2020-09-19: Sealab2020 3B Enchantment Under the Sea
| Enchantment Under the Sea | |
|---|---|
| After a harrowing journey across the sea floor, the intrepid crew who left the Integrity make it to Deepwater. Waiting for them is a sumptuous feast... but is something sinister lurking under the largess? | |
| IC Date | August 30th, 2020 |
| IC Time | Night |
| Players | Albright, Eden (ST and Rocco), Winters, and Vivian (as NPC_Angela) |
| Location | Aboard the VEC Integrity, near the Mariana Trench |
| Prp/Tp | Sealab2020 |
| Spheres | Weaver |
Banquet Rules:
(Must succeed a Intelligence + Enigmas vs 10 roll to identify what is going on.)
Endless Hunger: No matter how much you eat or drink. You can never be satisfied.
Not Quite Full: There always seems to be more room for another helping of something.
Passions Run High: Energy seems to be celebratory and ecstatic. This is one of the best nights of your life. You find it hard to not smile, laugh or enjoy yourself no matter what.
Deepwater Construct Level 11 - Observation Gallery
This opulent room looks more suited for a high-society party than being at the bottom of the ocean. Rich wood tiles, immaculately detailed, line the entire floor - every centimeter of which is shined to brilliance. The room is dominated by the titanic bubble window at the far wall that provides a majestic panoramic view of the seafloor and overlooks the Trench outside. Occasionally, small flashes of blue, red, or green can be seen in the deep as bioflourescant creatures flitter around in the depths creating a vibrant, animated starshow. A large crystal chandelier emits soft but bright pure white light, making the whole room seem to shine with decadence and illuminates the massive smorgasbord of food and drinks available.
A large central table is filled to the edges with elegant dishes presenting an eye-popping variety of truly rich foods; seafood predominates (naturally), but there are also such delicacies like stuffed pheasant, succulent chicken breast, and even finely sliced beef. As for the seafood available, there is just about every type and preparation method one might imagine: steamed shrimp and crab legs, fried fish and calamari, grilled octopus and clams... and of course a wide variety of sushi. Several secondary tables are nestled at the edges of the room with cutlery and plates available as well as several bottles of wine of different types, both white and red exist for consumption. A series of long-fluted glasses already filled with the alcohol are available for the taking; along with dessert trays for those want to satisfy their sweet tooth.
Jakob had escorted the Integrity crew through the aquatic hanger bay and is lead off from the main party to discuss why so many GENES are dead and the mess with the aquatic rovers - also the death of the CO didn't look good for his record.
The rest of the crew is lead up several levels to private rooms to change and shower, or rest as needed. But when they attempt to leave, they're escorted to a luxurious banquet hall where they can feast. The food outnumbering the guests as a fishman in a tuxedo assists where needed. His golden name plate reads, 'Rocco' and both his flared gills and Mohawk of fins look exquisite.
Dr Albright arrives at the banquet that is being held for them. "They sure seem to go to a lot of effort for some people they just saved. I wonder if they are hoping for a favor or something."
Boy does Angela clean up nice! Clad in a strapless pearl-white dress that reaches all the way to the floor, the brown haired Engineer is dressed to the nines. A slit that goes up the side to the hip frees up any restricted movement, her feet in dainty white pumps. Her mousy brown hair has been washed and conditioned and now positively shines in the light. Despite the previous spectre of death that has hung over recent events and the grim sights to get here, Angela seems to be in exceedingly high spirits, nearly bouncing on her feet.
"This is amazing!" she exclaims, turning about in place, the light catching off the expertly cut diamond necklace at her throat, "I bet you this dress alone cost two months' worth of salary! I don't think I've -ever- been in something this fancy."
The bright, happy smile on the young Engineer's face turns to mild shock as she sees the huge spread presented out before them, her eyes widening. "Holy... is this all for us?" she asks in a hushed voice as she walks her way over to examine the banquet more closely, pumps tapping against the wood floor counting out her gait, "This looks enough to feed an army!" Still, she's not going to look a gift squid in the beak and Angela immediately picks up a glass of bubbly, slightly amber alcohol and brings the tall container to her lips. "Mmmn," she sighs in contentment through her dark red lipstick, "This is good. How did they get it down here? It must've cost a fortune to transport." She almost immediately drains the rest of the glass before plucking up another. While bringing it to her lips she quirks an eyebrow at Albright, lips curling slightly downward.
