It really wasn't Janny's fault that he ended up in the middle of the Kartia skirmish. He'd have happily let anyone else be the interpreter for the small group of Gritacians that hijacked the ship he worked on, but unfortunately nobody else spoke Gritac. Janny, being a Gricacian himself, did.
That was how he got stuck on their craft as it disengaged from the main ship and whizzed off into the stars, chased by whoever the heck it was they were on the run from. For weeks he can't escape either side of the conflict, but at least he has his mop.
A Janitor's Adventure
4 posts in this topic.
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Janny
Spoiler
Rolgen "Janny" Gomm
Story Role: Protagonist (3rd person limited)
Occupation: Janitor
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Physical Description: Tall and in fairly good shape, except for this paunch he can't seem to shake. An excess of flesh is common to his species, however, as his body often morphs its shape in minor ways. For example, he is able to produce a variety of rudimentary household appliances from his stomach or upper arms, like suckers to get some dust out of a tricky spot.
His skin is red, in varying shades. It gets darker as it leads towards the short spiky tendrils protruding every inch or so from his skin. His irises are very dark red. He wipes clean incredibly easily, and spends barely any time in the shower every morning. Essentially, he was born to be a janitor.
Personality: Generally well-meaning but gets irritated when people ask more of him than he is capable. He also gets irritated by people faffing about. If a job is going to be complicated, chances are you're not going to get it right first time. Better to get on with it and do something different if you have to. He is irritated by a lot of things.
He likes to be quiet sometimes, and he likes the dark. He likes to calm his mind and get on with his work. When he relaxes, he likes to fill his mind with something immersive, like reading. He can also spend up to thirty minutes staring at one painting or visual simulation.
A flaw of his is that he can sometimes be too passive. He doesn't seize opportunity very well, not very adventurous. An exception to this is when he hands the rotas out at the start of each week and is proactive about figuring out if anyone has particular needs.
Habits/Mannerisms: He will sometimes absentmindedly let his flesh form into little dusters and clean things around him. He rocks back and forth on his heels without realising he's doing it. His voice is very lilting because flesh sprouts smoothly at the back of his throat in order to change pitch and vowel sound.
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Background:He was born on a planet in regular orbit of a single star. There are only two planets orbiting the star and several nations on each have amiable trading relationships both intraplanetarily and interplanitarily. Nobody in his family is particularly well educated and his parents are very proud of him for being the manager of his janitorial staff.
He does know a cursory history of his planet, but not much outside his own country. The hijackers are from a country that centuries ago colonised where he is from. These days, his country is a developing economy with industries beginning to grow. For Janny, this means stability, and he held the same position without having to fear redundancy for years.
When the company he worked for began to expand (due to increased ability to supply convenience electronics), he was transferred onto a spaceship. He didn't ask to do it, and didn't ask not to. He probably wouldn't have had a say, and probably knows this.
Internal Conflicts: He sometimes feels that he should be doing more with his life, but has no idea how to go about doing that. He also realises, whenever he sees one of the ship’s higher-ups really stressed, that he’s actually quite happy where he is in life.
Sometimes he misses his family but also knows that he’s making them proud where he is. When they do a video call his parents will crowd the screen telling him that they want him to move the camera around so they can see the ship. They then send the footage to their friends, mostly because they’re proud and sometimes because they’re showing off.
External Conflicts: His staff don’t always work brilliantly well together. One of them is lazy, one of them is excitable, one of them is constantly having pretentious daydreams. Trying to get the ship clean to the best of his abilities is not always an easy task, which the maintenance co-ordinator does not always understand.
The ship itself is undergoing some difficulties with getting up to speed, causing it to miss several delivery dates. This is making everyone very tense and causing a lot of sporadic arguing at seemingly random times.
