Test Drive #7 - Ten Forward and Captain's Yacht

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprise's off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...





Option 02. The Captain's Yacht: Oooh, you sneaky stowaway! You've found yourself in a very exclusive part of the ship: Captain Picard's personal craft, used for short jaunts when a shuttle just won't do. (One must retain some decorum, after all.) It may not be as large as the Enterprise itself, but there are sure to be some surprises aboard once people start snooping.


[OOC: The Captain's Yacht is located at the very base of the Enterprise's saucer portion, so if you put someone in there you can also play them trying to get back to somewhere they know!]

Comments

[the_blood]

She seemed preternaturally tense at the talk of madness, her fingers moving ever so slightly, her eyes slightly glazing, staring off into the distance. "The twisted kingdom is the perilous road, forever lost in the confusing twisting darkness and light," she said, her voice odd. She shook her head and studied the ring finger of her right hand pensively, or perhaps the jeweled ring thereon. "Speaking of madness is no idle thing among the Blood," she said simply.

"Especially not with a Black Widow," Theiorn said, vanishing the witch fire and claiming his goblet from the air to sip the heated wine.

[themerlin]

"I see. I will avoid the term for thee then. Here, and in this time as well as many others in earth human history, it can mean insanity, but also just the wildness and unpredictability of events. Just so you know." He wanted them to be as prepared as they could be for those around them.

Merlin was perhaps, no, let's be honest. Merlin was definitively insane, and dangerous, but he also happened to be nice, sometimes, and kind others, and to be firmly dedicated to helping all humanity and all life survive. Mostly.

"What is a Black Widow, in your terms, and the Blood? From the way you say them, I take it they have specific connotations and meanings to you and your world."

Curiosity now blazed in his eyes, and he leaned forward, animated and almost bouncy. Food appeared on the table, as if by afterthought, small platters of bread, cheeses, and meats. Nothing fancy, really, mostly the sort of thing you could eat with your fingers. And it was all ignored by Merlin, who looked to them for answers.

[the_blood]

She reached up and hooked a finger under the two necklace chains she wore. One held a Jewel whose stone matched the one in her ring (I'm still trying to sort out her rank - sorry!!!!). The other chain held a charm of an hourglass with gold dust, all of which was in the bottom chamber. "I am a Black Widow," she said simply, then let the necklaces fall. The one with the jewel vanished, the one with the hourglass remained.

"The Black Widows are the witches of the Hourglass covenant. How long of a lesson would you like?" she asked wryly, sharpening her nails to points with a thought then using one to stab and claim a piece of meat. She ate it neatly off her nail. She bore him no onus, but if he wanted to know of the hourglass, she would make sure he was well enough informed to be cautious. Especially if he ever met any of her sisters.

[themerlin]

"Intriguing." Merlin chuckled, and he held up a hand. "I assume this signifies something more?" He chuckled. "I am a student of life and people, milady. I am curious, now." And before her eyes, his hand shimmered and changed, the nails growing longer, and turning a golden color, before settling back to his normal hands.

"Shapes are my specialty."

[the_blood]

She leaned back after taking a piece of cheese, and considered. "Isn't this a pretty tangle?" she murmured. "No, the sharpening of nails is not a Black Widow thing," she said amused. "With a Black Widow only one claw really matters, but you wanted to know of the Twisted Kingdom and how we relate to the madness, did you not?"

[themerlin]

"Aye, I do. Especially if we shall be sharing a ship, such as this one, I would know who you are, true, and what you bring to this place." His voice was forthright and perfectly calm, and he smiled a warm smile, but his eyes, they blazed golden.

"I am, as always, curious."

[the_blood]

"I am a Black Widow, with luck you will never know all I know, all I am, or all I can do. Without luck... well, I hear there is much screaming involved and unimaginable pain, but I'm sure none of us want it to come to that."

"It won't," Theorin said sharply. "I will not let anyone harm you enough for you to need to do that."

"I do NOT need your protection, and I do not care what you have decided, you do NOT serve me!"

"It is my right as the only Warlord Prince here to serve and protect, Lady. Should your court arrive, I shall absent myself if that is your will. Until such a time, I do serve, and I do protect, Lady."

She looked fit to explode, then took a deep breath and faced Merlin again. "Black Widows weave tangled webs, we can sidestep into madness, carefully, to help us see what is, what will be, and what might be."

[themerlin]

Merlin nodded to her. "I would never harm thee, if such is what sets it off, save in the defense of innocents." He smiled lopsidedly, but his eyes were serious.

He listened to their exchange, taking that all in, and nodding. Curious. Matriarchal, but not completely autonomous. Hmmm.

"Ah, then muchly like myself, in someways. My father gave me the sight of what was, and humanity gave me the sight of what is and what is not, and Jehovah, well, he gave the sight of what should and what might be, and what must never be." He bowed to her. "It seems we share some slight things, milady."

He settled back. "What or where do you rule, if I may ask?"

[the_blood]

She ignored the question of where she ruled. The other was more immediate. "You claim you see the future?" she asked sharply. Only two males had ever EVER had that power.

[themerlin]

"Sometimes, in a limited fashion, aye. I see what might be, and things that should not be let happen." Merlin's voice was matter of fact. "Let's see... yes, okay. For a moment, I can do this, milady."

And he let his eyes close for a moment, opening his mind to the song of the future for just a second, then shutting his mind as he opened his eyes.

He pointed blindly to the left. "The man at that table will start choking in a moment, and his friend will throw water in his face, causing him to cough up the item choking him. "

His hand swung in a different direction. "The lady at the bar is about to find out she has become pregnant, and become overjoyed at the fact, then rush off." His hand moved once more, pointing to a strange looking woman with all blue scaled skin and small fins. "Hir is asleep with hir eyes open, and will soon fall forward."

