TEST DRIVE MEME #5

[sailmods]

1. not subtle revealings

[you wake up.

it doesn't matter where you were before. going to bed? dying? opening the door to face a great evil? same result. you wake up in a soft bed with starched sheets in a cool, darkened room, sunlight peeking out from behind thick curtains. maybe you're alone; maybe you aren't. maybe you immediately notice the folded paper on the bedside table near your head. if you don't, you better fix that real quick: you won't be able to even open the door before you read it.

the note itself is written in a neat hand on white card stock; there is a stylized logo of a ship with the words SERENA ETERNA printed underneath. the note reads as follows:

Dear Passenger(s),

As your cruise director, it is my great honor to welcome you aboard the Serena Eterna, your destination for fun and adventure! We know you could have chosen any cruise line for your vacation, and we're very grateful you chose ours! On behalf of the Captain, I would like to assure each and every passenger that will we do whatever it takes to fulfill all your needs and desires during your journey with us.

At your earliest possible convenience, please attend the mandatory lifeboat drill by the end of the day. I'm sure everyone is very eager to get started on all the fun and sun, but safety always comes first! You can find your life jacket in your cabin's closet; carry it to your assigned muster station on deck one, where I will take you through the drill. If you can't find me in the crowd, just look for the gal with the winning smile!

See You Real Soon!

Sincerely,
Gal Friday

you walk to deck one. you have no other choice: every time you try to step in a direction some unseen being considers "not towards deck one," you find your legs no longer move, staying stock still, frozen. whether compelled quickly by curiosity, or delayed by pure stubbornness, the result is the same, and you are left milling around with other similarly curious or stubborn people.

you see someone in uniform near the front of the crowd. she seems to be a gal, but is missing the winning smile, along with most of her other features. she seems to see you, though, rushing to your side and placing a lei around your neck with great formality. a voice, cheery but artificial, sees to come from nowhere and everywhere.]

Welcome! I'm very glad to have you aboard!

[you touch the lei. rooster feathers, lotus seeds, and a carved circle of something white and hard, linked onto a silk string.

after the drill is completed, you are seemingly free to go. or, well, your legs work, now. and maybe that's as good as it's gonna get.]

2. a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling

[the reflections are missing. all of them. in mirrors. in television screens. on the backs of spoons. nothing looks back at you.

then, figures do show up. not your own, like you'd expect. thin, wispy apparitions, people with pleading eyes and hands, reaching out to place their palms against the surface, from their own end. faces familiar and not, beckoning, mouthing words you just can't quite make out. help me, it might be. get me out, perhaps. just until you're close enough, until your skin warms the surface of whatever it is you're peering into. and then, those same hands wrap, all too real, burning-cold against your flesh, and pull, trying to drag you through the surface, making up for their lack of strength with desperation. any flesh unlucky enough to enter the reflection comes back bone-white and cold, all sensation dead, though it will fade within a few hours.

in retrospect, it looks a bit more like they were saying something different. something more like, better you than me. or maybe it's not even words at all. they look a bit more like they're laughing.]

3. complex mementos

[but, hey. sometimes changes are good! like, today, in Playback, there's a brand-new game available for all the children to play! it's an old-fashioned sort of claw machine, the type that's so large, a particularly dedicated kindergartner could wriggle their way inside. the prizes vary, and sit loose: bags of candy, stuffed toys, firearms, painfully early-00s electronics, actually that one just looks like a dead iguana, tiny ship-branded knickknacks... like all the other games in the arcade, the game starts up automatically upon being touched; lack of quarters shouldn't keep you from having fun! pro tip: they are loaded, and they will go off if you suck at claw games and let it fall.]

Comments

[pressurecooker]

Yeah, I have to admit it's pretty packed...

[Hero has gotten used to crowds now that he's been in college for a year, but it's still funny to think how many people there are here, and how few people he was used to seeing day by day in his quiet little town.

There were so few people there... in some ways, he hadn't even had a reason to go back-

He shoves that thought into the furthest reaches of his mind, bringing his earnest charisma back to the foreground. Talking about parties is something he can do. Easy, especially with how much of his time was usually spent observing them from the background.]

It depends which circles you hang around in. If you're there to have parties, it's easy enough to find them. I really didn't know what to expect when I went to my first one. I had brought board games and cupcakes, like it was a party back home... I think I'm still missing my copy of Catan. [He laughs weakly.] Now I just bring stuff like asprin and hair elastics so no one is too miserable the next morning.

solidarity....!! words are Hard ok, lays down

[fonomena]

[Truly, even after an extended amount of time trapped aboard a morbid interdimensional facsimile of a cruise liner, there are just some aspects of Jade that apparently still have yet to change much. Like his utterly terrible sense of humor, and a difficulty with properly sincere encouragements or reassurances even at the best of times...

