Meatslop: It's what's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner [Open]

[aboutthatevac]

It had been months since Stacy had released Sarah Kerrigan but the meatship hadn't seen very much of her. It wasn't because she preferred to spend her days alone, at least not solely. It was safer this way. For her and for everyone else on the ship. She had come clean to the Captain, given him a short explanation of her reign as the Queen of Blades. She knew that he could not legally imprison her for crimes she had committed in her own universe but she was still surprised that he hadn't arrested her on the spot. It's what he should have done. Murderers shouldn't go unpunished, especially not when they'd murdered billions people. But then just because Kerrigan wasn't behind locked away didn't mean she wasn't a prisoner. She didn't remember everything but what she did was played out in brief bursts. Images flashing into her mind before vanishing as quickly as they had come. But that was good. That was what she deserved. And slowly she became accustomed to this new life. Barely interacting with others, training, waking up wracked with sobs and shaking.

And then he came. One day. One day with Jim Raynor. Because Stacy hadn't tormented her enough.

If one were to speak in metaphors, you might say that there was a hole in her heart. Kerrigan would say that was a terrible metaphor as she no longer had one. It was more a reminder of what she was missing. What she could have been had the zerg not claimed her.

Now Kerrigan sat in the messhall. It was not as popular as it once was now that there was a supply of real food but it was not as empty as she would have liked. Usually Kerrigan ate quickly and left but today, and in fact every day since Stacy's surprise "gift" to the crew, she sat staring at her slop but not seeing it at all. You would expect more from a telepath. They were supposed to get lost in others' thoughts, not their own.

Comments

[expendable-mind.livejournal.com]

"Not as appealing as it look eh Kerrigan?" The voice had traveled besides her even before he approached. Telepaths had that nasty habit of speaking in people's minds uninvited, Splicer just took it a step further and 'tossed' his voice wherever he pleased.

But it wasn't like he was making his presence hidden either. The tell-tale orange glow from one of his cancer sticks was hovering closer and closer until he stepped out of the shadows of the mess hall, bringing in some real food and a small bowl of slop. He had a tendency to mix and match to make the best out of the slop's nutritional values.

He didn't wait for an invitation, or a greeting, or even acknowledgement. It was the Queen of Blades that he was with after all. But he had a feeling that she wasn't all there... not that she blamed her with the sudden 'surprise' the loopy ship had tossed at her.

[aboutthatevac]

"I've seen and tasted worse." But of course he would know that wasn't the reason Kerrigan hadn't touched the slop.

She looked at Splicer, briefly considering telling him to leave but deciding against it.

[expendable-mind.livejournal.com]

"With the fact you used t' be part of the Dominion too? Don't doubt it. Hell man, sometimes it was best to go hungry than eat some of the shit they served at the barracks." Specially when the cook had been drunk as hell.

Splicer began to cut and eat his share, taking equal bites of real food and slow so that the mixed tastes made it a lot more bearable.

"You know, you should still eat. You need all your strength and energy." He would know, he was a lot like her in the ways of energy expenditure.

[youmissed]

He could've gotten used to carnie food.

John Crichton could say one thing with any certainty and that was that he really, really, really didn't like Stacy's idea of food. It made food cubes look five star. At least that didn't have puke's texture. He didn't care how filling it was supposed to be or how it was supposed tailored to a human's nutrient needs. It looked like old puke and felt like it, if he'd made it a point to go running his hands in week old - all right, stopping that train of thought right there.

Not too many people in the mess hall. The mess hall on Stacy didn't feel like the one back on Moya; didn't sound like it either, none of the same hums and groans in the hull. Kinda bothered him. Eating by himself didn't really do it for him either, John looking around for someone he could sit with. Eating alone meant that weird throb in his head would start up all over again and he'd get those hallucinations if he wasn't careful. Spending all that time convincing Aeryn he wasn't going crazy meant he had to at least keep up appearances. Swatting at invisible voices tended to not really help that along, did it?

"Not a fan of the food, either?" John motioned at the seat across from the crewmate. Woman. Looked human, but the segmented tentacle dreadlocks on her head looked more alien than anything else. John took it in a stride. He'd been stuck in the Star Wars cantina on loop for several cycles, so yet another alien wasn't going to do it for him.

John grinned at the woman. "I'm pretty sure it's not Soylent Green."

