Prior to the other arrivals, the chair across from the table's newest occupant appears to be claimed, the area before it strewn with an amassing of marine memorabilia — the cliche compass and ship-in-a-bottle — intended to give atmosphere to the Lady Undine's lounge area. Dragged from the center of the table in the process of close inspection. 

Speak of a demon, and it shall summon — Inspector Minot appears, punctuated [i]unceremoniously[/i] with the reverberation of flushing water in the background. A door with a hanging ring buoy just beyond her hangs subtly ajar. And Minot's face spells the revelation of doing business on a boat when the bathroom is a last-minute addition. [i]She's seen the ugly truth of this vessel.[/i] Also, heard a bloodcurdling scream prior, though reaction to it among the other passengers seems minimal at best. 

The inspector returns to her end of the table. The badge at her neck clinks on its chain as she makes haste in collecting her things — a ballpoint pin, and an envelope labeled "TRIOS." It is growing clear the disgruntled look on her face is unrelated to the bathroom; she surveys the newcomer, the man with the [i]gouged eye,[/i] and still assumes the visage of dealing with shit. 

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, does it?" she answered the man's question with a wryness implicating she, too, thought it was a rhetorical one. 

Hurried despite her hardness, Minot would leave the lounge on that note, pen in hand as she strode to the door — envelope still on the table. Perhaps it was too early even for her. 

It wasn't hard to register the apathy in regards to the scream. Though it was hard to tell the demographics from a look-around the lounge area — you had to mind anomalies, because there was reasonable chance of anyone being one; the concept of "majority" was difficult to discern in a generation so permeated by mystical practice. Most philosophers would pin it on magic, anyway — the Apathy as palpable and wholly-logical, maintained by mankind in the presence of a spontaneous, law-defiant force. The wholehearted embrace of such spontaneity would necessitate a moral readjustment, essentially conditioning individuals to become less attached to the people around who could turn to ash or into frogs at a moment's notice. 

And yet, this was only a theory, one that reinforced a special brand of nihilism, as Minot perceived it. The idea that you were a victim to the whims of an uncaring universe; the implication that emotions, connections, and bias were [i]dooming[/i] — this all stemmed from someone whose choice career required the greatest degree of practicality. Biases was what made people fascinating. And the inspector was sure humanity was all-in-all [i]good,[/i] as much "evil" as she'd seen. No bad deed consumed an individual. Perhaps, naturally, she had to elevate herself in status and projected moral standing, as the high-and-mighty detective, to see so optimistically.  That was [i]her[/i] bias.

In addition, the concept of "the Apathy" acted to imbalance the detriments and benefits of magic. In that context, it was corruptible by nature, entirely undermining the [i]point[/i] of magic as a whole: to elevate mankind, and to stand in where technology failed. 

Without magic, they would have had to stop the ship. Instead, a member of the crew, easy to mistake for a cabin boy, had thrown down his mop, prepared a sloppy summoning circle in bucket-water. All the same, the quick reaction had allowed him to swap his supplies with the couple overboard. They were lying supine, winded, on deck by the time Minot arrived. Scooped from the bay and sopping, the crew surrounded them, ogling down — the woman was still conscious, face red with the hard, combined effort of spitting salt water, gasping for air, and [i]begging[/i] breathlessly, near imperceptibly. 

"Give 'er some air!" the captain squawked, a distance away. 

The inspector would parrot the sentiment as she stormed into the crowd, sending dumbfounded mariners back from the couple, asides from the resident mage, in the process of supporting the woman onto her feet, at her request.

[i]"Mercy.[/i] Is there something you need?" 

"M-my daughter...! Sh- [i]up there!"[/i]