"Eh?" she asks, "What could they possibly want from the crew of a stricken ship? I mean... I guess we could provide some technical assistance if they want. But I'd do that anyway without all this." She shrugs and then gulps down a third of her drink.
Dr Albright looks around the room, then towards Angela, "Well maybe they want us to use our ship to attack the sharks or something? The ship has pretty big guns on it, so it might be better than whatever weapons they have. They don't seem to get along well either."
Oh hey, there's more than just drinks! There's food, too! After downing another chunk of her drink, Angela turns to one of the side tables and gathers up a plate and some utensils before making a bee-line for the massive spread on the central table. Her eyes shine and a bright smile spreads over her features as she begins loading up her plate with just about everything in reach. So much great stuff!
"Mmn!" Angela nearly squeals once finally taking a bite of one of delectables, her eyes rolling up in her head briefly at the heavenly taste. She chews slowly, peering at Albright curiously before swallowing, eyes darting towards Rocco before turning back.
"Maybe," Angela agrees with a faint moue of concern, "But if they can get all this -- I mean, beef and chicken at the bottom of the ocean! -- then surely they can get some weapons easily enough." She smiles brightly, lightly nudging Albright with a shoulder (seeing as her hands are occupied with food and drink), "C'mon, maybe they just want to show us a good time, yeah? Maker knows we deserve it after the day we've had. Don't be so suspicious. Enjoy yourself!" She downs the rest of her drink as if to punctuate the statement.
Dr Albright shakes her head, "There is a big difference in being able to get some food, and being able to get a space ship sized laser gun." She doesn't seem nearly as impressed with all the food as Angela seems to be, "Well there is nothing wrong with enjoying yourself but if they want any special favor they need to provide real compensation."
David took awhile! Perhaps some mourning for dear old departed Eden. Or soon to be departed. Either way, the Captain is dead! But....a suit, vest, shiny shoes are apparently what people expect other people to wear in their underwater lab. So he'll be one of the last to arrive at the dining room to.....veer off and dig into food instead of greet people.
After a brief retreat to gather up another glass of bubbly, Angela returns to speaking with Albright. "I guess," she murmurs in regards to the other woman's assessment of the ease of getting resources, "Not really my thing. I'm a techie, after all; money matters are a bit above my head. But I do appreciate the hospitality they're showing at least, even if it is just to butter us up for something later."
"So, uh, we never really had much chance to talk on mission," Angela says with a sheepish smile to Albright, "Given I'm in engineering and you're in the infirmary and all. So... we should get better acquainted." This last said a bit awkwardly as the brown haired woman blushes faintly, covering up her social embarrassment by chomping down on some peeled steamed shrimp. The woman offers up a conspiratorial grin as she leans towards the good doctor and speaks in sotto voce, "This was my first field mission, believe or not. I used to be in R and E doing technical drafting and design work. I wanted something a bit less boring and maybe a bit of adventure." Her smile turns sardonic and self-deprecating, "Heh. Guess I got what I wished for, huh?" More alcohol!
When Winters arrives dressed to the nines, Angela smiles brightly and raises her glass in salute. "Try the shrimp!" she suggests, nodding to the steaming heap of peeled arthropods, "They're - divine-!"
Winters finds himself carrying a plate of food and looking for familiar faces. He'll turn from the table and walk out amid...well, not much of a crowd. But enough that he has to look around a bit before finding his crewmates and approaching them. Shrimp have definitely found their way onto his plate as he moves off towards the person who called to him. "This is an atypical field mission at /best/. They're usually a lot more boring than this."
Coquettish laughter spills forth from Angela as she looks over at Winters with a wry smile. "Well, I'll -definitely- take a bit of boring after all of this," she replies, "I'd like a nice happy medium between my desk job and stark terror." She cants her head at the man and bites her lower lip in consideration. "So, how many field missions have you been on?" Angela asks, "I mean, it sounds like you're pretty experienced."
