driftfleet | a brand new stray

Entry tags:

a brand new stray

Who: Daryl Dixon + open
Broadcast: Not intentionally but maybe you'll get lucky channel surfing sometime?
Action: The Tourist, assorted planets thereafter
When: 5/5 and onward

1. tourist arrival

He doesn't get his bearings at all. Everything when he wakes up is shining and unfamiliar and the only comforting thing is it's definitely not the Sanctuary, as surely as it's not any of their familiar settlements. He gets his back up against the wall, and then he's somewhere else.

The burst of confetti and music just suffices to confuse the hell out of him, so he ignores the chocolate pudding and ducks back against the wall, dead silent and kind of panicked and doing his best not to show it.

Left to his own devices, eventually he'll slink off into the rest of the ship-- looking for anything he can use as a weapon and watching for threats.

2. planetside in the yadrolla system

It's been literally years since he saw a functioning city, and the first time he touches down on one of the more populous planets, it's totally overwhelming.

The upshot of this is he'll be a little friendlier to Fleeters, because at least if someone's vaguely familiar they're closer to being a known, safe quantity. Mostly he stays to the side-streets, watching like it's all new.

Eventually he manages to get a lift to one of the wilder worlds-- not because he wants to sight-see, though incidentally he might end up spectating some of the outdoor events-- but because it's better than being stuck on the ship. Feels too much like a trap-- nowhere to run.

Later in the month he'll take up fishing and hunting-- there may be food on the ship but he's not sure how far he trusts it. Besides, he's good at this, there's some comfort in grounding yourself.

3. choose your own adventure

[ want something different? We'll make it work! ]

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[ It's always exciting to land on a new planet; being cooped up on the ships for weeks at a time still make him antsy to stretch his legs and have real ground underfoot. The first few days are typically spent getting the lay of the land, but this system is a little intense, Carl almost doesn't know where to start. He opts first to start with the city, seeing what's available. As he's wandering the streets, something makes him stop, and he looks around.

It's unexpected, and his expression certainly shows it. Uncertainty turns rapidly to excitement as he hurries toward the lurking figure on the side-street. ]

When did you get here?? [ Hey Daryl, what's up? ]

[ When she saw his name on the report, she couldn't quite believe it. Like maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. A cruel sort of hallucination, the one person she wanted to see more than anybody arriving like an answer to an unspoken prayer.

She can't leave immediately. She has her own new shipmate to tend to. But once he's settled enough that she's satisfied he's not going to pose an immediate threat, she leaves for the Tourist. Of course, once she arrives there, Daryl proves elusive. None of his new shipmates seem to know where he went. The thought of paging him, or just sending him a text to let him know she's looking for him doesn't occur to her. Instead, she sets about searching the ship. Her heart pounds in her chest, a whole host of unnamed fears plaguing her, some more reasonable than others.

What if he's not happy to see her? ]

[ It took about two minutes of being on a spaceship for Daryl to decide he didn't much like it, and it only took that long because of the shock of the whole situation. Bringing himself to trust the transportation became a lot easier when he had the sure prospect of solid ground and open sky to lure him.

Friendly faces are an unanticipated bonus to the whole business. He tenses when he hears Carl's voice, but as soon as he spots him breaks into a run to help close the distance. ]

Holy shit, you all right?

[ Carl can't help but meet him half way, and Daryl even gets a quick hug, because damn, he missed the guy. ]

Yeah, m'okay. Are you??

[ The last time he'd seen Daryl, he'd definitely been not okay. It was understandable, though.. Carl just worries about him. ]

[ If he'd had the presence of mind to do some digging-- to look at the network, to read the rosters, to really pay attention to all this bullshit about reality shows-- maybe he'd have seen her and Maggie and Carl and been the one to reach out. But it's all too much, and he didn't think there was any chance there'd be anyone to look for.

He's still not sure if he's dreaming, or what.

In the brief time he's been here he's gotten some of the gist of the story, but didn't much open up, didn't want to tell anyone about himself, didn't want anything but to find a way out.

