ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ's ɴᴏ ᴇxᴘʟᴏsɪᴏɴs ʜᴇʀᴇ ( ᴏᴘᴇɴ )

[perfecting]

Who: Nancy Wheeler + you!
Broadcast: no
Action: heron, iskaulit
When: all through march.



( A; Heron - Arrival )

[ The new arrival can't be more than seventeen-years old. Carrying a school bag, pins in her hair, wearing a pale pair of jeans and red jacket above her sweater. Nancy looks like a high-school girl on the way to her locker.

She had given those who had seen her arrival a little tight smile before slinking off. She never really had the new-school jitters. In Hawkins, everyone knew everyone since they were children. Nancy knew the kids in her high school since pre-school. She never really had to deal with so many strangers before.

She finds a room and places her bag, takes out her books an pencil-box. It's far from her room but it's still better than the Marsiva.

If you pass by her room, you might notice the door is open. If she sees you, she'll get up and call out, a hesitant and yet certain, 'hey'. ]

( B; Heron - nights )

[ the new security officer doesn't really sleep. She tries, however. Nancy lies in the dark and closes her eyes and manages a little sleep but in the end, it's always the same. She hears a terrible growl, sees a dark, cold world and a faceless monster and wakes up gasping.

You might find her wandering at odd hours, making herself tea in the kitchen, going to sit in the shuttle bay or in the armory, reading one of her study books, writing names of people and worlds and terms in a notebook she names FLEET. ]

( C; iskaulit )

[ when she learns the truth of her destined job, she accepts it without a fuss.

It gives her easy access to what she wanted since her arrival, weapons. She places the broken piece of glass she armed herself with on the Marsiva beneath her pillow and goes to the armory.

Instinct leads her to a handgun and she takes it with her, hidden in her jacket pocket. She knows better than to try and use it inside the ship. She goes through the network, reading files and messages until she finds what she's looking for.

She knows nothing about this world but she had seen enough to let herself think she might not need to use one again. It's harder on her own, harder without Jonathan and their conversations but she pushes nerves aside. This isn't any different than shooting cans and it is certainly easier than shooting -

the thing. the monster.

It's the monster she thinks about when she enters the firing range. No beast that she has ever heard of is one of its kind. If there is one, there is another. if there is another than this time, Nancy Wheeler is going to be prepared for it when it comes.

She looks up at the lights, draws a breath when they remain steady, not a single flicker.

It's just me, she thinks, it doesn't like the light.

She thinks about the monster, she thinks about what it had done to Barb ( there is a scream in her head, dead, dead! ) and pulls the trigger once and then again and again and once more.

The noise doesn't startle her, her hand remains steady. Some people are fine dancers or singers. Nancy Wheeler is a good shot. Sixteen years old in jeans and a sweater, she loads more bullets and tries again. ]

Comments

[ b ]

[axiomed]

[ Sleepless nights were nothing new. Sometimes the noise in his mind feels too loud, too active to get the right amount of sleep. Other times, there are nightmares, old and new, blending together to become its own beast. Either way, when he wakes up, Charles rarely dwells on them as he heads to the kitchen to get his usual cup of tea. ]

So spotting someone there was surprising.

Couldn't sleep?

[perfecting]

Hey.

[ she has books and notebooks spread across the table. She's been writing a history paper for the past hour. While Nancy heavily doubts she will be home next Monday to submit it, working on it has gave her something to do, letting her mind relax and stir away from images of an opening in the bark of a tree and a low, terrifying growl.

She hurries to clear some room, collecting her papers and making a neat pile of them all. ]

Sorry. I didn't think anyone else was awake.

[axiomed]

[ Charles waves off her apology. ]

It's fine. I thought it was odd that it felt louder lately.

[ He smiles, congenial. ]

I'm Charles Xavier. I'm the first mate of the Heron.

[perfecting]

Hey.

[ she gets up, a little awkward. She's not used to handling herself around so many adults. Kids are one thing but with adults, Nancy tries to be a little more formal. ]

I'm Nancy. Nancy Wheeler.

