You're not in Ketra anymore...(Open!)

[Anonymous]

The first two steps, when he wasn't sure if he was going to stay on his feet, were the hardest.  Now he was sure he was going to stay upright, so Samari didn't have any problem walking after Cook.  There was the threat of rough patches though, which made him reluctant to let go of Cook's hand.

The ladder, a normal familiar ladder even if it was made of metal, surprised Samari.  All the strange things he saw or heard about since coming to Aedolis made him think they had their own way of getting up to another level of their enormous buildings, which would be copied to the ships because they were used to it.  Or maybe ladders were more useful than anything they had in those big buildings and were going to be a part of any ship, whether it was normal or flew.  

Or maybe they were only on ships.  Why else would he ask if he was good with them?  Then again...

"I haven't fallen off one yet," he replied, letting go of Cook's hand and scurried up the ladder, putting his hands against the wall once he was on the next floor.

A door on the left, Samari inched along pawing the wall in case he missed the door, to feel for the frame.  Lucky, it stood out enough for him to see it.  Once he opened it Samari reached for the closest thing to investigate.  It was blue and folded into a square, it was also slicker and shinier than any bedding he'd ever seen.  It gave when he pushed a finger into it so there was some chance that it was comfortable.  After giving the blue square a good poking, Samari looked back up and noticed that everything in this closet was shiny and square.

Did he need to take a stack of these things and lay them flat on the berth?  Samari peered over the ladder and held up the blue square.  "How many of these things do I need?"

[Anonymous]

"I've had a couple mishaps with ladders, and try to avoid repeating them as much as possible" Cook admitted. There were all sorts of ways to get around in the cities, on a ship though, the mechanics to operate an elevator or anything of that sort just wasn't space efficient when a ladder served the same purpose and was much simpler. Besides, who wanted to risk being trapped in a lift if there was a power failure?

"I'd grab at least two of them, but if you need more to make yourself comfortable, you're welcome to as many as you like" He assured, leaning against the base of the ladder. It was all securely welded in place, so there was no risk of it simply tipping over.

"You may also want to grab a blanket or two. Some of the crew finds it a little chilly in the bunks" He was not particularly prone to being cold, but his heavier body style and the fact that two of his limbs were not expelling body heat with no blood pumping through them, which reduced the distance his heart had to pump blood also.

"There should also be shirts on a shelf to your right. You're welcome to grab one of them if you want something else to sleep in-- something fresh" and cleaner. He hated having a bed full of grit after being too tired the night before to go through his nightly cleaning rituals.

There were also spare mattresses stuffed all the way in the back, hidden by the pillows, but they were generally not used unless something happened to one of the existing ones while they were on a job. "You can toss them down if you like, so you don't have to carry them down the ladder" Cook suggested. "Don't want you falling off." They might accuse him of having a ladder jinx or something. He'd certainly had enough of them before he decided he really didn't need anything on the second floor badly enough to make him climb a ladder on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

Two or more, Samari liked that option and turned back to the room with a grin, trying to work out how many of the little squares would make a comfortable bed.  Since he didn't know what the 'bunks' looked like he was going to have to guess and make do with whatever he had.  Until he was sure he could sneak back to the closet and get more.

Samari pulled the blue square up into his chest and squeezed while he looked and thought.  Until he felt the edges of one hand's nails catch and tear on the slick outside bit.  Odd, it reminded him of the flimsy wooden crates he saw when he first came around.  Samari investigated the tear, pulling at one of the edges and gasping at the thin, clear... stuff that made up the shiny cover.  The insides didn't start flowing out while he rent the cover, even when he gave the square another squeeze.  When he slid a hand through the hole, the softness of the inside surprised him.  

Skin.  That was what the cover reminded him of, it's thinness and how easily it peeled away with the touch of something sharp.  Later on he could experiment with how the fake-skin could be manipulated.  Samari began poking the rest of the squares with the back of one knuckle, eventually finding some that were fluffier.  Along with the torn blue square, he took two of the fluffy squares (which didn't look folded) and stacked them while he investigated the shirts.  He unfolded and refolded them until he found one that was billowy enough to sleep in comfortably and set it down on the stack of squares.  That, he picked up and carried to the ladder.

