come_sailaway | Reacting to that excursion announcement

Entry tags:

Reacting to that excursion announcement

Who: Number 6 & some closed, some open
What: He needs to talk to some people about that new sign-up sheet
When: November
Where: Various places
Warnings: General discussion of tortures that were done to him by the village

[Open]
He is at Friday's desk and he is scowling at that sign-up sheet so hard it looks like he's trying to develop laser vision so he can burn it through. That wording... "Hope to be seeing you!" He does not like that one bit. He's been here far too long to believe it could just be a coincidence. But now he has to sign up for it, doesn't he?

[Closed To Ava]
Later that evening, he is pacing their cabin, hands fidgeting at his sides so rapidly it's a shock he doesn't develop a cramp. He hasn't been this agitated in quite some time.

"I don't like that sign-up, Ava. I don't trust it."

[Closed to Ari]
A short text will come through to her the day after that sign-up sheet is posted:

Lieutenant, There is something I need to speak to you about in private. Would you be willing to meet me in my cabin? -P. Starr

[Closed to Erin]
A text will arrive for her the day after the sign up sheet is posted:

Have you seen the new excursion sheet? Has it been read to you yet? -P. Starr

[Wildcard]
Hit me!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Signed up already my guy. Been out of the action too long. I need to walk my talk.

[His heart sinks seeing that.]

There is something about the wording, Erin, that reminds me of where I came from. I think we should talk.

[He hates to keep it so vague, but he has no way of knowing where she is or who might be listening.]

Well that is about as ominous as hearing chainsaw noises in a sex store. Bobby B in fifteen.

AND SHE'S OFF at a pretty casual pace.

He knew that would get her full attention. (He's too anxious to even be annoyed at the lewd humor.) No text comes back, but she can be sure he will be there at Bobby B's waiting for her.

He is there, and he has a drink in his hand. A second one waits across the table from him made just how she likes it.

She reread the suspiciously innocent wording several times and doubts it's a simple nice vacation, given the nature of these things. The purpose. But. It's not a lot to go off of. She knows from her own experience that paranoia can create an entire conspiracy out of a single phrase. But she trusts her husband's instincts as much as her own. If he feels off about it, then there's something probably off.

And she knows the only thing that gets him so worked up is the Village. He doesn't have to say it for her to know.

She breathes out slowly, carefully catching at one of his hands as he paces by. "Alright. So say that it is what we think," she wants to reinforce that she thinks his worries are credible. "We have time to plan, right? What do we do about it."

His fingers close around her and he finally comes to a stop. "What do we do? I... I want to tell them all not to go. That's what I want to do."

"We could do that," Ava agrees softly. "If that's what you rather do. Not go. Not have anyone go."

She's quiet for a moment, considering. "Or. We could burn it to the ground?"

"I'd rather no one be subjected to the kinds of things they would do there." But when suffering is the point of these, The village would do a very good job of filling up the ship's batteries. He hates himself for even having that thought.

"I threatened a Number 2 with that, once," he admits to her. "I said I would escape. Escape and come back to wipe the place off the map. Perhaps... I could fulfil that vow..."

"There's two things that make it different, that we should consider before making any decisions. We know it won't be prolonged. It won't be like last time you were there, we get to leave at the end. And it's Number 2 that will be trapped within that realm. The real prisoner," she reminds him.

"But also, this time you won't go into it alone." She squeezes his hand reassuringly. "If that's what you want to do, I will be by your side. And if you rather not give them the satisfaction, then we stay back. The choice is ours, we're the ones ultimately in control."

"In a way, it does seem fitting that, whichever Number 2 this one might be, they're trapped in a hell of their own making. They must know that." They must.

"If anyone goes then I have to go. They will all undoubtedly discover my connection to it, and I want to be there when they do. But I... don't want to put you through that, Ava."

"I'm hesitant to say anyone deserves an eternity of that... but." Considering the realm has to be somehow earned and everything she knows about the torturous practices of the Village. She's not going to lose any sleep over such a person being held hostage within their own miserable fate. Or maybe that is exactly the type of person that would delight in it. But she remembers the blubbering king that mistook her for his long dead love... no, she really doesn't think the human mind is capable of withstanding any of this for any prolonged period. Even with the delusion of control.

