eyemind | event } you can jive

Entry tags:

event } you can jive

WHO: Open to all passengers!
WHAT: A visit to New Ecrillion, and all the music your ears can handle. Plus, bonus new partners!
WHERE: Anywhere in the city of New Ecrillion, or Navi.
WHEN: June 19 through July 10
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! And if you end up partying literally to death, please record it on the death page.

Hello, passengers! Hope you're all ready for an announcement, 'cause Navi's voice is getting beamed into your head right about ... now:

Attention, passengers.
We'll be docking soon at the city of New Ecrillion, on the planet Zegnolia, where we will remain for approximately three weeks, local time.
Please stand by.

From the announcement until landing, to help everyone adjust to the new environment, Navi will gift all passengers with a a faint hummed melody.

Upon docking and disembarking, passengers will find a bank counter just past the terminal, where your new windfall of Navigems can be exchanged for credits (the universal currency). Try not to spend it all in one place!

Now, go get your groove on! Just remember to take breaks to hydrate.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Richard picks a bar out of nowhere, something casual, something where he won't feel entirely out of place before settling in. He can be calm. He can be cool because yes he is a scientist. No matter how he's feeling he can still manage to remember that.

So he picks an out of the way bar where he won't feel under dressed and ignores the acrid smell of cigarette smoke before he sits at a table.

"Food? Drink?"

If they're going to have a conversation it is going to be on his terms.

"What would you suggest?"

You see, Murmur didn't normally drink much more than tea and honestly he didn't really eat... at all. But Lucifer had introduced him to the fact that this highly potent space alcohol did actually work on angels and flavors were kind of fascinating so he was absolutely up for experimentation.

Teach him your human ways, Richard, and in return he may help you with your conflict.

Richard Strand does not drink anymore. In college he was a bit of a heavy handed two fisted bastard. There's a reason he has a daughter out of wedlock, he was popular, well liked, but he toned it down and life hits you back and hits you hard. Taking a seat at the bar he looks at the bartender and gestures.

"Two of the closest things you have to beer." He would send something to the bartender to let them know what he meant, "No hard alcohol. Just alcohol.."

A pause, "And something with carbs."

Wasn't there something of a slip not terribly long ago? Not that Murmur's been spying (he's always watching it's different), that would be rude. Still, it was well enough Richard didn't feel up to getting blackout drunk right now.

They had a lot of talking to do, did they not?

"Very good," He mused, pleased as he settled in to perch on the stool beside Richard. Now that everyone knew what he was he didn't really have to try so hard to imitated the mortals and could perch like a weirdo to his heart's content.

Richard raised an eyebrow before drooping his head, "...I shouldn't come to places like this. I just want somewhere I can feel comfortable looking like this. Behaving like this."

He stares at nothing, "My abilities on NAVI have grown and they need to be controlled and understood. Accepting it is a part of that. It's just taking some getting used to. And it is...difficult to not feel like a monster."

Murmur offered something of a sly little smirk at that look. Listen, he will sing for their drinks and get them for free then you'll be glad you brought an angel. He sings beautifully. "Come now, you are an immeasurable distance away from your homeworld what does it matter what strangers may think of you in a dingy hole in the wall?"

Dress like whatever madman you want, Strand, no one's going to judge you for it. Probably. Murmur's odd perching even barely gets a glance. "Why do you feel like a monster?"

"Hearing people's thoughts is not normal." Dreaming the dreams he has been dreaming isn't normal. Feeling the things he's felt isn't normal.

He lowers his gaze, "I feel like a voyeur." That's not particularly monsterous it's more, "Have you heard from anyone about our world and it's so-called history?"

"Perhaps not for you," Murmur offers flippantly, before fixing his gaze briefly on Richard to give him a pointed look. "Or perhaps you've simply forgotten." He gestures vaguely, because at the end of the day that was what they were dealing with here wasn't it? A resurgence of something long forgotten and buried. Some buried trauma, some buried psychic powers. It happened aplenty.

"It happens, you know. The streets, prisons, and hospitals are full of them. Those whose senses touch just a little further, a little deeper. It's always been in there, you know," He waggles his fingers, gloved now with strange claw rings worn outside of them, near Strand's temple. "It's how we first spoke to your kind so long ago. Before you all collectively decided you didn't like to hear."

