Welcome to the Machine [2430-2-1 Mon 9am]

[Blu]

"Oh yeah, we can find you something new!!" Blu was a bit surprised that Mai felt up to trying something new. But it was a good sign. If she wanted to try new food, then she'd probably be up to more adventurous stuff too. "Maybe you'd like something with chicken in it! Chicken's reliable! It always tastes like chicken!"

Blu winced when Sonya bumped her head. He'd done that plenty of times before, back when he'd first started travelling in space. But Sonya looked okay, if embarrassed, and Blu let go by without a lot of fuss, since he knew he hated fuss when he was embarrassed. "Yeah, yeah, we can go right away. I'm ready to go, if you guys need to get anything, I'll just wait for you here."

[Sonya]

It was a relief to Sonya when Mai admitted she wanted something other than fish. “If I never eat another fish, it will be too soon.” Though spoken out loud, this declaration was meant more for herself than the other two. The young mermaid swelled with pride at the suggestion that she should give advice on human food, but suddenly, she found herself stuck. What should she say? She had to measure her next sentence carefully, she didn’t want to say the wrong thing, or it might ruin her reputation.

Sonya opened her mouth to speak, only to have Blu beat her to the punch. She tried not to be disappointed, it wasn’t like she’d had any idea what she was going to say anyway. In a way she was grateful. Now all she had to do was nod and say, “Yes, that’s an excellent suggestion,” as if it had been what she was going to say all along. She did so, and then started with excitement as Blu finally conceded to going outside. “I’m ready!” She cried, turning already half way down the passage, “Let’s go!”

[Mai]

"Chicken," Mai stated, trying out the word. Interesting. "Alright, let's do that," she nodded. She wasn't quite sure what Blu meant by chicken always tasting like chicken, but it made it sound safe. Even if what she normally ate tasted like what it was. Sonya seemed to agree with the suggestion at any rate, so Mai assumed it was a good idea.

They were raring to go already. While Mai was hungry and definitely interested in this chicken stuff, she still had one issue. "Uh, just let me get changed," she said, quickly swimming her way back towards her room. She placed her hand on the pad to let her in and then set to rummaging through her bag for something a little nicer than the comfortable clothing she'd picked out for sleeping in. She didn't have a huge wardrobe, having just bought a few more human things at the space port before she'd left, but it wasn't a morning choice she was used to, so she had to take a moment to figure out what to pick.

She did her best to change as fast as possible--not easy for someone still getting used to legs and putting pants on said legs--and then headed back out towards the pair in the hallway.

[Blu]

"Okay, we'll be right here!" Blu waited for Mai to get changed, feeling rather proud that he had remembered to give her a chance to change. Some of his other crew members had been annoyed whenever Blu went out the door and expected them to follow. Blu didn't really understand, but then again, Blu had worn his PJs in public before without much thought. They were comfy, what did it matter?

When she returned, Blu headed out to the end of the t-branch, where Sonya was, and then let his air cannister zip him all the way down the umbrella's handle. There was a weird moment when he reached the bottom, and the anti-gravity was overwhelmed by the Underworld's gravity fields, and his stomach did a little lurch. He adjusted, getting his feet under him, waiting for Mai and Sonya to reach him. If they had any problems, he'd be able to catch them and help them upright.

From here, it was just a matter of stepping out of the airlock, and making sure it was locked tight to keep people from getting into the ship. If they did, Vivian would take care of them, but her methods tended to get violent if Blu didn't respond quickly. Sure they were usually thieves, or kidnappers, but nobody really deserved to get zapped with electricity.

[Sonya]

Sonya tried not to sigh in frustration as Mai sped off back to her room. Really she did. But she couldn’t help feeling as though the universe was conspiring against her. She was inches from the moment she’d been dreaming of for what seemed like centuries, and now she felt that eons were passing as she waited for her crewmate’s return. What was taking so long? If she had to wait another second she was going to explode. But she had to wait five more seconds. And then another five. Then another.

