driftfleet | 04 | action & video

Who: Stefan Salvatore~~-Alesci~~ and you!!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Paisley
When: Backdated to May 6th

[action; closed to crew & close CR]
[Around mid-afternoon, Stefan stirs from his slumber, entangling himself in blankets before he slowly pulls himself up and glances around. This isn't home. No big wooden panels or creaking wooden floors, and more importantly, no stench of bourbon in the hallway. His face falls as he listens to the steady heartbeats of his crew. His amazing, awesome, but still Damon-free crew.

Resigning himself to the inevitable, he murmurs,] So I'm still here.

[Pulling those covers closer, he allows himself those few seconds of grief before rubbing his temples and managing the thinnest of smiles. No sense in worrying everyone else right off the bat.

Stefan'll also be in the kitchen later with his usual mug of tea and- and wait. Did his stash of chocolate chips shrink while he was gone?? Stefan might be peering at his baking supplies like he's trying to puzzle out a mystery. Or maybe he's on the verge of falling asleep again. Hard to tell.]

[video;]
[Sometime after the initial confusion wears off, Stefan puts the video feed on and manages a weak wave at the camera. The Paisley's lab can clearly be seen in the background, along with a stack of (dusty, untouched) files behind him. Despite sleeping for at least five weeks, he looks (and feels) as exhausted as ever.]

Hey. Sorry if I've worried anyone for being out this long, but uh, I should be back to my usual stuff soon. So if you've missed my interfaith talks for some strange reason, they'll pick back up next week. [...] Jumu'ah too, if we've gained any other Muslims since I was last around.

Speaking of "last around," I know more than a few of us have experienced hypersleep. If you're willing to talk about it, I have a few questions for you. Nothing big, I promise, and the informed consent forms are right here. [He hasn't uploaded them to the network yet, so he'll hold one up to the camera.]

If this seems like your kind of thing, drop by the Paisley. I should be around for a while. [A small, nervous smile, one that actually reaches his eyes.] Oh, and uh - I'm Stefan Salvatore. It's good to be back.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kirito frowns and backs up to get a better look, his expression a mixture of surprise and unease.]

Everyone was saying that'd be the case, but... it's weird, seeing it for myself. Bodies don't work like that.

[He has too much experience with this to be able to just accept that there'll be no consequences, here.]

Right. I haven't been human for a while, though... so theoretically, I could induce this kind of coma and come out okay.

[There should've been consequences. Maybe they're not immediate here.]

Ah... yeah. I guess it would be different, then.

[Physiological differences are a little easier to swallow than the whole "it's fine because Atroma" explanation he'd gotten before.]

Yeah. I'm just glad I didn't have to feed when I woke up. [#vampireproblems]

But if everyone's saying that it would be the case, it makes me wonder about our augments.

[They should probably all be glad of that, but it feels rude to say it, so.]

Nobody saw anything else affecting you while you were asleep- no feeding tubes or monitors or anything, so... that's probably the case.

[Should he feel grateful or what? It feels wrong to be grateful for that.]

...If you notice anything wrong later, though, just say so, okay?

Of course. [No hesitation whatsoever, because he really does trust Kirito with everything.] It'll be a couple of days before I give myself the all-clear, but as of right now...

I don't think anything's off.

Hah... well. Better than the alternative.

[He kind of envies you, bro, but he's happy nonetheless.]

For sure. I know I've missed out on way too much paperwork.

[It's the saddest attempt at a joke in a while, but also... has anyone actually been doing the general upkeep while he was Sleeping Beauty....]

You'd have to check with Alex on that one. I'm lousy at that stuff, so I steer clear of it.

[He knows better than to offer to help; it'd just create double the work when someone ends up fixing it afterwards.]

Ah. [His face falls at the mention of her name - of course he'd have to ask. That's only natural.] Thanks for letting me know. I'll just bring it up with her later.

[That is not a normal reaction to her name. How suspicious.]

Something wrong?

[Are mom and dad breaking up!?]

Ah, no. [If his mood was that obvious, Stefan figures, it's not worth hiding.] Not more than usual, anyway.

We're not fighting, but I remembered some stuff while I was asleep, and Alex wasn't... exactly expecting it.

[Oh geez, sometimes that's worse than a fight.]

Is she not a fan of your memories coming back?

Not exactly. Honestly, neither am I, but... my memories are who I am.

[Who he was? Tense doesn't particularly matter in this instance.]

So for better or worse, until I remember everything, I'm gonna be in this weird limbo-state.

Well... you know how it goes, people don't like change. Girls especially, from my experience. The biggest fights I ever got into were when I threw a wrench into someone else's plan.

But you're important to her, and this is important to you, so I think you guys will figure it out.

I hope so, but I can't blame her frustrations either. [.....] I'm not proud of who I used to be.

...Do... you think it's going to change you a lot? I mean, memories are one thing, but you'll still have free will, right? If you don't like who you were, don't become those memories, just learn from them.

[He can sympathize with not liking who you used to be, even if he can't come close to comparing their level of regret; he's a very different person now than he was when he first entered SAO, and he'd never choose to go back to that.]

It can. I don't just get memories back - I get his feelings, his personality traits, and everything in-between. Since we're so different it's usually easy to pinpoint, but it's starting to blur.

[Free will can only do so much when he's gaining back Salvatore's little tells too; and while he thinks he can find the balance, it won't be immediate.]

[Yeah, that... complicates things. Hmm.]

Is there anything we can do to help you? Remind you of things, or tell you if you do something that isn't, er, you? You-you, not the other guy-you.

[Stefan blinks back surprise. Honestly, he'd never thought about reminders.]

Actually, yeah, that'd help a lot. Just from the crap between me and Alex... I didn't notice at first. She had to keep pulling back.

Ah... you got it, sir.

[Kirito smiles faintly and offers up a little salute. The rest of the crew can have his back when it's needed. It sounds like a tricky situation, and he's not sure how much he can do, but observation is at least something he's pretty good at.]

Edited 2016-07-12 06:05 (UTC)