( 01 ) video ♧ and if we don’t live to be old and faint

[became]

[ oh hello, giant creepy spaceship. have a shiny, shiny smile directed your way. said shiny smile is attached to a freakishly put together looking gentleman. dapper, one might call him. ]

So... space, huh? [ neal adjusts his cuffs-- he's wearing a suit (a real suit: classic, 50's style devore, for any suit buffs) because fuck that jumpsuit crap right in the ear-- fussily, smile dropping wattage just a tiny bit. ] Does anyone want to catch me up a little more on that, out of curiosity? Because I have to admit, other than the bits and pieces I caught wandering around the first day I have no idea what's going on.

Anyway, come on. Help a new guy out, anybody? [ smile ratcheting up another few notches. aaaaaand HOLY CHARM BATMAN. doesn't everyone watching just want to drop everything and help? (yes. your answer is yes.) ] I'll owe you one.

Comments

VIDEO

[consulting]

{ He knows how Con Artists smile Mr. Caffrey; you are not very convincing hiding the fact you reek of dodgy. He identifies people like you for a living and you just have him all alert. He notes the fact you have yet to give a name, or state what you know already. Considerable less amount of panic or spite then the other prattling on the network. He notes the taste in fashion and the way you're trying to get people to trust you. ]

To avoid the repeat of information, what do you already know?

VIDEO

[became]

[ 'reek', really? neal much prefers his metaphors with less implied bad personal hygiene. and for his part, neal knows faces like sherlock's-- the careful eyes, the way he stands. in response, neal adjusts himself; lets a few signs of nerves slip through before masking them again. maybe his instincts are off, but he'd lay good money they're not. ]

Space, no way out, don't eat the blue goo. Just the basics.

VIDEO

[consulting]

[ He's willing to do this dance, Neal. He's been needing stimulation like this for months. A good classy criminal will do all the fixing. He notes the slip in action, puts it under scrutiny. He examines him but if most are an open book; Neal reads to him like a trilogy in a second language. He goes head first, rethinking about how Neil adjusted his cuffs and what he could deduce from those hands. ]

You can eat the blue goo, it's surprisingly salty. More that 5 ml sends you to the medbay.

[ He filters through his hard drive of a brain, trying to take note of what he knows in summary ]

The year is 938 After Earth. We're on board the Tranquility. The first batch that came here, found that the crew was missing save for Ward and Resnik. Ward is the ships captain. Basics. Did you want anything in specific?

[ it's a trap, Neal. ]

VIDEO

[became]

[ the dance is the best part, in neal's opinion. his fatal flaw (...one of them) is he loves attention too damn much to slip away from the chase while he still can. so he ruthlessly keeps any hint of smile from his face and flexes his right hand, gingerly, then shoves it in a pocket before pulling it out again and smoothing down his shirt. after that satisfyingly fun cocktail of mixed signals, he almost grins-- sherlock's move. ]

A good friend of mine is always reminding me that 'can' isn't always a synonym for 'should'. I stand by the original statement.

[ neal takes all that in, his attention sharpening as he combs through the facts, trying to decide what to believe before just mentally filing it all away for later. ]

Where would I even start on specifics? [ his chuckle is wry and self-depreciating and one hundred percent fake. ] I'm not used to alien abduction taking place outside my TV... and the front page of the Post, once and a while.

video;

[darkholme]

[oh. well. here's a girl who can look like anyone in the whole goddamn world (galaxy? can she say galaxy now that she's been to space?), and she still is completely smitten on the smile that shines up from her screen. um, the face. the man on the screen, right.]

Depends on what you're interested in knowing? I don't think anyone knows the big picture just yet - the why and how - but there are lots of little rules or whatever you wanna call it on the ship. There are a few sections that are off limits, full on lock-down kinda thing. And you mostly have to travel around by the lifts? Which... don't bring food on those, it's a guaranteed mess no matter what. [grins!] As you can see, I'm a wealth of knowledge here, so. Ask away.

video;

[became]

[ it's a damn nice smile, neal won't even pretend he doesn't work on it to try and make sure people end up smitten.

