[IC] Can You Hear the Distance Calling? (Accepting)

[DisguisedDemon]

Penelope and Leo followed the man leading them down the stairs in the ship. They'd only just gotten on the boat and had to find their level, apparently they would be splitting rooms with the others that were part of the group. It wasn't such a bad thing, but Penelope had thought they would be getting their own place to start with or her and Leo would at least be sharing a room. It somewhat ruined the whole "spend lots of time together" thing she was going for. "And this is where you'll be staying," the woman explains. It's decent sized and Leo notices that there seem to be lots of couches and chairs spread around the main room.

Hallways lead out to the different rooms and it looked like most of them were posted with names, likely so there wasn't any confusion. After a few explanations about the kitchens being down the hall and that each room had its own bathroom, the man left them in there on their own. They'd been told most of the first few days would be getting to their first destination and even after landing the boat it'd been hours in a bus to get to Turkey. "Do you think they've brought our bags to the rooms already?" Penny asks the room and Leo shrugs. "I'm guessing, but honestly I'm starved. Does anyone want to go to the kitchens and get some food? I'm making the most of having food like this before we get somewhere and can't have the food were used to."

[MushyKetchup]

Mandie stepped on the boat with only a duffel bag sitting at her hip, lips pinched in worry. She had no idea what she was getting into; for that matter, she didn't know why she had gotten into it at the first place. She hated traveling, and she knew that from the trip to New Mexico, so why on earth had she signed up for this? As the woman ushered the twins on board, Mandie followed about five steps behind, careful not to disturb them and make them aware of her presence. Roommates? Blech. She was not the type to be at ease with a roommate watching, especially if the roommate was a male.

She skipped the large lounging room where Penny and Leo had stopped and instead passed by the many doors with names on them in search of her own. None of the other names seemed terribly familiar to her, not that she was surprised. Upon finding her own at the end of the hallway, she pressed the door open and dropped her bag unceremoniously in the middle of the bedroom. Leaving the door open, she glanced around the room, checked the sheets for bedbugs (none found), washed her hands at the sink, and returned to the hallway to tiptoe toward the lounge. She just caught the end of Leo's sentence and replied, "I'll make or grab some food if you'd like. I haven't eaten yet today."

[Aletheias]

Calliope took her cell phone out of her canvas backpack, almost tripping as she walked into the boat’s entrance after a girl with glorious dark brown curls. Her mother had just messaged her asking whether she made it on the ship or not. She quickly replied to her text to let her know that she was where she was supposed to be. Her parents were such worry warts and it reminded her of her high school days when they would text her every morning to make sure she was on the bus and not in a strange man’s van.

She smiled at the memory. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel as homesick as she thought she would, but she figured it would only take a couple days before she started missing her family.

“And this is where you’ll be staying.” Curious to see what her temporary living space was like, she quickly looked up and scanned the area. The room was was big enough to fit multiple couches and led to a couple hallways, most likely the rooms and… “Does anyone want to go to the kitchens and get some food?” Calliope’s ears perked up. Although she had already eaten prior to her arrival, she had already planned to check the kitchen out before her own room. “I’m Calliope,” she said out loud so everyone could hear. She wasn’t talking to anyone in particular but she just wanted to introduce herself early in the game, even if it was a little awkward and abrupt. She then turned her attention to the girl who offered to make some food and smiled, “I can help, if you’d like.” She wondered what kind of ingredients the program provided for them.

[MushyKetchup]

Oh, thank goodness, she thought to herself. Someone's here who doesn't already have a "best buddy" like these two."Would you like to go together, then?" Mandie offered to Calliope. "I'm curious what rooms are on the ship. And it's nice to meet you, Calliope." She botched the pronunciation ferociously and winces in apology. "I'm Mandie. Mandie Swensen. Shall we go?" Without waiting for a reply, she marched with confidence along the hallway to the other end of the passage, where a door hastily-labelled "Kitchen" in Sharpie rested. However, in this moment, she realized she still carried a can of pepper spray at her waist hooked onto a belt loop, something she kept while travelling but that could be rather intimidating to the other passengers. She looked over her shoulder to Calliope, eyebrows raised. "Go ahead," she offered, gesturing to the door politely with a gentle grin. "I'll be right back to drop something in my room."

