[h2]It Started With a Whisper [/h2] [h3]The China Doll [/h3] OOC: JP between [@Winters], [@MK Blitzen] and [@Yule] [table] [row][cell][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5281577][img] https://i.imgur.com/1CPW58D.png [/img][/url] [/cell] [cell] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5281574][img] https://i.imgur.com/T64wNiT.png [/img][/url] [/cell] [cell] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5281589][img] https://i.imgur.com/66r372Q.png [/img][/url] [/cell] [/row][/table] [hider=Skye’s Music] [youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulNS48wPZ4Q [/youtube] [/hider] Cyd sat at the galley table, sharing a pair of earbuds with Mathias. This way they wouldn’t wake the ship, and could still keep an ear on their surroundings. Her data pad was situated at an angle, and the open tech gloves allowed her to type on a virtual keyboard on the table. Mathias bopped his head lightly to the driving beat in his ear looking absently in the distance. He was practicing card tricks and throws. He had half a deck behind each hand and would alternate slowly making the card appear, drawn from the back of his hand, to the front for presentation and then tossed it to a slowly filling hat at the other end of the table. The point was to build strength, dexterity and to nitpick over his technique. Street magic was an extremely unforgiving practice. Also he was trying to improve his aim, he didn’t miss often but when he did it was punctuated with a creative curse in a random language. Isaac hadn’t stopped talking about wheels - not since he saw that crate in the cargo bay. Well, not the wheels so much as the bearings. “He’s right,” Cyd said, finding the wheels he described. “They cost a fortune. Weird that they’d be on a case on a crate being couriered by a random Firefly class.” “Uh - hu …” Mathias said absently, missing the hat. “ … Sìnüè de yīyuántǐ gǎnrǎn lǘ niào” He hissed and tried again. “Just weird is all.” Cyd shrugged. “Sure is …” Mathias mindlessly agreed, flicking the card to the hat, it hit the edge just right and just barely got in. “ … yes!” Cyd chuckled at her brothers’ indifference. “He [i]does[/i] need new bearings.” she offered. “He [i]does[/i] have a terrible sense of direction …” Mathias agreed, focusing on his next throw. "Seriously, though, Jo!" Isaac popped off one of his earphones so he could hear his siblings better as he pressed the issue. "Maybe when she's done doing whatever she's doing with those crates, maybe she'll let me have those sweet bearings for my trucks? That would make my board gek fast!" The younger Skye daydreamed aloud about the possibilities. "I could be doing krank Backside Tailslides, Shuvits, Crooked Grinds! Think I can ask her for 'em if her business is done with on New Melbourne?" He wondered. “Worst she can say is no,” Cyd offered, swiping the air in front of her screen to go back to something non wheel related. Isaac could be like a dog with a bone. “Whatever Cyd says …” Mathias said reflexifly. The card bounced off the edge of the hat. “... Dà xiàng gāowán bàozhà!” He snapped Isaac's excitement was palpable upon hearing Cyd's encouragement, which was only slightly deflated by Mathias's considerably less convincing agreement. Undeterred, he leaned over to peek at his sister's cortex screen. "How much longer before we land?" “Forever.” Mathias answered, flicking the card squarely into the hat. “You could read a book if you’re bored.” Cyd offered. Isaac groaned and fell back sullen into his chair, pulling the earphones snugly back in place. The thought of sitting around reading a boring old digital book was [I]not[/I] exactly his idea of a fun way to pass the time. He fiddled with the controls, trying to find in something, [I]anything[/I] that would tune out his tiresome sibs as he slid deeper into his chair and sulked. “Books are fun.” Mathias encouraged throwing another card into the hat. Cyd couldn’t help but giggle. It took her a hot minute to realize she’d switched from earbuds to speakers. Music filled the kitchen when she connected the data pad to her small dedicated source box, circumventing the Cortex. The music sounded better loud, but people were just starting to wake up. They’d already not made friends with the skebenga’s Mathias chased off. Alienating people was bad for busking. With a couple of finger taps, the din disappeared, transmitting back to Cyd and Mathias. “All right sibs, I found something - dockside, , and it’s pretty close to the maritime museum. Artifacts from clipper ships back from Earth that was. Who wants to take a pic with New Mel’s largest working cannon?” She had an album full of photos from the verse, random attractions and the like. Isaac had no idea what his sister was babbling about, but she looked to the boys expectantly about whatever she was saying. He gave a thumbs up. It seemed to be the right response as no one kicked him afterward. Mathias jumped from the noise breaking his concentration. “Is this another pikkewyn thing?” He asked, wrinkling his nose. Mathias put down the cards to stretch his fingers out. “We packed white shirts for a reason, Yobo,” she snickered. “To use in the event we need to surrender?” Mathias answered not sure if it was the right answer? Cyd laughed. “You’re not getting out of it that eas… “ She furrowed her brow as she swiped a few more keys. It looked like they weren’t the only ones on board circumventing the Cortex. Isaac's sulk was so deep he was practically halfway to the floor. His face had, up until that point, been fixed with a sour expression. That changed when something seemed to grab his attention, making his eyes grow wide. "Fokkol..." he sighed in disbelief.