He pulled over the bartender to request an absolutely disgustingly greasy burger. Why? Because he's never eaten one before! And since he's here, and doesn't have to act all proper anymore... why not? Why not try new things?

As for Strand's question he leaned back once he was done, humming thoughtfully. "Yes, Alex did mention a little, and that dream..." Well he only observed there, didn't interfere. "Anyway, I would love to know more."

Richard doesn't flinch but that's just it, that's the heart of it. He doesn't want to be locked up (again). He doesn't want to be hurt (again). He wants to keep himself sane.

Staring at the burger he raises an eyebrow before a muscle twitches in his cheek and he snorts, amused, "...Apparently I'm the target of a massive secret end of the world apocalyptic cult."

There. He's said it, "That I dragged Alex into. That I will never forgive myself for dragging her into it."

It is a reasonable concern. There's a very real risk of being labeled a fraud or a lunatic and ending up in a facility somewhere stripped of autonomy and personhood. Richard could just ask his little shadowy friend Simon about all of that. And, of course, there was always the risk of genuinely losing his sanity...

But then Richard was too reasonable to let that happen, wasn't he?

Murmur snorted out an amused sound. "Of course you are." Flippantly, like it's a Tuesday. "The obsession with the end times never ceases to amaze," And he dug into his burger. Pausing to look delighted. "Now this! Why did no one tell me food was this delightful?" Apparently the angel has never bothered to stop and eat junk food. "This," He points a fry at Strand. "Is what people should really focus on. The arts. Not all of this foolish apocalypse business. Even when they do happen mortals are never satisfied."

That's an odd statement. Alright, once he was done being way too excited, for Murmur, about a burger he did manage to pull himself together long enough regard Richard soberly. "She had just as much choice in the matter as you did. Is wallowing in guilt that isn't yours really productive?"

Richard should totally get a burger.

Richard raises an eyebrow because this is confusing. There's something off about Mur, at least to him. He seems much more cavalier.

"I try and avoid heavy carbohydrates." He points, "Is this the first time you've eaten?"

Let's just. Shuffle all of the rest of it aside.

Lucifer got him drunk and now he's decided that maybe relaxing a little bit won't cause his wings to spontaneously combust. That, and now that most of the mortals on board are aware of what he is there's far less reason to persist in trying to play at being human. He never was very good at it anyway. It did also help that Richard had come to him for help, and was no longer positioned as someone hostile.

"Yes!" Honestly he's astonished no one noticed. Then again they did all keep rather different schedules so it wasn't that difficult to hide the fact he never actually ate. "I do not require it to maintain myself, so I hadn't thought to bother trying until now."

Oh he will absolutely get back to this doomsday thing shortly don't think you can completely derail him. In the meantime he's almost willing to take back every disparaging thought he's had about humanity now that he's discovered flavor.

"Why avoid carbohydrates? They taste phenomenal." Human explain.

"Most humans adopt a sedentary lifestyle. If we don't burn off energy carbohydrates create energy and without it our bodies store it. Store too much and it stays in our bodies as fat."

Staring down at himself he frowns. He's fit, at least he thinks he's fit, but he's less toned then he was and he frowns at the thought. Is he softer? Too much drinking.

"It's not healthy for us. It can lead to disease. It's also not considered aesthetically desirable despite human beings having different body types."

"Well, you are predatory mammals." Obviously they adopt sedentary lifestyles that's what mammals do. Moving around all the time is for fish, and even they rest. "So that's how some of you become fluffy, interesting." Not that he entirely noticed the difference, they don't all look that different to him. Alien eldritch horror beast and all that, Murmur didn't exactly see the way humans did.

"These heavy vessels do require an unreasonable amount of upkeep and maintenance don't they?" It's easy enough for him to just not bother with the inconvenient parts of it all. But on the other hand he has to try very hard not to pulverize his own bones, so there's that. "So delicate. Anyway, do tell me more about this apocalypse and your alleged part to play in it?"

Can't they go back to discussing food? Richard sighs.

"We get by. Evolution helped."

There's an edge to that but then he sighs, "I am apparently the recipent of something in my genetic make-up that a corporation wants to use to unlock the secrets of the end of the world."

