driftfleet | open | action + video

Entry tags:

open | action + video

Who: Glenn Rhee - and maybe you?
Broadcast: Yes
Action: ~~Also yes~~ SS Starstruck
When: Shuffle Day! Plus he just arrived in time for it! Good timing, Glenn!

action: SS Starstruck ]

[ The last thing that he really knew, that he understood and processed, was that his life was over. After that, he couldn't call the details to mind, but the certainty was there. And then, something else happened. He was in a completely different place, somewhere clean, utilitarian but gleaming... and there were stars.

Truth be told, he hadn't gotten past the disbelief, gradually coming to terms with both space and his own continued existence, when suddenly everything changed around him again. Only this time, there was a little tune to greet him, confetti and dessert?

So don't mind him, far more disoriented than he's ever been, stumbling and barely keeping himself upright, staring around the bridge in building bewilderment - and it's rather immediately clear that's what it is, the stations, the windows... space again. However that happened. ]

Um... hello?

[ Eloquent. He'll get to words. Eventually. ]

video ]

I, uh... I guess this is basically like the internet? It's been a while but: Hi. My name is Glenn, and I just got here.

[ He draws a deep breath - while he's doing a bit better, he's still unsteady. ]

To space.

[ He's hoping for what he figures is the impossible... he can't bring himself to put it into words. So he leaves it there, with the dubious tone of someone who still isn't sure anything is real. Himself included. ]

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[ He's in a very special situation here, Pavel. Which is to say, you are not wrong. ]

Yeah... it is.

[ He draws in a heavy breath. He doesn't think leaving is in the cards for him and, similarly, he certainly doesn't want to talk about the circumstances that led him here. ]

To be honest, I'm not really sure I do. Uh, do we know where we are, relative to... let's say Earth?

Ah, well. That is always a little alarming, even when other universes are not involved.

[He brightens when Glenn really does ask a question that he believes he can answer.]

Roughly, I think. Imagine that this universe is the top of a table--flat, you know, and finite. In relation to this, Earth would be an infinitesimally small piece of dust on the top of an entirely different table that is probably miles and miles away.

[That's helpful, right? Glenn undoubtedly feels way better about life now.]

Oh... wow.

[ That's sort of... Neil deGrasse Tyson-esque. Though, in fairness, he doubts it matters. It's not like he can go back. Or can he? None of this really makes any sense. Which is why his grappling with the concept is visually apparent. ]

So we're far away. Got that. And then the tables are... alternate realities?

[ That's probably the wrong term. Oh well. ]

[Never heard of that dude. He clearly isn't Russian.]

Close enough. [The tables are not alternate realities but this doesn't seem like the time or place for semantics.] And the distance is less of a problem than the dimensional discrepancy. We can't begin to look for other universes until we are able to lift ourselves out of this one.

...Is that answer helpful?

Yeah, thanks. I mean, it's just curiosity, really. I don't... think I can go back.

[ He hangs on that thought for just a moment before shaking it off rather abruptly. ]

So, I guess you're not new to the whole space thing?

[Ah. Pavel knows what that usually means and Glenn probably isn't keen on opening up to complete strangers, so he just nods and moves along.]

Not at all, no. I'm a lieutenant with Starfleet; I spend most of my time at home doing the whole space thing. [You know, when the Enterprise hasn't recently been ripped apart by drones.] ...Although this is different, of course. Far less productive.

[ You are correct, Pavel, he is not eager to opening up to complete strangers. Especially not right now and not about that.

So he listens, managing a small smile there. ]

Wow. So what's the whole productive space thing like in Starfleet?

[Sometimes he can read the room.]

Less disheartening, far busier, and slightly more disastrous than this. Also I generally know where we're going. [A smile.] Other than being in space, it isn't so similar. Navigators and physicists don't have many opportunities to be productive in the fleet.

Is that what you do? Navigation, physics?

[ It makes sense, with that breakdown of their position in the... many realities? He still doesn't know how to put that without being wrong. ]

That sounds like it must be frustrating, stuck somewhere you should be able to do something and you just... can't.

Mostly, yes, and you have no idea.

[Now, however, is not the time for him to express his infinite frustration with being caught in a situation where he should be useful and knowledgeable, but is not neither of those things.]

I didn't introduce myself, that was rude. I'm Pavel Andreievich Chekov.

Oh - that's all right, I'm not really at my social best right now, so I'm not about to judge anyone else.

It's nice to meet you, Pavel.

I think that, given your current circumstances, any social failings on your part can be forgiven.

It's good to meet you as well, Glenn. You have been assigned to a ship?

[ He gives a small smile there, dips his head slightly - ]

Yeah. I'm on the Starstruck right now. Everyone seems great here, but, um... I'll probably be transferring. To be with my wife.

Then you have someone from your world here! That's good! [Assuming you like your wife, of course.] I think that they will understand your decision to transfer.

It's... incredible. There are a few of us here, actually. I don't really understand how, but I'm grateful.

[ His smile gets warmer, wider, and he nods. He loves his wife, and that's selling it short. ]

And... yeah. I'm sure you're probably right.

Really? Who else is here? Er--if you don't mind that I'm asking. Perhaps I know them.

Oh, no, that's fine --

[ He takes a moment, just gathering himself. It's pretty incredible that any of them are here. ]

So my wife is Maggie Greene. And then there's Daryl Dixon, Carol Peletier, and Carl Grimes. They're all from my home... they're family, basically.

Daryl Dixon, he's on my ship--on the Tourist. If you have not already been invited, please consider yourself invited to visit.

[Although Pavel wouldn't say that he knows Daryl. He knows he likes guns and knives?]

It's good that so many of you are here, and no one will be offended if you transfer to be with a part of your family.

Yeah, I don't think they would be, just... doing a lot of moving really quickly.

[ Glenn can probably help you out there. He's a tiny bit more personable. Look, he's even open to friends! ]

And thanks. I'm sure I'll stop by sooner or later to see Daryl, so I'll be sure to say hi when I do. I mean, we're kind of all in this together, right?

You will do a lot of that here... but not usually as much ship-to-ship moving.

[GOOD, Pavel is trying to make those and Glenn seems like a decent sort of person. One who is willing to have conversations and everything!]

We are, yes. However temporarily.

Well, between you and me, I'd... actually kind of rather stick around for a while. Not that I get the impression that I have a lot of say in that.

Ah, right.

[Sooo... odds are good that Glenn is either dead or from a terrible world, as those tend to be the reasons people don't want to go home. Pavel decides not to press. They did just meet.]

To the best of anyone's knowledge, we have no influence on what the Atroma do--and that includes how long they keep us here.

[ Why not both. ]

Yeah, that's kind of the idea I got... it's not like I was asked to sign up, anyway. But I can hope, and make the most of whatever I get.

[Why not both!]

This is a good outlook... and, whatever you may have been told about this place already, it isn't so bad. Sometimes we go for entire months without anything very terrible happening.

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