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

[diomedea]

They're solid in the lights.

[And then she links for a moment.]

You're a somebody.

[got_it_memorized]

Solid in the... [Dots connecting in 3...2...1...] Oh! You mean the virtual reality stuff, don't'cha? Yeah, it's pretty neat, from what I've seen. Haven't tried it yet, myself.

[What she says next makes him blanch a little, though, and his lips part in something like shock.]

... 'Scuse me?

[She's got to be talking about something else.]

[diomedea]

It's not nobody. You have thoughts and they're all tangled up but they're real and they're yours. They can't erase you.

[She looks a little sad about it.]

[got_it_memorized]

[He just stares for a moment. She's... reading his thoughts? Okay that's just weird. Axel's not even sure he likes hearing his thoughts a lot of the time--the idea of someone else hearing them is just unsettling. He inhales as if to speak, hesitates, then squints a little.]

They can't... erase me. [He tries the words out on his tongue, as if to see if they fit, then tilts his head a little.] Is this a riddle? What do you know about my thoughts?

[diomedea]

Fragments, floating, it's like dust in the sun.

[She sighs a little.]

She tries to make it clear but the words get tangled. She says exactly what she feels.

[got_it_memorized]

[He realizes she's speaking in the third person. He's never really dealt with anyone who could read minds before, but she definitely seems to have an ability something like that. Axel knows how to cold read someone, and what she's saying isn't something that could be gleaned from a microexpression or a telling gesture.

[He furrows his brow.]

Words are good at that--getting tangled. [A curious incline of his chin.] She says what she feels, huh? She probably understands feelings better than I do. What's her name?

[diomedea]

They call her River, that's the label on her container.

[She smiled a little bit.]

[got_it_memorized]

River. [He's not sure what he thinks about this. Axel has always been fiercely private with his thoughts, and the idea of someone invading them is unsettling, but this girl seems really... gentle somehow. Maybe he'll just do his best to keep thoughts of the Organization tucked away for now.

[He manages a hint of a smile.]

My container's called Axel.

[Or, well. The container is probably still Lea, it's what's inside (or isn't inside) that makes him Axel.]

You always listen to what's in people's heads? I'd think it'd get pretty noisy.