[It's a minute or so of delay before Zelos gets a response to his message; this is definitely one of the Compass's more unpleasant curveballs, in Jack's opinion, and this soon into things he's still sort of...trying to get a grip on things.]
[And it's hard.]
[At the very least he's incrementally calmer now than he had been off the bat, first waking up to completely unfamiliar surroundings--and Jack doesn't have the presence of mind to switch to text himself, much as it might have been preferable. And better for all parties, maybe...but by the time the notion occurs Jack's already blinking at the video feed for a few moments, trying to piece back together a reply. He's in a crouch, for the time being, with his back against one of the metallic walls of the flight lounge--notably pale, even for him.]
[And the feed quivers slightly in his hands before Jack sets it on the more stable support of his knees.]
Yeah, I'm--yeah. In the ship. ...Spaceship. We're in-- [A short breath, and then Jack shakes his head shortly almost to himself. Outer space is what he wants to say, but just thinking about it is almost enough to set off the terrifying vertigo again. And so, instead--] --it's, someplace called a flight lounge, over here? From what I'm hearing. There's...broken stuff that needs fixing, I guess.
[But even through he worst sort of preoccupation, concern manages to fight its way through anyway.]
Are you okay? S'that where the others are, over there? There's only a handful of people over here...
[Broken stuff. Great. That doesn't sound good at all, and it seems to be the case all over, not just in his own little area. He frowns a bit, but that's short enough in comparison to the calm look he takes on while peering at the video.]
I'm fine, but you're looking even paler than usual, buddy. Is there any kind of problem for you in space? [It sounds casual but it's a serious question. Who knows how spirits work man he doesn't okay.]
...As for over here, I'm in the Hydroponics deck. Looks like just another handful too, so we must be spread out all over the ship if all of us even are here. Something's wrong with the filters.
[Meanwhile he's trying to figure out what a flight lounge would have in a spaceship thing. Controls or something?? Engines? He has no idea.]
[Zelos frowns, then segues over to that particular question, and Jack shifts a bit in place--if he hadn't looked unhappy before, then he certainly is now, and his glance cuts away from the screen for a bit.]
...I don't--know. Kind of? I shouldn't, I shouldn't be--I've never been this high-- [A pause so he can draw in another breath, swallow, and run a hand through his hair distractedly, shaking his head again.] We're just...a really long way from the ground right now, y'know? ...And there's no wind up here. But that's--not important. I'll be fine. [He thinks. Hopefully. As long as he doesn't dwell on the fact too much, rather the way you try not to think too hard about a fractured bone to make the pain a bit less, but well--yes. Anyway. Jack manages to fix his eyes on the feed again at length, brows furrowing.] Hydro--what? What's that? What do you mean, something's wrong with filters? For water or something?
tosses back much too quickly like the true rival to your progress I am...
This is about as far from natural as we can get, huh... [That's spoken more in a tone of his thinking out loud, which it actually is, rather than anything addressed towards Jack. But it makes sense to him on some level. Jack's a weather spirit of some sort, right? To be stuck in a place where weather isn't a thing...]
Just let me know if it gets worse and I'll see if any of my magic can help. [He tries to make it come off completely casual so it's easier to follow up on, but it's hard not to let concern show itself when he so rarely speaks seriously.
At least he moves on quickly enough to raise a free finger to scratch lightly at a cheek. Water...]
Uh, no. Hydroponics. You know, like plants and stuff. [Well, he clearly doesn't know, and Zelos doesn't even realize it may be odd for others to notice his own extent of vocabulary-- but that aside.] It means the air filters. Just in this area right now, though!
omfg throws this back at your face!! WHY MUST YOU DENY ME NIRVANA ETERNALLY YOU FIEND....
...Yeah, pretty much. [It does sound more like a thought simply said out loud, but Jack lets the morose agreement push out anyway, because that's precisely where his thoughts are falling on the whole matter too. The offer of magic to help earns another uncomfortable shift in place, though, even as casually as Zelos tries to pass it off.] I--sure, okay, I will. Not...really sure if there's anything you could do, but I mean. As long as we're just here, right? Or something...
[Honestly, it's a bit difficult to concentrate in this sort of atmosphere--kind of would have been anyway, even if it didn't feel like there was now a gaping hole somewhere in the core of his being, in a place he hadn't even figured a hole could exist. But the quick shift to other subjects helps to give Jack more of a focus, in turn, and he latches onto it like a drowning guy to a raft for all it's worth--enough so that he's able to manage leveling a genuinely quizzical look in the feed's direction, at Zelos' clarification.]
Plants...no, didn't know that. [And here he thought his guess might have been a bit closer...'hydro' like Hydra the sea monster and all that, right? Having an automatic grip on general language and knowledge fairly steeped in myths still doesn't always make for a crammed vocabulary, though. Evidently. And that's all quickly forgotten anyway, when Zelos goes on to say that--at which point quizzical immediately shifts into alarm.] Wait but air filters--those clean air and stuff, usually, right? That means something's wrong with the air over there, doesn't it?
Edited (ALSO PUNCHES THESE TYPOS IN THE FACE) 2013-10-27 03:06 (UTC)
TAG TENNIS and your edits were just you missing the ball with your racket tbh
[That's his defense, even more casual than the last offer for help, and more quickly to settle it and set it aside. Because even if he can't manage, he's sure someone might be able to-- like Sheena, or his gels, who knows. But he wasn't going to just sit there and settle for Jack's discomfort or possible danger, whether the guy realized it or not.
Ah, but then the topic shifts to the actually current danger of air poisoning, and Zelos has to think of how to handle this. It could very well become a ship-wide problem, and it's certainly nothing to mess around with-- and according to Mirar, poison was entering their lungs as they spoke, but.
That's exactly why Zelos was going to play it off like it was nothing.]
Well, yeah, something like that! But it's fine, it's fine! Just have to take care of a little tech work and pest control, from the looks of things so far, and with the Great Zelos on the job, what could go wrong?
wow rude do you mean to say that i'm losing this game already!!
[A somewhat more reluctant admission, there, and just as quickly briefed over as Zelos makes his. It's a topic that Jack's already far from happy with, and that besides, not thinking directly about it helps a bit--which talking about it sort of defeats the purpose of...]
[What would happen to a weather spirit stranded in space for too long? Jack has no idea, and he honestly has no interest whatsoever in finding out.]
[Which is just as well, as Zelos' following remarks--and the general tone of them accompanying--help to pull Jack into a slightly more comfortable range of dubiousness over Zelos' evident lack of concern over air poisoning--]
Well, sounds like you guys have most everything under control, at least. We're kind of still trying to figure out what's even wrong around here, on this end. [Jack absently rubs at the side of his face as he puffs out a short sigh, glance flicking over the watch and to surroundings on the other side for a moment.] I think--one of the guys here is from this ship, though, so I guess it could be worse. But he doesn't seem very happy about stuff at all, so that's probably not a good sign.... [His eyes move back to the feed at length, brows furrowing slightly.] What's this about pest control?
Edited (also frivolously changes icon SHUT UP I DO WHAT I WANT >8() 2013-10-27 04:00 (UTC)
maybe I am!!! watches the ball fly past your racket yet again...
[He can't help but notice that discomfort, but as much as he wants to comment on it or may have things to say on the matter, dropping it probably is for the best.
And so he does, shifting to walk around his own area a bit more as his eyes switch between eyeing Jack on the watch and keeping a look out on his own surroundings.
Things are hardly in control so much as vaguely understood, right now, but he's not going to correct that.]
Wait, someone who knows this place? Was he back in the city too, or was he just here when we showed up? [Relevant questions.] But yeah, I peeked out into the areas we could have access to earlier, and there are these big things along with some other creepy looking creatures. Doesn't seem like they're going to just let us walk by very easily, either, since they've been coming up and thumping on doors.
double the rudeness then tbh!! THAT EDIT DIDN'T COUNT GOSH....
