A Ripple in the Drift (IC) [M]

[GodlyD&D]

Once Megamark was satisfied with the view of entering the Drift, and watching for anything that might be seen in it, for some bit of time, he pulled himself away from that view. He then went on to the mess hall, others had certainly already gathered there. He entered then, seeing all on the survey team, other than one fellow and the android also, were in there, sitting around a couple of the tables there. They had been speaking there among each other in low voices, and just stopped then, looking toward Megamark.

Bryard, the main geologist on the survey team, said, with a little more volume than there was with the quiet chat, "There he is!"

Megamark said, "It is certain to me that there was discussion involving me. I am here. Why not just talk with me about whatever involves me?"

Cyntina, the younger surveyor, said, "Mowgli, we all know you are acrobatic and are a practicing operative with abilities you don't talk about. You were in a small cult, that of Donmichael, before, but you left that. And you are a bit aloof. Does that have anything to do with it?"

Megamark said, "Please do call me Megamark, I would prefer it. The agency has to have my full name, so they know me that way. But I do not know if "Mowgli" is from my natural parents, who died when I was so little, I hardly remember anything about them, or if it was from the family of elves who raised me then giving that name to me. But I do know my name "Megamark" was mine all my life. I knew almost nothing at all of Absalom before I was taken in by the family of elves who cared for me, and it was unfamiliar to me when I returned there from where I first came, and I did not know any others here, but Regdonic the android who brought me back here and watched out for me in everything, to help me get started. It was easy that way to be pulled into that cult. If I seem kind of aloof it is from this history, where I only started getting to know others of Absalom recently. I did have experiences that helped my abilities, from when I started living in that world the elves inhabit, and with Regdonic the android who took me from there back to Absalom and watched out for me, and trained me for things, and from that cult. I think any others could learn such things with any similar experiences."

Cyntina responded, "You were raised by elves! I have never seen elves! What are the elves like??"

"Yes, elves are really different. Yet, they are the same in ways, too. They have their homes and families, who they love, and there are things they work at, all the time, and they have goals they pursue, and have their beliefs. Still, the family of elves I grew up among then taught me some things I never would have learned, anywhere else."

Cheseltin, the mapper, said, "Could you tell us about the beliefs of the elves, that you learned about?

Megamark said, "I could tell you some things. But I would never do their beliefs justice, so I won't speak of those like I could. Many there have faiths involving Calistria, there is though a faith in another being among elves there that competes with those faiths."

Bryard said, "So there are disagreements about faith among elves, like there are among us!"

Megamark answered, "Yes, there is disagreement in views. But on the other hand, unlike the disagreements among us, they don't discuss those among each other, and there is never any argument among elves about those things. They just discuss such among the young elves in their own homes, according to how they want to raise those ones."

Bryard said, "So then, you were not raised like that by them."

Megamark asked, "How would you know that?"

"Clearly, you went right to one minor cult when at Absalom. You would not have, if you had the faith of any of the beings you learned elves had faith in."

[Highland Sniper]

With the jump into the drift, and finishing looking around, Emriko went back to the the entertainment lounge and started to mess with one of the free screens.
She removed a small panel and connected her personal coms to it and started to broadcast a game to the screen.

Zolena had done her much-needed investigating and decided to wander into the entertainment lounge. It was there she found a lone kitsune along with a few other individuals doing their own thing. She'd only seen a couple of kitsunes in her lifetime so she was interested. Zolena peered into the game the kitsune was playing as she walked towards her. She didn't recognize the game and decided that could be a good ice breaker and standing much taller than the other, Zolena spoke up, "Hello... what're you playing?" She smiled a warm smile.

"This is fallout... really old game I found and got to run." Emriko said, not turning from her game as she moved her figure through a few squares down a corridor before running into a rat. "These things are a menace," she said as she started to attack it in a turn based fashion.
She finally looked over in between turns, "So, where ya headin'?" she asked.

"How fun," Zolena giggled, "I'm headed to Absalom Station. My overseer is there, I'm a medical assistant..." She trailed off a little, thinking of what next to say. Of course, she realized, she should probably ask where she was headed in turn, "What about you? Where are you headed?"

"Home... which is the Corisa Trade Fleet. Probably haven't heard of it." She said, "We have a rendezvous on Cestroval. So... Medicine, uh? I went to a nice academy for a bit. Biology and medicine is quite interesting, but I'm more interested in technology and physics personally." She managed to finish off the rat and continued to move on, accessing the games inventory and using some healing items. Her mind slowly turned to other projects she could work on. "Still, it's nice to know what allows people to work, and even how to fix it. People are like fleshy, organic machines. I think you can fix similar problems in either in similar ways, just with different tools and techniques."