But even Jade can't evade such pointed questions forever--especially when they're coming from Tear, and are justified in pretty much every way, here and now. For a little while Jade seems determined to keep his glance affixed ahead, focused upon the beeline path he's making for the outer deck; his initial answer is prompt, but also entirely neutral.]

The captain of this ship dictates all events that occur upon it, ridiculous as they may or may not be. [Considering the context, of course, the implications are strong that said dictations of this captain go rather well beyond the kind seen in the typical leaders of typical sea-bound ships. ...Tear might have settled back into some form of better composure by now, no longer confronted by the contents of strange mirrors, but out of the corner of his eye Jade can still see the hand closing into a fist over her chest--the alarm beginning to touch upon her expression, and the way she's lifting her own glance to catch his eye. Coupled with the words she goes on to say...

They're reaching the end of the outermost corridor by now, finally passing through an entrance and into sunlight, saltiness of the sea breeze in the air. Jade's finally returning her eye contact directly, as they step onto the deck, but the vague smile that touches upon his features once more is a distinctly humorless one.]

As always, your assessments remain quite accurate. I suppose I do know my way around here rather well by now...and there's indeed a reason for that. --But none of it makes much sense off the cuff either, it's true. I am afraid I cannot offer full explanations, but what I can say will likely be quite alarming to hear. ...I have been aboard this vessel for approximately three months now, for one thing.

[And by three months he means Auldrant's definition of months, of course, with the typical fifty-eight to sixty days assigned to each. Essentially six months, in the Earth sense...either way it's defined: far too long about sums it up. Jade's expression might remain impassive enough, as he says this, but he's certainly having a bit of an internal grimace over verbalizing the time in this way...

Tear says she saw him not too long ago, though...and it tracks, honestly. Their last meeting had been moderately recent by Jade's perspective as well, before he was pulled here--only a couple weeks since parting, at most. (To not even get into the more distressing technicalities, of how the Jade she'd seen back home was really more like...a version of himself, different from the one she's speaking to now. --No, no, best not even get into that right now. The basics are already bad enough...)]

There is--a temporal discrepancy to this space, I suppose, to assign a term to it. ...Could you tell me exactly the last thing you can recall, Tear? About what you were doing, or events that were happening, before finding yourself on this ship?

[latersgators]

"I'm-- not--" Steven wrings his hands and stutters, line of sight drifting across the floor.

"I just. I have a twin on board the ship." 'Twin'. That's a hairy topic he doesn't want to get into at all. But at least if he notices that there's two Stevens running around, he won't think that Steven was trying to lie or keep anything from him. "He's lived more of a life and I've just. Thought it'd be nice if I've done some of the things he has. That's all."

[obeyseventually]

[Jack grimaces in sympathy. He knows that, and worse.]

Keep flexing it if you can, that might help it recover faster.

[As if this is just a loss of circulation, yeesh. He holds onto the fact that 'still movable = good usually' until a medical professional tells them otherwise.]

Oh, hey, don't mention it. It, uh...

[What, looked bad? Serious? Obviously it did. Jack glances over his shoulder, bat at where they came, like there's a chance the window was following them. He shakes his head and looks down at the kid.]

Do you know if that kind of thing happens a lot around here?

[twelfthsong]

And how is that going?

[The Scottish accent just makes it sound patronizing but it’s a genuine question.]

Do we ever really need anything though? I had a yo-yo once and I didn’t necessarily need it but it certainly came in handy in a situation you wouldn’t have expected it to be useful. Also you can want something for the sake of wanting something. Like the dead iguana.

I love that we can just make stuff up post-eldrant lmaooo

[qliphoths]

[ she follows him through the door, her heels clicking along the hard wood of the ship’s deck, joining a chorus of gently rolling waves. the warmth and sunlight do little to melt her anxieties, but tear can vaguely appreciate the change of pace: in the back of her mind she remembers the welcome card she’d received, and how it had referred to this as a vacation. from a wayward glance, she’s sure that this cruise ship could certainly masquerade as one. ]

Three months … [ the words fall from her tongue, weighed with her disbelief. that just wasn’t possible. for a moment it seems as though time falls still around them, between them, as she struggles to process what three months means — as she tries to make sense of his familiarity with this ship, with the difference in the time of their last meeting and what he’s proposing. ]

I was living with Grandfather in Yulia City… I had fallen asleep in my old bedroom. [ and earlier she had been visiting her selenia garden, where she had once erected a sleek black stone to serve as van’s grave the first time she’d though he’d died. she had spent the afternoon there, well into the evening, and everything had seemed normal.

peaceful, even in a world without luke. ]

I had gotten letters delivered to me there, one from Guy and one from Natalia. I was planning on writing them back, along with a letter to you.

