>>5139656“Attention, passengers and crew.” You declare, voice echoing through your winding halls and into every room aboard. “Please be advised that the storm ahead of us is moving to intercept us, and will likely do so within the hour. This may demand an all-hands-on-deck scenario, depending on the level of opposition we encounter. Thank you.”
Yomi salutes you, and with a sniff to recall her onyx tears back into her sockets, she departs. You suppose it would be wise to check in with those of your crew on break to ensure they’ve gotten enough rest to address the threat at hand…though given everything you’ve dealt with up to this point, you’re not terribly concerned that you’ll have to call on their aid.
When your eyes open to the rec room, you find half your crew variously enjoying themselves in the space closest to your heart, its regular pulse a steady rhythm that can be felt through the calcite walls.
“Lookin’ to spook our guests with that little announcement, Yams?” Grins Musashi, sitting on the floor with her back to the wall nearest your core. She’s ready as always, right arm tapered at the elbow into a blade of nigh-unbreakable wood that she’s chipping away at with a rough-hewn calcite dagger. “Brig, could you hand me ano-“
“Make your own fuckin’ dagger, Mu!” Counters the redheaded girl lying on the salvaged couch against the opposite wall, her shirt riding up to reveal her skinless torso, bare ribs forming a set of formidable under-armor. “It’s not my fault your wood so freakin’ har-NO! No, stop laughing!”
“Gotta say, you…gah…kind of walked into that one yourself, Brig.” Grunts the bald, powerfully-built girl sitting on the table tucked into corner of the room furthest from the door. Hilde’s elbow digs into the table, the muscles of her right arm bulging as she arm-wrestles her own fibrous doppelganger.
“Guys, keep it down. Yams’ announcements are noise enough without you all keeping me up.” Calypso groans from the bean bag adjacent Brig’s couch, the girl’s dark features obscured under a mess of ethereal hair that shudders and twitches at every errant noise.
“Good to see everyone in fine spirits.” You sigh, Calypso’s hair frizzing at the sound of your voice, her hair day certainly not helped when Musashi loudly curses the broken dagger in her hand, its blade snapped and stuck mid-shave of her sword-arm. “Where are Gem and Emma?”
Musashi jerks a thumb skyward before catching the fresh dagger Brig throws her way with the same hand. Glancing up, you find a pair of oozes snuggled up next to each other on the ceiling, the gelatinous pair snoozing away without a care in the world.
Lovely…it seems you’re the only one taking this threat seriously, as usual. Your resounding sigh manifests as the blowing of a baritone foghorn, prompting a low growl from Calypso.
(Continued)