And as he lay his hand down, those events began to happen, exactly as spoken, exactly where he had pointed. He was slightly paler as he sat there, and he drew once more on his drink, quaffing it down, his mug refilling as he did.

[the_blood]

"Mother night," she whispered.

"And may the darkness be merciful," Theorin added.

She gulped down her wine an gestured at the cask, refilling it. She swallowed hard. "You used no webs," she whispered, pale and shaken.

[themerlin]

"Nay, I did not. I touched the song of life and time. It is... hard, but it uses only Deific magic. No webs are involved." He offered her a smile, one tired and showing it.

"I apologize if I startled you. I did not mean to. Merely to define my power. Some doubt, you see, and the future is not always easy to touch. What I can do one moment, i cannot another, and then can, stronger, another moment." He chuckled.

"We are perhaps at a tying of times, as we have crossed time and space to come here. Thus all the verses are strained and easier to touch."

[the_blood]

"I have never seen one who can view the future thus. Step into the twisted kingdom to see reality behind lies, yes, but such predictions, these are atypical to say the least. What training have you, that lead to this?"

[themerlin]

"Training milady? None, save concentration training from Blaise the Wise." He shook his head. "Do you have gods on your world?" His question was gentle, and curious, both.

[the_blood]

"What are...Gods?" she asked, trying to remember any famous priestess named Blaise.

[themerlin]

"Being of immense power who create worlds and people." He pursed his lips, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Suffice it to say, my sight of the future comes from a different source than any I have ever heard of."

Merlin nodded to her.

"I was given it to balance the curse of my blood that was given to me by my father. For with this foresight comes knowledge of my father's Enemy, and sureness that He lives." His words were soft and simple, but sure of his truth.

[the_blood]

"What enemy?" she asked, "And why should that have anything to do with the dreams and visions?"

[themerlin]

"His name is Jehovah, and he created my world, and the people in it. My father was an enemy of his, a created being who came to fall out of pride and arrogance. In the name of overthrowing Jehovah, my father lay with a mortal woman against her will, and conceived me, to try to break prophecy. But my mother, a woman of good heart and faith, took me to Blaise, and Blaise baptized me in waters blessed of Jehovah, and in doing so, connected me to that being."

Merlin's voice was soft, and he told the story as one who not only believed it, but knew it to be true. "My father had placed on me the knowledge of what had been, in order to corrupt me with the weight of all the evils that men do. But Jehovah awoke both my human talents and gave me a new one. from my mother, I gained the power to see what was happening then, but far off, and from Jehovah I gained the sight of what might be. That way, I could see his ultimate triumph, and know that what my father showed me did not matter."

Merlin spoke quietly, but intent, and he nodded at the end of that. "That power, that sheer knowledge of Him, the touch of His presence, is what gives me the Sight."

[the_blood]

"Your father is dead?" She asked with the tone of one verifying what clearly must be true, and is right.

Theiorn glanced at her a bit nervously then strapped some steel to his spine. Fine, if the man was not dead, and she wished it, it would not be his first kill. Better he kills than she does.

[themerlin]

"Nay, milady. He is beyond my power for the nonce and he yet has a place to play in the prophecies and fate of my world. " Merlin gestured, and the bottle filled again, and a lady at the bar stood up straight, as if listening to something, reached out and caught something, then nodded and went to start replicating things.

"I've ordered some food. Will you stay and break bread with me?"

[the_blood]

"We will share food. How has he not yet been killed after such a crime?" she asked, her eyes flashing with anger and rage that was barely contained therein.

[themerlin]

"Many reasons. First, he exists in a realm that most cannot reach easily. Second, he is more powerful than any living mortal. Third, Even the gods cannot destroy him as he is."

Merlin sighed. "And though I have derailed many of his plots, I have never managed to get a good shot at him with my power. He knows exactly what I would do." Merlin's smile was fierce and full of utter amusement. "I would give him a conscience."

[the_blood]

"Perhaps then we could be of assistance. We happen to know someone who is very good at getting into inaccessible realms, whose husband has a very distinct sense of honor, from what I know of him. And what he would do, is not what you would do," she said. "Definitionally." She hadn't had much contact with the man, but she knew how it was she had become a provenance Queen, and no one who had ears and a brain was unaware of the stories of the Sadist. Yes, he would do well, and for this, she was sure Jaenelle would help, if requested. It wouldn't be interference if the one injured requested aid, right? Okay, so she wasn't fully sure, but if they could lure the fol to Dhelman... and if the Warlord Prince of Dhelman happened to learn of him... yes, that worked even better.

[themerlin]

"I would not wish to have your friend die in this, and I fear he would, but I admit, I would be curious to see what would happen."

Merlin glanced around, then back at her. "Of course, that relies on both of us being back in my world, together, and being able to contact your acquaintance."

Merlin was curious indeed. "Or, if we end up in yours, and then my Father follows." He shook his head. "Which is unlikely, but I am intrigued."

His smile to her was warm and grateful. Inside, he doubted even her 'friend' could stop the Devil, but he would enjoy seeing him try.

[the_blood]

"If there were a way to lure him to Dhelman in our world, I could pass a message through Saetan for you, lady," Theiorn said, after a brief mental exchange with the Queen. They were used to that name having impact, but unaware of the impact it would have to someone outside of their world.

"Oh, if we can get him to Dhelman Kaleer, there are many people we can contact, and not that I think of it, Lucivar would be a better choice perhaps than the Sadist. Or maybe they could share," she all but purred.