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Notes: The ship is called the Norstung. His staff is called Fri, Cri (no relation) and Upumsel. The hijackers’ country is called Scantaer. Janny’s country is called Flaeder. Their planet is called Daer-ta. The two hijackers are called Ennet and Grecin. Ennet is male, Grecin is female. -
Plot point: The Hijackers' Conflict
Spoiler
Scentaer as a country has been in quick decline ever since the fall of its empire. This empire fell largely because other civilisations got in contact and bought directly from places like Fladaer, whose natural resources were being exploited by the Scentian Empire. The natural resources were the raw materials for complex medicines. Locals were paid incredibly little and then the finished product sold on for much more. The interplanetary civilisation, the Endeleons, paid massively for the raw materials because it was near the large open space where they landed. They invested in processing plants within Fladaer because they disapproved of Scentian colonialism, a practice that had long been outlawed by the interplanetary body they are a part of. There are of course cases where this is worked around, but for the most part this is no longer allowed, sort of like slavery.
This meant that a large part of the Scentian economy collapsed. They had to halt growth and confidence in them was undermined. Trading partners started to switch to Fladaer and the surrounding area because interplanetary was clearly the bigger market.
There are some groups of Scentians, whose livelihoods have crumbled particularly far, who are attempting to undermine this new burgeoning trade. This gets them into a lot of trouble, which is why Ennet and Grecin are being chased by some Endeleons. -
Character: Ennet
Spoiler
Ennet
Story Role: Hijacker
Occupation: Stopped getting business as an independent contractor after the Empire started to collapse. He now uses his contacts to get craft for the group undermining the Endoleons to use. The group is called the Scentian Resurgence Army.
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Physical Description: Tall and thin with very sharp bones. Bright red pretty much all over. Close-cropped very dark brown hair because his mother was from a fur-based species. Dark brown eyes. Often wears fashionable loose-fitting clothes. Very neutral facial expression most of the time.
Personality: Gets irritated pretty easily. Always thinking very fast and ahead of the people around him. This leads to him thinking people he works with are either stupid or frivolous. His irritation is expressed in a few different ways - his hands shake, his eyes start to roll then just stare at the ceiling, he hisses his words (though rarely shouts because he’s trained himself to keep it in so well).
He gets very excited about things going well and is very outwardly affectionate when he’s in this mood. He will sometimes do silly little happy dances when he’s sure nobody is watching.
He has a strong sense of loyalty, and this combined with his feelings of superiority often lead to him being very protective, especially of Grecin. It is this that hearns him the respect of people around him.
He is slightly more obsessed with his looks than he’d like to admit. In Scentian society, make-up is common among people of all genders. It irritates him that he has to travel so lightly and wear the same sets of clothes over and over again. There is a sink in the bathroom of the ship for washing things in.
Habits/Mannerisms: Happy dance, irritation mannerisms. Also opens and closes his hands a lot when he wants to get moving on something.
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Background: He had been an independent contractor during the height of the Scentian Empire. This essentially meant that he took contracts from companies, then sub-contracted to other companies for the specific services needed. He was essentially a consultant with added trust. This benefited the companies who contracted him because they were able to cut out administrative overhead and communication to just him.
As a result of this, he knew the business community incredibly well, and was a highly respected figure. He didn’t exactly get on with everyone, especially as deadlines approached. His ability to be on top of everything all at once made him quite intimidating, but nobody really actually held a grudge unless he actively humiliated them.
When the Empire fell into decline, he quickly evolved into more of a consultant role, where he advised businesses on how to survive the depression. Eventually, as things began to stabilise, companies were less willing to trust him as much. It was nothing personal, but confidence in the whole system had been shaken and companies wanted to be close to their own finances.
One day, after another rejection from a company he had been loyal to for decades, a lower down employee saw him leave. This employee, Grecin, introduced him to the idea of the SRA and gave him a phone number. After a few more rejections from companies he’d worked closely with, he calls the number and goes along to a meeting.
He finds his place there, and eventually finds himself on board a small attachment-pod on its way to hijack an Endoleon ship (which Janny is working on). Janny and the other maintenance workers are the only ones from Daer-ta. The purpose of the hi-jacking is to disrupt Endoleon trade with Fladaer.
Internal Conflicts:He doesn’t love interrupting someone’s business in such a deceitful way. It feels like betraying his values for people who seem to be frothing at the mouth altogether far too much.
External Conflicts: The attachment-pod doesn’t have a large amount of power so they keep having to stop off to recharge. This makes him really frustrated and impatient but it’s the only way forward.
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