Opening & mingling!

[guiltapalooza]

GAME START. Make your initial mingling comment, either in person or online.

Comments

(network - audio)

[paternally]

[Giles clears his throat.] Everyone, do attempt to remain calm. An explanation is forthcoming.

[He falters for a second-- he might be exposition man, but launching into something of this magnitude cold is still pretty difficult.] Ah, my name is Rupert Giles, one of the wardens here. To the rest of the wardens, it is a pleasure to meet you, and I would appreciate if you would introduce yourself to me so that we might grow accustomed to working together.

To the inmates... Although I detest the word, as it is largely inapplicable here, I should let you know that you are indeed stuck. O-On the ship, that is. This is the Morgan, and you have died. [Pause.] It's not permanent unless you wish it to be. You are here for the duration of the time it takes you to... to come to terms with whatever you've done, guided by your assigned warden. When that has been completed, you may gain a second chance at life, stay on here as a warden yourself, or move onto the afterlife in truth. Whatever that may be.

You can think of this as a kind of, of purgatory, I suppose, though that's really inaccurate as well given that purgatory comes with the presupposition that one will not move onto Hell afterwards-- er. [This was maybe too much exposition.]

That is, if you have any questions, I am available.

Re: (network - audio)

[offthetrack]

Ah, hello there! I'm Otonashi, one of your fellow wardens. So I guess we'll be working together. It's nice to meet you.

[He glances as the file that was given to him.]

Say, do you know where we can find our 'inmates'?

[Hm. maybe we should come up with another name for them. 'Inmate' just makes it sound like they're in a prison.]

Audio;

[ruineaxt]

[SO MUCH LINEFACING. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. Shinjiro has issues with pretty much everything that just came out of Giles's mouth. He has no reason to doubt it, though, which makes it suck that much more.]

...You're fucking kidding me.

[please let this be a stupid dying hallucination. or a coma dream even, fuck, he'll just die from the drugs later and he can deal with that. But some sort of Shoujo-manga-style 'redemption' bullshit....?]

Define 'come to terms with'. And 'What we've done'. [OKAY NO he has a pretty good idea about that second one. But. Whatever.]

text;

[deadlyneurotoxin]

I am very sorry I killed all those people.

Are we done now?

Because I have important things to do.


(network - audio)

[decaffeinated]

Hello, Mr Giles. It appears we're to be coworkers in this endeavour. My name is Nicholas Angel. It's a pleasure to meet you as well.

::He nods briefly, before remembering that he's basically talking on the phone, not using video chat or anything of the sort.::

If we've not been assigned to an inmate yet, do you have a rough idea of when or how that will occur? I imagine I'll probably meet mine sooner as opposed to later; it hardly makes sense to have me here without anyone for me to supervise.

Re: (network - audio)

[arazamatazza]

[Smoke wafted around the small room. If nothing else, at least he could smoke while being...dead. Though really, Araz wasn't surprised. When working for the mafia one's life expectancy drops significantly]

Tch, as interestin' as all dis is, I don't really have anythin' ta come to terms with. Unless you count fuckin' Paulie, that sonnabitch still owes me twenty dollars...in which case send me back and I'll straighten that fucker out mahself.

[He takes a long drag of his cigarette, glad that whoever this fucker Giles was, they were talking on the phone. None of the other prisons he'd gone to had let him smoke before so he figured he'd get his kicks in before they were taken along with his matches.]

audio

[clinical]

Jade Curtiss, a fellow warden. A pleasure to meet you. [And despite the professional tone, he is super amused at that "presupposition that one will not move onto Hell afterwards" comment. Oh, Giles.] I hope we'll all be able to work well together. [Things like that tend to sound sarcastic even when he means them, but he put special effort into sounding polite instead of insulting.]

[ audio ]

[valianced]

Oh, hello!

[ Lucy is quite young, but is smiling even despite being trapped on a ship with no real destination. Why be upset when she could spend so much of her time trying to calm and cheer others, of course! ]

I'm a warden as well, it seems. I'm Lucy, Lucy Pevensie. It's really lovely to meet you. Do you know why we've turned up here at all? It's... so strange.

(in person - below decks)

[storesbooks]

[Aziraphale has set up a sort of mini library in two of the spare cabins. One of them has had all of its furniture somehow removed, despite it being ordinarily bolted to the floor to prevent it from sliding as the ship rocks, and in its place had every square inch covered in book shelves. The books themselves are all old, leather-bound volumes, and would seem musty if it weren't for the pristine lack of dust.

