Space Opera: A cruise to Remember (IC)

[Venom]

Romow

He thanks the crewman for the directions as he starts walking to the nearest set of stairs. No use taking the lift when it's only one deck down. Descending the stairs he surprisingly has a small bounce to his step. So, this is what a real vacation is like?

[Moral Wiz]

Dr. Erica Amleth

After finishing up on the reports, Erica heads off to the Cold Sleep bays. She could do this from her own office, technically, but she preferred to do more hands on and complete work on it once in a while, ask the attendants how the passengers took CS.

All potentially at risk patients are marked, and the computer is assigned to ensure their vital signs are good, and notify the attendants and Erica's own comm at any abnormalities, however slight.

After that, slowly, she headed to her own, still organized office. She smiled as she entered, and sat behind her desk. The many forms of working in a pleasure cruiser needed to be dealt with

Then, she'd get around to starting on that inventory. At last.

[Krrth]

Bridge of the Glorious Day

Captain, it's time.



Already? Well, I guess I should make the announcement.

*Turns on the ship wide communicator*

Attention all Passengers, this is your Captain speaking. I would like to invite all passengers to a dinner in the main ballroom. We will be celebrating a longstanding tradition from before Humanity gained space flight, Christmas. In honor of this tradition, all passengers will be fed free of charge tomorrow night. Please, attend!

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In the spirit of the holidays, we'll have this tradition carry on into the far future. It's non religious, and is considered a time of goodwill and gift giving. Of course, some other traditions have carried over as well. Don't ask what happens when a ship leaves the Solar System for the first time....

[Raz_Fox]

Llyrid

Llyrid's ears perk up when she hears this announcement. "Christmas? Oh, isn't that the old holiday about the worship of the great god Santa with his great claws and his wife the Virgin Mary? Where you declared war upon the country of Turkey and then ate the Turks?"

[Greystone]

Rollins looks at Bianca and then bursts out laughing "Heaven's to Betsy I forgot it was Christmas" he stands and extends his arm "Wanna go for seconds?"

[Krrth]

Raz

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Where did you say you got your degree in Earthology again?

[Raz_Fox]

Krrth

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Ah... the university of Medicus Quisnam?

[Pumpkin3.1415]

"I hadn't forgotten, James...I just never was a big Christmas fan...where I come from, it isn't exactly celebrated."

Bianca looks at James, the glamorous ship decor around her, and the situation in general. She takes a long drag from her cigarette and begins to blow smoke rings of various shapes and sizes, each wisp dissipating shortly after meeting up with the ventilation system of the ship. The cigarette finds its place back on its stand, and Bianca sighs softly.

"I don't know if I can really eat anything else, James. I think I don't even have enough room for desert."

She swirls her drink, of which she is now on her fourth, and takes a short sip. She then picks up one of the cherries in the glass and eats it, and spits the stem out onto an unused plate, tied in a knot. Afterward, Bianca scratches the back of her head.

"Aww, what the hell...Merry Christmas, James."

[Moral Wiz]

Dr. Erica Amleth

Erica smiled as the faint message came in, just as she was finishing off in ColdSleep. She looked around at the people here, the poor, the desperate, the gamblers... Men, women, old, young... all behind the frozen CyroTube glass...

She raises an imagined wine glass into the air, toasting the Cyro Hall, muct to the amazment of the technitians

Merry Christmas, one and all.

With that, and a brief laugh, the Doctor exits. She returns to the MedBay. THere was still work to do...

[Greystone]

James's eyes open wide and he sit right next to her and grasps her hand "Never...Never a fan of Christmas" his eyes water slightly "Your poor poor girl! You mean never have you had anything to connect with your loved ones or, or" he looks flustered "Anything!?"

He stands pulling her up "Come with me"

He leads them to their room and from underneath the bed pulls to boxes of sparkly wrapped paper "Merry Christmas"

[Xapi]

David had been waiting for a good chance to speak to *someone* in the Bar, yet it never came.

