Space Jams

#### ***2018, November 12th -- En route to the Plastho System***

Elle is seated at the table, armor off and in a neat pile on the chair next to her. Chin in hands, she is excitedly chatting at a screen that she occasionally winks to.

Suddenly, ‘All I want for Christmas’ starts playing throughout the ship, and the gravity disappears.

"- so I was wondering what you like to do for fun? I know a few games we could - Ahhh!"

Elle yelps and frantically grabs for the table, trying to hold on, as the gravity disappears and the screen and pile of armor start floating off. "What’s happening!"

Slowly Parrot floats into the room. "Do not be alarmed, friend."

"Parrot! What's going on, are we being attacked?"

“Attacked by the radness of space, perhaps!" Parrot says while spinning. “But uh no I just asked GAIA to turn off the gravity for a bit."

Elle is flailing in the middle of the room. "You asked them to - what? What's gravity? Why can't I move?"

Parrot kicks off the wall, gesturing. "You can totally move! Just like yanno gotta push yourself in the right direction"

"I can ask them to turn it back on if you want, but perhaps zero gravity training is important."

Elle stops flailing and breathes in for a moment, then breathes back out and opens her eyes. "Okay, uh... help me? I still don't really understand what this is and I was having a very important conversation with GAIA, but..." she smiles and holds out her hand. "If this is as important as you say it is, I should learn! And I would love to get to know you better, Parrot."

Parrot pauses for long enough that she bumps into the ceiling. "Uh yeah okay. - Say, by important do you mean seducing our spaceship?" And she floats towards her. "Oh and when I send u towards the table grab onto it so you can direct yourself somewhere"

Elle's smile grows wider. "Yes! An important conversation! Say, speaking of seducing, are you planning on wearing that helmet the entire trip?"

Parrot laughs as she reaches her, gives the hand a fist bump, and softly pushes her towards the table. "Important indeed. And well I have to take some safety precautions of course." her helmet lights up with a caution sign "It’s kinda like a comfort thing too. Maybe like your armor?"

"Hmmm." Elle grabs onto the table and pushes herself off in the direction of the couch, making a thoughtful pose in the air, as if pondering a difficult math problem. "My armor protects me from attacks, and displays my allegiance to Camelot. Were I a full knight like Gwendolyn I would be allowed my own heraldry, but for now I am supposed to be Camelot's herald. What does your helmet represent, or protect you from?"

The helmet displays a 404 error screen as Parrot becomes increasingly and increasingly more confused. "You're a- wait. I thought that was just your hero shtick? Are you serious serious?" she’s shaking her head a bit "My helmet represents... being able to... make my own decisions. It protects me from well concussions... BUT seriously? Gwens a Knight and your uh.. a knight in training?"

Lancelle frowns a bit as she starts to answer, before floating into the top of the couch and being sent into a spin. After a second of flailing, she lets out a frustrated groan and reaches out with her powers, latching onto a wall panel with an energy tether. "I am a squire," She says, after having calmed down. "It is why I do not carry an oath sword; I have not yet earned it. I will not until I prevent me - well, adult Lancelot, he who is a Knight - from causing any more harm, I think. Gwendolyn already has hers."

Parrot almost snorts watching but covers it with a fake sneeze "Bless me." She immediately starts floating towards the tether to observe it. "I see. Wow I have a lot of questions. I mean? I always thought you were just LARPers who were really into it but coincidentally had powers." a pause and she scratches her neck "Uh future.. You. I shouldn’t have assumed Lancelot was becoming a trendy name. So you're ... Gwen’s... daa*ad*? And you're going to duel yourself?"

Elle laughs. "When you put it like that it does sound ridiculous, doesn't it. Yes? I think I am. I don't know whether I will duel him. I don't really know what the Lady of the Lake wants of me, exactly. And uh... what does LARPer mean? I have been called that a lot since I came to this world."

Parrot relaxes a little at the laugh. "Not ridiculous, just a little out of the ordinary, and interesting." She pokes at the tether. "I bet you have. LARP is Live Action Role Playing. So a bunch of people dressing up like characters pretending to be as cool as you guys... We don't have many knights anymore I don't think? Or at least I didn't think so until approximately 9 seconds ago."

Elle lets go of the tether the moment Parrot touches it, and floats still now that her momentum has gone. "It appears so. I had assumed the one you call Cyclone was a knight, leading a squad as he is!

Are you not able to make your own decisions without your helmet? Is it cursed?"

Parrot is immediately startled and kicks back, spinning "He's a knight in dad armor." she's laughing a little, "No no it's not like that. It's more like I'm cursed without the helmet... GAIA, could you turn it back on in a 10 second countdown."