She had gotten desperate enough to start counting them as Blu and Mai finally appeared. Sonya was impressed and a little jealous to see that Mai was wearing pants. Although she prided herself on skillful use of legs, she’d only worn pants a handful of times, and had found them both a discomfort and a nuisance. Anger flared briefly. She was supposed to be the one who knew everything about humans. How to act like one, talk like one, cook like one, dress like one. She was the expert, not Mai. But Sonya couldn’t stay angry at a time of such excitement, and she was soon racing after the others, all her enmity forgotten. She was entirely unprepared for the flip her stomach did as she joined Blu next to the airlock, but managed not to show her surprise. “Can you open it?” She asked as she settled beside him, her eyes wide and pleading, like a dog begging for attention, “Please?”

[Blu]

Blu probably should have waited for Mai to join him and Sonya, espeically since she wasn't too far away. But Blu couldn't bring himself to deny anybody anything, espeically not excited people. And Sonya looked super, super excited. "Okay, but don't go too far!"

He pressed one palm against the handscanner, and called out, "Hey Vivian, open it up!" The VI complied, and the airlock whirled open, doors folding back into the tunnel. The sounds and smells of the Underworld flooded into the umbrella's stem. Blu stayed where he was, just in case Mai needed him.

[Sonya]

Since as long as she could remember, Sonya had been imagining this moment. Picturing it before she went to bed at night, calming herself with the fantasy when she felt angry, alone and unloved. She’d pictured a million different scenarios, studied pictures so she’d know exactly what she might see when she first made contact with another planet. But she’d never imagined anything quite like this. In her fantasies, her first thoughts had always been ones of admiration. But now, stepping out onto the underworld, and feeling it’s gritty surface on the soles of her bare feet, her first thought was that she was lucky mermaid’s didn’t have a very strong sense of smell.

You didn’t really need one, living underwater, and though it had previously frustrated her, Sonya was now quite grateful. If she’d had a human’s sense of smell, she was pretty sure the scent of the Underworld would have overpowered her completely. It was impossible to describe, such a mixture of different things, but she soon forgot that, melting back into her former state of gaping awe. The Underworld wasn’t what most people would have called beautiful, but Sonya wasn’t most people. To her the new, no matter what it looked like, was always beautiful. And oh was the Underworld ever so new.

[Mai]

Mai hurried after the pair the best she could, swimming at first in the halls of the ship, and then forcing herself to get used to standing once more once they made the switch to gravity again. Sonya was definitely raring to start exploring, but Mai was a little more hesitant about it. It being such an alien place, Mai wasn't in any rush to run off without first getting bearings and learning more about the place.

"So, uh... is this a planet? It looks kind of like one, except more like ships..." she asked Blu as they headed towards the Underworld's gateway. Already she found herself feeling a little nervous, knowing she was going to be vastly outnumbered by humans in this place. The Corus spaceport was usually crawling with mostly humans, but there were still Merpeople here and there, as well as Winged, and even once and awhile she had even run into a few fauns and elves.

[Blu]

Blu make sure Mai landed right, and waited until they were both out of the airlock before turning around and sealing it shut. Vivian turned the lights from green to red, indicating that the airlock was both shut, and armed. The only handprints that would open it were Blu, Mai and Sonya's.

"Not exactly!" Blu answered Mai, walking alongside her. Sonya was ready to go exploring, but Mai seemed far more hesitant. He made sure to keep pace with her so she didn't feel too overwhelmed. Sonya would be okay, as long as she didn't get too far away. "It's basically one huge space station, made up of thousands of other spaceships! You can see the seams here and there!" He pointed one out, the thick weld marks and clamps holding the two half-ships together.

"About fifteen years ago, there were a bunch of humans who didn't like the Terran government or the military, and they wanted to do the things they wanted to do, but they didn't want to set up base on a planet, because that ties you down! So instead they attached their ships together and made a space station out of them! And then other people heard about it and they joined, and then more and more ships, until finally they became the Underworld!" Blu was obviously enthusiastic as he explained the history of the Underworld to Mai and Sonya. When he was in university, he'd written a paper about the building of the Underworld, and how it was one of the largest organically-built structures ever created. It was proof that anarchy could work, if there were enough of you, and if you had a common enemy to unite yourselves again. Blu loved coming to the Underworld to see the new additions and be amazed at how space structures could be so radically different than land structures. "Since it's a big free-floating structure, they can just go wherever they want in the System! Mostly they stay in the far reaches, since they don't like Terra!"

