driftfleet | Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

[The bunks are filling up, but the new faces just keep appearing!

Are you a travel-weary passenger having trouble keeping your crew roster straight? Perhaps you are a fresh new recruit, finding themselves dumped into a new (and much less shiny) home. Or, maybe you've been around for a little bit and just haven't bothered meeting the other weirdos on this ship yet--what is their problem, anyway?

Well, this is the place for you!

All new passengers from the last few Shuffles, especially those who haven't met their crews yet, are welcome to post starter-comments here to invite those living on and visiting your ship to come and interact. Newbies could be just arriving on the ship, busying around where others can find them, or you can offering multiple options for interaction--however you'd like to set up your thread is fine. Just make sure to include the name of your ship in the header, so your crewmates can easily find you!

Everyone else-- go meet those newbies! Whether they are new to your own crew, or on ships you frequently visit, now is a great time to bump into them.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Awesome. ]

Sounds like my kind of prison.

What were you in for?

[Not porn.] It was a very long list. What do you think I was in for?

Oh, uh...

[ Donkey show? He presses his lips up together and tries to come up with something that doesn't give away what he's thinking. Since she's probably not a mind-reader, at this point, he should at least try to save face. ]

Beats me. You steal something and get caught?

[ He's met some sexy thieves before. Catwoman types. And it would fit the nickname, too. ]

Sure. Theft made the list. I'm pretty suited to it after all. Well, stealing. Not getting caught. But these kind of places play by their own rules with that.

[ Another one of those types, huh? Good thing anything Dean had worth stealing got left at home.

But the "rules" line gets his attention. ]

What do you mean?

Abducting people from anywhere and anywhen under any circumstances without you knowing until you're suddenly on the ship or in the prison? It's kind of hard to fight that.

Not that I'm against trying. [Intractable enemies are kind of her thing.]

[ After a moment of processing that, Dean shrugs. ]

Can't back you on crime for the sake of it, but fighting what you can't fight? I'm with you there.

[ Speaking of, he may as well ask literally everyone. ]

You know anything about this Atroma that took us?

I'm not actually into crime for the sake of it. [But she has stolen things for survival and she is good at it. But hey, she's up for talking business and "getting out" has been her business for awhile. She just changed locations.]

Not acquainted. No one I asked seemed to know anything useful. Though someone did mention enemy ships. So, maybe there's an enemy of my enemy situation possible. Unless they were just targeting the fleet and not the Atroma directly.

[ Despite what she says, Dean's still cautious about her. She seems pretty honest, forthcoming about the whole prison thing, but that just gives him even less reason to trust her. He still keeps it in the back of his head, though. Someone good-looking, a criminal with good intentions, ready to fight against whoever took them? Sounds almost too good to be true. ~~Sounds familiar, kind of. No wonder Dean wants to like her.~~ ]

Enemy ships? Enemies, like trying to take down the fleet?

[ Oh, he wants to hear about this. Because it's bad enough being on a spaceship during smooth flying. The last thing he needs is to be in a ship getting shot at.

And, uh, yeah like she said, the "enemy of my enemy" thing, sure. ]

Wish I had more details. The person telling me didn't sound like he knew much either. Something to explore.

It doesn't seem like there's anything organized to work on it or record information. Just some people acting independently. We had a team at the prison. [Sighing softly.] Not that we got out either.

[ Dean't not exactly a fan of team efforts. Hunters work better alone. All he really needs is Sam watching his back, and Cas in the wings, and they're good. More people involved just means more liabilities, more people to watch out for, and get hurt. But if other people want to try, he won't stop them. Hunters may work better alone, but they can only be in so many places at once, and the more people spread out on the job, doing their own thing, the better off everyone will be. ]

You're here aren't you? Maybe you just traded one prison for another, but bottom line's the same. You made it out.

[Team has basically become what she interprets as family after losing hers long ago. At first being part of the Defense Force in the prison was just a way to feel like she belonged somewhere again after losing the X-Men too. But it became a mission for her too.]