Whatever version of Number 2 it is, Ava imagines they'll be far worse than Peter experienced. She caresses the side of his face, smooths a thumb over his brow. "Are you afraid they'll think you a coward, for not facing your past?" Ava asks gently. "Do you prefer I stay here and worry as you confront it?"

"A little," he concedes. "I think myself a coward for it." He said he would go back and wipe this place off the map. He meant it then. Why does the idea of going there now fill him with such dread?

"And I would do anything to keep you safe from what those monsters would do but... I couldn't ask you to stay behind when I wouldn't be willing to, were our places reversed."

"You're the bravest man I know," she firmly disagrees. "And you don't have to prove that by putting yourself through harm. These excursions are by choice, and nobody gets to make that for you." She stands, circling around behind him to give his shoulders a rub.

"I rather be with you," Ava expresses. "I did see a glimpse of that place in your memories. But. If you rather me stay behind, I will." She'd hate it, but she'd sit it out if it made him more comfortable.

"Mmmm," his wings sag slightly as his shoulders relax under her. "You're right, of course. But. I still feel I need to go. If it is what I fear then... there will be questions afterward. I'd rather be there to see what they saw, know what they know so I can explain."

He turns to look at her over his shoulder, "At least this time, I will know you for who you are. I won't ask you to stay behind. I may... need you. To face this."

"If it's what you fear. Maybe this is the closure you need?" Ava suggests.

"We're a team," she agrees resolutely, pressing a kiss to the side of his face as he turns it toward her. She's relieved that he does want her with, after all. She'd have respected it either way, but being left behind as he faces down his past... seems more difficult than all the times she's had to watch him die.

"Maybe it is..." Maybe it will help just knowing he had the courage to face it again. He isn't running from his past any longer.

"We are." He leans his head into her, there's a resolute acceptance in his tone. "We belong together, no matter where we go. Even there."

She places a soft kiss to his knuckles in devotion. "If we met there. They never would have been able to stop us," she tells him confidently.

Despite his worry, that soft kiss tugs the corners of his mouth into a smile. "You're right. Nothing would have kept you from me."

[The honest answer is no. No, she does not want to be alone in any cabin with anyone - not because of her old worries about propriety but because it triggers some primal response in her head that makes her want to run.

Trauma response. She knows it. She's been forcing herself to push through it, because it isn't helpful.]

Peace and prosperity!

Yes, I can meet you if you like. Are you free for it now?
- Tayrey

Thank you. Yes. I am in my room now. I will wait for your knock. -P. Starr

She arrives perhaps ten minutes later, and knocks sharply. Tayrey honestly can't guess what he wants to talk to her about. There's a creeping dread that somehow he knows, that someone on her team said something they shouldn't have. Peter Smith is the kind of man to warn her, before he tells Ava who will surely tell their enemy, she thinks.

She pushes down the fear. She'll deal with that problem if it arises. No sense in being tormented by her imagination before she hears it from Peter himself.

The young Tradeliner is looking a little healthier than before. The air of undernourishment and chronic sleep deprivation is gone, as are the bandages, if he's noted them before. She does wear a bandana tied over her head, though, because it might not need dressings any longer but it still doesn't look pretty, and she's allowed a little vanity. It'll be fine. She has a Tradeline device that can heal scar tissue once the inflammation's gone, her hair will grow back in over it, it'll be just fine. Eventually.

'Peace and prosperity!' she greets him again when he opens the door.

He opens the door and steps aside to allow her in.

"Peace and Prosperity. Thank you for coming. I appreciate your trust, as this is not a conversation I wanted to have where others might overhear."

The sofa has been cleared so there is room for the two of them to sit. He motions to invite her to pick a spot on it. He doesn't want to keep her standing while she is still recovering.

"Did you see that there is a new sign up sheet for an upcoming excursion?"

Tayrey takes the spot on the sofa that's nearest the door, sitting quickly, but when she hears his question, she almost immediately wishes that she'd stayed standing.

