You know what? I really hate playing catchup. You're going along, minding your own business, think you're ready for just about anything--

[ Sheppard shakes his head. There's a dusting of five-o-clock shadow, a nasty nick to his jaw, a patterning of bruises that have had a chance to come up thoroughly over the last few days--but what can you do? If you shoot an already mad as houses elf in the leg, you sort of deserve whatever you get, and Nuada was comparatively gentle with him. Just don't ask him to move too much. ]

Get on with it, Sheppard. Alrighty, what was I saying? Wraith, right; washed out, grey skin, teeth that would make a SoCal dentist hysterical. Went by the name of Todd? Well, I should probably apologise for him. He's sort of-- [ Accurate words. What are those? ] --a pet, you know? He bites other people, growls at strangers, but you just didn't have the heart to put him down when you should have. Okay, maybe that's not exactly what I mean, but anyway. Sorry about that. It won't happen again.

Second thing; much more important. Since it turns out I'm down one technobabbling chatterbox right when I actually need him, I thought I'd do auditions for a replacement. No, not a replacement. I know you're going to listen to this one day, Rodney, and I'm going to get the silent treatment for all of thirty seconds. Not a replacement, then; a stand-in. Anyway, the winner gets to peek behind the curtain. [ He waves his lifeform scanner in the air where the video can see it. ] A basic understanding of sciencey stuff and obscure movie references is at the top of the list. Applicants should also enjoy long walks on the beach. There will be a quiz.

So— let me get this straight.

[ Veronica looks sweaty because, you know, apparently the Tranquility believes it's in the tropics in space. She makes a face, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. ]

My laptop, somehow, needs to get recharged. My camera seems to be busted, because it's either that, or everyone has seven days to live, and I'm trying this thing called optimism. I'm all out of crosswords, this is not the vacation that I signed up for, and apparently there is a big giant monster only some people can see that wants to kill us. [ That, and people here either seem to spend their time drunk as hell or being big mystical beings who do mystic things. (Veronica is not worried. Veronica is not worried because Veronica has accepted that this is, like, at least 81% real, and by that juncture the rest of it is just— you roll with the punches. You adapt. You try really, really hard to distract yourself by doing literally any job that falls into your lap.)

That's her. Veronica Mars, modern college girl on the go: the sequel.

In space. ]

I'm already helping Edgeworth, but if anyone wants me to do an odd job, point me in that direction. You'd be doing me a favor — it's better than just sitting around, trying to deal with the fact I really should have listened more to my AP Physics teacher when he talked about string theory. And, uh—

[ She pauses, her nose wrinkling. ]

I've never— This— whole inter-dimensional science fiction thing? Is new to me. So if there's some kind of, cultural, verbal address that would be more polite when it comes to people who aren't— humanesque, I'd appreciate it if someone could fill me in.

[ God, how is this real. Still hallucinating? Maybe. It's definitely hot enough to be. ]

[ moz hasn't shown himself since his arrival; too busy doing other things to pay attention to the network, just like usual. not to mention, he's been pretending the heat means that he's back where he's supposed to be in the first place.

ohhh, the tropics. how he misses thee. ]

'There was nowhere to go but everywhere.' [ his tone is sing-songy, flamboyant, obviously a quotation. ] What he should've said, was everywhere but here. Not that i'm complaining about the heat - it's more like home then anything else around here has proven to be, once again, thus far. Even if it's a tad... cumbersome, it's most definitely manageable. And while i'm not dressed to impress, I certainly have the wardrobe to go with the ambiance.

And really- i'm just putting an all around notice out for all those people complaining about how we're being watched by something we just can't see. You should know that we're always being watched. Nothing's changed, you're just becoming more aware.

But despite all that, I never would've thought that i'd miss an extradition treaty so much. Even if i've seemingly returned to the tropics I so sadly thought i'd left- here I thought my Hawaiian shirts would lose their complete and utter rationality. One can only live vicariously through so many things however, and high temperatures and floral themed shirts can take a man just so far. Some country needs to work on a treaty with this place because for the first time in my life i'd go along with it somewhat happily.

[ SIGH. are you tired of his voice yet. ]

Everyone is supposed to keep on rolling under the stars but, you know, that particular image seems to have lost its appeal as of late.