[ she shifts her weight, moving to fold her arms. she had been making an effort to try and communicate more with everyone, to keep in touch despite the politics keeping them all busy — as well as the depression she was (unfortunately) going through. although she wasn’t ready to talk about it, and didn’t really feel she had the space to. all of the members of their group weren’t exactly normal civilians or anything like that, after all … ]

The last time I saw you was a few weeks after the collapse of Eldrant. We had all been at a meeting, before going back to our respective stations... There was a lot to discuss about where things were heading after — … after everything became peaceful. Is any of that different from what you remember?

[qliphoths]

Are you telling me the captain created these machines? [ she glances at the games all around them. ordering them is one thing — but to phrase it as “making” them piques her interest. plus, the implication of the captain potentially making animals…

if this were any other situation she would have called this boy absurd. but frankly, neither of the things he explained to her are stranger than anything she’d heard or seen today. ]

That’s a useful skill. I’m glad it might be of some use.

[ and since they’re on the subject—- ]

Do you have any special skills, or abilities? I noticed you were abnormally quick to dodge that lizard.

[justneedsomehelp]

"Yeah, well, I've fought actual gods and I'm still stumped on this one." Although this is... an interesting guy, right? Is he just certifiably insane or has he really done what he's claiming?

"Couple months so far."

[neverleave]

The machines, the stores, the ship, Friday herself - everything in this reality except for the passengers.

[As for her next question... well, she wastes no time getting to the point. Natsuno respects that, and doesn't mind answering. The fact that he's a vampire is known only to few people, but most of his abilities are no longer a secret - not since he "won" battle royale by repeatedly regenerating from damage.]

I am quick, and pretty strong too.

[As long as he drinks blood, which is conveniently provided in the buffet. He'd never take it from passengers, but he needs every advantage he can get in this place and the blood is there whether he drinks it or not. Natsuno has no real fighting experience to back his enhanced abilities, but he prefers to keep his distance anyway.]

And I regenerate.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Bastion nods. // Yes. There's a clothing store on deck five that extends indefinitely. I explored several kilometers of floor space before giving up.

it's free (headcanon) real estate.jpeg

[fonomena]

Hm. ...I'd have quite appreciated that, I think. Receiving a letter from you. At that time my hands were rather too full for the spare time to pen any letters myself, just yet...

[Even as the party more accustomed, to the very off-putting idea of timelines between this ship and the realities beyond it being disparate...it's still a very strange sensation indeed, to listen as Tear recounts what she can remember of matters back home. After all...]

But no, that does match what I remember. I still recall that meeting very clearly. For me, upon arriving here...it had only been a few weeks as well, since the collapse of Eldrant. We had all parted ways since then, as you say. [And things...had indeed become peaceful in that time. Despite, and in large part in thanks to, Luke's absence from all things since. The very slight waver in Tear's report at that bit is noticeable, but Jade makes no indication of hearing it. That aspect...certainly doesn't bear saying, much less right now. (Even with an extra several months on hand, Jade's not entirely sure he's fully processed it yet either, to be honest. Luke's sacrifice.) ...Staying focused on the more pressing matter at hand:] From my perspective, however, these memories are also from quite some time back by now. Rather concrete evidence of the displacement, then...

[It's strange, yes. It's very strange--and he can only begin to imagine how difficult it probably is for Tear to reconcile, right now. Jade's steps are slowly continuing towards the deck railing ahead, after the slight pause taken to initially answer Tear there. There's a far too habitual air even in the way he leans against it at length, elbows braced atop it; his attention only casts out over the pristinely empty sea beyond it for a brief moment, before it's refocusing upon Tear once again. There's nothing at all to see on the horizon, after all...there never is.]

...The current theory, generally agreed-upon, is that this ship and the sea surrounding it occupy a space outside of time, as it might normally flow in our homelands. So, this sort of thing becomes possible--where our last memories of home are the same, and yet the span of time between us has become very disparate. Insofar as home is concerned, for that matter, we aren't actually absent at all.

