TEST DRIVE #1 - Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

You know how you were standing there, back in your home world, just minding your own business?

Time to forget all about that.

Instead of doing whatever the heck you were just doing, you're standing in the middle of this very stylish, sedate barroom. Happily, you're not alone there - in fact you're surrounded by people who seem to be as confused as you are...and some of them look a little, well unusual

Now would be a great time to do....well, something. Ask some questions of the person nearest you, throw a fit, stage a coup....maybe do a little exploring? No matter what you do, you're going to be here for a very long time.

For others might call it the USS Enterprise, but for the foreseeable future, you'll be calling it home.

[OOC: this test drive's open until the next app period.]

Comments

[stark_spangled]

It hurt.

He didn't think he could be angrier with the Red Skull. He stood against everything Steve stood for, tortured his best friend, took hundreds of lives, took seventy years away from him, his whole life. But in this moment?

It hurt.

Steve flushes with anger, and all at once it twists into sadness. She's looking at him with big, scared eyes. Her whole life has been this, and now he can see her slipping away. "No, don't--!" He starts to reach for her, and realizes what a bad idea that is. It hurt. Sighing, he runs his hand through his hair (it still feels weird, unnatural, no matter what Nat says it does for his cheekbones), and tries again. "Don't run. It's all right, I'll leave. There are other people here who can help you, I can go find one."

It would be better, anyway. Steve's too close to this, and more than anything Sinthia should feel safe.

[abyssum_invocat]

She's scared. She's never been scared before in her life, not of her father or of the experiments because she didn't know she should be afraid of him. She knew it hurt, and he always told her she'd behaved admirably because she didn't cry; she screamed.

Sinthia watches him reach for her, and she presses back half an inch until he stops. "Don't leave," she says hesitantly, after a minute. "I don't know anyone else here. Nobody looks like the people I know except you. I don't..." Her childlike shoulders move, arms wound about her waist. She's alone, and relieved and afraid and unsure what to do next, all at once. And Steve maybe understands a little bit about what she came from, so maybe she can trust him a little bit about this.

"Will you sit with me for a while?"

[stark_spangled]

He's surprised by the change of heart. Part of him feels like he should insist -- he's unraveling just a little, the edges of this moment bleeding into everything from his past, all the built-up anger and sadness and resentment -- but he's never been the kind of guy to walk away from somebody in need.

"Okay," he says, holding her gaze. She's safe. More than anything else, he wants her to know that. She's safe. "I can introduce you to some new people, if you like. Guinan is a friend. She can even get you some food, if you're hungry."

[abyssum_invocat]

"I don't...have any money," she says softly, still nervous. "I just don't want to be alone when I don't know where we are."

[stark_spangled]

He shakes his head a little. "You don't need it."

He's not an expert on the food replicators, but he knows his way around them in a pinch. The staff are pretty patient, taking only amusement at his blockheadedness as currency so far. "You're not alone, Sinthia. I can stay with you as long as you want me to, if you're sure that's what you want."

[abyssum_invocat]

"I don't want to be alone," she says, as if that's about the only thing she's sure of, because...well. It is.

"And I know you. Kind of." Maybe. She knows of him, and that counts.

[stark_spangled]

He can only nod when she repeats herself, because it's too difficult opening his mouth without something angry or upset tumbling out. He wonders if she just means she doesn't want to be alone here, or if she's been alone for a long time and is sick of it.

Whatever the case, it doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter who her father is. He won't leave her alone. "OK. Do you want to sit at a table? You can pick which one."

[abyssum_invocat]

She looks out at the room, tiny brows creasing the barest bit as she flicks her glance from one person to the next, hesitating only a few fractions of a second on each. She reads them all, listening in to their thoughts and their expressions as if she could pick which ones to avoid by such a short excursion into their heads.

Sinthia glances at Steve again, and she avoids reading him, looking away only a millisecond later. "The one by the windows," she says impulsively. "It looks pretty over there."