Enver Gortash (
closeyourfist) wrote in
lastvoyageslogs2025-03-06 08:45 am
Entry tags:
The Unnverving Picture of Normal (Open)
Who: Enver Gortash, Open
Where: Various Locations
When: Post-flood, Over the next several days, excluding any event stuff
Warnings: None, will update as needed.
He knew something was amiss when what had become a habitual glance into the infirmary while at work, sometimes to speak, sometimes just to check in, came up with nothing. Perhaps he didn't have Durge's schedule perfectly memorized, but perhaps it was an off day for another reason. The man could have slept in or had other matters to attend.
He didn't know something was wrong until later. When finally he was convinced to step away from his work (exercising the muscle memory left over from the flood, letting that false knowledge inform his current skills so they might not totally fade away) to take a lunch break, he first checked the infirmary one last time before deciding he would see if the Bhaalspawn was in his cabin.
The door had changed.
Not gone. That might have said something of the ship, as it did when that foggy rotted place bled in.
No, more it was nondescript. The way the doors in the halls are when a cabin is unoccupied.
For a moment, he's frozen in place in sight of it. Part of him internally confirming that no, it was not the wrong floor or the wrong door. And then for a few seconds more, there is nothing inside. No thought. No feeling. A void.
He disappears back to his own cabin before it can implode.
On the network he sends a quick message that he will be a little late coming back. But he does, true to his word, and that is the beginning.
Over the next several days, his work in the cybernetics lab and his appearances throughout the barge are punctual as ever. Not a second early or late. Polished, postured, prepared. In a word, impeccable. He takes his meals in the dining hall much as he had on his initial arrival: on time, seated mostly separate but open to socialization. He will answer greetings in the halls and decks by name if he knows them and spare the time for introductions if needed. He doesn't say as long in the library as he used to, preferring not to settle down somewhere there to read and take notes and preferring to take his books back to his cabin. If he goes to the speakeasy in the evenings, he is there purely to drink. He's never stumbling-over drunk by the end, more that he seems to be giving himself a nightcap.
(ooc: The Dark Urge disappeared and Gortash is doing what he does best. Dealing.)
Where: Various Locations
When: Post-flood, Over the next several days, excluding any event stuff
Warnings: None, will update as needed.
He knew something was amiss when what had become a habitual glance into the infirmary while at work, sometimes to speak, sometimes just to check in, came up with nothing. Perhaps he didn't have Durge's schedule perfectly memorized, but perhaps it was an off day for another reason. The man could have slept in or had other matters to attend.
He didn't know something was wrong until later. When finally he was convinced to step away from his work (exercising the muscle memory left over from the flood, letting that false knowledge inform his current skills so they might not totally fade away) to take a lunch break, he first checked the infirmary one last time before deciding he would see if the Bhaalspawn was in his cabin.
The door had changed.
Not gone. That might have said something of the ship, as it did when that foggy rotted place bled in.
No, more it was nondescript. The way the doors in the halls are when a cabin is unoccupied.
For a moment, he's frozen in place in sight of it. Part of him internally confirming that no, it was not the wrong floor or the wrong door. And then for a few seconds more, there is nothing inside. No thought. No feeling. A void.
He disappears back to his own cabin before it can implode.
On the network he sends a quick message that he will be a little late coming back. But he does, true to his word, and that is the beginning.
Over the next several days, his work in the cybernetics lab and his appearances throughout the barge are punctual as ever. Not a second early or late. Polished, postured, prepared. In a word, impeccable. He takes his meals in the dining hall much as he had on his initial arrival: on time, seated mostly separate but open to socialization. He will answer greetings in the halls and decks by name if he knows them and spare the time for introductions if needed. He doesn't say as long in the library as he used to, preferring not to settle down somewhere there to read and take notes and preferring to take his books back to his cabin. If he goes to the speakeasy in the evenings, he is there purely to drink. He's never stumbling-over drunk by the end, more that he seems to be giving himself a nightcap.
(ooc: The Dark Urge disappeared and Gortash is doing what he does best. Dealing.)

The Speakeasy
He fills a few bottles of whiskey from a barrel in the locked storeroom. Sure, it isn't exactly the best, but it's only sitting at 3 years, and there's only so much a Fellow can do. Maybe he'll work on some magic to rapid age it or something. But he can work the problem when he's back in Laura's cabin. In the meantime, he corks the last one to fill the crate.
When he steps back into the main room, he sees the man, and his brow lifts in question.
"You got what ya need?" Sweeney tips his head to glass in front of him.
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"Yes," he answers, glancing up. "Thank you."
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Works for him.
"Guessin' you know where the rest'a that bottle is." Since he already has a glass he's working on.
"If ya finish it--" Sweeney tilts his head towards the end of the bar.
"--there's a clipboard at the end there. Write it down so I know what I need ta stock up on, come next port."
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"Good to know, and I will bear that in mind."
He doubted the Barge was replenishing Inmate supplies, after all.
"If you do not mind my asking, exactly how much trouble is it, to replenish these at port?"
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"D'pends on the port," Sweeney answers plainly.
"Sometimes, there's markets a plenty, all manner of stock available." On the other side of the coin: "Sometimes, it's a fuckin' cave without so much as a spot'a green, much less anything that passes fer proper food or drink." He wishes he was exaggerating.
"Just comes down ta how much the Adm'ral wants ta fuck us at the time."
Sweeney's aware that the last several had been blessings. Unfortunately, that means that their luck is inevitably running out.
Cybernetics
"What are you working on?"
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He's curious, not judging.
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Dining Hall
So when she spotted him in the dining hall, she took the opportunity to slide across the seat opposite.
"Hey Gortash." She offered him a soft smile. "Long time no see."
Re: Dining Hall
He dabs the corners of his mouth with a napkin.
"Kind of you to check in."
Because he assumes this is just a courtesy, maintained for as long as the Admiral sees fit to keep them together.
"What can I do for you?"
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"It's the least I can do. I've been trying to keep an eye out for you- especially when you seemed to possess technology knowledge for greater then before. The shoes were strange."
She shook her head. "But...I wanted to see if you're okay. I don't know if it was that or something else but...something seems different."
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"I'm not certain what you mean. I've been trying to extrapolate some of that leftover knowledge. See what I can glean to benefit my current progress. But it's one thing to remember the things you know and to remember remembering, if that makes sense."
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"That's my fault for giving you an out like that. Of course you want to use the knowledge, especially if it interests you."
She paused. "But that's not the difference. It seems to be something else. You seem...subdued. For you."
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"You don't have to tell me what it is. But if someone has done something to you- I'd like to help."
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So she checks for Durge's cabin herself. She hasn't gone into it before, personally, but she knows roughly where most of her friends live. And she can't find his door.
Only then does she approach Gortash, one evening when they're the last two in the lab. Resting a hand on his shoulder. "...you okay?"
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She's not asking him to have a breakdown and pour out his soul, but she can't believe he's right as rain. Not even a little.
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He's testing alternative materials for joints. Seeing what can be worked with, what will work as a substitute in a pinch, what will deteriorate too quickly, et cetera.
"If I thought that, do you think I would have any compunctions against telling you to your face?"
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"Right. As rain." Said tersely, but the tone does not find its way into his expression. "And as far as you hear or have heard, that is the final word on it."
He mourned this man once before. And as before, there was a place for him to feel what he was going to feel, then put it away and move on.
There is nothing else that can be done when there are eyes on him.
And he was foolish to ever think otherwise.
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