[Which is a slight silver lining in some ways, perhaps...though the deeper implications are far more grim. Jade knows he'll have to divulge the full details on that front sooner or later...but for now, it feels best to at least answer what Tear's most pressing questions are bound to be upfront. For that matter...here, Jade's tone shifts from even neutrality to something rather more grave, as he meets Tear's eyes steadily. In a bid to establish this particular fact as plainly and firmly as possible--in the full capacity of a commanding officer outlining the gravity of the situation to a soldier opposite him:] You may have guessed this already, Tear, but I shall confirm it: this is the setting of a mass abduction. I imagine you found a letter at the bedside when you woke, claiming this to be a vacation, but the fact of the matter is that we are very much prisoners here--not just you and I, but every other passenger currently on this vessel as well.

[serialskiller]

[Murderbot definitely feels like it's being mocked, both for its attempts to help Friday, and for the plushie. It doesn't respond aloud to any of that, watching the Doctor's hands as he works, still as a statue.]

[twelfthsong]

[It doesn’t really register to the Doctor that Murderbot hasn’t responded and he continues to prattle on. He immediately cuts off mid-sentences though when the knife seems to make a breakthrough. Seconds later he’s pulling out assortment of toys and the like.]

Ah there we go! Not too shabby even without my sonic screwdriver working properly.

[And there are some of the guns. He wrinkles his face in distaste as he pulls them out specifically placing them away from the toys.]

Did you answer me before by the way? How is making friends with Friday going?

excuse my rambling … 😔 tbh ur reply made me feel things

[qliphoths]

[ she hums a sound of confirmation in response, fully aware that jade would be undoubtedly more busy than herself. despite his title, jade seemed to fill many roles for malkuth — particularly for the emperor. it made sense for him to be kept so busy.

although they all seemed to be, lately.

along with reconciling their feelings about losing their beloved comrade, and friend, their lives had all taken sharp turns: natalia was back at the castle, determined to dismantle the kimlascan aristocracy’s old, obsolete ways; guy was getting used to his newfound station and life; along with anise and florian’s endeavours to change what remains of the order in daath. yet there she’d been, resorted to a liaison between her home city and the rest of the world: sidelined as a mediator. occasionally she would try and help with the goings on in daath, but …

it really felt sometimes as though she were the one amiss, now seeking a new purpose with the loss of her brother. truly, eradicating the threat he’d posed had taken up much of her life: she’d almost always moved with that singular purpose in mind.
and all too swiftly, she’d been uprooted: she was no longer a hardened soldier, a teacher, a sister. she now had to get used to just being … tear.

she listens in silence as jade expands on their situation. if it weren’t for having experienced so many abnormalities before this, as well as the partial depression, she would probably be prone to a more emotional response.

but after learning about lorelei’s sentience, the existence of replicas… seeing her brother be reborn from the planet storm… it was a little difficult to be surprised by most things, now.
she’d been thrown into impossible scenario after impossible scenario already. there’s also something about the direness of the situation that leaves her falling back onto simple logic: pushing away the emotional concerns for now in favour of evaluating the information, and circumstances, in front of her.

at a later time, perhaps when she’s back in her small cabin room, she’ll likely feel the emotional impacts of all of this — in the silence of isolation, where she has no choice but to let herself think, and feel. but she’s hardly comfortable showing such vulnerability, even to someone like the colonel, who would likely be understanding of it. ]

… Just when we thought we’d put a stop to unwanted replication. [ she smiles, ever so slightly — almost bitterly. a very dry attempt at a joke.

she’s sure that the two things are entirely unrelated though.

but to be taken from your home, and replaced… ]

I’d thought as much, with what you’ve told me… but I just can’t understand the motivation behind all of this. What point is there in taking people and putting them on a ship? Let alone pretending that this was all a vacation.

[ she shakes her head, and presses the heel of her hand to her forehead. the stupidity, the absurdity of it all, just might give her a headache. ]

I can’t think of any reason that this tactic would be used, unless we were being held ransom — but even that’s not the case, if they’d offered a replacement for us.

[ so just what did the captain of this ship have to gain? ]

Is there anyone else from Auldrant here? Or … what about the ratio of civilian to capable fighters? [ there has to be a reason why jade hasn’t escaped yet… ]

[serialskiller]

I don't know. She doesn't seem to be able to talk freely often, so it's hard to judge her feelings on anything accurately. But she did keep something I made her. So.

[It shrugs slightly.]

