Elite roleplay: Off station

OFF STATION

Your ship, deep space, anything that is not happening inside the Citi Gateway or Ingaba...

General Roleplay Etiquette:
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Inara RP Etiquette:
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Other Notes:
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26 Feb 2024, 1:08pm
“So I shouldn’t go to that place… if I want to look around?”

I gave her a brief look in the face before lowering my head again. Partly, that just seemed to be my ‘natural’ position in this pose.

“I tried to look for something using the image of it, but I was not sure if it was the right one when I found something that looked like it. And… those descriptions do look a little like who I saw. Except for that ‘detective’… I don’t remember anything, but I also feel… nothing. Maybe a lack of interest.”

I sighed.

“I’m sorry for not talking very quickly, or normally. The doctors said my brain is damaged because of what happened when I fought against the Thargoids in my head, and it is still getting ‘fixed’. Apparently, memories will help with it.”
26 Feb 2024, 1:21pm
"No worries," I replied in a soft tone, "I understand, go at your own pace."

"The Inara Bar...", I drew a few vague circles in the air with my finger as if to indicate a 'location', a 'room', "Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea to go there now. People went from occasionally slapping each other with beer mugs to firearms, toxin injectors and explosives. This isn't a bar anymore, but a warzone. Or, was. Before it, obviously, had become empty."

"And the picture in your memory might be absolutely abstract, just some kind of a bar," a few more circles in the air appeared, yet then I pressed a finger against the side of my head, like, 'in thoughts'. "Then the associative processes will draw relevant pictures. If the memory is present, but deeply buried, or blocked out, a path to it might be a bit tricky. However, well... I'm not a doctor. Some of those memories are better to be rediscovered under supervision. So, feel free to stop me if you feel uncomfortable."

"And you don't have to be sorry," I nodded with my eyes slowly closing and then opening again, "Considering the damage, I believe that you're doing your best."

I sighed deeply and stared somewhere to the side, at nowhere.

"We all do our best, even if our battlefields are so much different..."
26 Feb 2024, 1:39pm
“I am… trying. I can think well. But talking sometimes… doesn’t. Maybe sleep also has to do with it. I sometimes wake up tired and it makes me very lazy.”

Demonstratively, I lay down for a little bit, taking the care to align myself with the pillow tower under my waist, and appropriate consideration for my hip size in the arm placement. Then I heaved myself back up into the previous position, the sounds I gave off not helping in trying to conceal the effort involved, because of how heavy my chest was.

“Maybe the body makes me lazy, too. It is big and takes a lot of energy to move around, but I would not want it any other way, now.”

I decided to force myself to look at Ina’s face for a little longer.

“I don’t want to be… rude, when I don’t want to look. It is just… maybe I don’t like very tall people that much.”

I took a deep breath.

“Anyway, maybe I will avoid that bar, then. Unless I feel like I can… find memories there. I think the doctors had it rebuilt in the VR machine to help me with them, instead of picking just any. But maybe I would have liked to go there to see what people think of …”

I gestured at the overall form of my body. There was certainly no doubt it would elicit some kind of reaction, but if no one I knew in the past was there… there wasn’t much of a point in going to that place.
26 Feb 2024, 1:59pm
Kasumi's movements made me finally realise what that stack of pillows was supposed to do, against my first thoughts of 'she just likes to keep them like that when not in use', and that ingenuity amused me to the level when I couldn't suppress a smile.

"Phah, so that's why you need the pillows... Pfffft! That's brilliant, really."

Such an example of pillow engineering almost made me miss the phrase regarding 'tall people'. I didn't, yet I also didn't want to criticise her for anything.

"Ah, tall people, short people... Over-exaggeratedly curvy women... Phah," I waved my hand lightheartedly, "That's one of the things that makes a human a good person. An ability to understand other people's oddities and not harm them if said oddities don't harm anyone in the first place."

