you know i won't let you get away.

[seeingyou]

WHO: OPEN to all passengers.
WHAT: General mingle log for the first part of the month, including new partner pairing stuff.
WHERE: Navi, all over.
WHEN: Now until the next event (through Feb. 20).
WARNINGS: If things get messy and/or upsetting, please put warnings in your comment subject lines! And if you absolutely can't keep from strangling your new partner, please report it on the death page.

Hello, passengers! Today begins just like normal, but it’s far from an ordinary day. On this fine point in space-time, passengers will notice a little something different when it comes to the glyphs marked on the backs of their hands.

They're glowing. The light is a deep shade of blue, and it's slowly blinking on and off. Maybe it's searching for something? It's entirely possible, because affected passengers will also feel a gentle tugging sensation that stops once they've come face to face with their partners. The glyph will switch to glowing a steady blue once partners are synced with each other, and they'll be able to communicate telepathically with each other, too.

Have fun getting to know each other a little better! Or, you know. Yelling at each other. Just try to keep the murder to a minimum, OK?

Comments

Closed to Murmur

[red6l99d]

With how things had gone here and how pleasant his experience had been ever since meeting his partner, when the glyph started its deep pulse of blue it caused him a little concern. It wasn't a huge deal, clearly all he had to do was use it to find Mister Strand? That seemed like what the logical thing had been.

Getting up from his place at his desk, Kankri decided with a resolute sigh that he would just go find out what it was. It didn't feel urgent or necessity, but clearly something needed his attention and it wasn't writing massive booklets for the humans and other such creatures that may be lurking around here to understand insensitivities. Those were important, but the need to get up and check was discerningly overwhelming his normal activities.

The hallways turned to doorways and the walk turned to a stand, eventually. His look turned something into a perplexed one and everything didn't exactly make sense. This wasn't Richard's room as far as Kankri had done his homework on. ...Alright a knock to the door might just do the trick to find out exactly who it was. Maybe. Unless the indication was wrong, but...

Well, he waited patiently. All in time.

Disaster time!

[albatrossomen]

After two rounds of this already by now Murmur was accustomed to the sensation of his glyphlink unsyncing to his old partner and urging to find a new. For now, he didn't feel it urgent, so decided to remain in his quarters until later. It wasn't as though they were strapped for time floating around in space.

Besides, he had a golem to work on and it was nearly complete. That was until the knock came. Setting his tools aside he made his way to answer the door, wondering at who it could possibly be. It wasn't as though he had many callers... hopefully it wasn't Strand coming by to start an argument.

When he opened the door to find Kankri there he actually appeared mildly surprised. "Hello, what brings you..." And then he felt it, that familiar effect of the pairing completing. Just to be sure he tugged low his glove to check and sure enough, solid blue. "Ah, I see. You were more prompt than I. Would you like to come in?"

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

[red6l99d]

Lucky for Murmur, no. It wasn't Mister Strand, it was his old partner who was just as capable of an argument if not even moreso. Seeing a familiar face answer the door was at least something that he could appreciate. His eyes sunk down to the back of his grey skinned hand and then back up at the obviously more knowledgeable individual in front of him.

Murmur was talking, that was for certain. Some of it was simply starting to click in and he realized that the parings may be temporary with the solid blue light on the back of his hand, too. "...Oh I see." It was a soft, half understanding and he seemed resolute to try to catch his mind properly before straightening his sweater and composing himself. "I suppose that would be in order, if we're to be linked." However, he wasn't going to just go in, he would wait for the invitation to be proper and only when invited by movement physically of the host.

Hey that's almost as many eyes as Murmur has!

[albatrossomen]

Well at least Kankri hadn't become angry with him about his light and eyes, yet, so he was still significantly more pleasant than Doctor Richard Strand. Ideally the other will come around and stop slinging wild accusations, but only time would tell on that front.

"Mm, it's that time again." The timeframe was almost becoming predictable, he needed a little more data to be sure but by now he wasn't surprised anymore. Stepping aside and gesturing for Kankri to join him Murmur went to return to his desk to tidy up the piles of scribbled schematics and various gears and strange tiny metal pieces. Might as well try to not look like a complete disaster with his workspace. "This is your... second, I believe?" Judging by how long Kankri had been on board.