I didn't need to get out. I needed to get them out.

[ ...Fair enough. Not like Dean can argue with that when he'd feel the same in her shoes. That's half of what he's afraid of, half of why he's not looking to team up here. ]

You needed to get out.

[ He says, offering no room for argument in his tone. ]

Maybe you wanted to stay in there with them, and I can't blame you for feeling guilty. But if it really was a prison, you can help them better from outside than in. Could be this was the break you were waiting for.

[That response surprises her a little.] Dean Winchester, are you worried about me? [But he has a point. It feels like a set back now, but maybe she's in a better position than before and she just can't see it yet.]

[ Why's she sound surprised about that? Like Dean isn't a loving, selfless individual?

Oh. Because she knows him, or some alternate version of him. Right. He shrugs. ]

You landed yourself in prison and got yourself out of it. You seem capable enough to me. ...But I've been there. People like to tell me you can't save everybody. And they're right. Doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

[ He shakes his head, looking down. ]

Anyway, point is, you can't save anybody if you're dead, or stuck in an underwater prison with the people you're trying to save.

[ He blinks his eyes slow as he looks back up, then holds her gaze. ]

So take care of yourself, Kitty. Alright?

[It's a mix of prior interaction but also her own expectation that she won't be. Years of fighting for a populace that fears and hates you can warp some things. It takes her a second to respond.]

I always do. [Pause.] Almost always. [Like that time she was about to die before the prison got her first.]

I'm not human. [Just whipping that right out there because he seemed to have a problem with her powers in the prison and if he's going to again she just wants to get it over with and know.]

[ Somehow that first thing and the way she says it isn't exactly reassuring. Dean's not going to argue it, though, because with the next three words, it's like she's hitting him upside the head with a frying pan. Where the hell did that come from?

His eyebrows lift and his mouth opens, but for a second he doesn't say anything. He makes a grudgingly accepting kind of face, looks a little colder than a minute before, like a wall came up. Because it did. ]

...Guess you do know me.

[ He doesn't like it. And he doesn't like that he doesn't know her, or what happened between them. But he's pretty good at landing at his feet. He's not about to overreact before he's got a good reason. ]

Alright, I'll bite. What are you?

[And there it is, the reaction she was expecting subtle as it is. Doesn't make it feel good, but it feels normal maybe. Her old normal. She never exactly got used to the immediate acceptance she got from even human, non-powered inmates at the prison.]

A mutant. My parents were human. I thought I was until I accidentally fell through the floor of my bedroom one day. [There's a soft smile thinking back to how innocent it all was then. She'd been horrified that day though. There was already so much talk about the mutant menace in the media.] Catches up with you at puberty most of the time.

[ "Mutant" doesn't mean much to him. Maybe demons or vampires or wendigos and a hundred other things are all technically mutant humans, but none of them are ever just that. He's never met somebody, or something, that calls themselves a mutant, just like that. Seems out of a comic book, or a sci-fi movie. Island of Doctor Moreau kind of stuff. But she was born that way. Fell through a floor, kind of ghosty powers. Dean takes a minute to think about it. ]

That how you ended up in prison? Turned eighteen, "fell" through a couple walls with jewelry cases and bank vaults on the other side?

[ If all she's doing with her power is stealing, it seems pretty harmless to him. But then, who knows? Maybe mutants snack on human blood after they're done looting and pillaging, or need virgin sacrifices to keep their power boners up. The way Dean's life goes, he wouldn't be surprised. ]

[It irks her in a way it shouldn't. She was the one admitting to stealing before and the fact that his mind goes there and not somewhere else is probably something almost resembling a compliment. But the casual assumption verging on accusation sets something off and she's doing a thing that she falls back on—attacking with the truth.]

Turned thirteen and watched soldiers murder my parents because they didn't want to turn me over. Spent the rest of my time fighting to stop the mutant who had risen to power because he was trying to kill all the humans. Society collapsed. Half the world was irradiated and the other half was in ruins. No one cared about money anymore.