[twelfthsong]

Gift them with kindness - is that the saying? [It’s not the saying.] That is progress though. How do you think she’d feel about some stuffed animals?

[And then he motions to the pile now on the floor.]

The guns can meet a watery death but it seems a shame to have these meet a similar fate.

[It’s a not so subtle attempt at him trying to urge SecUnit to take the alpacama stuffie.]

Not so subtle revealings

[twelfthsong]

The Doctor has admittedly not been paying any attention whatsoever to the safety briefing. He doesn’t look particularly interested for one, and two, he knows what to do in the event of an emergency. For the most part.

As he’s trying to puzzle how to get out of the current situation he’s in and how to get out of it, he notices the crow. Immediately he makes a beeline for the crow, jostling several other people and ignoring their looks before crouching in front of the crow. “Can you understand everything that woman just said?”

He had always thought crows were incredibly intelligent creatures so really, understanding human language wouldn’t have been a stretch in his mind.

[damnbird]

Vrana looks up at being addressed.

"Uh. Yeah?" she answers. The 'obviously' is implied. The voice is vaguely feminine, and it's appearing telepathically directly into the Doctor's mind - but he should be pretty used to that kind of thing.

"Was really boring though," she adds.

[twelfthsong]

The Doctor’s eyes lit up, delighted to hear the crow’s voice resonate in his mind. He followed suit, telepathically projecting his voice into the crow’s mind because why not take the opportunity to do some telepathic talking?

Any on looker of course will just see him staring very intently and excitedly at the crow.

“It was, wasn’t it? Not really enough information about what to do in the face of a giant squid attack. That would have livened it up.”

[damnbird]

Oh, hey! Not super common for humanoids to be telepathic. That's kinda nice actually, it's easier to parse this way. Also the fact that he came to talk to her so directly rather than be like 'hey what the fuck is a dumb crow doing here' does warm her up a little bit to him.

"Uh, yeah, for sure," she agrees dubiously. Critiquing the drill isn't really top priority right now. "Hey, do you know what's up with this place?"

no worries!!

[myagic]

Back?!

[Oh, so that's why she was screaming, Rita realizes in the back of her mind as the other girl damages the mirror. Not that Rita's afraid of them or anything, either...of course...even if their writhing is decidedly creepy.]

It...has to be a trick! If they come from the mirror--just bust it up!

[Is that a suggestion to Tear, or a panicked shout without much thought put into it? Maybe a little of both...but also neither, as Rita takes it upon herself to start casting a spell. Tear might want to get out of the way...]

O flickering blaze, burn...Fireball!

[...As she sends a trio of fireballs at the offending mirror--which is probably overkill, since it shatters on the first hit, with the second hits only serving to make an even bigger mess of exploding glass shards.]

[twelfthsong]

“No clue.” He says it so matter of factly but the crow might get a bit of a rumble of anger in there. “Normally I’m fine with not knowing because that means there’s an opportunity to find out, but there’s something distinctly off about this place. That and I have no idea where my TARDIS is.”

It’s hard for the Doctor to put it into words. It’s just a feeling in his bones; wherever this universe was felt oddly disconnected compared to the other worlds he had travelled to.

“What was the last thing you remember? Before getting here that is?”

nooo this is such good rambling though...aw tear..... 😭

[fonomena]

[He'd certainly been thoroughly preoccupied ever since returning to Grand Chokmah with Guy, really, his involvement over the course of the many incidents surrounding Luke and Van and the overall Outer Lands already compounding on top of the various roles both official and not that Jade had indeed ended up juggling by that point in his life. In a military capacity alone there were easily hundreds of reports that needed filing and verifying, in the aftermath of...well, everything. On top of needing to be a helping hand in a less professional capacity, where advising and filling in Peony on the dozens of pieces involved in the entire course of recent events and their impacts were concerned. ...Not to mention the preparations he wanted to start taking, in putting together an argument case for initiating the research of human fomicry once more. This time in order to help the remaining human replicas, carve out a place for them in a society that yet knows so little about them...

But Jade wasn't the only one to become terribly busy in Eldrant's aftermath, no. They all had their respective duties to attend to, long-term problems that will be bound to take a great deal of time. --And Jade certainly wouldn't call Tear's current role as a liaison of Yulia City something amiss, or lesser, than everyone else's tasks. Hers is evidently a much quieter interim in many ways...but it was also perhaps what she needed most; after all, surely, she deserves the lull and time to find a new path more than anyone. The loss of Luke had stricken all of them terribly...but Tear most of all, plain as day, a loss right on the heels of the true death of her brother. ...Yet still, her options in life going forward...are quite open now, with all said and done. She's an excellent soldier, and her skill as a Melodist with the Seventh fonon is by now practically unparalleled. ...She's also a smart girl, with a steady head and even steadier heart. If ever she should set herself on a direction once more, she'd surely find fulfilment in whatever it might be; Jade would vouch for her in just this way, at least, if the matter were ever to actually reach spoken word.

