driftfleet | video/action. one hobo and a baby

Entry tags:

video/action. one hobo and a baby

Who: Max Rockatansky and a small kid.
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Corona, Starstruck.
When: From now to a few days, until the panicked fam is found.

[VIDEO.]

[Max starts the feed looking entirely uncomfortable, and it's abundantly clear in no time at all why that is. He's standing in one of the halls of the Corona, and there's a brunette toddler a little over two clasped to his neck like a legitimate barnacle; she's not exactly afraid, and she seems to have sandwiched a teddy bear between her cheek and Max's chin, and furthermore, she's not remotely concerned about her current predicament. Balanced on one of Max's forearms, she's smiling a thin-lipped and impish sort of smile. One single messy braid hangs down her back.

Did no one teach this kid about stranger danger? Nope.

She's wordless, though — dark-eyed and wordless and not at all ready to unleash her claw-grip on the poor man. He'd been walking her around the area already trying to figure out where she'd come from, but it's really to no avail. She can't do anything but signal her age with two fingers, as if perhaps she's incapable of conversation — and he's found her sign language is mildly understandable in the way sign language is, though nothing at all from any place from Earth. Also, she says a lot in the fact that he can't set her down without her demanding him mule her around; he'd tried to leave her with other people, and even considered, for a moment of blind panic, to just leave her somewhere and figure someone else will do something about it.

... He's a pushover, really. And his paranoia over the safety of a kid in any world trumps his desire to never hold another sprog ever again. If he left and something happened, he would never forgive himself, and that's just the nature of his life. Leaving behind the small and needy is a constant battle, with this one. And he's totally failed the leaving part. Again.]

Erm.

I found a kid.

... S'not my fault; she knocked on my door.

Need some help finding where she came from. Dunno, must've wandered off. She doesn't talk.

[He looks pretty nervous about the whole thing, thinned lips and worried grimace telling.

For good reason. It makes him think about the past. Makes him wanna bolt.

He considers dumping her off on someone for the hundreth time.

She just taps her stuffed bear's nose against his cheek, a bear kiss. He looks mildly offended.

(distracted from his own misery)

............................. Please don't do that, thanks.]

[ACTION.]

[He can be found boarding the Starstruck with said Kiddo later on (it's all he's taken to calling her, and it's not a Name, but it's something), primarily to make a beeline for the medical bay (yes it's kidnapping, sort of, leave him alone). Nothing serious, the kid just has a runny nose and Max sort of remembers how to treat toddlers with mild illness. A little congestion is normal when you're surrounded by so many germs in one place. She sits precariously on his shoulders watching him shift through the bottles, babyish eyes round and interested. She signs at him something he can't decipher, but he's trying to figure it out.]

Gonna drop your doll. Not gonna pick it up again.

[It's a sulky mutter. He's gonna pick it up again.

He can also be found on the Corona itself, looking for the mother or father or family member who must surely be seeking the kid out. Asking people when you hate talking to strangers is really not his thing, he's totally dying here. Please help him. Pls.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Furiosa has spent most of her time in her hotel room, but after seeing Max's plea, she's immediately out and about and on a mission to find him. She remembered how he'd reacted to the children on the hugging planet, and could only guess that this would go about as well. She can't hide her surprise - although it is subtle - to see him being amiable with the kid (if clearly disgruntled).]

You look like you could use a hand.

[Max turns with The Kiddo in hand when Furiosa finally makes her appearance — which actually surprises him, and he's not even remotely sure how to break the ice when he's got a clingy little creature latched on his arm. Kiddo looks at Furiosa with rapt interest, eyes moving quickly to study her prosthetic arm from behind the rounded ear of her battered but loved bear.]

... Yeah.

[He's only mildly flustered, though, and he holds her with trained ease, hand on her back, muscle memory taking over even twenty years after the fact. He remembers telling her about his past, when he was glitched into a young fool. He's not sure how to really follow such a thing up, so he won't. He looks away instead.]

Luckily not hyper.

[A hyper toddler would just be the worst.

He imagines Furiosa's used to rambunctious children. Max remembers the pale little warpups.]

[The rambunctious ones were liked, in that culture. Those were the ones that got the perks. But Furiosa considers all children worthwhile, and smiles at Kiddo, lifting her good arm to wiggle her fingers in her direction. She remembers talking to the younger Max, but it's still strange to see him so seemingly natural. She doesn't know herself what it's like to have a kid, besides her periodic influence over the war pups, and she's not sure if she can really count that.]

That is lucky. How long have you been looking, so far?

Corona

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