a bumpy start! {glyphcomm + action}

[seeingyou]

You wake up to the sound of alarms and a distinct sensation of quaking, and you're quite obviously not where you're supposed to be. This room is strangely shaped, nothing you recognize, and you definitely don't remember how you got here. The room is bathed in soft red light, which might look pretty, except it's blinking in a way that you can probably guess signals danger.

There's a symbol on the back of your hand that you don't remember acquiring, either, but that's probably less important at the moment than the sound of the alarms shrieking and the prerecorded voice speaking over the intercom. It's one of those bland, agender voices, entirely too calm in tone for the message it's relaying:

WARNING
WARNING
IMPACT THREAT DETECTED
EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED

There’s a loud crash and another violent shaking, as that impact threat collides with the ship’s hull. The warning message continues to repeat on a loop amidst the blaring of the alarm. All passengers should be conscious now, with the noise at such a high volume. Opening your cabin door reveals a nondescript hallway, with five cabin doors on each side for a total of ten on each floor; the doors to the empty cabins are unlocked and inside the cabins hold the same plain, basic furnishings as your own. Halfway into the hallway, there is a lift on one side and a set of stairs on the other.

Comments

[shahrrehth]

She nods firmly at the question, and that isn't her exaggerating. The life force of people, of any kind of living creature, was something that had fascinated her since she'd started seeing it as a child.

"Very pretty. Like stained glass, almost."

Though even that's not entirely accurate. But there are other things to attend to. She refocuses.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Now. Is there anyone in that line there that you think you'd like to hold hands with? You can hold one of mine, but the other one needs to be someone else. You get to pick where we go in the line."

[fuckregularpeople]

"That sounds good." Baby Doll smiles a little and keeps swinging their arms, taking some comfort from the childish movement.

She looks at the line of people with linked hands and shakes her head. "Uh-uh." But she also shrinks back a little when she looks at Navi, shying behind Clara. "That thing's scary."

[shahrrehth]

She considers that for a moment before turning to Baby Doll and turning to get a protective arm around her.

"I think what you're talking about might be a person. And it's okay to think they're scary. A lot of people look scary before you get to know them. You don't have to hold their hand.

"Is there anyone else you see who looks friendly to you?"

[fuckregularpeople]

She nods emphatically because she knows Clara's right. Cliff looked really really scary before she learned he was nice and now he's her favorite, but she's still glad she doesn't have to touch the weird scary-looking person.

Baby Doll looks around, trying to find someone who doesn't look too angry or too strange to her childlike mind. The man with the bandaged free hand looks like people she's met before, and she's curious about the coverings on his hand. She reaches out to him.

"Hold hands with me?"

[eyediot]

He'd been still adjusting to holding hands with Emet with his good hand. This whole situation is ridiculous. Jon manages to be pulled out of his own thoughts when he hears the higher-pitched voice and looks.

"Um."

Oh god this sounds and talks like a child, but isn't a child, oh god. He looks at his injured hand and carefully offers it.

"Don't, um. Don't squeeze?"

[shahrrehth]

Clara nods to both Baby Doll and a thank you to Jon.

"Just be careful. Don't squeeze. Just hold his hand, like you'd hold something delicate, okay? And I'll hold your other hand."

She'll give Baby Doll's hand a light squeeze.

"If you get scared or upset and you need to squeeze, squeeze my hand, okay?"

[fuckregularpeople]

"Okay!" She grasps Jon's hand and takes Clara's in her other, not squeezing but holding nicely. For about five seconds. Then she begins to play with the pose, gently swinging their hands at her sides with a little smile on her face.

[eyediot]

Thank god for this stranger explaining how to hold someone's injured hand. But when the swinging starts, it puts some pressure on the worse parts (skin folds trying to heal still, stretched and pulled) and he makes some pained noise.

"Ah-- D-don't do that please."

[fuckregularpeople]

"Oh!" She stops mid-swing, gently lowering Jon's hand back down to a neutral hanging position. It's far less fun and she frowns a little. "Is that better?"

Her other hand squeezes Clara's.

[eyediot]

He lets out a slow exhale now that the pressure's relieved.

"Yes. Much, thank you."

He closes his eyes and tries to breathe in slowly. Then cracks one eye open to look at her.

"What was your name?"

[fuckregularpeople]

He gets a smile from this clearly-adult child, who is pleased she's getting attention.

"My name's Baby Doll! What's yours?"

[eyediot]

Baby Doll. What a name. He should probably ask some questions about that.

"My name is Jon."

At least she's being easier with his bad hand. He'll take it.