"You'd be a highlight, that's for sure," I pointed a finger-pistol at Kasumi for a short moment and winked, "Folks here at Aegis might've been used to any kinds of strange people, but take your generic basic common usual dull Joe or Jane, I bet you'd be a source of countless heart attacks and divorces."

Then, her interest in common folks' reactions gave me another hint.

"So... If you want to go there... You haven't been outside the Aegis complex? Even the city? Do they forbid going outside?"
26 Feb 2024, 2:17pm
"I did go outside, once. I think... it was at the end of last month? Maybe. I think my brain still has to work on memory, a little, too. Or maybe I was always forgetful. I can't say. But I'm not forbidden, and there was a lot of looks going my way. One person even asked how I got this big and where I got it done. But I had to say that it wasn't like that... then I helped her find somewhere good for it."

I looked at the pillow tower behind me.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep well without this. I found out on my first night sleeping in... proper gravity. Because this space ..." I moved a hand behind my waist, just above where the curve of my backside started. "... is not very comfortable. Or healthy. It pulls the spine down. And there is a lot of weight on my chest, so ..."

I also pointed at more pillows, though not stacked nearly as high, roughly at chest level.

"I borrowed them from the living room. I tried to sleep in other poses, like on the side. But these ..." That pointing finger moved back to the breast. "... are too heavy for that, too, and it is not fun when they hang down. And lying on them... no. Just... no."

I shook my head to accompany the end of that explanation. I did feel quite proud of my little pillow assembly, even if it had to look really weird to someone else, and it reflected in my tone. Maybe my eyes, too. And maybe this Ina was doing something right for me to feel comfortable to speak of these things without it being too weird.
26 Feb 2024, 2:32pm
"No sarcasm, no shit, that's really brilliant, I tell you," I gave the pillow construction another look, secretly being a fan of pillows. "And I had to drop a heckload of mattresses right on the floor in order to sleep. Stacks of four to withstand the weight, three of them side to side to be long enough. That makes it twelve. I sleep on twelve mattresses. And my room is really friggin small, like, I can touch both opposite walls if I stretch out on the floor. At least in one direction, width, length, whatever."

Actually, I didn't think of numbers stacking them on the floor in my room, thinking more of geometry, measurements and 'I don't want them to be squished so hard that my back would still feel the floor'.

"Twelve of these things, ah hells... Pfffft," I couldn't suppress a chuckle. "Improvise, adapt, overcome dammit..."

"Yeah, you might attract a lot of attention with... That kind of body," I returned back on track and nodded towards Kasumi. "Might as well think of self-defence options. I remember, like, you, old you, you were quite decent on the field of beating and shooting all kinds of arseholes. Back then, when we both helped Silvia... That thing actually included a lot of fighting. A damn lot. And you did wonderful. Though maybe you have to relearn everything now. Can't say it's bad however. Maybe that VR-kit could be of any help too."
26 Feb 2024, 2:50pm
“I have been training to learn how to fight, actually. But it’s… very different. I can’t move around as quickly, not just because I’m heavy. But I thought at some point, why not try to use the weight?”

I chuckled lightly at the thought of me slamming into someone, as I had done in VR.

“So instead of trying to just dodge, which kind of only works for bigger, slower opponents now, I could withstand hits more easily from… someone who is more the size that I was. And I can tackle people. It… looks a lot less heavy than it actually is.”

I blushed slightly. That subject of weight was one I still didn’t feel too fond of, not so much in the uncomfortable as just embarrassingly stupid way. And I kind of hoped the question of ‘how much’ wouldn’t come up, even if I expected it to.

As if that embarrassment wasn’t yet obvious enough, the glyph on my right hand lit up in orange as well, though a different tone compared to the one when I was uncomfortable, and it remained ‘solid’, instead of pulsing between darker and slightly brighter slowly.
26 Feb 2024, 3:14pm
"Yeah, using the weight, that's a good way," I nodded. "I've been using the same method before from time to time, and now... Well. Let's say it might be more effective."

