Arthur Lester (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theotherright) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
come_sailaway2023-09-07 02:13 pm
theotherright) wrote in come_sailaway2023-09-07 02:13 pm
[OPEN and one CLOSED] I shall not forget how his laugh rang out.
Whomst: Arthur and you!
Whenst: September
Wherest: About
Whatst: Canon update, fraying at the edges, a rescue mission that's doomed before it begins, and also some flowers
Warningst'dve: Starvation/imprisonment, man going through it, more as they come up.
Visual Note: Arthur's come off a canon update where he sustained some injuries and was starved for a while, so he looks Bad. For the sake of brevity, I didn't describe him in full in every prompt, but there are details in the first one should you need them.
[CLOSED to Crichton] it was just as the light was beginning to fail
At 6am, in cabin 127, several things happen:
The record player, which hasn't been wound in some time, lets out the last of the tension in its spring with a noise that's more 'old music used in a horror movie' than 'cosy crackling gramophone'.
Arthur turns — or has turned, perhaps, sometime in the night — from a miserable but healthy man into a guy who looks like his last square meal happened before the first world war. He slept without a shirt, and so there's nothing to hide the prominence of his ribs — the livid blotches that might be bruising — the plethora of new scars. There's a nasty circle on his belly that must be what the bite Tendi healed would've eventually curdled into. There's a zigzag of electrical scars, scrapes as if he lost a fight with sandpaper, a pale and pitted chunk out of his throat, and one finger reduced to what looks like blackened bone. There's a good inch of dark, brittle beard flavour-saving dust and blood on the bottom half of his face.
Arthur wakes up, lets out a breath like he's suddenly in a lot less pain than he was a moment ago, lets out another breath like he's confused, and says aloud, accusing, afraid: "Wait— what did you do? Where the hell did you send me?"
And then, and only then, he realises that he knows the answer — that he knows, that he remembers, more, so very many more, people and places and events than he did when he was talking to Kayne just a moment ago.
[OPEN, deck zero] that I suddenly heard all I needed to hear
Ya boy has a mission. It's one he has no clear idea of how he's going to achieve, but what's new?
Arthur looks absolutely fucking godawful: see the prompt above, though he has, thank goodness, shaved since then. Nevertheless, he's energetic, borderline frantic, running both hands over the bulkhead door that seals the crew quarters, muttering to himself. They all came out this way once. There must be a way back in.
Anyone hovering nearby may catch key words such as 'drill', 'shapeshift', and 'explosives'.
[OPEN, around the ship] it has lasted me many and many a year.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No, it's Arthur: floating unmoored across the deck a few feet in the air, clutching a half-blown dandelion like it's the only sane thing in an insane world.
He's located a wall with his cane and is trying to find some way of hooking himself closer, but tragically, all he manages is to push himself further in the other direction. "No, oh no nono come back-- ah, damn it."
If there's a very subtle note of hysteria behind his voice, it's because there's something weirdly funny about -- about going through everything he has, and then having to deal with floating. Not imprisonment, not almost dying every five minutes, but drifting on the breeze like a bubble. Not torturous, but ridiculous. He's almost tempted to remember how to have fun, just for the occasion.
[WILDCARD] wildcard
Wildcard!
Whenst: September
Wherest: About
Whatst: Canon update, fraying at the edges, a rescue mission that's doomed before it begins, and also some flowers
Warningst'dve: Starvation/imprisonment, man going through it, more as they come up.
Visual Note: Arthur's come off a canon update where he sustained some injuries and was starved for a while, so he looks Bad. For the sake of brevity, I didn't describe him in full in every prompt, but there are details in the first one should you need them.
[CLOSED to Crichton] it was just as the light was beginning to fail
At 6am, in cabin 127, several things happen:
The record player, which hasn't been wound in some time, lets out the last of the tension in its spring with a noise that's more 'old music used in a horror movie' than 'cosy crackling gramophone'.
