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

[fuckregularpeople]

Jane crosses her arms over her chest, hands tucked into her armpits.

"Miss me with this Star Wars kumbaya bullshit. Are you going to sing a campfire song too?"

[shahrrehth]

"If the ship tells me to, sure," she says right back and she doesn't hold back a roll of her eyes. "Or someone who knows what's going on or how any of this works has a better idea. So far, I'm not hearing any."

[fuckregularpeople]

Ah, a cute little optimist. People like her are so tiring.

"The way it works is that thing fucks us if we do what it wants. It doesn't care about us. If you're fine with that, cool, your choice. I don't consent."

[shahrrehth]

"Cool, your choice," she repeats after Jane, and uses her free hand to offer a thumbs up. It's definitely... less than genuinely cheerful. "Got any evidence to back that up? Or... other suggestions?"

[fuckregularpeople]

"We ask those guys to pick us up." She gestures to the screen on which the attacking ship is pictured. "They're attacking the asshole who kidnapped us. Makes them the good guys, doesn't it?"

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"Not necessarily."

His feelings about the kidnapping aside, there's no way to tell for certain that their attackers are even so much as aware of their presence. Or much inclined to bother to return them to where they've all come from besides.

[fuckregularpeople]

"I'd still take a chance on them. They haven't already fucked us over, this thing did."

No one said anything about this ship returning them home. Jane assumes it has no intention of doing so -- that's generally the case for kidnappings. Odds still seem stacked that the attackers are better people than Navi, to her.

[sisterswitch]

“Cool, so you’re just like this with everyone, huh?” Jack snaps, recognizing Jane and having no reserve of patience for her nonsense, in light of current circumstances. She then reaches for the nearest open hand to hold onto. “Why don’t you just go hopscotch out of the airlock if you’re so determined to side with the obvious bad guys here?”

[fuckregularpeople]

Jane recognizes that voice and steps forward, hands still under her arms, and smiles as she looks into Jack's eyes.

"Yeah. Like I'm going to take moral advice from the bitch who watched my friends get murdered and laughed."

[sisterswitch]

Jack flashes her a saccharine-sarcastic smile. “Sweetie, we both know that you don’t have friends. Also I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if you need some chalk to go draw squares for your way out, I’ll be more than happy to give you some of mine.”

Yes, she carries a box of chalk in her pocket. No, this is not the time to explain why.

“And for the record, calling me a bitch in a derogatory way is still oppressive and misogynistic, that hasn’t changed just ‘cause we’re apparently in space now.”

[fuckregularpeople]

"Yeah, because you thought it was funny to let them die, you sick fuck." She smiles back sweetly. "You can keep trying to guilt-trip me but we both know you're a piece of shit. That's why you're getting so offended that I wanna do exactly what you did, isn't it?"

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"They spoke to the ship, not us. But by all means, attempt to avail yourself of a hospitality that might not even exist."

He is, admittedly, drawing from similarly inclined nations back in his own world - or at least, what he assumes are similarly inclined nations. Still, far be it for him to stop her, either. The idea of having to find a new vessel because they all got blown to shreds isn't an appealing one, sure. But it's not something he hasn't had to do before, either.

[fuckregularpeople]

"Yeah, which means they don't give a fuck about us. That means they're way safer than something that wants us here."

She's well aware that whatever is on the other ship might easily be hostile to them. That just doesn't worry her. Physical threats are easy, but being desired by a being whose intentions she didn't know was the most dangerous thing in the universe.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"If they don't simply destroy the ship itself."

Safer, maybe. And there's equally no guarantee that the being asking for their assistance is as altruistic as it seems to be.

"And frankly, I'm not in any hurry to die."

It's far too tedious, not to mention effort that he would much prefer to not have to spend.

[fuckregularpeople]

He was right. They were well and truly trapped, at least for the time being; if Flit's attempt to teleport to the attacking ship hadn't worked, their abilities were limited here. Jane didn't have another escape route.

"Why is the guy wearing half an antique chair the only one making any sense? I thought you didn't want to do this touchy-feely bullshit."

[shahrrehth]

She presses her lips together and takes a deep breath in.

"And your plans for how we'd communicate with them in the middle of said attack."

She tilts her head to one side.

