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Who: Pavel Chekov
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: For the crew of the SS Wonderduck (and video for everyone else)
When: Now

[Chekov wishes he could be surprised or, at the very least, unsettled when he wakes up in a foreign place, but there's a point at which this sort of thing becomes a fairly routine--if always unpleasant--occurrence. Losing people is never easy, no matter the universe, no matter the number of times it happens.

But taking stock of the situation and establishing who is here has to come before mourning those who were left behind in MarinaNova. To that end, Chekov, somewhat familiarized with his new home and in clothes that are slightly more dignified than the pajamas that he initially woke up in on the Marsiva, begins a broadcast. Are you listening to this in Standard/English/Common? If so, enjoy the ridiculously thick Russian accent.]

This is Lieutenant Pavel Andreievich Chekov of the Federation starship Enterprise. If you have met me already or if you are affiliated with Starfleet, please respond to this message. [He smiles even though he's in no real mood to be cheerful.] I would also be happy with replies from you if we're strangers.

Thank you for your time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank you. Learning how to cook bacon kelp has been a dream of mine. [This is not true.

What is true is that he would like nothing more than to be on the same ship as Kitty--she knows him better than anyone else here, including his shipmates (who know the him that he is when he doesn't remember spending a couple years in other universes, but not the him that he is now) and even with her missing memories. He wants to be around her. He's also aware that boyfriends who wake from comas may make such an arrangement difficult for everyone involved. And is it harder to fall out of love with someone when they're always nearby? Is it easier to entertain stupid romantic notions when reality is kept at a distance?]

I want to be where I'm most useful. Where that is, I have no idea.

[She definitely wants whatever he is most comfortable with.] Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out and I'm always here for advice. [At least the kind that wouldn't be super awkward for her to give.]

Come on, I'll give you the tour. So, you probably already know about the augments, right?

Thank you. [There probably isn't going to be a lot of comfortable. Awkward, however, will likely be abundant.]

Eh, I know a little. It's clever giving everyone the knowledge that they need to help operate a starship.

Clever is a nice spin for that. [She hates it so much.] Don't try to take it out though. Not good.

They "glitch" [there were air quotes] sometimes and do things similar to what the wardens would do to us. I was in a guy's body for a few days. It happens a lot less than it did there though.

What would happen?

[He makes a face at the glitch news.] I hoped to avoid things like that. You sound as though you think that these glitches are planned. For ratings, maybe?

You could watch a version of your mentor go berserk and stab Leia before you reach them. Or, you know, something bad.

[She looks over at him.] After the prison can you blame me for thinking it's all planned?

...Ah. I'm less tempted to try it now. [Are they still holding hands? He gives her hand a squeeze even if they're not.]

No, of course not. It seems to me that everything about this place is planned, but I worried that I was being too eager to assume so.

Then my evil plan to protect you worked. [They weren't but the hand squeeze is nice.]

I might be too eager too. I know most of the fleet reacts differently to things. I assume most if not all of what we encounter was carefully curated and planned by our captors. [Which makes her less likely to dive into the mysteries or even eager to help the locals.]

Your evil plans are very benign. [He won't try to prolong contact, but he's glad that she continues to allow it. He takes a lot of comfort in it.]

If we are being watched and the objective is for this fleet to provide as much entertainment as possible, then it would make sense for it to be. They would want to give us every opportunity to amuse them. [And they would want to make things as dramatic as possible. Maybe his sole purpose here is to make Kitty's storyline more exciting.]

Exactly. [There's so much they could discuss and speculate, but it's all just guessing games and they aren't about to think their way out of this tonight, so she decides to bring it back to something a little more personal.]

So, were Kirk and McCoy the versions you expected?

[It's nice, in a way, to be caught in a new universe with new rules and overseers. There are different things to think about and new escape routes to plan. Everything else is still horrible, but...]

Mostly. They remember as much as I do about home, but neither of them remembers any of their visits to the City and Kirk has no memory of MarinaNova. [Honestly all of you suck at remembering things.] I think they were pleased to see me. Not so pleased as you.

Well, I'm extra awesome. [She gives him a soft smile and then it fades a bit as she looks at him more thoughtfully. She hasn't seen him in over a year but something is different, isn't it?] Do you...look the same? [An odd question, definitely. But it was only a couple of months that he was there beyond her. That shouldn't account for this unless he just looks younger in her mind's eye.]

This is true. [It takes him a moment to realize what she's talking about.] Oh--no, I was home for three years. I think that I aged ten, though, with all of the things that happened in that time. [He smiles jokingly even though it's true. Serving with Kirk is stressful.]

Oh wow. So...what did I miss? [He's probably had to do this before, hasn't he? Telling her all of this.]

[Things were extremely different with Kitty when this happened in MarinaNova. There had been cuddling and confessions and he hadn't been able to go into much detail because it had all been so fresh. There's still a sense of deja vu.]

It was very eventful. We found new planets, communicated with new lifeforms, studied largely mysterious stellar processes and previously unknown quantum phenomena... there were diplomatic missions, some went better than others. One of the last things to happen wasn't so good. The Enterprise was attacked and destroyed... over half of her crew was killed, most in the attack, some on Altamid after the crash.

Pavel... [She steps forward, pulling him into a hug.] I had no idea. I'm so sorry.

[He sort of regrets saying all of that since she doesn't really need more reasons to pity him, but he can't regret the hug.] It's fine, that was... [he pauses, surprised by just how little time has elapsed since then] entire weeks ago.

Oh, well, if it was entire weeks ago. [She holds him tighter.]

[It's completely inadvisable to keep hugging her but he does anyway and he is not going to cry again because there are probably people watching. He's supposed to be over Altamid. Things keep happening, though, and now losing half of the shipmates he's been with for three years and losing Kitty and the rest of his friends in MarinaNova (along with Kirk's memories there, but that has happened so many times that it's almost funny) are running together into one giant Loss. It's a lot to deal with on top of a new universe.

He blinks back tears and keeps it together through sheer force of will. It only seems bad now because he's thinking too much and he needs some time. He'll be okay. He own't cry on Kitty again, she doesn't need that.]

It was more difficult for Kirk, of course. I'm not surprised that he neglected to say anything.

[He can cry on her as long as he needs. Even if she didn't owe him at least that much she'd want to be there for him. She keeps holing him, rubbing his back in the process.] I wonder if he's had those memories as long as I've known him or if he got them while he's been here.

[It's extremely inconsiderate to cry on someone when two people who are important to her are in comas, okay.]

He would make it difficult to tell. He hides it well when something upsets him. [Unlike some people.] The doctor, too. He's very good at expressing annoyance, but not many other things.

[She can handle it. This is a big day for him.]

I kind of like McCoy. [In that she does definitely like McCoy.] He's newer. I've known Kirk most of my time here.

Both of them are good people. I'm lucky to have them here, and you.

I hope you mean that because I'm really, really happy to see you. [She missed him. She missed the prison even if she doesn't want to leave the fleet to return to it anymore.] I know this is hard, but what else is new, right?

I do. [Maybe not really really. Things were starting to go very well in MarinaNova and he'd rather be back there or at home with Kitty in tow. (Except there's no chance that she would go with him now, is there? There's a thing for him to not think about.)] Mm, prison would be no fun for the ones who run it if it was easy.

[Yes, he's counting this as a prison.]