Four!

[tobeajedi]

Who: Vima Sunrider, waking up from hiatusy coldsleep.
Broadcast: Video
Action: On the Heron.
When: 12/2

[Vima rubs her face and groans, making a face because wow, did she brush her teeth last night? And then her eyes pop open wide. When did she get back on the ship? She looks around... something is different. It's warmer, for one thing.

And then she spots the flat, circular portrait holoprojector laying on the bunk... she picks it up and she's about to turn it on when she notices her comm is broadcasting. She makes another face--obviously Atroma wanted to see her emotional reaction--but she might as well make use of it.]

Hey, if anyone's picking this up.

Is everyone else back on their ships? Have our hosts said anything yet? [there's a pause as she goes back through a few posts... uh...] I think I overslept.

Comments

[stefanged]

You'd hope, but I uh - I can't say I've got as much faith in the whole Fleet after those weird dreams.

[There's a pause, because he should really talk about this in person....]

Hey, Vi? Any way I could come see you? I'll bring some tea with me.

[tobeajedi]

Oh yeah, those. [such an illuminating and awkward set of experiences.] Sure thing! Bring a sweater; our ship got pretty chilly.

[stefanged]

Thanks for the heads-up. [It's not one he necessarily needs, since vampire - but he'll ask, right as he gets up,] You need a sweater? I've got some extra shirts I could spare.

[tobeajedi]

I think they'd be a little big on me, but thanks anyway.

[stefanged]

Consider it an IOU, 'til I can get you something better.

[With that, he'll turn the feed off and hurry over to the Heron as soon as possible. Vima hadn't been kidding about the temperature - Stefan may not be as sensitive to the cold, but it didn't take one to sense the difference.

When he sees her, though? Instead of approaching her like normal, he rushes over for a hug. You've been out way too long to not get one, almost-bb sis.]

[tobeajedi]

[Vima hugs back--she knows she was out for a few weeks, and that has to have been worrisome for her friends.]

Hey there, Stefan. Sorry I overslept.

[stefanged]

I'm just glad you're awake.

[He pulls back, although he's reluctant to do so] For a while there, I thought you were gonna be the next Sleeping Beauty.

[tobeajedi]

Me too. I don't like the thought of being switched off like I'm some kind of droid.

[She grins a little bit, though.] Sleeping Beauty? That's new. Is that an Earth legend?

[stefanged]

A fairytale, actually.

[Stefan returns that grin, folding his arms as he settles in for story time (which may or may not be several versions of this story smushed into one):]

A long long time ago, a king and queen were celebrating the birth of their only daughter. They invited all the fairies but one - and that fairy cursed the young princess, in retaliation for not inviting her.

"On her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spindle and die."

Or so the dark fairy had thought. See, one fairy hadn't given her blessing yet to the young princess. That one fairy changed the nature of the curse. Instead of dying, the princess and her whole castle would instead fall into a deep slumber - woken only by true love's kiss.

[His grin grows wider here,] I'd assume that true love can be platonic? But I can't say I wanted to find out.

[tobeajedi]

[Fairies, huh? The Jedi aren't much for fairytales, but something about the true-love's-kiss bit jumps out at Vima, like it's probably a common feature of these tales.]

I'm guessing the storytellers meant it to be the get-married-now kind--if you're in some kind of magic coma, how are you supposed to find some guy to give you a peck? Unless the king and queen were pretty busy matchmakers.

[stefanged]

Or your parents believed in arranged marriages. Sleeping Beauty was lucky enough to have a young prince who'd fight dragons for her - but the rest of us?

[He leans back, folding his arms] Actually, I'd probably still fight a dragon. Or three.

[tobeajedi]

I'd only be interested in a marriage I arranged myself. [she knows about arranged marriages but they sound like garbage to her tbh. there's better ways to deal with diplomatic issues.]

For me? I'm honored--but I think I'd have to have a crack at it first.

