Fractured Voyage Logs

-- Some threads are NSFW. Open around coworkers and family at your own risk. --


In the morning, after the first meal, comes a notice from Captain Crozier that at sunset he hopes that all will join him on the deck of Terror for a ball. Formal dress recommended, but not required. Nothing more is needed to attend than their own persons and good cheer.

____


With help from the magicians, Crozier spends the day transforming the deck of the ship into a space suitable for dancing and drinking and general merriment. For light, Crozier employs Sabriel: three orbs hang in the air well above the heads of the guests, flooding the deck in a glow resembling the scattering of lamps along the sides of the ship. For the decorations the botanist in Crozier finds ferns and flowers from the island, the wood of the ship itself dotted with flowers Strange has grown straight from her timbers. Sabriel arranges the plants and lays rugs and chairs over spaces for resting, while McGonagall charms banners and bunting from the sky to sway gently over the attendees. 

Masts and railings are hung with fabric -- most of it canvas, but Crozier's found some nicer cloth hidden in the orlop and hangs it over a table he's placed towards the bow. On the table itself he's arranged the spirits from the hold, including his own whiskey and the rum found by Mulder and Shaun, as well as some coconuts and mangoes and pineapples for further decoration and perhaps consumption, if anyone feels daring enough to try to open them. 

The trickiest part was the music. Not wishing to settle for the tinny notes of the hand organ, or force one soul into providing all the entertainment through singing or playing one of the instruments aboard, he turns to McGonagall, and she's able to charm the instruments into playing by themselves. The violins and other strings play sweetly from the space by the helm, ready to take requests from the dancers so long as the requester knows the song well enough. 

At sunset the hatch is opened and Crozier has those still on the beach row over, greeting everyone warmly as they step foot on the deck. 


((You know what to do, folks. I want to see Happiness. Drunkenness. Dancing. Drama.))

The ship doesn't keep time through bells or watches anymore, but Crozier can still hear them ringing in his mind as he checks his pocket watch. He calls the meeting right in the middle of the first Dog Watch, letting it land right as their dinner's being cooked in the galley. It gives everyone added incentive to be present and alert for what he's about to say. 

He asks Jopson if everyone is present - and sends out additional messages to those who happened to ignore the first few calls for a meeting - and then stands in aisle by the head of the galley, hands behind his back, to address them. 

"Some of you have already spotted the cracks in the ice," he begins, voice loud and accent somewhat dialed back. He's formal here, speaking to a crew instead of this odd assortment of men and women. "They appeared when we returned from Edinburgh, and have grown wider and more numerous by the hour. It also seems as though the pressure ridge that has pushed Terror onto her side is beginning to lessen. The unnatural tilt in which he walk is beginning to straighten itself out."

He pauses. "What does this mean?" 

Crozier scans their faces carefully for any sort of understanding.

"I'll not mince words. Terror is in a precarious situation. If this indeed is a sign of a thaw - and it is looking more and more likely by the minute - then in her current state she'll sink. Her hull has been under immense pressure for a number of years. She's full of holes, her metal plating's warped, and her sails are in storage."  He doesn't mention the limited knowledge of the current 'crew', figuring that it should be obvious. 

"I've called you together not to alarm you, but to present a course of action. The first is to repair the ship to the best of our ability. The second is to catalog our stores and begin putting together a sledges that can be pulled, or sailed, if we begin to lose Terror. We must act swiftly, and we must act together." 

((We're 'running' this meeting kind of like we did for the town halls during classic FR. In the thread Crozier will ask for comments and volunteers, and characters can respond. You can also add in a new thread if your character has another point to make, or any side conversations that may happen. And of course you can just tag in with the general impression your character has of the whole ordeal.))