After the announcement, he went to the dinner room.

He sat in a partially filled table.

Hello all. And... Merry Christmas, was it?

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He will just sit at any table that is not completely full or completely empty.

[Pumpkin3.1415]

Bianca blushes and sighs, pushing the present away back to James.

"Thank you, very much James. It means a lot to me, it really does. I just...can't accept it, I'm sorry. I don't want you to feel bad or anything...but, you've already paid for this trip, I just can't ask you for anything else."

She gets up and moves towards the window of the cabin, looking out into the endless sea of stars just beyond the glass. Her heavy sighs fog the pane.

"I'm sorry James...I'm probably ruining all your Christmas fun. I just really don't like this time of year...but it really isn't fair to you to be such a downer."

She spryly moves from the window to the minibar, pulls out a bottle of egg nog, and pours two glasses. She hands one to James and keeps one for herself, and sits on the floor across from James. With one hand, she pulls the chopsticks out of her bun, and her hair falls to her shoulders. Her face cracks a weak smile.

"Don't worry James...I'll try to be a little more cheery."

[Greystone]

"Poppycock" James blinks several times then "I didn't pay for these, and one is for me. I made them"

[Pumpkin3.1415]

Just open it, damn it...he made it for you!

Bianca carefully tears back the shimmering red paper and looks at the gift before her, and takes a big drink of egg nog.

"Aww...James....thank you!

...What, uh, is it?"

[Greystone]

Now James looks excited "Well, this took me a long time" he says holding up what appears to be an Opaque sphere from the box, made of a dark metal.

"I learned about this from a Ancient Ursine tribe I was studying" he carefully takes the sphere and clicks several hidden panels. The sphere comes apart into what seems to be a clear orb. He does it again and it seems that it is made from a green crystal.

"Its made from a special stone and equipped with a primitive Holo-field" he continues to change its form "Its actually a puzzle, the goal"

he finishes and the sphere opens to reveal a large gem. He quickly puts it back in and spins it expertly "It takes forever to figure out, but you seem to like this sort of thing"

[Pumpkin3.1415]

Bianca takes the object and begins looking it over, seeing if she could repeat the puzzle's solution to get to the gem inside once again. After a few failed attempts, she realizes the catches and begins to reliably solve it.

"James...it's perfect. I love it. Thank you."

She leans across the floor and tightly embraces James for a moment. She leans back and looks around the room.

"I still feel bad, though...I really don't have anything to give you..."

[Greystone]

"Aha! and that is where you are wrong M'dear" and James struck a heroic pose that looked positively silly on him "You see the other gift"

He picked it up and opened it "I knew you would never consider it a gift, but I did" in the box was a small tank. In the tank were floating four medium size prehistoric creatures, just swimming.

"That fossil you found me, well it was chalk full of DNA. I have brought creatures dead for millions of years back to life"

[Pumpkin3.1415]

She looks over the tank in amazement and a bit of fear.

"Well...you're welcome, James....I, uh....what in the hell are these things?"

[Greystone]

"Well, isn't it obvious" James looks confused "They are Trilyphocus Aroneus Naclaypsus!" he gesticulates wildly.

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I couldn't help it

[Pumpkin3.1415]

"Uh...well done, James.....well done....glad I could help...."

[Greystone]

James looks absolutely giddy "I know I know" he grabs her hand and twirls her around before he does an impromptu victory dance "If I can duplicate this, I will be famous!!" he laughs and jumps onto the bed, like an overgrown child "We'll Both be Rich and famous"

"Oh grow up you bufoon."

[Pumpkin3.1415]

Bianca follows James' lead, even forces him to continue after he's finishes.

"That's sweet James, but this one's all you, man. I don't deserve a dime of that money, and you know it. But I wish you all the best of luck! This might be your big break!"

