( OPEN ) system zero

[hating]

» WHO? Morgana + anyone who wants to get hit in the face with a communicator
» WHEN? 5/18, you know, around then
» WHERE? deck 6 corridors, observation deck
» WHAT? Morgana wakes up, thinks her communicator is possessed and then yells at the moons (Old Witch Yells At Space)
» WARNINGS? None, but I'll edit accordingly and warn in subject lines if anything comes up!


a; outside level 6 quarters

[ all things considered, this is not where she expected her soul to end up.

the cold, grimy floor of the deck corridor is not so unfamiliar to her that morgana is perplexed. no, it feels like somewhere she was before, and this dim lighting certainly doesn't help. there are key factors missing, and she uses those to ground herself. Don't forget about those things. It is not the same, she tells herself.

far less familiar to the girl is the device that buzzes. it comes alive, and it's looping message is curious. morgana thinks it's just someone speaking directly to her, and upon discovering it is not a person...

...the source of the noise, whatever this curious device is, must go. metal doesn't speak. morgana wastes no time in disposing of it.

by throwing it into the corridor.

you know, with her skeleton hand. there's a redhead with long braids lobbing her communicator down the corridor with such a disdain for the thing, you might think she was doing it for the vine.

hope it doesn't hit you in the face? ]

b; observation deck

[ the other point of offense was that hideous jumpsuit. morgana doesn't have spare clothing, though, so she raids the room she claims as her's, and can be spotted in the observation deck. the sheets off her bed have been pulled free of the mattress and wrapped around her like a cloak, covering most of her body. this is much more appropriate, she thinks - now, if she had a belt and some way to sew sleeves into it...

...but that's not why she's glowering out into space. her expression is hard, steely; she doesn't look particularly approachable. morgana is standing there, arms at her sides, one flesh hand exposed and one skeleton hand peeking out beneath the sheet settled over her shoulders. ]

...And I'm to believe there were two moons all this time? What sort of madman dreams up a world with two moons? I have to say, it's unique, at least.

[ she's calling it stupid. going quiet, the girl stands as still as a statue. she seems unaware anyone is at all present in the room with her...? ]

What are your ears for if not to listen? Decoration? I must say, my dear, I was hoping you might have an opinion on the doubling of that particular celestial body.

Comments

[hating]

[ the device narrowly avoids ruining dirk's shades and clatters to the floor, skidding back toward morgana.

... she skitters away. ]

I can tell from the bland, uninspired way you said it that you were not appreciative.

[ so there! ]

You touched it.

[splinten]

[Good job, Morgana. You identifeid sarcasm.]

It was going to hit my head.

[More flat affect, but in this case it's less sarcasm than a certain bland incredulity. What else was he supposed to do?]

[hating]

[ a silence befalls morgana, but there's something like concern in her expression. she doesn't know this man, but he those strange things on his face - glasses? they're dark, though. perhaps it is for fashion...? and what if they aren't? but then how did he...

morgana's monologuing in her head about how she wants to help, is what i'm getting at. ]

You will... think I'm mad when I say what I must to you, but this is only what I experienced.

That thing speaks.

[ break it to her gently? ]

[splinten]

[...]

No, people speak through it. it's a communicator.

[hating]

[ that's... not what she expected. it shows. ]

If that is the case, I trust you'll be able to prove it. You seem more familiar with this realm than I am, my dear, so don't be shy. I would really like it if you showed me what it is this device is capable.

[splinten]

Do you want me to try to take it apart for you?

[HE ASSUMES THAT'S WHAT SHE MEANS?

Also that 'my dear' makes her sound like a cranky grandma. She does not look grandma-aged.]

[hating]

[ she's ultra grandma aged :(

what did they call them in the 1860's... morgana's quiet for a moment, before her expression slips away, a more muted curiosity and tenseness to her. ]

Take it apart...? You feel confident you can do that, I see. Would you happen to be a mechanic, my dear?

[splinten]

[This chick is so weird. She doesn't seem bad? Just weird.]

I happen to be Dirk Strider, and mechanics is one of my skills, yes.

[hating]

[ she doesn't answer at first. actually, her gaze roves down the hall; is she considering leaving? yes. ]

Morgana.

Let's clear up some quick confusion for me, then, Dirk. What is the year?

[splinten]

[Questions are actually easier: they are facts, and he can do facts. Even if the facts are the absence of information.]

Not given for the present location. My personal guess is somewhere past the equivalent to the 2000s in this world, but I can only say for sure that the world isn't mine.

[hating]

[ a heavy pause. ]

The 2000s.

[ GREAT. ]

In that case, you must be from around that time, yes? Tell me, ...have you heard of the make-and-break transmitter? That is as far as my knowledge of communication devices go.

[splinten]

I'm from 2425.

[To clarify.]

I know about the Reis telephone. This follows the same basic concept of converting sound into electrical impulses and then transmitting it.

[hating]

[ oh. ]

... I see.

[ MORGANA DOES NOT SEE. ]

The Reis telephone. Is that what they called it? It was a recent break in technology last I heard. [ in other words, she's from the 1860s... maybe. ] In that case, this is a telephone of some sort. And one was left with me? Why? For what reason...? This level of advancement... it's far more than I was prepared to see.

[splinten]

We all got one when we turned up here. It's definitely at least two hundred years advanced, probably more.

[So, her throwing it kind of makes sense? It's crazy and weird.

Actually, no, it still doesn't make sense.]

Why did you throw it, anyway?

[hating]

[ funny thing you're asking about, dirk! ]

And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee.

[ guess what? ]

Metal does not speak. I removed it from my person, did away with it, because it is unnatural. Temptation and sin takes many forms.

[ she thought it was possessed. ]

[splinten]

[uh]

So you thought it was a talking vibrator.

[hating]

A what?

[ FARRAH DONT DO THIS ]

[splinten]

Maybe that's later in the 1800s than your time. [Since it WAS after that telephone.] You mentioned sin and temptation, so I'm assuming you think it's a device that aids that.

[hating]

Are you always this vulgar, or do you save it for people you just met?

[splinten]

I save it for people I just met. But okay, I'll bite. If it isn't something sexual, what kind of evil did you think this device had in it?

[His mind still hasn't gone to possession because he is from 2425.]

[hating]

To think such a lustful individual was so close to my vicinity... I could almost throw up.

[ it's like, a joke? maybe. there's a ghost of a smirk on her face. ]

A creature trying to take the form of something harmless to lure in unsuspecting victims for it's treacherous ways, not unlike one of Satan's personal servants... Yes, I believe it is possible that thing harbors a spirit in it. Not the first time an inanimate object housed the soul of an annoying man in it.

[splinten]

Oh, you mean like a possession.

[Fair enough.

Wait a second.]

If you're from the 1800s, why do you talk like you're straight out of the Renaissance era?

[hating]

Do you truly wish to know the answer to that question, or are you merely sticking your curious little nose wherever it sniffs out something intriguing? There's a difference between thinking and doing, my dear.

[splinten]

I'm familiar with the definitions of different basic verbs.

[These two are a good combination, clearly. Dirk watches her calmly from behind his shades.]

I don't super care, but it's kind of inconsistent. Just pointin' it out, bro.

[hating]

I imagine it would be. Displacement in time isn't new to me, and spending time around those who speak their own modern dialect would affect anyone's, would it not?