Yeah, he was in the city too. He's technically my roommate, actually--Isaac Clarke? [Jack shrugs slightly, from his end of the feed.] I don't use the rooms much, so we haven't really talked much until now.
[Jack settles a bit more against the wall, frame starting to relax incrementally. This alternative topic isn't exactly sunshine and daisies either, honestly, but compared to the last one...he'll take what he can get.]
[Still doesn't mean he can't grimace somewhat at the actual implications in that last bit there, though.]
Oh, of course there'd be monster aliens too. Can't have a spaceship without them, can we? [It's sarcasm a bit on the worn side, with another sigh to accompany it, though Jack regards the feed with concern starting to creep back again.] There isn't anything banging on our doors yet, but knowing Compass that's...probably not gonna last very long. Guess monsters should be par for the course by now, though. --You guys working on reinforcing those doors anyway? Somehow I get the feeling it'd be harder to fix filters with those running around at the same time.
I /guess/ I'll give you that one because I'm so kind..........
[His roommate is here too. All of them are, actually. It might be a coincidence, but considering his room was the last place he was in-- but that doesn't make any sense, either. Jack hadn't been in his, right? He had to be off on some roof or sitting in some funky place like an overhang to a shop or something like that.
Basic assumptions over here okay.]
We're not. Pretty sure we're going to need access to both areas if we want to fix things around here, if I'm understanding it right. [Being from a JRPG it only makes sense that he'd have logic based around complicated puzzles to solve issues in technology okay. But as far as he considers it, no one else is working on it and why would it all be in one compact area?]
So, I guess I'll just have to clear the way. With some help, of course. If that Isaac guy is over on your side, can't he figure out what's going on for you guys? It's not gonna be great if we're all shut off in sections like this for too long.
yes good /chucks another tag at your face while you aren't looking...!!!
[Basic assumptions that are indeed almost creepily accurate!! Or just a testament to how clockwork some of Jack’s habits actually are…but yes, indeed, he’d been traveling across rooftops around the time the sudden shift in reality had happened. Not exactly one of the best transitions ever, all things considered…]
[Jack doesn’t note the odd parallels here the same way Zelos might, however, as Zelos doesn’t elaborate it himself and Jack finds no particular reason to make the connection anyway at the moment; he really hasn’t spent too much time in the residential building, and hardly really knew who his roommates were, let alone who he might share a floor with…woes of being a weather spirit forever inclined to the outdoors, alas.]
[Anyway.]
[It all ends up being beside the point, in the end, as Jack’s frown towards the feed only intensifies the further Zelos goes on with his explanation of the situation on his end.]
Well--if that's what you guys figure, then. Promise you're gonna at least try to be careful while you're clearing out things on your end, won't you? [Jack shifts to fold a free arm around his knees, in substitute for the arm-crossing that would be happening otherwise if he were actually standing up.] …Guess I shouldn't be talking, though. If stuff goes over the same way in all these areas, then I guess that’s probably what I'll be doing too. Clearing things. I'm not--too great, with technical stuff. [He grimaces a bit, then glances off the camera again to the crowd milling in the actual lounge area on the other side of the feed for a moment.] Pretty sure Isaac's working on something though, yeah. Getting people together…there’s an elevator over here, I think everyone's mostly talking about how to get it open right now?
[Man, but just verbalizing it really emphasizes just how out of his element he feels, both in the figurative and literal sense--alongside how out of the loop he’s been up to now, with all this, preoccupied as he’s been with his own personal problems right now. It’d been a niggling thought anyway, even before Zelos had dropped in his call, a sort of guilt that he should be sitting against a wall like this trying not to feel too nauseous while everyone else around him seems to be picking themselves up just fine--]
[It all parses through as a bit of a pause, and a somewhat chagrined tilt in the way Jack thins his lips a bit, before turning his attention back to the feed properly.]
