do the mingle shuffle!

[carreau]

Who: you! me! everyone! it's like a really big party!
Broadcast: if you want!
Action: see above!
When: right now!!!

[ So the weekly shuffle has happened. We got new captains, people who have mysteriously disappeared-- I mean, who have never existed, and new people aboard the ships. That's exciting! Wow! ]

[ New people, get acquainted with your ships? Press all the buttons? Introduce yourself like a polite individual? Old people, keep aging? Welcome them with open arms and confetti? Punch the person who just opened the door while you were in the shower??? ]

[ Who knows! It's a mingle post! Don't ask me!]

[ (But seriously, how bout those people who never existed, huh.) ]

Comments

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[after a while, he figures out that Tek isn't an active threat. his growling dies down, and he scans the rest of the room again. he starts moving, padding quietly around, already regaining most of his inhuman... "grace" isn't the right word, but he does move with an unnaturally smooth, mesmerizing gait.

he still acts very much like an animal--smelling the air, batting at cargo, pawing at the ground anxiously, circling to try and find a way out. every once in a while it looks back at him, but only to make sure that he's still there.]

[heresyandlace]

[it's a step. and he can only hope that it's one in the direction of the personality he knows. there's nothing he can do until then, aside from make sure that no one interrupts.

so he waits.

and every time that the creature glances back to the door, he's still there. calm and unblinkingly watchful.]

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[another couple of minutes pass by. the creature keeps circling.

on one circut, he comes very close to the door--walks right up to it, actually, easily stands to look back through the window at Tek. his face is so close to the glass that Tek can see every detail--every gaunt angle in his face, the churning geometric band across his forehead, the way light reflects and moves over his eyes, indicating some kind of movement while he peers back at Tek just as closely.

it doesn't look... angry, or curious, or nervous. it looks observant, if nothing else.]

[heresyandlace]

[it's at this moment, while the monster's face is so very close to his own, that he wonders which will kick in first-- the memory of their mutual identities and relationship, or simply the memory of who it was that just shot him in the head.

he's quietly bracing for either.

and he's stealing this moment, logging it away while Robin has no say in the matter. staring back at one of his secrets while he's not home.]

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[eventually, he slinks back away from the frame, hunkering down...

...so that he can throw himself at the door. the whole wall shudders, vibrating off into the ceiling and floor, and now the middle of the door curves out a little, where he'd bent it.

when it doesn't open, though, he roars again and stalks away to pace angrily down at the other end of the room. he starts yelling something--but it's hard to hear what it is through the door, and it's in the old language that only he knows.]

[heresyandlace]

[despite himself, he jerks backward and retreats a step. he can't help it.

and it isn't until the creature has wandered to the other side of the room that he realizes it, and steps up to the door again.

there's just a touch of a frown on his face now, as he waits to see if it gets any better.]

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[maybe Tek has finally ruined him forever. isn't language right up there with memory? shouldn't the rest of him be coming back? his actions never seem very human--he still moves like an animal, pacing and circling.

until he finally, finally... it's unbelievable how much this being suddenly looks like Robin when he kneels, hunches forward, and covers his eyes with his hands. his palms dig in hard as he becomes increasingly more upset.]

[heresyandlace]

[--there he is.

Tek finally gets what he wants.

it's satisfying and it's sad--he can admit that much to himself, especially without remorse there to sour it. a stone settles in his stomach. some feeling drags on him, and it's not only what's seeping from Robin himself. it's good though, he decides. it feels right.

he'll wait and watch for just a little longer. just to make sure.]

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[he's busy remembering. it hurts, having a few thousand years of memories rush back. one of his hands slowly moves from his eye to where he'd been shot in the head. he doesn't remember what it was like, lying there bleeding, but he remembers the couple of seconds before.

he finally turns his head, surprise and shock making it onto his otherwise inexpressive face. he looks right at Tek this time, no mistake, but all the fight is gone.]

...Tek?

[so many voices, all of them scared.]