March Mingle Madness (aka SURPRISE it's another mingle)

[bryces_pup]

Who: Crew members and visitors of the SS Blue Fish
Broadcast: nope
Action: On the Blue Fish, naturally.
When: Throughout March!

[Another month, another mingle. Once again, any visitors on the ship should bear in mind that there are locks installed all over the ship, so someone on board's gotta let you in. Or you can just stand there. And stare. And hope someone takes pity on you.]

Comments

[bryces_pup]

I wondered as much. He resembles you. [A moment of hesitation, then she lays a hand gently on Beverly's shoulder.] I am sorry. I cannot imagine being parted from your child. How long have you been in the fleet?

[dancingmd]

[Beverly brings her hand to rest on top of Riona's.]

Exactly a year ago today.

[bryces_pup]

Ah. [That explains all of this, then.] I am sorry. I had heard people have been here several months; I did not realize you were one of them. You must be so frustrated, being stuck here for so long.

[dancingmd]

Frustrated, and a little sad, but [She offers Riona what she hopes is a reassuring smile] I won't give up hope.

[The day she does that will be the day she dies.]

[bryces_pup]

That is what's most important. None of us will be here forever, I think.

[People get sent home every month. Chances were that everyone on the Blue Fish return to their homes, in time.

She needs to believe that.]

[dancingmd]

I know. Today is just... one of those days that's a little harder than others.

[bryces_pup]

I can only imagine. But I am here if you want to talk. About anything, whatever helps.

[dancingmd]

[She gives Riona a sad smile.] Thank you.

[Gesturing to a seat nearby:] Would you like to sit?

[bryces_pup]

I'd be happy to, if you're willing to have company.

[She takes the offered seat, relaxing against the back.

The... hologram catches her attention again. The concept of it is strange, but she steadfastly ignores it and focuses on the actual boy - man? - in it.]

How old is he?

[dancingmd]

Twenty-two. [She frowns.] It's strange to think that I'm another year older but he's the same and will stay the same until I return. Which... Who knows how long that will be?

[Allen and Ino have both spent almost a decade away from their worlds. And Jean-Luc - he lived an entire lifetime in twenty minutes. She hopes that's not the case for her but the possibility always looms in the back of her mind.]

[bryces_pup]

I still cannot fathom how that works: to stop time in one place but not in another.

[Even magic, what she knows of it, didn't seem capable of that. Then again, with the Chantry's suppression and containment of it, who knows?]

At the very least, he will not be worrying over you.

[dancingmd]

That is something.

[Though if anyone were to know she was missing, Wesley would be her best bet for getting home.]

And I would not want him to be brought here, no matter how much I want to see him.

[bryces_pup]

Because you would not want to see him trapped?

[dancingmd]

Exactly. And I worry that he would... stagnate here. It'd be too much, so soon after he's started truly finding himself.

[bryces_pup]

Stagnate how?

[dancingmd]

He's special. [She offers Riona half of a smile.] And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother. Somehow, he's learned to tap into something...different within himself. I don't understand it all yet but he can manipulate time and space, travel into other dimensions. If Atroma took that away from him, right as he's beginning to learn what he is capable of...

[bryces_pup]

[Wow that sounds... kind of cool.

And also suspiciously familiar.]

...isn't that similar to what Atroma does with us? Bringing people from different worlds and points in time?

[dancingmd]

I suspect Atroma is someone who has similar abilities to Wesley, yes, but Wesley would never do something like this. The only person he’s ever pulled from one universe to another is me, and that’s because I was trapped in the wrong one.

[bryces_pup]

[Not even gonna ask how that happened. Just nope. This shit confuses her enough as it is.]

You think Atroma is only one person?

[dancingmd]

[Beverly's life is weird. Better just to roll with it.]

Could be. For a long time I thought they were an alien I know of from home who also likes to toy with people like this.

[bryces_pup]

You... know someone who's done this to other people?

[dancingmd]

Not exactly like Atroma has here, taking people from all different worlds and times and bringing them together for a supposed television show, but he did periodically show up to transport our entire crew into absurd situations, to see how we'd react. He claimed it was a test of some sort.

[bryces_pup]

He sounds just about as awful. Is that how your son wound up having to pull you from a different universe?

[dancingmd]

No, that time wasn't Q's fault. It was...complicated. I helped create an unstable universe with my own mind.

[She smiles ruefully, knowing how absurd that sounds.]

[bryces_pup]

...beg your pardon?

[She's going to regret asking, isn't she? Not because of anything to do with Beverly, but because, well, this parallel universe nonsense is complicated enough as it is. And she has a feeling her brain's about to hurt a lot more after this conversation.]