The neighboring room has a few more bookshelves, but mostly a table and set of chairs, at which Aziraphale is seated, perusing a book with interest. He's been here for some time, waiting for others to arrive, and probably needs to be interrupted as he's so engrossed. He's left the door open and is perfectly visible from the hallway, so anyone looking for answers might find him a likely candidate...]

[caries]

[It's sunny on deck, which means that Toby is stuck lurking making the most of the rooms and corridors down below. He likes surprises -spontaneity, really- but, novel aspects of Purgatory Ship of Redemption aside (and being an ancient vampire does put a bit of a dent in that) there's only so much available below decks.

After a few hours of wandering, Toby's starting to feel cooped up–– a sense gradually giving way to the familiar crawling restlessness. The usual ways of dealing with the itch beneath his skin are inconveniently absent, so he's left seeking out whatever interesting things he happens to come across, and giving himself to them when they appear.

Eventually he ends at what looks like a small library, which is interesting enough. Toby makes his way inside and gives the book titles on the closest shelf a passing scan. The mixture of Earthly and alien languages stick out, but more immediately noticeable to him is the neatness of everything. Cleanliness is far from what he usually expects of places like this, which are usually so full of dust, piled books and other signs of inattention and disrepair . Intrigued, Toby turns to give Aziraphale his full attention.]

The ship's library, I take it? [he asks rhetorically, tone effortlessly cheerful.] The keeper's a bit on the obsessive-compulsive side, isn't he?

(network - video)

[guiltapalooza]

[Let's assume she's already run into Giles, they've had a heartfelt reunion, and she's gotten the run down. In which I try to avoid playercesting.

Willow's frowning seriously. At another time in her life she might exhibit distress, but right now she's so self-assured as to be arrogant, and she's already checked and realized that her magic is still around. But Giles hadn't had the answers to everything; she still has questions.

Her tone is brisk and almost business-like.] Alright. Let's just say that I don't totally accept what's going on here. I mean, not that I'm doubting Giles' information-- [Her tone breaks off into something less sure, as if doubting Giles' information is unthinkable.] But I'm just saying, I don't see why I need to do a reenactment of "the Five People You Meet in Heaven". I'm not exactly a villain. Firmly on the side of white hats, here.

[The irony of this foreshadowing statement is completely lost on her, of course.]

So, uh... anyone else want to see if we can figure out some answers? Like who's responsible for this, for one. And why I can't teleport, too, cause that one's kinda baffling me.

[Not that she seems super upset about it, but there's a faint undercurrent of tightness to her that suggests that Willow isn't as sanguine about this as she's trying to portray.] Cause I can't have-- have died-- I. I couldn't leave Tara like that. [She bites her lip.] So, anyone?

Re: (network - video)

[offthetrack]

Maybe you just don't remember? About dying I mean.

And he responds in audio forever because lol asocial

[ruineaxt]

Why couldn't you have died? Immortal? [SENSITIVE. ALWAYS.]

I dunno about the teleporting, though. [A pause.] Or much else here.

(network - video)

[garantundkraft]

Whoa, you don't remember dying? Y'know, you're probably lucky for that one. Dying sucks. I really don't recommend making a habit of it. Though I guess this time it's for real...

::He rests his chin on his hand. Please feel free to, y'know, not comment on his uniform. He already regrets showing up to all the trials and such in it, but... Prussia had his reasons. He just didn't expect that he'd still be wearing this in the afterlife, and not his preferred blue uniform. Black is really not his colour.::

Though I'm game for figuring out some shit. I don't need to come to terms with anything; I need to get back. So the sooner this can happen, awesome, and two heads are better than one, right?

(in person - library)

[clinical]

[Jade will trouble himself with other people when they start to trouble him. For now, he has the work that he is really here for. Jade's work is organized into two piles of books, with each pile accompanied by two piles of papers. The right-hand paper piles are of new notes, while the left-hand piles are old notes and files. And as to the books?]

[The first pile of books is dedicated to duplicates and replication. Books on cloning, books on fomicry, books on quantum teleportation and its ethical implications, books on parthenogenetic offspring and identical twins, books on gholas—it's a wide variety of subject matter and he hasn't limited himself to sources from his universe.]