When he was sure he wouldn't drop the stack on Cook's head, he dropped it over the edge of the ladder.  For a brief second he wondered if he could jump off after it, then scurried down the ladder.  "If you've got any pants lying around I might need them in the morning," he picked at his torn and bloody pantleg.  "These are shameful."

[Anonymous]

Cook watched Samari curiously, his mechanical eye twitching as it focused on the situation, wondering what he was up to in there. "I'll find you something to wear. If all else fails, I can get you a tunic" He assured. It didn't work well for him, due to the mechanical parts getting caught in it,but other people, with normal limbs seemed to work just fine with it, for the most part.

"Alright, I'll put you in the spare bunk off the kitchen" He said. The rest of the crew seemed to be leery of sleeping so near to cook, but then again, Cook was up early in the morning, making breakfast, and was notoriously crabby when people came drooling through his kitchen, half asleep and getting in his way.

He picked up most of the blankets and pillows and headed back the way they had come, leading the way through the kitchen and to a door that looked more like it would be a utility room rather than a bedroom, but when he opened it, it revealed an organized room, that while not entirely empty, was not overcrowded and the bunk was still undisturbed. It looked rather like a large shelf with a mattress resting in a recess of the shelf to prevent it from sliding off. "You're welcome to sleep in here, make yourself comfortable. I'm up early, but you don't have to be, just don't be alarmed if you hear me banging around out here. I have to make meals at random times throughout the day." He explained easily, setting his armload of things down on the bed.

[Anonymous]

A tunic was fine too.  Samari would have found some way to wear a curtain if Cook offered him one, it'd be a step up.  Add a little water and a comb and he'd have just about everything he'd need to stay halfway presentable.

Samari picked up everything Cook left behind and followed just behind him.  Being close to the kitchen didn't bother him.  Kitchens and the areas around them were usually kept clean and the kitchen should be close to other things the crew might need, the washroom for one.  That was something Samari wasn't looking forward to again.

He shouldn't have been surprised that the bunk was another shelf.  If it worked for a normal ship it should work for an air ship.  Whoever designed this shelf had the good sense to set the bed a little lower than the edge of the shelf.  That, along with the air ship's smoothness, should keep him from waking up on the floor.  Samari paced around the room once he had a good look at the bed, taking note of what was where in case he needed to go somewhere in the middle of the night.

"It shouldn't bother me after hearing what it sounds like.  This isn't a place where people can just walk into any room they like is it?  I can handle anything taking place outside a room I'm sleeping in, but I've never had any luck sleeping when anyone around me is awake."

[Anonymous]

"I would be the only one coming in here if I ran out of something that I'd stored." He gestured towards the boxes slightly "But I just replenished yesterday, so I doubt I'll be poking around in here and disturbing you unless something quite out of the ordinary happens." Cook said, glancing around the room himself to double check his list of things in the room, and make sure the kitchen supply was indeed full as well. He didn't want to have to come wake the poor boy up. No one liked people poking around your room while you were trying to sleep in it.

"The crew doesn't spend much time in the kitchen, unless they are assigned to me, and unless given orders, they generally don't go into any of the rooms or closets, other than their own." And that was usually only when it was time to sleep, or they had to put their laundry away.

"I'll be just in the other room if you need anything" Cook assured. He was feeling unusually generous in his attempt to make sure Samari had what he needed to be comfortable. Perhaps it was simply the poor boy looked so lost and alone, like he desperately needed a dose of kindness. Or maybe Cook had a soft spot and it was simply the crew that never got to see it.

"Oh,and when you're ready, I'll show you how to get water, in case you get thirsty." Cook said, feeling a little slow for having not thought of it before.

