EVENT: CULTURAL STUDIES ▒ THE TRANQUILITY

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: The newly discovered corridor, Prisoners' Quarters and Guards' Bunkhouse.
WARNINGS: A vague sense of creeping unease.
SUMMARY: Discovery and exploration of the Prisoners' Quarters and Guards' Bunkhouse.
NOTES: Open to all! Network map discovery is HERE. Bunkhouse discovery post is HERE. Have fun forward and back-dating, but don't forget to check the timelines!

The corridor you're walking down seems to stretch on forever, but maybe that's just the gloom ever-present in the belly of the ship, only cut through by the skittering beams of the flashlights you're carrying and the dim signal on the map. The map led you here, and the map seemed to indicate there was something at the end of this journey; a new area, perhaps, more answers. Something worth the risk of stepping into the darkness. Best stay alert, strain your senses — though there will be little advantage found in the warning of claws clicking against metal in the distance, a flash of red on the wall to your right...

Comments

aw yeaaah

[seered]

"Unfortunately, no," Rose answers without looking up and without missing a beat. "I'd imagine most of this could be found in the media library. Essays, novels--the fact that they're physical books is a bit of a surprise."

Considering, you know, space.

"But otherwise they're somewhat unremarkable."

With that, she finally meets Will's gaze (or attempts to, he's sort of a twitchy guy, from what little she knows of him), and smiles a little. The overall effect is one that's far too casual for hanging out in a dank dirty gross guard bunk where people probably died. She holds out a volume to him.

"Would you like to see? It's space poetry."

um and then i was crazy late on this sorry

[look]

Will hesitates a moment before agreeably coming forth. She makes a good point, actually — the media library on the ship is almost entirely electronic, while as far as he can tell the paper library is curated by fellow kidnappees and consists entirely of whatever people get in their lockers.

"Do you think it's native?" he asks. To the Tranquility, to whatever universe there actually in. He flicks through the volume without reading it, looking at the binding, the ink, the colouring of the pages. It's nice to have something to look at while they talk, an excuse not to catch her gaze. She's unnervingly at ease. "Or maybe it's just come through the same way our stuff did."

No worries!

[seered]

"The book?"

Since handing the poetry to Will, she's picked up a volume of essays and busies herself paging through it.

"That's a possibility I didn't think of. We don't know if paper books are commonplace on the planets in this universe. The media library here might just be completely digital for ease of transport."

[look]

"From what I could tell from the handy welcome to hell write-ups, we don't have a lot to go on when it comes to knowing much about the world around us." The universe they'd found themselves in. The purpose of the spaceship.

Will taps the book against his palm. "These could be pretty great primary sources," he muses. It's almost as though he's talking to himself, looking over at the wall instead of Rose. "Though I'm not an archeologist, just speculating."

[seered]

"We have Mister Jump Nineteen," she replied, without looking up.

Not that Rose had taken an opportunity to speak to him--he was an interesting curiosity, but not much more. Helpful for telling them things about the universe in which they'd found themselves, but the real mystery was on the Tranquility, and he didn't seem to know much more than they did.

"Though that does assume that the things he says are trustworthy. I'm sure the rest of the crew will bring back souvenirs from the thing we've docked into."

[look]

"If they come back at all," says Will darkly, demonstrating hitherto unseen heights of optimism. He claps the book of poetry shut. It seems like the kind of thing Hannibal might enjoy, which makes him not want it particularly near him, and he offers it back to Rose.

"Tell me more about Mister Jump Nineteen," he follows up, because that he's curious about, and his knowledge so far is limited by arriving after most of the interest in the missing jump had died down.

[seered]

"We missed the nineteenth jump," she says, taking the book from Will and closing it gently. "The nanites on our arms went from eighteen to twenty, except--"

And she pauses, there, partly for a wry smile, and partly for dramatic effect.

"For one passenger. I haven't spoken to him, myself, but he's from the universe and knew of the Tranquility. He's the only one of us who actually hails from this world, to my understanding."