Once we skimmed the topic of body weight, I noticed Kasumi's Thargoid-like sign glowing again, in an orange hue. And that piqued my interest, even more than talking about turning bad guys into inanimate flat objects using your weight.

"That... Thing on your hand," I pointed my finger at the sign, "Does it somehow reflect your thoughts? Emotional state? Mood? I noticed it glowing with different colours... Do they mean something?"

Colours, colours, glowing elements... Invisible to her, I switched my vision to IR while looking at the sign but it seemed to me like it didn't emit anything in that spectrum, staying within the visible range only. At least for now. And then I remembered another thing I wanted to check. Thermals. Even with the snow white skin colour her body temperature was absolutely human-normal, and I didn't even know how to react, like, I wouldn't be surprised seeing her cold as the same snow, but how...

"...and the skin colour... You don't look sick. You don't look frozen cold. I'm quite confused if you ask me, like, your skin may be super thick and white-coloured artificially now, or you have white paint for blood."

I made a deep sigh, signalling that I, actually, don't even know what to think.

"...Really, you may be an interesting phenomenon for all those doctors and scientists around. Sorry, again, if I ask too much. That's just so... Weird. But, you know, in a good, or at least neutral kind of weird. I'm glad to see you being comfortable here and, khm... In good health whatever good health means for you now. Memories will come back. I had a little amnesia period too."


Last edit: 26 Feb 2024, 3:21pm
26 Feb 2024, 3:32pm
"The glyph... it seems to reflect emotional or mind state, I think. It just... happens. I don't control it. And the color kind of reflects what is going through me. Like yellow when I'm uncomfortable. But maybe it also shows colors when I feel in danger. And I think the way it shows also matters. Like it doesn't pulse when I just feel uncomfortable, and stays solid. Or is more vibrant for... good feelings. But I'm not sure why it does this or why it appeared."

My brain was beginning to hurt trying to figure that out for myself, so I didn't go into that further, for now.

"And the skin... I don't know. I remember the doctors saying it had something to do with pigments going missing, because it was... changed, to not-human. I don't know how else to say it. But why it did this, I don't know either. But my blood is the same, and I don't think the skin is more thick now. No one said it was. Everyone in the hospital tells me I am doing well, too."
26 Feb 2024, 3:47pm
"Glad you're doing well," I smiled, sincerely. "There are awesome doctors here at Aegis, believe me. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be sitting here on your floor talking nonsense and asking you lots of stuff... Even considering that you can't remember who I am, but, yeah, you aren't to blame."

Since I knew she didn't like to make eye contact, and, honestly, I thought the same most of the time, my eyes were either staring somewhere at the interior or slowly wandering around, but there was a certain thing in the room that had... its own gravity field.

"And, regarding sitting on things, I guess hard seats aren't a problem for you anymore, phah."
26 Feb 2024, 4:57pm
“Sitting on anything isn’t a problem, I think. It is… very soft. Like a built-in cushion. As long as the surface is clean …”

I took a deep breath, and suddenly found my head a little too full of noise, to the point of being painful. Prompting me - and my gaze - to go a little absent as I went looking ‘inward’.

Can you make this noise shut up?, I directed at ‘Kira’. I can’t think like this, and I want to talk to her.

One sec. I’ll fix this. If it is by giving this implant a mental kick.

She withdrew fully into the biomechanical device, which also made my brain kind of go into an unresponsive state, leaving me… a little open to any kind of approach with the aim of having some weird fun.
26 Feb 2024, 6:48pm
What happened next had me a little confused. To say politely. Kasumi just got... Stuck. In the middle of a phrase she was going to say. Like a glitched or overloaded computer. Or when it suddenly discovers an operation system update. No response on literally anything. One second, two, three...

"Hey, Kasumi?... Hey?.. Kas?... Are you there?", nah, no result. She either couldn't hear me, or could, but couldn't respond being deeply in a stupor the reason of which I didn't know, at all.