So what it said on my crime list, Dean, was murder [among other things] because it doesn't matter to them whether you're doing it for fun, to survive or because you're trying to protect people in a war.

And I'm guessing my list looked a lot like yours.

[ Somehow, that outburst surprises him less than the first one. He listens, quiet and solemn through it. Sounds like a load of crap nobody should have to deal with, but a lot of people do. Sounds familiar, at times. And she knows him, at least well enough to know his opinion on monsters, probably that he's a hunter. He wouldn't put it past her to know more than that, either. His list probably looked a lot like hers, just like she said. And more, for all the things he doesn't tell anybody. ]

Yeah. It would.

[ It's a thin line, like the edge of a knife, talking about justified murder. But he can't fault any of what she says. She says it perfect, just what he wants to hear. And if she weren't so angry about it, he might think he was getting played.

Honestly? He's still suspicious. And it takes a lot more than a pretty speech to win his trust. But he can't say she doesn't talk a good talk. ]

So I guess you know I'm a hunter? Probably told you... back home, I kill monsters.

[ He's baiting her, sure. But he likes that she's angry about it. She should be. And anger, way more than being sorry for yourself, you can use. ]

[Anger used to be her go-to. Strangely enough, time in the prison had relaxed her. Fewer dangers. More friends. No masses of people who hate and fear her. She even fell in love. And little by little some of those walls she'd built up to protect herself came down. Sometimes she really misses that protection.

Her old habit is feeling safe and familiar, though she wasn't expecting him to agree so easily. He saves it with that implication—if it is one—that she falls in the "monster" category.]

I know you and Sam are hunters. [Something she wouldn't disagree with as long as it wasn't indiscriminate.] Sam worked for me. [Normally, she'd say with even if for is just as true. She was the leader. But at the moment it's just a barb she's returning for the monsters comment.]

He did, huh?

[ Dean's answer is flat as before, unimpressed, a little cold. If she thinks throwing Sam's name around is going to win her any favors, she doesn't know either of them as well as she thinks. If anything, it's less reason to trust her. Dean loves Sam, he'd die for him - has died for him - but that doesn't mean Sam makes good decisions or keeps good friends. And it wouldn't be the first time Dean had killed a monster that Sam trusted.

...But, alright, that was years ago. And Dean regrets it, some days. He and Sam are different people from who they used to be. Anyway, the point's moot. He knows she's not a monster, not the kind he kills. But you can find out a lot about a person by hitting them where they're sensitive. And as long as she keeps hiding behind Sam instead of threatening him... Well, Dean'll take it. ]

Honestly? I don't care what you and Sam did before, or what you and me did before. All I care about is what you do from right now moving forward. You want to help save people? I'm with you. Doesn't matter to me if you're human or not, as long as your head's on straight. But the day you start killing somebody innocent? Or going after my family? That's the day I kill you.

Until then, we're good.

[She just watches him quietly, temper heading back down to a low simmer.]

Fine. [If she ever actually was killing innocent people for some reason she'd want to be stopped or at least her now would want her then stopped. It's been a long time since she's killed anyone innocent or otherwise. She tried a couple of times in the prison. Once early on when she was still very much in the mindset of home and being attacked and then later in the hopes of protecting the others. She would prefer other solutions if they can be found, but when they can't she'll do what needs to be done.]

The same goes for you.

[Her hand twitches at her side a bit, wanting to reach for a cigarette, but she only has a few left. This is going to be a long stay.]

Wouldn't expect any less.

[ Instinctively, he wonders how he'd even kill her if he wanted to. Bullets must pass right through her. But then she's not falling through the floor now, which means she probably controls it. Get in close and surprise her with it, then.

Dean has no intentions of killing her, but it's comforting to plan it out, anyway, whatever that says about him. Beats cigarettes, though it falls short of a hard shot of something strong. After a beat, he adds. ]

Thanks. For telling me, being honest about it. You didn't have to, and you knew how I'd react. That takes guts.

Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

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