driftfleet | let's get together yeah yeah yeah

[a. we are young, we run free]

[The PA crackles to life for the first time in awhile, as Alex addresses her crew from the bridge.]

Okay, Paisleys, fall in. This is your first official pre-planet briefing, and I'm only giving it because some of you assholes don't have the benefit of being from a planet with dinosaurs, or Jurassic Park, and I don't want to be dragging any bloody limbs back up here myself. Not even yours, Theon.

So, just a couple of dino safety tips. [She pulls up a piece of paper, with a few lines of messy scrawl.] Don't go near them. Do not. Even the little ones. They can and will kill you, and will probably eat your corpse. Keep your eye out for giant footprints, nests, or piles of dino shit, and if the ground or your Jell-O starts shaking, you're probably doomed. Don't try to run from the big ones. Your best bet is to hide behind something, and stay totally still. Stay away from fields of tall grass, waterfalls of any kind, and outhouses. Don't shine flashlights at them. And don't try to yell at them. They're all hella strong, angry ladies, and they can snap your neck with one tooth.

Thank you for listening. Have fun trying not to die.

[b. keep our teeth nice and clean]

[On the afternoon of 6/23, Alex can be found sitting on the steps to the cargo bay, looking out at the planet's docks. She's got a small cake in one hand, with a tiny candle stuck in the top, and sitting next to her is a flagon of beer. Her expression is more solemn than usual.

This isn't where she ever thought she'd be having her twenty-first birthday.

Whether you want to chat or tease, she looks like she could use some company.]

[Chloe is humming softly to herself as she strolls up the docks to the Paisley, a half-finished cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth and her eyes on the sky. Man. Another planet. And not a shitball either. She'd stop being amazed by this eventually.]

[Still, she had other things to do right now, which was why she was ducking into the Paisley itself, a little bag swinging from her right hand.]

Alex, hey! [Just who she was looking for.] So I hear you're a real booze-buyin' adult now, huh?

[It was either that, or an 'extra legal' joke...]

[Alex throws a sidelong glance at her, and then holds out her hand for a fist-bump. She scoots over a little bit, making room on the step.]

Doesn't really mean anything with no drinking age. But yeah, pretty much.

Never much paid attention to that age stuff myself, either, been buyin' beer since I was sixteen. But hey, it's the principle of the thing!

[FistBUMP and then she'll plop down, holding out the bag for Alex to take.]

Anyway, Happy Birthday. You know this means you're older than me, right?

[Also she didn't put her cigarette out when she came inside oops.]

[Alex takes the bag, but immediately makes a face at the comment.]

Yeah, and I still look like Hannah Montana.

[Inside is a bag of pot. She did help set things up, after all!]

Eh. There are worse things than looking like a teenager your whole life. [A beat.]

Probably, anyway.

[As soon as she opens it, she lets out a little hoot of laughter, and slips it into her pocket.]

Thanks, girl. That's almost as good as the Teen Talk Barbie I asked for.

Just don't let Max know where you got it.

[Chloe snickers.]

Considering how touchy-feely this planet is, they probably have some weird alien teen talk barbie here if you really want one.

Nah. It would probably, like, broadcast my deepest, darkest secrets, or something.

[Not that she has any. Alex has become dreadfully open-book lately.]

Like you have those. [Chloe just smirked.]

Unless you're way better at keeping them than you let on, you seem pretty...harmless.

[Poor alex.]

[With a little snort of laughter, she takes a swig of beer, and leans back on her elbows.]

Did I ever tell you I got murdered?

...No. [Her eyes narrowed.] You look pretty not-dead.

The wonders of modern, magical healing, huh?

Most people don't get better from murder, though.

It's the place I used to live, before the Fleet. Paradisa. They's stick your body in some magic fridge, and you'd wake up a couple weeks later with a cool new battle scar.

[She pulls down the collar of her shirt to give Chloe a better look at the line of deep scar tissue leading straight down the center of her chest.]

...Huh.

[Chloe considers the scar for a moment, leaning in, then shakes her head.]

That's fuckin' weird, girl.

[Later in the afternoon, close to sunset time, Stefan arrives upon those steps with two bags in hand. He stops and stares though, upon seeing Alex. He's not sure what drew him first - the candle or the beer - but he'll sit down beside her.]