Blu headed to the right, pointing to the spiral staircase just a little ways away, "We'll take that down a couple of levels, and it'll get us really near a restaurant!" He stared heading that way, glancing over his shoulder at the pair and making a follow-me gesture.

[Sonya]

People were staring, but not the way Sonya had expected them to. She been expecting to see curiosity, interest, and maybe even a bit of admiration in their eyes as they watched her. But what she hadn’t been prepared for was that people here might look at her as they had back home. That they might look at her as if she were crazy. Maybe it had something to do with her clothes? Or more likely the big, stupid grin she couldn’t seem to get off her face. But this was her first time here! Was she really expected to not take any interest in or feel any awe at the nature of her surroundings?

A few steps behind her, she could hear Blu explaining the origins of the Underworld to Mai, some of which she had heard before, but most of which she hadn’t. Of course, no one had to know that. But one thing stuck out to her that she hadn’t known before. The Underworld was a place made up of criminals. That explained why there wasn’t much information about it on the Network. It also meant that the people staring at her were criminals, and probably thought she was a criminal too. An insane criminal. How very badass. And suddenly she didn’t mind the staring so much. “Lead the way!” She told Blu, grinning from ear to ear. This was excellent. Perfect in fact. So perfect.

[Mai]

"Interesting... like building a village in space, without land as your basis..." Mai nodded as she registered Blu's description of the Underworld. It certainly made it sound more appealing that it actually looked, what with the way he lit up at the talk of people being able to do what they liked, under no rule. In theory, Mai could certainly get used to that sort of life.

In real life, however, the Underworld looked more like a whole lot of chaos and... dirt, oddly enough, for a place with no true land. People were looking at them a little oddly, making Mai feel slightly uncomfortable. She assumed it was because of Sonya's outward expressions of excitement, but in the back of her mind there was that small paranoia that she herself was sticking out like a sore thumb, perhaps because she was doing a bad job at walking, or maybe somehow they knew she was a mermaid, or maybe they just had a thing against blue hair. No, she reminded herself, there were plenty of people with random hair colours in strange shapes around here.

She picked up the pace a little bit more, hurrying after Blu and Sonya. The sooner they could get to this restaurant, the sooner they could sit and stop finding new people to stare at them.

[Blu]

Blu headed down the stairs, pausing now and again to make sure that Mai and Sonya were still behind. The last thing he wanted to do was lose one of them, especially when it was their first time here. The Underworld was rough, but it wasn't all that bad if you knew where you were going and what you were doing. If you didn't, then you had to worry about the people. Lots of guys on here would grab an unattended girl if it looked like they were new and might not be missed by somebody important.

People in the crowd looked over at them and stared now and again. Blu ignored it. He was really good at ignoring it. No matter what he went, people recognized him, and that was just one of those things he had to live with. He wouldn't take back his life, not when it had brought him to right here, right now, exactly where the Universe wanted him to be, but sometimes he really wished there hadn't been cameras at that last awards ceremony.

But two staircases down, and they emerged out onto a brightly lit street. Neon lights ran up and down the way, flickering and giving everything a weird sort of glow to it. There were no windows to the outside here, not with ships and ships built on top of them, and the only light was the glow of the neons. Blu took a moment to soak in the wonderfully weird atmosphere. If he wasn't with Mai and Sonya, he would have probably dropped a little acid, but he was responsible for them, and his trip could wait until much, much later.

"There it is!" He pointed to the sign in front of them. The sign had once said JACOBS, but the AC had long since burnt out and never been replaced. "Jobs! It's a great place! Lots of traditional Terran food, and some other stuff too! The cooks here are pretty good too!"