She meandered down the hall, fiddling with the spray at her hip. It was attached to her belt loop via a clip with chipping metallic green paint, and as she attempted to unlock the contraption, a few flakes of paint landed on the floor. She pressed open the door with her back and tossed the pepper spray inside, only for the nozzle to pop off and the liquid to begin violently coating everything in its path. "Oh, for Christ's sake," she muttered under her breath, chasing after the canister.

[CanisMajoris2]

It was then that Nate truly realized that he was committed. With one singular hefty sigh, he lifted his guitar case and duffel bag up the gangway and boarded the ship. To either side he could see those pretty little faces, all considering this voyage as it were. There was the one woman from before (how the hell did he still remember her?) from the bar. Carmichael's! That was it... Was her name... There was a woman talking to no one in particular, and her name was Calliope, said she. Lovely name, Nate thought; she's a winner, methinks.

But he resolved not to be that one guy ruining it for everyone. No, it had happened too much before, and it wasn't going to happen again. He watched the waves crash against a distant jetty, jutting out into the ocean as if it merely wanted to be noticed. Seagulls stood on every God-damn post available. Nate even saw two fighting over the same one. A misty spray out to see caught his eye, and straining, he could just see a pod of dolphins streaking across the water, no doubt after some sort of fish. Maybe mackerel.

"Mmmackerel..." Nate grinned, staring up at Calliope talking to bar lady. My goodness! She was something, eh?

[DisguisedDemon]

Leo watched Maddie take off with Calliope and turned his head slowly to Penny. "Did I just suggest food and then get ditched?" He asked, so confused on what had just happened. Penelope seemed to register it at that moment and frowned towards the door. "What the... no one just gets to act like that to my little brother." As protective and older as Leo seemed, sometimes Penelope could get that way too. Especially now that she was trying to rekindle their friendship, but he still felt odd about the whole thing. "Don't worry about it, sis. I'll go check out the kitchens and you're welcome to come as well." Leo ended up being the only one who went off to the kitchens and smiled when he found the others already in there. He went to look for food and pulled out some bread. "We can make sandwiches at least. Is anyone good at cooking?"

Meanwhile Penelope just spread out on one of the couches with a book that she wasn't really reading. She didn't want to seem like she wasn't doing anything, but the rocking of the boat was starting to make her sick already. This was going to be a long ride and she just hoped it didn't get any worse. This couldn't have been everyone that was supposed to be on the ship and she wanted to get a look at everyone that was going to be living with her for the next few months.

[Aletheias]

Mandie Swensen, she thought, What a catchy name! “Nice to meet you, too.” This was great for Calliope. She was in a room full of strangers and still functional. ”My father is really into mythology so they named me after one of the nine muses. My name is pronounced Kah-ly-oh-pee, though,” she repeated her name for future references along with some useless information about her family. She followed Mandy towards the kitchen and nodded as she excused herself to go to her room. Calliope saw the can of pepper spray and immediately thought about how her mother kept convincing her to carry one around due to her petite size.

“Mmmackerel...” That was random. Calliope was oblivious to the staring but raised an eyebrow in confusion at the man with the stache. “Mackerel? You want to eat Mackerel?” she asked for confirmation. She held the kitchen door open and looked back at the guy who asked if anyone was good at cooking. She saw the bag of bread he pulled out and was hoping that there weren’t any peanut butter or jelly on the boat. She smiled apologetically, “I can make cereal… and some basic breakfast foods like eggs and bacon but that’s about it.” She gestured back to the other male and whispered, “I think he wants some mackerel, though.” She felt a little awkward talking to people whose names she didn’t know. However, she didn't bother to ask. Perhaps they’ll introduce themselves when they’re more comfortable? For now, the man in the kitchen was known as “Bread”, the other “Mackerel” and the girl who came with Bread as “Book.” Book looked very similar to Bread. Her eyes glanced towards the dark haired girl situated on the couch. ”Is she your sister?”