Dr Albright looks around at the lavish feast being held for the group, though in her mind she is calculating the costs of all the food and drinks and ultimately it doesn't seem as impressive. She looks to Angela as they chat, "Well this is my first mission like this as well, though it does seem to be a lot of stuff going wrong, I am confident we will go through it though. Before I was just doing things in the lab and doing research. I did go out diving and stuff to look for research subjects and what not, but it wasn't anything as grand scale as what we are doing here."
On the table, a giant black lobster begins to twitch and move. It slithers across the banquet food as it makes a mad dash towards an exit - before Rocco steps in and picks him up safely. For those enjoying themselves it's quite humorous as Rocco with his fin mohawk profusely apologizes. "My dear, some of our guests prefer live food. Please forgive me and watch what you eat.", as yes, various dishes across the banquet do have live or near live specimens. Another example was prepared wiggling octopus on a iced filled tray with a glass bowl on top. Rocco who might of been French or Italian in origin takes the lobster away. He was likely one of the head cooks and deals with the squirming crustacean.
Munch munch munch drink. Munch munch munch drink. Angela has become a heartless eating machine it seems! She consumes her plateful of food in record time and has drained another two glasses of wine as she listens to the other two. "Neat," the brown haired woman chirps at Albright, grinning broadly, "I don't know too much about the life sciences, Enlightened or otherwise. I'd really be interested to know about what you were working on before our current misadventure." An impish grin bursts to life on her features and she motions to the mountain of food, "I imagine there's quite an arrangement of species right there, huh? Speaking of!" Angela peels off from the conversation for a moment to refill her plate, being a bit more adventurous in her food choices. Now she goes for more exotic fare; some kind of deep-sea eel with large eyes and sauteed in a white sauce, the poached tentacle of some kind of large cephalopod, a few roundish balls that must be caviar of some sort but the size of golfballs and contained together in a pod, and several varieties of sushi.
Angela lets out a squeak of surprise as the lobster begins moving, but it quickly fades into good-natured laughter, the woman grinning broadly at Rocco. "That's fine," she says, "It's probably more efficient not to have to cook everything." She ambles back over to where Albright and Winter are, smoothly grabbing another drink on her way.
"I would think plenty of things went wrong. Ending up in the ocean isn't anyone's notion of an ideal field mission." Winters is talking but his eyes...his eyes are looking about the place as things start to move on tables. "I...." Then he'll blink before looking back towards his crewmates. "I think I'll just stick to the drinks, eh? For now." He'll move aside to pluck up another glass of something to drink.
Dr Albright avoids the food and drink, as it isn't too appealing to her. Though thinking about it more, it could be radioactive, or maybe even the cause of the fish people's weird appearance, though that is just random speculation. "I don't mind giving you a run down of the different things I worked out." She tilts her head as she looks at the food running off, "There does seem to be a lot of stuff around."
While Rocco is out and tending to the pesky lobster, a giant shadow overtakes the bubble glass window to the ocean and this floor. It looks like a megalodon with its tail slightly chewed up. It eyes the banquet room and swims off into the darkness with a slew of tinier sharks behind it.
A morsel of sushi is plucked from Angela's plate with her fingers -- no utensils or chopsticks here! -- and she pops the whole thing in her mouth whole. A happy smile spreads over her features and she lets out another delighted squeal of happiness, her eyes crinkling closed as she enjoys the sensation of it. "They gotta have a hydroponics bay down here, right?" Angela says with excitement to her other two crewmates, "That's the only way this rice could be this good. Not to mention all the other fresh veggies available. I wonder if we could see it later?" Not that she seems to particularly care about the vegetables, given that she now daintily pulls a bit of the eel free of its carcass and devours it with rapture.
She leans in conspiratorially to her compatriots, eyes shifting to Rocco for a moment. "Y'know, those fish guys kinda freaked me out a bit when we first met," she admits, keeping her voice low to keep said fish guy from overhearing, "And still do, if I'm being honest. But it's an impressive application of Enlightened technology, you have to admit!"