Hey, habibti. [He pulls one bag - a pretty big one, with leaves standing in for tissue paper - up onto his knees.] Gonna make a wish?

[Alex looks over to smile at him, and pauses for just a moment... then turns back and blows out the candle. The smoke rises up into her face, and she gently blows it away.]

Just did. [She gives the bag an impressed whistle as she scoots over to make room for him.] Leaves. You read my mind.

Hey, if I knew that's all I had to buy, I would've skipped on the rest of the bag.

[He grins, nudging her a little. When she peers inside, she'll see that he's bought her a book of local fairytales and a small wooden plaque, though the writing's important on this plaque.

It's her name (her full name) in ornate Arabic calligraphy, written in Stefan's steady hand.]

[ This is a planet Theon would rather enjoy, if his stomach weren't tied up in knots. The ocean is visible through the trees, just on the horion, but he hasn't found his way back into its welcoming arms just yet. He's been too busy pacing, fretting over all the things Asha has told him. Everything that's happened to him, everything that's going to happen to him. He almost wishes he never asked. Anticipating it is even worse than not knowing at all.

You're safe here, he keeps telling himself. You just have to stay here forever.

Eventually, when he gets bored of wearing a hole in the floor of his cabin, he takes to the cargo bay, looking just as sullen as Alex. He nearly trips over her, but his only reaction is to sigh and look annoyed. ]

What's the matter with you?

[ He may have lost a lot of his charm since the Winterfell fiasco j/s. ]

[Alex looks up at him, and she's too tired to even cover her general malaise with biting sarcasm. Instead, she takes a swig of beer and leans back on one wrist.]

It's my birthday. [She gives a vague nod in his direction.] What about you? You look like ass.

And you look like an ass.

[ His response is a bit halfhearted today, not quite a sharp or witty or scathing as it could be, and he doesn't carry on with it until someone to make him shut up. Instead, he just shrugs. Maybe worried sick Theon is the Theon we all deserve. ]

It doesn't matter.

[ He would really rather not talk about it, though Robb will have to know sooner or later.]

Where I'm from, we call that your name day. You don't look happy to have seen your thirteenth one.

[ Alright, maybe he had another halfhearted jab in there. ]

I'm twenty-one.

[She doesn't even lift a middle finger at him, she is So Done.]

I've been stuck in places that won't let me age since I was sixteen.

That explains it.

[ That's actually a pretty gracious response for Theon. In his short amount of time here he's learned not to question much. It's easier that way. On top of everything else he's dealing with, he doesn't need to burden himself with the explanation as to why Asha knows so much more than he does or why Alex hasn't aged in five years. ]

You still look thirteen.

[ Okay, well, he's still Theon, and there isn't any real malice behind those words. It's more of a tired additional statement that he has to make to keep up appearances. He seems to feel a little bad about it afterwards, though, because his next statement is actually...considerate? Positive? Maybe? ]

Well, at least you'll never grow into an ugly old hag. Never a white hair or a line on your face, always "surprisingly wise for your age" to those who don't know better.

[The corner of her mouth quirks up just a tiny bit at that. Alex doesn't like Theon, but over the past few months he's become a familiar fixture in her life, and she can't bring herself to truly hate anyone in her crew. The Paisley is all the family she has, and if Theon's right, and she grows old here in this tired, teenage skin, then she figures she may as well relax about it.]

I don't know, I was kind of looking forward to old age. They let you ride around in a little scooter at the grocery store, and no one yells at you for sitting on your ass.

Edited (that just wasn't even what i intended to type woah) 2016-07-02 21:30 (UTC)

[ The same can be said for Theon as well. He doesn't like Alex, but he doesn't exactly hate her either. He's grown used to her the point of lightening up just a bit. Besides that, Asha doesn't need to be burdened with him causing more trouble--on their own ship, at least. ]

I do not know what that is.

[ He chuckles just a little, though. A real chuckle, not one of those empty chuckles he uses to hide stuff. ]

They may let you sit on your ass all day, but on the bleaker end of things, you do tend to lose control of your bowels. The way I see it, you're not so unlucky.

let's get together yeah yeah yeah

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b!

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b SURPRISE

OH NO

yes be very afraid

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