elos-six

[mrwoods]

He sighs.

Push. Pull. Push. Pull.

His eyes are closed, and he's sitting alone in one of the Propulsor cabins.

Push. Pull. Push. Pull.

His bare skin is touching the cold stone. He likes that, and it helps with the propulsion, as if he was actually part of the ship.

Push. Pull. Push. Pull.

He can feel the whole ship. Not quite like a Navigator can, they know stuff in relation to other stuff, they can perceive everything, trace destinations. Even now, he can feel the Nav, nudging all the Propulsors in the same directions, telling where they should go.

Push. Pull. Push. Pull.

There's feedback, of course. The Nav tells them, we must go there. They reply, that's not a good place to go. Gravitational field. Someone - this ship has a metamage, even if there was no time mage that was still impressive - says that there's a sea of instability over there, we should not go that way.

Push. Pull.

Sigh.

This is all, of course, happening in his head. Not a sound can be heard from his cabin, other than his breathing and the occasional sigh.

It's not that he dislikes propulsion. It's interesting, it doesn't exactly let him get completely bored. Or not always, but this ship has several Propulsors, so he only really needs to pay a little bit of attention.

I'm checking out, he thinks, and he feels the nonverbal nudge saying basically 'Alright.'

And a bit of a wave of indifference.

It's not that he's completely irrelevant either, but there's enough of them that he can check out pretty much whenever he likes.

He's been sighing a lot, hasn't he.

He puts his clothes back on, then touches the door so it'll let him out. He leaves and-

"Oh, hi. You're the new guy, right?"

Comments

[curiousdiscoverer]

There is some comfort in being back to space. Inside a cozy shell floating about the void. It could be boring, but at least there are new people here.

Isra turn around, this movement done by using a gentle push to rotate himself while his tail holds on to a support beam.

"Hi!" He is upside down, but their faces are nearly on the same level "I am Isra!" His smile is unusually wide, almost too wide.

[mrwoods]

Sadde seems completely undisturbed by the upside-downness, or the tail, though it does catch his attention for a second.

"You have a tail," he points out. Somehow this information had managed to evade his knowledge until now. "My name's Sadde. What's your species?"

[curiousdiscoverer]

Isra stops being upside-down. He managed to achieve this while maintaining his face nearly at the same level.

"I am human. You don't have a tail," He points out. Maybe pointing out obvious facts is a cultural thing. "At least I don't think you do."

Isra checks Sadde's tailness, does that booty have a tail?

[mrwoods]

"I do not have a tail," he agrees. "And no humans I have met have tails. Why do you have a tail?"

[curiousdiscoverer]

"Grew up in a place where they did a lot of genetic experimentation." Isra keeps smiling. "I like my tail! Get one if you have the chance!"

[mrwoods]

Sadde blinks and opens his mouth.

He closes it.

He opens it again.

"H."

Yes, apparently the letter 'H' is a sound a person can make. Who knew.

[curiousdiscoverer]

You really have to wonder if Isra's smile is somehow part of his altered genetics, he manages to convey confusion while still smiling wide.

"People always act like that is a big deal."

[mrwoods]

He takes a few seconds to recover his capacity for speech. "It is, in fact, a big deal," he says, somewhat monotonically.

He looks around, as if wondering whether there's someone else, but the hall is as empty as it was when he got into his room, plus Isra.

But the doors to other Propulsor cabins are there as well, and he very much wants to know more uninterruptedly.

"Care to join me for a somewhat quick walk?"

[curiousdiscoverer]

"Sure. Is this a way of saying that you want to have sex? Remembering all the euphemisms is so hard. People are never direct. Unless they are paying." Isra says that with the casualness of people complaining about the weather, while smiling.

[mrwoods]

Pause.

"This is not a way of saying I want to have sex," he says, fielding a whole gamut of questions and- thoughts- for later. For now, he leads Isra to (are his quarters a good place? they might contribute to misleading him, but-) his quarters.

They are quite small, only having room for his bed, a chair, and a desk, on top of which is his laptop.

[curiousdiscoverer]

Isra gives Sadde an amused look upon seeing his destination. "Are you sure?"

[mrwoods]

"Quite certain," he says dryly. "Anyway, I don't know if you get a bigger room for being a sorta guest here but this is what I have so, um, sit?" he offers, gesturing at the chair as he himself takes a seat on his bed.

[curiousdiscoverer]

Isra groans, but it doesn't sound sincere. He sits.

"Are you going to ask all sort of boring questions because of the tail?"

[mrwoods]

"Well, that depends on what exactly you consider boring. I for one find them fascinating. And the tail, too." He peers at it some.

[curiousdiscoverer]

The tails wags and then moves closer. It doesn't touch Sadde, but it's obviously offering the possibility.

[mrwoods]

He tilts his head slightly and...

Doesn't touch it.

He looks at Isra again, blinking. "Anyway," he says. "Genetic experiments? Where are you from? Is it under the jurisdiction of the Federation? How are you alive?"

First boring questions, yay!

[curiousdiscoverer]

"Yes, genetic experiments. We just called it home, but there was a name for it. Above-something station. We are not part of the Federation. How are you alive? I am no biologist, but my biological needs are the same as any human, so I can't be that different."

The tail stays where it is.

[mrwoods]

"We," he echoes. Of course there's more than one person and not just one lucky survivor of a crazy experiment. Of course there's a whole station with people like Isra. "I'm alive due to millions of years of evolutionary pressures, none of which gave me a fully functional tail, for what I presume are fitness reasons. Possibly some ambiguous omnipotent creator involved in the mix, jury's still out. You, on the other hand, are a magical impossibility! And also whatever process generated you is outlawed!"

[curiousdiscoverer]

"Evolution." Isra snorts. "Okay, my turn. Tell me more about yourself?"

[mrwoods]

He sniffles. "What exactly do you want to know? I can answer questions, I guess. I’m human as well, I think we've gone over that." He’s still burning with questions, though the answers to these first few ones have reduced his hope that they’ll get answered, but it’s only fair that he answer some too.

[curiousdiscoverer]

Isra shrugs. "Anything. Are you usually that curious about people's biology? Are you enjoying your time in Elos-six?"

[mrwoods]

"I'm not usually that curious about people's biology, but that's mostly because I usually know quite a bit about it. Since, you know, it's been typically created in a way that's not supposed to be completely impossible and also illegal. And yes? I guess? I mean, it's fine, it's better than home I suppose."

[curiousdiscoverer]

"Why it is illegal? If something is impossible then it shouldn't be illegal." Isra seems to think this is just common sense. "What was your home like? Mine was good, nearly everyone was made to be friends to each other."

[mrwoods]

"It's illegal because it's impossible, and everyone who tried it caused a lot of trouble. Like, a lot. Goodness, I bet you didn't even like learn basic galactic history huh. Except it's apparently not impossible and you're not… like… a mutant monster in constant pain who cannot communicate or something.

"Anyway, home was, uh, boring, I guess. More boring than here at any rate. I left 'cause there was not a whole lot I could do there and a TG ship was more likely to give me stuff to do. That um. I couldn't do. There." He shrugs uncomfortably. "And what do you mean by made to be friends, exactly?"

[curiousdiscoverer]

When Sadde says "mutant monster" the trail retracts and coils around Isra. The smile stays there.

"Made to be friendly... like how I was made to have a tail. Most people back home have their impulses altered so they are nicer, and less prone to want to fight, cause harm, enjoy causing suffering, etc."