…I really should be chipping in to help too…
is promptly smacked in the face and falls over!! Alice why do our subjects always end up like this
[It's suddenly solid and attention seeking after all of his quiet listening to Jack. For once he doesn't interrupt for a word in edgewise, no, he waits until the end there at that chipping in comment. But he sees the glances, the shifts in posture, he hears the choice of words, and at a point like this, as easy as it would be to push it aside and focus on current worries, he knows that's the exact reason he should speak up on it.]
No one knows for sure what's going on around here. Not even that Isaac guy, from the sound of things. But we've just got to bring out what we're good at pitching in when things get rough, right? And I'd be willing to bet there are a few sad, worried faces over there you can get to cheer up even before you freeze some enemies in place.
[A verbal nudge of comfort, if you will. The seriousness fades to be less overwhelming, at least, as he smiles with one of his playful, signature Zelos winks.] Come on, I'll be careful, but only if you do the same. Deal? I can call to check up with you later.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[And it's hard.]
[At the very least he's incrementally calmer now than he had been off the bat, first waking up to completely unfamiliar surroundings--and Jack doesn't have the presence of mind to switch to text himself, much as it might have been preferable. And better for all parties, maybe...but by the time the notion occurs Jack's already blinking at the video feed for a few moments, trying to piece back together a reply. He's in a crouch, for the time being, with his back against one of the metallic walls of the flight lounge--notably pale, even for him.]
[And the feed quivers slightly in his hands before Jack sets it on the more stable support of his knees.]
Yeah, I'm--yeah. In the ship. ...Spaceship. We're in-- [A short breath, and then Jack shakes his head shortly almost to himself. Outer space is what he wants to say, but just thinking about it is almost enough to set off the terrifying vertigo again. And so, instead--] --it's, someplace called a flight lounge, over here? From what I'm hearing. There's...broken stuff that needs fixing, I guess.
[But even through he worst sort of preoccupation, concern manages to fight its way through anyway.]
Are you okay? S'that where the others are, over there? There's only a handful of people over here...
no subject
I'm fine, but you're looking even paler than usual, buddy. Is there any kind of problem for you in space? [It sounds casual but it's a serious question. Who knows how spirits work man he doesn't okay.]
...As for over here, I'm in the Hydroponics deck. Looks like just another handful too, so we must be spread out all over the ship if all of us even are here. Something's wrong with the filters.
[Meanwhile he's trying to figure out what a flight lounge would have in a spaceship thing. Controls or something?? Engines? He has no idea.]
casually tosses this in sob.....
...I don't--know. Kind of? I shouldn't, I shouldn't be--I've never been this high-- [A pause so he can draw in another breath, swallow, and run a hand through his hair distractedly, shaking his head again.] We're just...a really long way from the ground right now, y'know? ...And there's no wind up here. But that's--not important. I'll be fine. [He thinks. Hopefully. As long as he doesn't dwell on the fact too much, rather the way you try not to think too hard about a fractured bone to make the pain a bit less, but well--yes. Anyway. Jack manages to fix his eyes on the feed again at length, brows furrowing.] Hydro--what? What's that? What do you mean, something's wrong with filters? For water or something?
tosses back much too quickly like the true rival to your progress I am...
Just let me know if it gets worse and I'll see if any of my magic can help. [He tries to make it come off completely casual so it's easier to follow up on, but it's hard not to let concern show itself when he so rarely speaks seriously.
At least he moves on quickly enough to raise a free finger to scratch lightly at a cheek. Water...]
Uh, no. Hydroponics. You know, like plants and stuff. [Well, he clearly doesn't know, and Zelos doesn't even realize it may be odd for others to notice his own extent of vocabulary-- but that aside.] It means the air filters. Just in this area right now, though!
omfg throws this back at your face!! WHY MUST YOU DENY ME NIRVANA ETERNALLY YOU FIEND....