Only like four million less lol.

[red6l99d]

There was no room for the troll to talk about things like that negatively. Not only did it shatter the mask he had for himself, but it also wouldn't be fair. He had his own ticks that people had to put up with.

"And which time is this? Does it have a name?" Curiosity was getting the better of him, rather than worry. The talk he had with Murmur was a kindly one and one that he didn't mind in the least over all. While his host continued to try to clean, Kankri took steps in, standing politely for the moment. "Yes, I had been paired with a human, I think. A Richard Strand. Interesting man who didn't realize he was professing ghosts didn't exist while talking to one but was pleasant to deal with, anyway. Do you know him?"

Closed to Richard

[relance]

Same old shit, entirely different month. At this point, Julia is just fucking with this whole gain a partner lose a partner thing so when the glyph on her hand starts to blink she does her level best to ignore the fucking thing. As it was she put off the feeling of the pull as long as she possibly good before the blond werewolf started prowling (and indeed it definitely is a prowl) up and down the hallways looking for the other end of that tug.

Handy, the severed disembodied arm of General Stonewall Jackson is on her shoulder, holding on and also tapping off Morse code occasionally. Julia just speaks aloud. “Yeah I know. I know. Where the fuck is this person?” After a moment, when it taps again, Julia just whips her head over to look at the hand again. "Are you sassing me, Handy? You don't get to talk shit about my attitude when you are literally..." A pause before she just adds: "sorry, sorry, I know. I know."

[imarealistnotacynic]

Richard Strand is not happy.

No, that's not entirely accurate. He's not anything because he is struggling with annoyance and regret in regards to the only person from his world that's here and he is mired in trying to push out the whispers of other people's thoughts away.

It's not something that needs to be explored. It's not something that needs to be examined. He's not some kind of wizard it will go away if he does not think about it and distracts himself.

So this blinking glyph is a surprise. He wasn't the best partner and he can only assume he still won't be because whatever the hell this is is just that. Hell. This ship is some sort of purgatory only-

He is a jumble of thoughts masquerading as a suit as he struggles not to look in Alex's direction before nearly colliding and feeling a sense of profound relief because-

"Ah. There you are."

An eyebrow is raised, taking the woman in before shifting his tea in-elegantly to his other hand and offering her the solid blue glyph.

"Doctor Richard Strand of the Strand Institute."

[relance]

"Well that sounds like a mouthful." Julia just raises a brow as she meets his eyes and there's something almost predatory about it as she watches and appraises him entirely. Her nostrils flare slightly, adding his scent to the pool that she's had since she's come aboard and Jon had gotten kidnapped the first time. (Old Jon, not new Jon. She likes new Jon better considering he's actually amusing and not whiny and hiding his ass in his cabin. Oops. One thing that Julia definitely is not is nice. Which too bad.)

But she does take his hand in a firm grip and she doesn't give into the juvenile thought of shaking his hand with Handy if only because she doesn't want this man to hurt her friend. There's a faint hint of a New York accent in her voice, mostly rounded out at this point when she says her name in return. "Julia Bellamy. Not Julie. Not Jules. Just Julia." Only one person had been allowed to call her Jules and he was dead now, and she's not about to accept it from anyone else.

But Handy taps on her shoulder in Morse code again, and she just gestures to the skeletal hand. "This is Handy. He's a friend. He's sentient. If you hurt him I'll literally rip you in half." The words come with a grin, and she could be written off as kidding.

She's not kidding.

[imarealistnotacynic]

Oh.

Richard's eyes go wide when he spots the hand and he presses his lips together before he looks and reaches for Alex mentally before shutting it down.

"...I will...endeavor to not make him angry." His throat is intensely tight, "Dare I ask what he - I am assuming it's a he? is."

[relance]

“He’s a hand.” Julia just says it’s like the most simple thing in the world. “The arm Stonewall Jackson lost at a battle. He’s mostly not a racist now probably. But. He’s not the one you need to worry about making angry frankly. Not since we broke the spell the necromancer had on him anyway.”

ota

[exlibrisharry]

Thanks, Harry hates every moment of this.