'I hadn't seen it,' she says warily. 'So that you aren't wasting your time, if you're looking to talk people into volunteering, my standpoint hasn't changed. I will not do anything to assist my captor.'

Like invite her own torture. A little blunt? Yes, but at least there's no ambiguity.

"You misunderstand my intentions," he says it flatly, not accusing, just stating it as fact.

"The way it was worded gives me a deep suspicion that it may have something to do with that place you saw in my memory. The Village."

The other timeline, she thinks, although she doesn't correct him. She can deal with time rifts that cause alternate timelines. The idea of someone being in her memory makes her feel like there's something crawling under her skin that she needs to rip out. Besides, there are details in the parallel memories she now has of the Tradelines that couldn't have been prompted by the original.

She's about to tell him that she'll support his right not to go and if anyone on his side of things has a problem with that then she'll-

No. That's jumping to yet another conclusion, and Tayrey has just done that twice in as many minutes and doesn't mean to repeat it. She nods, solemnly.

'What do you mean to do about it? How can I help?' Of course she'll help him, if she can. She knows what that place is. Like Tirva's oppression at its worst.

"I do not know." It takes a lot for him to admit that. "I called you to seek advice. If others go, I feel compelled to follow them. And Ava will feel compelled to follow me. If I try to tell them not to go, they will demand to know why. I am not sure I am prepared to answer, but it seems the truth of what I was may inevitably become common knowledge either way. What would you do?"

She takes this very seriously. If someone seeks her opinion, she won't give it lightly, and so for a moment she only sits, looking contemplative.

Then she speaks up. 'It's not the truth of what you are, or even what you were. It's what was done to you. What was forced on you. I understand not wanting to tell others. When I go home I won't speak a word about this place; I won't want the pity and everything else that goes with it. But this ship isn't me, and that village isn't you. You have no reason to be ashamed.'

Tayrey takes another breath, looking at him earnestly. 'And don't feel compelled. You know I'd prefer nobody went, but we also know that you won't stay or go on my say-so. You make your own decisions. If you do go, let it be because you've chosen to. Take that control, and it'll lend you strength and courage. But if you decide not to? You will have my full support, and that includes in fending off awkward questions. You don't owe it to anyone here to relive the worst parts of your life.'

Maybe this is why he sought her out. This is the talk he needed so badly to hear. And he knew she would not fail to give it. She understands in a way few can. And she is right. The Village does not define him. He is more than that. He's proven it time and time again.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You prove yourself wise beyond your years once more. I will consider it, and I know you will stand by your offer of support if I stay. If I do go, it will be to show that place that it never broke me."

Tayrey gives him a sympathetic look. 'It was a hard lesson for me. I doubt I'd have said the same if I met you shipside.'

She wouldn't have. Young Lieutenant Tayrey had been of the opinion that anyone with an ounce of courage would sooner die fighting than be taken captive, and that anyone who didn't had to suffer from some fault of character. The sort of belief you can convince your junior officers of if you train them from twelve or thirteen, not that she'd ever admit to any problem with that.

She knows, now, how much more complicated it is. To her sorrow.

'It didn't break you. I can see that. And I've taken it as my responsibility to look out for the people who stay behind.' The people who go have plenty of fuss made over them afterwards. Her priorities are different. 'Maybe - would it help to talk through what you're thinking, either way? A rational weighing-up of it?'

"Some of the most impactful lessons are learned through perilous experiences," he says with an understanding nod. "One discovers the shape of their own will under pressure. That can be valuable knowledge to have. You stand firm." It's one thing to claim to live by one's morals during easy times, it's much harder to do under the worst conditions, and yet she has.

"I'm glad you have taken that role. Someone needs to." He's being utterly sincere. He doesn't really believe that the ones who abstain have it easier, it's only hard in different ways.

"My thought... well. I feel that if the worst chapter of my past is going to be revealed for all to see, I'd rather be there to witness it. I want to know what they saw. I don't want to wait for them to tell me."