"The thing you're forgetting here is that they're also attacking us. And, for all we know, they could be attacking us and this being is trying to protect us. We don't know. But..." she tips her head down to the hands, "from my experience, things that work through holding hands usually play ball a lot nicer than things that work through shooting at you."

[fuckregularpeople]

Memories of group therapy, of "healing hands" and holding the Talking Pillow and being dragged back to her room, restrained, and beaten, flash through Jane's mind and she shakes her head. "Then clearly you have no experience." She'd take violence over "loving" manipulation any day.

Her outline flickers for a second, like a reflection in disturbed water, and when it re-solidifies she looks exactly the same. She's just smiling now, breezy in the face of danger. "Okay, that was a good idea so I'm gonna s--"

Flit disappears. A few seconds later she reappears, that flicker runs over her again, and Jane's instantly tense, her hands forming into fists. She takes a deep breath. "Yep, this ship is a piece of shit."

[shahrrehth]

"Or my experience is different from yours," because like hell is she going to stoop to this woman's level. She doesn't agree with her and she thinks her decisions are rash and illogical but she is trying.

She huffs out a breath, carefully, and pushes aside her frustrations with... well, this whole thing, and looks back at her.

"Look, I'm not foolish enough to take any of this at face value. I'm not saying anyone should. But right now, we are in the ship being fired on. So it is in all of our best interests to make sure it doesn't get destroyed. We can discuss the problems with it's decision making skills after."

[fuckregularpeople]

That's a lot more patience than most people display with Jane. Usually people would just have called her insane by now and they'd mutually curse each other out, which is the most comfortable option for everyone. Not a lot of people besides the Chief and Cliff actually tried to talk to her.

Because of that, Jane's not sure if this makes her sadder or angrier.

That flicker returns, and this time she does visibly change. Her hair's not unbound and loose anymore but tied up into pigtails with pink bow barrettes, her face isn't resting-bitch anymore but actively wide-eyed and upset.

"I wanna go home!" Baby Doll whimpers, and even her voice has changed. Instead of Jane's sarcastic tone it's the high-pitched voice of a little child. "It's scary here!"

[shahrrehth]

She isn't sure what just happened, but she can definitely pick up the change and she's going to respond to the voice of a child, no matter what the form it is. Her tone gets much more gentle, more careful, and softer.

If it turns out to be a trick or the woman laughs at her for choosing to be gentle with what she perceives to be a child, she'll survive it. But she won't chance hurting a child of any sort.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I know it's scary. I know this isn't what you're familiar with. But we're going to be okay." She breathes in deep and breathes out slow. Soothing breathing. Her voice is steady. "My name is Clara."

[albatrossomen]

"Oh, I don't know. This one sounds a little like rebellion to me. Who doesn't enjoy a bit of rebellion now and again?" Murmur offers from his corner where he's going to go ahead and take the strange alien being's hand. They might as well lend what they can to their captor and would-be savior.

[fuckregularpeople]

"And who the fuck are you, the tribute from District 12?" she snaps back. "You really know how to fuckin' sell it, don't you? 'Oh, you don't like holding hands? Let's up the ante by throwing in politics, now does it sound fun?'"

[albatrossomen]

Casually he shrugged a shoulder, unconcerned and untroubled by her sudden burst of anger. "Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with this District. However, in the interest in not discovering what a prompt ejection into the cold void of space feels like this has thus far been the only suggestion for our survival. You are welcome to attempt to commune with our attackers if you so desire."

He's not sure they're exactly going to be amenable to requests for rescue, but hey who knows? Had they more time he could probably find out, but what's the fun in knowing everything?

[fuckregularpeople]

His attitude is enough to throw Jane for a split second, unaccustomed to being met with complete disengagement. She narrows her eyes at Murmur, steering things back onto a line of questioning she feels pretty confident about.

"So you're just okay with literally handing yourself over to this thing that kidnapped us?"

[albatrossomen]

"Hardly. Given the circumstances, however, I see little option for disagreement. Without the ability to beseech the attackers for a cease fire, we are left with little choice. Thus, a few moments of discomfort do not seem too high a price to pay."

He didn't react to the narrowed eyes either, just looked at her cooly, that monotone in his voice never changing. With the concern he displayed one wouldn't think they were on the possible brink of annihilation.

"Should we survive, we will have the opportunity to discern the intent of our captor later."