driftfleet | Open Action: Fleet Wide

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Open Action: Fleet Wide

Who: Cole and anyone who isn't fast enough to get away
Broadcast: n/a
Action: Any ship, though he won't venture onto the Three Twins or Tourist still. He will park next to them, now!
When: First half of the month?

[Cole does this thing. He does this thing where he goes everywhere and sticks his large nose into everything and meets people. He hasn't done it for a while, so clearly, it's time again.

The Pathstone comes in next to a ship, docks and then they spend a while there. There's no pattern to which ship it is. But he'll bring them around to your ship eventually.]

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[That doesn't clarify matters and earns Cole a concerned look, but this time, she's already aware of his... indirect way of talking, so her tone is gentle and patient as she tries to understand.]

Who, Cole? Who are you talking about?

[He picks apart the flickers and impressions.]

The doctor. He always wanted to be a doctor. He was alone and scared, but you made it better, while he was here.

[Her eyes go wide as she finally gets that he's talking about Julian and she feels that heavy weight of worry settle into her stomach.]

Did you... did he say that? Before he left?

No. I didn't meet him. I saw him once or twice, but we didn't speak.

[He rocks back and forth on his feet, hand going to his stomach where the worry has settled in her.]

But I can feel him through you. He left an impression.

That he did.

[Her voice is soft and she speaks more to herself than to Cole.]

He was so... [The first word that comes to mind is "small." Not physically, but in the way he carried himself and the way he spoke. Julian had tucked himself away in self defense, and even without knowing him from before, it tore at her heart to see that.] I did what I could for him.

[It helps to know that she at least had some positive effect on him. Two months was not enough, though, and she wishes they had had more time.]

Small.

[Yeah, Cole will do that sometimes.]

He couldn't keep up the Julian mask anymore. He was too relieved to be out of that place. You made him feel... warm. You helped.

[Her eyes threaten to well up with tears, even as she smiles. She looks down and sniffs, in an only moderately successful attempt to keep the crying at bay.]

I'm glad.

[Maybe... maybe he'll remember, when he goes back to that awful place. It's a small comfort, barely there, but it's something.]

He helped me too, you know.

Yes. I'm glad he did. He would be glad too, you know.

[She takes a shaky breath and wipes at her eyes.]

I think he knew. At least... I hope he did. I tried to let him know. That last day, when we took the shuttle into the ocean... I don't know whether or not to be angry that my augment was glitching then.

[She knows the glitch scared Julian, yet it did allow her to be less restrained in her affections, which glitch or not, were very honest.]

[As she talks, it brings up the flickers of pain and fear he left on her, the desperation for something that Cole can't understand.]

My mind can be taken from me, I have to keep it under control, be normal, always be normal, don't do anything to make them suspect...

He knew.

[That's... concerning. Yet Beverly is guessing that whatever it is about Bashir that Cole is channeling, is not something she should know about, so she resists asking for clarification.]

Good. I just wish we could have had more time.

[Cole rubs at his face, as if scrubbing off the mask of speaking with someone else's emotions and thoughts.]

We always wish that. But we don't get it.

No, we don't. At least... at least maybe there is a chance I'll see him again.

[Not like Jack.]

Yes. You come from the same world, you could meet again.

Like Jean-Luc. Not Jack.

[She gives Cole a sad smile. Yes and no. Jean-Luc she knows is safe. She misses him terribly, but she's not worried about him. So that is different.

Abruptly, she turns her attention back to the garden, though she still feels like she might cry. She promised herself she wouldn't dwell on the worry. It won't help anyone, least of all Julian. Gardening helps. Having something to take care of, something that will feed her crewmates and cure the sick, that is a comfort. Even if it mostly consists of bacon flavored algae at the moment.]

Jove grows a lot of plants. She might be able to give you some to grow, as well. Eating plants and plants for healing. Medicinal.

[She nods.] I know, I spoke to her earlier... she's going to help with the garden on the Iskaulit!

Oh, you're making a garden? Crowley makes plants grow very well, but they're all terrified of him. I don't think that's good.

[She stiffens at the mention of Crowley. The thought of him near her garden is not exactly the most pleasant one in the world. It's hard for her not to be suspicious of him.]

Ino and I are trying to start a community garden, yes.

He's not really a demon. He doesn't even have a real demon name.

[Clearly, this is Cole confiding and trying to reassure her.]

[She looks back up at Cole, studies him a moment before answering.]

No, I don't think he is either.

[Though for very different reasons. She's had too many bad experiences with aliens claiming to be gods or ghosts or who knows what else, taking advantage of human fear of the unknown and unexplainable, to really accept Crowley's claims at face value.]

I don't know what a god is. I met a man and others called him a god. I met another who called himself a god, but was really a scared and a broken man.

I know what a demon is though. I've been a demon. Crowley isn't one.

[Cautious, careful.]

And what is a demon then?

Something selfish, destructive, driven by its need to be more real. Rage. Desire. Sloth. Envy. Pride. Despair

[He shudders as he says the last one.]

[A small frown crosses her face. This is... both easier and harder for her to accept than Crowley's definition. Easier, because Cole is making no claims to any connections to divinity, however corrupted. Harder, because his definition is so much more abstract. Furthermore, it's clearly something that genuinely upsets him.]

I don't... the spiritual is not something I understand very well. But I'm sorry, for whatever you went through.

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killedwithlove - 2015-09-20 01:13 (UTC) - Expand

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dancingmd - 2015-09-20 14:11 (UTC) - Expand

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