'I do. I stand by my principles.' She understands what he means. It's easy to talk from the safety of a Company Tower about what people in danger ought to do, but she doesn't take advice on Tradeline actions from anyone but Tradeliners. This isn't so far different. She knows what she's capable of now. That she can stand against opposition - and against her own doubts. It isn't lost on Tayrey that the reason she has to step up her own patrols and call on her friends to support her with them during excursions is that the other military types tend to go on them. Someone less steadfast might have joined them out of worry for her own reputation.

Not Tayrey. Because Peter Smith is right, someone has to think first of those who stay behind. Even in good times you don't send all your leaders on expedition at once and leave your ship vulnerable - and this is the very opposite of a good time.

'I think I understand,' she says then, slowly. 'You want to know what they know, just as you know how much I saw - and what I didn't.' She frowns. 'If your privacy is breached, you want to know by how far, and I can understand that, but my concern is - how much can it still hurt you? If you're treated the way you were before? Will knowing it isn't the real place make it easier?'

"Yes," he answers solemnly. "I need to know." Not just that. If others go to that place, they will be as helpless as he was the first time. He could do something. He could help, somehow.

That leads nicely to her next question. "The Village may try its hardest to break me, but I will have something this time that I did not the last, I will have allies I can trust. I will not be alone. I think that is what will make it easier."

The fact that Maximilien doesn't have laser vision is a crime, not that he'd use it to help Number 6 at all, but he'd like to have had the option to refuse to assist.

"Eager to be off the ship for a while?"

"The opposite," Number 6 snaps.

Does he dare tell Maximilien what he suspects? If he doesn't, Ava may.

"Take care if you sign yourself to this one. I have a terrible suspicion that I already know what waits for us."

Oh Peter is in a mood isn't he? Max would be hard pressed to contain the smirk he'd have if he had facial expressions.

"Well the alternative is staying on the ship, which is generally worse due to the sheer monotony." But he picks up on the fact that he probably knows more than he's saying. "What makes you say that?"

He's silent for a moment, deciding. No, not even to Max can he be this petty.

"'Be seeing you,'" he quotes, pointing at that line on the paper. "That is what they used as a salute in the prison I was held captive in. It was called The Village."

"Isn't that what humans refer to as a coincidence? It is a rather common saying." But then again, there's probably no such thing as coincidences here.

"So are you staying behind then?"

"I sincerely hope that's all it is." He will be truly overjoyed to be proven wrong just this once. But, deep in his gut, he can't bring himself to believe it.

"No. I am not. If this place is The Village, then I have unfinished business there. I would not blame you if you chose to abstain, however."

"I've been in prison before, as you're aware." The less he thinks about that the better - having conflicting data in the same space feels like he's going to error out.

"At some point no one will volunteer for these anymore, and the ship will again return to disrepair. I do hope we get to choose who is forced to endure them." he doesn't have many enemies anymore, but he also doesn't like very many people - it would feed his sense of superiority to subject them to torture that he doesn't have to witness for a few days.

"Yes, I remember. This is not the same as a prison. This place is...different. When I woke on this ship for that first week, I thought I was still in The Village, because the similarities were uncanny." Take that for what it's worth.

"I don't think you would enjoy watching the ship fall into such a state as much as you think. Not when you know how much it would devastate Ava to see it."

"Hmm." A hum of consideration because that says a lot without giving anything away. He'll have to remember that for the future.

"I do not want to. My point was that someone will have to suffer to keep the ship from collapsing, and I hope we get to choose who." He wants to vote on the torture. Spoiler: It's Jeff.

The last thing he wants to see is everyone on this ship explicitly pitted against one another to vote on such a thing. If that day ever comes, they will all be lost beyond saving.

"Be careful with that wish, lest it be you who is volunteered."

He doesn't seem perturbed by that, "I'd almost be insulted if no one tried to set me up in that way. But I do hope that this vacation you're worried about turns out to be nothing more than what it says on the sign."

"I hope so too. This is one time I would welcome being wrong." Even in front of Max. "I pray that I am."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Reacting to that excursion announcement

[Closed to Erin]

[Closed to Erin]

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

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