...But that would mean talking about feelings. Confiding in vulnerabilities--very difficult tall order for the both of them, that. Slightly more likely in this strange circumstance they find themselves in now, perhaps...but not happening anytime soon, and definitely not at the moment.

No, for the moment, the topic of their imprisonment aboard an eldritch vessel is now at hand. And Tear's dry joke is earning a slight shift on Jade's part, of his position at the railing; a slight closing of his posture, as his attention briefly drifts back to the sea. Even as his tone remains even enough.]

...Almost a bit karmic, isn't it? --This is well beyond fomicry, though. A replication of personalities and souls...practically unheard of.

[Goodness knows he'd spent over a decade trying. And yes, he most assuredly has some feelings about this--but they're not talking about that right now, either. (Not yet.) For the meantime the dry joke is met with a dryness in turn, and then they're moving on. After all, Tear's also reaching the most salient point about this situation as she continues, and Jade's humorless smile is returning as he hears it. He does have an answer to that particular question--just what the captain actually wants from them, exactly. But the answer's also rather...well...]

You're correct; it's not for a ransom at all. From what information we've gathered, and according to the captain himself...we are in fact here as batteries. Allegedly, the captain draws upon suffering to fuel the mechanics of this ship and this overall space...and plans to eventually find some means of ascending to godhood, in using all this.

[So, you know. Yeah. Needless to say, the dryness in Jade's tone persists in this part...but the words remain completely free of any actual sarcasm. It's about as blunt as he can get, really, while having to use this utterly ridiculous phrasing. Because it is utterly ridiculous, on a fundamental level.....and the captain is also, unfortunately, rather distressingly serious about it.

...As passengers they sure haven't had much to show for spending six Earth-months upon this vessel so far, either. It's certainly not for a lack of trying, on Jade's part and many others. But perhaps that explanation in itself might start giving Tear an inkling on why that is...though her inquiries about the current shape of the passenger manifest are quite valid too.]

No, so far as I am aware--you're the first other person I've met from Auldrant; up to now I've been the only representative, so to speak. Mm, I'd rather hoped that would... [...stay that way. That he'd never see a familiar face, in this place, where even death offers nothing in the way of actual escape. It's not to say that a part of Jade hasn't been sorely missing Auldrant and...the friends there, all the same. That there isn't a part of him even right now, that continues drinking in the sight of Tear standing right there beside him, solid and real and same as she was--a person he trusts implicitly, by now, someone who knows who he is and what home was. But no, the thought of the terrible things she'll likely have to suffer alongside him now...that dismay remains stronger still. If he had the choice, right now, Jade would send her back in a heartbeat. ...But he can't, and there's no use in saying it aloud; in the end, Jade lets that earlier sentence trail off, with a shake of his head.] --No matter. Either way...now it is just us two, from Auldrant. And as to the rest...I'd say there are roughly sixty to seventy other passengers, currently? The number fluctuates frequently--there doesn't seem to be much consistency, as to when newcomers are pulled here. By my current impressions of more established passengers so far, though...the ratio of civilians is rather higher than ideal. Nearly half, perhaps? Capabilities are highly varied, but extent of formal training where combat or emergencies might be concerned tends to be another story...

[damnbird]

Yeah, there's definitely a mix of anger, curiosity and excitement in her as well. She has no idea what a TARDIS is, but she gets that it's important.

"I dunno, I was just reading a book," she answers, and she doesn't exactly have shoulders to shrug, but there's the mental equivalent. "I just figured I'd been sucked into a pocket dimension or another plane or something. I mean, I'm not sure which plane, like I was thinking Mechanus at first, but maybe it's just a portion of the Astral Sea..."

[twelfthsong]

At least he isn’t the only one feeling that same cocktail of emotions. The Doctor brings his hand to his mouth, worrying it as she speaks. All of those nouns mean nothing to him but they certainly intrigue him. They’ll have to come back to those.

“So we can rule out death for you.” He on the other hand…well they can talk about that later. “The book wasn’t magical, was it? There was a library on Ixonal Seven that was solely used for transportation purposes.”