I came closer and sat on the floor next to the bed to check her vitals. She breathed steadily and at a normal rate, her pulse was absolutely fine, along with the body temperature, and even the pupil reactions, I didn't have a flashlight on me, but closing her eyes with a hand for a moment and then rapidly opening had shown some results.

"Bloody godsdamned stupid hecks full of shit," I vocalised my initial diagnosis in a form of quiet muttering and paused for a second once more, thinking what to do. Like, I could contact the nurse using the door terminal, but then there was another thing I haven't tested yet. Physical stimuli.

First, I touched her nose with my index finger. No response. I pressed it a little and held it like that for a few moments. Zero point zero. I did it again, now accompanying my actions with a quiet, almost whispering "boop" as a comment. Nothing, again.

Hm.

She said that her new... Body shape was miraculously 'created' by the implant, the only 'new' thing she did was eating a lot during that phase, but it didn't make her classically-obese. So, I thought, maybe, just maybe, by a wild wacky coincidence, her implant could react to something if that something affects the zones the implant is, or was, responsible for.

Absolutely, medically impartial, cold and detached, with that 'doctor and patient' approach... Or, at least to the degree I could imitate it... I pressed the index finger against her breast. "Boop!" Didn't work. Another boop , a little stronger and with a louder 'sound effect' this time. And, another one.

Shit, if that won't work in a minute or two, I'm going to call the doc.

Boop. Boop. Boop. Boop. Boop.


Last edit: 26 Feb 2024, 6:56pm
26 Feb 2024, 8:31pm
Things got quiet in my head again, and it was like someone hit the on switch for my brain again.

“Sorry, I - “

Wait.

That funny two and a half meter giant was no longer sitting in front of me. I noticed that. But the sensations returning to my body informed me of something quite noticeably deforming and tingling one of my breasts, even before my eyes noticed her to my side.

“Hey!”

My right hand, after that kind of offended outcry, swatted at that much bigger one, even if that had little chance of actually dislodging it. I moved back to create distance between me and the intruding finger, knocking over the pillow tower, as if there wasn’t enough for me to dislike about this situation. My arms also moved into a protective ‘shielding’ position over the front of my breast, as well as they could cover its big size. The right one being over the left, that clearly showed the offended and somewhat displeased, deep blue glow of my glyph. Likewise, such an expression was on my face.

“Was that really necessary?”
27 Feb 2024, 11:14am
"Ow. Ooow!" I flinched back, staring at Kasumi and her sudden 'reactivation'.

"I was... Eeeeh... Checking if you're still there. You were talking and then just... Uh. Switched off. So, I checked your vitals, which were totally fine, and then, um... Then I thought...," I depicted a couple of boops in the air with my finger.

"...Then I thought maybe... Uh, physical stimuli could, you know, wake you up. Get you back here. Whatever. So, with, um... No reactions on the nose, I went to the zone that... Well... You said your implant had grown them on you by itself, so I thought... If it's responsible for them, maybe... Uh... It could react better this way."

"So, uh... Sorry, yeah," placing both arms on my chest, I lowered my head slightly, apologising. "I thought if that won't work for like a minute... I'd call the doc."

"And that 'boop' sound was, like, uh... Ah, okay, there's no explanation for it except my own weird way of thinking it's funny."

Now this was embarrassing. I'd blush if I could maybe.
27 Feb 2024, 12:06pm
“Don’… don’t do that again.”

I provided her with quite an unhappy look at that intrusion of, or into, private body parts.

“It didn’t even help. I was …” How to explain this? “… I needed things to be quiet in my head, so I could think. And I waited for it to be, but it… sometimes, it just happens. Something inside the implant pulls ‘out’ and my brain just doesn’t work very well until it comes back.”

I shook my head and backed off a little further, putting my arms around my knees again. The blue glow on the implant persisted though, for the moment, because I wasn’t finding this very funny.

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