driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Riley Matthews & Yooou
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Huntress...?!
When: Following the shuffle

[ACTION]

[HELLO, HUNTRESS. There's a not so tiny child trying to sneak onto your ship, which might not be so easy. Given that she's in a deep purple magical girl outfit and isn't very good at darting around sneakily at all. And she might be taking the time to decorate the ship with tiny handmade cut-outs of animals and little phrases about smiling and doing your best. And just smiley faces.

So the truth is she's really bad at this hiding thing, but she's definitely going to go hide in the room that says 'RILEY MATTHEWS' on the door and pops in and out from there.]

[VIDEO]

[A little while later and after more than a little bit of uncertainty, she decides to do broadcast.]

Hi. I arrived here a few weeks ago and I haven't really said anything yet. Sorry. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to help me. And to the Paisley, too, for being really nice to me. So, thank you.

I know there's a lot of other things going on, but I thought that was important.

It's nice to meet you. I'm Riley Matthews. [She pauses briefly to let out a breath.] Or I'm Rainbow Lark. Both names are important, so I don't mind either. Whatever name you call me, I want to help. Riley and Lark would like to. I don't have magic and I'm not really good at anything, but that's not important.

At least. That's what I've been told. So the only thing I can really do is be there for people. Which isn't that helpful against weird alien things, I know, but maybe a little bit of normal is okay to.

So. Hi. Again. I'm Riley. Or Lark. And I really look forward to being able to learn from everyone. I've learned a lot recently, and I want to learn more.

...And thanks.

[Again! But she seems very awkward and shy and not sure what she's wanting to say. Maybe what little she did say was too much, or maybe it wasn't. But it's enough for her so she smiles and waves and stops it there. Because she can't fight against anything out there and she knows that, but maybe that's okay here, too.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Hello, again, Lark. [She'll just stick with the name she first learned, for now.]

I'm glad you're doing alright.

Hi again.

[ At least she doesn't seem to mind it. ] I am... Are you doing alright?

I am, thank you for asking!

[SHE'S TOO ADORABLE and Beverly definitely wants to help boost Lark's confidence here.]

And if it makes you feel any better, I'm not magic either. No superpowers or anything like that. Normal is definitely okay.

I know. I was told I was really good at making people smile.

[ So maybe that's her superpower? Maybe. ] But it's hard when everyone else can heal. Or shoot fire. Or train really big animals into being their friends.

[Shirley finds the cut-out animals and smiley faces before she finds Riley, but they make her curious enough to go searching the ship. It's not long before she finds the door labelled with Riley's name - like Elize, a new crew member? - and checks it out...maybe just as Riley's popping out again.]

Rainbow... Lark?

[That name, or alias or whatever the hell, was too odd for Adachi to not catch it.]

[It's true. She's certainly making Beverly smile.]

I'm afraid I can't help you learn to shoot fire or train big animals, but if you want... I can help you learn to heal people.

[ WELL. She was going to go out, but then she almost runs into Shirley and in an attempt to get out of the way she trips over her own feet and falls over. Because that's a thing she does. Oops. ]

...Hi.

Yeees?

[ It's such a normal name for her now and she's... to herself to realize that's more of a question on the name. So it's an answer instead, whoops. ]

...Do you mean heal like a doctor or like with magic?

[Cory doesn't find the child at first. But he finds some very unusual things left behind. These cut-outs... perhaps one of them is of a horse? And that message about smiling.

He holds both of them up with a look of deep scrutiny. He closes his eyes as if trying to tap into the Force and sniffs at the air. Then, his eyes open, and he mutters suspiciously.]

She's here.

[His Riley senses, they're tingling.]

[ Here comes another child... and she's actually tiny too. When Elize goes to inspect the new personnel room on the ship, she's not expecting someone to be inside at the moment. Just as Riley pops out of her room, she very easily startles, letting out a squeak.

Then bolts away in the opposite direction. Oops. ]

[ The real question is: Can his Riley senses find her? Can they? Because she's gotten a lot better at darting from place-to-place and then hiding back in her room-- unintentionally or otherwise.

And despite taking the decision to transfer over to the Huntress she's still afraid to see dad in person and so she might not be actually trying to seek anybody out.

So it's definitely an elaborate game of hide-and-seek. ]

[ This is just a trial in how many times she can fall over. Which is, honestly, a lot. Because that's what she immediately does-- fall over. Luckily she doesn't land on her head and go unconscious, so she's getting better at this.

But she does whine rather loudly: ]

Why does this keep happening.

[Oops. Shirley takes a few steps back, to give her space.]

Um...hello. You're new on this ship, aren't you?

[ At least she seems pretty used to falling? This is her life. As seen in the fact she just sits up and doesn't move further. ]

Yees. I'm Riley. Or Lark. I was on the Paisley before, but I can leave again. If it's a problem.

[ except not immediately, but. ]

No! It's no problem. We're glad to have you aboard.

[Technically she can only speak for herself, but she's pretty sure that nobody else on the ship would mind.]

I'm Shirley. It's a pleasure to meet you, Riley.

[The game is on. The hunt is afoot. But her new skillz may indeed be paying the billz.

Cory is looking around for places where he thinks she would normally pick, but there's no signs so far. But he keeps suspiciously glancing in random directions, hoping to smoke her out.]

But you don't know me. I could snore or eat all the food. Or bring really large pets home with me. I've very liable to do all of them.

[ She says it quickly like these are all bad things-- and maybe they are. Especially on a space ship going from waystation to waystation, but there's a lot of scary things. And the one thing she really likes is people and so it's easy to distract her that way. ]

It's really nice to meet you, too, Shirley. I... I hope I'm not interrupting anything.

[ Well, helpfully, the ship did just get more TARDIS like and another room's appeared. And i t's definitely got the words 'RILEY MATTHEWS' on it. Is it a coincidence? Is she in there?

Probably. And she's probably moving the desk back against the wall and rearranging blankets on top of it. Impromptu window seats are important. ]

[ Elize hadn't darted away too far off, but she immediately hid behind a wall. Hearing the loud whine, she leans out to shyly peer at her new crewmate that had fallen over. For now, she observes, waiting to see if she'll get back up... ]

[ Nope. She doesn't get back up, if only because this is something she's way too used to. And so she just takes her time to do so and sits in the middle of the floor. She does, at least, dust herself off and sit more properly. But the unfortunate part of growing really fast is you're not so used to your limbs. And this is a constant thing. Don't be her, Elize. ]

You're not, I promise. And you don't have to worry. I have a friend who does all those things you mentioned, and more.

[Well, if a tamed beast counts as a really large pet. Close enough in her book.]

...Really?

[ The question is quiet, barely audible. Riley-- and Lark-- was always afraid of not being accepted. The one thing that's hardest for her is thinking that maybe, maybe somehow she wasn't good enough. Or helpful enough. Or maybe they didn't trust her. It's why Lark tried to be braver and more mature, but she's... also still barely thirteen and how do you do that?

So the simple word holds a lot of meaning in it. And any answer can be as simple to her. It's just... easy for her to overthink everything. ]

Really.

[She's firm about that. Shirley's not the most confident person herself, but she likes the Huntress and her place in it. She's sure things will be fine.]

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