i - action/video - open

[survivalistcookbook]

Who: Eugene Woods, back again!
Broadcast: yes
Action: SS Wonderduck
When: August 5th, evening

action

[It's like that moment when you walk through a door and forget what you were about to do. Except replace walk with 'teleport', and replace what you were about to do with

'what possible course of events could move you instantly from your bunk to the bridge of a completely unfamiliar ship'. Surrounded by confetti. Back in the standard jumper.

Oh, and minus both crutches and leg.

One undignified topple to the confetti-strewn ground later - one made infinitely more comical for the festive music playing, probably - Eugene has the opportunity to take stock of his situation. Definitely not the Vanquish. Or any other ship he's been on. Too lost and put-out to be afraid, he sits up, finds his communicator, and stares at it flatly.]

What the hell, guys.

[No response. He's not sure why he expected one. Stare still vaguely accusatory, he opens up the network, grabs a cup of pudding, and settles in to dig for some information himself.]


video

So . . . epic mystery nap, huh.

[Eugene's managed to get to the kitchen, but he hasn't moved much since then, scanning his communicator and continuing his long, slow descent down the rabbit hole of what the hell happened. It's been months since he had to play the new-kid-in-town role, and he can't say he's feeling any more fondly toward it now than he did the last time, although for completely different reasons. Last time it was loss, outrage, disbelief. This time, it's just untethered, pure disorientation.

At least with anger, it has a direction. This is just nothing, icy-black as the vacuum of space on the other side of the hull. Dozens on dozens of voices on the communicator, and still, in every second they're quiet he doesn't think he's ever felt more profoundly alone.

He's made himself marginally presentable, finger-combed back the curly chaos of his hair and straightened his shirt. Probably should get up and make something to eat, but the gnawing unease won't let him stand just yet. Standing means looking away from his communicator, and he's still holding out hope that if he studies it long enough, it'll spit up some answer, something to make him feel even a little less lost.]

Shame on Atroma for not even giving a guy a recap episode. Can anyone tell me if I missed anything big?

Comments

video;

[unbearablynaive]

[Well, well. Now there's someone he didn't think he'd be seeing again.]

Eugene, welcome back. We've visited several planets recently, but nothing as major as the Calibrations has occurred.

video;

[survivalistcookbook]

Vision, hey!

[If there's anything that can brighten Eugene up right now, it's a familiar face that Knows All The Things. Or at least, Knows Most Of The Things (And Is Unfailingly Honest About The Rest Of Them).]

I guess it's good to know I didn't miss any of the really weird trips. How have you been?

video;

[unbearablynaive]

[He does try.]

Overall, fairly well. I do still have your sourdough starter in the freezer of the Windrose, if the original has been lost. And the planet we were most recently at had an excellent supply of fresh foods as well. I presume you've retained the cooking augment?

[flickerflash]

You're back!

[She missed youuu. And your mac and cheese.]

[survivalistcookbook]

Heh, looks like I am. Though someone missed the memo and dropped me back in on the wrong ship.

[Kind of funny, how one lousy ship being just like the other turns into one ship being his specific lousy ship, once he gets stationed somewhere else.]

How are you and the rest of the Vanquish doing?

[flickerflash]

Oh, terribly. The ship broke in half and we had to put it back together again with sticky tape. It makes the most awful whistling noise.

Are you coming back? [Because she assumes as much. Why woudl they send him somewhere else? That's just rude.]

video;

[geonomy]

Wha... Whoa, hey! Eugene!

[It sounds a lot like he remembers this place, too. It's rare for a person he knows to come back, and rarer still for them to remember.]

video;

[survivalistcookbook]

[Oh god it's a reunion episode. By the third familiar face cropping up Eugene's on the verge of laughing, though he does manage a straight face as he holds the communicator out to pronounce as grandly and solemnly as possible.]

Oh Captain, my Captain-!

[He cracks a grin.]

Sorry for not standing on a chair there. I have to go hunting for my leg sooner or later.

video;

[geonomy]

[Yeah guess who never saw that movie

But Clay can recognize it as a reference, so he can't help laughing. It's both humored and relieved, that Eugene's come back and actually recognizing him. Though he can't help but notice that the decor is not the ship Eugene used to be on.]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm your captain anymore! But you can come back over to the Vanquish any time; we've still got your leg over here!

[In case he came back, or in case someone else arrived who needed a prosthetic leg.]

Video

[pain_train]

Eugene!

It's super awesome to see you again.

Um. So. Like. I guess nothing that big happened? Other than I had an. Uh. Accident. And broke my back again. But Beverly fixed it and took out the ports so now I can walk okay again!

Oh! And I have my kitten from home! A giant tree gave her to me because I held hands with Winter, isn't that nice? [She picks up Jellybean to show on the camera. Jellybean lets out an annoyed little mew.]

Video

[survivalistcookbook]

[As usual, Wrath has all the subtlety, grace, and offputtingly menacing cheer of a bubblegum wrecking ball, and Eugene blinks his way through the barrage of information, cracking a belated grin at the end. The kitten is an excellent cue.]

Oh my gosh, that's so cute. And, uh. Condolences-slash-congratulations? [His grin turns teasing.] Guess I lucked out on having to send you flowers and a get well card, anyway.

video

[scanninggaydis]

[He sees Eugene's face on the message and the urge to immediately punch on his video function is...strong. Followed very quickly by the feeling that just using audio would be best, because he has no idea if this is the same Eugene - it probably isn't the same Eugene - and facing a Eugene who doesn't know him...he's not sure that's any better than facing the Eugene that does again. He's still not sure Cosima wasn't lying to him when she told him, after visiting Eugene back home, that he'd said he missed him. It had all just ended so weirdly.