[Greystone]

"Bah! I'll keep you around one way or another" the doctor wiggles his eyebrows " You have the luck of the devil himself my girl, it was a one in a million chance that the fossil YOU found was the one that would have enough DNA to note only replicate but use"

He looked over with a grin "And besides, I'd need someone to help me keep it all, you know me, one minute alone and I'm tied over a bonfire about to be eaten by cannibals"

[Pumpkin3.1415]

"Yeah, James...I've got all the luck...I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I know.

But hell, when you're rich and famous, you could actually hire some real help. Like, actual soldiers and such."

[Greystone]

James shudders at the mention of soldiers "no no no no! It won't ever come to that" he looks a bit downcast "people who make a living out of fighting and killing, I wouldn't have it"

He looks up "Do you now what a debt is? Well I am so deep in your debt at the moment that money" he picks up a coin from the table and throws it over his shoulder "means nothing"

"You have saved me countless times, and all I do is get in more trouble" he looks at his own hands sadly " Do you remember the night the...the transformation occured?"

[Pumpkin3.1415]

"I almost hate to say it, but I end up killing more people in your employ than I really do repairing things. Some people need to be good at killing things, James. I know you hate to hear things like this, but if the good guys don't kill, then nothing is going to stop the bad guys. It's just the world we live in, dear...."

She lies down on the floor, picking her head up just a mite to take another drink.

"We owe each other a lot, James. I don't think you owe me anything particularly more than my paycheck. What I do is part of the job, and honest work is honest work..."

At least it's something honest...not like, you know, everything else.

When James mentions the transformation, she takes a more sympathetic tone.

"Of course I do, James. It was a big day...what makes you bring it up?"

[Greystone]

"I know people need to do it, but to have to hire people specifically" he shakes his head "It makes me feel like I signed a death warrent"

To continue from the transformation "The real reason why I owe you...Did I ever tell you the story of the stupid young boy? Well long ago some very...very bad people did some very bad things to the young boy. The young boy being foolish not only allowed it to happen but helped. Years went by until finally someone was killed, by....by the boy. He swore it was an accident, but to be truthful it wasn't. He had stopped a bad person from doing a very bad thing. From that day the boy swore always to be himself"

His breath hitched in his throat but he continued " Well when the transformation, I wasn't...myself anymore. I had rogue thoughts and ideas, and my body wasn't even mine"

"I almost killed myself Bianca, almost walked off that high cliff, but I kept thinking Bianca would be so disappointed in me. and then I remembered when you saved me...and I thought it would be an insult to you...you saved my life Bianca"

[Pumpkin3.1415]

"James...James...I, uh....James...wow...just...

Wow...I'm sorry, I just don't know what to say to that. I mean, I'm not even sure I'm wrapping my head around this...what do you mean, body wasn't yours? What do you mean rogue thoughts?"

[Greystone]

"Well Bianca" he rapidly blinked back unshed tears

"Oh just tell her"

"Remember that thief who tried to steal the amulet...the one I said got away? No the amulet fused us together. Apparently I was stronger, or luckier, so I ended up dominant. But...he was a bad man Bianca. Not a murderer I think, but still a bad man, and I swore I would never be like that again."

He has turned away by now, rubbing his hands on his pants like they were obscene, dirty.

[Pumpkin3.1415]

Bianca gets up from the floor and walks over to James, and with an almost motherly affection, puts an arm around him and leans his head on her shoulder.

"Now, you listen here, James. You're one of the three men who I consider to be actually...good. James, you're nothing but a testament to how good people can actually make it in this world, and the only reason that you're the dominant one in this little...uh...situation of yours is because you are truly stronger because of the life you've led. A hard life, I'm sure. But you're so strong because you've made hard choices about how you've lived your life. You've learned how to not compromise your morals, and you're one of the few people who can do that and still have a head on their shoulders....well, you have a head on your shoulders, I mean, head attached to your shoulders.

You're stronger than you know, James. You can make it through this, and one day, it's all going to come back to you...in a good way. I can see it."