Organic, fleshy machines. Zolena sat on those words for a moment before replying, "Interesting way of looking at things. My..." She trailed off once again, "guardians taught me what I know now in medicine. I never went to an academy.

"Technology and physics... intriguing..." Before the conversation could continue, Zolena quickly piped in another question, "What's your name, by the way?"

"Emriko Corisa." She said, "Yeah, the academy seemed to just rehash most of what I already knew, since I grew up working on a ship and all. But I did learn a few new things. Now how about your name miss medical assistant."

"Zolena Kesriyin is my name," she stated a matter of factly, "And you grew up on a ship? That's amazing. You must be pretty used to how ships run." Zolena smiled again, showing true enthusiasm, "I've been on a few ships but never to such a far destination, and I have a few stops on the way before Absalom."

"Pfff, yeah... quite a few." She said, "Being on a merchant ship, I've been all over. Really, you wouldn't believe how many other strange places and people there are. Oh snap." She started to make the character on screen go in the other direction as what appeared to be a giant green person pursued her.

"Actually, this is my first time on this kind of ship, I've been on smaller vessels. Private ones..." Zolena thought about her first time on a vessel at all, it accommodated just five people and only four were on board at the time and then there was that mystery person who vanished... Zolena looked away from Emriko before quickly recovering from her train of thought and looking at what she was playing, "I'm sure there's so much out there, I want to learn it all... even if I currently know very little about other cultures and the such."


"Well, people are people, no mater where you go. It's just a matter of understanding them. There are so many languages to learn, it's likely hard to know them all." she said, fleeing the rooms her character was in, "But the culture of each place can also be very interesting. Why they do certain things in certain ways, what makes them tick. Sometimes, even societies are one big machines if you think about it. Get a few bad wires, and you may have to replace them, make sure you got the right oil and fuel, and just make sure everything fits together right, else it'll tear itself apart." She seemed to think for a moment, "Funny how things fit together when you just think about it."

Zolena smiled once more, " Yeah, I guess so, huh." She wandered about Emriko's culture and what the Corisa Trade Fleet was like, however, she was growing tired and decided maybe it was time to say goodbye to her possibly new friend, "I better get going... being on a ship for this long really tires one out when you're not used to it, and I have to work in a few hours." Zolena paused, "I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, sure." she said, "Have a good rest. Just hope you don't get any visits."

[Yggdrasil_Hugger]

Qerrik shifted in his bed, eyes cracking open at the sound of gentle chimes. With a groan, he sat up in bed. His primaries brushed the walls as he stretched, feeling the quiet pop of each shoulder joint as the sleep faded from his mind. He perched on the edge of the bed for a moment before stepping over to the wall pane that contained his meal. As he ate, he scanned the screen above it. 8:30 pm by Absalom reckoning, but perhaps Updraft in Qidel.

He shifted from foot to foot as he scarfed down the last few bites of his meal. He placed the meal tray back in its cubby in the wall, hearing the almost-silent whoosh as it was whisked away to be cleaned. Turning, he began his physical exercises. He didn’t dare summon the celestial blade, but a bit of unarmed practice was always good.

When he was finished, an hour had passed, and he was ready to see more of the ship beyond his suite. Dressed in his common House whites, with the black-and-silver Cheerriti sash across his chest, he stepped out into the hallway. From what his map had told him, there would be a public common room just down the hall. His wings folded primly to his back, he set off.

[GodlyD&D]

Megamark looked at Bryard a good while without saying anything. Finally he said, "It is not that I did not hear from my elven family what things were believed. I listened and sought those same things out myself. As I grew up, I was looking into evidence for things and I found searching out support for their faith disappointing. Maybe there is something in their faith doing something for them that it would not do for me. But when I came to Absalom later, I found the people of that Call of Donmichael had things which were very real that they showed me, which is why I got involved with them."

Bryard said, "So you thought you found more evidence for that faith, and you didn't stay with that. It suggests being flaky if anything."

Megamark said, "I was growing more insightful and logical. I won't dismiss any new evidence. How many among you can say that?"

[Enigma]

Iris scowled, taking in the singed core of the holographic table.

"Someone shorted it," she sighed, getting a whiff of burned electronics, the heady mixture of ozone mixed with charred outgassing plastic and a hint of hot metal. It would be easier to break it down than fix it, certainly.

She pulled out her phone and connected to the maintenance inventory, dimly aware of someone coming into the observation lounge as she ordered a new core to be delivered to her.

[Highland Sniper]

Emriko managed to beat a few more rats and continued father down into her game before growing board and saving it.
She disconnected her device and restored the display to it's original settings.