[Fubsy]

The day was pleasantly warm, with the faintest of breeze twirling in the air. The sky was a cloudless expanse of baby blue, as azurian and wide as the sea below. The air was tinged with the cries of gulls and their flapping wings, and the ever so familiar tang of salt. A perfect day for a jog or picnic...or an adventure on the high seas. JC looked about the ship, his backpack hefted onto his shoulders. His eyes glimmered with excitement as he took note of the people around him, a small skip in his step as he made his way to his room. This was it! The adventure he'd long awaited. There had been some bumps along the road, sure, but that didn't change the fact that he was here now.

Jasper mentally went over all the given information he had received. A sort of preparation for what lay ahead. If it was correct, he was supposed to be roommates win someone. A hopefully very attractive someone. It would be different having to get used to no longer being alone, but it was a much welcomed change. JC soon found his dorm and, with a quick check to make sure it was the right one, he strolled inside. To his small surprise, it seemed like he wasn't the first one there. "Hey there!" he greeted cheerily. "I'm hoping this is the right room?"

[Wade Wilson]

---

Location: Kitchen
Interacting With: Anyone within range

---

If there’s one thing Alex was, above all of his other personality traits, it was late. His experience during his teenage years had told him of that, definitely. So, he wasn’t surprised that, when he finally showed up, half of the “group” had already showed up. He’d taken a quick stroll down to his room (Room 1), glancing in all the others for a sign of anyone he actually knew, even if they were old friends. Unfortunately, as he’d been expecting, it was all completely new to him. Not a single piece of familiarity to grip onto for dear life, and never let go of. It was a tedious process, really. First, it started with silently darting to his room, a blur of grey, looking around and claiming the bed that looked best, with a quick smirk. Then, it was eavesdropping on all the others, learning names and the sorts. So far, so good – he had Calliope and Mandie. For the rest, it was either staying there longer, when his stomach was starting to blow his “cover”, or simply going out there and making nicknames for them. Alex decided on the latter, as he wasn’t in the mood for being a creep, who someone just up from him was being. The dude had the whole get-up going on, especially with the moustache. He shuddered.

Dumping his belongings – that he’d decided to carry – in his room (on his claimed bed), Alex made his way down the small corridor, to the kitchen. It seemed to be the hotspot, since half of the people were there, conversing and scavenging for food. He’d picked up on a conversation about who could cook, and he instantly darted through the door. “I can cook, I guess. ‘Learned about how to use my resources well when I was at summer camp,” his eyes instinctively looked around for any signs of doubt; people who thought it was stupid, before continuing, “it’s not much, but it’ll still stop us from having to eat each other.” A small chuckle came out, which he really hadn’t hoped for – the only people he’d wished to befriend were the ones who actually bothered to peek under that antisocial façade, to see the Alex below. He tried to convince himself he didn’t mind, and push away the “old Alex” that was popping up. Besides, he needed to let camp go, right?

[CanisMajoris2]

"Wha...? Oh! No, I just saw some fish down there. I'm not too hungry, thanks." Smiling easily, Nate shoulders his belongings and walks along the promenade, shaking his head. Not the best of introductions... Ah well. More time for that later. If it weren't for that one fellow eavesdropping he'd feel a little more comfortable being here. As it were, he decided to deal with that as soon as he could. Nate nervously taps the pack of cigarettes in his pocket, illegally shuffled in there, just in case. Walking down the promenade, he glances down at the fish again, noticing there was a father and son trying their luck in catching them. Nate's breath hitches, and he looks away quickly.

"Eh... maybe I'll just play." Nate's eyes trailed along the room numbers before finding his, opening the door with his free hand, only to find someone already in here spraying paint all over the place. Watching in dumbfounded fascination, Nate can't help but crack a grin. Laughing, he sets down his case and bag, walking over to Mandie: "Need help, Miss...?"

[Benzaiten]

Alycia was just boarding the boat, pulling her lugagge behind herself and trying to not trip over her own feet as the bag around her shoulder dropped down her shoulder and almost fell off her arm. Barely she managed to reach her room without any further obstacles. She dropped her belongings by one of the beds carelessly and took a deep breath, straightening her hurting back. "Uff", she said thankfully that the weight was off her body. "Finally." For some reason, that neither of the people she had been guided to talk to wanted to explain, her luggage had not been taken to her room like promised. Instead she had to run all over the harbor and get her bags and suitcase from some stuck-up woman that first wanted a prove that those "lost belongings" were actually hers. After proving so by listing what was inside of the bags, she was finally allowed to take them and get them all over the harbor to the right boat.

Her eyes quickly wandered around the room and then she left it to see where the noises of talking people came from.
Finding herself in some sort of sitting room, she looked around with a soft, curious smile on her lips. Quiet a few people were gathering around in what seemed to be the kitchen nearby, a single girl sat on one of the couches, trying to pretend to read but Aylcia doubted she could focus.

She pushed her long brown hair back over her shoulders and rubbed her back with her hand. The pain was bothering and really sharp. She sighed, she couldn't really do much about it now anyway, and then sat down on a couch to at least not need to stand anymore with her hurting back. The seating position helped for a few seconds, then the pain came back. But it was still better than standing.

She looked at the people chatting cheerfully and listened to their conversation as she tried to ease the pain with some strokes of her hands to her lower back and shoulders.

[MushyKetchup]

Mandie finally caught the pepper spray dancing around the room, which doused an eye, and she sucked in a cry of pain. Of course her first impressions had to be made like this; flailing around a tiny boat bedroom to catch runaway pepper spray instead of gracefully entering the kitchen as she imagined the others were doing. "Yes, please!" she told Nathaniel, not realizing who he was. "Could you get the cap and put it on this! It should be somewhere around the room..."

Upon addressing her partner - her heart sank when she heard his voice and realized he was male - she stumbled to the bathroom with flushed cheeks and a watering eye to snatch a washcloth, douse it in water, and hold it to her eye. She sighed softly and turned to look at her partner, who...

Oh.

Oh, no.

"Do I-" her voice hitched, and she swallowed. "Do I know you?"

[CanisMajoris2]

"Yeah, probably. I dunno." Nate shrugged and looked around, kneeling down and looking under the bed. Finding the cap spinning lazily, he reached underneath and snatched it up. Standing with an amused half-grin, Nate handed the cap to Mandie, a woman that in a very short period of time became his favorite person on the ship. "Here's your thing. You know, that can looks pretty old. You might want to get a new one so it won't explode." Nate's grin persisted as he sat on the bed and opened his guitar case, pulling it out and strumming a chord.

Wonder if they like music?

Nate looked over at the suffering Mandie: "What's your name? What'd'they call you?" Nate started to tune the guitar with an app on his phone, wanting to make sure that it sounded perfect and not trusting his ear to do so. A few of the strings were rusting at the edges, paying homage to the age of the instrument--which indeed LOOKED very old, with its faded wood paneling. Nate looked up again and grinned at her: "I'm Nate Sheffield. They might not've told you."

[sakurasan]

Allia didn’t have as much luggage as the others with her as she boarded the ship. Two black duffle bags. One hanging on her right shoulder and the other nearly touching the ground as she walked with it in her left hand. Allie popped her neck, wondering what she had put in the bags. They didn’t seem as heavy before when she had just packed them all up. Once fully inside of the ship, Allia followed the others and headed to her room. Roomates. She hadn’t had one of those since college and that wasn’t fun. Well, it’s not like she would get stuck with a chick that loved fraternity parties and leaving cigarette buds everywhere.

The others that were there were mentioning food a lot. She preferred drinking though. More specifically, beer. The people around her were pretty chipper, all of them pitching in their ideas. "I can cook pretty well..." she says, not too loudly and already expecting to get drowned out with all of the people talking. Didn't really matter. Allia's mom always taught her how to cool, a big believer on the whole "Food is the key to a man's heart." thing. Or at least, she though that was what she used to say. Sometimes she wished that she was allowed to eat that unhealthy food that kids apparently got to eat though. You know that thing called kaviar that can cost up to $5,000? Yeah, that's probably her least favorite thing to eat in the entire world. Fish roe? No thanks.

