09: Video/Spam: One day at a time, I suppose.

[omar]

[Video]

[A little while into the port, a face that's distantly familiar to very few and new to most pops up on the network, broadcasting from the Livery Stables. He's dark-skinned and dressed in black, but there are a few glimmers about him that stand out in the dim shadows of the stalls: jewelry in his ears and around his neck, the dangerous gleam of his eyes -- and maybe most importantly, the huge poker that he appears to have picked up for a weapon.

Along with the scar that nearly splits his face down the center, there are a few cuts visible on him, but he doesn't seem bothered by these: just a little tense and wary.]

Can't say I much like the look of this here port. Considering the last time, I'm inclined to think that ghosts mean badness. [He gestures with the poker towards the ghostly stablehands.]

Don't get me wrong -- Omar's not turning tail now any more than ever. I'm just saying, though: anyone gets a breath of fresh air, I'd thank y'all to let me know.

[He pauses, then adds, reluctantly:] Anyone else having a problem with they phone? Been trying to get on a private channel for a minute, but I can't get nothing through.

[Spam]

[Omar can be found just about anywhere in the tower during the port, mostly sticking closer to the shadows. He continues to carry the poker until he manages to upgrade to a sword; he'll also be quietly collecting any trinkets that catch his eye or any actual food he comes across. Towards the end of the port, he'll get bored and start helping people through the chess game just to entertain himself... or maybe hindering them just for the fun of it, if he dislikes them enough.]

Comments

[Video]

[mistconduct]

....The fuck kind of port is this?!

[Video]

[omar]

[Omar gives the screen a funny look. He's pretty meticulous about knowing who his neighbors are -- it's strange for him to see a face he doesn't recognize at all.]

Good question.

[Video]

[mistconduct]

Is this gangster port or medieval fantasy port?

Holy fuck I don't even know anymore.

Hey, asshole! Stop being such a fucking anomaly!

[Video]

[omar]

[On the one hand, Chris is really edging into dangerously stupid territory, here. On the other hand, if Omar actually gave a fig what anyone thought about him, much less skinny foul-mouthed white boys, he would have been ruined a long time ago.

It's being thought about at all that's the important thing.]

I can live with being an anomaly. Always have done, anyhow.

[routemistress]

Bugger me, it's like old inmates' return week around 'ere lately. Welcome back, lovey, you always did brighten up the place. I don't s'pose you brought Leslie with you, did you?

[omar]

[Pause.]

You think maybe I'm missing out on part of this conversation, warden?

[routemistress]

That'd be no, then? I'm Iris. I don't think we talked much when you were 'ere before, but you 'ad a way of making yourself noticed.

You need any 'elp?

[omar]

It's that before that I'm having some trouble with. I remember you, sure. I saw you up on the deck yesterday.

[video]

[thelastbullet]

[He's got his eyes narrowed, peering at the communicator with nothing short of complete confusion]

Chalky? Chalky White?

[Only the guy doesn't talk quite like Chalky, and he's pretty sure Chalky never wore clothes like that. Still, it's so uncanny he can't help but think it is, for a second. At least he'd made his peace with Chalky before he died, otherwise he'd be a lot more nervous about this.]

[video]

[omar]

Excuse me?

[video]

[thelastbullet]

[Alright, so definitely not Chalky. Gene had told him about Dillon, that they look almost exactly alike, but he hadn't been expecting to run into Chalky's lookalike, of all people.]

Sorry, I guess I figured you for the wrong guy.

[video]

[omar]

[He looks, pointedly and theatrically, down at his very dark hands, then back up, raising his brows.]

I'd guess so. That don't sound like a name that'd suit me very much.

[spam] cw: casual/accidental racism (likely only in brackets)

[tucky]

[Well, hello there, stranger! Having just recently woken up, Tiffany's skulking around the basement, lost and confused. She appears to be alone down here, and she doesn't much like that.

Except she isn't alone, because she can see a guy lurking down at the other end of the hall-- a stranger, not someone she recognizes even from the network. She's instantly on edge-- and honestly, the fact that he's a big black man with a weapon doesn't help matters. Her contact with other races has historically been limited at best, and her exposure to racist attitudes has been much, much higher. Still, she's spent two months on a transdimensional prison ship filled to the brim with people who are wildly different from her, and experiences like that tend to broaden the mind.

So she approaches, albeit slowly and carefully. Maybe he's from the Barge. And even if he's not, maybe he can explain what's going on.]

Uh-- hey? Hey. We in a breach right now?

[spam]

[omar]

[It's bothering him, all these new faces. He likes to know what's what and who's who. He likes to know where he stands in the world. He frowns as the stranger approaches him. The timidity is promising -- maybe she's heard of him already -- but he doesn't like that he's never seen her before. Just how different is the Barge now?]

If we was, you wouldn't know it.

[spam]

[tucky]

Yeah.

[He has a point; she remembers the Barge, and before she hadn't.]

I just forget what this kind's called, that's all.

[spam]

[omar]

This here called a port, I suppose. I don't remember touching down none, but...

[He uses the poker to gesture to the tower at large.]

Here we be.

[video] although it's also safe to assume he's probably lurking nearby

[donttouchthefur]

Nah, not sure they even know we're here. Ain't bad, if you like horses.

[Granted, Rocket doesn't, ghostly or otherwise, which would be why he's currently perched on a beam and safely out of reach, but then he's also a raccoon, or at least appears to be one. Not like they usually get along, although they're better than dogs.]

[video]

[omar]

Some of them in the next room definitely know we here.

[He's squinting at the screen as he says it, and then -- because he's pretty sure he hears the voice very nearby -- looks around and up.]

Do you usually look like that, or is there a whole other level of strangeness going on here?

[video]

[donttouchthefur]

[Rocket watches the human's movements, the way he looks around, and it's not like Rocket can't see him from where he is. He waves, treats him to a toothy grin (although with a face like his that's all there really is), and puts his communicator down, tucking it away in the holster on his back that normally (read: not on the Barge) holds his gun.]

Nah, this is me. Thank the universe; I did the humie thing last time. Flarking ridiculous.

If they know we're here they don't care. Which works out about the same in my book.

[warisart]

Yes. It is posting transmissions from people who are no longer present.

[Ben is pretty annoyed about this, frustrated with the complete lack of logic and how out of step he feels in it.

There's also the fact that he's not really being snidely sarcastic despite the actual words; he is not, however, expecting that this is real. This place is full of ghosts.]

[omar]

[It's cool, Ben -- he's thrilled to see you, too.]

Get comfortable without me around, soldier boy?

[warisart]

I assure you that was not the deciding factor.

Are you real?

[Video]

[no_tell_belle]

Is there ever a time ghosts mean goodness?

[She's torn at the moment between being seriously pissed off and being too scared to be angry. She'd thought ports were supposed to be a chance to get away from the weirdness of the barge. That assumption, along with so many others, is apparently wrong.]

[Video]

[omar]

Suppose not... but it seem to me that in a port they liable to bring a little extra with 'em. The last set I ran into in a place like this got real personal with me.

[Personal how, he's not saying -- not if the only person who would know isn't even on the Barge anymore -- but it was bad enough that a muscle in his jaw twitches with tension.]

[Video]

[no_tell_belle]

Well that is so very not reassuring. [Not that she expected any of the creatures in this place to be good. Still.]

Is there any way to avoid getting personal with them, other than running away? [She can do running away but thus far it seems like running away is the same as running into something equally scary.]