For anyone who's curious, the Once-ler's gone. Off my item, door's normal and everything. [Trip just sounds... tired. Resigned. Because lol this is inmate NUMBER SEVEN and he's been here for forever and he just wants to go home, why does he have such shitty luck.] Anyway, if anyone's excited about it, take it somewhere else. I'm really not in the mood to hear about it.

[AND MOVING RIGHT ALONG by getting down to business:]

There're inmate positions available on the Maintenance and Repair crews, and in the engine room, if anyone's interested. We do background checks with your wardens before lettin' anyone start working, but you don't need to have a background in either of 'em to volunteer. Get in touch with me or Shego for the engine room, or me or Dean for Maintenance if you've got questions.

Anyway, it's been a while since we've had a movie night. I was thinking somethin' along the lines of Aliens, but if anyone's got any suggestions, lemme know. Tonight in the common room on level six, if people are interested.

I guess that was an interesting breach. Kinda weird to be that excited about Christmas, though. I'm not sayin' I hate it or anything? But it's not that big of a deal for us, I guess. Not all that many people are still into religion where I'm from, so people really just celebrate it with their families and friends and stuff. Same thing goes for a lot of old Earth holidays, actually.

Still, it's always kinda fun to visit the past, even if it's not actually us runnin' around investigating stuff. I woulda liked to spend a little more time taking apart some of the computers around the house then decorating for the holidays and accidentally offending my non-Christmas celebrating friends.

[Private to Santa]

( Letter to Santa for T'Pol, Tosh, Capa, Jim, Spock, McCoy, Tim, Kay, Merlin, Steph and the Engineering + Maintenance and Repair Crews )

[ooc: This is before Trip gets infected with the physic crazy going on, because I wanted him to put this out there before he becomes crazy pants. <3]

So, Moriarty's gone. Guy drove me kinda crazy, but I'd been kinda hoping we were making some progress. Thanks, Admiral, or whoever the hell's responsible for people getting yanked outta here.

I still believe we're doin' the right thing here, because the system obviously works but, not gonna lie, I'd appreciate it more if my inmates didn't get booted over the side as soon as we started making actual progress.

[Private to T'Pol]

[lol awkward pause. :c] You remember that conversation we were havin' a few days ago?

So this makes the fifth time I've almost died of dehydration or frozen to death. If I was more superstitious, I'd think the universe was tryin' to tell me something.

... Back during our first year out on Enterprise, me and our tactical officer were investigating an asteroid field out in one of our shuttlepods. We lost sensors and communications for a while, so we'd been outta contact with the ship when we found an asteroid with an impact crater and debris from Enterprise on it. We thought the ship had been destroyed, we only had ten days of air left on board, and we had no way of contacting Starfleet to tell them what had happened. Malcolm was dead set on the whole thing bein' pointless, we should just give up and start makin' records of what happened for when anyone found the shuttlepod with our bodies on it, but I didn't want to write us off just yet.

Of course it turned out Enterprise was fine, but it was a long couple days of freezin' bickering before we figured it out, because of the damaged comm system. Malcolm was dictating letters to every girl he ever dated, which made it kinda hard to focus on actually tryin' to fix the damn ship, especially when some of the little bits of asteroid punctured the hull and cut our oxygen down to about two days for the both of us. We blew up our impulse drive so Enterprise would have something to look for, but we didn't have a way to tell if it'd worked or not, and I almost climbed out of the airlock so he'd have more time to wait for rescue.

Anyway. They found us with a couple hours of oxygen left, and we spent the next couple days in sickbay tryin' to get warmed up again. If they'd shown up a little later, we would've frozen to death or asphyxiated.

I'd kinda rather be stuck in the CES like that again rather than think it was just me and one other person stuck in space, thinkin' everyone else we cared about was dead and knowin' we weren't gonna be that far behind.

[Private to Moriarty]

We need to have a talk.

[Private to the Admiral, added in after talking with Jim]

Please give Moriarty his filters back.

So, Ray's gone. I'm startin' to wonder if I'm ever gonna get assigned ta someone for more then a couple weeks before they vanish.

