SHIP'S LOG:

The Sadie Hawkins

Billy Nails 1/30/2022 2:22pm

You've been a real trooper, kid. A credit to all Sky Sailors, even when we've got to get our hands dirty slinging Langpa poop for a grumpy Langpa rancher. But at least we found a place to keep the Sadie Hawkins safe while the captain and Starry Skye try and get us out of this time knot. I know the crew is gettin' grumpy holed up here on this stinky ranch -- goes against every grain in their nature, toiling on the earth like this. Exactly the kind of life they were looking to avoid when they took to the sky. So it means a lot to ol' @Billy Nails that you're setting a good example and keepin' morale up. Now it's just a question of how long we gots to wait -- or how long the crew'll keep from mutiny. We'll just keep that radio on and wait for come kinda word...

Starry Skye 12/7/2021 11:57pm

"So, Dip, you're looking well."

It was Dip Squealer. I knew him long before he removed his mask.

"Starry Skye. It's been awhile."

I had to think back about how long it'd really been. A lot longer for me than him.

"The Rusty Jade heist, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, you treated me exceptionally fair, I must admit. It made me kind of... feel there might be something between us? If you know what I mean?"

I did. But unfortunately it wasn't like Dip thought it was.

"Yeah, well, I was wondering if maybe it was time to ask for a little favor in return."

"Oh yeah?" Dip nuzzled a little closer. Which made it easier to nick him with my sleepy ring.

Armando Lupiz 10/14/2021 9:41pm

One room just leads to another in this huge library. Each room has a different configuration. All are lined with bookshelves full of books, but the freestanding bookcases and the sporadic but tasteful use of curved shelving, as well as reading tables and lamps, are uniquely arranged in each room, potentially reflecting some differentiation of subject matter.

No sign of windows or stairs or elevators. Each room is carefully lit with unobtrusive hanging lamps and subtle recessed bulbs. Everything smells like wood and leather and books. Pages and pages of books, stored at perfect humidity and temperature. I try to read the spines but the golden letters elude me. Do I need stronger reading glasses? How many hours since I last slept?

While I heard no sign of my perusers, nor was there any way I could find my way back to the room I left them in. They could be as lost as I am.

Until I found something different. A door. A pair of heavy double wooden doors. The only doors I'd seen.

And thankfully unlocked.

I closed them behind me, and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Then I got tired of that and started feeling around for a lightswitch.

Captain Armando Lupiz
(The Sky Wolf)
lost in the stacks

Billy Nails 8/30/2021 11:40pm

So if it ain't one thing then it's another, kid. With both the captain and Starry Skye missing, now the port master says The Sadie Hawkins has to give up her berth, and there isn't another space in all of Uranographia Fields on account of the Aquids Convention. I just knowed we should have booked more days in advance, but the last time we were in town we'd left before those soggy sea dwellers ever showed up so who knew? Already they're slappin' their paddles on the boardwalk in their fishbowl helmets and gigantic eyes. So now I got to take The Sadie Hawkins out of dock and make room for more Aquids and just loiter around in some kind of holding pattern till the sky police get wise and then what, eh kid? This thing's falling apart faster than a piece of texas toast at the milk bar, and @Billy Nails doesn't like it one bit.

Starry Skye 7/17/2021 11:12pm

In the Night District, everyone wears a mask. Literally. It's considered common courtesy. Why put me in the position of being able to identify you in a line up? This way, everybody's freed up to relax.

The Night District is also quite dark. Inside and out. Sometimes only lit by the glow of the paint on our masks, or the path down the main thoroughfares.

Everyone moves silently. But we're attentive, and no one makes contact when moving through the dark. Unless it's an intentional lift or a plant or a stab or a prick.

"Ginger-corn," I tell the waiter.

But for all its anonymity, I can read the place like a book. Who's on top, who's calling the shots on this block, who just made the biggest score. The signs are all there, in the dark.

No doubt eyes are on me too. I'd been a regular, more or less, and while I'd been gone for years, subjective time, I was just here a few weeks ago in this timeline.

"Antares, Algo, Electra," says a familiar voice behind me. Everyone speaks in code in the Night District too.

"Ear, horn, and eye!" I reply. "Let's go somewhere we can talk."

Armando Lupiz 5/30/2021 11:58pm

Little lightning bolts sputtered out my fingertips and died. The iridescent cloth was still. I found myself in a great museum, or library. A huge hall of towering bookshelves and a great domed ceiling, dotted by occasional display cases like the one I still had my hand in.

