Seven(?) against the Convergence

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Graybeard
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Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: OK, new thread, picking up on board Amalric's airship... Don't read too much into the subject line; I honestly have no idea how many people are going to war here. Seven just makes for a nice, catchy subject. :roll: And yes, the Convergence are the bad guys.]

There was surprisingly little room on the airship. There were only four "cabins" (really rather an overstatement of their creature-comfort level), and no more seats on the command deck other than the captain's chair, which was occupied by Father Amalric. (As far as Sister Rose could tell, the man had every intention of sleeping there.)

"We will be flying first to Rinkaiel, in northern Farrel," Amalric announced without preamble as soon as the group boarded. "Refueling will be required there." [OOC: Spies, take note. :geek: /OOC:] "Our actions beyond Rinkaiel depend on recovering your red-haired colleague. Sister, do you have any idea where she is?"

The figurine was still glowing in Rose's traveling pack, although it had returned to room temperature. "Only generally, but I'll know more once we're under way," she said, wishing she was as sure about that statement as she sounded. Somehow, though, she did think the artifact would help them home in on Therese, and there wasn't much doubt that she'd gone north.

Amalric cocked a suspicious eye at her. "As you say," he said, not pressing the point. "It will take us about ten to twelve hours to get to Rinkaiel, depending on headwinds. I suggest as many of you as possible get some sleep before we arrive, since we do not know what will follow." He held up a hand as Rose, and maybe some of the others, started to speak. "Frankly, I don't give a damn who sleeps with whom on the way. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do." He turned back to the airship controls, not inviting conversation.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Jack Rothwell »

"Top bunk!" Tamina cried, raising a hand in declaration before wheeling around to Rose's beau. "Hey Mr Ro-, umm, Argus, we got time for a magic lesson 'fore we sleep?
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

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"Hey Mr Ro-, umm, Argus, we got time for a magic lesson 'fore we sleep?"

Sister Rose found this amusing. "Go ahead," she said to Tamina. "I think I can peel myself away from him for that long." A soft kiss on Argus' bearded cheek, a wry smile, and she went forward to the command center, waiting until the airship lifted off before entering.

There's something weird about this ship, Rose thought as she waited. One thing, one important thing, was its size. It wasn't that much smaller than a standard commercial airship; smaller, yes, but not, one would think, by enough of a factor to reduce by a factor of ten its carrying capacity, even laying aside the magical lift enhancement that she was quite sure the ship had. There should have been room for at least twice as many passengers as were actually on board. And what was the room being used for? It wasn't just lift generators, unless Donald Ordial's design had accepted that magical lift would take a great deal more room than simple gas bags -- which would defeat the point of using it. Yet, unless she completely misremembered what the thing looked like from the outside, there was a great deal of space beyond the walls and bulkheads that wasn't used for anything at all. She'd learned a little airship engineering from her step-father, not enough to ever do the job herself but at least the principles, and one principle was "no wasted space." So what was that wasted space being used to do? On a whim, she extended her basic sensor magic beyond one smooth-surfaced wall, wondering if there were concealed troops out there, but as far as she could tell, the only occupants of the airship were the seven she knew about.

She was still pondering this strange development when the door opened and Father Amalric beckoned her to the bridge. "You and Brother Timothy will stand watch shifts with me," Amalric said with his usual gruff abruptness. Rose nodded and settled into one of the other seats, wondering what would be going on behind her, in the stark "cabins" where the others were berthed.
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Alberich »

It went without saying that Rose and Argus would bunk together, to Tim's unspoken disgust. So would Desiree and Anfisa, a matter he couldn't very well complain about. One supposed Harker would stand guard in the hallway somewhere. That left Amalric, Tim, and Tamina to take the other two cabins. Since neither of the priests was going to share his sleeping quarters with a female anything if he could help it, that left Tamina with a cabin to herself. (And presumably left Rose with the chance to "take" the bottom bunk with Tamina, if she cared to maintain the fiction that she wasn't violating her Church's teachings on chastity with Argus.)

Amalric told Tim he would take the next shift, after Rose. Tim genuflected and went to bed. The day had been physically and morally exhausting. There was no further talk of the thrashing he'd received that morning or what had preceded it. That was over and they both liked it that way. Tim would've been happy to know, though, that the Abbot in Port Lorrel was unleashing a furious storm of the same on the three stupid priests who'd tried to beat Anfisa and Desiree, and that the ringleader at least would lose his priestly status entirely, while the others had long, hard penance to do.

Elsewhere: "Let's look around," said Anfisa, holding hands with Desiree, for now they were both alone. "Hmmm, it's bigger on the outside than it is on the inside!"

Desiree explained that this was normal.

"Oh. Well, let's anyway!" She doubted her ability to learn the "capabilities" of this airship while riding on it as a passenger. But she could at least memorize the layout, and maybe get a chance to see the helm, or whatever they called it, and make a strong effort to fulfill their charge. And if they learned all they could, and had a little time to themselves, then there'd be time for a little foretaste of their life together to come.
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Drusia »

While Anfisa makes weird jokes about spacial geometry, I take a moment to note the number of cabins, as well as which is ours. The guy wanted to know how many troops this thing could field, so knowing how many people it can hold will be important.