... There's somethin' I don't understand. Now, I don't pretend ta know people's reasons for needin' to go back home or anything, but I don't understand why wardens choose to leave permanently without completin' their deal. Choosin' ta leave everything for god knows how long ta complete a deal isn't somethin' you just toss around lightly. You're makin' a commitment to another person, and packin' up and leavin' because it's too hard or somethin' just seems...

I don't get it. And again, I'm not sayin' people who disappear are at fault, or that I get why people leave or anythin' but...

I'm here to do a job. And I'm not leavin' until it's over.

[Private to Fred]

Kinda weird meetin' someone when we're not actually ourselves and with a whole buncha memories that kinda... aren't ours, but it was nice ta meet you.

[Friends Filter - Martha, Kay, Capa, Sarah, Tim, Rex, Four, Kirk (yes even you), anyone else who should be on it.]

How's everyone doin' after that breach?

[Filtered to Tosh and Harper]

I know this might be some kinda "too many cooks in the kitchen" thing, but would either of you mind if I come down and take a look at the engines or somethin' once and a while? It's just, it's been kinda weird not havin' engines ta keep an eye on these last couple months and I'm not lookin' to step in and take over or anythin', I just want somethin' a little different then fixin' laundry machines and cleanin' up after people. [He's a chief engineer, not a maintenance guy and all that.]

How about next time we have a ball game, we try somethin' like water polo? The pool's big enough for that, right?

Of course, I really only know one guy who was all that into it, so I guess maybe somethin' like soccer'd go over better, but guess I'm gettin' kinda homesick about certain stuff, and havin' my ear chewed off about Stanford's chances against the University of Texas in the finals wasn't ever all that bad ta begin with. Weird what stuff ya end up missin' and what ya don't.

[Private to Ray]

So, looks like we're gonna be seein' a lot more of each other. I'm Commander Charles Tucker the Third, but everyone calls me Trip.

I think everything that needs ta be said's been said about our latest fiasco, so all I'm gonna say is while I don't appreciate bein' under the affect of the Nanomites or that the whole thing happened in the first place, I think it's pretty safe ta say violence breeds more violence, and it might be in our best interests to just move on with our lives. We're all still here, and things coulda been a lot worse.

I get wantin' revenge, I really do - not on this, maybe, but on other stuff - but it's a lot better in theory then in practice.

[Private to Martha]

I know you've probably got your hands full with people either makin' threats or comin' down ta make sure no one's makin' good on those threats, but if ya need an extra hand with security or anything while Rex is in there? Lemme know.

[Private to Capa]

Told ya it was broken. [It being the telescope. He's also just teasing you.]

What happened to the sun, where you're from, if you don't mind me askin'?

[Private to Kirk]

You need any help fixin' anything else, or did we get all that under control?

[Trip is comfortably set up in the infirmary, or, as comfortably as one can be while death tolling because LOL someone got his ass murdered by Venom. He is also quasi high as a kite.]

I think I got killed by somethin' I've seen in a movie. Or somethin'.

... Back home, this one time, we ran inta these people from... the future, I guess. Happens a lot, sorta, back where I'm from. And I was dead in their future. Didn't even get ta really see my kid grow up. Again.

Might be stupid ta feel like the universe's out ta get me or somethin' but.

[He blinks heavily, wincing a little as he shifts on the bed. There's a long pause before he suddenly stares at the camera for a moment, brow furrowed sort of seriously.]

And Jim? You gotta find someone else ta pick on next time you get your ass possessed by somethin' and decide ta stab people with things.  I'd hate ta think we're developin' a pattern here.

[Private to The Fourth Doctor]

I'm real sorry for the way I acted.

[Private to B'Elanna]

That's possibly one of the worst first impressions I've managed ta make here. I'm real sorry I was such a jackass.

[Private to T'Pol]

I want to get her back

You remember Lorian

I'm real sorry about

I love

I didn't mean any of it.

If anyone else missed the memo, yeah, Vince is gone. And yeah, he mighta been kinda hard to get along with, but he wasn't such a bad guy. [Not that Trip got to know him well at all or anything, so after kind of a frustrated sigh, he changes the topic.]

But this means I've had two inmates in about two months. I doubt that's some kinda Barge record, but it's startin' ta make me wonder how long this kinda thing takes ta actually get right.

Just outta curiosity, how many pairings has everyone else been through before gettin' one that lasts longer then a coupla weeks? There some kinda median, or just really luck of the draw or somethin'?

