I think pirate ship is a very apt framing for what we've got going on. Like there's usually one person at the wheel, and the others can be standing next to the wheel or hanging out on the deck or yelling from the crows nest (or like today, also holding on to the wheel), or they can be underneath in the... under bit... in like the captain's quarters or something. And you can call them and sometimes they'll come out, or they'll just pop their head out and go back in, or they won't hear you or the hatch will get stuck, or they're too busy fucking around with the cannons.
This metaphor got away from us.