"Oh. Well, let's anyway!"

"Sure," I reply, holding her hand. He said we didn't need to do anything special, so I won't make any attempt to access restricted areas. However, a walk around the publically accessable areas isn't suspicious and will likely yield more useful data.

-- Desiree

OOC: Cute with the Doctor Who joke. I didn't realize Anfisa was a Time Lord. :p
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

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Anfisa joined her lover in a walk around the airship, prattling on in a relaxed way about this and that. Oh-look-at-this was typical Anfisa, and helped her to memorize what she was seeing. She was literate, but hadn't brought writing materials, and a sudden taste for note-taking would provoke the wrong kind of interest.

Underneath it all she assumed that everything they said was being listened to through hidden tubes in the walls. True or not, it was a good mindset to take in this cramped, magic-ridden, secret conveyance. So it was important never to bring their mission up explicitly. She wouldn't ask questions about the ship per se. If she met Harker in the hallway she'd ask "where everyone was" as if from curiosity, and if they ended up harmlessly visiting some friend of theirs in a technically interesting part of the ship, what would be the harm in that?

It didn't occur to her to wonder why a known spymaster would give his agents a card with his name on it, but as Desiree wasn't laying it aside anyway, she had no cause for worry right now. Later she'd just have to make sure it didn't get lost when their clothes were off.

[OOC: If they all regenerate like Romana, maybe some of them have been Anfisa...]
Last edited by Alberich on July 12th, 2013, 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

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"Your retainers should not be out wandering around this ship," Father Amalric grumped to Sister Rose. "It isn't a cruise liner, you know."

My "retainers"? Well, that clarifies things rather nicely, thought Rose, her own frame of mind starting to turn as sour as the grouchy old man's. "I want to remind you," she said as neutrally as she could manage, "that we are nominally on vacation here -- Argus and I, at least, and our friends with us." Her snort pre-empted Amalric's. "Yes, I know that that is a fiction that you are trying to maintain, and that the reality is otherwise. Still, you are trying to maintain that fiction, and their behavior is consistent with it. Besides, I have yet to see any real trouble on this ship for them to get into." This was true enough. She'd seen enough of the bridge to realize that it was a marvel of automation, magical and otherwise; Amalric really could fly this thing all by himself. She knew Ordial Enterprises had been working to automate airship travel (in the face of bitter opposition by the airship crew's guild; the Church had remained curiously silent in that dispute, and she was beginning to understand why), but she didn't know things had progressed this far. There were literally no controls or gas valves or ballast releases or weapons for busy hands to get into, anywhere except on the bridge. That was quite remarkable.

"They should be minding their own business," the old man insisted.

"Well, we can always put them off in Rinkaiel," Rose snipped, unaware of the plans that Desiree and Anfisa had already made for precisely that denouement.

Amalric called the bluff. "That we shall." There was no warmth in his voice at the prospect, nor at anything else that Rose could think of.

She sighed. "I'll go back and have a word. Maybe I can get them to settle into their cabins, read a book or two, have sex." Aargh. I really shouldn't have said that last part, but he's starting to get on my nerves. She started to apologize for that last bit of spontaneous snarkage, but she needn't have bothered. "Very well," Amalric rumbled, and returned to the controls as Rose left her seat.
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Btw, I'm going to be swamped for the next three days, so feel free to drag Tamina around for magic lessons/plot advancing shenanigans as needed./OOC
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: No prob, JR, for the moment I think it's Rose, Desiree and Anfisa that have the lead for a little while, although all characters are obviously welcome to jump in...]

It was hardly difficult for Sister Rose to find Desiree and Anfisa; there was barely room for them to get out of sight. She was rolling her eyes as they converged. "Sorry to interrupt you," she said, "but der Kapitän is getting fidgety with you two being up and about. I don't know why, but probably best to grab seats, or better yet, go back to your cabin and get some sleep." She chuckled. "Honestly, he's acting like he thinks you two are spies for the Tsuirakuans or something."
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Re: Seven(?) against the Convergence

Post by Drusia »

What a stroke of luck - Rose has made a lovely excuse to get some very interesting views of the ship. Following her was quite the stroke of genius on Anfisa's part.

"Sorry to interrupt you," she said, "but der Kapitän is getting fidgety with you two being up and about. I don't know why, but probably best to grab seats, or better yet, go back to your cabin and get some sleep." She chuckled. "Honestly, he's acting like he thinks you two are spies for the Tsuirakuans or something."

Considering that we've already seen more than I expected to, this isn't a good time to protest. Instead, I shrug. "It's turning out to be pretty dull anyway. I liked the old Airship better. Although, I might reconsider after getting a look at the cabins."

I take Anfisa's hand and start to turn away, but pause and look back at Rose. "Is there a dining room on this thing? I'd like to grab a snack before we bed down."

-- Desiree

OOC: If it comes up, Desiree is planning to grab something for breakfast so she can avoid the captain (ie, she'll save whatever she grabs for morning). Although if a chance for some sexual food inuendo comes up, I'm sure she would take it.
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