eyemind | event } lime, coconut, explosions

Entry tags:

event } lime, coconut, explosions

WHO: All y’all
WHAT: A nice vacation to ease everyone in
WHERE: Various locations on Alkonost Island, including Navi
WHEN: Sept 12-30
WARNINGS: Use ‘em in your threads if needed!

Welcome to Alkonost, the beautiful tropical island on the planet Tetagari where you have just made an emergency crash landing! You’ll be here for a while, so settle in and get cozy with your new shipmates until Navi is repaired and ready for takeoff.

Alkonost is a small island with an eponymous beachfront village, with the rest of the land covered in tropical rainforest, dry forest, and grasslands. Most of the land is still wild, as the Alkonost population is centered at the beach, though ancient ruins can be found a bit more inland. Alkonostians are a humanoid, amphibious people, with light green skin, gills, and webbed fingers; they are friendly and welcoming to tourists, business contacts, and intergalactic refugees alike.

Speaking of business, the main exports of Alkonost are various types of fish, shell jewelry, and a unique, dark red pearl that is only cultivated in the waters surrounding the island. These red pearls are highly prized on other islands and provide the bulk of income for the Alkonost population. They’ve also recently attracted a band of pesky pirates, which has taken to raiding export ships and even the pearl farms themselves, on occasion. Warning signs are posted near the shoreline and will be explained by locals if asked.

While visiting, you can elect to work as part of a fishing or pearl farming crew, or with one of the island’s fruit collection squads, and you’ll be paid daily in fresh fish and equally fresh fruit. For necessities of the non-consumable sort, the village open-air market is open every day for all of your shopping needs. Otherwise, grab some sun on the beach, dance and sing around bonfires at night, get to know your fellow passengers, or just chill on the ship and get to know Navi.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Clara can't help that there's a moment where she picks up on the 'older' body language and tenses. But when the thanks come, she just nods and gives her a quick smile.

"Kids are kids. Whatever the situation is. I'm glad I could help. She's a good kid."

Clara's got it. Jane's definitely not the same person and it goes beyond the obvious physical differences like her look and face not matching Baby Doll's, although they do look similar.

"She needed it." She sets her boots to the side and pushes her toes into the sand. "I'm Jane, by the way."

"I know I'd have been scared if I was her age," and that doesn't matter what her age really was. To be honest, she was still scared. But she'd never been one to let her fear rule her.

She holds out a hand.

"Clara. Nice to meet you properly."

"Yeah, it's not easy being where she is." Still, Baby Doll didn't deal with the things Jane worked with. She held out a hand to Clara, however.

"Sorry we're not doing better."

Clara will very gently move to shake the hand before letting it go and leaning her arm on her own leg in a casual slouch.

"I'm going to admit I'm not sure what you mean there. And, kind of ridiculously, I know... ask if there's anything I can do to help."

Jane looks at her thoughtfully. Nothing about Clara seems unreasonable to her, even considering how furious she was when Baby Doll took the wheel and fronted. As hesitant as she was to take a chance on anyone, Clara seemed sincere and well-intentioned.

"You don't?" She shrugs with a half-smile that disappears quickly. "I'm pissed we all got fucked over on this stupid Star Wars ripoff. More than that, I'm pissed this happened to me again. I'm really tired of being kidnapped places because people 'need' me." The last three times it happened had been miserable.

That actually... has her pausing and raising a hand to sort of wobble it in the air.

"More just... wanted to make sure we were on the same page." She lets out a breath and, well, now that they're no longer in danger, she can be a little more frank.

"This is my first run on the whole 'kidnapped because people need me' thing," she admits, "but not my first time... well, having everything sort of, um, taken over because people need me. And I can't say I'm happy about it, because I have responsibilities at home" and people she loves but... that's- she doesn't want to put that on Jane, "but I'm trying to see the bright side. Or at least get through it without causing too much trouble."

"We're probably not." Jane knows how bizarre she and her alters can appear to others, and her smile returns in a brief flash.

Her bright side's not been as bright as Clara's, it seems. Not really the other woman's fault when it came down to it but Jane still frowns. "Well, I'm glad one of us can see something good in it. I just..." She trails off. "Trouble's hard to avoid."

That actually gets a laugh out of her, though one that's clearly not directed at Jane. Her eyes are distant and veer towards where the ship is crashed.

"Picked up on that, what with the entrance we all made," she agrees with a little shake of her head, "And to be fair, I'm not good at avoiding trouble anyway. I've even been told I tend to head straight towards it."

She stiffens at the laughter, but Clara's not mocking her, and Jane relaxes after a second, even chancing a small smile.

"You mean you're pigheaded," she corrects with nothing but good humor, then follows Clara's gaze out towards the ship.

"So what is the bright side? In your view."

She gives one back, just as small. Then she rolls her eyes good-naturedly at the (entirely fair) dig.