She wondered around the ship a little more before heading back to her room. Perhaps the room mates they gave her had settled in and were hanging around there. Perhaps they'd be interested in talking, or maybe she'll just find something else to research and try out. She still has plenty of downloaded documents to read through, so many things she might not know that could be learned right at her fingertips.
She decided reading was probably a good idea and made her way back to her room.

[Nitestrike776]

Mess Hall, aboard the Argo exploratory vessel, The Drift, Present Day , Late evening

After a lengthy and spirited discussion amongst the survey team members present in the mess hall, ranging from the philosophical to the more mundane things, people start to turn in one-by-one, either from weariness of the discussion or from plain exhaustion after the initial excitement of their first day of travel toward a strange world they would be the first to explore. Eventually all that is left, aside from Megamark, is a younger human member of the survey team a few tables away, lightly snoring atop their notes and charts, and surrounded by the cutlery from their meal they had slowly consumed over the hours they were studying amidst the distracting conversation. Evidently their intense focus got the better of them as they had slowly nodded off toward the end and were now fast asleep.

The clock on the bulkhead displays the time as 10:34 in the evening by Absalom reckoning. The absence of conversation in the room brings the background sounds of the vessel into conscious perception. The light hum of the ship, normally barely audible, is now clear and constant, punctuated only by the light breathing and occasional small snorts of the sleeping surveyor that overpowers it only barely. Everything is still, save for the transparent blue-colored liquid in the half-full glass next to them, which seems to pulse slightly with movement, and with a curious regularity only perceptible after several moments of observation as it is so infrequent it has time to go completely still between instances. No discernable churn of the engines or adjustment of the ship seems to coincide with the phenomenon. While slight, in the now mostly empty mess hall, devoid of other movement, this single bit of motion has come to the foreground of notice much like the normally ignored sounds of the ship had slid into focus in the absence of the other activity that would make it all but imperceptible.

[Nitestrike776]

Aboard the Deimos transport ship, The Drift, Present Day, late evening

Deimos Passenger Cabin 46

Emriko finds fewer people as she wanders, the later hour drawing more of the passengers back to their rooms. As she enters her cabin, she sees the same can be said for her roommates. They are all in their bunks in various states of repose, except for one youngish gangly male human coming out of the shared washroom accompanied by a cloud of steam, with dark hair askew and still slightly damp, and wearing colorful sleepwear adorned with recognizable characters from one of the more popular animated programs that airs in the pact worlds. As he looks up from the floor to Emriko coming in the door, standing opposite from her across the table in the slightly close confines of the room, he seems to freeze momentarily. He then hurries to his bunk, almost embarrassed as he plops onto his bedding and busies himself with his personal comm unit, seeming to take no more notice of Emriko.

One of the other occupants, a female who looks similar to the teenaged boy, but definitely older, maybe closer to Emriko’s age watches the rapid escape with mild interest from the corner of her eye, and smirks slightly at the attempt at nonchalance. She returns her attention to her own comm unit, which is playing some sort of musical audio through the wirelessly connected earpieces she wears, which are cranked up loud enough that bits of the music carry throughout the cabin. She wears normal clothing, a shirt emblazoned with some logo in a stylized manner, tight-fitting pants, and sturdy boots. Her hair is dark like the boy’s, and long, with a strip dyed bright neon blue on one side toward the front. She is reclined casually in her bunk below Emriko’s, with a small pile of clothing and a towel bundled next to her.

Over the boy’s bunk a larger form of an adult male human lies still under bedding, turned away from the center of the room. From the color of his hair just visible under the bedding, he seems to be related to the other two, perhaps a father or uncle. As the door closes behind Emriko, he shifts slightly at the noise, but does not turn.

The girl pulls one of her earpieces out and meets Emriko’s eyes before speaking softly, “I was next for showering, but you can use the washroom if you like, I‘m not in a rush.” She smiles politely at Emriko.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Deimos Crew Cabin 12, bunk F

Zolena lies in her bunk drifting in and out of sleep, the slight hum of the ship a soft lulling sound in the now quiet crew areas. The room is cool and dark, the barely visible glow from the hallway coming through the frosted glass of the viewing pane of the door. A feeling passes through her mind as she again approaches a state of sleep, something tenuous yet off-putting. In her near unconscious state, a feeling of inherent incorrectness makes its way from her subconscious to the last vestiges of awake-ness in her thoughts. The feeling is reminiscent of hearing an off-pitch note in a familiar piece of music, or realizing you skipped a sentence while reading a text, causing you to pause and go back because the flow made no sense. Something is just out of place enough to be known to her, though not a thing that is apparent to her ordinary senses. As this feeling rises, she finds herself staring at the darkened ceiling, aware that while she did not sleep as long as she intended, certainly no more than an hour or two, but feeling entirely awake and alert to this sensation that had been creeping over her as she slept.