Letting out another peal of cheery laughter, the brown haired Engineer smiles wryly at Winters. "Well, that's true enough," she says, "Especially upside down in the ocean. At depth." More laughter before Angela shrugs, "Still, any landing you can walk away from, right?" A grin is leveled at Winters as he states his intention to avoid the food. "Aww, c'mon, spoilsport. Live a little. At least eat the stuff that's clearly cooked, yeah? I don't mind being a bit adventurous when it comes to food." As if to punctuate the point, Angela tears one of the goldball eggs away from its group and pops it in her mouth.
Almost immediately, the brown haired girl chokes (not exactly a ringing endorsement of trying stuff) and quickly gulps down some alcohol, draining her glass. "Whew!" she says, eyes tearing up but laughing just the same, "That one fought me a little."
She grins broadly at Albright and nods enthusiastically, "Ooh, yeah! I'd love to hear a rundown on your research, Doc." She starts a bit as the shadow of the megalodon appears and peers into the room, but soon she's just raising her empty glass in salute to the monster fish. After all, Deepwater is safe haven!
Dr Albright looks at Angela, "Well I am not sure about that. Technically they could of just put some rocks into a crate with the food and dropped them into the ocean. They would sink down to the bottom fairly quickly, so it wouldn't be that difficult to get things. She looks over towards the sharks swimming by, then to Winters and Angela, "It might be fun to set off some fireworks later."
"It is probably more likely that they caught a lot of this stuff from the bottom of the ocean." Cheddar biscuits seems safe enough. Not likely to try and crawl its way out of his stomach, David decides and plucks one up to gnaw at the end of as he turns back to the rest of them. "You think they're getting ready to send a repair team to get our ship flipped over and up to the surface? Maybe we can just get the thing floated and picked up from the surface instead of trying to fly our way back out."
Angela's eyes crinkle as she considers Albright's rocks-in-crates hypothesis. "Possible," she agrees, "But it might be like the atmosphere of a planet; things can easily be blown off course on the way down. Fluid dynamics is a complex subject, though, and not one I'm overly familiar with. It could very well be that the best answer is to just drop weighted cargo from the surface like you say." Oh, just look at the young VE's eyes light up at Albright's suggestion. "Yes! Fireworks! That'd be awesome! Fireworks under the sea! You'd just need the right oxidation medium and they'd burn just as well in water as in air. Good thinking, Doc!"
Angela gnaws on her lower lip a moment as she considers Winter's question. "Probably," she says, "I imagine they're trying to figure out the safest way to do it, considering their last foray out to the Integrity resulted in most of their crew being lost." For a brief moment, Angela bows her head, a moue of sadness on her features, but it quickly dissolves into smiles again. "A-anyway, I can't imagine we'll be down here for too much longer. Either we can get the Integrity's engines running again or they'll help us float 'er up and then we can just be tugged into an appropriate Union facility for repairs.
Pretty soon Angela's plate is nearly empty again -- the only exception is the remaining eggs, which she apparently has decided are still a bit too much for her. Still, there's an empty glass and a mostly-barren plate, so it's back to the central table to refill on delectables. But just as she's about to begin refilling her plate, elegant stringed music begins to fill the hall and her eyes widen in recognition. "Oh, a waltz!" she nearly squeals, bouncing up and down on her feet happily, "I haven't danced to a waltz in -ages-! Uhm..." The brown haired woman purses her lips, tapping her chin thoughtfully before heading over to Winters and extending a hand while grinning. "Care to dance?"
Rocco ahems politely, "Deepwater is fully sustainable as an operation. We do grow our own food. The idea originated with our CEO, Mr. Klieg who envisioned colonizing the seas for all mankind. Most our food is either grown or caught, with some rare food items being traded for.", pausing for breath as his gills flapped. "Also Mr. Klieg has his own research vessel. Rarely used, but he was thinking about visiting your ship to assist it with repairs. However, Mr. Klieg is meeting with the board of directors right now at the Apex. He sends his regards in being unable to meet at this time, but had this feast prepared for such honored guests. Rarely do we get visitors....", nodding excitedly. Rocco was a true gentleman.