[aboutthatevac]

Kerrigan's first look at John was one of annoyance but that softened after a few moments. Though soft was not a word that accurately described her face. It was still hard and cold but set into a look of neutrality.

"Soylent Green?" There was a time when she wouldn't have needed to ask but the Daligig felt that mind reading either wasn't an important power or it was too much of a threat. Now she had to focus if she wanted to read someone and that was something she would rather avoid doing.

[youmissed]

John took that as his invitation to park himself across from her. He didn't seem too fazed that she wasn't opening up right off the bat. After Aeryn, he figured he was used to it.

"People. Y'know, '73 movie? Guessing you didn't see it." John didn't hold out his hand like he would've if he thought she was human like him. The aliens he met didn't quite seem to know what to do when he did that and after awhile you stopped trying after the hundredth "what are you on?" look. "I'm John, by the way. John Crichton."

Movies were probably the last thing on her mind, look like that on her face that he felt was probably universal enough that a clumsy old human like him could get. Something was bothering her and while he could say there was an entire ship of people probably not okay with what happened with the Ohm, that didn't mean he couldn't stop every now and then to see what was up. Wasn't that far gone...even if he refused to go anywhere without his pulse pistol on him, but hey, Winona was one of those girls you had to take everywhere. Anyway, Dreads here seemed like she was peaceful so far, if kinda down.

[hi_there_aliens]

The one bad point to shore leave, aside from Land of the Pharaohs... or nearly getting detained because of Vala, banned or just about everything else, was that once you had a taste of actual food, it was hard going back to the slop Stacy insisted on. Just as you thought you might get used to it, you got a moment's break, tasted something so much better, and then you were expected to go back to mediocrity.

Daniel sat down at a table and stared at it. Even the almost-tagin was much better looking. It certainly tasted better. Looking at his plate, Daniel was more than willing to pay an arm and a leg for the tagin again. He looked at the woman across from him out of the corner of his eye.

"You'd think it'd get less terrible the more we got eat it," He said. She didn't seem inclined to talk. That never stopped Daniel before. Maybe if he talked, it would distract them both from just how unappetizing this was about to be.

[aboutthatevac]

No, Kerrigan wasn't inclined to talk and no, that didn't stop anyone. It made her long for the days when she ripped out someone's tongue if they said something she didn't like. That brief moment of longing horrified her.

If she were smart she would leave and never talk to this man again. Or maybe that wasn't smart. Maybe she'd done enough avoiding. No one can run forever, not even Kerrigan. Especially when the person she was running from was herself.

"Getting used to it doesn't mean you lose your tastebuds." Kerrigan didn't look at Daniel as she replied but she did finally take a bite of her slop.

[hi_there_aliens]

"Well, no, but it'd be nice to build up a tolerance. Then you'd wouldn't notice it as much." Like staying too long on a dig, no showers or baths, crammed along with people who were just as un-showered or bathed. It probably smelled horrific, but after awhile you got used to it. Barely even noticed it. Then you stepped away, got showered, came back and it was like being hit with a wall of body odor and sand. Daniel swirled the utensil in the slop. Right now, he'd rather take the too-many-people-on-a-dig option than eat this. He watched her actually take a bite and felt his stomach want to retreat somewhere far, far away.

Daniel started to hold out his hand, then hesitated. What if they didn't use hand shakes where she came from? Or they did something else? It was too late to draw it back by now, so Daniel just went with it.

"Daniel Jackson, by the way," he said.

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Y'know. More I see of this shite, gladder I am 'at I don' gotta eat. That was one of the few high points for Jono of having been pulled out of his own world.

He sat down across from Kerrigan, looking at her seriously. Ain't seen you 'round fer a bit, duck. Not that Jono himself was all that social, but he did his best.

[aboutthatevac]

Duck. She could tolerate sweetheart or darling if it came from the right person people but duck?

"My name is Kerrigan." She returned the look. "And yes, I should have contacted you about your kind of telepathy."

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono nodded. I remember. Names just weren't a strong point for him. He made a dismissive gesture. Reckoned you'd come an' fin' me when you were ready to talk. Pushin' don' 'sactly work so well with mos' telepaths I've known.