[Yggdrasil_Hugger]

The Halcyon Comet was certainly a luxury liner, if the common room was anything to go by. A wide, ovular room with smooth white walls and genuine wooden floors. Real wood! Qerrik’s talons clicked satisfyingly on the smooth slats. Looking up, he noticed an observation deck raised above the rest of the lounge. On the far wall, a wide window faced deep into space. The blackness of void was undercut by hundreds of millions of stars twinkling across incomprehensible distance.

Wide bands of color suggested far-off galaxies, ancient supernovas long-since fizzled out, and burgeoning new stars just beginning their biliion-year-long journeys. Stars, countless of them. The root of all life, the tiniest fragments of the beginning of the universe, performing nuclear fission alone in the cradle of the void. To say they were beautiful would be woeful understatement. They were the gods he worshipped, his people worshipped.

He found himself enraptured by the view of the stars. The eternal daytime in Qidel never afforded him the chance to see them. He had seen them once before, during a full solar eclipse. It had been the most earth-shattering experience of his young life. It had molded him into who he was today, drove him to complete the task laid before him by his House. He would succeed. There would be no die trying.

[ElizabethStark]

Zolena ground her teeth together unknowingly. She could feel the anxiety rising in her chest as she lay there. Her sleep was jagged and unpleasant and... put plainly, off. Something was strange, very strange and she couldn't make of what it was if not for her cursed visions of ruin and despair; usually, however, those visions were a bit clearer with vague pictures and ambiguous sounds... strange smells, and touch as well. She thought about calling Jatar for some advice through the transport's comm unit - he was also in line with time as she was. However, he had never experienced visions of any sort like she had a myriad of times. Zolena thought against it and lifted herself from her bunk which so happened to be one of the top bunks. Her feet hung loosely off the edge as her mind began to wander.

It was an odd thing really, that she could remember her first memory in such vivid detail. She couldn't have been more than four but she remembered the man who raised her screaming at her from the very top of his immense lungs. It was frightening - constantly had been. Her response was to always run; run far away from her home but at the time of her young age she only froze while her father said such vulgar and cruel things to her. It was like he knew she was illegitimate, as though he knew she wasn't his child. The amount of hate he seemed to hold for her. She had accidentally spilled milk all over the dinner table and... well, it didn't end well for her.

Then, it came. Her first vision.

Her father's voice grew silent but his lips still moved; what they were saying was anybody's guess. It was as though he were speaking a completely foreign language, the way his mouth shifted. At least, she didn't know the dialect. His jet black hair changed to a brilliant blonde and grew to the length of his back. His face was shifting and his height and physique and the color of his skin... and then, he was her. Zolena Zaovhos. The other Zolena smiled creepily back at her and suddenly the setting around her was that of blackness, water was at her small, bare feet and it was freezing. The air was stiffening as well. The little Zolena before her kept smiling without her teeth showing. It was bizarre and scary, especially for someone so young. After that brief moment that seemed to last an eternity, her father appeared again and dragged her to their basement - the place she most hated as a child when she couldn't run away.

A sudden knock at her bunk jumped her from the reverie of her foremost memory and what followed was a voice of feminine nature, "Kesriyin, we got an injury in medical bay. Your assistance is sorely needed but the big boss says she wants you to assist so get your ass out here."

"Yes, Sir!" Zolena replied quickly and jumped off the top bunk. That was Assa, she was an android who didn't exactly like her. Why that was? She could only guess. Perhaps it was her lack of experience in the field - that seemed the most logical explanation.

Zolena hopped into her everyday gear and headed down to the medical bay. There were only a couple of patients in there - sleeping. She was then greeted by Nes Obhor. She was a doctor. The other human said, "You know how to distinguish afflictions, correct?"

"Yes, Doctor Obhor. I do. Why, what's going on?"

"We need you to detect the ailment of this man, we cannot figure it out and he's going downhill." Nes's words were quick and deliberate, "He's currently in isolation. We need you to put this on."

After she had dressed in protective gear, she looked over the man. He was on oxygen and an IV was fastened into his arm; machines beeped and his eyes were barely open. Zolena placed a hand over his chest and closed her eyes. She strained to understand what the disease was... her mind elsewhere on her terrible sleep and what she had endured.

Zolena said with strained calmness, "I'm sorry, I can't tell what it is. It could be anything."

Nes sighed, "We'll have to make a stop soon then."

Zolena agreed.