[Similarly, the second pile of books focuses on energy consumption, gathering information on energy types that don't even exist in his world. From electricity to fonons to mana, if it's an energy source and if you can have problems getting enough of it, Jade has snatched up a book on the subject.]

[He is still in military uniform, and he also has a huge tray of tea. Red eyes scan books quickly before he sets them away.]

[Do you dare disturb him?]

Re: (in person - library)

[storesbooks]

[Aziraphale quite approves of this diligent reading and note taking, and would never want to disturb someone from it, but. Well. Goodness, that's a lot of tea, and he's quite-- er-- tempted.

He approaches with some interest, fearless as he is, and stops to hover around the table at the side the tea's on.] Pardon me, dear fellow, [he says politely, and apparently entirely seriously,] but could I trouble you for a cup? It seems a shame to make a new pot when there's already some here.

[Not that he couldn't just wave some up, of course, but Aziraphale always feels slightly like that's cheating. Not to mention that he hasn't 'come out' as an angel here, yet.]

[adamantly]

[And here's Mordred making his way back to his quarters, having just taken in a bit of dat exposition on his communicator. He hesitates when he passes the library's open door, hanging beneath the frame for a moment, silent as a shadow.

Books. More books than he's ever seen in his life. Potentially enough books to rival one of Camelot's collections, along with a man parked squarely in the center of his own little city of them. Mordred had been compelled to search when he'd first arrived on the ship, and now it seems he wasn't alone in that. He can only imagine that this man has been at this for some time, and might have missed the grand introduction.]

My apologies for the disruption... [Which is him both being polite and announcing his presence.]

You're missing a network address, if you've any interest in catching the tail-end of it; Mr. Giles [Mr. Giles Mordred really] is giving it for everyone on the ship.

(in person - on deck)

[offthetrack]

[Otonahsi takes a minute to explore his new surroundings for a bit before heading over to his....patient's room? Nah, that just made it sound like they're in a mental ward.. Apparently there's a vending machine on deck, so that's something. He stops and buys himself a canned coffee. It's something small, but it reminds him of being back home.]

[As he drinks he opens up the file again. No real information to go off of, just a name (Shinjiro Aragaki) and a room number.]

How am I supposed to help someone if I don't know anything about them?

[He closes the file and chucks the now-empty can in the waste basket and continues on down to his assignment's room.]

[ruineaxt]

[Thankfully Shinjiro had a pretty high tolerance for weird. Working with a team that fought in an anomaly of time/space caused by a failed time-machine that had been powered by mind-eating monsters would kind of do that. But even this was bizarre beyond anything he'd imagined. Based on the movement of the floor and hull around he'd decided it was a boat-- And then checking out the network in the place only confirmed that with that Giles guy's information.]

[And it also confirmed the fact that he was dead. It was just a lot less final than he'd originally thought.]

[But still, he can't stay in the small cabin all day-- And if he's stuck here (wherever this boat-limbo is) he might as well know his surroundings. So he shuts the door to the cabin behind him, glancing down one side of the hall, then the other-- And just picking and direction and walking after taking note of the number of the room.]

[it's not long before he sees someone else-- someone carrying someone that looked like a file, and looked far more comfortable than he felt. Someone who'd been there longer? Or one of those 'warden's? His brows furrow for a moment, lips pressing together.]

[....He can stop and sort information and think it all through later. Might as well gather as much info as he can now.] ...Hey. You been here a bit? [because if not then he won't bother.]

[Action][Mess Hall][tl;dr? probably]

[garantundkraft]

The mess hall (cafeteria, dining area, whatever you wanna call it, but he's a military man so it's a fucking mess hall) is predictably small and unimpressive. Prussia isn't sure if it's for just the inmates, or if the wardens eat here too. The food had better be better than what he'd get in a prison, though, or else his first order of business will be starting a riot for better food.

That was way too many betters in one thought. Ugh. He wasn't the best with words but he could totally do a more awesome job than that, even in his own head!

With a grunt, Prussia grabbed some of the food that was prepared, and sat down. A roll -better than the hardtack he'd been expecting, on a boat of this style- and some soup -vegetables in some kind of stock, though it looked a bit watery to him- with plain water to drink. Part of him wondered if there was even any point to eating, since he was apparently really dead for real, but... he wanted to. He was bored and tired of exploring the ship (which had things that were anachronistic as fuck based off of his knowledge of this style of ship, which was limited since he wasn't a naval power at any point in his life, but still, there shouldn't be vending machines on the deck of a proper sailing ship like this), and it was something to do.

