[open] ☥ the world is just illusion trying to change you

[mulder_trustno1]

Mulder was pretty certain that no matter how long he stayed here, there was going to be no getting acclimated to the fact that he was living out his wildest fantasies, even when those fantasies were sobered by the conditions that had led to his being on this ship in the first place.  If there was one thing that defined him, it was his will to

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[facepunching]

"Impressive, isn't it?" Soren asked, coming up behind Mulder. "A false sky, complete with sunlight. This city is apparently the size of a small island. Or so I've been told."

"You don't seem very put out for a man whose world has been destroyed."

[mulder_trustno1]

Mulder was surprised by the familiarity of the voice. He hadn't really run back into any of the same people very much, considering how many were on board this thing.

"Let's just say we're in the middle of my life's work." He racked his brain for a name but came up empty. "I don't think we officially got introduced in the middle of exchanging life stories upon waking up naked from alien pods." Mulder thrust out a hand. "Fox Mulder."

[facepunching]

Soren raised an eyebrow, but he'd finally figured out what people wanted when they kept shoving their hands at him. He returned the handshake.

"Soren. Pleased to meet you, Fox Mulder." He paused. "You say this is your life's work? Saving the world? I thought it was disseminating the truth."

[mulder_trustno1]

Mulder dismissed the misinterpretation with a shake of the head, turning his attention towards a nearby building that even looked as alien as the walls on the main halls of the ship.

"Investigating life on other worlds. The idea of alien lifeforms, friendly or otherwise."

[teethofneedles]

"You look like you're settling in, newbie," Karis rasped. The City was pretty much her stomping grounds whenever she wasn't fiddling around on her new project. Better than looking at meat-walls all day, anyway.

"What do you think of our little cruise ship?"

[mulder_trustno1]

"Well, first of all, I think you and I have vastly differing definitions of the word 'little'," he quipped, glancing over to see yet another familiar face. It was like a reunion tour from his first day or something.

[teethofneedles]

"Could be bigger. But yeah, tend to agree. First ship I've ever seen with a whole damn city in it," Karis replied, waving a clawed hand at the cityscape. "And we've only explored a small part of this damn thing. Week or two ago, someone found a chamber fulla crazies underneath a part of this place."

[mulder_trustno1]

"You've seen a lot of ships like this before then?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. But her second comment also caught his attention. "How long had they been down there?"

[for_magic]

This visitor was neither stealthy nor familiar. The blue-marked dragon, observing an exploring figure below, landed lightly on the top of a nearby building to peer down.

"Are you looking for something in particular?"

[mulder_trustno1]

Soren had dropped the word 'dragon' mid-conversation, but Mulder really hadn't allowed himself to process that until he found himself staring up at one that was perched on top of the nearest structure.

Talking to him.

It was impossible to keep the look of awe off his face, or the stupid smile.

"Not really," was all he could get out at first.

[for_magic]

"Freshly released, I take it?" The dragon mantled his wings, then simply stepped off the edge of the building. Rather than falling, he descended gently down to the street level, landing lightly. Hey, it was easier than trying to hop.

[mulder_trustno1]

Mulder really couldn't help the involuntary step backwards that he took. It would take a lot of balls to not be a little bit afraid of a giant dragon bearing down on you in the middle of some kind of alien city.

He had the stupid sort of optimism that would allow him those kind of cajones sometimes, but even his awe of the unknown quailed a bit next to those base fight or flight instincts.

And he sure as hell wasn't about to fight the thing.

"Good guess. Just last week."

[tipsystrategist]

Sumeragi was finally starting to get the hang of this place - the layout was closer to a colony than a ship, though without the typical curved horizons the cylindrical shape of colonies came with. The City was also a little more hodgepodge than the carefully planned layouts of Krung Threp - she was still discovering little buildings and statues randomly tucked away.

Someone else seemed to be exploring, too - another newcomer, perhaps? She gave him a friendly wave. "Quite the place, isn't it?"

[mulder_trustno1]

He met the wave with a sheepish smile, realizing how much like a gaping tourist he probably looked. But was anyone gonna blame him, considering where they were?

"You can say that again. Been here long?"

[tipsystrategist]

"Not long," Sumeragi replied casually. "From the looks of it, the same goes for you." There was humor in her voice, but the slight smile said she meant no harm by it.

[mulder_trustno1]

"Am I that obvious?" he countered, his embarrassed grin coming a bit more easily in response to her manner. "Could be worse. I mean, I don't have a camera strung around my neck, and I decided not to go with Bermuda shorts today."

He knew she probably wouldn't get the humor: not because of his monotone delivery, but because most people around here weren't from his world. But that wasn't going to stop him from making references to it. In fact, that might be one of the only ways Earth could live on.

[on_errantry]

Among the buildings from hundreds of cultures were at least a handful from Earth, including the impressive span of Grand Central Station. Its facade had finally been repaired from the damage of almost a year ago, and it looked like it had been lifted directly from the streets of Manhattan.

The small black cat that appeared with a sudden bang of displaced air looked up at the clock and marble carvings with a pleased expression. Of course, her immediate and loud appearance would be quite startling to someone not used to that kind of travel. She yawned, stretched, and shook herself - then spotted Mulder.

"Sorry if I startled you," she said belatedly. She was so used to short-jump transit that she barely noticed the noise.

[mulder_trustno1]

Seeing a piece of home was something Mulder hadn't come to expect, and so it was with a child-like grin on his face that he made his way through the Station, remembering his few visits there, with vivid nostalgia. He closed his eyes and could hear the sounds of the crowd, whistles of the train, busy footsteps...

The sound of the cat's arrival drew him out of his reverie, and he was visibly rattled as his head yanked around to look for the source of the noise.

A talking cat was probably the last thing he'd expected.

He glanced around, as if to make sure that someone else hadn't been the source of the dialogue, because he really didn't need to make himself look like a total dumbass for addressing the cat, if there was some guy standing behind a pole.

Nothing, though, and his eyes drew back towards her.

"... Excuse me?"

[on_errantry]

Oh he did have to be a new one, didn't he? Rhiow never could tell who was coming through the Station anymore, now that there was an actual train running through it again. She liked that, though. It made the place feel more like home.

"Sorry," she repeated, "if I startled you. I know the short-jump is a little loud and it can make you jump if you're not used to it. Most of the people on the ship are used to me popping out of nowhere on occasion." She paused. "I'm Rhiow," she said, remembering her manners.

[mulder_trustno1]

And a polite talking cat, at that. At least all the bizarre creatures he'd been meeting around the city seemed to have the best of manners.

"Mulder," he said, short and to the point. It got tiring, after all, telling people not to call him Fox. "Can I ask how you do that?" He made a little motion with his fingers expanding to represent her sudden popping in.