for lastvoyages: First Vision [video+spam]

[can_has_vodka]

[Have a spritely young bald woman in filmy clothes, perching on a scratched wooden desk and beaming at you. Her eyes are bright, bright purple and almost seem to glow slightly, and she is very pale.]

Hullo everybody! I'm Arkady, and I'm from the Island of Whitechapel. Of course, for most of you Whitechapel isn't an island, but we had a little problem with the Thames getting loose from its banks, and ever since then things have been a bit wet in London. Whitechapel has about twice as many people as this place, and we just took on a hundred more. We'll make do, though. We just need to pull together. [It's not clear whether she's speaking of Whitechapel or the Barge. Both maybe?]

I'm to be a Warden here, and if there's a need for help anywhere, do let me know! [She pauses, blinks at the screen, and then leeeeans forward and peers into it as if she can see some of you on the other side. A giggle; the purple eyes blink and she pulls back again.]

I'll be up on Deck in the gardens if anyone wants to say hello! Yay flowers!

[A few seconds later she literally appears a few feet from the Colour Garden, which she immediately crouches down to inspect.] Hello flowers!

Comments

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

[Arkady is dancing to music only she can hear, and then disappears suddenly, reappearing in another part of the garden, where she starts filling her basket with strawberries. She gets a few handfuls, then looks up and wavewavies. Careful to Act A Little More Normal, she chooses to walk over.

Hi! Berries?

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[She just disappeared. And then she showed up somewhere else. This place is crazy, Lua already know that, but it still throws her. She smiles back at the girl, though, like "okay I don't know you but nice to meet you", and when she comes over, nods.] Oh. Thank you.

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

I'm Arkady! I will be a Warden here. Right now I am just trying to get to know people. [She offers the basket.]

The berries are lovely right now. Though I think we should have chikkens.

[spam] munch munch

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

Yeah? [She picks out one or two to be polite. Better to let her talk.]

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't get too ambitious until I get used to the place. But I love chikkens. They poo out eggs every day and take so little in return.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[Her shoulders shake for a second like she's going to laugh: she's got no sense of what you tell a stranger but it's cute, kind of. You get all kinds here.] Sounds like it. Least you've got plans.

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

I do! Psychonaut Arkady here, reporting for duty! I plan to help out wherever it's needed and I can.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[Girl's clearly asking for an introduction here, and she's got a good goal here. Even if who knows how she'll fill it.]

's Lua. [She's not going to offer more information.] "Psychonaut?"

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

Hi Lua!

Psychonaut. Astronaut of Inner Space, mind pilot, career psychic, Pusher of the Mental Boundaries. [pirouette, giggling a little]

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[No idea what any of that means except maybe psychic.] You like talking to ghosts?

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

That is actually something I haven't tried. Mostly I talk to minds, and to the future.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[The only response you get is a look like "tell me more because I really don't know what you're trying to tell me now."]

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

You know those people who read tarot cards? I do that. Without the cards. And some other things too.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[There's something to those people. Not all of them - most of them are fakes, Lua even knew a woman for a while who did it but didn't believe a damn word - but the ones who don't make a big show out of it, they might be seeing something you can't normally.]

Yeah? You just look at people and know?

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it helps to talk to them, or go off and try for a vision. But yes, I could do it. If you want?

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[... why not, really. It'll make her happy and she doesn't stand to lose anything if she's real. She shrugs as if to say "go ahead".] What are you going to look for?

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

It is easiest if you give me a question to focus on. Or a person.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

...all right... Why am I here? [It's a test.]

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

[She plops down into Lotus position and closes her eyes. Very slowly a faint purple radiance starts to trickle from her skin, like a halo. It is a minute or two before she starts to speak.]

There's a train...two bottles of something...blood. Many people died. Big man, big hands that could cover your whole face, light hair. Boyish somehow...

Red-haired woman. Beautiful, starey eyes like a cat's. She's trying to explain something to you but you're taking it too hard...like you'd have to change too much...like you wouldn't be yourself....

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[The girl's real even before she starts talking. You can't get light to work like that. There are enough details too specific to be "a man with an S" that Lua knows she's seeing something. The only thing she lets through, though, is a little tension.]

So you're the real thing.

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

I am, but don't worry! I also care. I won't tell people what I see and I won't judge you on it. We have rules we live by, we Freakangels.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[She shakes her head.] No, I just didn't expect it.

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you should ask after future things instead. They're fairly useful.

[spam]

[dovehearted.livejournal.com]

[It's better not to know the future, because you can't change it and you find out what it is quickly enough.] Can you tell me something else? About that man you saw? [She needs to know this.]

[spam]

[can-has-vodka.livejournal.com]

The big bloke?

[She closes her eyes again. Then peeks.]

He's alive...he's okay...he's...bored. Really, really bored. Cooling his heels. But not forever. And besides, this is someone who knows how to take care of himself. Himself and some kid. Or at least he thinks of that person as a kid.