TEST DRIVE #10 - Cetacean Pool and Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

#1

Option 001. Cetacean Pool/Aquatics Lab: Of all the places in the world, you open your eyes and you find yourself in a medium-sized aquatics laboratory, filled with various living specimens along with various science officers bustling about trying to maintain order. There's much to explore here (and hopefully, in the crew's opinion, not break), but the main attraction is the large pool at the far end of the lab; enormous but tanklike in appearance, it contains several dolphins happily swimming about, seemingly without a care in the world.


2

Option 002. Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, and now you're on a spaceship, in the middle of a crowded room. It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward a long bar with barstools and a bartender, tables sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but windows out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[liamjones]

"And what is the life you wanted?" he asked his brother softly.

[seekingcrocodile]

"Being part of something." Whatever that something is.

[liamjones]

"Like the crew?" he asked softly.

[seekingcrocodile]

"Like a family." Which is what he hopes he's working on getting now.

[liamjones]

He nodded, understandingly. "I left you," he said softly, apologetically, sympathetically.

[seekingcrocodile]

"Not just you. I had no one left at that point." Which was part of the problem.

[liamjones]

"And now, Killian?" he asked softly.

[seekingcrocodile]

"Now I have someone. And you." He won't forget about Liam.

[liamjones]

"Does she know... all of what you are telling me?" Presuming it's a she, that is. Had he said it was a she already? Liam could not quite recall.

[arnold_j_rimmer]

"Are you sure they're not Psirens? They're probably Psirens. I mean, look at how abnormally attractive all these people in pajamas are. The crew of the Red Dwarf didn't look like this. They were all mashed oats and boiled ham, whereas these people are more like lean venison."

Although the attractive people were both men and women, and why Psirens would do that...no, he's not going to think about it. Maybe they're not Psirens after all.

[smeg_off]

"We'll see when one of them takes it upon themselves to seduce you. Obviously they're some sort of space monster or else greatly disoriented and incapable of functioning properly.

"Otherwise we're attracted to the same sort of people that look exactly the same way and that bloke over there with the scales just isn't doin' it for me."

But Rimmer was right, and if these women were real women and really that attractive and not out of some full immersion video game or secretly some sort of G.E.L.F. he was gonna get some. Maybe not right now because he had some minimal sense of priority, regrettably about the same size as Rimmer's, but he would and it would be real and it would be amazing.

"...I think it's a bloke."

[arnold_j_rimmer]

"You're the one who's always snogging the slimiest, ugliest space monsters that cross our path. Scent pheromones, that's probably what it is. One whiff of your socks and they assume that only a creature as slimy and ugly as they are could possibly produce that stench."

Rimmer looked to the fellow with scales and twisted his mouth downward.

"He looks like he's got some horrible skin disease. I think I'll stick with the good looking ones. And if they aren't Psirens or a hallucination or psychotic androids or serial killers in pajamas...I call dibs on the blonde in the corner."

[smeg_off]

"Rimmer, you can't call dibs on a woman. It's not how it works. You gotta start treatin' 'em with respect. Even if they occasionally turn out to be irresistible monsters in disguise. Ya didn't see them Rimmer. You don't know what it's like!" He leans heavily against Rimmer's side with his shoulder, staring despairingly.

"I hope this is all real."

Then, without moving away from his brooding lean, he stared earnestly out the window. "I don't know how I got here, though. One minute I'm on Starbug hopin' to find something better to drink than Kryten's prize loo Chardonnay and suddenly I'm whisked away to a fancy space bar on a fancy ship staffed by very casually dressed crew.

"What's goin' on?"

Sure. Now he got around to asking about that. Sense of wonder indeed. What would he give for Holl right then. He didn't know about the Q yet, of course. The Q probably even made Rimmer think he was coming on a rescue mission just to suit his own sense of humour.

[seekingcrocodile]

"She knows how I feel about her." For the most part. He hasn't outright stated a thing or two, but he knows that she knows them anyway.

[fuckingblind]

Well, at least we can agree on that.

[danny doesn't back up again when he realizes that the other guy isn't going to get any closer than where he is.

ten forward? enterprise? he's---kidding, right? except, danny's pretty good at reading people, and there's no teasing lilt. no sound like barely contained amusement. he's actually serious. shit.

so if this is real and that--it's like the television show, right? okay, maybe that's a bad thing to mention. so---well, he's not going to. he'll just go with things.]

No, no none of those things are familiar to me. You just told me I wandered into a bar on a boat somehow, and honestly, I never got that invite.

[deadpan] I'm a law student.

[wolfmd]

“Well, it’s space-steak, so don’t ask me what it came from, but it smells good and they cooked it extra rare for me.”

Isaac grins, definitely understanding the reaction. Nothing better for breaking the ice than sharing food, and while he could clear his plate, he knows where this came from and can always get more later. When she looks towards the table, Isaac nods, and makes moves towards it. He’s careful not to get ahead or lag behind, and keeps a comfortable distance between them. Isaac won’t dismiss the idea of a temporary pack to help both of them in this new place, but they’re strangers still, so it never hurts to be cautious.

“I’m Dr. Isaac Hunter, most recently of Sacramento.” The doctor part is still so new that Isaac can’t help but add it. Isaac kind of wishes he hadn’t come straight from the hospital, because the smells still cling to him a little and he knows from experience that a lot of Weres don’t like them, but he can’t help it, and it’ll back up his introduction, at least?