Dr Albright nods, "They should be getting most of the repairs finished as we speak. It was a mess when we left but I am sure they know what they are doing and will get the ship fixed up sooner or later." She looks to Rocco, "That is understandable, I wouldn't think too many people would show up down at the bottom of the ocean."
"Or a line running from here to a buoy up top. A strong enough cable that you could latch the descending crate onto before letting it go. Would make sure it ends up right where you want it to go to." Winters glances off towards Angela though and his eyes go unfocused a moment, stuck between deciding on more food and drink or dancing with Angela. "Well...we can dance slow and still drink, can't we?" He'll decide that BOTH works just as well, to offer a crooked elbow to the woman in acceptance of her invitation.
When Rocco speaks up, Angela looks over shoulder at the fishman, nodding along to his explanation. "Neat!" she chirps, grinning broadly, "We can always use more self-sufficiency." Her eyes graze over the mountain of food for a moment before turning back to Rocco, "Please give Mister Klieg my compliments on his amazing hospitality to our stricken crew. I, for one, really appreciate it."
She gives an optimistic smile to Albright, nodding several times, "Yeah! Zels knows his stuff. If it is at all possible to get the old girl operational, he'll be able to do it." Angela lets out a cascade of giggles, "Hopefully in the future that will change and we'll have lots of folks come to the deep ocean. But, yeah, as things currently stand visitors are rare."
Bouncing happily again on her feet at Winter's agreement to dance, Angela clears her throat and straightens up, affecting a more formal stance. Of course, said stance is somewhat undermined by the amused smile that twitches at the corner of her lips. Still, she easily slides her arm around his, pressing it up against her as she walks towards the large window -- really, the only portion of the room where there's a large enough contiguous space to dance. "Drinking while dancing it is."
Rocco nods, he wasn't trying to involve himself too much but some of the questions he could answer. "We've tried large cables as suggested. Only to find them completely chewed through after a month. Also the issue if topside dwellers discovered them.", pouring himself a glass of champagne. "Mainly we are part sustainable habitat, also a research center.", he doesn't mention the structure being a giant underground oil drill. "Being next to the Mariana's Trench we can explore its depths and provide valuable research of biological life down here.", seeing that Angela wanted to dance. The fishman turns on ballroom dancing music over the rooms speakers.
Dr Albright looks to Rocco as he is answering questions, "I am sure there is a lot of interesting research subjects down here. Though are you concerned that the place is interfering with the animals natural habitat? If there is interference, might not get the natural results. Though gaining rare and unusual data can be useful too."
"I suppose we can stay down here at this fine establishment as long as is necessary, right?" Winters words are spoken towards the Good Doctor as the pair wind through way out onto the 'dancefloor' "We wouldn't want to stop drinking, now would we?" His other hand, free of a beverage, grasps Angela's hip before coming to the realization that he has very little idea of how to ballroom dance or waltz.
Angela does glance over Rocco's way as he explains a bit more about the mechanics of Deepwater, nodding slowly in understanding. "Yeah, having some coastguard vessel or something encountering a buoy with a cable attached would be problematic," she agrees. She doesn't have any comments on the sealife or the research thereof, but she does look interested as Albright speaks. Her eyes then glide to the bubble window and the overlook of the Trench as it's mentioned. But then the music starts! It's time for dancing!
Settling into a stance with Winters, her own arms winding around the man, she lets out a trilling cascade of coquettish laughter. "That wouldn't be so bad," she says with a wink to her dance partner, "Having to stay here a bit, I mean. Worst case scenario? The Integrity is completely grounded and we have to await an appropriate vessel from the nearest Union outpost to gather us back up. It'd be kinda like a vacation!"
Fortunately, while Winters might not have any idea how to waltz, Angela seems up to the task of leading. She's not exactly ballroom elegant, but she does help maneuver her partner in a gliding dance in front of the window, sweeping motions in time with the music. Lilting, pleasant laughter bubbles up from the brown haired Engineer as she moves, the slit in her dress arcing out and exposing her leg every so often.