[Honestly, it's a bit difficult to concentrate in this sort of atmosphere--kind of would have been anyway, even if it didn't feel like there was now a gaping hole somewhere in the core of his being, in a place he hadn't even figured a hole could exist. But the quick shift to other subjects helps to give Jack more of a focus, in turn, and he latches onto it like a drowning guy to a raft for all it's worth--enough so that he's able to manage leveling a genuinely quizzical look in the feed's direction, at Zelos' clarification.]
Plants...no, didn't know that. [And here he thought his guess might have been a bit closer...'hydro' like Hydra the sea monster and all that, right? Having an automatic grip on general language and knowledge fairly steeped in myths still doesn't always make for a crammed vocabulary, though. Evidently. And that's all quickly forgotten anyway, when Zelos goes on to say that--at which point quizzical immediately shifts into alarm.] Wait but air filters--those clean air and stuff, usually, right? That means something's wrong with the air over there, doesn't it?
TAG TENNIS and your edits were just you missing the ball with your racket tbh
[That's his defense, even more casual than the last offer for help, and more quickly to settle it and set it aside. Because even if he can't manage, he's sure someone might be able to-- like Sheena, or his gels, who knows. But he wasn't going to just sit there and settle for Jack's discomfort or possible danger, whether the guy realized it or not.
Ah, but then the topic shifts to the actually current danger of air poisoning, and Zelos has to think of how to handle this. It could very well become a ship-wide problem, and it's certainly nothing to mess around with-- and according to Mirar, poison was entering their lungs as they spoke, but.
That's exactly why Zelos was going to play it off like it was nothing.]
Well, yeah, something like that! But it's fine, it's fine! Just have to take care of a little tech work and pest control, from the looks of things so far, and with the Great Zelos on the job, what could go wrong?
wow rude do you mean to say that i'm losing this game already!!
[A somewhat more reluctant admission, there, and just as quickly briefed over as Zelos makes his. It's a topic that Jack's already far from happy with, and that besides, not thinking directly about it helps a bit--which talking about it sort of defeats the purpose of...]
[What would happen to a weather spirit stranded in space for too long? Jack has no idea, and he honestly has no interest whatsoever in finding out.]
[Which is just as well, as Zelos' following remarks--and the general tone of them accompanying--help to pull Jack into a slightly more comfortable range of dubiousness over Zelos' evident lack of concern over air poisoning--]
Well, sounds like you guys have most everything under control, at least. We're kind of still trying to figure out what's even wrong around here, on this end. [Jack absently rubs at the side of his face as he puffs out a short sigh, glance flicking over the watch and to surroundings on the other side for a moment.] I think--one of the guys here is from this ship, though, so I guess it could be worse. But he doesn't seem very happy about stuff at all, so that's probably not a good sign.... [His eyes move back to the feed at length, brows furrowing slightly.] What's this about pest control?
maybe I am!!! watches the ball fly past your racket yet again...
And so he does, shifting to walk around his own area a bit more as his eyes switch between eyeing Jack on the watch and keeping a look out on his own surroundings.
Things are hardly in control so much as vaguely understood, right now, but he's not going to correct that.]
Wait, someone who knows this place? Was he back in the city too, or was he just here when we showed up? [Relevant questions.] But yeah, I peeked out into the areas we could have access to earlier, and there are these big things along with some other creepy looking creatures. Doesn't seem like they're going to just let us walk by very easily, either, since they've been coming up and thumping on doors.
double the rudeness then tbh!! THAT EDIT DIDN'T COUNT GOSH....
[Jack settles a bit more against the wall, frame starting to relax incrementally. This alternative topic isn't exactly sunshine and daisies either, honestly, but compared to the last one...he'll take what he can get.]
[Still doesn't mean he can't grimace somewhat at the actual implications in that last bit there, though.]
