004 - Video - PSA No, 3

[cargojet]

Good evening, Tranquility. My name is Nathan Petrelli, and prior to my arrival on the ship three jumps ago I was a New York Senator. Now I know what you're thinking, and you're right, I'm not the Senator of anything here. That's the first thing you've gotta know about this place; don't matter what you were at home, whether you were a leader, a villain, a scientist, student or salesman, cause now we're all in this together the only thing that matters any more is what we can do for each other. We gotta work together and we gotta support each other, protect each other.

Now me, I work in communications despite not knowing a damn thing about it, and I moonlight as a flight operator, seeing as Hotspur had the decency to show me how to handle the shuttles here before he died. We still need to fix up more of them, so consider this a call out to you engineer types. Need a hobby, something to do in your off time? Well we need your know-how getting these things flight-ready.

Some of you are gonna feel lost. This isn't a city, it's a ship; it runs by ship's rules, ship's laws, and the most important thing to remember when you're at sea is that the ship itself is what is keeping you alive. Outside of these walls there's a vaccuum just waiting to suck you all out and explode your heads, and while a case of cabin fever is expected, if you let it get out of hand you endanger all of us. Don't go to the war with the goddamn ship, got it? In the Navy you'd be taken off duty and tranquilized for pulling that kind of crap.

I'm guessing some of you don't think you can be of any use around here cause you've not fallen outta some cable network Sci-Fi. Maybe you're just a teenager, and all this 'war' talk and hacking stuff sounds like fun, but if you want to get involved in the crew, if you wanna really help out, then you should get involved, maybe take a crash course in one of the professions we got on board. We've got a handful of doctors and next to no nursing staff, a security team that's full of detectives who only really care when you're already dead, a garden which could be expected to provide both food and medicine for us for a while yet, but which we're having trouble finding green fingers to tend, next to no flight officers--the list goes on.

I know what you're thinking: what can I do; I haven't even graduated high school, I can't fly a shuttle, wrap a chemical burn, fix a computer.  But there's already people younger and more inexperienced than you doing just that, and if you don't give it a shot then you can expect only one thing for sure--that the opposite wall from your bunk is gonna get pretty boring real fast.

I'm looking for senior staff, experienced crew members who're willing to open themselves up to a group of apprentices each month, give them a crash course in whatever, expand on their natural skills. There's no reward, short of the chance to fill in where your own sections of the ship are short handed, just like I can't offer any of the students any advantage to taking a post short of the opportunity to learn new skills and not get bored senseless. Fact remains that we need this just to survive, nevermind find a way home, and I want to encourage all of you to give it a shot.

So here's how it's gonna work; this post is just to get people talking and try and work out how many people are interested and what sorta placements there's gonna be available. Try and think about whether you have the time to train someone in your field, and what number of students you can stand to take. Soon as we straighten things out, I'll make another post to get everyone reporting to the right places. Simple right? That's the plan, anyway.

Ah, and one more thing before I sign off. Chapel's open to all faiths tomorrow morning in the oxygen garden, same as it is every Sunday at 10am. Anyone is welcome to attend.

[ OOC: No logs go up for the chapel, but tomorrow there will be some brief words said about those lost during the last Jump, and Nathan might even try to be nice about Isaac. You're welcome to assume your character attends this Sunday as any other. ]

Comments

video

[cargojet]

I'll tell you about it some time, and yeah, he did make it. He's even here, not that I'd wish this place on anyone. [ And he almost lost him last month. There's a hollowness in his eyes as he looks off for a moment. ]

Take care of yourself till then.

[ He disconnects. Aaaaand action? ]

action

[amethysts]

[Libby is exactly on time. She sent Nikolai a message on the way--(it's libby if you don't hear from me in an hour ask nathan petrelli wtf he did)--and she shows up, raps on Nathan's door, and waits. Her hair is in some kind of psychotic bun today, secured by wire, and her eyeliner is fresh. Sleeves down to her wrists on her jumpsuit. Tiny little thing.]

action

[cargojet]

[ Nathan shows up maybe a minute late - he can't help that sometimes he still gets turned round in the corridors, but at least he didn't actually get lost this time - and gives Libby a half salute as he approaches, shoving his hands back into his pockets as he gets close. It's a casual greeting. ]

You're not much on my daughter. [ Height wise, titchy is titchy, but then Nathan isn't exactly the tallest man on the ship either. It's a family trait to be hideously short. ] What's up?

permaction

[amethysts]

[Libby shoves her hands in her pockets and shrugs, wordless at first. Not only is she barely taller tham Claire, but she's lighter, too, and Claire is not a big girl. Otherwise if you scrubbed the smeared eyeliner from her face, took out her piercings, and washed her hair--they're two very different girls who look a lot alike. Pretty, petite, blonde and blue-eyed.]

I'd say the sky, but who the fuck knows around here. [A pause. Her mouth quirks.] I'd salute back, but, you know. Not military. We going to see the shuttles now or what?

And sorry your kid's a midget.

[cargojet]

She's got perfectly good genes, you know. Mine. Small and fiery, like her grandmother. You'd have liked her.

