milliways_bar | (no subject)

Ray had a fairly disquieting thought earlier today and wound up spending most of the afternoon in his room. He comes downstairs in search of food and actual conversation, since let's face it, it's a mess up there.

[Summary: Martin Miggs comes around and talks to Ray about food. Because, well- FOOD. But not pixy sticks.

Scribble the baby raptor comes by with her toy! There is tug-of-war and then the rope is torn to bits, so Ray deploys one of his flashyballs and gets himself some protection against pointy bits, and then there is feeding time for the ickle Mesozoic deathbringer.

Lysistrata also pops up, and there is some discussion of things like rings and faked deaths and Spartan idiocy, and on the idiocy theme Ray reveals that he's currently having an envy/jealousy problem, and can't quite seem to get over it. Even though he knows it's stupid.

Scary scary Tim Hunter comes by to ask about borrowing a PKE meter. Ray is somewhat reluctant at first, but when he hears what happened to Ace, he hands the meter over without a quibble.

Hurley comes around to ask Ray what he knows about freakydeaky numbers and good / bad fortune combinations. Ray adds another item to his research queue as a result.

And finally, Akito turns up, and there is discussion of ID cards and communications gaps before Ray boggles a little at the name of Nergal Heavy Industries. Give the man a break, he's been studying Sumerian for the past week...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ray leans over to peer at the card. "Ah," he says. "I take it you turned up here in the middle of a job? Most likely you've been at least partially disconnected from your native time stream- it looks like it's trying to pick up on a signal from home or something, and it's getting fragmentary transmissions from multiple different sources. At least, that's what I'd guess if it were a piece of my own home's technology."

He blinks as if this is a total relevation to him. Because, frankly, it is. "Of course! I'm at the end of the freakin' universe, no wonder it can't figure out how long I've been on the ship!" He covers his eyes a moment.

Then uncovers them and offers his hand... er, wait, the other one. The one that isn't shiny-backed. "Thanks, uh..."

"My name's Ray Stantz," Ray says, shaking the proffered left hand with his own as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The presence of a fairly broad band of burn scar tissue across his palm may be noticeable. "I've been in and out of here for a while. I take it you're new?"

Akito -does- notice, he tends to look at hands a lot lately. He tries not to stare though. "I've been... uhm. I think the word is bound? For almost a week now. It's kind of nice, I'm enjoying the break, but I am starting to miss home a little. So yeah, I'm new-ish here.

Akito pauses a second and realizes he really ought to introduce himself.

"Uh... I'm Akito Tenkawa. Originally from Mars, 2195, currently serving as ship's cook and temp pilot aboard the Nergal Heavy Industries Battleship Nadesico."

"Ah, gotcha," says Ray. "And, yeah, Bound. My best friend's in the same situation, so I've had to learn the lingo. Myself, I'm from Earth as of 2004, and I'm a Ghostbuster by trade- I do paranormal investigation and elimination. In more practical terms, I hunt spirits and remove them for people who're having problems."

Then he blinks a bit. "That's an... interesting name for a company," he says carefully. "Sorry, I've been reading a number of books lately that reference the culture the original name 'Nergal' came from. Er. What exactly does Nergal Heavy Industries do, anyway?"

Akito nods, "That's... spirits?" He looks startled by the thought that they might actually exist. "Ghosts?" he pauses to think a moment. "People have mentioned that sometimes dead people show up here." he sounds a little hopeful, "Is it like that kind of thing?"

Then he blinks right back. "Nergal? They're a civilian contracter, they build construction equipment and computer systems mostly. The Nadesico is their first try at supplanting the military for anything." He gives a half-grin, "Mostly because they were doing a really bad job protecting the Earth from the Jovians."

... "What does Nergal mean, anyway?"

"Um... not exactly. The ghosts I deal with are all back home, and most of them aren't very bright- they're dangerous, yeah, but not smart. And they don't have bodies you can really touch- it's more like putting your hand into gelatin than anything, touching a ghost. Maybe messier. The dead people here mostly seem to have good, working bodies, like someone patched up whatever was wrong with their own before they died."

"Jovians?" Ray asks. "Oh, man. Don't tell me something got let loose on Europa after all..."

Then he takes a deep breath and recites from memory. "'Nergal is an ancient Sumero-Babylonian deity and the god of the netherworld, where he rules with his consort Ereshkigal. He is an evil god who brings war, pestilence, fever and devastation, and is sometimes regarded as representing the sinister aspect of the sun god Shamash.'" A wry smile touches his face. "I've been learning the language of the Sumerians, see. Mostly because Bar keeps giving me books on the damn subject."

Akito nods and looks... it's hard to tell. Relieved, maybe. Pleased that he's not going to run into anyone visibly bleeding and not going to run into any gooey and made of jello.

"No, the Jovians... we think they're from around Jupiter, or maybe one of the moons, but we don't know for sure. They could be past the moons." He sighs. "Mostly we know that their ships look like bugs, and the UEAF says they're lizards. Nobody on board has ever seen one."

He listens with great interest to the summary, and looks kind of amused. "The Bar keeps giving you books on Sumerian history? That's kind of cool. And it came in handy here!" He taps his fingers and thinks about that, "But evil gods... That doesn't sound like it'd be too applicable. Ruri said the name had some relation to Mars... which I guess is the god of war connection?"

~~Not unless somebody decides to app Slimer, no.~~

"Ah, I see. That's gotta make things difficult."

"Not so much the history as the language. The, um, first really huge foe my friends and I ever faced was a Sumerian god with a real attitude problem, so I'm wondering if this might have something to do with that... anyway. Yeah, it does, sorta. The Babylonians called the red planet 'Nergal', and he was a war god in their estimation, so that's probably it."

[OOC: It's 2 AM where I am. Slowtime?]

[OOC: Probably a good idea, it is getting late and I'm getting slow. Prod me on an IM next time you turn up, or the like?]

Akito tucks his head in his palms and thinks about it for a few moments. "Sumerian gods? The god of war..." he pauses. Could there be some mystical reason behind all the fighting back home? He stares at the pilot's mark on his hand again.

"I'm just a freakin' cook. I'm not equipped to deal with that kind of thing!"