Arthur turns — or has turned, perhaps, sometime in the night — from a miserable but healthy man into a guy who looks like his last square meal happened before the first world war. He slept without a shirt, and so there's nothing to hide the prominence of his ribs — the livid blotches that might be bruising — the plethora of new scars. There's a nasty circle on his belly that must be what the bite Tendi healed would've eventually curdled into. There's a zigzag of electrical scars, scrapes as if he lost a fight with sandpaper, a pale and pitted chunk out of his throat, and one finger reduced to what looks like blackened bone. There's a good inch of dark, brittle beard flavour-saving dust and blood on the bottom half of his face.
Arthur wakes up, lets out a breath like he's suddenly in a lot less pain than he was a moment ago, lets out another breath like he's confused, and says aloud, accusing, afraid: "Wait— what did you do? Where the hell did you send me?"
And then, and only then, he realises that he knows the answer — that he knows, that he remembers, more, so very many more, people and places and events than he did when he was talking to Kayne just a moment ago.
[OPEN, deck zero] that I suddenly heard all I needed to hear
Ya boy has a mission. It's one he has no clear idea of how he's going to achieve, but what's new?
Arthur looks absolutely fucking godawful: see the prompt above, though he has, thank goodness, shaved since then. Nevertheless, he's energetic, borderline frantic, running both hands over the bulkhead door that seals the crew quarters, muttering to himself. They all came out this way once. There must be a way back in.
Anyone hovering nearby may catch key words such as 'drill', 'shapeshift', and 'explosives'.
[OPEN, around the ship] it has lasted me many and many a year.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No, it's Arthur: floating unmoored across the deck a few feet in the air, clutching a half-blown dandelion like it's the only sane thing in an insane world.
He's located a wall with his cane and is trying to find some way of hooking himself closer, but tragically, all he manages is to push himself further in the other direction. "No, oh no nono come back-- ah, damn it."
If there's a very subtle note of hysteria behind his voice, it's because there's something weirdly funny about -- about going through everything he has, and then having to deal with floating. Not imprisonment, not almost dying every five minutes, but drifting on the breeze like a bubble. Not torturous, but ridiculous. He's almost tempted to remember how to have fun, just for the occasion.
[WILDCARD] wildcard
Wildcard!
it has lasted me many and many a year
Clearing his throat, he pauses close by, levitating up a little and reaching out before stopping himself. "Arthur? Do you...uh...need some help, maybe? I didn't want to touch without like announcing myself cause...you know. Stuff."
no subject
It's a bizarre experience, to have people jotted out of your memory for so long, when you should have been missing them, and then to get them back and do all of the missing all at once. It hurts deep in the chest, in a guilty knot, as if you chose to forget them. Returning to the ship has been an emotional roller coaster, as if his life is ever anything else.
All of this to say: he places Klaus's voice, has an emotion, and then immediately pretends everything is normal and fine.
"And I wouldn't say no to some basic levitation pointers."
no subject
They look at him, not overly aware of the emotional response that Arthur's having, but still feeling a little more emotional in their own right because of the way that Arthur looks.
They hold a hand out. "Touch incoming. I'm happy to show you how to do it or at least keep you from going out into the middle of the sea."
no subject
An exhalation of breath, and then: "I'm sorry, I..." Evolved a trauma! "...I would be indebted if you could show me how to steer."
See, now he sounds exactly like his normal dry self. It's very normal and healthy to wheel through feelings that fast!
"Perhaps landing would be useful too, but one thing at a time."
no subject
They tilt their head, looking at him a little closer before a hand rests on his shoulder. At least there was ample warning, but they’re still prepared for possible retaliation. “You don’t have to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.” A beat. “And you can count yourself free of charge for steering assistance. Plenty of people helped me with my stuff, so I’ve got you.”
Klaus isn’t gonna believe this ‘normal’ stuff, but they’re also not gonna push if he doesn’t want to talk about it.
“For sure.” A beat. “Does the flower listen to your instructions? Mentally or otherwise? Try to tell it to turn a certain way and we’ll see if it works.”