driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Simon Tam and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Bloodsport, the waystation, idk, you pick a place and we can make it work! This is a catchall for anyone who wants to get to know Simon, especially if you've threaded with River.
When: Through the rest of April

[Video]

[Simon smiles at the camera, before he clears his throat and addresses everyone.]

Ah- hello to members of the Drift Fleet, old and new. I'm Simon, the medical officer on the Bloodsport. It seems that my sister River has been going around and making lots of friends since she arrived here- I would like to speak to and get to know all of you in turn if you wish. I will be here on the Bloodsport and making housecalls elsewhere as needed.

[Action]

[Perhaps he's treating you on your ship. Maybe you visit him on the Bloodsport or run into him at the waystation the Fleet is currently docked in while he scrounges for food and medicine. No matter what, Simon wants to know the people his sister is bonding with. Why not say hello?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh!

[Simon is rather surprised by the man's sudden appearance, but the man's words make it clear what his purpose is, and he wonders of the flowers and plants are meant to be a gift.]

I take it you have met my sister- she speaks of us in terms of a moon orbiting her planet. I hope she was not a bother?

A river, winding, wending, washed to the bone, water flows and changes but remains the same.

[Congratulations, Simon, River found someone much more like her than anyone else. And now he's found you.]

She's the moon, changing but unchanging, knowing the routes because you're there to show her. This isn't elfroot, but it helps with pain and infection.

[He hands over some of the leaves.]

Flowers steeped in water for parasites and nausea. You're bright and warm, I could sense you from the station, giving, gifting, gracious.

She is always the same to me... my beautiful sister, no matter which way she winds. I am always happy to guide her when I can.

[Simon couldn't help but smile at the man's way of speaking- he thought his sister may have been glad to find someone who talked like her and would thus more easily understand her. He held out his hands and accepted the offering.]

Thank you for the gifts- I will always accept anything to help my patients. I'm sure she told you I am a doctor... I take the oath I swore to heal others very seriously. [He then cocked his head to one side.] You were able to sense me?

Yes. And she knows it. Unconditional, uncertain, unconsciously all compassionate.

[With the plants and bandages taken from him, Cole rocks on his feet, hugging the knives to his chest.]

Yes. The spirit heart makes it difficult, but I know you, so I could find you. I followed the gravity to where she dances. I brought her a present. So we can dance.

I am sure she does. She and I have always been close, since the day she was born... I have loved her from the first moment I held her.

[Simon is intrigued, the more he speaks. He'd never met anybody with abilities like River's before.]

So you can sense in the way she does? I'm sure she was happy to finally meet someone else... who understands. Who can dance to the same rhythm. [Simon was both happy and sad at the same time... sad because he knew he could never relate to his sister on that level.]

[Cole looks enthralled by what he can feel as Simon talks about his sister. It's an almost overwhelming flood of love and acceptance. He suddenly puts down the knives and takes Simon's hands, holding onto them and looking him dead in the eyes.

His eyes are pale and too blue.]

She's so glad you aren't playing at people, like us. She needs you just as you are, unbroken and understanding, her shield and sword against the world.

[Simon was rather surprised by the contact, but he met Cole's gaze and looked back on him with kindness.]

I feel like it is my responsibility as her brother to look after her... to help her as much as I can. [Which wasn't much sometimes, he knew, but he tried the best he could nonetheless.] Even when we had nobody and nothing else, we had each other. Mind, she loves me just as much in return... admires me even though she's smarter than me. Believed that I would always be there for her. I couldn't let her down.

[Cole closed his eyes, reaching through Simon to River, to try and put the words together.]

You're smart in the ways she can't be and needs you to be.

A binary star system, spinning together, caught and content.

[He doesn't know what a binary star system is, really, but he's got the impression from her of space to make the metaphor.]

That... is a good way to put it, yes.

[Simon let the image of a planet with the circling moon flow into his mind- two celestial bodies, helping each other, always in constant orbit around one another.]

She and I complete each other, I suppose you could say. We're a match in many ways, and I am fortunate to have her. I would do anything for her. [And he had- he'd defied his parents, broken the law, taken a great personal risk and sacrificed his future for her. He would never once regret doing so.]

[Cole keeps standing there, eyes closed and learning, reading, feeling everything and realising, maybe for the first time since he killed Lambert, how incredibly alone he was.

And that he didn't like it.

He ducks his head, hiding his face completely with his hat and speaks in a whisper.]

You're so incredibly lucky. You both are. And you know it. It's beautiful.

[Then, more surprisingly, he steps back and seems to fade from view, disappearing.

He wants out. He wants space. He wants to find people hurting, who need help.]

[Simon was about to respond when he was floored by the man's abrupt disappearance. That was definitely something he'd never seen before, and he even looked around the room, wondering if the man had become invisible somehow- but no, he was gone.

Still, he spoke to the empty room.]

... I do have a lot to be thankful for, don't I? It took me far too long to see that.