driftfleet | video; optional action

Who: Celeste Blackwell and the fleet
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Can be found sulking around the SS Golden kitchen
When: Feb 6, evening

[The last time this girl appeared on the network, she was in quite a hot rage, so it might be odd to see her looking quiet and pensive now. Sad, despite a slight smile, to those who really look closely.]

I've been away for awhile - don't ask, I don't quite understand it myself - but apparently I've come back just in time for Valentine's Day to be around the corner. And normally I'd be the last person to bring up something like this, but...

[But what? She doesn't say, just asks her question.]

... have you ever been in love? What were they like? What really made you think "My god, this is the one" when there are so many other people out there who might've been just as good? And I mean, if you're in love right now and you still want to answer, it needn't be past tense. I suppose - I just don't quite understand this either, I never have, but that doesn't stop it from happening.

[She appears to be at a loss for a moment, before shaking her head and chuckling to herself.]

My mates would laugh themselves sick if they could hear me now.

[And that's all.]

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Even better, now it's both of your business. [She quirks a small grin in return.] But that really does sound... mature, I suppose. Probably how it's meant to be. Much better than clinging helplessly because you haven't a clue who you are without them.

[Which makes her think of where she's at. Can she claim the same, at all? One fingertip starts to draw patterns on the counter, and she watches it just as closely as she watched Hera making her tea earlier.]

I left. I didn't want to, but Caleb said I couldn't put my life on hold for him forever when he'd be leaving someday as well. We knew we weren't in Eudio for good, we knew it'd happen - and he's not here, so that would make it seem self-evident that I don't need him to get on, but -

[She doesn't really know if she's getting on at all, making posts like this and crying to strangers.]

[ Hera tilts her head a little at the other woman. ]

So... you're saying you broke up with someone because you knew eventually it would have to end anyway?

Oh no, no, we didn't break up. It's - it's almost impossible to explain to people who haven't been there, because Eudio is this very strange little world all its own, in more ways than the purely literal.

[She glances at the tea Hera's made, then offers a crooked smile.]

I don't suppose you've made enough to spare a cup? This could take awhile, if you'd really like to hear about it.

No problem. [ It only takes a few more minutes of bustling about before Hera sets down another mug in front of Celeste. ]

I'm happy to listen.

Thanks. [She gives Hera a small smile as she accepts her tea, blowing over it lightly while she decides where to start. Hera's already carved out quite a place of trust in Celeste's new life, just by being there as such a quiet, non-judgmental presence from her rather disastrous beginning, so she doesn't feel inclined to hold too much back. It's just a matter of telling it in a way that makes sense when it was all such a whirlwind to her as it happened.]

I suppose I should start with Eudio itself. They send representatives out to our universes to offer us a sort of exchange: we can make any change to our lives that we like, anything that doesn't directly influence other people against their will even if it does indirectly change the course of history itself, if we come to their city for a period of time and help them. They can't say how long it'll be, because it's really up to us, but we are allowed to leave if the city just isn't a good fit. The incentive, though, we've got to fulfill our entire contract for that.

The thing they need is... well, it's the part that throws most people when I try to explain it here. Somehow, their city is powered by physical intimacy, and they weren't getting enough of it from their own people. We'd come in and - it was up to each person, really, you could simply hold thousands of hands or give hundreds of hugs if that was most comfortable. But it's probably obvious what would fill your quota most quickly.

[Her mug still held up to her face, creating a slight haze of steam around it, she gives Hera a more knowing smile. No need to be crass, right?]

[ Hera is pleased Celeste trusts her so much, honestly. She likes helping people - she likes people in general, and it's a good feeling to know she can help this one. Even here. ]

That's... interesting. So it's... a different plane of existence, I guess?

[ One apparently fueled by, among other things, sex. But, again, no need to be crass. ]

Yes, that's right, it's a sort of nexus. Or hub, maybe. I'm not sure if this place is the same, or if it's just got the same access to other universes, but the nature of Eudio could make for some very, very strange interactions.

[Fictional people, doubles from different versions of the same universe, all the samefaces... she's just waiting to see if it's as complex here.]

The thing about it was, there was this combination of factors - you came in knowing it was temporary, and you had to be intimate with a number of people - that meant it served you much better to keep things casual. Everything, from friends to relationships and beyond. Even people who did find deep connections usually didn't make them exclusive, and Caleb and I were like that... I came to love him more than I'd ever thought I could love someone, but that was never threatened by the fact that we slept with other people. It was almost too deep for that sort of jealousy.

But that's only half-casual, really, and that was the hell of Eudio. How do you keep from getting attached when so many of your interactions are based on intimacy? Its own rules for best getting through were incompatible with its nature.

[ Hera listens quietly to all she has to say - this clearly seems to be something she needs to get off her chest, and she doesn't begrudge the other woman that. ]

I'll say. It sounds a bit self-defeating. Get close to people, but not too close. That would take a lot of self-control. The kind of self-control I don't imagine most people actually have in practice.

You're quite right about that. It got so messy - you've heard of love triangles? Well, they can have far more than three lines. I saw ones with all sorts of lines criscrossing through the middle. I saw -

[Something deeply, profoundly sad darkens her eyes.]

- I saw hearts get broken more terribly than I think would be possible in a normal sort of place.

[Then she takes a breath, sips her tea to compose herself.]

Anyway. We've gotten quite far afield of the point I was trying to make, which is my fault, so I'd best get us back on track. I suppose I haven't really - processed a lot of this yet. [Shared, in other words, so Hera is exactly right.] In spite of all that, Caleb and I fell in love. But his incentive, the gift he'll get when he's finished, is the ability to travel across time and space and entire universes without any sort of impediment. He'll be able to find me again. So we haven't really broken up, it's just - a delay in being together.

[Along with that comes a good deal of faith, of course, that he won't just forget her or find something more important in the meantime. And the too-tight way she's gripping her mug suggests that she's well, well aware of it.]

Ah, so it's more like... a long-distance relationship, in a way.

[ Not that Hera really has any experience of those. ]

But you miss him.

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