When she finds him, she'll find him in an alcove near the security room-- which is a whole other kind of bullshit, he doesn't know how the hell he found it. It's like something told him--

He's not thinking about it, he's just sitting. Listening. Hearing footsteps, which puts him back on edge. ]

Who's there?

[ He hasn't got time for games. These people gotta learn that. ]

Yeah. Yeah.

[ In the broader sense, no, he's not even a little bit okay, but relatively speaking: he's not hurt, he's reasonably well provided for, for now. Possibly he's dreaming or crazy, but that's not something easy to fix.

Most importantly-- and the reason he's okay in spite of everything-- he's not actually alone here. So when Carl comes in, Daryl hugs back, if only for the reassurance that the kid's solid and real and actually here. ]

The hell's going on?

Do you want the long version or the short version? Because the long version is going to take some time, so we may as well find something to eat if that's the one you want to hear.

[ It's his subtle, not-so-subtle way of taking care of Daryl. There's not much he can do for him since he's Daryl, but he can at least do something. Maybe get him a crossbow on one of the planets, or something.. He's delighted that he's here. More people are coming from their world and it's a bittersweet sort of feeling. ]

[The announcement that the Tourist has gained another passenger is an exciting one; they haven't had many arrivals in the year-plus that Chekov has been aboard. He hopes it'll someone friendly. Unfriendly shipmates could make the long drifts between systems awkward.

He doesn't immediately find anyone with the pudding and confetti. Possibly not so friendly then.]

Hello?

[ Carol goes still when she hears his voice. She knows he can be intimidating, she's seen him menace others. But it's been a while since he was so hostile toward her.

It's not toward her. He doesn't realize it is her, she reasons with herself. She holds her hands up anyway, just in case. ]

Hey. Been lookin' for ya. You ok?

[ On his own he can't help but be on guard-- which means, yeah, he's greeting everything with the most vicious side he can muster. Truth is it's terrifying, how impossible all this is, but he's not going to let that slip; the vulnerability is too dangerous. Better just to seem angry.

But it dissolves when he hears her voice, disarming him-- literally, too, because he sets down the weird space handgun he's found, though not until he sees her. It's a powerful relief, enough that it doesn't actually relax him, just leaves him wired in a totally different way. It's not just him. Wherever they are, he's not here alone.

(It's better and worse at once.)

But he's glad to see her. Glad enough, and shaken enough, that he totally forgets how strained things ought to be and closes the space between them, reaching to grab her arm, needing to know she's really there. At this point, maybe he's just gone crazy. ]

They got you too? You all right?

[ It doesn't exactly answer the question, except that if he's more worried about how she is than how he is, he can't be that bad off. ]

[ Daryl hasn't gotten far when Chekov comes looking. Which is for the best-- he's still mostly shocked and hasn't gotten too defensive. Or at least, hasn't found anything to defend himself with.

Sorry, Chekov, Daryl is probably not going to be the morale officer you need. ]

Where the hell did you take me?

[ So this is going well. ]

Heard some of it, [ he mutters, a little darkly. The problem is trying to reconcile any of it-- space ships and reality shows-- with, well, reality. Or possibility, more accurately. This all seems real enough and he hasn't woken up yet-- but he can't get over it.

Granted, it's not the first time something totally impossible has overtaken reality, but a guy's got limits. ]

You think it's some kinda trick?

[ He doesn't, not really, but he's got to ask. Who'd have the means to do something like this? Alien abduction is the likelier answer. What the hell. ]

Well, if it is, keeping people here for over two years is kind of a long con?

I think this is something that's happening that we can't really control. [ It was bizarre at first, he admits, but there's no way this many people collectively made this up, right? ]

[ They can't control this, he'll agree. Hell, there doesn't even seem to be anything they can do, which is mostly what Daryl's so pissed about. Especially now, he's tired of not being able to get shit done.

But wait. ]

Two years?

That's how long I've been here. There are people who have been here longer, but.. yeah.

I had both eyes when I got here. It was just after Terminus.

[ It feels like he shouldn't have to point out that they would've noticed anyone being gone that long, so he doesn't. All this about time travel, space travel...