Blu walked into the restaurant. It was pretty empty at this time of the morning, and you could just sit anywhere There were booths along the walls, and tables in the middle, and the whole place was lit by strings of plastic lamps. Blu almost picked a table before realizing he should really let someone else pick. Sonya had been so excited to just come down here, being able to pick where they sat would really make her happy. "Sonya, choose where you want us to sit!"

[Sonya]

Mai didn’t seem quite as happy about the staring as Sonya was, and in the back of her mind she felt a bit guilty. But only a bit. Blu on the other hand, seemed to be totally immune to the gazes of the others trained on him. That didn’t bother Sonya much. She skipped down the stairs after him, until they reached the proper level, and then she stopped, drawing in her breath sharply as she took in the sight before her.

The street, or perhaps it was more of a corridor, was dark, dingy and slightly grimy, though less so than the place where they’d gotten out. The only light came from the neon signs adorning the various shops lining the street. It was so wonderfully otherworldly. Sonya loved the way there was nothing back on Corus it reminded her of, although the pools of light were a bit like shadows in the water… no. She wasn’t going there. She was finally free of Corus, she was never going back, either physically or mentally. Never.

Shaking her head slightly as though to jar the thought lose, Sonya followed Mai and Blu inside the restaurant. Now here was something she’d definitely never seen before, not even on Network pictures. So when Blu asked her where she wanted to sit, Sonya knew just the spot. “Right there!” She said, pointing, “In the middle.” She was, all told, a little nervous about being in the center of things, but she was an adventurer now. It was time to start taking risks.

[Mai]

The staring was still uncomfortable, but Mai did her best to ignore it, since the other two didn't seem phased much by the looks. Either they didn't care, or they didn't even notice. Mai couldn't quite figure out which one she hoped it was.

She followed them to an area that was lit up with all sorts of bright lights. It was completely foreign to Mai, and yet something about the iridescent lights reminded her of Corus and some of its native life under the ocean. There was one sign in particular that almost looked just like the colours of her own tail. She couldn't help but smile a little at the absurdity of it all.

Blu led them to a place, excitedly telling them that they could get Terran food there. Mai approved, looking forward to something new as opposed to the same old of Corus, and followed them with interest to the table near the center of the restaurant. On display again, she sighed to herself, unsure about the chosen table.

[Blu]

"There? Okay!" Blu was fine with that choice. He usually would have sat closer to the front, but it was Sonya's turn to pick things, and anyway, it might be fun sitting in the middle. They certainly wouldn't end up ignored by the waiters this way. The three headed to the table and Blu picked one of the chairs, settling in and picking up one of the menus.

Blu opened his up wide and scanned through it. He'd already decided that he wanted: a veggie burger with fries, and a milkshake. He usually ate slightly healthier, but this was one of the best places to get veggie burgers on the Underworld, and their milkshakes weren't too shabby either. While they waited for a waiter to come over, Blu pointed to a few different options and told the mermaids about them, "Okay so, the chicken's really good here, and there's other animals too, like beef and pork, and they're pretty good. There's also stuff like veggie burgers, which taste like meat, but they aren't actually meat. It's sort of like undercover vegetables! And the salad's okay, but it's not as good as stuff from the garden, so it might be disappointing? It's always disappointing to me. It's like the vegetables are sad you know? And nothing's tasty when it's sad. Which is funny, because the burgers taste fine, but you think they'd be sadder because they're chopped up and that's more violent than just being wilted, but nope, those taste fine! Oh! Deserts on the back!"

He quickly flipped the menu over, pointing to them, "You're supposed to eat them after you eat your meal, but sometimes I like to eat them first if I'm impatient! You can also get drinks, like milkshakes or coffee, or soda, or water! Milkshakes are really great! It's milk and ice cream and then some sort of flavouring! You can get ten different flavours! I've tried most of them! Stay away from the banana. It's not good. The rest are!" Blu stopped to take a breath, and to let Sonya and Mai have a chance to think about what they wanted, and if anything he'd said sounded good.