Though, he'd do some pretty immoral things for a good beer right now, but he hadn't been able to find any yet. He'd need to explore in depth later, perhaps he'd just overlooked something in his utter boredom and attempts to evade anyone who looked warden-y. Prussia had no interest in being supervised by some boring guy who was probably as stuffy as England, dull as his stupid musclehead brother who he didn't miss at all, and had America's hero complex.

He tore apart his roll in frustration and shoved a bit in his mouth.

And promptly spat it out, hard, not caring where it landed. "GODDAMNIT! This food sucks!"

[unionjackoff]

Unfortunately for Prussia, that bit of roll hit another person right on the side of their head. There was only the sound of someone scoffing in disgust before footsteps began closing in.

...And then stopping abruptly.

(action - on deck)

[adamantly]

[Mordred's stuck waiting for the moment when his assignment with his inmate begins, so he's taken it upon himself to explore the ship a little further.

He starts with the deck, and is startled to see the miles upon endless miles of water stretching out from every side of the hull. He's heard about things like this in the vague story-tale sketchings of people passing through Camelot, but he's never actually seen anything like it.

A ship heading nowhere. It's quite disorienting. The salty air smells good though, at least, and he closes his eyes for a moment as it brushes past his cheeks.]

Re: (action - on deck)

[offthetrack]

[After that really great first meeting with Shinjiro, Otonashi is just looking at being anywhere else. He wanders up to where this other stranger is, but doesn't really notice they guy. He looks out to the water, closes his eyes and sighs.]

That could have gone a lot better.

(network-text)

[deadlyneurotoxin]

[Yeah, no way is GLaDOS going to be leaving her room anytime soon. For one, this human body she was stuck in was absolutely disgusting. For another, rubbing elbows with the other humans was equally disgusting. Also, seasickness was apparently something she had to deal with now. So looking at a massive quantity of saline on this rocking anachronistic vessel was the last thing she ever wanted to do.]

What a funny joke it was to be put in this body. Ha ha. Now that we have all had a good laugh, can we move on to the next part of the test?

hell yeah text

[ruineaxt]

Do I wanna know what you mean by 'this body'?

And what kind've test did you get? [He's suddenly glad his warden is not some sort of sadist test-proctor. Unlike the 'woman' he's texting to, I guess. :T ]

[in person]

[boysnight]

It was Fionna's first day as a Warden! She was so excited. She would have been even more excited if Cake were there, but it seemed her feline sister had no desire to come play on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Fionna thought that sounded bogus, and assumed that maybe Cake wanted some time alone with Lord Monochromicorn. Which was fine, but she could have just said so.

Fionna's new quest would be to help some inmate, who she hadn't met yet. And once she helped them, she could have any wish granted that she wanted. Oh. My. Glob. Coolest treasure ever! Why wouldn't Cake want to be a part of this?! Gosh! Of course Fionna wasn't going to pass that up!

She wandered around the ship, meeting new people and exploring places she probably shouldn't go. At last she found the inmates' quarters. She pushed back her blond bangs as she checked over the folder that had her new partner's number and picture. Number 3153. Cool! She headed down the hall to find him.

[in person]

[garantundkraft]

Said inmate was presently hiding in his tiny closet of a room. At least he didn't have to share it, because there wasn't really enough room for two people to live comfortably. But he also wasn't happy at all that it was so small. Really, a hammock might have been a better idea over an actual bed, because the bed really dominated the room. That and the trunk for his belongings, and really there went most of the space. He was going to have to rearrange later.

Or, actually, why not now?

Prussia flung open the door and stepped out into the hallwa- and stopped short just before he ran straight into a young blonde girl.

Was that a bunny ear hat? "...Are those bunny ears?"

[in person]

[unionjackoff]

Arthur rubbed at his eyes. Now that he was back in his own cabin, he had time to think. He was reeling from his confrontation with Gilbert... No, Prussia. A Prussia who was not from his world, who didn't know anything about the Chosen Warriors, who didn't know about the growing war between monsters and humans. This Prussia didn't know Arthur was a dragon (well, he hadn't when they first met, but now he did), and he didn't know about their forbidden relationship.