[ she bites her lip, mouth twisting into a smile that's almost shy. ]

Do I - call you Mr. Xavier or - first mate - sir?

C

[girlverine]

[When they were drifting, Laura tended to spend a lot of time on the Iskaulit, just to get out of the cramped confines of the Red Fish. She was doing a loop of the ship when she heard the fire from the practice range, and for lack of anything else to do, poked her head inside.]

[Huh. The new girl. Nancy? Yes, Nancy. Already armed, which was a point in her favor, and...not a bad shot, by Laura's estimation. She would not have guessed that from what she had seen of her on the network and their conversation.]

[She probably should have announced she was there, but this was Laura, so instead she just lurked in the back of the range, sitting on a box, watching Nancy shoot. Eventually, in a pause between firing, she'd speak up. But who knew how long she'd been there?]

Hi.

[perfecting]

[ she startles, turning back at once and the gesture is enough to show that there is stress bubbling beneath an otherwise cool exterior.

Nancy lowers her gun, puts it away. She has to remind herself that she hasn't been caught doing anything wrong, not really.

Either way, it's weird to be having conversation with someone while holding it. ]

Hi.

[ she looks at the gun. ]

Um. Did you want to - ?

[ she has considered she has been taking over the space. ]

[girlverine]

[Laura just shook her head at the question.]

No. I am not a very good shot.

[She knew how to use a gun, but she hadn't done so in a few years, and didn't really need to, well...ever.]

You're Nancy, right?

[perfecting]

Yeah.

[ she's about to ask how did you know that when she realizes the answer is really rather simple. ]

Have you talked? On the communicator?

c

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha spends a fair amount of time at the firing range. Not all that surprising, all things considered. She doesn't do it because she needs to stay sharp—practice doesn't hurt, but at this point Natasha could forget how to breathe as easily as she could get rusty with her aim. She also doesn't stay here to teach, but she gets some of that in too.

Mostly she's here because, in a way she doesn't consider too closely, she finds it comforting. It's familiar. The way the gym is comforting. In the way dancing might be if it were more honest.

So it's not really surprising that she can tell when someone else is here looking for comfort in the wrong places.]

Not bad. [Said when Nancy pauses to reload. It's mild praise, but honest enough.] Work on keeping both eyes open, and you'll be even better.

[perfecting]

What happens if I can't see at all.

[ she's not trying to be smart. perhaps a part of her is honestly curious. she remembers the lights going out and the terrible, chilling growl from behind her. The monster can make sure there won't be any lights when it comes and then -

she managed in Jonathan's home but if it gets any darker, it might not be as easy.

She bites her lip and looks down at the bullets in her right hand.

There are so many adults here. It's weird to even be talking to them. For so long, this part of her has only shown with people her age, Jonathan, Steve and later on her brother. ]

[outstandingbalance]

If that happens, a gun's not your best weapon.

[Natasha reads the girl's attitude, and she can tell it's not sass. At least, not primarily.]

But if it's what you have, then you really better get a good look where everything is before the lights go out.

[perfecting]

Before the lights go out.

[ she echoes, the word seem to make sense to her, to find their mark and settle somewhere that is familiar. before the lights go out - they did have a few seconds before the monster had managed that.

the trick is to make each second count. ]

Both eyes open.

[ she nods, loads another bullet and takes a deep breath. apparently, she is going to try again. ]

a.

[exothermia]

[Erik passes by the Heron's empty rooms so often that he never thinks to check if someone's in them. So he's already past the door before he fully registers Nancy's greeting. He pauses in his tracks and turns around, blinking at her in bemusement. Another new one? They had gotten a few lately.]

Hello. Did you just arrive?

[perfecting]

[ she was sitting on the bed but when he goes back, she'll get up. She looks as if she is wary of taking over someone else's space, as if she's a stranger who have just taken far too much liberty. ]

Yeah. Just half an hour ago. There's [ she pauses and shakes her head, closes her eyes, it's so stupid ] pudding.