"Oh yes, you certainly do. Blight the Earth and seas in the process. Still waiting to see when your species decides to get a handle on that." A pause, with a thoughtful noise, before he shrugged and went back to the topic at hand.

The world changed in the blink of an eye, it was just how it went.

A pause and he chews thoughtfully. After swallowing something of a faint smirk touched his features. "Ah... yes. There has always been power in blood. Some more than others." Another half-hearted shrug. "Of course the odds of them unlocking that are rather slim. How concerned are you?"

"I'm not concerned. I'm not letting them get me for one. For another, using genetics in some kind of a ritual?"

He scoffs, staring at the burger, before he flags down a waiter and orders a steak and sauteed mushrooms. They look at him oddly and produce something steak-like and something mushroom like before he sniffs at it. Dinner is essential.

"Ridiculous. I am more concerned about Alex and Nic."

"Science and what your kind calls the supernatural are not so distantly related," He mused lightly, staring off into nothing as though listening to far more than just Richard speak. Which was true, but that didn't mean Richard didn't have his full attention.

Well, Richard and this delightful burger he'd mopped up rather quickly. Perhaps he was feeling low on energy after that trip to Xanadu after all. He did glance over out of the corner of his eye and faintly raise an eyebrow at the order. Well, it wasn't exactly a high class establishment now was it?

"Yes, Alex in particular has been suffering rather heavily from her involvement in all of that. Fortunately I believe she has finally been getting more sleep. Who is this Nic you speak of?"

It's a good steak at least. Richard sighs, "Her producer. Though it's Alex I worry the most about. She cares so much. She's so focused on peeling things back it's borderline annoying but it's..."

"Endearing."

He spears a piece of meat and sighs, "She cares so much about me. I know why it..."

Steak. Steak helps.

Well at least it tasted better than it looked, because it certainly didn't look especially edible. It's a good thing Richard chose to eat, especially if he intended to go forward with as much drinking as he'd been initially considering.

"Hers is a soul ever seeking answers, not unlike yours Doctor Strand." He points out, that eyebrow still quirked in amusement.

"Go on. Finish the thought." It helps to say these things out loud you know.

"She likes puzzles." He almost says hopeless causes but Alex is rationale, logical, and thoughtful to a fault normally. When it comes to him however he's not stupid. She sees him as a puzzle. She sees him and wants to understand him.

He had done his research too. There was also the most obvious. She liked him. She found him attractive and he...

"I would not be lying if I said there was some...attraction there." But on her side or his side?

She had startling eyes and she had an absolutely fantastic set of breasts and her ass-

He inhales.

"Apparently we went to a hotel together."

"She does. She's very good at them," He states, a faintly pleased hint to his usual monotone. He'd dropped hints for her and she picked up on what he was remarkably fast! One of the first to guess without supernatural assistance, in fact. Alex really did have a talent for it.

Ah, there's the faintest hint of a smirk as Murmur only looks at Richard out of the corner of his eye slyly. Yes he can pick up on where his mind's going even if he's not quite speaking it out loud. There's certainly something there, something the man has been pushing down for a while now.

"You would be lying if you said there wasn't." Both, Richard, don't think you can fool Murmur with unclear wording. He is the master.

"Did you? And?" It's a memory Richard doesn't have so it's not a memory Murmur can pry out. Only the faintest hint there's more to the story.

It was the hotel he went to on his honeymoon with his then wife, he adored her, he would have done anything for her, and she slid a secret clue behind a painting she despised to try and contact him.

"And nothing. We were there on a case."

That's a terrible place for a date, Richard. Murmur's a billions of years old virgin and even he could tell that would be an awful idea for a date.

He let a puff of air out through his nose, unnecessary given he doesn't actually need to breathe but the exasperation was clear even through his nigh-emotionless demeanor.

"Perhaps I have missed something. Was there a point to this segue?" Richard did seem to have trouble with keeping the subject of his conversations consistent.

Edited 2021-07-08 11:22 (UTC)

"Are you all right?" This is not the Mur he recalled - even in his headache induced horrors he recalled this, "You seem a little brisk, and eating food is very much...I did not know you did that."

He settles, staring back down at his own plates.

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