The point is....he has a lot of emotions about Eugene. Which is frustrating because he's still pretty certain that this probably isn't his Eugene, and dumping all that on an alternate version would be shitty.

In the end, he doesn't do either right away. He takes a little bit of time, fiddles with some useless course calculations in the helm, and then when he's a little calmer, he switches on the video function, sitting back in what Eugene might(?) recognize as the pilot's chair on the Vanquish.]

Considering that they're supposed to be filming it, you'd think they'd at least be able to provide that. Probably asking too much, though.

[He doesn't have an answer, he just has mild sarcasm. Which is how he's used to communicating with Eugene anyway. The face on screen is largely neutral, though there's a sense of him waiting for something.]

video

[survivalistcookbook]

[It's the first unfamiliar face in the replies to his message, but Eugene had already figured that some new people must've arrived since his last memory aboard the fleet. The bridge looks vaguely familiar, but then again, a lot of things about the ships look unplaceably familiar after awhile. He doesn't mull over it too long, giving a subvocal noise of assent]

That and they'd be shooting themselves in the foot, ratings-wise. [He can never quite forget that they're apparently on some kind of broadcast entertainment, and he gives a brief eye-roll of his own.] I'm already not pulling my weight in the drama department. Just imagine if I had the first clue what was going on.

action;

[frigidaire]

[ Well, Eugene is in for a surprise, what with all the moody teenagers aboard. Isaac has just finished making food so when the new guy shows up, he pauses. ]

You get confetti, too?

[ That happens a lot recently, and it's a pain because he always slips on it. ] Or have you been here and I just didn't notice? [ The handholding, slug inhabited planet has made his brain a little foggy. ]

action;

[survivalistcookbook]

[The hall from the bridge to the kitchen is much, much longer than Eugene remembered it being. Mostly because, without a crutch or prosthetic leg to rely on, he's been performing a careful routine of holding on to the wall, hopping forward a foot, re-adjusting his grip, and repeating.

Thankfully, the layout turns out to be the same. He peeks around the doorway to confirm,, flushed from the trek, and blinks to find someone already in the galley.

Someone who's apparently not all up on his crewmates. Huh.

He hops one more time, enough to get in the doorway, fixing him with a wry look.]

Seriously? You don't remember your old buddy Eugene? I'm hurt.

[video]

[touchofrogue]

[...He's back and he remembers?]

...an' I thought I was out of it for a while.

[He's back and he remembers...] Thought you'd gone.

[video]

[survivalistcookbook]

That does seem to be the popular opinion.

[He offers a commiserating quirk of a smile.]

Clay told me they put you down for a nap too, huh.

action;

[feathery]

[Arrives fifteen minutes late without Starbucks, to interrupt Eugene's network investigation. Probably drawn belatedly by the sound, since the usual culprit of any unexpected noises—a fox—is tagging along at Davesprite's heels.

So have one (1) perplexed birdkid, who is sans ghost tail and orangeness, in favor of having legs and a fox instead.]

Jesus, our turnover has been ridiculous lately. You're not communications, are you. Or security.

[They have gone through so many communications officers, dude.]

action;

[survivalistcookbook]

Mm-?

[Eugene glances up - and stares. Less at the fox, because it seems like every ship had at least one of those by the time he left, than at the fact that he is looking at a kid with wings. There is a kid with wings, looking at him like he's the weird one.

Though, then again, he is the one-legged man sitting in a puddle of confetti and eating pudding while he reads.]

-uh. [A blink, and he snaps out of it to get some words all the way to his mouth.] Cook, actually.

Action

[flawless_precision]

[Hello and welcome to your security officer, who looks down at Eugene with disdain before then shuffling past without further consideration. She's already mentally pegged him as no use to her and continues going about her business.]

[apologies]

Action

[survivalistcookbook]

[Silently, Eugene meets the eyes of the tall, thoroughly imposing woman who's staring him down, not sure exactly what she's going to do but not interested in missing it. It's that weird, oddly calm sort of tense that's familiar in his nerves, after years living in a zombie apocalypse, and it ebbs back in the strange way those lulls do, with less relief than a sense of just relaxing, slightly, as she walks away

And then he whistles to himself, a low, well then slide, and mutters to himself.]

Well okay then.

video;

[winn]

All depends on how long you were out. Do you have new memories from home or anything like that?

video;

[survivalistcookbook]

Nope. Not even a nice dream. One second we're the gas mask and smog planet, I blink and I'm in new clothes in a pile of confetti.

video;

[stefanged]

Eugene!

[Stefan's so relieved, okay, he missed his bro a lot. Honestly, part of him figured that he'd never see the other guy again, so don't mind his warm, could probably brighten an entire room smile. It won't happen again.]

Glad to see you again. What's the last thing you remember? Er, from here?

video;

[survivalistcookbook]

[There's been a lot of enthusiasm in response to the message he sent out, but that . . .

That's the kind of smile that makes it hard not to remember home, even for a second. He gives a huff of a laugh, glancing down, then back up again, grin lopsided.]

Stefan, hey. Good to see you too. [It feels weird to say - it doesn't feel like it's been the months it's apparently been since the last time he was here.] The last thing I remember is a lot of smog and gas masks being all the rage.