driftfleet | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: Wrath (and maybe you?)
Broadcast: Entire fleet
Action: Windrose medlab, she ain't goin anywhere
When: June 11 (four days after this mess)

[Text]

extra large protein lovers pizza
++ spicy soypperoni
+ red chilies
++ mazer beer ipa or equivalent 1 6pack

5 strippers
pref male
++ purple body glitter
++ portable sound system
+ boa constrictor

deliver to: lt wrath, windrose

[Audio]

[She doesn’t quite know how bad she looks, but she knows how bad she feels. There is no way the people in the fleet need to see this. So it’s audio only. Wrath’s words slur faintly, like someone who is profoundly tired rather than drunk. Chems do that to her.]

Hey everyone. Um. I had an accident and I’m gonna be… down for a little while. I know I wanted to do a coffee thing for all my brother soldiers but… that’s gonna have to wait. Til I’m on my feet again. Really sorry, guys. But it’ll happen. Just a little later.

Anyway like last time I was in traction I just ordered pizza and strippers, but I tried to do that here and it doesn’t work? And there’s no pudding or nurses. So I’m kind of super bored since I can’t move around right now. So anyone want to like… watch vids or play games or something? I could maybe figure out how to do chess on the network. Or ask someone for help. Or tell stories. Or like. Visitors would be nice? Yeah.

Officer Snuggles says hi, everyone. [The fox yips.] And. Um. Bye~

[Action]

[Wrath, almost completely immobilized in traction to keep her spine from crumbling completely, occupies the Windrose’s medlab for the timebeing, Officer Snuggles normally curled up on the corner of the bed when he’s not out patrolling. Wrath herself looks like hell, nasty bruises and stitched up head and facial lacerations, her left eye’s sclera still crimson. But she’s doing her best to maintain a positive attitude. There’s not really anything else for her to do.

Visitors are what she really, really wants. Being stuck in bed and unable to move around and really touch anything is starting to eat at her badly. It’s a vague sort of unease, blurred out by the drugs, but it’s definitely not doing her anxiety levels any good. Before the ports are removed, nothing feels right anyway, which is another sort of alarming. She's got the painting frame for entertainment beyond staring at the ceiling, but her fine motor control is terrifyingly lacking, and she doesn't think she can blame it all on the drugs.

And Winter… she’s not thinking about what actually happened if she can help it. That wasn’t Winter. He wasn’t at home when that all went down. It was a fight, she survived, everything is okay now. She’s tough as hell. She’s not going to think about how it feels like falling. She’s not going to think about how last time, Compliance showed up and tried to take her right out of her hospital bed. She’s not going to drive herself crazy with worry about how Winter is doing and if everyone is treating him okay and if everyone gets it wasn’t his fault. And she’s sure as hell not going to think about how next time, it might be her turn.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, that sounds pretty different. But I bet the more ways we know, better chance one of the engineers can come up with something.

[Finn grins and pushes the button to activate the blade. It looks exactly like a real lightsaber, but won't cut through anything and could only give a light burn.]

Yeah, pretty much. Let the tech guys figure it out, that's their job.

[Huh.] But that's not actual plasma. Is it just like... light?

Right, these are just made with some kind of laser. Ahsoka made it for me so I could get used to handling them - the balance and length are right. [He retracts the blade with a whoosh and sits back down again.]

See, I was never trained to handle them, but I kept ending up with them in fights anyway. So when I got here and there were people trained with them, figured it'd be a good idea to learn from them.

Huh. So I guess it's just good for practice. [Hopefully they'll be able to find those crystal things. With the weird pure light blade on that weapon, she can't imagine it's weighted like a real sword, so that could screw him up if that's not what he ends up with.]

That is a good idea. You want to be able to be effective with any weapon you find around a lot.

Yeah. And if we're lucky, we won't need to use them for anything but practice. But when does luck ever work like that?

[Finn nods.] Exactly. What about you? Say you get out of all this [he gestures helpfully to the medical equipment] and you can find any one weapon at the next stop. What would you look for?

Good combat knife, probably. [Winter already gave her one, which worked out well, but a backup is a good idea.] You can do a lot with a combat knife. Though I mean, I guess I'd be looking for a replacement plasma sword first. You can do even more with one of them.

Lot better against armor, for one. [He looks up at the ceiling and grins to himself.] If you find one, we gotta test 'em out against each other, okay?

...So you keeping as busy as you can? I know it's hard when you're cooped up like this.

Hmmm. [Thoughtful look.] The design I'm used to... you can't really use in practice with the plasma beam on. Because the damage potential is too high. But we'll figure out something... if I ever get out of here.

I sleep a lot because I'm on fucking a million chems. Or I try to draw. I have a lot of really good friends who are taking time away from their important work to be here with me... which is really nice of them.

Well, you could still practice together against targets, just not on each other. There were always parts in the old dramas where people would pick up a lightsaber and, like, slice their own hand off or something. [...which happened to all be based on true stories. That it hadn't happened to Finn when he used one would be notable if those "dramas" weren't so cheesy.]

Hey, even busy people have breaks sometimes. What do you like to draw?

Definitely, that would work. We used to pile up scrap armor so the new recruits could get used to dealing with the heat bleed and the way the weapons feel. It's good practice.

...wow it's sad if you slice off your own hand though.