[ But then Claire is gone, and it's just another remind. Nathan failed her by not hunting her down and forcing her to stay put, and now she's dead, or worse, and if he was honest with himself - which he'd not being - he's the one to blame. Or at least that's how he feels. He's certainly not about to admit to that out loud.

So he leads the way to the elevator and holds the door as he steps inside. ]

[amethysts]

[Libby finds Nathan almost as baffling as Edgeworth. Who does this? She eyes him almost suspiciously when he holds the door open for her, but. He's getting her to the shuttles, which until now she's been shooed away from for no good reason.]

Thanks. And probably. I'd like her, I mean.

[She has no one to offer back. Larkspur--everyone would have loved Larkspur, poisonous name or not. But Larkspur also would have died the first time anything bad happened. So. No.]

Is this a regular thing for you?

[cargojet]

[ Probably definitely. With Claire's healing ability he has no doubt they'd be up to all kinds of crazy teenaged shenanigans about the ship. But he leans against the wall and watches her as she watches him and the lift takes then down several floors. ]

What part of it? [ Hand emerging from his pocket, Nathan reaches up to rub at the back of his neck. ] Regular, really? I give you the impression that any of this-- [ He gestures weakly at the elevator as the door peels open again. ] --This space bullshit is regular to me?

[amethysts]

[Libby laughs when he curses. Maybe he's not so bad, for what he is, but she stays on the far side of the elevator--she doesn't really think he'll hurt her. And yet. And yet. Some things are instinct at this point, things she doesn't even know she does.]

Nah. I know that. I mean the taking teenaged freaks on tours. You didn't--strike me as the type to give a fuck. [She shrugs, slipping out of the elevator.] I mean it's wicked rad, but...I don't know. Most people don't take me seriously. But I don't fucking want to die either? So yeah, fixing the fucked shuttles.

[cargojet]

[ He nods. It makes sense. Older man, stranger, takes an unnecessary interest when all she's used to - he can tell - is people not caring at all about another teenager. He doesn't know what it's like to be a teenage girl, but even he can imagine how strange it must be. So he keeps his distance too. ]

You're a lot like my daughter. [ Honesty seems like a good route here. ] She uh--was here until about when the plague started, and what with being sick and everything I lost track of her. Lost her. I didn't even know she existed until she was sixteen, and I wanted to get to know her. Blew that one.

So maybe I give a fuck because I'm trying to make up for it. Even if that were the case, I'm guessing you still won't turn down the tour.

[ So much for keeping his guilt to himself. ]

[amethysts]

[Like someone's daughter. She's heard it before and she got the fuck out of that car no matter how hungry she was because fuck that, no, but this is different. He sounds guilty and he--lost her. His family is all kinds of fucked up, from the sound of it. And he's keeping his distance. So.]

She must be a pain and a fucking half, then.

[She smiles and it's actually kind of sweet, not acidic, because--this guy would be a good dad, she thinks. Not that she knows about that. So she's flattered.]

Maybe she'll come back. Never know, yeah? And I won't turn down the tour. Just--fair warning, I'm a wicked fucking stupid piece of work, try not getting too hung up 'cause I'm probably gonna die soon.

[cargojet]

She... [ Honest, right? ] Hell, I'd be lying if she wasn't. But I'd be disappointed if she wasn't.

[ He's just that kind of father. He cocks his head slightly, then steps out of the elevator ahead of her, shooting a glance over his shoulder. ]

But I'm not gonna let anyone die. Let me worry about that, you worry about uh--whatever else there is, alright? [ Tripping over his own good intentions, he just concentrates on leading the way. ] The longer you stay here, the more aware you become that surviving on your own doesn't work out as well as blending in with other people. Last month everyone got sick, started collapsing in corridors or getting stuck in black holes, and looking out for yourself stopped working so well. Not far now.

[amethysts]

[Libby nods.] They last longer.

[Her criteria for survival might be different frkm Nathan's, but that's just the nwture of her life. She stays quiet for a while as they keep walking, trailing her fingers on the wall.]

I'm not alone. I get that. I'm still--

[Not alone but she's still gojng to die, and why does she care if he feels broken up over that? She warned him. These things happen. And it's just inevitable at a certain point.

She still finds, surprisingly, she cares a little. Instead of lingering she nods at a door.]

Is that it?

[cargojet]

[ Still going to die? He has to wonder about that, because it sounds like the kind of thing he’d hear at home. There’re plenty of reasons for people to believe that they’re going to die, after all, and pushing on it is probably unfair. He wouldn’t want anyone to push at his issues like that.

When she indicates the door he steps forward, showing his wrist to the scanner so that it slides open for them. ]

This is it.

[ And inside the shuttle bay, with lines of ships – mostly broken – on both sides of the hangar. They stand on a walkway behind the closest row of them, their noses pointing outwards, and rather than lead on he gives her a moment to appreciate the view. Standing here is the first real moment he’d been able to acknowledge that where he was wasn’t a dream or a trick. It had just been too much effort to go to. ]