[ she bites her lip and looks around her. ]

I just - I wasn't sure where it was alright for me to stay.

[exothermia]

[He folds his arms over his chest loosely, huffing a bit at the mention of pudding.]

Yes - they do that to everyone. Regardless of whether people want it.

You're welcome to stay in any of the rooms that aren't already occupied. About half of them are empty, at present.

[Seven, he thinks, now that this one is here. Back when he had started on the ship, the twelve rooms hadn't seemed excessive. Now it did, so it's more satisfactory than not to have someone fill an empty one.]

[perfecting]

They're all the same, right?

[ she looks at the space around her. she had already put down her school bag and taken out the books, tried to make it seem a bit less foreign. It might as well be her room.

She looks about as awkward as a teeanger would be when confronted by an adult, unsure how to introduce herself or what to say. she settles for a lip-bite and a hurried. ]

I'm Nancy, Nancy Wheeler.

C

[stretchy_girl]

[It's been awhile since Gemini last used a firearm, but practising shooting is better than sitting around doing nothing, so that's what brings her to the shooting range, wearing a fleet standard jumpsuit so as not to attract attention.

At first she doesn't pay much attention to anyone else, but the rapid burst of accurate fire is impressive enough for her to look over at the younger woman doing the shooting.]

Not bad, you look like you know your way around one of those.

[perfecting]

My dad would take us hunting when we were kids.

[ it's Jonathan's story but she adopts it without too much of a fuss. it's the only one that'll make sense. she can't really go and tell people I've learned my way when I had to fight a monster in the woods. ]

He allowed us to shoot cans and stuff.

[stretchy_girl]

[Target practice, that made sense. Gemini herself isn't nearly so good a marksman, her shots hitting the target but some way off the bullseye, making her grunt in frustration before replying.]

What did you hunt?

B.

[astrobleme]

[Nancy isn't the only passenger aboard the Heron who struggles with insomnia. The resident pilot, a teenage boy by the name of Shinji, pretty much haunts the halls of the ship when it's late at night. He doesn't often watch where he's going--too absorbed in his own little world, with music-playing earbuds to obscure footfalls. That has gotten him into trouble more than once.

In other words, he's about to walk right into Nancy at some intersection, totally oblivious.]

[perfecting]

[ she drops her books.

it's an awkward little collision, the kind that can sometimes happens at the cafeteria or at the corridors during recess. There is a jumble of books and papers and Nancy, evidently startled manages a quick, ]

Careful -

[ but it's too late and she's already bending down to pick up her notes and her history books. ]

[astrobleme]

[Shinji snaps out of his shuffling reverie, but it's already too late--his fault--such a freaking idiot--] Sorry! I'm sorry, I am so sorry-- [His hasty babbling is followed by his hasty scrabbling at the ground, trying to collect the notes and books for her pronto.]

Are you okay? [he asks breathlessly.] I'm really sorry, I didn't... I thought I was alone...

C;;

[recipio]

[ Carl comes to the Iskaulit sometimes. When he gets restless or feels useless aboard the ship. There's only so much he can fix, anyway. Armed with one of the laser pistols he relinquished from one of the raiders a few months ago, he heads to the firing range so he can practice.

Didn't really seem wise to practice on the last planet, nor this one. He's not really expecting there to be anyone else in there, but he's proven wrong. Carl watches Nancy for a few minutes. She's not bad, but she's here for improvement, right? ]

Don't put your finger over the trigger until you're ready to fire.

[perfecting]

--- Jesus.

[ she turns around, her breath quickening as she takes him in. he's - younger than her, if she had to guess. but after seeing what she had seen, seeing the place where will managed to stay without dying, she doesn't judge his age nor the fact that he's wielding a weapon. ]

You scared me.

[recipio]

Sorry, didn't mean to.

[ It's obvious why they're both there, so he doesn't need to ask or clarify. Carl simply moves over to another target and looks over his laser pistol. ]