...oooh, lockdown. if neal were a dog, his ears would perk forward at that. locks means secrets, and secrets are always a personal favorite collection piece. ] So no wandering off or taking my morning coffee and a bagel on the lifts, got it. [ now his smile shades a little more intimate, less bright and general. yeah, he practices smiling. ] Do I get a name to go with the good advice?

video;

[darkholme]

[Raven notices the shift, and she has half a mind to warn him that that wasn't a challenge, that the two crew members on board tend to get all weird and and :| and just find you when you wander, but. Eh, he can figure it out. She's the last person to try and talk somebody out of something fun.]

I'm Raven. Or zero-seven-four. [She glances down at her wrist then, tilting her head a bit.] Not that anyone calls each other by their numbers. And I'm not sure if the numbers are a tracking system or anything, they seem to be given out at random. Mm, but oh, tracking. These communicator things are like a digital map, too. Kinda. [cries the 60s are hard, no GPS yet.] It doesn't show you where you are exactly, just how to get back to where you should be. ... Which sounds really confusing but I've gotten lost before, so.

-- What's your name? [laughing at herself now, brb]

[lovesfaygo]

[ Gamzee picks up on the charm--he's...well, a troll and all, but yellow eyes are bright, even if his voice fluctuates constantly and he has a glazed over look about him. The sharp-toothed smile, however, is a general indicator that he's doing just fine. ]

Yeah, Space. It's pretty cool. What can I do to help a motherfucking brother out?

[became]

[ just the barest wince at the profanity; not that neal is overly moralistic-- being a conman kind of precludes it, actually-- but he's enough of a snob to twitch an eyebrow at easy profanity. ]

Right now, I don't even know where to begin.

[lovesfaygo]

Hey, it's all fine. I can get my help on if it's the space thing, I'm kind of used to it. It's a motherfucking miracle. Honk.

[ Yeah, he actually just honked. There's a lazy smile to go with his glazed over look, too. Even if he has horns and fangs and weird ears and grey skin, he most certainly is stoned. ]

Heheheh. I'm Gamzee.

text;

[wiretap]

name?

[ Quid pro quo. Tell her something and if she likes the answer, she'll tell you something in return. ]

text;

[became]

[ to alias or not to alias, that is the question. these devices might have names attached, who knows-- so playing it safe might as well be a go. ]

Neal.

data;

[wiretap]

[ Aberdeen does a perfunctory sweep of the network to find no other manifestations of this device signature or the name 'Neal'. It's very possible that he's lying, but his answer is at least consistent thus far. So she sends him a packet of data collected and collated off of the public networks, detailing information of the ship and the proposed theories as to how the warp drive is malfunctioning, how there is a third party responsible, and what else may have resulted in their displacement here. ]

voice;

[goingsilent]

[ Holy charm, Batman, indeed. Kasumi isn't exactly a sucker for a pretty face, but it certainly helps. ]

"I'll owe you one." Those are four adventurous words to say to strangers.

( video )

[became]

[ neal is nowhere near above taking advantage of his own pretty face. use the tools you have, moz always said. ]

I have a deep-seated faith in humanity's goodness. [ there's just a hint of dryness to the comment, belying the grave expression on his face. then he grins. ] Or I'm still disoriented and not thinking clearly, take your pick.

voice;

[goingsilent]

Maybe. [ She sounds amused and for once, not like her voice has been run through a computer filter. Not that Neal would realize this is out of the ordinary but that's what you get for being cute, buddy. ]

But I didn't say adventurous was bad. You've suddenly found yourself in space. If you can't live a little now, when can you?

[51stcentury]

[I see your shiny shiny smile and raise you one, this one coming instead from a gentleman looking the hero stepped out of a 1950's WWII film. Lord, the universe actually might be in trouble because Jack's giving back the charm as good as he gets]

For a guy who wears a suit as well as you? What sort of catching up do you need?

