driftfleet | § 1st Fairytale

Who: Jilly Coppercorn
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The Marsiva
When: Mid-day

[Action]

[there's no surprise when she wakes up. No stream of questions or panic or indignant disbelief. When Jilly sits up, she only has eyes for the massive bank of windows and the stretching, open expanse beyond. Her boots are almost silent as she pushes up from the cot and moves closer, just...staring. In a moment, she might notice anyone else awake and wandering around the Hospitality Deck and, eventually, she'll recognize the strange little communicator sitting on the table next to her cot. But--for just this moment--awe wins.

Once she shakes off the initial wonder, those on the Marsiva can find her....anywhere, really. Marveling at the view from the viewing bay, poking at the strange devices in the kitchen, or exploring the baffling maze of empty hallways--Drift Fleet has acquired one curious, tiny artist (just barely 5'0"!), and she's determined to see EVERYTHING.]

[Network]

[It takes awhile for her excitement to settle enough to sit down and check out the communicator, but that only makes her wonder return when she realizes that it feels...familiar. Christy had only just talked her into buying a home computer last month and she really hadn't done much with it, and yet she had no trouble at all finding the video function on this tiny device and switching it on for a close image of a pair of bright blue eyes. The image wobbles as she pulls it back to reveal a small-boned woman with a head of unruly curls (whatever magic Atroma used to get the paint out of the strands hadn't done anything to tame the tangles).]

Hello.

[She smiles, shaking her head slightly] I'm not really sure who I'm introducing myself too, but I'm Jilly. All of these messages...obviously the few of us on this ship aren't the first to show up. You can hear us, too, right?

[she has more questions, of course, but it doesn't feel urgent. For now she's just...curious.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And what's on the bad planets?

[there's a slight bit of laughter behind the question, just from how much emphasis he put on the word]

[and that emphasis probably goes well with the very teenagerish groan that first follows her question.]

--Nothing.

[she can't help a quiet laugh]

That is bad.

[amused] How often do we end up near planets?

Oh, I don't know.

[he looks away from the screen as he thinks about it... but yeah, no... he really doesn't keep track of that kind of thing enough to have a useful answer.]

Sometimes, we go from one to the next... and then other times there are big gaps of... other stuff in between.

Other stuff?

Yeah...

[he might be thinking of something very specific then, which he hesitates on.]

You're like... super new, right? Like, still on that big ship?

Super super new. I woke up here a few hours ago.

[it's still almost joking, but there's something in his hesitation that sobers her. Maybe it was because Kanan had called the Marsiva evil, or maybe it was just giving Nel the opening to say whatever he had to say, without judgment, but she waits to see if he'll continue whatever thought he'd started]

Oh... so, you haven't talked to many people yet?

[and even with that opening, he's still reluctant to talk about it.]

Not too many, no.

[Her short response isn't so much prodding as patient. The truth is, she was good at reading people, but it was more instinct than training. Simple survival. Nel was hiding...something.

So far, everyone had been kind. The whole place--from the spacious ship to the breath-taking expanse outside--was more dream than nightmare. She didn't feel threatened, and hadn't come across any specific reasons why she should. But she was always wary.

So she waits. If he trails off again, she'd fish for whatever he was waiting to say, but that would be easier if she knew more about why he hesitated. Was there someone she shouldn't talk to? Was it the ship she was on? Or just a story he didn't think was that important?

She settles back so that almost her whole frame is visible on video, now. Even without someone nearby to compare scales, it's clear she's small in stature--something only emphasized by the baggy sweater with it's small, threadbare patches. Legs crossed, she rests her hands in her lap, her shoulders relaxed. Bits of bright color stuck to her cuticles where the paint hadn't fully cleaned off, but otherwise there is little about her that draws attention. No jewelry. No flashy colors. It's familiar and unthreatening and patient]

[and really, even from the other side of a small screen, that kind of body-language counts for a lot. because Nel watches too, and he reads people with that same sort of ingrained survival instinct.

so, after a few more moments of dithering, he finally lurches forward with the thought. because this one seems nice. she should probably be warned.]

...Have you been pulled to one of these places before?

[though, he's not really waiting for an answer before he continues.]

They can kind of... mess with you, I guess. Like, get into your head and stuff.

Like...taking memories?

[normally, she'd have asked him for his own examples. This obviously upset him, and it was usually better to let the other person fill in the blanks, but it made her think of her conversation with Crowley. That...seemed like it might fit]

Uh... Yeah. But also, like...

[that example hadn't been the one he was thinking of, but it does fit... so it takes him a minute to get hung up on that thought, chewing on it a little more, while also fishing for words to describe the original issue.]

I don't know. There's this thing. It's a lot like a dream, but I think it's real-- letting people see into your head, I guess.

[he eventually resurfaces, attempts to shrug out of thinking about it.]

...It's hard to explain.

[she waits as he trails off, but when he shrugs it off, she nods encouragingly] Like sharing dreams?

[they're thinking two different things, really, but to her it sounds like Sophie's dream city. Joe's dream walking. She can understand that]

I guess. It's a lot less like 'sharing,' though... and more like 'walking around through someone's head when they probably don't want you there.'

[but this is also reaching the far side of his limits for how much he wants to talk about upsetting things, so he shrugs out of it yet again.]

That's only happened a couple of times, though. Usually, it's just planets and stuff.

[oh. Well. It wasn't completely foreign from what she'd been picturing, but that's still not a pleasant thought.

It brings up more questions, a mix of curiosity and instinctive wariness, but she can visibly see the shift as Nel withdraws from the conversation, almost as clearly as if he'd physically moved. The questions linger on the tip of her tongue, tempting, but after a moment she swallows them.

There would be more questions. And, apparently, plenty of time to consider them. She could wait.

Instead, she redirects to inquiries just as important and much lower stakes]

So...on a scale of one to infinity....how likely is it I'd be able to find paper and pencils on this ship? [priorities]

Oh, uh...

[he blinks a bit, furrows his brow, and glances away from the screen for a minute. this is maybe something he hasn't really thought about before. but, he only mulls it over for a few moments before something else dawns on him.]

--Wait, you're still on the big ship, aren't you?

I've actually never been on that one before, so I have no idea.

Oh!

[She...hadn't expected that]

I...guess I thought everyone showed up here.

Oh, well. Yeah, normally they do, I guess.

But, I was here from the beginning... like, from when the ships first turned on. So, I was never on the big one.

[her eyes widen] Really?

...how long ago was that?

[it's the most urgent she's been asking anything of him, curiosity completely peaked.]

A year--[and he glances around. he might be trying to remember back, or count in his head, and failing.]--ish?

§ 1st Fairytale

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one tag before bed wheeee

night, bb!

laaaaaate ;;;