driftfleet | 001 | the welcome wagon job

Entry tags:

001 | the welcome wagon job

Who: Parker and you!
Broadcast: nope!
Action: all over the place
When: from now until ~~forever~~ drift week

Bishop

[ she barely skimmed the surface of the first ship that held her - and not for lack of trying, which is simultaneously frustrating and exhilarating (she chooses to focus on the latter) - when poof, like magic she's standing somewhere else.

magic's not real though. right? is it? is it?

if hardison can find her here, he really is the best, and he really did look hard. she's not counting on it.

she's at the ready the second her feet touch down on the bridge. she's unarmed - to her chagrin - but it's okay. she may not be a hitter, but she doesn't need a weapon to be dangerous. the confetti confuses but doesn't faze her. if there happens to be a person there, on the other hand, and they get too close, they'll find themselves pushed against the wall with surprising strength, forearm digging into their neck ]

How'd you do that?

[ whos and whys are so overrated, really.

if no one is there when she arrives, however, she'll be eating that chocolatey dessert (you snooze you lose!) and making her way through the ship, mapping it in her mind, feet not making a sound on the floor. when she hears people approach, she'll try to hide - did the ceiling always have a blond woman clinging to it? ]

A ship! Any ship!

[ like she's going to just stay where they want her! there's a situation. that situation must be dealt with. the first thing she needs is a safe house, and she's going to be looking for one in every single ship (ideally, she'd like to have one on each). don't mind the stranger silently creeping on your ship, listening to walls, touching panels, trying to find a space to crawl into, and retreating into what cover there is at every approach. happens every day, right?

oh, and if you got something especially valuable lying around, sorry, she's pocketing it. look, she doesn't know you earn money just by existing here, okay, and she's not willing to count on it either, if she's been informed by now. a girl has got to eat! ]

Planetside

[ parker doesn't stay put for long. she takes the shuttle on as fast a ride as it can handle and eventually ends up touching down on kayann. wandering around, she helps herself to essentials everywhere she goes; a snack here, a taser there, ooh cool a skydiver kit! her hands grab things so quickly and smoothly no one seems to know where they've gone - or, in most cases, notice it until she's far away. you have to be looking right at her hands or know what you're looking for to understand what happened and she's already on her way. best be quick!

she perches on a private spot, high above the city, to eat some of her loot (if people don't pick up their meal order promptly, how is that her fault? gosh! it's not like she poisoned it and left it for them to consume!).

there's a reality and it must be dealt with. she needs to get to know the place she's ended up in; survival first, exit strategy second. that sure is a pretty blond woman you can see climbing the side of the building, or you've run into in an air duct, or, alternatively, you've found puzzling over which plant to buy. yes, buy. food, clothes, equipment, a weapon - they're survival necessities, they tramp morals. but a luxury, even one she doesn't fully understand (nor does she grasp why the store beckoned to her so, why she feels the need to get a plant when there's not a leverage consolidated and associates office to put it in, when she has no desire to stay here in this place she didn't choose to go to - those days were meant to have ended a long time ago! but she's not overthinking it. it did, so she went in.), that, she's learned she should pay for or leave behind. unless, of course, it's owned by a bad guy. she peeks at the guy behind the register. he does look a little shifty, doesn't he? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[A perfect lead in, if ever there was one.]

I don't know who this Eliot is, but he must be someone clever to leave what seems to be a positive impression on you. That's all I have right now. Surface thoughts are fleeting at best and therefore a bit difficult to read.

[ instantly, her eyes grow wide and she jumps out of her seat and away from him like he just bit her. ]

How'd you do that?

[ she doesn't think of the augment in her head, right this moment she doesn't even think that maybe that's proof that he's her kidnapper - that he studied her and knows her, though it'll come in a second or two.

no, the first thing in her mind is a blinding sting of fear. it only lasts a moment, but it's sharp. she hates psychics, the way only someone with too many things to hide can. ]

[He's a bit delighted with the drama of her reaction. Perhaps it was unwise, but it was such an easy thing to do. Such a fun bit of chaos to cause. He couldn't help it, honest!

He sits up fully, knowing from all the fear that he probably should have left well enough alone. Not enough to really feel bad, but enough that an apology was not out of the question.]

The same way you grow blonde hair from your scalp: I was born with these powers. The only real trick is controlling them.