It had been a tough year. Six months ago he took a librarian job at his cousin's weird research organization, assuming he'd be documenting folklore and interviews with storytellers because the paranormal wasn't real. Four months ago he helped crush a zombie uprising using a firetrick filled with holy water. Harry wanted to believe that he'd re-evaluated his beliefs and adjusted as much as any reasonable man could be expected to, but no, the universe has other plans for him.

So now it turns out aliens are real, space travel is a very viable thing, psychic connections can apparently just happen, and everything is wrong. He's wrong, again -- awesome, thank you space for the psychic distress. Harry avoids the observatory like the plague and tries his hardest to ignore what's going on. This has never worked for him before but he needs a little time to ease into the situation. He doesn't seek out his glyphlink partner, but he's around often enough cooking in the kitchen or working out in the exercise room or just hanging out in the hydroponic garden, desperately looking for something to do.

[relance]

If there was one thing that Julia hadn't expected it was to smell the familiar scent of Harry in the hallways. At first she'd thought that she was just imagining it, because seriously that would be the sort of fucking shit that this ship seemed to like to pull, or it was just that she was wishing extra hard for it. But eventually, it became too much and Julia started to follow it to the source with the intention of telling whatever it was to knock it off, but then when she sees Harry in the garden, Julia lets out a loud yelp of joy.

Running at him and practically throwing herself into a hug, she can't help but to say "oh thank fuck you're here, Harry!" It doesn't cross Julia's mind that he might not know her or might not be from the same world or whatever, instead she's just really really fucking pleased.

[exlibrisharry]

Although Harry knows what she's like and has gotten used to Julia sniffing around him, that scent-tracking thing is still not something he plans for. Given his human nose it never even occurred to him that someone on board might be sensitive to smells, though it probably should've (who knows what alien species are like?). He never even considered that someone he knows would be here.

Harry hears Julia yelp and turns away from the strange plant he was observing, catching just a glimpse of her before she tackles him into a hug. He goes down like a sack of potatoes, loosing a truly regrettable screech.

"What the fuck! What the absolute fuck! -- Julia?"

[relance]

Is Julia surprised by both of them ending up on the ground with Harry making a screech that hurts her ears as it echoes around the garden? Nope, not in the slightest because she knows Harry and all of his screeches, and even if they're loud they're so fucking welcome that Julia cannot believe it. There's been too much that's going on and that has been loss since she'd arrived here, so Julia is going to take whatever she can get considering happy things. And Harry's arriving is a very good thing.

"Who else would it be?" Jules just beams at him as she rises to her feet and offers him her hand to help him up. "God, I cannot believe you're here. I mean, shit I wouldn't have wanted you to leave Cameron and whatever to be in fucking weird ass space, but I'm so glad that you are. I've been going insane here. People are just so fucking stupid and you would have thought that I'd be used to it after Sarah but this is a whole different level of fucking dumb."

[exlibrisharry]

At least if he's going to be tackled like he wandered onto a football field it was by someone he knows. Someone he trusts, who wouldn't have shoved him in a locker in high school or let him get demolished at work. He grabs her hand and pushes up from the ground onto his feet.

"It's that bad? Not that Sarah's dumb." He still feels protective of his weird cousin-slash-boss, but that's an afterthought as he opens his arms for a hug -- one that won't knock him off his feet this time.

garden.

[piacularis]

It has been a long, long time since Mello has even thought about his mother's garden, but until now, he's been too busy to think about anything other than winning: beating Near, defeating Kira, beating Near to defeating Kira. He's dead now; the game is over, Near has won by default. And Mello is stuck on this ship with his rival and the friend he got killed, and sometimes, that's just too much to have front and center of his face.

So he seeks out the solace of the garden more and more - it's quiet, and tending to it gives his restless hands something to do, his restless mind something to focus on that isn't ruminating on his failures. It’s something he can do, and it reminds him of his mother, what few years of his childhood he had with her. It's easy enough to ignore the blinking glyphlink when it's covered by his glove, less so with them off while he works. When Harry enters the garden today, Mello feels the pairing pull hard and then snap the connection together, and he sees the glyph on the back of his left hand shift from blinking to solid glowing blue.