This is the last time I ever head down for port without knowin' well in advance that it's gonna be higher then ninety degrees and dry. Deserts and I don't get along, especially when there're monsters tryin' ta hunt me down and eat me for dinner.

What's the point of all this anyways? Did anyone actually learn somethin' from this whole thing, or did we just decide ta never stop over at that particular universe again? 'Cause the way I see it, this isn't exactly boldly goin' where no man has gone before, and I'm not really sure how it's supposed ta help out our inmates or bring ourselves closer ta graduation or somethin'.

Do we ever get advanced warnin', or is it always just have fun, good luck?

[Private to T'Pol]

There's somethin' I forgot ta mention. If my inmate asks? We're married.

[Private to Vince]

How've you been? Haven't heard anythin' too bad went down on the Barge while we were gone.

So, what's the consensus everybody's got? Flood, freak accident, hull breach, Admiral just havin' fun... Just outta curiosity. Seems like no one really got off the hook on this one.

[Private to Vince]

I'm still around. How're you doin'?

So Deadpool's not on my item anymore. Anyone seen him around, or is this another someone vanishing without warnin' thing?

Might be nice ta at least get a head's up about this stuff, Admiral.

I was thinkin', since we've had kinda a... rough week, maybe havin' a movie night comin' up sometime after dinner this week, try and get somethin' goin' that isn't gonna be too depressing that everyone can watch at a normal hour. Any suggestions? I was thinkin' somethin' along the lines of Some Like it Hot or somethin', but I'm definitely open to ideas.

[Private to T'Pol]

How are you doin' today meow? [You can totally hear the smirk.]

So, I know everyone's got an idea that this's all just random, but it seems ta me like most of us all got some weird new abilities or somthin' different about us. Either I haven't been affected, or I just haven't figured out what mine is yet, but I'm not really gettin' my hopes up that it'll be somethin' fun.

When I was a kid, I always wanted to be more like Superman -

[And this is when Trip's awesome new ability kicks in. Any time he talks about superpowers, comic books or superheroes, he turns into a little kid. He's practically like reverse Captain Marvel! So now you've got a five year old sitting at his desk talking into the communicator like nothing's wrong.]

- You know? Not super slow or glow in the dark or anythin' like that. Why can't we get actual superpowers? That could actually be cool.

... And maybe a total disaster, but I'm not gonna lie, it'd sure be fulfillin' a childhood fantasy.

[ooc: When Trip goes back to talking about something not superpower related, he turns back to being his usual self.]

This might just be a downside ta comin' from a sorta military background before endin' up here, but it's been kinda weird tryin' ta manage without much of a busy schedule outside of a port or flood every couple weeks.

So, anyone got any movie suggestions ta help kill some time? I'm kinda gettin' sick of my usual rotation. Heck I'd even take television suggestions, if you guys have got the equipment or somethin'.

[Private to Martha]

I hope I'm not steppin' on your toes or anythin', but I've been thinkin' about the whole movie night thing, and was wonderin' maybe if since we might be havin' a little down time in between ports and floods or whatever, you'd maybe be interested in tryin' ta work up some plans or somethin' for some future ones?

[So Trip's gotten off lucky. He didn't get sacrificed, he didn't turn into a Death Knight, and he didn't catch the ebola virus. Considering his usual track record? This means he's due for a disaster. Not that he's going to try and tempt fate or anything.]

It's been one heck of a first couple days here. Anythin' else comin' up I should start getting ready for, or are we finally getting that week of downtime everyone's been talkin' about?

[Private to Deadpool]

Still gonna try ta convince me you're a warden?

I know thing've probably settled down and everything, but if anyone needs any more help with damage control? I'd be happy to help out in any way I can.

And, on a completely unrelated note, on a scale of one to ten, how typical is it exactly ta be runnin' into fictional characters around here?

[Private to Will Graham]

How'd you make out?,

[Trip is wandering around the hallways, looking a little confused. Not super confused, because seriously, he's seen a lot of weird stuff before, and it'll take a little more then some reports of people acting weird and new decor on the Barge to get him really concerned.]

Guess you guys weren't kiddin' about this place. Anyone got any idea what's goin' on?

[Private to T'Pol]

Everythin' okay on your end?