He just looks away for a moment, at nothing in particular, the impossible cityscape around them. The thing is Daryl's pretty sure his imagination's not this good. ]

Feels like I might just be goin' crazy.

[ He says it flatly, easily, like it's a joke, but that's the hardest impulse to shove away. Maybe he's just lost it. Wouldn't be the first time he saw things that weren't there. ]

You're not, though. You're here with us. Carol and Maggie are here, too.

[ It's lame supporting evidence, but it's really all he's got. There's only so much he can do to reassure Daryl that all of this is happening. ]

And hey.. no walkers.

[ She has to swallow a lump in her throat when he emerges and her fears are proven to be completely unfounded. Unsatisfied with the grip on her arm, she pulls him in for a hug and doesn't let go until she's sure she won't instantly burst into tears when she tries to talk. ]

Yeah, they did. I'm fine. It's weird but I'm not hurt or anything. Carl and Maggie are here, too. I came over as soon as I saw your name.

[ She swallows and shakes her head. ]

It's nice to have hot showers but I just want to go home.

[ It's impossible not to think of their last meeting-- which he'd thought, when they parted, would probably be their last, if she really was dead set on leaving. But his focus is on how goddamn relieved he is that she's here and all right-- that some of them are all right-- he doesn't stop to think, yet, about the lie he had to tell, about how that's going to fall apart if Maggie's here.

It's comforting, and for just a second he lets himself have that, hanging on to her until she shifts to pull away. ]

Came over from where?

Yeah, just goddamn spacemen.

[ But that's better than walkers, Carl's not wrong. It sets him on edge, how things are here-- it's not the unfamiliar landscapes or even species that really gets to him, but the general bustle. So many living people, a society that hasn't known the kind of cataclysmic collapse they lived through at home.

He's just not used to people-- doubly not accustomed to people who are used to people. ]

Maggie's all right?

[ Carl seems all right, and he's established Carol is-- and Maggie, well, they've got extra reason to worry about her. Sooner or later he'll talk to her and find out for himself, but he could use the reassurance. ]

[ It took him and Maggie a long time to really be comfortable with the flow of the planets, but now? They enjoy all the opportunities they get to have some semblance of normal life that they don't get back home. ]

Yeah, Maggie's okay, too.

From the ship they have me on. The Heron. We're all split up. Maggie's on the Goldstone and Carl's on the Red Fish.

[ She doesn't like it, being forcibly separated. Even after she had left of her own free will. It's different when it's her choice. She looks up and shrugs, feeling a little helpless. ]

What job did they give you? They put me on security.

[ However freaked out he is about all of this, it's still a relief to know that. He can't quite wrap his head around the idea that they're not only here, they've been here, long enough that all of this seems normal.

But they deserve that, right? He doesn't-- he won't say it, but he feels it, that certainty that he doesn't deserve a minute's peace, not after everything at home-- but Maggie sure does. Carl, too.

There's just one other question-- the hardest one to ask, the one that becomes way bigger if Maggie's really been here a long time. He's not sure he has the courage, but manages to spit it out. ]

And.. the baby?

I don't... [ He shakes his head, pauses a second and continues cautiously. ] Same thing. I think.

[ All this is still new and strange and he's not really processing it, not the assignment or the fact that he understands so much of this place implicitly. He's trying not to think about the thing in his head.

He certainly can't process how... normal, everyone makes it sound. Carol, too. ]

You just woke up here, too? On another spaceship?

[ Christ, he's glad, though. It feels wrong somehow, to be glad someone else got kidnapped, but he is. ]

[ She reaches and touches the spot behind his ear where her bump is. And then sighs a little. ]

They call it an augment. It's some kind of thing that gives you knowledge but I think also tracks us and records things. There's no way to get it out. It makes me feel like one of those birds they used to tag and to track migration patterns.

[ She nods. ]

The big one. Just there a day or two before getting transferred.

[ Even though it's selfish, she's grateful that he's here. Her brow creases as the guilt about that builds. ]

Maybe we'll be able to figure something out together.

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a brand new stray

2;;

3. an adventure in FEELINGS

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