"Let’s try this with spears and such next time."

"That sounds good! It has been hard to keep up my regular training regimen without sparring partners."

Once the gravity is back on, Elle affectionately pats the wall. "It's nice to be back on your floors, GAIA."

"You'd think you coulda' taken them on a date before inviting your daughter in them."

At the moment that gravity returned to the ship, a loud and angry cry resounded from further one of the personal quarters further up in the globe ship. Bleeps from GAIA strategically covered up some obvious sworn curses. Then the upstairs area was silent for a bit.

"I'm okay, thanks for asking," Gwen called out.

"Speaking of the Captain..." a nervous shuffle "Do you wanna go see if she's okay?"

Elle chuckles. "Yes! I am sure she's fine, she is made of sturdier stuff than that." She starts towards the ladder.

"It's certainly too bad that gravity just shut off by itself for that moment, hm?" Parrot says as she scampers after her.

Right as Elle reached the bottom of the ladder, a foot appeared from the hole in the ceiling, followed by pajama-clad legs. Half a ladder later, Gwen felt something hairy below her foot as she stepped on Elle. "Um, sorry, coming through?"

Elle jumps back. "Gwendolyn! Please take more care of your surroundings!"

Gwen was dressed in loose-fitting pajama pants and a button-up pajama shirt, both in pastel pink colors with small animal-shapes on them that--on closer inspection--appeared to be cartoon versions of dragons, unicorns, phoenixes and the ever-elusive gramlins. Her hair looks disheveled and there are bits of paper sticking to her that are full of scribbles.

Elle looked her over. "Are you alright? We heard a yelp from upstairs."

"Ugh. I'm okay, yeah," Gwen hops off the ladder. "Just a little bruised. Did gravity stop working while I slept?" There's a red line from one nostril down to her lip.

"Yes it seems the ship partially malfunctioned but GAIA fixed it. No problem no problem. Anyways." Parrot is thankful for her face guard.

"Are you aware you have a notebook in your hair?"

Elle reaches over to tidy Gwendolyn's hair, picking out pieces of paper and carefully laying them out in her other hand.

"Oh! That's... good? Not good that it malfunctioned. Good that they fixed it." Gwen yawns. "Oh, yes. Thank you. I was... writing tactical notes before I took a nap."

The scribbles do resemble movement patterns of a group of people. There is a doodle of a basketball hoop on the edge of the paper.

"I am sure GAIA was just distracted by our conversation. I was telling them all about Avalon and the places I could show them." Elle looks at the scribbles. "Oooh, tactical notes, fascinating! Some of the squires in Avalon were taught these, but I never had much of a knack for them. Do you mind if I take a look at your notebook?"

Parrot stares at Gwen. Her helmet flashes a smirk, and then turns off, behind Elle. "Yes In such a dangerous environment I feel reassured you are hard at work."

"Oh sure. Heh, thanks Alex. Go ahead, um, Elle." Gwen yawns again and sits down at a table, leaning heavily on one of her hands. "Is it possible to get jet lag in space? I kind of feel that's how it be right now."

Elle perks up. "Alex? I thought your name was Parrot! Is Alex a title?"

"Parrot Is my name." She coughs. "Alex is a nickname that I dislike vehemently. I assumed this ship operates on Universal Time just like the ISS on Earth though ... but there's no time to be sleepy! We have plans to discuss, cargo to assess, uh space sparring, and possibly perhaps jamming to do."

"And things to talk about! Like, uh, boys, and girls, and... Spaceships! I would like to get to know you both better. I have barely seen Gwendolyn outside of Large Team operations, and you are a fascinating specimen yourself, Parrot." Elle smiles as she sits down as well, looking at the helmeted girl.

"I am concerned. But I return the sentiment, probably." she gestures to Gwen "She's the one with a girl though." Elle's smile widens to a big grin. "Oh! Oh do tell! GAIA could you point me to some drinks, I will need something to drink for this~" Elle says, as she follows some spontaneously appearing arrows to the kitchen.

Suddenly feeling less tired, Gwen turns very red.

"Th-this is absolutely not necessary," she mutters.

"- thanks babe!" Elle walks back in with a bottle of wine and some glasses, and sets them down on the table before sitting down. "Please tell me everything."

"On the contrary Capitan this is a prime conversation topic. Please do spill."

She sits with a drink as well. But ... doesn't drink because helmet.

Gwen sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth and straightened her hair with her fingers. "Fine," she said, grabbing a bottle without looking what the label said. "What is it that you want to know?"

"Parrot said you are courting someone? Who is it? Is she your first? Have I met her? When is her birthday? Is she human, werewolf, spirit, angel, fey..." Elle asks, counting off a finger for every type of creature she mentions.

Gwen shoot a look at Parrot. "Well um, yes, you've met her. Her name is Olivia and she is my first, yes. I guess you could call it courting? We don't really call it that here. Her birthday was, um... last month." She tried her best to not say more than Elle asked, and acted occupied with her drink. ‘This is some strong grape juice,' she thinks to herself, evidently not yet entirely awake.

Parrot who had turned away from Elle and was just edging her helmet up a bit to take a sip of her drink sticks her tongue out at Gwen.

Elle looks absolutely delighted. "Olivia! I'll have to talk to her when we return. I remember my first courting... it was a while ago, and it did not end very well, but I remember it fondly. I hope you don't have to chase her out of town after she eats a gardener.

I don't currently have anyone, but I'm always looking!" She winks, turning to Parrot.

"What about you, Parrot?"

"I hardly think that that anecdote deserved to be cut off but I'll let that rest on the list of questions I have exponentially growing about the two of you." she unflinchingly takes a sip and lowers her helmet again "I have several partners and 13 abs.”... "Or I would if I had the time."

"Speaking of partners. If you're Gwen’s dad...?”

"Yes?"

Gwen pales. "Oh god.”

"I mean it’s a valid question?"

Gwen's eyes widen as she looks slowly at Elle. This wasn't something she'd wanted to ask her. She frankly wasn't sure if she wanted to know if Elle already knew her mother and what... what their relationship might be like. Her mind racing, she tried to come up with a plan to distract them. As Elle opened her mouth to answer, Gwen suddenly shouted, "I KISSED OLIVIA IN THE SUBMARINE."

Parrot’s gaze just darts between the other two.

As Gwen's face goes from palest white to reddest red, she chugs her glass and reaches for the bottle. 'Oh my god oh my god oh my god'

Elle sits there in quiet surprise for a second, before saying "I do not know what a submarine is, but congratulations!"

"Is that a surprise? Haven't y'all been fu-uh-uh-fun having fun canoodling together since the start of the semester?" Parrot asks.

"Canoodling?" Gwen puts down her glass for a moment. "Wait, you thought we were... what? How? No! What? No, we'd been... close since we met, I guess. She took me to the Big High Autumn Dance and we danced, and we hung out a lot, but... I don't know! I kissed her on the head once after we--after a place we went to, and I gave her her birthday gift, but we didn't ‘’kiss’’ kiss until Halloween."

"Ah. Very cute." Parrot stifles her giggles "Oh man, so many wrong assumptions."

Gwendolyn was quiet for a moment and sipped her wine. "CANOODLING?!?"

The scene ends with the camera zooming out slowly as the three girls chat over their drinks. The conversation becomes unintelligible and fades out as the screen fades to black.

#### ***2018, November 13th -- En route to the Plastho System***

Gwen backs away, one arm behind her back as she strafes around Parrot. In her hand is an elegant longsword with a basket hilt. On a bench by the wall lays her usual companion: the incredibly large and incredibly heavy form of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake-turned-sword spirit.

She wears her workout clothes, wisely packed with haste just before they left. It was good that someone had reminded her that having multiple different sets of specialized clothing would be good to have during a long space trip.

"How do you want me to do it to you?" She asks Parrot with a taunting smirk.

"A pretty lady says that to me and I normally don't feel so much fear." she nervously clutches a sword with both hands. "B-but I mean I normally don't feel so LITTLE fear haha- you're going down Cap'n"

"Wait that didn't.. you know what I mean"

Elle watches from the sides, leaning against a wall.

"Ohoho, but you see, it is you who is going to go down--" Gwen stops mid-taunt, suddenly realizing what Parrot means that she doesn't mean. "Are you thinking about canoodling again?!"

"What? No! I'm thinking about the blade! While you were thinking about canoodling I was thinking about the blade." She then jumps forward to jab assuming this is how this works. At Parrot's attempt at an attack, Elle winces and covers her eyes, then looks through her fingers anyway.

Gwen ducks to one side and swings her sword the other way to bat Parrot's blow aside. As they go back and forth, its clear Gwen has fought with swords before... but has no real idea about how to fight with a sword that isn't Nimue. Half the time she is actually mimicking Parrot's stance. The other half she is trying to execute maneuvers she has seen the Knights of the Round Table perform in duels. It's flashy, but a little clumsy.

"Oh dear lord, stop." Elle claps her hands, and walks into the ring. "Parrot, you're holding it all wrong - may I?" She doesn't wait for approval, but kneels down behind Parrot, moves a foot, then stands up and places her hands on Parrot's fixing her stance. "Try it like this." In response, Parrot is having a 404 error.