"Ma would say it's one of my most prominent attributes," she admits. Then she's sucking in a breath nice and deep before letting it (carefully) out.

"And the bright side? Is that no one's dead. Which means that we're all here to get to tomorrow. And, hopefully, we can get things worked out by then."

She sobers a bit, nodding. Clara isn't wrong; if they're alive there's always a chance they can get out of this, somehow beat the odds or the bad guys or whatever they're supposed to do. It is always possible.

That's not how it works in her experience, but it's possible. And at least this kidnapping is less ominous and terrible than the last one. Not good enough for her to trust it, of course. But that doesn't change the point.

"Hopefully," she echoes.

"I mean," she looks over at Jane, "I don't intend to leave it all up to chance or anything. And I doubt you do either."

There's a pause as she considers it, especially considering the sensitivity to her own oddities, but finally-

"That thing you did where you flickered away for a moment. Are you- I'm assuming you're a, um, well, a metahuman. Right?"

"No. I won't." Jane may be misguided, she may be blinded by her emotions and make the wrong call, but she'd never roll over and let the worst happen. She rests her hands on her legs and looks Clara in the face.

"Yeah, basically." She's familiar with the term, at least. "And I didn't flicker away, I went away. Baby Doll's a different person."

She watches for Clara's reaction, trying to anticipate what she'd have to explain. Not everyone's familiar with multiple personalities or even believes they're a real thing. Hell, not everyone's cool about metahumans either.

She's dealt with a lot of unique individuals over the years, on both sides of the line and people who are just trying to live their lives. There's no real shock or gasp or even questions. Jane can and will tell her what she wants to tell her. Part of being an investigative journalist is knowing when not to ask questions.

"I know a lot of metahumans back home," she says with an easy enough nod, "and I've met a few people where there's... multiple people in the same body."

The most important thing is this:

"If I see Babydoll again, I'll do my best to keep her safe and happy."

"Yeah?" Jane's a little impressed, most people back home didn't know exactly what to do with her on either front. She hasn't met others with multiple personalities very often, and certainly not another metahuman like herself. Her selves. "You're not a psychologist, are you?"

It'd bother her if Clara is; 1970s mental health treatment would make anybody jaded. But even if she is a doctor, Jane has to admit she'd done a good job taking care of Baby Doll.

"Thanks. She needs someone who'll do that."

Edited (clarity edit) 2020-09-24 09:54 (UTC)

She shakes her head. Firmly.

"Used to be a lawyer. As in 'first, we kill all the'." But the wry smile it comes with says she's not bitter about it. "Now, I'm a journalist. Or at least, I was before I got here."

And a superhero. That part she's not mentioning.

Jane shrugs, fairly neutral on the concept of lawyers as a whole. It's better than misguided or hostile doctors, at least. Being a journalist sounds pretty noble, too.

"So -- what, you've interviewed people like me?"

"For the metahuman part," she starts off, "I know a few personally and, well, I live in Metropolis," which should explain a few things right off the bat. "Mental health wise, I wasn't a corporate lawyer or anything. I was a public defender. DID wasn't super common but I met a couple of people with disassociation issues."

"Ah, yeah." That definitely explains a lot. Metropolis is the city for loud and proud metahumans, although a lot of them are the type you probably wouldn't want to meet. And of course a public defender would meet people with issues.

Jane's not sure where to go from there. None of this makes her trust Clara exactly, but she's sure she's being honest. She's been fair so far, and she might keep that up.

"Found anywhere here that serves burritos?"

That... actually gets a bit of a laugh from her but she can't help but shake her head. She knows that slightly awkward pause before a question like that; sometimes, she's terrible with discussion, leaning on a similar job or a shared area or shared troubles to keep the conversation going. She keeps discussion shallow, pointedly, not out of a desire to keep people away but... well, a necessity.

But she'll attach immediately to 'burritos'.

"No luck for serving burritos, but I'm not too bad in the kitchen. Maybe I'll see what I can whip up if you're having a hankering."

Everyone likes burritos, it's a safe bet to take. Jane would love one right about now, some familiar food sounds awesome and it's a way better thing to discuss than almost anything else they could talk about.

"Yeah?" She arches an eyebrow. "You can get the stuff for that here? I can barely find pants."

"I've actually been stocking the kitchen in the ship and working on our supplies," she admits, which is helped by the fact that she lives right next to it now, "so... it *might* be a little bit rigged up, but I think I should be able to manage it."

She grins at the thought. Burritos actually sound pretty appealing, honestly.

"It's just a matter of duplicating the flavor profile and the textures. I'll see what I can do."

"But you could do it? Well shit, what else do you need?" If this island has something akin to the necessary ingredients, Jane wants to root it out now.

And of course burritos sound good, don't they always? (See? Jane makes sense sometimes.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

event } lime, coconut, explosions

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject