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Who: Brianna Randall (

givingback) & OPEN
What: Heading back to where everyone's hanging out in stasis.
When: September 12th.
Where: The Station
Warning(s): death of a parent conversations likely.

[ It's not even mid-month yet, and already, Bree's had a more exhausting September than she's ever had in her life. Her mother? Possessed - literally. That would be enough, but the ghosts, the wailing, the missing of the dead was all too much. Enough to push Bree into finally getting back to the station, back to where everyone is still in stasis.

It's not hard to find the room once there, and as she stares at all the pods she wonders how they choose who gets to wake and who doesn't. A daughter needs her father with her, right? Or maybe it's enough that she has her mother. Maybe it's enough that she has a father she doesn't even know well yet. Walking among the pods, she finds Frank easily enough. His glasses are on his face and she closes her eyes for a second against a laugh that's half amusement half...something else. ]

Can't forget your reading glasses.

[ She murmurs that softly, touching the pod feather lightly before looking up at his sleeping (?) face. ]

You have no idea how much I miss you. Sometimes, back home, it still felt like a dream. I keep walking back through that day because it seems so impossible. You were alive in the morning when I came downstairs. You were alive when I went to the library. You were alive when I was at the movie. And then you weren't. You were just gone. You were gone in between me buying popcorn and watching Tunga Khan executing all the missionaries. It isn't fair.

[ Taking a deep breath and wiping away a tear, she slides down and sits on the floor right by his pod. And she talks to him. About everything. He probably can't hear her, but she tells him she knows about Jamie, about the stones and all the rest of it, talking to him for hours before finally sounding like she's wrapping up. ]

I wish they would wake you up. I'm here, and we could have more time together. All you have to do is wake up, dad.

[ She's not even aware that anyone else has entered the room with her, sitting with her knees curled up to her chest. ]

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[Claire's perfectly content to keep holding her daughter like this. She'd prefer it not be right in front of Frank's sleeping face, but she's not about to pry Bree away.]

House? [Yikes.] Well... we didn't really have a house. More or less, right when I got back, we set out on a ship for some months.

[There was a brief stay at a brothel, and then Lallybroch, but... those weren't home. Lallybroch wasn't even home anymore.]

It's not at all the same kind of life, is it? Do you like that better, or is it just a part of it, I guess?

[ She isn't sure if there's a calm version of this or if her mother simply gets into a lot of tough situations, more than normal. ]

Well. [Claire sighs, fingers twirling one of Bree's newly freed curls.] I was hoping for an actual home, going back, but it is different there. I loved our home in Boston, but there was always something that felt... not quite complete about it.

[They bought a home, then. They didn't make one. She's not sure if that's the difference or not.]

[The station is not Caleb's favored terrain but he's here because Nott wanted to check on the rest of the Nein and since neither of them particularly like the station...well. Safety in numbers.

While Nott checks up on the others, Caleb wanders the rows of pods. He hasn't spent all that much time in here, primarily because it just makes him...uncomfortable. But on the other hand he wants to know exactly who from his world has been deemed ready to be woken up. Eventually. (He also has some vague thoughts about what he might do if he found certain people. But only vague. He's still trying to be on good behavior.)

He doesn't find any of those people. What he does find is a young woman spilling her heart out to a man resting in a tube.

He'd meant to leave her in peace, because emotion is not Caleb's forte. Neither are people. But then she says that last thing. And well. Perhaps Caleb has a thing. About families. About parents. And the way she phrased a certain thing....

For a few long moments, he's indecisively caught. Now would be the perfect time to have Frumpkin curl up into her lap but it's just Caleb. And his imperfect social skills. He begins to walk as if he's moving away from her, his steps quiet.

Until he deftly hooks his foot under an errant cable. Which pitches him forward. He manages not to actually fall flat on his face, but there's a loud painful thud as his knee hits metal and his throws his arms out to catch himself. Caleb curses unde his breath, and then picks himself back up, turning in Bree's direction.]

Sorry, sorry. I was trying not to disturb you.

[Because, you know, he couldn't just approach her like a normal human being.]

[Procreation is a step ahead of where Richie's head went. Most refugees were more worked up about keeping their heads above water. Settling hasn't been on anyone's agenda, and almost nobody's been awake for more than a year.]

Is it really? I wouldn't want kids — anybody's kids — running underfoot when there's a beast like Ysevrai waiting to pick them off. Things look more peaceful now, but... [He trails off with a shrug. It's a tenuous situation and a thrice broken land. He wouldn't trust that Olympia and Wyver could link pinkies for peace longer than a few months.