"Who's there?" he calls out, firm and clear, as he looks up from the plant he's been working on. He could reach out with his mind, of course, but that would be encouraging a mental invasion, and he can't have that, can he.

[exlibrisharry]

Being stuck in space when you had a life to go back to was bad enough, but being stuck in space when you were dead would've been far more traumatic. This whole new beginning should have been avoided, and sticking close to something that seemed earthy and sunny was...not comforting, but at least less disturbing. Hence Harry gravitated toward them, hoping to do the same thing Mello is doing right now.

He feels the connection too, like there's a string being pulled from him and anchored somewhere. It doesn't hurt but the sensation is so new and odd that he's frustrated already. Dammit, he was trying to get away from this! He needs to poke a plant.

"Me," he replies with a sigh. "Harry."

[piacularis]

The straightforward answer is a point in Harry's favor; Mello doesn't appreciate evasive bullshit when it's coming from other people. He steps out from behind the plants he's been working on and takes a few cautious steps toward the direction of Harry's voice.

"And who exactly is Harry?"

Kitchen

[imarealistnotacynic]

Richard haunts kitchens because cooking is something familiar and maybe if he batch cooks things, or bakes, or uses the supplies at his disposal it'll chase away this notion that he is psychic because facing it is absolutely ridiculous.

He is sipping coffee and leaning on a table right now however, dark circles under his eyes. Rising to his feet he nearly knocks into the other man with a blink.

"-I apologize."

[exlibrisharry]

This is more or less Harry's reasoning for returning to the kitchen too. Cooking, even in the inner belly of some biomechanical alien, was at least familiar. Normal. Not facing the terrifying void of everything he doesn't understand.

"Whoa--" Almost getting run into is also normal and he sidesteps Strand at the last moment, lifting a batter-covered mixing spoon to avoid collision. "Where'd you come from?"

[imarealistnotacynic]

"A world that actually exists."

It's snapped back and he rubs at the side of his head. good nights and bad nights, he's slowly managing to convince himself he's not psychic when not away with people even if he's annoyed by Alex's behavior and his own anger at it, how he can't get it out of his mind.

"I...I apologize. IT's been a rough morning." He presses his lips together, "I didn't mean to be so rude."

[exlibrisharry]

"Uh..."

Harry turns around, settling the spoon back into the batter and frowning. "It's cool," he frowns. "Are you okay?"

closed to near.

[sisterswitch]

By now, Jack is very familiar with what the blinking symbol on the back of her hand means, and once again, she is curious as to the identity of her new partner. She sees no reason to avoid the sync-up, so she exits her cabin on the fifth floor and wanders through the hallways, letting the glyph guide her all the way up to the first floor. Once she's certain she's reached her destination, she knocks firmly on the cabin door.

"Come out, come out, whoever you are," she calls through the door, and waits.

[diceswithdeath]

In any other scenario, that door would have been left unanswered. Near would have tucked himself somewhere nice and hidden and waited for whoever was dropping by unannounced to leave. The glyphs seemed to have other plans today. The source of the voice knew he was here, and with that connection meant that the company would be sticking around in one way or another. What a pain.

The door creaked open just far enough for one, grey eye to peer through the gap. Near had yet to fashion a mechanism to open the door from the ground, so he was standing at his full height this time. "Company wasn't expected today..." He commented. That at least partly explained his hesitance towards this stranger and how they so boldly sought out his cabin and called through the door.

Near moved around to adjust his angle from behind and against the door. He wormed his left hand outside, tentative in the gesture to show the sigil imprinted onto it. "This is what you're here for, isn't it?" Yes, hello. Nice to meet you.

[sisterswitch]

"In space, you gotta learn to accept the unexpected," Jack answers, smiling a little too sweetly to be genuine. She's been kicked around the multiverse twice now, and has decided that rolling with the punches is the best way to manage it, but she naturally holds that temperament anyway.

The sync-up feels the same as always to her, like a whoosh of air followed by a snap together of two Legos, then a gentle hum inside of her skull where the new connection rests. "Got it in one," she says - out loud, because having someone inside your head can be a little jarring at first. "Did you get a tingly feeling just now too? I'm Jack, by the way."