You're really psychic - [ it's half question, half statement. ]

Do you know my future, too?

[ more importantly, and horrifyingly - does he know her past? she tries to decisively not think it, but that has always been and will always be an exercise in futility.

eliot. she focuses, with a growing desperation. he already knows about eliot. eliot, eliot, eliot.

what would eliot do?

he'd jam his head against the console, choke him on his own mask, he'd kick his ass is what he'd do. yeah, that's a way more fun notion. ]

[Oh boy... Bad enough that she's freaking out, but he can hear that line of logic. He agrees with it in principle. Goodness knows he's deserved far worse for the kind of monstrous behavior he's demonstrated in the past.]

Potentially. I have read the past and future of thousands, I think. You, however, have had enough of mind reading today. A lifetime, even.

[ enough for a lifetime is right. psychic, definitely psychic.

or creeper stalker kidnapper.

or both. ]

Got that right. You know what I'll do if you try. [ that's not a threat, it's a fact. if he digs into her head, she'll dig int his skull. in fact, she's not sure digging into his skull just to eliminate the threat isn't the right move here. ]

[He's met people who were less than enthused with his abilities, but rarely to this kind of degree. It's a point of pride and caution.]

I'll even swear it on my mother's grave, if it helps any.

[He's not in any kind of mood to figure out just how fast she swings and staying on her good side also keeps him in Looma's good graces. It's all fun and games until someone loses respectability.

Then he lets out a quick breathy laugh.]

And yet still I don't know your name.

Why would that help? She's already dead. Unless - is your mom a ghost?

[ and did he like her - that's a big factor here. if she swore on her father's grave she'd want to break the oath just to see if something happened to it.

her first instinct is to say 'good, don't', punch him and run away.

it's a good instinct. yeah. yeah. let's do that!

but what if he lied and is still reading her mind? it's what she'd do, for sure. she eyes him suspiciously. ]

And I don't know your face. [ guess which is a bigger disadvantage. everything about this sucks. ]

It's meant to be a gesture of good faith. If she ever did become a ghost, I never knew of it.

[He's uncomfortable with the topic, though. His shoulders are hunching up a bit and his voice lowered slightly.

He'd read her mind to try and find a means to calm her nerves, but that would only make things worse. Dilemma. Still, there had to be something. Even the most wound up bundle of nerves could be unwraveled with the right words and time.]

No one knows my face. [Sigh.] It's easier that way.

Edited 2017-08-29 08:14 (UTC)

Does it cast a spell or something?

[ she doesn't get this 'gesture of good faith' of his - he's not giving her anything, he's just saying some words that so far seem pretty meaningless, unless she's missing something.

she's never been any good at reading people. she's been improving lately, under her team's tutelage, but she still has a long way to go, and 'uncomfortable' is pretty much the default setting people seem to have around her so to her - it looks pretty normal.

he's right, of course, there has to be a way to sooth her. but she doesn't know what it is either. ]

Yeah - obviously. [ that's her point, he has all the cards and he's asking for more. not very sportsman like! ]

[He raises a brow.] It means that I am trying to...show that I mean you no harm.

[It's fairly obvious now that she isn't the kind of person for whom idioms and similar phrases hold a lot of meaning. The mystery of trying to talk her down is a fascinating puzzle for him. Since arriving, he hasn't had much opportunity to really sit down and try and figure out how someone's mind works.

He makes a questioning noise and crosses his arms. Redirection might be in order.]

I can tell you more about the rest of the crew if you want. Our captain is quite memorable.

Oh. [ she tries to turn it over in her head. nope, she really doesn't see it. ] You're bad at it.

[ even if she had sworn over the grave of someone she truly loves - it wouldn't keep her from hurting someone for survival. the dead are dead, and their grave - a pile of dirt over a casket with a rock on top. life is more important.

she doesn't miss how he, once again, diverts attention from his face. she may have to sneak into his room while he's sleeping and take a peek. that is, if he even sleeps. ]

Memorable how? Do they also read minds? Do they eat people?

[He laughs, nodding in agreement.] I rarely have to be comforting. It doesn't come naturally at all.

[He would agree with her sentiment on the dead. As much as he holds his mother in something like reverence, she's lost in the earth somewhere in eastern Europe.

