single and ready to mingle

[redactions]

Who: The crew of the SS Heron and visitors.
Broadcast: nope.
Action: Aboard the SS Heron.
When: After the Shuffle.

[ get in losers we're going mingling. starters in comments. ]

Comments

[tobeajedi]

[Jim sitting down in that chair brings home just how weird this is. He's a captain, she's a subordinate, and it's all part of this weird space show? She didn't know any of this existed a few days ago.

Still, she slips into the pilot's chair without hesitation. Vima has always enjoyed the idea of being a bona-fide pilot. She'd rather have learned how to do it on her own, but at least she's less likely to crash with a ready-made brain upload creepy as that is.]

Aye aye, captain. [She starts to take the ship through some basic maneuvers. Up, down... might as well give it a quick turn just to see how nimble it is, right?]

[redactions]

[ Her enthusiasm is infectious, and at least somebody is taking relatively well to being here, young as she is. ]

Let's see how tightly we can turn, Miss Sunrider.

[tobeajedi]

You got it!

[She hits the acceleration--a touch too hard--and yanks the controls to the right as far as they'll go. It's kind of sluggish on the turn, not exactly a starfighter or even a solar mining pod BUT IT'S SURE GOING TO MAKE FOR AN INTERESTING RIDE.]

Whoa! I think they got this from the bargain section of the dock!

[redactions]

[ WHOA THERE SPITFIRE ]

Ya think?

[tobeajedi]

[She backs off on the speed and laughs.]

Hahah! I guess they wouldn't give us nice new ships... that wouldn't be very interesting to watch. Much more fun wondering if we're going to crash into each other like hoverpods on a carnival ride.

[redactions]

No I s'pose not.

[ He breathes out a soft sigh of relief when she does slow down. ]

You're taking to this pretty well. Is it like home?

[tobeajedi]

Being in space is. I wouldn't have even thought anyone would find it weird, but it seems like most people got grabbed out of places where they haven't even made orbit. [She wonders if Jim is one of those.] Dangerous situations too, I guess. But this is my first time on a holoshow, leaving the Galaxy, or getting abducted and given a brain implant telling me how to pilot.

[She shrugs. It seems more sensible to buckle down and figure out how things go here than bounce off the walls trying to get home yet. Her mom was never that reckless as an active Jedi; seems like the model to follow.]

It's familiar enough that I can kind of take things in stride, I guess.

[redactions]

[ He shifts in the chair, head tilted towards her, his full attention on her words. ]

Well, I'm not from space, never actually been there before landing up here. What's it like?

[tobeajedi]

[She swivels around to face him more, thinking on how to answer. What's it like to not travel in space? That's what's normal for him, just like the opposite is normal for her. But to him, it must be extraordinary.

How did it feel when she was a kid? at least a younger kid]

Every planet is different. Some are all one thing--just a desert, or ice, or ocean, but most of them have a mix of environments. People come in all shapes and sizes. My mother's Master walked on four legs--his apprentice was biped like us, but you'd never take him for Human.

Space itself is quiet. [...] In a lot of ways. There's the ship and the people on it, but you never really forget that you're a tiny speck in a huge galaxy. Even if you're on a mining station, all their pods are tiny compared to whatever star they're working on. Either way, you're just one part of something huge.

[redactions]

[ It's more than extraordinary. It's an amazing gift, to hear some other world has done it, achieved dreams of spaceflight. Then again, it's totally normal to someone like her, wandering the galaxy. What had she said? It reminds them that they're small. ]

[ He whistles, low. ]

Aliens, huh? [ a beat, then, ] Have you heard of a species called the Chitauri?

[tobeajedi]

Chitauri? [Vima shakes her head. Master Thon is Tchuukthai, but that name is only barely close.] No, though if there are Humans in different galaxies, they might be somewhere we haven't explored yet. What are they like?

[redactions]

[ What are they like? That's a good question. They were nasty, brutish fellas, and they'd dropped as soon as Tony'd destroyed the mothership. A hive mind. Maybe they weren't entirely in control. It's unfair, but it's war. They all had a choice, and they made it. ]

Bluish? We didn't really talk much on account of the invading and all.

[tobeajedi]

Oh, so not that friendly. [She leans one elbow on her console (careful not to trip any controls).] Is that the only time you guys have met an alien species?

[redactions]

[ A moment's pause, then, ]

There's Asgardians, but we've only heard of five and I've met two. They look pretty human, just wearing old fashioned clothes and armour. They live a lot longer than us, on account of their advanced science.

[ The irony of him calling someone old fashioned makes him grin briefly. ]

If there's any more wandering around the neighbourhood, I don't know about them.

[tobeajedi]

Hmm, I haven't heard of them either... I guess Dr. Crusher was right about this being a different galaxy. I'm a Human too, but I bet you're going to make up for lost time with all the other people around here... probably going to get along with them better than the Chitauri.

[redactions]

Prob'ly.

[ Hold on, that different galaxy thing. ]

You're human but not from Earth? What's that about?

[tobeajedi]

Uh... well, most people think Humans are from Coruscant. [They're so ubiquitous it's hard to say.] I just figured--there are Humans everywhere in our galaxy, so maybe some of us wound up in other ones too.