Twin Roses Mingle (visitors welcome)

[passingthrough]

Who: Twin Roses’ crew, friends, and lookieloos
Broadcast: Unlikely
Action: Twin Roses
When: March 2019

[Not much has changed on the Twin Roses since their stay on the Marsiva. No crew changes. No promotions or downgrades, although Vash is no longer co-captain, but rather first mate, in case anyone missed it and Krolia is still somewhat new among their ranks.

There aren’t even any stale donuts lying around which also means the plants in the garden and pets are thriving and their food stocks are still going strong. Yep, just totally normal stuff after being gone over a month! And probably no weird things to talk about after seeing each other’s memories. Business as usual here!

Also, there was the part where they attacked the Marsiva afterward for a hot minute. Just another normal day in the life of the fleet.]

Comments

Kitty Pryde | OTA

[passingthrough]

Ship wandering
[In the days that follow their return you can find Kitty...everywhere. That first moment when you realize nothing was damaged in their time way it's great. In the moments that follow it's deeply unsettling. So she finds herself going from room to room checking and rechecking for anything that might give away that the ship noticed the passage of time. There's something about it that echos a little too strongly of her time in MarinaNova Asylum. Things were constantly reset to normal there. Made a lot of sense to when they found out it was all just a shared virtual reality. She's always wondered if this place was the same on a much larger scale. So, she might be looking through cabinets in the kitchen or checking behind storage crates in the cargo bay or examining the controls in the shuttles or even knocking on your door to see if she can look at your room too. She thought about just slipping in herself, but she didn't. Points for that?]

Aftermath
[As their drifting period extends she settles back into her more normal routine working in engineering and at the Iskaulit in the Malum. Reading books, training, and having a certain boy in a red jacket spend nights over at her place with the big bed which wasn't really a thing before calibrations. She was mostly spending nights in his room with the small bed. Her direwolf forever-pup roams the ship with her sometimes. It's kind of nice getting back to what passes for normal. And also, a lot of people saw a lot of stuff in her head and she in theirs and there is shit to talk about. Anyone want to point to an elephant in the room and talk about it?]

Vision's Receptionist
[Since Vision is otherwise occupied (if you know what we mean) he has routed his calls briefly to Kitty. She will no doubt handle it in the most professional way possible at all times. Please reach out and touch someone.]

Wildcard
[Whatever. Whenever. We're meant to be together.]

did someone say something about elephants

[candothat]

[It takes Pavel a couple of days after their returns to their respective ships to make it over to the Twin Roses. He's had a new ship and a new crew to adjust to, Spock's apparently in the Fleet, and, oh yeah, there was that thing where some of the ships were firing on the Marsiva. It's been a lot. As much as Pavel wants to see Kitty, he also wants to not be a confused and disoriented idiot when he does see her. The regular idiocy will undoubtedly be more than enough.

But he makes it over and he finds her, and hopefully they'll talk and it won't be awful.]

Kitty, hello.

The best things to point at and name!

[passingthrough]

[Will it be more or less awful if she just starts with a hug when she sees him? Hopefully less because that's what's happening here! It's a little because she's just glad to see him and because it's been a minute. But also everything between them does just feel so emotionally charged much of the time since they've been in the fleet that hugs just always feel like they are in order. Still, this one is less to comfort and more to greet so it's not as lingering.] Hey, you.

[candothat]

[Hugs are the best ways to start most conversations, especially after spending time in each other's heads! He hugs her back briefly, already less nervous about any words that might happen. They're friends; they'll still be friends after today.] How did you know that hugging was the first item on my agenda today?

[passingthrough]

Because you're one of my oldest friends and I know you. [And also she didn't and it wasn't.] Thanks for coming over.

[candothat]

Oh, right. [Hugging was on the agenda, for your information.] Of course. I'm sorry for not visiting sooner.

[passingthrough]

You don't have to be sorry for that. There was a lot going on right after with the attack and you moved and we all needed a little space to decompress I think. Speaking of which, you moved.

[candothat]

Not intentionally. If I had moved ships on purpose, I would have come here so that I could bother you more easily. [Not even he knows if he's joking or not.] ...Did the Twin Roses participate in the attack?

[passingthrough]

[This is one of those elephant moments where she wants to just let that go instead of pressing to see if he really meant it, and after what they talked about she should probably call it out. But...it's just so much easier to go with the second thing.]

We did. We fired across the ship with our new laser canon that Vision and I built.

[candothat]

[See, and that's why the elephants keep getting away with things. It's so much easier to ignore them.

He nods.] It was worth trying, I suppose. And it seems that the Interceptors were retrieved, which is good, presumably.

[passingthrough]

[She hasn't given up on that elephant! This conversation was just so much more important right now. Somehow.]

I guess. Which probably sounds more non committal than I mean it. I do think something beats nothing in most cases especially when we've mostly tried nothing the last three years I've been here. I just don't trust the Interceptors any more than I trust the Atroma. For all we know they're in league with each other to make us more entertaining for the masses.

Not all of the crew was into the idea as it turned out though. Come on, let's head to the lounge. We have some new fluffy pillows in there.

[candothat]

It is frustrating--all of the nothing that we have tried, and the nothing that we can evidently do to the Atroma, and the nothing that the Interceptors have given us to prove that they are to be trusted. I'm also inclined to be skeptical.

[Although he doesn't sound too bothered. Years of being at the mercy of powerful captors has a way of normalizing this sort of thing.]

Fluffy pillows? I had no idea that was an available ship upgrade.

[passingthrough]

And just in general hard not to be skeptical after Marina. And considering that was your second stop I'm guessing it's worse for you?

[Walking toward the lounge.]

It's not. But you can buy pillows or commission them. It's just fabric with something soft inside. [She does a lot of things for her ship in the community areas. She also helps stock the kitchen with upgraded foods whenever there's an opportunity.]

[candothat]

Maybe not worse. Nothing encourages skepticism more than living in a simulation, so I think we're relatively even.

[Following!]

I'll need to ask you to tell me more about fluffy pillow engineering. The Bloodsport would be greatly improved by more pillows. [Not a joke. Literally every ship in the Fleet could do with more throw pillows, it's just a fact.]

[passingthrough]

[She nods.] It really did. It's hard not to think about it again during times like calibrations or coming back to ships where nothing has changed after being gone for over a month.

[She looks over at him.] So you're staying? Not transferring back to the Tourist? [Do it, coward. DO IT!] Or here?

[candothat]

I can't think of a simpler way to explain those things. Can you?

[He shrugs and makes an effort to appear unbothered.] Commander Spock is in the Fleet, and I assume he will transfer to the Tourist and take over the position of first mate. The captain doesn't need me there. I haven't thought very much about transferring anywhere...

[Loyalty to Kirk kept him on the Tourist. Now that there are two Kirks and a Spock in the Fleet and Kirk isn't asking Pavel to return, there's not much reason to go back. That ship hasn't felt like home for a while.]

[passingthrough]

Not really. [It's sad when life makes MORE sense as a simulation.]

I didn't realize there was a Spock around. From your world? [She steps into the lounge. No need to open the door or phase through it. It was already open with no one else inside for the moment. She takes a seat on a chair that only looks comfortable because of the blanket and pillow on it.] It sounds like you're feeling replaced.

[candothat]

If you do come up with something, please tell me. [He'd like a convincing reason to believe that things are real. That'd be nice.]

I think so. I haven't spoken with him to confirm. [He sits cross-legged on the floor instead and uses a chair as a backrest. The chairs can't fool him, he knows they're not comfortable.] Eh... the commander outranks me, and he and the captain are also very close friends. It's reasonable for the captain to prefer him as first mate. I would have stepped down if I had not been transferred.

[passingthrough]

This place is more than ships and rank though. That was your crew. [She's not scolding him. She's worried. Did it not feel important to stay? Did he feel unwanted? Maybe she should ask more of these out loud.]

[candothat]

Yes, true. [He doesn't really know what to say to justify accepting it. Maybe he should be putting in for a transfer back and maybe he should be more proactive about tracking down Spock or talking to Kirk. But.] Kitty... this is terrible to say, but I'm tired of finding members of my crew, not being who they expect me to be, and then losing them again... and I also don't want to be reminded that, of our senior crew, I am maybe the last one that the captain would choose to be trapped in a prison universe with.

[passingthrough]

[She reaches a hand out to him. It feels like a hand holding kind of confession.] Then he has bad taste. But it's not a terrible thing to say. It's how you feel.

[candothat]

[He takes her hand and gives it a grateful squeeze.] It's a little terrible, but thank you for listening.

[passingthrough]

You've been through a lot. Have you ever talked to Kirk or the other Kirk about how many of them have come and gone while you've been around?

[candothat]

No more than anyone else here. [And less than some, but no naming names.] I mentioned that I had found them before. Maybe I neglected to say that they are the fifth and sixth...

[passingthrough]

I guess it's tricky to open up and have a heart to heart with them when the problem is that you don't feel like you can open up and have a heart to heart, huh?