Heron May mingle

[grandstanding]

Who: Heron crew and visitors
Broadcast: nope
Action: the Heron
When: all May!

[Birds of a feather mingle together.]

Comments

Erik Lehnsherr | OTA

[grandstanding]

i. the ship

[Erik's been getting increasingly restless, and while he still goes down to the moon fairly frequently, being cooped up in this box of a ship grates on his nerves at times. His movements have become slightly jerkier, moving around the corridors. He's taken to sitting on the bridge for a while during afternoons near the windows, and winding spare metal around his fingers. He molds it into random shapes, liquefies it, and spins it around in the air. There's a certain artfulness to it, even when it's without form and just winding its way through the air. The intensity in his expression belies the calming effect it has on him.

Otherwise, he works in the engine room, or occasionally in the lab where he's set up chemical baths for the poisoned metal he'd retrieved from the moon. If it's early in the morning, he's often on the treadmill for a while.]

ii. wildcard

[Whatever's on your mind!]

[throwsdown]

[Takeshi is actually here only because he... doesn't bother just sticking to his own ship. How come people go to other ships just to see other crewmembers? Why not wander all over the place? He'll never know. But at any rate, he sees Erik and there's an instant recognition — he knew this guy, knew him from the Tranquility...! He gave him a cooked lizard once. That was nicer than going hungry in a forest.

But he knows, like with Kate, like with Nami... He probably doesn't remember him.

Or fighting alongside him. Which is just an additional inconvenience.

He wanders over, quiet as a mouse, to watch what he's doing in the lab.]

What's that? Are you gonna make a cool invention?

[That's what labs are for, right.]

[grandstanding]

[Erik had been distracted, fishing another clean piece of metal out of the bath to dump into the sink for rinsing. So he starts a little at the voice, hands frozen in midair as the hunk of steel hangs there between them. He glances quickly down and-- a child? Here? There was no one this young on the Heron. He'd hardly thought anyone this young would be in the Fleet.

After a tense pause, he moves to toss the metal swiftly into the sink, lest the chemicals drip everywhere. They would eat through any surface in short order - which was the point. He turns on the tap, glancing back at Takeshi with a frown of mild concern.]

Not at the moment, no. What are you doing in here?

[throwsdown]

... Oh! I just came to visit. I like visiting everyone.

[He smiles a bit, not at all concerned with Erik's own concern.]

You're Erik! Right? You n' me fought together once. But you probably don't remember; I never met anyone from before who remembers.

[grandstanding]

I-- [He stops, at a complete loss. It isn't unusual for people he doesn't know to recognise him, except... this is a whole other thing entirely. He crosses his arms, for lack of anything better to do with them.]

No, I'm afraid I don't remember you. You've met me "before"? [It's clear enough, given the use of his name. It doesn't hurt to ask, though.]

[throwsdown]

Y-yeah, I did! It's a big story. I was trapped on another ship before.

You were there! You had t'use my head for balance, though, 'cus you were hurt. And then me an' you an' a bunch of other people, we had to fight someone who was baaaad. Real bad; he made the ship hurt people, before. And then the ship crashed and we lived in the jungle, and...

[He huffs.]

It's always so confusing! I know lots of people from there, but nobody remembers me.

[grandstanding]

[The mental picture this conjures is... weird, to say the least. He could write it off as a child's fantasy, if only he hadn't been through several other worlds himself. None of this actually sounds that far-fetched. Erik still has to shake his head, in bewilderment.]

It sounds like a huge story, actually.

[After a pause, he crouches down to be more on Takeshi's level.] You were in another place, and you're seeing people you knew there. That happens a lot. It happens to me as well.

[throwsdown]

[It is, man. It's a huge story, a long tale. It'd take a long time to tell it. Maybe someday, he will. Maybe on the network, he'll pass along the story, so people know. For now, he just offers Erik a big smile; like minds! He's been to weird places, too!]

You have?! Whoa!

I was getting so... um... frustrated! 'Cus nobody remembers, so they think m'just a normal kid who's got a weird brain, but I'm not! I helped fight before... Lots of stuff happened.