Allia went over to an empty bed once inside of her room and placed her bags on the bed. She began to rummage through her bag, looking for a granola bar to eat but gave up once she realized that it was hiding somewhere. Allia leaves the room and heads back out to the area where the others are and sees a girl that was sitting rather quietly.

She looks her up and down with no ill intent and places a smile on her face. The smile didn’t exactly seem genuine but oh well. Cute girl and nice hair, that was what Allia noticed for the time being. She seemed pretty sweet. "I need to go and get something to eat.. Oh and hey, name's Allia. Nice to meet you." she says to the girl.

_{@KahleenCuthald and well, everyone I guess}

[Benzaiten]

---

:: Sitting Room ::
Interacting with: @sakurasan

---

Alycia looked at the source of voice that had approached her and smiled back. She didn't really notice that the smile she was thrown wasn't too genuine, she was just so glad to have someone speak up to her. Her green eyes gazed the girl up and down and then she almost winked - but in last second could surpress it. Dark hair, awesome eyes, nice face, sweet smile - even though not meant sweetly -, cute body. Her type of woman indeed.

"If you don't mind, I could totally use a refreshment." Alycia got up and looked questioningly at Allia - uh and pretty name too! "I'm Alycia", she introduced herself. "Do you think they have lemonade?"

Her shorts offered a free look at her long legs, her arm-free white top showed a pattern of blue spirals and lines that gracefully formed to a unique flower, although her cleavage was covered, her breasts still looked good in this top, around her waist she sported a simple blue-white checkered top that had been covering her arms earlier when it was cooler outside, the girl's feet lied in plain creme ankle-boots. All in all she didn't look like a style queen, yet the easy look seemed to lie good on her.

[MushyKetchup]

---

:: Bedroom ::
Interacting with: @CanisMajoris2

---

Mandie sighed bitterly. "They didn't tell me, but I remember you fairly well. My name's Mandie." She wrung out the washcloth and hung it over the edge of the counter to dry. Of course she had to be paired with him. Of all the people participating in this program, the leaders just had to match her with the one person she knew. And of course he had to be an annoying flirt. She could practically see the girl-catching gears circling in his head as he fiddled with his guitar. He was, if not a good person, at least a good musician. Still, that wasn't nearly enough to redeem him in her eyes.
"I'd like to set out a few rules," she continued softly. "Screw around with your guitar all you'd like, but stop before 11 at night. If you get in my bed, I promise to give you strong regrets. The same goes for entering the bathroom while I'm inside. And finally, if you feel the need to flirt with me, I recommend you make a beeline for the door before you utter the ridiculous pick-up line to save your own life." Despite their harsh nature, the words were delivered in a cool, even tone, and she adjusted a section of her hair as she spoke. "Understood, Nate?"

[CanisMajoris2]

---

:: Bedroom ::
Interacting with:@MushyKetchup

---

Nate chuckled and pocketed his phone before strumming out the first chords for Layla. "What do you do when you get lonely? No one waiting by your side? You've been running... hiding much too long... you know it's just your foolish mind..."Looking up at Mandie with a twinkle in his eye, Nate continued playing soft chords: "You know what a misanthrope is, darlin'? It's someone who hates people just 'cause they're people. What a crime it would be to make a mistake... or, in your eyes, to commit the sin of being somethin' like an... animal." Snapping a string against the fingerboard, Nate stood and regarded Mandie softly: "Yeah, I remember you. You're there with your friends at Carmichael's. Looked like you weren't enjoying yourself, so I thought I'd keep you amused. Weren't having it. Sorry for trying to pick up a woman. I am, after all, a straight dude." With one climactic final strum, Nate whirled around and walked out to join the others and fully introduce himself.