I guess? [She still finds all this down time really, really weird. But she normally manages to fill it up with work. The job is important.] I like landscapes best, but I also like drawing people, and little silly sketches for fun. I seem to be drawing more people now just because... I have people to draw for.

It'd work best on a planet so we wouldn't have to worry about a hull breach. I mean, it takes effort to do that with a lightsaber, but you can if you really need to.

Yeah. Prosthetics aren't cheap.

[That sounds cool - Finn inches closer.] You have any I could see?

And we'd have to practice on the Iskaulit in space anyway. There's just not enough room in the ships. There's some good practice spaces on the Iskaulit, I just haven't gotten to use any of them yet.

I guess? I dunno. All mine were military issue.

Oh, sure! Grab the frame that's leaning on the wall over there. You can clip it onto the bedrail and then I can reach it.

[Finn talks as he grabs the frame and installs it per her directions.] Been running some practice forms and drills in the Caprine's cargo bay, but it's a lot more open than yours. I like the aquarium.

You were an officer back home, though, right? So yours got paid for.

[And then he finishes setting up the frame.]

Definitely check the practice spaces in the Iskaulit. They make any cargo bay look small. There's a really cool obstacle course thing I wish I could run.

I was an officer, but that wasn't why. All military personnel got their medical care done while we were at war. You need all the soldiers in the field, whether they're officers or enlisted. I think the difference is they did more experimental shit on me. Which... depending on how you feel about experimental parts... [Isn't necessarily a plus.]

[She turns the frame on once he's got it set up and starts flipping through the thumbnails to find something fun to show him. How about a little painting of Kurt she's really proud of?]

I will, next time I'm up there for the meditation practice. [He makes a face; he's not very good at meditation, but Ahsoka says he has to.]

There were--I guess there were enough of us that we were more--disposable. [Finn bites his lip. It's not something he likes admitting to anyone, but that's the whole point of having other soldiers around, isn't it? So he can admit these things to someone.] They would rather have the mission accomplished faster with loss of life than take a little longer and have everyone in the unit survive.

[But he's distracted by the art, and he whistles appreciatively. (That the subject is blue and tailed with an odd number of digits doesn't seem especially strange to him.)] Oh, hey, that's really good.

Meditation practice? [She wrinkles her nose.] Well, good luck with that.

That's fucking awful. Soldiers aren't disposable. They're real people. It's fucking bullshit when we get treated like we're not.

[She grins.] That's my friend Kurt. He's really cute.

I know, right? But it's supposed to help, so I'm giving it a try.

[Finn bites his lip, because it's still something he struggles with. Not the sentiment, which he agrees wholeheartedly with, but that it had meant he now deserved the traitor label.] I--left the side that thought like that. My new General is a lot better.

It looks like he could jump right out of the picture. Did you take classes on how to do that?

Help with what?

[She thinks about this.] Did your old CO give you immoral orders? [She's trying to mentally square this.]

I don't think I did? Not that I remember. It's just something I've always done.

"Getting in touch with the Force". They say I should be able to feel it, but I haven't really, not yet. I'm not even sure why they think I have it. [Finn shrugs, looking a little bit uncomfortable.] But it doesn't hurt to try, and it helps fill up my schedule.

[His frown deepens and he nods.] That's exactly it. They wanted us to slaughter an entire village for sheltering one man. On a neutral planet, not even one we controlled. I couldn't do it, and I didn't want to be a part of anything that thinks that's the right thing to do.

What's the Force? But yeah, it doesn't hurt to try new skills.

[Frown.] Yeah, that's an immoral order. It's your duty refuse those.

[GOOD QUESTION. Finn narrows his eyes as he tries to think of a good explanation.] The Force flows through everything and binds the galaxy together. Living things make it, and it can influence the way things go or the way people act. The Light Side is compassion, healing, renewal [he searches for a moment] and mercy. The Dark Side is anger, fear, aggression, and hatred. If a Jedi taps into the Force, it can help them in battle by blocking and dodging, knowing which way your enemy is going to move before he does. And they can also use it like a tool, to lift or hold things, to know what other people are feeling, even to heal or strike someone down with lightning.

[Finn lets out a "heh".]

Problem is, I was never taught it was my duty to do that. I just knew it wasn't right.

...wow. That's really cool! It's like magic, kind of. I don't think we have anything like that where I'm from. And you're gonna learn to do cool and useful shit like that? Awesome, Finn!

[But yeah, immoral orders is a much more serious topic.]

Failure of command. Is it that you had a bad commander, or that the organization was corrupt?

I think it is like the magic some people have here, yeah. I don't know if I'll actually be able to use it, but for some reason they think I can, so I'll give it a shot. [In fact all the Jedi have been sure about him, which is really weird.

Finn purses his lips.] The organization, definitely. I saw with my own eyes how much of what they always said to us was lies. Propaganda.

Listen to you trainers when it comes to stuff like that. They see things that you don't.

That's really hard. All you can do then is separate yourself from the organization and make sure that everyone knows why. It's the only power we really have as soldiers, even if it means risking imprisonment or execution. It's still our duty.

Yeah, maybe. [Finn takes a deep breath.] I just worry they think I'm something I'm not. I don't want to disappoint them.

I am doing that. And I know it means they'll keep hunting me, but I couldn't stay. [He frowns, because that's not entirely true.] I mean I could have, but that would have been giving up. I wouldn't be Finn if I'd stayed.

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