[Anonymous]

Samari could live with that.  It shouldn't take Cook too long to get supplies when he came in.  He had a hazy idea of how long it took him to fall asleep after being awakened and an even hazier one of how long he'd need to stay awake before he wasn't going to go back to sleep.  Those were just a few things he was going to have to learn over again, unless he was still going to sleep like the dead.

He circled the room again, digging a nail into the shiny part of a square he was carrying and trying to figure out what he was going to do with them.  Then Cook offered to show him where the drinking water was.  Habit kicked in, which nearly had him thanking Cook and making a mental note to ask later so he wouldn't get suspicious about why he wasn't drinking water.  He actually needed to know where the drinking water was.  Better now than at some late hour when Cook was already asleep.

"If you don't mind," Samari set the squares he was holding down and walked around them.  "Could you show me now?  That way I won't need to bother you later."  Then, just to make sure he added.  "Do you have any bathing water on this ship?"

[Anonymous]

Cook nodded. "You can put the pillows down on the bed there." Cook suggested before turning to show him the water spout in the kitchen. "Yes, we have bathing water, though it's used sparingly since we never really know when we're going to return to port" He admitted.

"Drinking water is fairly simple" He assured, motioning him over so he could see. "Just get your container" He opened a cabinet to show where they were. "Hold it under the spout, like this, and push this button here. See the little lines? that's supposed to be a picture of water coming out, I guess." The glass began filling. "Then, when you have the amount you want, push this other button, it'll shut off." Cook shrugged "Fairly simple. Just make sure you remember to turn it off before you walk away." After all, they needed water.

"As for bathing, we don't usually have a full bath or shower. I think sponge bath is the term most of them use. Basically, a wet cloth and some soap. We have a limited supply of water, so we try to conserve it as much as possible." He shifted to get moving again, his leg giving a squeak. "And that, is this spout over here" He said, showing him a spout that was much closer to the floor over a drain of sorts. "Same thing as the other spout though. Push the button with the water lines for on, and the other one for off. Buckets are under the sink, towels and wash cloths are....well, they're in lots of places, but there should be some in your room on the second shelf by the door." Those were usually the ones Cook used. The other crewmen generally had their own supply near their rooms.

[Anonymous]

Eventually the little squares, pillows Cook kept calling them, were going to end up on the bed anyway; so Samari picked them up and began tossing them onto the shelf-bed.  Once that was through he bounded after Cook.

He expected the water to be stored in it's own room, stacked high and secure with a little tap in the barrel the crew was using to drink from.  What Cook showed him was a tap, but he couldn't see it going into anything but the wall.  Samari raised an eyebrow.  It was soon joined by the other and his jaw fell open when Cook pressed the little decoration called button, which did look a bit like a button on a coat, and water started flowing out of the tap.  Pressing the other one made it stop.  

Fairly simple.  Samari thought it was fairly amazing.  He was tempted to spend some time hovering over the tap, pressing the buttons until he was tired of looking at water.  Which, if it wasn't coming from nowhere wouldn't have been too long.  The water wasn't for playing with though... unless they could suck it out of the rainclouds.  Then again, the sailors couldn't just collect rain in pans, so getting it from the clouds might not work either.

Hearing about sponges surprised him nearly as much as all the other strange things he'd seen.  Sponges weren't strange and new though, they were expensive little bathing things that were the dried bodies of some sea animal.  They were good for holding water and soap and Samari was just a little disappointed that the name didn't imply that the crew used a sponge when they wiped themselves down.  Water for cleaning seemed the same as water for drinking, only it went into a bigger bucket.

"Where does the water come from?  I don't see any barrels or anything else it can be stored in."  Samari couldn't resist asking the question.  If he didn't ask, he would have been trying to find the location, and that wouldn't lead anywhere good.

[Anonymous]

"The water is stored in tanks in the interior of the ship-- kind of like a giant barrel, made out of metal instead of wood, then pipes run from the tank, to the taps." Cook explained with a shrug. "How did you get water back home?" His question had made Cook curious. After all, if he'd never seen an indoor tap, that was adding another support to Cook's theory that Samari was out of his time, not just off his planet-- but then there was also always the possibility of Samari's planet just not being as advanced in some things as other planets were.