If it means avoiding explaining why his face looks as bad as it does, he will absolutely dodge the issue. It also means the mask stays on and that is equally, if not more important to him. Cautious poking around is one thing, but hearing everything within a large radius is needless torture.]

Her name is Looma and she's taller than me with red skin, four arms, four eyes, and a distinct military background. Actually quite nice once you talk to her for a bit.

[ that, she relates to. the whole comforting thing? she has no idea how to do it.

oh, do tell about this torture option, that sounds like a great ace to have up her sleeve! ]

But what about the mind reading and people eating? [ you didn't answer those parts, they're important! ]

[It involved a lot more empathy than he was willing to spare, or even start with.

If he gets hurt or sick, that's really her only option to find out about that fun tidbit about how he functions in society.]

There's only one other that seems to be able to read minds and he comes and goes with the wind. Thankfully, no one has tried to eat me. You should be fine.

[ it's not so much that she's unwilling - when she allows herself to confront her own feelings she often finds that it's what she longs for, really, to be able to understand people, relate to them, give them comfort, be normal. but she isn't normal, she can't understand them, can't relate to the things that hurt them when her definition of pain is so extreme.

she'll certainly keep an eye out on weaknesses. ]

Who? [ she frowns. comes and goes with the wind? is he a spec of dust? how do you fight against someone so small? dammit, if he has the strength to carry stuff that's the luckiest bastard in the world, at that size he doesn't even have to try to be stealthy! ] Does that mean he can't leave if the air's still? [ how is there wind on a spaceship? does someone have to blow him into a shuttle and then blow him out onto the deck of the next ship? does he carry around a fan to move? how does that work? ]

[There's the curse of a lifetime of trauma. You get used to living a kind of life so few can really step up and comprehend, let alone find a way to empathize with.

On the other hand, he's gotten a fairly good idea about the kind of person Parker is. How literal minded she can be is up in the air, but even he picked up on idioms.]

Ardyn. Red hair, smiles a lot. And for the record: the phrase 'comes and goes with the wind' means you never know when he'll show up.

[ that kind of lifestyle just keeps on bringing in the curses.

some she's already learned, some still baffle her, but in general she has an almost naive tendency to take people at their exact words, unless she knows to expect the lie.

she thinks it over for a moment, locking the meaning into place in her mind, and nods. idioms are weird and frustrating and interesting, but there's a more interesting implication here. ]

Like he can leave, or like he's very sneaky? [ cuz mind reader or not, if he's her ticket out of here she's going after him. ]

[Some great, some small, usually socially debilitating.

He nods, glad that she's willing to accept information from him as truth.]

Sneaky, I would say. He has the look of someone who often shows where he is least wanted. I wouldn't trust him and you don't trust me much as it is.

[ suspecting everyone of lying all the time is exhausting and gets you nowhere because you end up with 0 information. why bother talking if you're not going to believe any of it? logically, she knows people lie. and if he's reading her mind, he can pick whichever lie suits her best. but there is a distance between that vague knowledge to true understanding. ]

What does he do? [ she's not like to trust anyone, it takes a long time to earn that from her and psychics are working against a distinct disadvantage in the field. ]

[You have to learn to trust eventually, even if it's not much trust in the first place. The fact that she's making an effort to piece apart how people think is admirable. That can take a lifetime to master.]

Smile a lot and act like a cat that ate a whole aviary full of rare birds. Not at all the kind of person to respect personal space.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001 | the welcome wagon job

[action] They're like two territorial cats.

[action] /hiss!

[action] Meow

[action] warning for murderous thoughts

[action] She really swings fists, I like it

[action] she has one setting: extreme

[action] Her imagination is incredible

[action] so is his attitude!

[action] He was never a particularly nice person in the games

[action] niceness is overrated

[action] it's nice, but he can't make much use of it

[action] practicality is key, you gotta travel light!

[action] no one wants kindness to turn into regret on accident, that weighs you down

[action] she can't be weighed down, you weigh her down you kill her

[action] Like a grape? Also, sorry about the late reply! Work started a little early.

[action] sorry about all the late replies, things keep happening sob

[action] everyone gets busy around this time of year

[action] hopefully I can get my speed back at some point

[action] Same! I'll be tagging in the evenings with my work.

[action] I hope work is going well <3

[action] I've already met some of the kids I'll be working with. So smol.