There was no one around.

I shut glass door to the case and retreated behind he nearest bank of shelves. The great hall was silent, as a library should be, but I had the sense the entire space was unoccupied. I slinked down the aisle, peering round every corner, till I reached the end of the room. There was a reference desk, as unattended as I'd sensed.

What was this place?

Suddenly the room was filled with crackling energy and noise, and I dropped beneath a table.

"He can't have gotten far. Split up and sweep the aisles."

Why did I come unarmed? I mean, I guess it made sense at the time, but...

Captain Armando Lupiz
(The Sky Wolf)
lost and not aboard

Billy Nails 4/17/2021 11:56pm

I know it's not right to speak disparagingly of the captain, kid, but he's left us in a lurch and no mistake! Going into a future fashion house with no backup and then gettin' hisself kidnapped, or eaten up, or otherwise disappeared. Me and some of the more surly sailors turned that whole block looking for him and he wasn't nowheres to be found. And he left ol' Starry to head off on her own into to even rougher parts of town and now we've lost her too! And who's left holding the fort here on the Sadie Hawkins? Naturally yours truly @Billy Nails! But I won't be for long if this crew gets any more temperamental, what with being thrown back in time, splittin' the timeline, and losing the cocoon of the cutest plasma moth this side of the Uranographia Fields! We ain't never been leaderless and I'm telling you the truth when I say ol' @Billy Nails just ain't cut out for it. No I ain't, not one bit.

Starry Skye 3/5/2021 11:58pm

I knew the captian's fashion fancy would be a dead end. Not only was Cat Tracer, the second most amazing zero-G cat burglar and pickpocket in the Tarantula Nebula, not interested in fashion, she always worked alone.

Like me.

Which is why I knew there was only one person who could track her down. That is, the number one most amazing zero-G cat burglar and pickpocket in the Tarantula Nebula.

Me.

So how do you hunt a quarry that leaves no tracks? How do you follow a cat that leaves no trace?

You look for the absence that it leaves in its path.

I would start in the Night District. The place all the rest of the less amazing zero-G cat burglar and pickpockets in the Tarantula Nebula called home.

My home.

Armando Lupiz 1/21/2021 11:49pm

Clothes of Tomorrow... I couldn't help feeling like I'd heard it before.

"But zey are zee Fashions of zee Day, as we say!" the salesman said.

Rather than just go in, guns blazing, we decided to take a different tack.

"Ah, yes, well, I'm looking for something in bulk. Something I can use to spruce up the uniforms of my crew."

No use pretending to be something I'm not.

"Ah, just zo. Zomething a little... military?"

"I was thinking something more... bell hop. Something that says 'service.' Perhaps something in a pill box hat? Like I've got my own squad of flying monkeys running around the ship. Perhaps in blue?"

The salesman gave me a "the customer is always right" kind of look.

"Of course. I will be right back."

It was my chance to look around. The tiny shop was piled high with fabrics, tables strewn with needle and thread and patterns. It wasn't really a showroom. It was clear this wasn't a retail operation. More upstream in the fashion world.

There was, however, a glass display box in the corner. I maneuvered around the workroom to see it better. Something sparkly was inside. I looked over my shoulder to see that the salesman was still occupied, then opened the door on the case. It was a single bolt of cloth, maybe a long scarf, or a kaftan, with an iridescent shimmer. I reached out to touch it--

"DO NOT TOUCH ZAT!" cried the salesman.

But it was too late. The tiny shop disappeared in a pop and a flash.


Captain Armando Lupiz
(The Sky Wolf)
onboard the continuous merchant dirigible Sadie Hawkins

Billy Nails 12/8/2020 9:06pm

Sky sailors weren't cut out to be spies, kid. Ain't in our nature, ain't in our training. Working on a ship is all about communication, and being clear about what you're doing. It ain't about hiding and getting away with something. So why the captain had us all trying to "blend in" and "keep a low profile" looking for clues in the streets of the fashion district of Uranographia Fields made about as much sense as a sunroof on a blimp! It was purely by accident that I happened to be purchasing some of those delicious fried sucker snacks from a street vendor when that rude fella bumped into me and my snack got all over his fine suit. "Here, here, let me get that" I was sayin', wiping him down with my ship's rag, when he slapped me away and called me a name you're not even old enough to learn yet, kid. Then he heaves off an into a door in the alley that says CLOTHES OF TOMORROW and beneath it in little letters it says "fashions of today" and ol'@Billy Nails figured he'd found something, spy or not.