006 - Rip Van Sokka

[alwayscomeback]

Who: Sokka and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Blue Fish
When: Right now!

[Sokka has finally awoken from cryosleep. He looks a little older (which, of course, he is, he's a whole 19 years now) and his hair is in disarray, but awake he is. His communicator catches him sitting upright, blinking confusedly around him as he tries to sort through three years worth of memories and try to work out where the hell he is.

After a few moments, the pieces fall into place, and he lets out a low groan, flopping back on his bed.]

Ugh. I thought I was done with this place.

[Then, he gets up, reluctantly, ties his hair back up in a pony tail, and heads up the hatch and out into the Blue Fish himself. It's like going back to a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. The familiarity is fuzzy and off, but it's slowly creeping back to him. ]

Comments

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke is excellent at interpreting audible capitals. Also, Beverly's nuances of worry. ]

Yes, but you can stop worrying before you start. About me, anyway.

[ Healer boyfriend and everything, it's very exciting! He crosses over to sort of ponder what she's doing, since there is absolutely no way he's ever seen a microscope before. ]

What are our many-legged friends telling you today?

[ Other than like 'oh god we have so many legs it's horrible'. ]

[dancingmd]

[Her smile, what little one there was, fades.]

They're dying. And I don't mean because of us. These people have been infected with some sort of fungus that's taken over their neural functions, which is why I think they're acting so oddly.

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke clearly has to do some mental rearranging, because he has definitely not been thinking of the bugs as 'people'. Also of course they're dying, he personally has killed like ...a lot of them. Which is to say nothing of the dozens of other fleet members also doing that. First things first, though: ]

Taken over their ...what?

[ New...ral...uh. ]

[dancingmd]

[She has personally killed more than her fair share as well, thus the guilt building up inside of her right now.]

Their brains.

[Roughly. They don't really have brains per say, but now's not really the time for equivocating.]

[forcemageure]

[ Oh, well. That at least he understands, although he's making certain mystical correlations that Beverly's scientific analysis would probably find uh, insane. ]

That's more than a little unsettling. Do you think they were the ones who sent the distress call, then? Before all the--neural whatsit.

[dancingmd]

I believe so, though one of the comms people would probably be able to answer that better than me. Fortunately, the fungus doesn't seem to infect any of us, though I will certainly be keeping an eye on that. Which reminds me...

[Turning around to one of the other lab tables, she picks up her tricorder and gestures with one forefinger for Hawke to come over.]

Time for you to get a check-up, injured or not.

[forcemageure]

Oh goodie.

[ Hawke deadpans marvelously. Having that thing pointed at him still makes him nervous. ]

All right, but only because I like you.

[ He sits dutifully, hands loosely between his knees. Dude sitting. It's ...dude sitting. ]

[dancingmd]

[She smirks.]

Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.

[forcemageure]

Oh, was it supposed to be a secret? Probably shouldn't have taken out that skywriting singing your praises, then.

[ He's ridiculous. Also: who even told him what skywriting was?? ANYWAY. ]

Right, then. Let's get this over with.

[dancingmd]

[Smirking.]Skywriting, huh? I guess you really do like me.

[She runs the tricorder over him - see, Hawke? Totally painless - and is relieved to see that none of the fungus has entered into his systems. She was fairly certain it wouldn't, as it seems uniquely fitted to the insectoid physiology, but she still needed the confirmation. And he's in good shape otherwise... well, as good of shape as you can hope for someone who grew up in medieval conditions.

Mental note: get this crew on some daily multi-vitamins.

Oh yeah, and Hawke might notice the mildly alarming beeping sounds the tricorder is making right now, though Beverly seems to be paying it little mind.]

[forcemageure]

There was doubt in that department? Beverly.

[ He claps a hand over his heart, ridiculously. ]

I suppose I've just been too subtle with my affections. Happens to me all the time.

[ No it doesn't. Ever. Meanwhile he's summarily derailed by the beeping, eyebrows exaggeratedly (but uh, kind of genuinely) alarmed. ]

Is it meant to be doing that, or am I dying?

[ Ha, ha! Jokes. ]

[dancingmd]

[Yep. Subtlety is his middle name. Garrett Subtlety Hawke, as he is affectionately known in these parts.

Right, the beeping.]

Don't worry, you're not dying. The tricorder is just confused by you. It's not used to someone so ... ~electric~.

[Yes, she absolutely does say that in a stupidly flirtatious manner. Tildes and everything. Hawke, you're a bad influence.]

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke chuckles appreciatively, pleased to be wielding such influence. No one should let him do this, but it's too late now. ]

That would explain all the sparks between us.

[ It's too bad he can't make a 'magnetic personality' joke. Really. just awful. ]

[dancingmd]

[Beverly groans.]

Oh, I walked right into that one didn't I?

[forcemageure]

You did, a bit. [ Shiny smile. ] Don't tell me you regret it. I'd be shocked to hear such a thing!

[ ...just. ]

[dancingmd]

You'd do this all day, wouldn't you, if I let you get away with it?

[forcemageure]

Only if it's not going to build too much static between us.

[ Yes. ]

[dancingmd]

[A monster. Hawke's an absolute monster. She shakes her head.]

How Aveline's put up with you all these years, I'll never know.

[Nonetheless, Beverly is grinning very fondly at him.]

[forcemageure]

[ That is exactly the kind of response he generally desires. Beverly what have you done. ]

She hits me. A lot.

[ His mournfulness is an enormous lie. ]

[dancingmd]

[She offers him a pseudo-sympathetic pout.]

Oh, you poor thing.

[forcemageure]

Can your creepy scanner thing pick up bruises from years ago? You can check for yourself, if that's the case. They're probably still there. Malingering.

[ :( ]

[dancingmd]

[That earns a raised eyebrow.]

My "creepy scanner thing?" What exactly do you think I'm going to do to you with this?

[forcemageure]

Now? Nothing. The first few times [ because this can't possibly be the first ] I thought maybe melt my face right off, pull out my soul through my nose ....something pleasant like that.

[dancingmd]

[This is one of those moments where she can't tell if he's being serious or not. With as little as she knows about Thedas... maybe that was a reasonable fear for him to have had. So she chooses to answer him more or less seriously, just in case.]

Hawke, I promise, all the tricorder does is check your vitals. No soul stealing involved. And even if it could do something that, do you honestly think I would ever use it to hurt you?

[forcemageure]

[ Oh no you don't, he is immune to manipulation via guilt. Between his mother and Anders.

...not this Anders. Never mind, it's complicated. ]

Naturally not! The demon inside probably wouldn't listen to reason, though.

[ Again: how serious is he. .....................some. Not much, but some. ]