"Sadly every building made by mankind will interfere with the natural habitat of animals. Cities across the globe; forests that were destroyed for them. One would always like to believe we are doing more good than evil.", Rocco said while nodding sadly and changing the subject. "But it's our sworn duty by maritime law to assist you. Just everything in good time.", finishing off his drink.
"Vacations don't tend to be in such hostile environments, lady." Winters mouths off a bit towards his dance partner as they settle in with the music. Then...well, he gets pulled along until his feet catch up with the motions with just a few glances down between them to find the pace. Then he'll move along with her. "I'm sure we'd get bored down here eventually. Don't you think?" Then he'll pull her through a pivot...because hes seen that on tv, hasn't he?
Dr Albright nods, "That is true, though some things can interfere more than others. The creatures here seem to be really sensitive to light and stuff for example, so it would probably be easy to disrupt their natural behavior. Though I am also curious what caused the large size of that one creature as well."
"Depends on the vacation," Angela replies cheekily to Winters, grinning, "I mean, how many people do stuff like cliff diving or go to the edges of volcanoes or brave possible avalanches for skiing. Yeah, the deep sea is dangerous, but we're pretty well protected in Deepwater, right?"
More lilting laughter erupts from the Engineer before she sticks out her tongue at Winters saying teasingly, "Spoilsport." She sighs and leans closer to him, dancing cheek-to-cheek, her dress ruffling as she shrugs, "Sure, we'll get bored -eventually-. But a couple weeks at most wouldn't be too bad. I'm sure the residents here have entertainment activities to do when they aren't working, too. Just like any Colony out there."
She does listen to Albright and Rocco's conversation though one ear, but the majority of her attention is on her dance partner. A happy squeal erupts from Angela as he pulls of a pivot, the woman eagerly going along with the dance move.
Rocco shrugs, "Perhaps the depths have increased their size. Giant crabs, squids and sharks can be found down here and their reputation in history books have preceded the foundation of our building. So I can hardly believe it was us.", nodding and taking a seat away from the table. He was more a casual observer and valet for the guests.
Dr Albright nods, "Well there is the radioactive waste as well, which is a bit of a concern. Though it is true there has always been strange animals throughout history as well."
"I don't know that I'd enjoy weeks of being underwater. I do enjoy the sun too much." Unfortunately for the man, Winters has run out of drink though. So just after the pivot comes another, then another that brings them closer to a table so he can lean out and plunk an empty glass down and replace it in his hand with a full one.
By the large bubble window, one can see the cliff side to the Mariana Trench since Deepwater is built right on its ledge. Down below by the lip, an elaborate cable elevator can be seen. It looks sturdy enough to descend to the depths below.
Near the elevator is about five to six GENE fishmen, they surround one of their own - which happens to be Jakob the aquatic rover driver. His colleagues flank and hit him, kicking his legs and pushing the poor man closer to the edge.
Jakob's hands are held up near his head like surrendering as a unheard discussion occurs. Eventually he's backed up to the edge of the trench, with harpoon guns and spear guns pointed directly at him. He turns around slowly and faces oblivion, looking at the depth below.
A fellow GENE withdraws a long knife and slits Jakob's throat as a murky red blood pours from his neck; cut brutally from behind. Jakob clenches at his throat as a chem light on his jacket is then pulled. The fish-man is then shoved off the ledge off the trench. Slowly falling and fading into the endless darkness below. All that can be seen is a bloody trail of water and the yellow from his chem light growing fainter and weaker in the dark depths.
The horrid ceremony felt very pirate like; as if condemning someone to walk the plank. It's quite horrifying as the image fades. The fellow GENES getting back to work like nothing happened.
One could stare and watch Jakob fall for minutes, until suddenly in a flash of pink and darkness he is instantly gone. Likely, Judith the kraken attracted by the burial at sea.
Meanwhile, Rocco discusses things with Albright. "Yeah, I wouldn't know anything about nuclear waste. The US military has been dumping radioactive materials and biological or chemical weapons in the ocean since World War 2. Where do you think they dumped all that mustard gas they can no longer use.", shrugging and stamping his feet. "Anyways I'm just a cook. I check the food.", looking for a pack of cigarettes to light up and smoke.