After that, she looks up at Gwendolyn. "As for you... You're fighting as if you're new to this yourself. I have heard some knights can get somewhat over reliant on their own sword, which makes me wonder..." She walks up to Gwendolyn and crosses her arms. "Why aren't you using your sword, daughter?"

"I..." Gwen's stance relaxes and at the same time she looks tenser. She looks at Nimue lying on the bench. "We're... out of touch. Something broke in her, in us, last time. I don't remember when exactly, or why or how. But it feels like she's asleep."

She holds up the sword she is holding. "I figured I'd have to learn to handle other swords better. I can't wield Nimue without her working with me."

Lancelot nods. "It's a good idea. You should train with all sorts of weapons, and it would do you good to be able to defend yourself if separated."

"I have... heard of this sort of thing happening, though I haven't witnessed it myself. I think back in Avalon there would be people able to help, but... not here."

She kneels down next to the sword, and lays an old hand mirror on the bench next to it.

"Do you have any ideas?"

Parrot reanimates "We have to be in optimal shape for this mission. What do you normally do when this happens?"

"I... don't do anything. This is honestly the first time this has happened, for as far as I can remember." Gwen shakes her head.

Elle inspects the sword. "As far as I know, the bond between a knight and her oath-sword is an intensely personal one. In our case, familial even. You should have a stronger bond with her than most, as you carry her blood within you."

"You should be able to wake her up if you rekindle that bond. How do you usually talk to her?"

Gwen ponders for a moment. "Well, I talk to her about my day, and about my... my friends, and what bothers me, and she'll tell me it's okay and give me advice, and sometimes I'll sing to her."

"How longs it been since you had an evening’s pow-wow with your blade?" Parrot silently accepts the concept of family members being swords.

"Since as... long as I can remember having had her. She came to me while I was at... at GREY."

Elle smiles widely at that. "A song is a great idea! The power of song can heal a lot of wounds, both mundane and magical. Many spells involve song, and many families sing to each other, including ours."

Awkward silence. Gwen frowns. "Your family sings to each other?" She asks Elle.

"Yes? At least we used to... My father’s sang for me to get me to sleep, and I would sing for them. Deirdre sometimes asks me to sing for some spell she's doing."

"Does... he... not?"

"He... used to. Long ago. When I was little." Gwen shrugs. "It's something that kind of stopped after the two of us moved to Halcyon City."

As an uncomfortable silence falls, Parrot silently edges out of the living room and towards the cargo hold with the instruments.

A clunk clunk clunk can be heard as Parrot returns wearing a very bad impression of what punk might look like - its just boots, her regular outfit, and the sleeves torn off, carrying a lute, violin, and bongos in tow.

"Uh… There’s other stuff in the hold but like lets wake this little dude up?"

Elle eagerly jumps up at the chance to escape that awkward silence, and runs over to the instruments. "Ohh! Which of these do you play?"

"Just percussion. There’s bigger drums back there, but"

She shuffles a bit. "Is this gonna work Gwen?"

"Hmmm." Gwen ponders Parrot's suggestion. "It's worth a shot. It might. You know what they say: if you don't chop a tree, how are you gonna know what sound it makes when it falls?"

"Of course. If you don't wack the horse it might never read you those bedtime stories." she sets the stuff down "Uh alright! Let’s just play whatever it-they uh like."

"As they say, you lose all werewolves you don't kiss. I think." Elle says, picking up the lute. "Our great-great-great-great grandmother is a she, by the way."

The conversation fades as the group sets up their instruments and starts playing.

...

The scene turns into a montage as the three girls end up trying various combinations of instruments. Parrot begins with bongos, but hauls out ever greater amounts of drums and other percussion instruments in increasingly elaborate setups.

Elle tries to play on the violin at first, recognizing it as similar to the fiddles of Avalon, but moves on after a few screechy attempts, finding more success with cymbals, harp, lyre and shawm. At one point, she triumphantly and ecstatically holds up bagpipes, before Parrot guides her back to the storage room to pick out a ‘’different’’ instrument.

Gwen strums the lute with nostalgia, but moved to electric guitar and bass soon after and tries out the harmonica once and even hauls out a piano together with the others. They try to harmonize together as Gwen tries to bring across what she’s heard of the songs when she retro-cognized the Sonata, thinking that that might help.

Throughout the montage, Gwen shoots glances in Nimue’s direction as the sword lies on the bench of the gym area. Unresponsive. Yet, in the process of their music, she starts to feel a level of confidence that everything will be alright. Not now, perhaps not soon, but ultimately. A feeling that Nimue often gave her to comfort her, with the soothing waves of calming emotion.

Everything will be alright.