004. video/spam

[wildguardian]

[He settles himself on a sofa in a corner of the common area, along the very base of the tree, and lifts his wrist to a comfortable level to smile at the camera. He's done this before. It's performative as fuck, and he doesn't enjoy it, but it's past time that he got over his sulk and started getting people motivated here.]

Good morning, Clipper! Some of you I know and some of you are strangers, but we can welcome one more lovely day on this new boat together regardless. To the strangers: Zhao Yunlan! Formerly of the Barge, and even more formerly of Dragon City's Special Investigations Department.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk to all of you about happiness. Peace. Indeed, justice itself -- because I'm sorry to say I think our dear Nurse's head is not in the right place on those topics, and we could all get some better results with just a little change of perspective.

Anger, you see, is the natural response to injustice! Think back to the last time in your life you got real peeved -- what caused that emotion? I bet you were thinking, That's just wrong, or You can't treat me like that, or How could you do that?

It's a powerful feeling, and don't get me wrong, it sure as heck can be misdirected and cause some real harm in the world.

But the true cure for anger is to gather the strength to go after injustice. Not listening to happy music and putting on a smile. You know it as well as I do! Don't you feel that anger lingering in your heart as long as the wrong goes unfixed?

[He grins at the camera, sharp.]

Who ever repaired a wrong just by saying they were fine?

[And with a grand gesture of his free hand:]

I open the discussion! How do we make a better world? How can we improve this good ship?


Spam

[Zhao Yunlan spends most of his first week either moping in his room or moping generally around the ship. He'll participate in his assigned shifts, but he's hopeless in the kitchen and hopeless at custodial work, outside of the truly unskilled tasks like emptying garbage cans and hauling buckets of soapy water.

Once he's gotten his week of uselessness out of his system, he's choosing to become aggressively involved. Expect him to plop down next to you on the couch and strike up a conversation, Barge transfers and Clipper natives alike. He'll volunteer to tell stories at storytime, and launch into tales of war or murder investigations past if he's able to take the mic. He'll... be stuck washing dishes on every kitchen shift, because he doesn't seem to have the least idea of which flavors can safely go together and which ones will create a heart-rending abomination of a dish.

Sometimes, after the evening storytime but before it's late enough to sleep, he can be found leaning on the railing and staring up at the treehouse and the useless, opaque ceiling above it, lollipop stem jutting aggressively from his lips, expression very far away.]

Comments

[fork_off]

So we'll have to save ourselves.

[wildguardian]

You've got the idea.

[He's not going to suggest any specifics over the network, but--]

Think about it, huh?

[fork_off]

I will.

Perhaps we should meet somewhere? Talk more?

[wildguardian]

Sure, sure, my friend. If you ever happen to go looking for me you can find me hanging out in the common area, or by my room. Second level.

[fork_off]

I'll find you if I have anything else to say.

[Which he will, soon enough.]

[wildguardian]

[Yunlan was telling the truth: when he's not pulling shifts in the kitchen or cleaning, he's easy to find in either of those places, either sprawled on a couch in the common area or hanging out in his room, seated on the bed and staring at the opposite wall as he thinks.]

[fork_off]

[Thomas will seek him out in his room, desiring privacy, and knock on his door.]

Can I come in?

[wildguardian]

[There's no door, just a curtain for a Patient's room -- and boy, does Zhao Yunlan hate that bit, too -- but he appreciates the gesture of knocking regardless.]

Sure. I don't have a guest chair, sorry.

[As Blanky enters, he'll turn towards him, pulling one foot up onto the bed to tuck it under his other knee. He gestures towards the spot at the foot of his bed for Blanky to sit.]

Make yourself at home.

[fork_off]

That's all right.

[He sits at the end of the bed, hunching over a little. As cheerful as he usually is, the forced happiness of this place is getting to him.]

Do you have any kind of plan?

[wildguardian]

I've just got a cause so far. [He pauses, trying to remember the man's given name for a moment.] -- Thomas. But I admit, I'd feel better about my cause if it wasn't just the people who can wind up on the wrong end of your paralyze buttons supporting it.

[fork_off]

[He nods. It's easier to do things when some people involved can move freely.] I certainly support it. I'll try to find other Assistants who would, as well.

[wildguardian]

Great. I think the first step's gonna have to be figuring out if there's any way we can get the Nurse to give us information about where anyone else went. Can you check in with them? "Can you tell us what happened to the other people on our old ship," that kind of request?

[fork_off]

I'll ask around. Someone here has to know where the others went.

[wildguardian]

You do that! But ask the Nurse too, all right?

[fork_off]

I will. Though I don't expect a straight answer. I'm not sure she cares enough to give one.

[wildguardian]

Right. I figure, if she -- he? -- whatever, if they cared enough to give us one, they'd have snagged those folk for this ship.

I'd still like to know if there's any way we can figure out how to get to them.

[fork_off]

[Thomas just assumes the Nurse is a woman because she's called the Nurse.]

I'll ask if she has a way of talking to other boat... owners. Commanders. Whatever they call themselves. I'm sure there is some way, since she's not on the run.

[wildguardian]

You'd think so, right? I mean, I don't know how that stuff works, but if the Authority can communicate with all of them they ought to be able to communicate back. I figure that must be what Eiffel accidentally tapped the Barge into.

[fork_off]

He connected to some kind of communications network. The bloody fool.

[Thomas has only the slightest idea of how radios work, but he knows enough to know that Eiffel did something wrong.]

[wildguardian]

No reason to assume that just because we could hear them, they could hear anything about us. Radio recievers should be passive! Though I won't say that hooking random antennas into the ship's engine was exactly a good idea.

[He blows out his breath in a sigh.]

Not that it matters now.

[fork_off]

No, it doesn't. Now we just have to plan a way to get out of here.

[wildguardian]

Also pretty important to figure out where we're going and what we're going to do, I'd say.

The easy way to get out of here would be to find someone willing to fake it for three months and just smile your way to a deal. But if we're going to get the people we're missing back, it's going to take more than just that. I don't think the other ships' captains are going to let go of their passengers for someone else's deal.

[fork_off]

That, too. [He nods.] We need to find some kind of... reunion spot. I heard that before I arrived on the Barge, the Authority brought everyone to some kind of docking area. If we could get back there... perhaps we could find a way to contact the others and get them to go there, too.

[wildguardian]

I don't know about you, Thomas, but I don't think I'm up for fighting the Authority. I think we should stay the fork away from them and their docking areas if we want to do anything they wouldn't approve of, and contacting other ships is probably on that list.

No, I'd rather see if we can talk the Nurse into doing what we want them to. Through giving them good reasons not to blow us off, if we have to.

[fork_off]

No, I don't think we can fight them. They're far too powerful. But do we have a reason to persuade the Nurse like that?