Not every planet could be good at the same things. One worked death magic, while no other planet would touch it, another was bent on universe domination and having total control over their citizens. Everyplace was different, and Cook felt that was probably a good thing-- as long as you could avoid angering the natives when planet hopping. Getting picked up by law enforcement on any planet put a cramp in the mission, whatever the mission may have been.

"I should probably show you the toilet" Cook said a he registered Samari's complete lack of knowledge connected to modern indoor plumbing. He didn't really want to have to fix or clean anything due to a misunderstanding of how it really worked, and poor Samari just trying to figure it out on his own. "What sort of toilet did you have back home?" He wanted an idea of just how unfamiliar Samari might be with the concept so to hopefully avoid making him feel like he was being treated as if he didn't know anything at all.

[Anonymous]

"The water doesn't start tasting like metal does it?"  Samari looked back at the tap and then the glass of water Cook filled.  Water in a tin cup would start tasting like the cup if it was left in there long enough.  Whether or not the water tasted like metal, it was a good system.  Once you filled up the tanks, you didn't need to go to them whenever you needed water for anything, just pressed the button and got whatever amount of water was needed.  Maybe if they lined the inside of the tank with clay it would do something about the water picking up a metallic taste.

Samari perked up a little when Cook mentioned the toilet.  That was something he was going to need.  He was a little surprised they had space on the airship to devote to one.  Maybe people in this city took more care in their appearance than most sailors back in Thanatos did.  "Mine was a little extravagant, but I've always been a little fussy about my appearance.  I had the basics: a brush, a comb, a mirror, a basin and a pitcher to clean my hands and face.  Then I had various potions for the hair and skin and a toothbrush, I never liked having... food on my teeth.  I had a little brazier too, in case anything needed to be warmed up."

[Anonymous]

"No, the water usually doesn't end up tasting like metal. I think it's lined with something to protect it from rusting and leaking and all that. I was on a ship once where the water did taste like metal...but that ship was in such a decrepit state, I got off the first stop I could. It rattled and smoked and bits were falling off. I figured they'd lost more than half of their bolts---those are bits like the thing you helped put back in my leg to hold it together-- and without the bolts one of the wings were bound to go flying off some time if we attempted reentry into any atmosphere." Cook shook his head. "They dropped me off at a space station, and I learned to inspect a ship before I agreed to sign on as crew." The captain had been decent enough...but apparently with no pride in his ship, which irked Cook.

"Well, most of that sort of thing, the grooming and all, you'll have to do in your room. We have a lot more crew than we do toilets, so mostly, they take care of their business, wash their hands and move on, so other people can use it also. I'll find a mirror to hang on the wall in your room along with a comb and a toothbrush. You can use the bucket as your basin. If you need a razor for shaving, I can find you that as well. Potions, unless you mean something like lotion, or aftershave, you're on your own. We don't have any potions on the ship."

"There's one down by the men's sleeping quarters." Cook said, heading for the hall again. "They all share it, so try not to be in there longer than you need to be, but don't be shy about using it. They've all needed it, and most of them have managed to drink themselves sick at one time or another and have had to spend a good portion of their day in there, so none of them can begrudge you needing to use it." Cook assured. He occasionally might swig a drink or two, but normally, he avoided it. He had to cook meals and if he was hung over and throwing up, he couldn't do his job-- plus, in his opinion, it was never a good idea to mix alcohol and medicine. Before he'd needed to be repaired with bio mechanics, he'd drank right along with the best of them, getting drunk on leave and such, but he'd always taken his job very seriously. People needed to eat, and it was his job to feed them.

[Anonymous]

Samari wasn't sure which visual was worse.  A normal ship breaking down in the middle of the ocean or an air-ship losing a wing while it was practically on top of the sky.  Thankfully this ship didn't seem like it would do that, he took Cook's word that he wouldn't have been on there if it might.  Samari pushed the thought out of his head before it got a chance to cling there and replay itself every time the air-ship leaned too far to one side or made some strange air-ship noise.

