( 010 ) video ✶ 'til tides are pulled hold our grounds making this cold harbor now home

[unparental]

[ it's been a rough couple months for everyone, and the mystic fall contingent no less so. still, when jenna opens the feed she looks more alert and cheerful-- not to mention: less inebriated-- than she has in a while. the locker full of things both useful and frivolously, uselessly cheerful made a few conversations come back in stark relief, and with new light.

she waves a little, shoving her hair out of her face impatiently after. ]

Hey. Okay, so. If you're new, hi, I'm Jenna. Everyone else-- yes, this is what I look like without a bottle in my hand.

[ she rolls her eyes a little, ducking her chin. ]

Bad joke, but that's part of my point. I've been here since jump one, and it really doesn't take a genius-- [ sup, tony. ] to see that the stress has been getting to me. And while my method of coping ended up being attached to a few too many embarrassing in retrospect public posts, I know I'm not the only one. Whether we've been here almost ten months or a little over a week, this is a stressful situation and I hate to be that person, but it's not getting less stressful.

The point is, nobody wants to be Steve Buscemi in the asteroid movie. Not the Morgan Freeman one, the less intellectual... disaster movie. Anyway. [ she exhales, waves a hand. ] Sorry. The actual point is high pressure situations lead to people breaking down, and we've already started down that way. We need to pull back on that, keep ourselves as healthy and happy as we can be.

[ or we'll end up like gallagher, is what she doesn't say, but for the well-informed the subtext is clear. ]

I have a list. Of suggestions, pretty much. I'm not nominating myself leader for change, I'm really not, but if they help... [ she trails off, then taps a few keys. ] It's not very long, just a few basics.

SUGGESTIONS.

1. Consolidate the floors we all live on. This place is massive, and it's ridiculous that we all scatter out just because a tattoo told us to. I'm not saying we need to all have a group slumber party on the bridge with Ward and Resnik, but maybe something like... I don't know. Floors one through five can be the dorms-- there are a million empty rooms on the first level alone. There aren't enough of us yet that we'll fill even a fraction of that, so no one needs to worry about noisy neighbors yet. Then we can expand from there, if we need to.

2. Mealtimes. I know I'm not the first person to bring this up, but we don't have a Kroger around the corner to stock up on everything. Some of us can cook, and some of us can mooch off people who cook, but what about everyone else? Not to be everybody's mom, but we have enough to deal with here without people ending up malnourished. Maybe rosters are the way to go-- split it up into whatever categories we need to, and everybody pitches in. With a pay to play agreement, so people don't end up eating but not helping.

3. Some kind of routine check-in. We have more computer geniuses on the Tranquility than I have ever met in my life-- one of them has to be able to rig something up so we can all be accounted for and safe in a way that doesn't involve names or faces, for the conspiracy theorist contingent. Maybe a blank headcount, before and after every jump? Then work from there.

4. Leisure time and fun. Even if someone starts a Stamp and Coin club, at least they're getting together and sharing their very, very geeky interests. We're all living under massive amounts of stress, and longterm stress never ends well. Mentally or physically. Fight Club is great if your stress relief involves hitting things, but there's nothing organized for every other demographic. I know, I'm at risk of sounding like we need Club Day, but... we really do need Club Day.

5. Lost and found. I know this sounds heartless, but when people go missing or home they can't use their things anymore, and we all can. Maybe we need to start talking about some kind of resource pool, and how long a wait is needed before property enters the community stage here.

And I had one more idea, but this one is a little more personal. Godric and now that guy with all the meat got me thinking-- yes, okay, we're all in space and no one can remember signing the kidnapping permission slip. But we're from a million different worlds and times, and-- maybe some kind of organized story swap? Like a culture exchange. [ she's more animated now, moving her hands as she talks. ] Like, okay, for example. I'm someone's bannerwoman, but until Alayne explained the reference to me I didn't get why the word 'banner' came into it at all. And forget knowing what Jersey Shore is, there are plenty of us who have never even seen a tv.

Even just vocabulary is so different in places, seeing us all mix together would be a cultural anthropologist's dream. [ oh right, not just babbling. clearing her throat, jenna shrugs. ] Anyway. I don't have a framework, but before I try that is anyone interested? I thought a place where talking about home is the whole point might be helpful for some people, too.

...I never know how to end these things. Over and out? I guess.

Comments

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[unparental]

And?

Both. I reject your one label maximum.

Make me a cool toy?

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[starked]

Worse than a geek.

:( This isn't the time to fight the man, though.

...What kind?

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[unparental]

You say tomato, I say way better.

Empire Records taught us one thing: it's always time to stick it to the man. Okay, that and we shouldn't fight on Rex Manning Day.

Something cool. I don't know, surprise me. Consider it your debt for being a jerk paid in full and forgotten.

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[starked]

But they're all so pretentious. Seriously, you and the art and the English majors.

...Sometimes I almost wish neither one of us were taken. Ugh, go sit in the corner with that reference, will you.

I'll send you a sketch of something later, and you can approve then. Y/N?

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[unparental]

Better us than you math and science freaks.

[ it says something about the way jenna and tony relate that 'freaks' is a term of endearment here. ]

Well Sinead o' Rebellion, shock me shock me shock me with that parade raining behavior.

Y.

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[starked]

dweeby pretentious psych major. your field wouldn't be nearly as fun without stuff we do for it.

[ it says horrors tbqh. ]

i will steal you away from that man for yours if you don't watch it.

if it's at two at night, i'm not sorry.

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[unparental]

Without us you guys wouldn't know what to do with your good drugs.

[ their friendship is so wonderful. ]

Damn the man. Save the Empire. <3

I might forgive you, we'll see how cool cool really is.