else, a lot of people know that it's a prosthetic. ]
We all try do the best that we can with what we have. Even if we question it later. [ a rueful huff, but. ] The missions we can at least try to prepare you all for, get you weapons or suits or some kind of protection that you can take with you. The anomalies, like the one you went on... that, those, I'm even less sure of. It doesn't really feel like there's much we can do to prepare anyone, in the long run.
I just wish I understood why they were happening to begin with, you know? If we had an idea, we could try to prepare ourselves better. Not that I'm not glad we have an advantage when it comes to the missions themselves, but...it feels like there's too many unknown factors. And with the things that're happening to you guys...
[ he wants to be prepared if there's a point the senior crew can't help, just to make sure they can all be saved and get out of here. ]
Too many of those unknown factors, us included in that. [ wryly ] I don't want us to become a problem when we already have so many problems.
[ whether that's as a liability, or something else. he's already been used as a weapon against those he cares about - he'd rather it not happen again. ]
We're looking into it, though. At least as best we can. With you all being taken through portals, or tears, or whatever we want to call them... they don't seem that different from the warp portals that we use to travel short distances. And we received that ability as officers. Makes me wonder if it's something involving the ship.
Then you shouldn't have gotten to know us better. [ equally wryly. ] There're too many people on this crew who are going to want to make sure you guys are just as safe as we are. Don't forget that.
...you think the ship's just doing it at random to see who survives and who doesn't, maybe? Like a test of will.
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but, yeah. i can meet you at the observation deck. there's privacy in the lounge if you sit back far enough anyways.
[ but they will come! they're tired, but they're dealing with it, as everyone has to. the weekend's usually when you're supposed to get a break from your job and worrying about things, but not so in space. :pensive:
ganymede enjoys shoma's company, though, so a breather with him is good. ]
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...but at least when ganymede shows up it looks like there are two take-up cups of coffee from somewhere in the food court. ]
I don't know if you drink it, but I thought I'd bring it just in case. [ weekend...tiring. memshare week...tiring. ]
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I think most of us run on coffee or caffeinated tea. I've taken an energy drink, too, but I haven't resorted to mixing yet.
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...I've never tried the energy drink mix-in, but I've done cola and espresso before and it's not as bad as you'd think it is. Not that we should be resorting to this but it sounds like we're all kind of overworked here.
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[ ty pretends to be shocked ]
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If we have another couple of weeks of this, we're getting there sooner than later. I'm calling it now. [ but he does offer a vaguely sympathetic look. ] I'd say it's nice to see you face to face, but...[ man. ] Does it hurt?
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Looking like we're aiming towards the full eight weeks, at this rate. But maybe the person in charge of the station we're docking at tomorrow will have something we can use. [ she does not. it's fine. ] ... only when the gravity is heavier, or the weather's cold. Anoria was a nice place, but I was packing a muffler with those hand warming packs any time I went off-ship.
Acid burns, mostly. The wetware is to keep the structural integrity and functionality. I lost so much tissue and some of the bone in my jaw that the recovery pods couldn't salvage it otherwise.
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[ also yeah okay he suddenly understands why mizuki went "nvm im not leaving until we help them." ]
Was that...from the last tour then? If it's wetware you're using and you were able to use the pods. What happened?
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We had to clear up storms on our tour, too. I went on one of the missions to investigate the anomaly, and to answer a distress call from a colony ship that had gotten trapped in the storm. The whole thing was a ghost town, for a while, until we met the monsters that were trying to take their places. They spat and bled acid.
[ doppelganger xenomorphs... ]
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Of course it was monsters. [ just. annoyed. why can't these monsters simply fuck off? ] You didn't go by yourself, did you?
[ is...that why a lot of them have wetware. actually. ] What happened to the colony ship? Were you able to find them?
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No, no. I went with other crew - not the seven others, the original Eudora crew before us. But we've all been on missions of our own. [ shaking his head sightly as he answers. ] We all made it out, albeit by the skin of our teeth.
[ but. ]
... no survivors. The Nostos was completely wiped out before we'd even gotten there, and we used our boarding craft to propel it into the eye of the storm to prevent the doppelgangers from getting off the ship. Whole thing collapsed and imploded.
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...do you remember the other crew you went with? [ this may be too early for him to ask, but curious. ] Again, gonna reiterate that I'm glad you made it out, but it's...hard knowing that it was a close call.
[ he ponders over that though. ]
Doppelgangers...? [ he'll get back to the rest in a sec, he wants to question that first. ]
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[ not holding his breath, clearly. but - another question. ]
Meant it when I said that the monsters were trying to take their places. They were too uncanny, though - and they moved wrong, too, like they didn't understand how to emulate human motion. Wrong angles on their joints. Too many teeth. Things like that.
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That's...really, really horrifying. I think I'd launch the whole thing into the eye, too. I'd ask what they were planning to do but that doesn't matter so much. They're gone. [ ... ] What're the chances of us running into something else like that though?
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Space is as beautiful as it is horrifying. [ a callback, to one of their earlier conversations. ] I've seen any number of monsters and races, since I was first picked up off of Pluto's Kerberos by the ones that gave me my arm. The chances... aren't zero, unfortunately, but we're better prepared now than we were then. And I can just hope that us destroying that ship stopped it from spreading beyond what poor souls they already took.
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I'm believing that more and more with each passing week. I don't like the idea of not knowing what we might come across, but it helps to know we're a little more on guard. [ a glance to ganymede's arm though, fleeting as it is. ] ...it's gonna depend on how they were able to accomplish becoming dopplegangers, isn't it? I mean not that I'm anticipating or hoping something or someone escaped, it's just...we always have a lot of possibilities. You did the best you could in the time you were given. That's the important part.
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We all try do the best that we can with what we have. Even if we question it later. [ a rueful huff, but. ] The missions we can at least try to prepare you all for, get you weapons or suits or some kind of protection that you can take with you. The anomalies, like the one you went on... that, those, I'm even less sure of. It doesn't really feel like there's much we can do to prepare anyone, in the long run.
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[ he wants to be prepared if there's a point the senior crew can't help, just to make sure they can all be saved and get out of here. ]
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[ whether that's as a liability, or something else. he's already been used as a weapon against those he cares about - he'd rather it not happen again. ]
We're looking into it, though. At least as best we can. With you all being taken through portals, or tears, or whatever we want to call them... they don't seem that different from the warp portals that we use to travel short distances. And we received that ability as officers. Makes me wonder if it's something involving the ship.
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...you think the ship's just doing it at random to see who survives and who doesn't, maybe? Like a test of will.