[stefanged]

[He hesitates, letting out a bit of a sigh] I used to say that myself, but if you take charge of it, it's not so bad. If I hadn't met my girlfriend, I would've been in one myself.

Even in your sleep, Vi?

[tobeajedi]

[She raises her eyebrows; that's not entirely the reaction she expected.] Really? What's it like?

Sure! Maybe. You could wake me up first and then I could try.

[stefanged]

Uh.... [A lot of words come to mind. "Normal," "not as soul crushing as stories told you," etc. He tilts his head, trying to figure out how to best put this.] Anticlimactic.

It's a lot less "marrying someone you hate" and a lot more "sifting through paperwork to find someone who'd make a perfect match." If I wasn't a reincarnation, I would've gone through with my marriage, but I - I couldn't put her through that.

[There's a bit of a longer story, of him finding (and subsequently breaking up with) another girl, but the bigger idea was "not wanting to put an innocent in danger because they knew him."]

[tobeajedi]

Hah, paperwork isn't climatic at all. But anticlimatic is okay for real life.

I... guess it would be a lot, to get married to a person who used to be someone totally different. [Like. If her mom was a reincarnation of Jori Daragon, or something.] I hope the fallout from it wasn't too painful... were you able to tell her the real reason?

[stefanged]

[He shakes his head] Not entirely. I wanted to - and she figured out most of it, when I ended up on the news - but I couldn't. Not the part about living two different lives.

Back home, uh, most people think that being "Numbered" means you have superpowers. Not a lot of them know about the reincarnation thing, and where I'm from, it's against our religion to believe in them.

[tobeajedi]

Oh. Well, uh, getting broadcast on live holo--TV, I mean--would kind of blow your cover there.

That has to be a strange feeling, not to believe in something that you know exists. [Like someone not believing in the Force.] Never mind people thinking you can do superhuman things.

[stefanged]

Just a bit.

[He nods, though he does have the decency to look embarrassed]

Islam has this big belief in - in all lives being different. There's no "cycle" of people dying and living again as a new person, and the last time we talked about this... I kind of think you're right. Maybe I wasn't reborn as someone else.

[tobeajedi]

[Vima considers this for a moment, trying to piece it into her own understanding of life and death. As... far as she's experienced, the spirit stays itself after death.

She thinks back to that conversation and how he described "regaining" bits of his old life.]

Do you think maybe it was... artificial? That the thing that "brought" you to the different Earth took someone else's memories and gave them to you?

[stefanged]

It's possible. Whoever brought me to Earth could've given me the life of an identical stranger. My soul remains intact and they've got the warrior they need.

[He gives a slow, reluctant shrug.] But I don't want that whole thing to be artificial, because then my memories aren't really mine. I'm both Salvatore and Alesci, so I want to honor those two lives and... I don't know, figure out what works for me.

[Whoever that is.]

[tobeajedi]

Yeah... there are worthwhile things in both lives. [She considers him for a moment.] People talk about "the new me" when they learn something new or have a change in a single life. Maybe you could think of it like that, just... more literal.

[and, you know, totally un-volunteered-for.]

I mean... reincarnation happens after you die, doesn't it? Did Salvatore die?

[stefanged]

Only requirement of reincarnation, right? He sure did.

[For a certain definition of it. That guy had the worst luck when it came to staying alive.]

I don't remember everything about my past life - it comes in bits and pieces, and sometimes in whole chunks because Elena's here - but he was uh. He was a character.

[tobeajedi]

You're a character now. [Sounds strange, though, having a whole life coming back in fits and starts. And it's not really nice to know that he died, even if... he got better.] Okay, so... you did meet the requirement, not sure I want to ask what happened.

Did you look the same when you were Salvatore?

[stefanged]

Gee, thanks. [He'd elbow her, but he feels like it would kill the moment.]

Yes... and no. Salvatore was a lot younger than me. [Technically speaking, since vampire.] He was seventeen when he died, but I'm twenty four.