[grandstanding]

I have. It wasn't a ship, though. It was a castle. [At least for a while. 'It turned into a picturesque mountainfield lorded over by a torturing madwoman' wasn't something to bring up in conversation, especially this one.

He lets out a puff of breath, still trying to gauge how much of this is a child's exaggeration and how much is real.]

Most people don't expect someone your age to be fighting.

[throwsdown]

[He ducks his chin a bit, expression a cross between a pout and begrudging understanding.]

I know... But books can be different than on the covers...

M'a kid, but I know lots of stuff. I'm good at remembering things! And I killed monsters before, like the one that tried to hurt my mom... or the ones from home! [He looks up, looking determined, perhaps determined to prove himself. Which is hard to do. He's smol.] I don't got my powersuit, but I know how to use a gun! And I know how to help people...!

M'not a normal kid no more.

[grandstanding]

[He considers all of that, rolling it around in his thoughts.]

Being normal is exceptionally overrated. [That's the reasonable thing to tell a child who fights monsters, right?]

Your mother must have been proud. Still, if you have friends here, I'm sure they would help you with any fighting that might happen. I haven't seen any yet.

[throwsdown]

[He nods, looking thoughtful; Erik's brought up a recurring topic in his head.]

There's not a lot of fighting, huh...

I'm real used to scary stuff so much, I dunno if this place is weird, or I am...

[grandstanding]

It doesn't seem that way.

...it's easy to get used to doing things one way, even if it's fighting.

[throwsdown]

[He nods quickly, almost enthusiastic, because Erik gets it.]

It's good there's no fighting, though.

But I don't like the Atroma people. I bet they're nasty, real nasty. They might make us fight someday, 'cus that's how these kindsa' people are.

[grandstanding]

[His expression darkens, because Takeshi is voicing a certainty he feels. These kinds of beings always pit their toys against each other in the end.]

They might, yes. I have no doubt they're planning something.

Lab

[reconstitution]

[ Really, he was surprised that Erik asked for his assistance, but he couldn't say no to the endeavor. At the very least, it wasn't for medical assistance, so that helped. Winter is walking by on the way to the bridge when he spots Erik checking over the chemical baths. It's been a few days since they'd spoken on it. ]

How is it coming along?

[grandstanding]

[Erik glances up at the voice, drawing his attention away from the latest piece to undergo the process. The assistance Winter gave had been useful; he may have gotten the laundry list of chemicals from Hank, but being able to do it within his own ship was beneficial.]

Very well. I've already gotten enough to finish what I was working on, so now it's as many extra pieces as I can manage before we leave here. [A small shrug.] I'll find uses for it, I'm certain.

[reconstitution]

[ Winter barely uses the lab for his own purposes, anyway, so why not share it? It feels good being able to use his augment in a beneficial way that doesn't involve him touching people. ]

Could you bring more with you to work on while we're between planets?

[grandstanding]

Yes, as long as there's somewhere to store it while it's unclean. [He'd rather not just have plastic bags of poison metal lying around. Could be a safety hazard... probably.]

If you want anything made, you can let me know.

[reconstitution]

I know where all the extra compartments on the ship are. If they're not in use, we can store them there.

[ Out of the way of prying eyes and not sitting around as a hazard. ]

I wouldn't know what to ask for.

[grandstanding]

That works for me. [It saves him having to keep it in his own room, or block out the lab space.] I'll get industrial-strength bags to keep it in.

[He shrugs, unconcerned.] It's an open offer. There's plenty of excess.

[reconstitution]

There are a few unused compartments in the cargo bay, and one in the hall.

[ Not that Winter ever uses the lab. It's nice seeing someone use it for something. ]

I'll let you know if something comes up.

[grandstanding]

[He nods; he'll go check them out later. They won't be hard for him to find, if he pays the slightest bit of attention.]

There will always be something that comes up. Even if it's repair work. [Theoretically, that's his job.]

[reconstitution]

Even if it doesn't, it can be traded at other planets for other resources.

[ Then again, there's no telling what will come up, so it may be best to simply keep the leftovers for the ship's personal use. ]

[grandstanding]

That's true, but I have plenty of credits so far. I can use those first.