[magnetic_magpie]

At least you aren't bleeding out in the hall, we've had that happen. More than once, luckily there's an abundance of medical personnel aboard.

[ There's a worn tone to his voice - he hadn't stumbled on those scenes, but he'd heard about them, and lived through enough to know that while he could handle it, it wasn't something he wanted to see again. He raises his hand to pinch the bridge his nose, muffling his voice for a moment. ]

Oh, ok then.

[ He accepts it - but he notes it. The young man's face didn't give anything away, but there where areas of the brain which lit up - at least some of those words where familiar, but if he wanted to claim otherwise, at this juncture, he had no reason to say anything. ]

All right. So people tend to use the word universe to describe space - and that's true, but it's also a dimension. Which is how I'm meaning it at the moment. There's been theories for years - and in some universes proof - multiple universes. The thing is, we don't really know how different universes are shaped. We know they can be shaped in all kinds of ways, most people tend to think of them as spherical, like a ball, and that's possible. I theorize when you have a group of related universes they are similar in shape and all clumped together, like a bunch of grapes. The stems holding everything together might be another universe as well or might be something we don't yet understand. Norse mythology - which isn't mythology in every world - tried to explain it with Yggdrasil, which is neither here or there, just that it isn't a new idea. Anyway, some are shaped like that. Some like doughnuts, round with a hole int he middle, some like any pasta shape you can thinks of or well. Anything. Any three dimensional shape. Some are even jumbled inside a larger universe, like the beads in a bean bag. There's probably a lot of those, actually.

So those are universes. And sometimes, you have people, beings, not human ones but still people who can manipulate their own universe. Those are called reality warpers. In some places, they may be called gods. Some of them can effect other universes not their own as well. Ok? Still following?

[ As he speaks, there's passion in his voice. This is so neat do you see how this neat? it all but screams. It's serious, but ringing with enthusiasm. He's a scientist, so many forget that. ]

What kind of law, by the way?

Henry Mills AU | Once Upon a Time | SPOILERS FOR SEASON FOUR especially the finale!

[darkestbeliever]

The last thing Henry remembered was standing in Gold's shop with the quill in his hand, writing his second thing as the Author. It might not have been exactly what he was meant to do but changing the world for his family was not the same as Isaac's selfish changes. He was sure of that. Then it had all changed. The black inky liquid smoke of darkness had enveloped him and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a crowded room. Looking around, he saw so many people he didn't recognise in a place he was not familiar with. The darkness within him was churning and settling, his hands empty of both dagger and quill. He scowled, his darker impulses rising to the surface and fading away as it battled with the light within him - his heart. The heart of the truest believer. It seemed Henry was right, to a point. His heart would protect him. But for how long, was anyone's guess.

Re: Henry Mills AU | Once Upon a Time | SPOILERS FOR SEASON FOUR especially the finale!

[savedbylove]

Emma was in the lounge getting her morning coffee, not liking the crowdedness of the lounge. She may have made up a word in her head, but she didn't really care all that much.

She got her coffee, and started threading her way through the room, bumping into someone along the way. She brushed him really, but turned anyway.

"I'm so-.... Henry?"

[darkestbeliever]

The bump caused his anger to flair. "Watch where you're walking!" He yelled at her before forcing himself to calm as best he could and look at who the culprit at been. Only then he did realise he'd been spoken to and by whom. He turned, looking at her, then stumbled backwards, trying to put distance between them. He didn't want to hurt her. "Mom!" At least he wasn't alone here, wherever here was, but he still didn't have any control over the darkness within him. "Stay back. I don't want to hurt you."

[makesbettermouth]

Amy's dog allergy's generally kept the rest of the family from draping animals all over her - in that, she's been lucky.

"This dumb contest one of the guys I work with made up." She may say it's dumb but her pride is obvious. "It's like an obstacle course."

She does shift her arms just a bit, so the one bearing Veena's minimal weight won't go numb from inactivity.

[liamjones]

"And the rest, my brother?" he asked softly.

[reincarnshaman]

"Dumb contests are the best! We could use a few new ones back home. Especially if they're easy to cheat in." It's not cheating unless you get caught. And so Trever and family works very hard at not getting caught. Technically, as a prince, Trever shouldn't be cheating at all... but that just means he needs to work harder to not get caught at cheating.

Veena shifts with the arm shifting and starts to slide out of her grasp. This causes her to twist around and crawl up Amy's shoulder to flop like a towel over it, claws gently pricking her back.

"She likes you."

[seekingcrocodile]

"Of what I've just told you? Aye, she knows that. Save for a few details. She knows there was a woman who was killed, and who did it. She does not know that he was her husband."

[rikered]

Riker's been standing listening to this conversation with a great deal of amusement, and he almost makes a move when he thinks they are calling him a woman. Apparently in some universe the women wore beards. He swiftly realised they are not talking about him and he could almost be called a little disappointed, he might have had some brief fun with that one.

"You can try and call dibs on a woman, but I am warning you they bite." He strolls towards the pair of them. "We are as real as the two of you are. I am Commander William Riker, First Officer of the Starship Enterprise, the ship you are currently visiting." Visiting is a pretty broad term for it, but he's being diplomatic about it. "Your visit may be a pretty long one, we don't have the means to send you home just yet."