[party post] come sail away with me

[varymydays]

You've come through a door, and you are on a boat. Specifically, you're on a cruise ship in the middle of some giant body of water. You've come through the door behind you which is attached to nothing and may now be locked. It's relatively empty as giant as it appears to be. The only other passengers that are here appear to also have come through the door for the most part and it is not nearly enough to fill up this entire cruise ship.

Also, who knows who the hell is driving this thing since all of the employees appear to be either ghosts or holograms...

Is this your first time here or your hundredth time here? Do you want a drink or a dip in the pool? Is it day or night? Do you stumble on your room or some other situation either fun or painful within its many rooms, shops, and facilities? Do you run into someone you know or a complete stranger?

The possibilities are unlimited!

Comments

[mynameischristine]

She turns at the sound of his voice, surprised at being directly addressed. She offers the newcomer a polite, reassuring smile, getting to her feet.

He looks about the way she feels. Of course she's sympathetic.

"It won't work for me, either, I'm afraid. I'm sorry. I wish it did."

[fissures]

The surprise is met with an almost apologetic grimace. Danny's steps are usually quiet. It was a deliberate choice, until he barely had to think about it. Now he is just a soundless thing, and he doesn't always come without warning.

A frown creases on his forehead, though there is something reassuring and steady about her that puts him at ease.

"How long have you been here?"

[mynameischristine]

"Not very long. A couple of hours, if that."

His concern is understandable--this is confusing, ridiculous, to have wound up on a cruise ship out of nowhere.

"My name is Christine. What's yours?"

[fissures]

Almost as an afterthought, Danny slowly unfurls his fists, fingers loosening from their tense hold. The question surprises him, for reasons that he personally cannot fathom, and he looks up at her with a strangely vulnerable expression before the moment passes, too quickly to really be noticed.

"Danny," he says after a moment. Tastes the name on his tongue. "My name is Danny."

He doesn't feel much like Danny these days, but that is what he was named.

"You seem very calm," he adds by way of observation.

[mynameischristine]

"Hello, Danny. It's nice to meet you--I'm sorry it's under circumstances like these."

She shrugs, shoulders lifting almost helplessly. "I've been trained well, I suppose. I'm a nurse--and an officer." You don't get very far doing either if you can't maintain your calm.

"I really wish I knew what was going on here."

[fissures]

"That's a pretty impressive combination," Danny observes, eyebrows climbing up.

Danny hasn't been trained, so much as he and his brother trained themselves, and there isn't much he hasn't seen. There isn't much that evokes a strong reaction out of him, but he can safely say, despite living in a world riddled with the supernatural and rift activity, this is a first one.

"It's nice to meet you too," he adds after a moment, as though he's just now remembering his manners. He was once a polite boy. He thinks.

His mother taught him well, but he remembers, sometimes.

[mynameischristine]

"I don't know about impressive," Christine replies, shrugging a little. "Necessary, I suppose. If you're gonna send officers into deep space to explore, you've got to send doctors and nurses right along with them. We're needed."

Christine Chapel may be a woman of fine Southern breeding and manners, but she's not one that's going to point out or get fussed by a lapse on someone else's part. (An intentional breach of manners is another story. That's clearly not happening here.)

She smiles. "I don't suppose you know very much about what's happening here?"

[fissures]

Danny's eyes widen at the mention of space, and he is suddenly a little more convinced he'd still go with his impressive theory. Deciding he would ask more questions later, he gives a small shake of his head at her question.

Her questions come first and his can follow later.

"...No." Danny winces. He's not used to being helpless. "There are rifts in my world. They're wormholes that pull you in from other worlds, regardless of time and space. I'm assuming the door must've been a wormhole, but that's an assumption at best."

This is likely the most he's said in months. It's sort of tragic.

[mynameischristine]

"Rifts? Wormholes." The first she doesn't understand, but the second, she does. She's quiet a long moment, thoughtful, brow knit.

"It makes sense," she agrees. "That it would be something like that. I just wish I knew why."

[fissures]

"They're sometimes used synonymously. Back where I'm from, there are tears in the universe, and people fall through those holes. There isn't really a reason why for them. They exist, and there's no finding sense in the senseless. I realize that's hardly a comforting answer. I've tried making sense of it myself for a really long time now."

But there aren't really any satisfying ones.

[mynameischristine]

"At least you can see the worth in not trying to find sense in the senseless. You can try, but sometimes you just run up against something that's got no good reason you'll ever be able to figure out." She shakes her head, sad. "Too many people drive themselves crazy trying well past the time they ought to have let a thing go."

[fissures]

There's a small pause, and it's followed by the shake of his head. "Sometimes ... there are no satisfying answers to things," he says carefully. It is, perhaps, the hardest lesson he has ever had to learn. Senseless things. Cruel things. Things that will break your heart. On the other hand, there are also good ones. Hopeful ones. He has to believe that. "Sometimes they just happen and we don't know why."

[mynameischristine]

"That's very true."

She smiles, not unkindly. Just because they have no idea what's going on, or why it's happening, doesn't mean they need to be totally lost. "Have you been here long, Danny? On this ship."