The confusion certainly helped.  Samari stopped and blinked, trying to figure out why they had a toilet but didn't do anything in it.  Was it just for show?  Just to hold items they would need to tend to their hygiene?  

Wait.  Samari leaned against a wall and tried to remember something that was dancing around on the tip of his head like a mute messenger without anything to write with.  He was forgetting something, that much he knew.  It didn't help that he could only remember that he forgot it.  So pushed himself off the wall and began trotting after Cook, listening to what he was saying about this toilet and trying to add that in with what he was forgetting.

It was mentioning the drink that did it.  Samari put his hand against his head and groaned softly.  "I forgot toilet had another meaning," Samari ran the hand up into his hair and laughed.  A few short 'heh's.  "It's been a strange day... my head's not right."  He ran his hand back down his face and let it flop back down at his side.  "I won't need a razor and I can make do with just a mirror, comb and toothbrush."

He walked in silence for a little while, looking at his fingernails and wondering why he didn't ask for a file and clipper when he had the chance.  It would have to wait until later.  "Maybe once we get close enough to Thanatos I'll have a few drinks myself.  I'll need to be a little drunk so I can explain everything that's happened so far."

[Anonymous]

Cook glanced back at Samari. He certainly was a strange case. "I suppose it does" Cook said, though he'd never had anyone else get confused about it yet. "On the planets, lots of folks have a bathroom/restroom/washroom or whatever they call it to pretty up the fact that it's a toilet, and they do all their grooming and hygiene in there. It's a common practice, but not so much on ships. There just isn't the space." He admitted

"What was it called back home?" Most people's first thought was not hygiene practices, particularly not while they were zooming around in the air for hours at a time.

"I am very curious about your strange day, and hearing everything that happened would be fascinating." There really wasn't supposed to be alcohol on board other than for medical purposes, and for the most part, they followed that rule. After all, a drunk crew would be of no use to anyone, but, there was always the off chance you were going to die, so most of the crew had a secret stash that they didn't tap into regularly. "I might be able to hunt something down for you...what's your drink of choice?"

[Anonymous]

Samari raised an eyebrow, almost forgetting again that Cook was talking about the other meaning of toilet.  He could see why they would want to have another, lighter name to distinguish them.  Not that people should talk about what they were doing in either room.  That was personal and not the sort of thing to broadcast.  Though, getting directions to the one that would help most was practical.  If the host didn't set up a toilet for basic hygiene in his guest rooms.

"We call it a chamber pot and most houses are designed so it is in the same area, so there's no need to ask about it."

Where to start about his day?  Unless he was careful he was going to end up giving away that when he got up this evening he didn't have a pulse.  As tempting as it was to start drinking, the booze might loosen his tongue just enough to let that little detail slip.  He could always get the basic details out of the way while they were scavenging for some.  "I usually drink wine, but now I'll take anything you have.  Just let me know if its strong, the last thing I need is to get sloppy drunk."

Samari made a show of looking at his nails again, letting a few seconds trickle past and then spoke again.  "I can start now, just follow you around while you look.  Then you can decide if you need anything to help swallow it."  He cleared his throat, glanced up at Cook and began.  "I knew someone back on Thanatos.  A very annoying man, let's leave it at that.  That annoyance was between us for the longest time.  Years.  Earlier this year this very annoying man got an advantage that made him bolder and he decided to draw others into our little game."

[Anonymous]

Chamber Pot. Cook suspected he might have to give lessons on how to operate most of the equipment in the ship. The poor boy had been fascinated by tap buttons for goodness sakes. More and more evidence had Cook thinking he'd somehow come from a different time-- though again, there was still the possibility it was simply a less advanced planet in that particular area, but considering Samari had asked for his home planet by it's former name, it seemed the less likely possibility.