Oh, of course there'd be monster aliens too. Can't have a spaceship without them, can we? [It's sarcasm a bit on the worn side, with another sigh to accompany it, though Jack regards the feed with concern starting to creep back again.] There isn't anything banging on our doors yet, but knowing Compass that's...probably not gonna last very long. Guess monsters should be par for the course by now, though. --You guys working on reinforcing those doors anyway? Somehow I get the feeling it'd be harder to fix filters with those running around at the same time.
I /guess/ I'll give you that one because I'm so kind..........
[His roommate is here too. All of them are, actually. It might be a coincidence, but considering his room was the last place he was in-- but that doesn't make any sense, either. Jack hadn't been in his, right? He had to be off on some roof or sitting in some funky place like an overhang to a shop or something like that.
Basic assumptions over here okay.]
We're not. Pretty sure we're going to need access to both areas if we want to fix things around here, if I'm understanding it right. [Being from a JRPG it only makes sense that he'd have logic based around complicated puzzles to solve issues in technology okay. But as far as he considers it, no one else is working on it and why would it all be in one compact area?]
So, I guess I'll just have to clear the way. With some help, of course. If that Isaac guy is over on your side, can't he figure out what's going on for you guys? It's not gonna be great if we're all shut off in sections like this for too long.
yes good /chucks another tag at your face while you aren't looking...!!!
[Jack doesn’t note the odd parallels here the same way Zelos might, however, as Zelos doesn’t elaborate it himself and Jack finds no particular reason to make the connection anyway at the moment; he really hasn’t spent too much time in the residential building, and hardly really knew who his roommates were, let alone who he might share a floor with…woes of being a weather spirit forever inclined to the outdoors, alas.]
[Anyway.]
[It all ends up being beside the point, in the end, as Jack’s frown towards the feed only intensifies the further Zelos goes on with his explanation of the situation on his end.]
Well--if that's what you guys figure, then. Promise you're gonna at least try to be careful while you're clearing out things on your end, won't you? [Jack shifts to fold a free arm around his knees, in substitute for the arm-crossing that would be happening otherwise if he were actually standing up.] …Guess I shouldn't be talking, though. If stuff goes over the same way in all these areas, then I guess that’s probably what I'll be doing too. Clearing things. I'm not--too great, with technical stuff. [He grimaces a bit, then glances off the camera again to the crowd milling in the actual lounge area on the other side of the feed for a moment.] Pretty sure Isaac's working on something though, yeah. Getting people together…there’s an elevator over here, I think everyone's mostly talking about how to get it open right now?
[Man, but just verbalizing it really emphasizes just how out of his element he feels, both in the figurative and literal sense--alongside how out of the loop he’s been up to now, with all this, preoccupied as he’s been with his own personal problems right now. It’d been a niggling thought anyway, even before Zelos had dropped in his call, a sort of guilt that he should be sitting against a wall like this trying not to feel too nauseous while everyone else around him seems to be picking themselves up just fine--]
[It all parses through as a bit of a pause, and a somewhat chagrined tilt in the way Jack thins his lips a bit, before turning his attention back to the feed properly.]
…I really should be chipping in to help too…
is promptly smacked in the face and falls over!! Alice why do our subjects always end up like this
[It's suddenly solid and attention seeking after all of his quiet listening to Jack. For once he doesn't interrupt for a word in edgewise, no, he waits until the end there at that chipping in comment. But he sees the glances, the shifts in posture, he hears the choice of words, and at a point like this, as easy as it would be to push it aside and focus on current worries, he knows that's the exact reason he should speak up on it.]
No one knows for sure what's going on around here. Not even that Isaac guy, from the sound of things. But we've just got to bring out what we're good at pitching in when things get rough, right? And I'd be willing to bet there are a few sad, worried faces over there you can get to cheer up even before you freeze some enemies in place.
[A verbal nudge of comfort, if you will. The seriousness fades to be less overwhelming, at least, as he smiles with one of his playful, signature Zelos winks.] Come on, I'll be careful, but only if you do the same. Deal? I can call to check up with you later.