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(no subject)

Who: Nova & U
Broadcast: fleet-wide; video
Action: On First Breath
When: August 14th, early morning

[ Nova looks... tired, especially if you saw her on her first day. She's sitting up on her bed and her space looks pretty immaculate and not at all lived-in. She looks a little anxious, and rebraids the bottom of her hair before speaking, visibly uncomfortable with the camera. ]

Uh. Hey. I guess. I hope I'm not waking anyone up. I'm new so... I don't know. I can't sleep. Does anyone have any tips? Or something? It's... well, it's not exactly quiet, because things make noise. But it's... sterile? It doesn't sound right, or smell right.

I don't really want to think about it too hard. Anyway. If you could tell me what you did when you were new...

[ She trails off, awkward and tired and lets the silence go on a little long ]

It's probably just a personal problem.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's the engines. Even when you can't hear them, you still feel them. I'm sure one of our medical personnel will be happy to put you to sleep explaining to you the vibrations of the inner ear and its effect on our REM cycles. If nothing else, at least it might bore you to sleep.

[Natasha looks...more or less like Natasha always does, but there's a hint of understanding in her composed features. She still doesn't sleep more than a few hours a night. Less, now that things have gotten...complicated. More complicated.]

...Natasha?

[Every single one of these people recognizing her hits her harder and surprises her less. She shouldn't be all that surprised anyway, not at this point, but there's still an unreadable flicker in her eyes as she speaks, voice still polite but firm.]

Not the one you're thinking of. Sorry to disappoint.

[ sighs a bit, but what did she expect, really ]

Sorry. This just happened to me, so I should know better.

Atroma seems to enjoy throwing alternate-universe versions of people at their counterparts. It's starting to get a little old, if you ask me, but it must still be getting some ratings bumps for them to keep at it.

Either that, or they're as unimaginative as the reality TV hacks back home.

[She pauses, head tilting slightly to one side as her lips part, considering her next words.]

Probably better if we go ahead and establish right now that I'm not her. I might look like her, or sound like her, and we might even have some of the same story. But I'm not that person. It'd be a mistake to think I am.

[Her voice isn't cruel or combative. It's just a fact, one that some people have had some trouble with.]

Yeah... uh. Yeah. I know. I won't assume anything.

[ feels a little chided, though, and also embarrassed that she mistook her for somebody that she used to know ((somebodyyyy)) ]

Good.

[Embarrassment is nartural, but unnecessary, especially under the circumstances. She does look at least marginally satisfied that her words have been heard, at least enough to ignore the embarrassment.]

You know my name. I don't know yours yet. Do I get to know?

Uh. Yeah. Sorry.

It's Katniss Everdeen, but I go by Nova these days.

Nova, then. I'm just Natasha, here.

[The implication being whatever other names she's heard probably shouldn't be used.]

What I said earlier is true. It's hard to sleep the first few weeks. Your body has to adjust. Medbay on your ship might have something to help you sleep, if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind a little help.

You get used to the recycled air and metallic... everything? It feels, I don't know. Claustrophobic.

Oh, it's absolutely claustrophobic. But people can get used to pretty much anything, and if you're willing to dance for the audience and play nice, Atroma's happy to make it worth your while. You can even win something like privacy, or at least what looks like it.

And if you need more personal space, there's always the Iskaulit. If you don't mind probably-haunted alien bugships.

[ she's looking stressed the more that Natasha talks about the show, tensing up and looking up at the ceiling ]

I don't want to think about it. The show, I mean. I just. I need to not think about it for a bit.

[The irony in Natasha's face and voice fade as she looks a little closer at the young woman in the screen in front of her. Clearly the idea of all this is pressing buttons she'd rather weren't pressed.]

You could try sleeping outside, on the planet. If you'd rather. Might not help with adjusting to the ship, but you might be able to manage a decent night's sleep before you start.

Yeah, maybe.

[ runs her hand through her hair ]

Maybe I'll just check out the medbay.I used to have a thing that helped but it was more... magicky.

You have a lot of that, where you're from?

[The existence of magic is something she accepts just fine. Whatever its source, how it works, it's more or less real, at least here. But that doesn't mean she's any more comfortable with the idea of it being used on her.]

No. I was somewhere else before here. That's where I met the... other woman.

[Katniss--Nova's--choice of words is ironic. After all, aren't they close to the words she'd used to refer to the man calling himself Orion? "The other one." Not Steve Rogers, not anymore, not for a long time. She's not nearly as sensitive about the name, not as long as the person using it understands there's a distinction.]

Guess that means you're not part of my future. That's probably a good thing. I personally draw the line at screwing with timelines.

[It could be a joke, if you tilt your head sideways and squint.]

...Aren't I automatically part of your future, now? Or at least the present...

I don't know. Time is confusing.

But yeah. It's probably not something like that.

I tend to treat this place like a bubble. No impact on things back where I'm from. It makes things slightly less complicated, especially with the whole multiverse theory we've got going.

But you're right. That doesn't exactly make it less confusing, here.

Do you think time's stopped outside of here? That's what people thought at Aather.

Aather's the place you were before?

[With the other Natasha, she thinks but doesn't say.]

It's possible. Honestly, I don't think there's much point worrying about it. we'll go back, or we won't, and it'll be the point we left from, or it won't. It's not something we can do much about, either way.

Yeah, we just came from it.

And it's— [ pauses, trying to figure out how to word it ]

I don't want my sister to miss me.

Guess it's harder for some people than others. I can see how having someone to go back to could make you want to have a solid answer.

I'm sorry I don't have anything more reassuring to tell you.

Yeah.

I was supposed to be getting her and then going somewhere else, but I ended up here.

A surprise detour, huh? I'll keep my fingers crossed you get back on the road soon. We've all got places we'd rather be. Most of us, anyway.