001 // you are the moon

[diomedea]

Who: River Tam and YOU
Broadcast: Fleet-wide!
Action: SS First Breath
When: After the shuffle!

[River is eating her dessert and thinking to herself. And then, suddenly, she smiles.]

Little planet, your moon is here. Calling to the home star, zero one zero one, she is safe. He is a small planet but he has so much gravity, he pulls her, safe, safe, sleep now shh.

[And then she looks into the camera with a smile.]

She can dance here, it's safe, far away from the watchful eyes, the sterile hands that grasp and pull. They drag her under, but not anymore. Can't cross the verse, the veil, the plane, like a curtain between the players.

She is safe here, little albatross. She can fly now.

[And then she tilts her head a little and laughs happily.]

Hello!

Comments

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[pompous_today]

[Simon smiles back at the image of his precious sister. He's glad to see her, even if she's not where she ought to be- then again, where did either of them belong?]

Well, you are a sight for sore eyes, meimei. You're right... nobody here will hurt you. [He hopes.]

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[diomedea]

You missed her so much. I missed you too.

[She smiles, fiddling with her communicator.

She giggles.]

Lab rat.

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[pompous_today]

[Simon's smile softens a little bit.]

We're lab rats of sorts, yes... apparently we've been brought here to provide entertainment to the unseen masses.

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[diomedea]

See but unseen. On the screens. They watch.

[She tilts her head a little.]

Watching, waiting, for what? For small kisses and cries and...

...up and up. I will look after you. You need that.

video;

[got_it_memorized]

[Axel sort of furrows his brow at this broadcast, trying to make heads or tails of it, but can't quite manage. Who is a planet? ... Who is an albatross? He thinks he's not got quite enough context for these metaphors, but there's something very lyrical about the way this girl speaks and he kind of likes it. He offers a smile.]

Another new face. You seem to be adjusting pretty well.

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[diomedea]

Very much.

[She smiles softly.]

Safe to sail but the ship's at the moorings. Have you seen the pictures? It's not real, but real enough.

[got_it_memorized]

[He looks at her curiously.]

Pictures? What, you mean the stuff people post here on the network?

Action

[detectivewonder]

... Hello.

Welcome aboard.

Action

[diomedea]

[River looks him over, as if thinking, and then speaks.]

Where are your fingers? Do you have feathers or membranes for your wings?

Action (full permissions are cool, just Tim doesn't like mindreading_

[detectivewonder]

Another one?

[Having just had a stranger poke around in his head a few days ago, Tim catches on immediately, and starts using the defenses he was taught - however cursory and ineffective they might sometimes be. He keeps three trains of thought running at once. In one, he's reciting prime numbers. In the second, he's running through the ethylation of benzene, step by step, transformation by transformation. Only in the third is any none-reflexive thought happening, in between seven eleven thirteen seventeen and visualizing the perfect ring of C₆H₆. Another telepath aboard, this one on his crew. Options: put in for immediate transfer. Try to trade her. Keep his defenses up constantly. In light of probably already-extant cognitive monitoring via augment, suck it up and learn to live with it.]

[action]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Steph waits until she's finished with her broadcast to say hello, moving closer with a little smile. ]

I... take it you've got a friend in the fleet? [ At least, that's what she got out of that disjointed ramble. Some of it, anyway. She's not going to question it too much, but she's always been good at picking up clues and unraveling riddles. One upside of her father being... what he is. ]

[action]

[diomedea]

[River turns to look at her, and nods.]

Her Simon is here. He takes so much looking after.

[action]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Steph laughs a little at that. She doesn't know who Simon is, to this girl, but she understands the feeling. ]

Then it's a good thing you're here. Umm. Welcome the First Breath, I guess. I'm Steph.

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[deshabille]

[She doesn't bother with hello, only raises her eyebrows high as they can go and asks what is, to her, the extremely obvious question.]

Fly where?

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[diomedea]

Back, back, she had to keep quiet, keep running, be safe.

[And she nods softly.]

But the catchers aren't here, it's safe to fly now.

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[deshabille]

Catchers.

[Not a question. She's more trying to digest the information. Then:]

Is your . . . planet safe, as well? Does he fly?

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[puro]

[Well, that was...poetic? He smiles faintly and gives a little wave. ]

Hello! Welcome to the Fleet.

...Are you the moon or the albatross? I think I got lost partway through.

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[diomedea]

She is both. She is the moon to Simon but the captain thinks she is an albatross.

[She looks him over.]

Oh, you're wood. Good luck, knock on it, keep away the bad omens.

[puro]

[Simon, Simon, he knows that name... ] I think he is on my ship. Simon. Youa re important to him?

If only that worked as well as they say.

[faithfulwisdom]

We have another poet, it seems. [A poet with something of a backstory, if he's parsing that together right.] Hello, little one.

[diomedea]

[She wiggles her fingers at the camera.]

Would that the words could be made into little soldiers, but they're all jumbled in the seams. Can't make straight lines for the trying, some days.

[faithfulwisdom]

You work very well with curved lines, then. A little farther to travel, perhaps, but I think I can reach the end the same. I will try, at least.

[child_of_bhaal]

[Syeira listens to the girl talk and thinks Minsc would be able to ramble on with her forever. But she still understands things like watchful eyes, and hands that grasp and pull, and drag people under. She understands that pretty well actually.

So it's just kindness and friendship, not pity or confusion, that motivates her to speak.]

You're sure taking this better than I did. And that's not hardly a bad thing. Hello.

[diomedea]

She is safer here, and she sails through the stars. Not everyone does.

[She nods a little.]

[child_of_bhaal]

That's very true. I've only done it once before this place. It's not bad, but I miss things like mountains and waterfalls.

[Inns with too loud patronage, and more rats than in the fields. A sun and a moon that are always reliable. Rain and wind.]

But then, I'm not a very good sailor. I bet you are though.