"Ah. Wine I think I do have" Cook admitted, poking around his cupboards and under the counters until he came to a cupboard that seemed mostly empty. He reached in with his mechanical arm and there was a bit of a whirring noise before he switched hands and pulled out a couple bottles of wine. He offered them to Samari before reaching back under and 'whirring' again. He didn't drink wine often, but he cooked with it, and kept it stashed for the off chance that while they were in port, he wanted a drink. He wasn't so fond of the night clubs anymore.

A guy you didn't get along with. That was often the start to a lot of not-so-happy stories. "Had the two of you actually had a fight? or did you just never get along?" If they just never got along, it seemed horribly unsportsmanlike to pull in other people. It was unsportsmanlike in a fight too, but didn't come across as quite so petty in Cook's mind.

[Anonymous]

Samari took both bottles of wine, tilting one to read the label.  Must be nice wine if they had a printing press to make the labels, or could commission a calligrapher to make such neat labels.  He set one on the counter and looked at the other, wondering if he should open it now and start drinking now that the beginning of the story was set up, or wait.

Wait.  He had to keep control.

"There was no violence between us until today.  He threatened my former apprentice, his wife and his child, not to hurt me... just to see if he could force me into... making a decision," Samari drummed his fingers against the bottle of wine.  "That was when I realized that he was more than a nuisance.  We met.  We fought."  Samari grimaced.  "We could have found a better place to fight than a working alchemy lab.  He had me by the neck and when I got loose, I fell back into a table and boom," Samari gestured, spreading his arms out.  "I'm here, in this odd country."

Samari leaned back into the counter, tapping his nails against the wine bottle in his hand.  "It was everything that happened after that was strange."  Like being alive again.  That was going to be awkward when he woke up.

[Anonymous]

"So...any number of things could have happened when you fell, I imagine" Cook said, retrieving a glass for Samari. "Are you particularly familiar with teleportation, or the fabric of time?" He was a little concerned that a hole had been made and things could start to unravel.

He set about his tasks, preparing for the next meal, but was paying most of his attention to Samari. After all, he cooked several times a day, often the same food for each meal, depending on what their supplies were like. He could practically do it with his eyes closed

"Are there authorities that should be contacted about this man and his threats? Do you suppose your friends are in danger?" They did have radios after all. Maybe they could send a message if needbe.

[Anonymous]

"Whatever happened, it won't be easy to explain... or even understand why it did,"  Samari drummed his fingers against the bottle, flicking the cork with his thumbnail.  He looked up at Cook and tilted his head to the side after his questions.  "Teleportation, yes.  It's the best way to get around my area.  The fabric of time... I know as much about it as anyone can.  Which isn't much."

That was an odd thing to ask.  He tapped again, stabbing his thumb into the cork and wriggling it back and forth.  "What's time got to do with it?  I can't have been unconscious for that long after the explosion transported me here..."  He pulled his thumb out of the cork, swallowed, tried not to think about any other reason he could have been transported.  "Unless... it wasn't the explosion.  It doesn't make sense... Villi doesn't want me half way across the world."

Samari began tapping a heel against the floor and paced over to the other side of the kitchen soon after.  "I was supposed to be the authority that took care of him.  There was a chance that it could have been an idle threat, that he wanted to scare them and make me think that worse would come later.  Humans are weird like that."

[Anonymous]

Cook glanced over and realized he'd neglected to provide Samari with a corkscrew. He himself didn't usually need one. He was part swissarmy knife with that mechanical hand of his. He had to think for a minute before he pulled it out of a drawer and laid it on the table beside the bottle.

"Well, from everything you've told me so far, I think time could very well factor in. It's a possibility worth at least considering, that you might not be in your own time now." Cook said as gently as he could, which he wasn't very good at, but he didn't really want Samari to go crazy on the ship either.

"Yes, humans are weird like that. Was he human? the one you had an annoyance with? And what are you again?" Humans said 'people are weird like that' there was no need for a human to specify that humas were weird.