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

And speaking of telepaths-- well, Dhianeila always opted to move about via her projection so she wouldn't have to overload anyone or herself with her powers. But all the same, the skill wasn't something she needed to tell something was off, empath powers even aside (though as always, ever present). She hadn't seen Kerrigan since Lirath, and above all else was glad she was okay. The surges of power and sheer pressure that the Ohm that weighed upon them to cut them off was strong. So very strong.

"Hello, Sarah," she greeted with a smile to break the silence.

[aboutthatevac]

"I prefer Kerrigan." But that didn't stop people from using Sarah, apparently. "Nice to meet you in person." It helped that she didn't have a migraine this time.

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

"Kerrigan, then!" Dhianeila nodded. They were both nice-sounding anyway. She looked down to the other woman's food. "It is rather difficult to acquire a taste for it, isn't it..."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

Sitting in the mess hall, not so far away, is an 8 foot tall being in armor that is both similar to, and different from the terran Marine armor. More... baroque, really. Heraldic symbols covering it, giving him the look of a living anachronism. He eats the slop that Stacy has brought them with neither disgust or relish, looking almost like a large animal refueling itself.

He is human in appearance, more or less, though there is something of an equine cast to his overly square jaw and some signs of gigantism in the face. Definitely gene-altered in some unsubtle way. A war machine at rest.

He looks at her briefly, his eyes shifting, making an audible click, as though targeting her, then returns to his meal.

If her telepathy is searching, she can find a mind of zealous faith, iron resolve, unflinching brutality.... and something like loss and confusion. A lost soul cast adrift.

[aboutthatevac]

Kerrigan could feel him look at her and stared back at him. She could recognize some of her own feelings in this man. She wondered briefly at why he was wearing the armor even now, perhaps it was out of practicality or the need to cling to something familiar. Her curiosity wasn't strong enough to attempt to pluck the answer from his mind and she returned to eating. If the man wanted to talk to her he would. If he didn't then he didn't and maybe their paths would cross in the future.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath didn't know Kerrigan all that well, but she seemed like she might make a decent ally - she only had a few people she could really call that aboard. And Ildraniath needed more. In any case, she was "checking up on her" after the Dalgig incident. She settled herself across from Kerrigan, hands folded in her lap and dropped her chin in a slight nod.

"I see you're recovering."

[aboutthatevac]

Kerrigan tensed. She knew immediately what Ildraniath was referring to and she would rather forget that incident ever happened. To be humiliated like that...

"The technology on this ship is remarkable." Kerrigan gave that much to the Daligig. If only they hadn't used that technology to play with her brain.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"Very. I have seen some like it in my time, but it is almost all beyond the knowledge of my people. Once, it would've been trivial, but now..."

Ildraniath shrugged. Now the Eldar were a dying race.

[thursdaywings.livejournal.com]

Castiel had no need to eat, but he had been exploring the ship, taking the time to look at each room carefully. He knew that he had boundaries to respect with Stacy, having a few run ins with her tentacles, and so he ended up in the mess hall, simply glancing around before he noticed the telepath. Her powers attracted his attention, and he appeared beside her.

"Hello."

[aboutthatevac]

This one felt... odd. But then so many people on the meatship did to Kerrigan.

She glared at Castiel. He wasn't eating like the others so he had to be here for a different reason.

"Hello. What do you want?"

[thursdaywings.livejournal.com]

He returned her glare with his own curious stare. He's used to glares, and intense eye contact was nothing for him.

"I am here to observe. I am Castiel."

[punchesfaces.livejournal.com]

The 'food' in the messhall made Midnighter glad he didn't technically have to eat, in full honesty. Sure, it was better than starving to death if you actually did have to eat, but so were a lot of other things.

Still, the messhall was a good place for people-watching. And information on people was what he needed right now, which meant lounging around watching other people eat. Or not eat, as the woman near him was doing. She seemed to be zoned out, staring at the plate of food.

"Yeah, I'd be staring at that too, if I had to eat it." Might as well inject some interest into his day.

[aboutthatevac]

Kerrigan had been aware of Midnighter when she entered. She recognized that look as it was the same one she used so many times before, trying to assess others. In the past she wouldn't have needed to observe someone visually but then in the past she used to eviscerate any human that crossed her path.

"You don't?" Kerrigan didn't turn to look at him as she spoke. "I wasn't aware that there was enough real food left."