Perhaps that was the thing that tore Arthur up the most right now, selfishly. He didn't know how he'd be able to stand looking at another man with his lover's face and voice. The seal that bound him and Gilbert together was gone, and Arthur wondered if the human had died with him, or if he had managed to survive. Arthur prayed that Gilbert was still alive and still fighting on, doing what he needed to do. If he'd died because of Arthur, because of their recklessness... Well, Arthur already had a billion things to feel guilty for. It was no wonder he couldn't move on to the afterlife peacefully.

He huffed out a bit of smoke and sat back on his cot.

[ooc: feel free to be other inmates pestering him, or if you are his Warden, come to fetch him!]

hello inmate c: are you ready to get your redemption on

[adamantly]

It had taken a few hours, but Mordred had finally received the go ahead to seek out his inmate. He hasn't prepared much, not having had as much time as he would have liked between entering the ship and the beginning of this assignment, but unless Arthur was violent from the get-go, Mordred doesn't imagine this going too traumatically. (But he's also young, naive and more than capable of being very, very wrong.) Awkwardness seemed likely, though, because despite being a well-traveled sorcerer-knight, a dragon capable of taking human form is something he'd never seen before. Mordred didn't know what to make of that fact, and how could he? For the moment, he'd resolved to make up his mind after meeting Arthur and seeing what type of person he was.

When he reached the door to Arthur's cabin, Mordred stopped for a moment to collect himself. This was it. He took in a breath and let it out again, drawing on his experience as a knight to shore up his confidence. Hadn't the King said once that to lead was to never falter visibly before your charges? Perhaps he'd have to try hard to remember that... Ah, well.

Stepping back from the door, Mordred raised a curled fist to give it a knock. He waited through a moment of silence, and then:

"Hello?" Pause. "Arthur?"

If Arthur doesn't open up Mordred does have a key to let himself in, but he'd really, truly, rather not.

[ action - on deck! ]

[valianced]

[Lucy isn't unfamiliar with stumbling into new worlds within a blink of an eye. To many, she appears to be nothing but a young girl, just shy of 13 at best. She skips around the deck, the whole ship a new and terrifying adventure. She leans over one of the railings, peering down at the rushing water below.

She closes her eyes for a moment, trying to calm the uncertainty that threatens to bubble up in her chest. She lets out a breath and opens her eyes again, moving to the front of the ship, where there is nothing but endless waves of water. She rests her chin in her hands and sings under her breath. It's a narnian song -- one of the few she could still remember.

She has to have hope that they are all here for a good reason. After all, what more can they do but have hope?]

Re: [ action - on deck! ]

[guiltapalooza]

[Willow is surprised to see a girl that young here, and admittedly concerned. She'd spent long enough looking after Dawnie that her instinctive response is worry, and to go check on her. It's not until she approaches that she can hear the soft notes of the melody over the waves lapping against the ship, a continual rhythmic shushing running as background noise.

The song is unexpected enough that it makes her forget how angry she is to be here, and how desperately heartbroken to be separated from her friends, and especially Tara. Instead, she says quietly,] That's beautiful.

[In person-on deck] I have no sick icons so have pissed off instead

[arazamatazza]

[After speaking with the horribly stuffy Brit, Araz decided it was time to explore his new home. For soon, he would be paired with a guard, warden, whatever and until then he was going to abuse his freedom. Unfortunately, it wasn't until he left his room that he realized he was on a ship. One never forgot the telling rock and sway of a boat, even after only one trip. Especially when that one trip was as harrowing as Araz's had been]

[Needless to say, the gangster rushed for the upper portions of the ship, somehow instinctively finding his way up to the deck in order to heave overboard. Though he had to admit, he was quite impressed with himself that he'd gotten there without throwing up below deck on the way]

Fuck that stupid Brit. This isn't some Purgatory bullshit, this is hell. [He groused, clinging to the railing. Because only he'd die and end up not only in prison, but on a fuckin' boat.]

[[OOC: Tralalala I have no idea what I'm doing tralala]]

[In person-on deck]

[decaffeinated]

::Unfortunately for Araz, there are multiple horribly stuffy Brits on this ship. This one happens to be a police officer. In uniform. Just to conveniently reinforce his belief that this is an evil, hellish floating gaol, you know.::

Well, since we haven't spoken before, I can only presume you're referring to Mr Giles. ::Little does he realise how many other Brits there are...:: Though I can't argue whether or not this place is hell, considering I didn't really believe in such things prior to coming here.