driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Katie and anyone!
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Vanquish
When: Today!

[So ever since a couple of weeks ago when she spent a couple nights off ship (for reasons she still hasn't explained), Katie has remained basically shut up in the personnel office instead of getting underfoot or sticking her nose out of the ship and making faces at the moon, a quieter shadow of herself. She's hiding. She also feels guilty for hiding, because she wasn't raised to hide, but she's at a complete loss of what to do about what, to her, is a critical and terrifying problem. What she'd really like to do is just tell an adult about what she saw, because that would be the simplest and wisest thing for any other child. There's something terrible. Make it go away. But with how much honesty would have to be involved she'd be a wreck on the floor within minutes.

There's a brief few days in there where her mind shies around the idea that she may have to kill someone on the Fleet. Which makes her shut down on multiple levels, because she's just a kid and kids shouldn't have to think about that, and it's a horrible act, and nobody would understand at all why she did it, and on a very base level she doesn't want to, she's not made that way. But not going through with it just means she's letting the problem roam free and he's hurting people just by existing. Any older fae would have dealt with this by now. Ignoring the problem is equally a terrible option.

So there's a third choice. She's just terrified of making that one, too. It's never ended well for anyone. Sam and her mother are testament to that.

In short, Katie is hiding because she can't make a choice and getting more and more frazzled and withdrawn because in not taking action she's letting things get worse and this suuucks--

Sometimes it might be nice just to be, in fact, a little girl.]

---------

[By the second week she starts making dolls. Simplistic blue yarn dolls at the base. It's just something to do with her hands and mind at first. Then she makes one in which her blue wool is dipped sporadically into black ink as she makes it, so the doll looks rather like it got thrown in a tar puddle when she's done. She attaches five or six pieces of loose, spattered wool to its shoulders, closes her eyes, and blows gently on its darkened face.

Don't ask why she does creepy things.

Then she stares at her little collection, swallows... and goes to watch Princess Bride instead. It's video courage! (Which small children have to make do with instead of liquid courage.) Which leads to this post on the network twenty minutes in, very grumpily:]

[Video]

If we're in space and everything's so very future and all, why don't we even have television? [Petulant, pale child alert. Please ignore the spattered bits of ink on her chin.] Aren't we allowed to watch alien TV?

...I don't suppose anyone can make a TV with magic, can they? I don't think you should have to watch movies on this thing. [She taps the screen and accidentally turns it off. OH WELL. Question stands.

...but now that it's off, after a few minutes there comes an addition in text:]

[Text]

If it would make everything better, would you do something terrible so that nobody else had to?

[Hopefully, that part's anonymous. Right?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I won't know until I try it, but I was just thinking that I needed a project. Let me have a look at my supplies, and I'll see what I can do.

[Hopefully long enough that Jerkface McNotavampire isn't an issue anymore. She tries a tentative smile.]

Have you ever seen the Princess Bride?

Can't say I have. I don't really watch a lot of movies. Is it a Western film?

Oh, yes. Absolutely full of cowboys. [Wrong Western, Katie.] I think you'd like it, even if there aren't really good sword fights in it.

No good fights, but I'd like it? I'm not sure you know me.

[It isn't a no, though.]

I could be lying.

I guess you could be, sure.

[She does have a habit of phrasing things weirdly.]

I'm not saying I won't watch it!

[She smiles.]

Watch it with me, then?

[It only has the greatest swordfight ever you'll love it]

Oh, for sure. Once I get a projector up and running we can have a movie night or something.

Okay! There's lots of movies on this to choose from.

[Not. But THIS IS TOTALLY THE BEST MOVIE OKAY you'll like it a lot]

Yeah, I've browsed around the network a bit. I'd be happier if there were more games, though.

[Oh we've had this conversation. She thinks.]

Are there any games on there at all? [She...honestly got as far as recognising the name The Princess Bride, so...]

A few, yeah! They're not very good, though they do show the potential for more to be developed. I was thinking I might try my hand at programming something, actually.

Something with lots of swords and treasure chests?

[Apparently at least two of my characters are of the same mind.]

That goes without saying.

[What kind of video game doesn't have swords and treasure chests, really.]

[Better than the golf game her dad likes to play :|]

And monsters? What kind of monsters will you have?

Hmm, good question. Every good game with swords needs stuff to fight, after all.

Giant, man-eating animals, skeleton warriors, slimes, orcs and trolls- those are all pretty standard, but it would be better to have something more original, too.

[A quick glance around the room, and...]

A giant ball of rubber bands? Sentient compost heaps? The potential is endless...

[She giggles. Rubber bands.] Are the rubber bands alive or is someone just rolling them down hallway at you?

Good question! It would probably be easier to have them just be on their own... but what if there was an entire level of rubber bands, and the level boss is the one rolling them?

[Thanks for cheering her up Kirito that is the best visual ever]

He must be very grumpy. Did rubber bands do him wrong or is he just proving they're better than sticky tape?

[he's always up for discussing weird theoretical shit.]

Maybe he just loves rubber bands so much he wants to share them with the world.

Oh! But that would mean he's very misunderstood, because here come all the heroes to kill him. [Wow. Some heroes you guys are.]

Even misunderstood people can be villains if their misunderstanding gets people hurt. I bet it's not fun to get squashed by a giant ball of rubber bands moving at high speed.

I suppose you're right. Does he have signs up warning people about rubber bands? Maybe he owns the floor and they're not meant to be there.

If there's no other path but through his territory, they'd be at quite the stalemate.

...This is actually a lot more backstory than the average mobile-game enemy gets, you know.

[Not that he's complaining, but this has definitely spiraled off into a weird place.]

video;

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