[Backdated to a day or so after Gil's break-in at Matic's ship]

[itsananimalthing]

Okay, so I gotta clear up a few things for you new kids.

Don't portal where anybody can see you on this Jaunt. Most of the time, infiltrators and natives and shit can't see your portals. This place is different, cuz we had portals bouncing around into liminal space all over last time we were here. And because of that, you're gonna freak people the fuck out if you portal where they can see you.

If you gotta portal out of somewhere, do it where nobody can see you and where you can be at least mostly sure there's no cameras, cuz it's possible machines here can see 'em. Synths can, and they're basically sentient machines.

For people who want the full history lesson, last time we were here, we were convicts and political prisoners and crash-landers who all escaped from a prison planet on two ships, tryin' to get away from some kind of information blizzard in space. We called it a tachyon storm, but really, we didn't have a fuckin' clue, we just figured it was bad. Empress of Moths is the one that survived that trip, and she's docked here. She kinda had a baby Starmover in her engine-- that's a kinda radioactive fire-alien thing from another world we visited once-- which is probably where the storm thing came from to begin with.

So that's what happened, and portals will freak people the fuck out. Gil, I'm talkin' to you in particular, cuz I had to deal with a flailing, panicked synth and try to talk him down after your little stunt.

Comments

[icanhearscreams]

I took care of my portal in a dark hallway, so I'm sure it's fine. Unless there were cameras there I didn't see, but I can't really control that.

Also why would you keep that in a ship? Let alone an engine?

[itsananimalthing]

Wasn't on purpose. We didn't know it was there. Think the tachyon storm and the weird spacetime engine the Empress has might've been what it needed to be born or hatch or burst into existence, whatever.

[icanhearscreams]

... Biology here makes zero sense. Why is everything here insane?

[itsananimalthing]

There's more shit out there that counts as biology than you can imagine, I'm guessin'.

[He sounds amused, though, rather than judgey.]

You from Earth? Twentieth century?

[icanhearscreams]

... Yes?

[It's that obvious, huh.]

Or at least one version of it.

[itsananimalthing]

Yeah, you kids ain't got out to past your solar system yet. There's all sorts of shit out here that'd make your biologists freak out, probably. A radioactive fire thing born out of a time-space engine ain't even the weirdest.

[It's close, though.]

[icanhearscreams]

... It just means I need to get more data.

[He's gonna bring back all the books he can.]

[itsananimalthing]

You do that. Get yourself a data pad you can load up with as many files as you can. That's what I'm gonna do.

[breakaleginhalf]

[...busted.]

Okay but he shot me. And his ship was gonna suffocate me, I'm pretty sure they weren't gonna let me leave the normal way.

[itsananimalthing]

The fuck were you even doin' on his ship?

[He's gotta ask. He knows what Mattic thinks he was doing, but it's possible (unlikely, but possible) that Mattic is wrong.]

[breakaleginhalf]

You've seen his ship, right, it's fucking amazing. I just wanted to get a closer look!

[itsananimalthing]

He is his ship, Gil. He knew the minute you stepped on. And you coulda asked. I'd have introduced you.

[breakaleginhalf]

...well I went and learned all this the fucking stupid way.

[He feels very dumb right now and it's highly unpleasant; sometimes Ogre instincts win out over human common sense.]

Bonus, got to learn what being shot felt like too.

[itsananimalthing]

Yeah, you did. You okay? Or you got some kinda rapid healing to take care of shit like that?

[Because otherwise there might be more complaining about the bleeding, and all.]

[breakaleginhalf]

Nah. Honestly it's only like a five or six on my scale of bullshit, so it's not like it hurts too bad, relatively speaking.

I got some Gorgon doctor to look at it though, so it's patched up properly.

[itsananimalthing]

[Funny, a kid who isn't screaming about how it hurts and he's going to die. Definitely nothing like Jules.]

Well, don't go tryin' to sneak onto any more ships, okay? You see one you want, you tell me, and I'll see what I can do. Tryin' to keep Matic from freaking more is going to be hard enough even if you don't pop up again where he don't expect you.

[breakaleginhalf]

[Multiple decapitations are good for perspective in both regards.]

The Empress doesn't count as sneaking, right? Cos I can just walk in the front door. And I can help with some of the unloading if I need a reason.

[itsananimalthing]

Yeah, that's fine, you're allowed on the Empress, I'll make sure of that. Just other ships.