(no subject)

[victormakesart]

Vic's been spending time on the spa planet, not to do spa things, but to spend time barefoot with the birds people, to meditate, and try to be less miserable.

But everytime she sees one of the little feathered kids, with their round healthy bellies, she can't help thinking about a few nights ago, the rescue mission, what was on the floor.

She's been spending a lot of time helping them garden the greens and harvest the rocks that give them the calcium that they need. But she needs another perspective, needs to get out of her head.

So she invited a military man over, someone who might know what she's going through. She doesn't want to burden Cole, Clark's been through enough, and she's sure James wouldn't even know what to say to her.

Most of the swelling has gone out of her face, now there's just a purplish bluish blotch on her right cheek. She waits.

Comments

[victormakesart]

"Oh, I can't even imagine how lovely those would be."

[jarheadclan]

"I'd invite ya but there's all kinds of health risks for humans. You gotta take iodine pills and stuff. It only happens once a year though so it's safe to visit, or as safe as it gets on Pandora anyway."

[victormakesart]

"You should see if maybe you can videotape it?"

[jarheadclan]

He pauses for a moment to puzzle out the old terminology - they haven't used physical storage media for years, where he's from, and 'taping' has fallen out of vogue. "Not a lot of ways to shield recording tech from radiation still but I'll see what I can do."

[victormakesart]

She gives his arm a little kiss to say thank you, and then she says, "Thank you. I bet it's gorgeous. I still haven't even been up to see the northern lights, and that's my own darn planet."

[jarheadclan]

"Heh, neither have I." He rubs his knuckles on top of her head, in not-quite-a-noogie.

[victormakesart]

She bats at his hand, laughs. "One day I'll get up there, and videotape the northern lights for you."

((Shall we plot, perhaps?))

[jarheadclan]

"Sounds like a deal. Betcha the Long Night is way more awesome."

((maybe in a bit, I'm home from my shopping trip but running around doing chores and errands still))

[victormakesart]

"What's the Long Night? Is that the plasma storm thingy?"

((Take your time! Just poke me on AIM when you're ready (I'm invisible).))

[jarheadclan]

He nods. "Yeah, 'cuz it lasts for a week solid. Something about passing through the planet's dark side and its electromagnetic field thing."

[victormakesart]

"Woah! My darlin' dear, that's phenomenal. Didja know the northern lights can be seen from space?"

[jarheadclan]

"That's what I've heard. By the time we made orbit outta Earth though, they were already stickin' us in cryo."

[victormakesart]

"A long, long ride. What did it feel like comin' out of cryo?"

[jarheadclan]

He laughs a little. He once answered that same question for the videologs, and gives the same answer to start. "Like a fifth of tequila and an asskicking. Thirsty, hungry, a bit wobbly because of the zero-G, but I did way better than a lot of others."

[victormakesart]

"That's kinda how I felt, coming out of stasis, though I wasn't sure if that was a been-dead thing or a stasis thing."

[jarheadclan]

"How long were you in for?"

[victormakesart]

"A week. Well. Technically I was dead for a few minutes. Put back to bein' barely alive for a week."

[jarheadclan]

"Ouch. That sucks."

[victormakesart]

"It was terrifying. A slow death, with my babies there with me, and my boyfriends. And everyone I work with."

[jarheadclan]

"Good thing that's over with."

[victormakesart]

"Majorly good. And that the girls were so young they won't even remember."

[jarheadclan]

"At least it was only a week, right? I was in for five years."

[victormakesart]

"Shoot, yeah, five years has gotta be crazy rough. I, personally, don't mind bein' out of commission for a week, I just minded, y' know, the dying part. And thinkin' that I'd be dead forever."

[jarheadclan]

"You were, uh, aware of it?"

[victormakesart]

"I knew I was dying, yeah. It was an excruciating process... all my organ systems shut down, one by one. And after my last breath, I was gone. I didn't know about the coma and stasis thing 'til later, after they brought me back. It was all... nothing."