Angela is still half-listening to the exchange between Rocco and Albright, her brows furrowing and lips turning downward slightly at the mention of the atomic waste discovered polluting the seafloor. "That's definitely a problem," she murmurs, seemingly to herself, but her slight down turned expression evaporates pretty quickly as Winters pretty much literally sweeps her off her feet to go and smoothly gather up a new drink. Another peal of laughter erupts from Angela and she grins at Winters. "They probably have the same UV and artificial sunlight rooms down here as there are in spaceships," she says, "I mean, I would hope so anyway. But if it's just the experience of sunlight you're after, they have -got- to have VR facilities that you could use if nothing else."
Out of the corner of her eye, though, there is movement and Angela glances towards the window. She does a double-take, her movements stuttering to a stop as she stares at the macabre event happening at the edge of the abyss. She stares, her eyes slowly widening and mouth coming agape as the strange, vicious ceremony ramps up and Jakob's throat is slit. Angela gasps, stumbling away from the scene, placing a hand on her mouth as she continues to watch in horror as his struggling, bleeding body is pushed down the Trench. Unable to rip her eyes away, Angela watches as the doomed GENE man sinks further and further down, eventually disappearing in that flash of pink. "Oh my God," she whispers.
Dr Albright says, "That is a problem, that everyone thinks they can just dump everything into the sea, though there is some advantages of it, it can cause big problems when everyone is doing it in an unregulated manner. Also dumping some stuff is probably a lot worse than others."
"Its a problem with solutions, like cleaning up and the like." Winters doesn't quite leave the drink table as he watches the execution. It happens entirely within the space of him finishing one drink, but he'll pick up the next before pulling Angela back out onto the dancefloor. "Dumping bodies is far less of a wasteful issue than the atomic waste."
A long pause ensues while Angela continues to stare out the window to the now vacant position where the execution was performed, drifting in Winter's grasp like so much directionless flotsam. She swallows visibly before disengaging from Winters and making a bee-line for the side table. "I need a drink," she mutters, quickly swiping up a glass and draining it. She stands there, breathing heavily and closing her eyes before another glass is taken and she gulps down its content as well. And then a third. Finally, she lets out a long, shuddering breath and a smile returns to her face.
"Right. Okay," she murmurs to herself, turning her attention to the buffet and moving over to it to nibble at a various dishes, "That... didn't happen. It was a trick of the depths or... or the context was different. yeah... yeah, dumping bodies is more efficient. Right? Right." More food! More! After a few more minutes of eating, the fully happy smile has returned to her features. Hey, good alcohol and good food can do a lot to improve the mood!
Rocco stands and preforms an elegant bow. "Well, ladies and gentleman. I hope you can excuse me for the evening. I have other arrangements for tonight. Everything on this floor will be unlocked to you, in case you need it. Everything above this floor and below will be restricted for your safety and security. I wish you a pleasant evening.", he offers and departs like a tired fish butler.
Dr Albright watches as Rocco leaves then glances to the others, "They definitely want something from us. Though I am still not too sure what exactly."
"I don't think we'd need to go anywhere else tonight anyways..." Winters is frowning though as the room is emptied out of anyone other than the group. "Labor, probably. Considering how many people they've lost just to get us out of the ship and to the station."
"Y-yeah, thanks," Angela says to Rocco as he prepares to leave, the woman raising her glass to him and offering up a twitchy smile, "Thanks, uh... t-thanks again for everything. Great spread. Just great." Another glass downed and another glass retrieved. Plus more food. Look, stress eating is a thing and it'd be a waste of this stuff wasn't eaten, right? Right.
"W-well, uhm, I'm sure it can't be all that tough, whatever it is," Angela replies to Albright in between mouthfuls of food and drink, "And if it is we can... cross that bridge when we come to it. I mean... we're all on the same side, right?"
She nods enthusiastically to Winter's supposition, "Oh, yeah, that's probably it! I mean, sure, I don't mind doing some maintenance tasks around the place until we get the Integrity back up and running. Yeah. Labor."
And so Angela will while away more time boozing and eating before finally heading off to a deep sea slumber in her room.
