i ; video & action

[grounds]

Who: Octavia Blake and ??
Broadcast: Everyone
Action: Marsiva
When: Saturday morning (backdated)

[Luckily for Octavia's dignity, somehow her initial waking up freakout wasn't broadcast, so the first televised signs of her include the brunette leaning against the wall, curiously looking over her communicator. She jumps a little when it starts recording, but composure isn't too far off.

A raised brow greets the fleet, followed by a hesitant attempt at a smile. It's a bad one.]

So, space. [It's said in a very dry, unimpressed tone.] Anyone mind telling me what the hell's going on? I've got things to do, and this wasn't one of them... Whatever this is.

[She straightens, moving back to her initial bunk.]

And someone tell me what dick took my sword. I want it back.

Comments

[grounds]

It really was. [Especially when she spent most of that time confined to her family's quarters or hiding under the floor boards.]

Needless to say, I'm not too thrilled with the circumstances here.

[takeabow]

We visit other places sometimes. Though our current docking is kind of boring.

What do you like to do?

[grounds]

If there's ground, I'll take it over this.

[The question takes Octavia off guard. Her brow furrows a bit as she tries to think of an acceptable answer.]

We were too busy trying to survive to have much time for hobbies. But uh, I guess I always enjoyed mythology. Learning to fight better's high up on the list, too. Hunting's not bad, either.

[takeabow]

[ that actually piques Nova's interest and she actually emotes some ]

What do you hunt with?

[grounds]

I used my sword, but I've got experience with a spear and knife, too. [She shrugs.]

We couldn't waste bullets on hunting, and bow and arrows weren't worth attempting to make when we had no idea how they'd turn out.

[takeabow]

I'm in the process of trying to get a bow here. Once I get that, and if we go to a place with hunting, I can teach you. So at least when you go back you have the skill even if you can't use it right away. You never know.

[grounds]

Yeah, I'd like that, thanks. Sounds like you did that before, huh?

[takeabow]

Yeah. My dad taught me to hunt. I was out there as much as I could be without getting caught and sometimes, what I brought home was all we had.

[grounds]

I never knew my dad, and being born on a spaceship doesn't have give you much in terms of opportunity for outdoor stuff.

[She leans back in the bunk.] We learned because we needed food to survive on Earth. That's all there was to it.

[takeabow]

[ any sort of shared interest excitement wanes a little; it sounds like they both come from rough situations but she doesn't want to get into a contest about who has it worse ]

Yeah, well, so did I.

[grounds]

It at least sounds like you had fun with it. I'm a little jealous, honestly. [There's nothing hostile in her tone, though, it's just a statement.] Was there much else for you to do?

[takeabow]

Just survive. After my dad died, I had to make sure my sister and mom didn't starve, mostly.

[grounds]

Little sister, then? [It seems like a safe bet at least.] The Ark had rations, but things were complicated for my family.

[She wasn't supposed to exist.]

[takeabow]

[ softens slightly because Prim is the best ever ]

Yeah, Primrose.

Why were they complicated?

[grounds]

Pretty name. [Octavia pauses for a moment, really debating on how much to divulge right away.]

There was a one child law, and I have an older brother. I wasn't supposed to exist. [She stops, expression souring instinctively.] We had two people's rations between the three of us. Mom and Bellamy were the only people I ever talked to for most of my life.

[takeabow]

That sounds... really difficult. Why only one child? There's no way we could manage that in the Seam...

[grounds]

Supplies. And oxygen preservation. If the population got too high, the Ark wouldn't have been able to sustain everyone. At least that's what they told us. Pretty sure they were right, though. Turned out it was already failing. Go figure.

[takeabow]

Oxygen supply.

[ well that's a new and terrifying thing she hadn't thought of before ]

How'd your family get away with it?

[grounds]

Yeah. [Her lips purse, and she finally just dives in.] For sixteen years, I was kept hidden under the floor of our quarters. When an inspection came around, I had to hide in there and not make a damn sound. Eventually, stuff happened, and they found me. I mentioned it was against the law, right?

[She's got a look bordering on anger now.] Crimes were treated very severely. If you were under eighteen, you went to lock up until you were. Then they decided if you were worth keeping around. [It's a crude way of putting it, but it's the cut and dry of things.] My mother wasn't. She got floated soon after I was discovered.

That's sending someone out the airlock and into space. To die.

[takeabow]

[ that certainly sounds both terrible and somehow not that surprising. but again, nova hasn't been thinking really hard about space. her voice is raspy and sympathetic when she replies ]

I'm sorry. That's terrible...

What about you? Your brother?

[grounds]

I'm seventeen, so they sent me to lock up. Just for being born. My brother got demoted, but he wasn't arrested.

[She figures a little bit more backstory might be necessary.] We've been on the Ark for the past hundred years. There was a nuclear war, so not really livable for people. Since the station was failing, the adults decided to send a hundred kids down to the ground to see it was survivable.

Basically, we were the damn guinea pigs. Bellamy stowed away, so we're both fine. [A lot more happened, but that's not important here.]

[takeabow]

That sucks. But hey, you got to be outside, huh?

[grounds]

After they pretty much sent us to die, yes. I did. [Octavia's still pretty bitter after she brought it up again.]

What about you? Whats your story?

[takeabow]

Maybe we're from the same world...

[ look, weirder things have happened ]

We had war, too, but instead of send people to space, we live in Districts, each with a different specialty of industry. District 12 is for coal mining. In order to remind people who's in charge, every year two kids between 12 and 18 are chosen in a lottery. It's for something called The Hunger Games, because usually how many times your name is in the pool is tied into how old you are and many rations you request. I tried to keep mine down... but it basically punishes poor families like ours.

...I'm giving too much background. Sorry. A boy and a girl are chosen from each district, so there are 24, and have to fight to the death in an arena while everyone watches it broadcast.

[ she's kind of... surprised at how this all comes out, but she actually feels like Octavia is someone who won't make this whole thing about her ]

Prim's name was called and... I couldn't. I couldn't let her go. She was just 12.

[grounds]

[Disbelief. That's the only way her expression can be described. Soon it morphs into one of utter disgust and revulsion.]

That's just fucking sick. [It's all she can do, keeping her voice even. She doesn't even know these people, but there's some sort of anger on their behalf, probably because she can relate in some twisted way. Octavia doesn't ask more or want to know more of Nova's role unless she offers it.]

How the hell do they get off doing that?