[DisguisedDemon]

---

::Sitting Room::
Interacting with: @sakurasan @KahleenCuthald

---

Penelope sits up when two girls get in to the living room and begin to discuss getting drinks. "Sorry to interrupt, but do you guys have room for one more? I thought I would try to relax out here, but the boat is making me a bit sea sick and I really could use something to drink. Preferably something with a little alcohol." She didn't usually try to put herself out there like this and these two seemed pretty in to each other. Hopefully she wasn't butting in to something she shouldn't have been.

Oh well. It was too late now to take back her question. It was probably best to make some friends anyway, it's not like she would have the ones from college with her now. "My name's Penelope, by the way. Sorry again for interrupting."

---

::Kitchen::
Interacting with: @Wade Wilson@Aletheias

---

Leo actually laughed at what the girl said before the guy talking about fish left. "Well I suppose we won't have to be finding any mackerel then. My name's Leo and that would be my sister, Penelope. Do we really look that much alike?" It still always surprised him when people could just look at them and tell they had to be closely related. Usually people never guessed cousin, it was always siblings. He raised his eyebrows when the other guy said he could cook, it was getting so hard for him to think of them in his head. "That's awesome. I was gonna suggest like french toast or something, but if you can cook, please take over.

He holds the bread out like it's something sacred and hopes these two don't think he's crazy now. He may have played sports in high school, but he was also a huge fan of video games and a bit of a nerd. The kitchen isn't all that big and he tries to get out of the way so this guy can cook for them. "What camp teaches you how to cook? Obviously Penny and I could have used that."

[Fubsy]

Jasper tossed his bag into his bed, the weight of thirty pounds of clothes, supplies, and whatever the hell he could fit inside already taking its toll on his shoulder. He rubbed the sore spot, staring at his backpack. It was a bulky old thing, faded and worn from years of use. It was a miracle the thing had survived thus far. He hadn't used the old thing since...what was it? Freshman year of Highschool? But it was the only bag he could find that was big enough to handle all his luggage. Speaking of which...
JC grimaced as he patted the heavy bag. There was a lot of stuff inside. A lot. He could save time, tidy up now and unpack before running off to explore the ship and meet some future hunnies. It would take an hour at most, maybe less. Or, he could explore first leaving his future self with the problem of packing up and screaming at his past self. JC hesitated, staring at the bag. Yup, he was definitely going with the latter.

With a shrug, JC turned and headed away. Now all he had to worry about was where to go first. He looked around, curiosity piquing his interest. He had overheard some people say they were going to the kitchen. That could be an excellent way to start things off. Besides, he was hungry and the thought of a well stocked pantry seemed more and more appealing by the second. The kitchen took some navigating to find. Luckily it was a small a ship, and after a couple of room checking--and some accidental walk ins--JC soon found himself in the galley. "I really hope someone's making lunch," JC announced as he walked in. "I'm half tempted to eat this entire ship."

[Wade Wilson]

---

Location: Kitchen
Interacting With: @DisguisedDemon; Basically anyone who can hear him

---

Alex chuckled as Leo suggested probably the most overused thing as a food substitute in the world – toast. Well, French toast, but, still, it was toast. “Nah, you don’t wanna do toast, man. It’s so cliché.” Alex took the bread from him as he clambered about to leave, and placed it back where it belonged.

“What camp teaches you how to cook? Obviously Penny and I could have used that.” He heard Leo’s voice pipe up from behind, and he paused a little, before rummaging through the contents of the kitchen once again. “Oh, it’s just some summer camp I went to when I was a teenager. Camp Liberty, I think. Plus, my dad’s a chef, so, yeah.” He passed it off as if it wasn’t that much of a big deal, in the hopes the conversation wouldn’t linger on it. Shaking his head, he looked at what he’d found so far. So far, so good – he had some spaghetti, some of “that red sauce you use for food”, as his mother would call it, a bottle of vegetable oil, a block of cheese, and a variety of herbs. The chives caught his eye, especially. Not a bad kitchen, if you’ll ask him. “Does anyone know where the freezer is? And if so, does it have minced beef in it? I think I can make some spaghetti bolognese.” He called out. Knowing Alex, the freezer would be in plain sight.