[became]

[ DID SOMEONE SAY CHARM-OFF. ]

The suit does all the work, really. I just put it on. [ lies, filthy lies. ] As for what kind-- thanks to the terse Good Samaritan earlier, I have something to look through. But people can tell me what text can't, so-- at the risk of being too broad, I need catching up on everything.

[51stcentury]

"Everything", huh? That's gonna be a lot of talking on my part. Just what terse Good Samaritan are you talking about? Maybe I can try and put what they're saying into layman's terms. You know. Man to man. [It isn't really an innuendo or a suggestion, but somehow Jack makes it sound like one anyway]

[coffeeking]

[Ianto may or may not be replying solely because Jack is flirting with Neal's goddamn suit, and fuck you Neal, why do you get a bloody devore for god's sake and Ianto is stuck in a jumpsuit? Stop smiling like that, you smug bastard. This is patently unfair.]

What exactly is it you'd like to know? Nice suit, by the way. [He says, with just the slightest hint of catty to it.]

[became]

[ if neal were a litttttttle bit better at being a good guy, he might turn off the charm a little here, because he caught that hint. but he's wearing a goddamn devore and he's tired and frustrated and feeling trapped, so: instead, he runs an affectionately gentle hand over one sleeve. ]

It's a Devore. A friend's husband won it off Sy himself. [ NOT THAT NEAL WOULD EVER BRAG oh right. yes. yes he would. he takes a second look at ianto and cocks his head, some of the arrogance draining away to reveal someone a little too observant for his own good. ] But you already knew about it being a Devore, didn't you?

[coffeeking]

[...Oh. Oh. Fuck you, Neal. How dare you be both sexy and perceptive. You are intruding on all of Ianto's territory, and you're being a twat about it to boot. If you make good coffee too, God help you.]

Yes, I did. Bit of luck getting your hands on it like that. Your friend must be quite the generous lady.

[Not that he's implying anything.]

[ video ]

[sexting]

[ oh my god look at this man. Yes, Cambridge had already met him back in the medical bay but only now that she is free of her blue liquid-induced high can she truly appreciate him. Cambridge props her elbows on the desk and coyly clasps her hands beneath her chin as she smiles her cunning little smile down the video feed. ]

Your suit, darling. Talk to me about it.

[ A request that completely ignores everything Neal's video post is about but PRIORITIES. ]

[ video ] /gazes at neal's navel for a while

[became]

[ oh hello there, gorgeous bossy woman with amazing taste in shoes. neal will gladly forget the purpose of the post-- and let's face it, information gathering was roughly only a quarter of his intent in the first place-- in favor of obeying that particular order request. ]

It's a Devore. Classic-- a friend's husband won it from Sy during a poker game. [ there's a little bit of fanboy glee that can't quite hide behind the charming, urbane mask at that. so sue him, he's a stan for the good old days of crime, the wiseguys in their custom suits and their women in diamonds. crime has got depressingly dirty since then, it's kind of a downer. any moron can hit someone in the face or shoot a gun-- it takes an artist to pull off an elegant job, and neal loves elegant. he wasn't always like that, but his past before he met mozzie isn't up for discussion. ever. ]

[ video ]

[sexting]

[ Cambridge's great taste doesn't just stop at her shoes. She's also got a rather good eye for dresses (as evidenced by the sassy - yes, sassy little Michael Kors number she's currently sporting). And people. Quite a collector of pretty things, is our Cambridge. ]

An actual Sy Devore suit? I'm terribly impressed. [ she really, really, genuinely is. ] I think I shall have to introduce you to a dear friend of mine... Oh! [ She sits a little straighter in her chair, suddenly caught on an idea that seems to have struck her from nowhere, before leaning towards the video feed and inclining her head curiously. ] I don't suppose you'd let me try the blazer on one day, perhaps?