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

[asklepian]

"I don't really know, actually. It's been around for well over a hundred years and I was never that interested in learning." He preferred tea and coffee, generally speaking, so he'd never had any interest in the history--he'd drink sometimes with the Chief, but that was more for companionship than in an active pursuit of intoxication. And when they did, it was true alcohol.

He turns to face the man more fully, realizing that he's probably dealing with an alcoholic. Not unheard of, in this day and age--it's a medical condition after all, genetic predisposition and all. But not common anymore. Here, anyway. He couldn't speak as to wherever this man was from.

"You have to ask for it specifically, some bartenders have it behind the counter. The replicators won't produce it. Can't, actually." He can't prevent the man from drinking, or finding out from someone else how to get true intoxicants. As much as he'd like to. "But instead of drowning yourself in a bottle, why don't you get a few other questions out of the way?"

[nowinners]

He turns his attention to the bartender again instead of his current companion at the answer to his question, asking if they had anything that wasn't that synthehol, something with a kick. He wasn't going to be interrogated without a drink if he had a choice in the matter. One drink at least. Depending on the questions, he might be seeing if he can't get more. While the phrasing sounded as if he was to do the interrogating, he had a suspicion that the man had questions of his own, he was just playing friendly no doubt to see if he couldn't lower Haymitch's guard so he might say or do something incriminating. He wasn't born yesterday after all. He just wished he knew how the hell they'd managed to snatch him from his home to here without warning. If not for the fact he was standing up in the exact position he'd been in a second prior, he could have explained the transportation with drugs. Though that would have been tricky and a little too involved he suspected on their part to extract one man so secretively. Still...sometimes the actions the Capitol took defied logic or reason. "Okay...How did you manage to kidnap me from my own house so fast? Where the hell am I? No, wait, never mind that last. I have a feeling I know the general area I'm in, I guess I should as why did the Capitol decide to drag me here?" He accepted the drink that was passed to him, sipping at it, one eyebrow abruptly arching at the taste. He nodded his pleasure to the tender to let them know he approved. He turned his attention back to his companion, waiting for his reaction and the answers to his questions.

[asklepian]

His reaction, perhaps, will be a bit of a disappointment. Julian looks--not confused, really, but certainly a bit puzzled. He doesn't know of any Capitol--at least not with the weight the man says it with, as if it's a proper name. He shakes his head, to indicate that wasn't at all a correct assumption before he answers.

"I can assure you, wherever you believe we are, we're likely nowhere even vaguely near. You're on the Federation starship Enterprise. The year is 2366. As for how you were brought here...well, that's something of a complicated explanation. You're certainly not alone, I don't belong here myself."

[nowinners]

Now he's more confused than he was previously. Unless this is a rather elaborate trick, which honestly he sees no need for them to go to such lengths to pull, he's genuinely at a loss now on how to proceed exactly. Perhaps the best thing to do is remain cautious, even if this isn't the Capitol's doing, kidnapping never boded well. He took another small drink as he mulled the answer over before speaking again. The more answers he could gain the better in this evolving situation. "Federation Starship? What Federation? Do you know who's doing the kidnapping? Do you think there's any way to get back to where I was?" That last question was perhaps the most important right now. He needed to get back as quickly as was feasibly possible.

[asklepian]

Julian was happy to answer questions, so long as people refrained from attacking him.

"The Federation is an alliance of over one hundred member worlds, including Earth. We operate a exploratory, scientific, and diplomatic fleet called Starfleet, amd we're currently on its flagship. Near a world called Risa, actually." He looks sympathetic to the man's concerns, at least. After all, he's out of place too. "It's a lot to take in, I realize. I happen to be lucky in that I've only been displaced a few years."

He folds his hands together, resting them on the bartop in front of him as he continues. "The being responsible for bringing us all here is called Q. He's a trickster and a troublemaker, but he happens to be very powerful, able to manipulate space and time."

[nowinners]

Excuse him, Julian. Haymitch is just going to take a couple sips of his drink while he attempts to make some form of sense from that. With each answer he got from the man, this was sounding less and less like some trick or plot of the Capitol. He doubted there was anyone with an imagination quite this crazy, not to mention detailed, who could come up with something like this just to get him to slip up and let his guard down.

"So...what happened to Panem?"

From the way the other man spoke it sounded like this was very very far in his future, so perhaps the man could explain just what happened to the world he knew. Who knew, it might explain why he had been pulled here to this ship. The knowledge could also be useful beyond that possibly as well, he'd just have to wait and see what he could learn.

[asklepian]

"Panem? I don't know any nation by that name." He looks completely baffled. "What continent is it on? I presume Earth...though that is a bit of an ethnocentric assumption, I do apologize for that." Maybe that would explain it, if he was from a colony world.

Though really, he hoped they'd know enough Latin still to not name their country 'bread'. That sounded fairly ridiculous.

[nowinners]

That earned a surprised look and a couple of raised eyebrows. "North America." Was it possible the Capitol had been overthrown and over time they had changed the name? Perhaps. He could only hope that whatever had happened had been for the better. Though to judge by what had been said, it just might have been. Though he's only got one man's word for that right now. It could be worse and it just isn't obvious to certain people. Such a thing wouldn't be anything new to him unfortunately.

[asklepian]

"There's never been a Panem in North America--we simply call it North America now, since the United Earth Government came about a few hundred years ago. We'd certainly not call it 'bread'. That's what 'panem' translates to in Latin. There's a rather famous phrase about it, actually."

Julian does catch himself rambling every so-often, and now is definitely one of those times. He manages to look a little embarrassed, at least.

"I digress. It could be that you've found yourself in an entirely divergent reality, those are surprisingly well-documented."

[nowinners]

Just when he thought he might actually be close to making some sort of sense out of this the man has to go blow that idea straight out of the water. Julian is treated to a rather confused expression now thanks to that little ramble, especially the bit at the end. He finishes his drink and wonders if he should see about coaxing a second of the same out of the bartender. Perhaps things would make more sense the less sober he was. He was about half sober, half intoxicated currently, and rather tempted to fix that situation. "....divergent realities?"

[asklepian]

"Alternate realities. Where things went differently. It's a bit of an idea to get used to, I probably shouldn't have sprung that on you so quickly after this surprise, sorry. One thing at a time."

Haymitch, be advised: sometimes you have to tell him to stop talking.