[ for once, arya is well-groomed if drained by heat and stress. she donned her best new tunic and her hair has actually seen a brush. it has been pulled back into a delicate and seemingly simple braided updo by skilled elven fingers. her now long hair drives her mad otherwise in the suffocating heat that is engineering. grey eyes look steadily into the camera. just off-screen she clutches nymeria's scruff like a lifeline. it's the only outward sign of her nervousness. this speech was written out, repeated enough for her to memorize it, and she is still afraid she will somehow screw it up.

like robb, she thinks. she will be as eloquent as robb. taking a breath, she begins. ]

My name is Arya Stark. I am speaking for Tony Stark, head of engineering, who is in stasis.

We all know the temperatures are high. There is nothing to be found in the Engineering or Agriculture department as the cause. Two days ago the temperatures stopped going up. We have not stopped working on finding the cause, and we will keep trying to bring it down.

Until then, you ought take-take precautions against the heat: drink a lot of water, try to avoid exerting yourself. The pools are always open. You can swim. If you don't know how to swim, you can learn. And don't get lost.

As I am the only one officially left of Engineering, I take responsibility for everything here. If there is anything you wish to say, you can say it to me. My—team is doing the best they can and they are not to be blamed. Neither is anyone else in any of the other departments. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them. We will tell you of any changes.

Thank you.

[ and she smoothly switches off the video. don't mind her as she collapses in a pile in a lukewarm corner somewhere and doesn't get back up for a while. ]

[ here's the thing, nico's familiar with this sort of heat, it's not pleasant, especially considering how the ship normally feels, but he can handle it. does that mean he has to like it? nope. ]

Not to call this minor problem to attention, but has anyone noticed that's it's getting warmer? It isn't scorching hot but it's enough that I can tell there's a temperature difference.

[ there's a pause in the feed when nico considers leaving it just at that, because he doesn't really want to bother mentioning the other things, not until he knows more about them, but at the same time it reminds him of things from home and that's— not at all comforting. ]

How many of us have seen flickers of things this month? Not the normal shadows that most of us write off, because when do we not have those on this ship, but— I mean flickers of movement that seem to be going too fast for any of us to actually see what's moving past us. If anything.

[ and if there's a huff of air at the end of that, like nico just realized how insane he sounded, well that's his business. and it prompts him to end up just hanging up, because he's incredibly mature. ]

This last jump left me with a pretty good collection of books and I was just wondering if anyone's been to update the library booklist since Claudius left us? Also, if there's no one running the library anymore, maybe we could get a volunteer?

And, well, I suppose to make it easier for them, if people want to reply here with the books they've gotten, that would be great.

Or, umm, if you have a look at the list I'm attaching and think there's one I ought to start with reading first, because you liked it, I'd like to know that too? I've had the textbooks for a while and gone through them a couple times.

( Harry's Collection )

[see rikku. see rikku lying on her bed, tossing her garment grid in the air and catching it. see rikku do this for a few moments before chucking it across the room, where it hits her dresser with a loud clang. throwing metal disks is not advised. she sits up, clearly frustrated. she starts talking to herself, not caring that the camera is recording.]

How flippin' hard is this supposed to be?! Shinra did it, and he's like, ten! I'm a full grown Al Bhed! I've been taking apart toasters and building engines since I was three! How is it even possible that I can't figure out how to fix something a ten year old accidentally made?

[her hair is down, stupidly long, and she runs her hands through it, just tangling it more. she picks up the grid, sadly dented now, and angrily pushes one of her dresspheres into a slot.]

I'm literally out of ideas! Shiva's tits, maybe I'll just have to blow it up and be done with it! How come I can't just put it on [she clips the grid to her belt. it glows a bit. she doesn't seem to notice.] think real hard [she slams her eyes shut and screws up her face like an idiot.] and have it freakin' work?!

[it is at this point while she is still yelling that the glow turns into a pretty blinding light. a second later, the light fades and rikku is left standing in her warrior dressphere. she is brandishing her sword very menacingly and her yelling lasts for about five more seconds before she cuts herself off.

she blinks. she stares at the sword and gives it an experimental slash. she grins.]

Oh. Well, that was easy.

[ arya stark. staring at a panel on one of the floors of the massive engineering complex with a direwolf and a droid for company. ]

We need people to work engineering.
It is the part that keeps the ship running and all of us alive.
So it is really important. [ just in case that part wasn't abundantly clear. ]
Everyone who wants to help ought talk to me or Carolyn 008 » 022.
Give us your name and experience and we will assign you a task from there.

[ next to her, r2 beeps sadly. she cannot even pretend to smile. she takes a breath and adds one last question. ]

The last time this happened how many of the ones sleeping were gone at the next jump?

( mairon )

( fili )

( gendry )