a bumpy start! {glyphcomm + action}

[seeingyou]

You wake up to the sound of alarms and a distinct sensation of quaking, and you're quite obviously not where you're supposed to be. This room is strangely shaped, nothing you recognize, and you definitely don't remember how you got here. The room is bathed in soft red light, which might look pretty, except it's blinking in a way that you can probably guess signals danger.

There's a symbol on the back of your hand that you don't remember acquiring, either, but that's probably less important at the moment than the sound of the alarms shrieking and the prerecorded voice speaking over the intercom. It's one of those bland, agender voices, entirely too calm in tone for the message it's relaying:

WARNING
WARNING
IMPACT THREAT DETECTED
EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED

There’s a loud crash and another violent shaking, as that impact threat collides with the ship’s hull. The warning message continues to repeat on a loop amidst the blaring of the alarm. All passengers should be conscious now, with the noise at such a high volume. Opening your cabin door reveals a nondescript hallway, with five cabin doors on each side for a total of ten on each floor; the doors to the empty cabins are unlocked and inside the cabins hold the same plain, basic furnishings as your own. Halfway into the hallway, there is a lift on one side and a set of stairs on the other.

Comments

[shahrrehth]

"Scholar," she says, because it's the truth. Even if it isn't the whole of the truth. 'Both' would be closer to accurate, but she's not really up for admitting she's anything more than human right now. She doesn't have enough information or understand enough of what's going on around here. Once the cat's out of the bag, after all... there's no putting it back in.

"And I don't know. I've never had too much trouble with multitasking."

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"Perhaps so. But be that as it may, it'll still involve asking someone else to spare a moment."

Which is certainly not an insurmountable task, given the sheer number of conversations already in progress. Just one that will require a certain amount of effort, and a little questioning besides. But effort that could very well be worth the time spent on it, all the same.

[shahrrehth]

"Then I guess the whole thing's up to you," she says placidly enough. He's welcome to stop talking to her at any time. She's not trying to be trouble. Just... distracting to those who need a little not to focus on the whole 'we're going to die in the middle of space' thing.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

Stopping talking has rarely been one of the things he's been overly inclined to do. He can, certainly - he rarely means to leave a conversation spinning its wheels - but at the same time, it's this or spending more time being less than thrilled about how they're meant to save themselves.

(Which he could of course, and might still do. But certainly not without at least one more comment.)

"Had I the inclination to ask, yes."

As it stands he'd be more interested in what rather than if, and that only if it proves to be the case that something is translating for them.

[shahrrehth]

"So," she says with a single wry chuckle, "since we've explored the whole 'can we talk' question, I guess we could move onto talking about something. Any ideas?"

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"I would suggest the topic of our recent - and unexpected arrival on board this ship, but I imagine most of that ground has already been covered."

Or will be, as soon as they can manage to find time that isn't while they're busy trying to avoid an unfortunate death.

"And in lieu of that, we might be down to such mundane things as our comparative places of origin."

[shahrrehth]

"I came here from Earth," she says to start, "which isn't really helpful since there's any number of Earths. But I think last I'd heard, we were considered Earth-11."

She frowns a little.

"Ever heard of a place called Metropolis?"

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"I have not. Although I would wager the name Garlemald similarly means nothing? Or Eorzea?"

Not that he's spent much time asking people, of course. But if he doesn't recognize the place that she happens to be from, it's certainly not unreasonable that she wouldn't recognize any of the places from his world.

[shahrrehth]

She shakes her head.

"I've never been to those worlds. Or those planets. Or those... universes?"

Can't be sure it's any of those, after all.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"Regions. Of loosely equal size, for the most part. The world itself is typically referred to as 'the Source', if it's referred to as anything."

Since not everyone on the star is aware of the existence of other worlds. Not enough so to care about what they call the star upon which they live, at any rate.

[shahrrehth]

She can't point but there is an emphatic headtilt at that.

"That is a very different thing, where I come from."

She doesn't want to go too heavily into it because, well, it's a little complicated in the way that incredibly simple but large things can be.

"If we're talking regions, I'm from the middle of my country, in the farmlands."

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"Is that so?"

He's not surprised, despite the curiosity in his voice. The world is one that could easily serve any of a number of uses, and though he does raise an eyebrow besides, it's as much idle curiosity as anything. The sort that doesn't really need answering.

"Garlemald was never much blessed with an abundance of farmland. It lies in the middle of a particularly mountainous portion of the continent, you see."

[shahrrehth]

"Kansas is about as flat as it gets," she says in reply to that. "But I've been to mountains. I do a lot of traveling, mostly for work."

As Superwoman, primarily but sometimes for the Planet.

"Guess the mountains makes sense with all the layers you're sporting. Gets cold up there, from what I've heard."

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"Very much so, yes. Not that we haven't managed to get used to it, but it is something of a constant companion."

Even if it does mean that layers - or other methods of retaining heat - are very much both necessary and the norm, when it comes to clothing. True, not all of them as opulent as his own clothes, but that's likely to be expected, or so he'd imagine.