Her recollection of the fish woman gets a curious pop of the brows and a quick,] How about that, magic being useful for once. [but the god bit?]

Thor. [He cocks his head. All right. Well. Diana had been a real life Amazon. Maybe there was a world adjacent where the old myths held water. Funny how no one's come back raving about Moses or Kali. Is European culture the only kind getting a pass?] Funny you should say that, I tossed a dog biscuit at Anubis just last week. How do you know for sure? Did he summon a lightning bolt, do a little smiting?

[Sometimes Roxas goes to pod storage to visit Namine, with or without Axel. At first it felt strange to talk to someone who couldn't talk back, but it started feeling more normal over time. And sometimes he goes for no particular reason, with no particular destination in mind. (That's a lie, whispers a voice in the back of his head. You know who you're looking for. Three sleeping faces that wouldn't recognize him even if they did open their eyes.

When he crosses paths with other people doing the same, he doesn't usually do more than nod at them in passing. But usually he doesn't come across someone who's crying. He hesitates for a moment, torn between saying something and turning to leave her be. But what if she's hurt or something?]

Oh, I'm sorry. Are you—are you okay?

[ Bree jumps at the sudden commotion, and for a second she looks at this person getting ready to sprawl out face first and she's moving to help him even as he manages to get up. ]

Are you okay? I mean, it's fine, you didn't, I didn't even realize you were here. Maybe you should sit down for a second.

[ Bree wipes all of her tears away the best she can, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, nodding. It's a lie she can't maintain though, she stops mid-nod. ]

I will be.

[ Eventually. ]

There's just a uh...a lot going on that I wish my dad was here for. That's all.

... He was dead?

[It wasn't the first time Sanzo had heard of such things happening. But this was his first time coming face-to-face with one of these "revived refugees", even if he was still in a state of stasis himself.

Walking in closer, Sanzo took a moment to look and really take in the appearance of the man this girl was mourning.

So this was her father, huh?]

Perhaps it won't be. But it's also just as likely that he may come back as well. These situations, the healing process with these pods, it's unpredictable in how they work. But he would not be the first one to come back from a brush with death.

Until then, it is futile to get hung up on it all. It is good to remember and mourn, but you must also keep moving forward with your life as well.

[They were common words for those who had dealt with such loss, but that didn't stop them from being any truer.]

Our moving forward is the only thing that separates us from those trapped here.

Oh.

[Her dad. What does he know about dads? Roxas feels as though he's stumbled onto something really personal, something he shouldn't be here for. But instead of making a quick excuse and backing away, his gaze drifts to the man in the pod across from her.]

Is that your dad? I'm sorry. It really stinks to have to wait for someone to wake up.

Well, for one you didn't have the husband you wanted.

[ She doesn't think at all for a second that Claire would trade being with Bree or raising her, but she really did leave so much behind. ]

And even with me, you still missing Fergus.

[ He raises a good point. She isn't sure what the actual right answer is. It's just a lot off the table that she was never old enough to consider wanting or not before the world ended apparently. ]

I guess it doesn't really matter, anyway. It is what it is, right?

[ She shrugs just a little, raising her eyebrows. ]

The three-headed dog? Is he just...here? Is he someone's pet? How's that work, exactly? And as far as Thor goes, we talked a lot, about his world, about him. Maybe he was lying but he sure knew a lot.

For months.

[ If he ever did wake up, what would she tell him? She would stay with him, she thinks. As hard as it might be for Claire, Frank would be all alone, he'd need someone. ]

My mother was here over a year before I came out of stasis. All this time, I thought she was in Scotland. I thought I was back home, going to school, but I guess it was in my own mind. However that works.

[ She gets what's being told to her and she looks over. ]

I was doing an okay job in my mind, I think. I was happy again. Then I woke up and so much was different.

I don't even understand how it'll work if he does. He was dead for months before all of this, I watched them put him into the ground.

[ She frowns, supposing that answers the question of who the man in stasis is. ]

I don't understand how that works. How can you change death?

No. No, of course, I do not know him.

[ That would be absurd, really. He'd no idea of Claire's other life until he'd woken up here, and how could he know anything of Bree's twentieth century father? ]

He ... Resembles a man. That is all.

No matter where I was, I was going to be missing something. Or someone. There was no winning, Bree.

[She could never have her daughter and her husband--the husband she truly loved. To have one meant giving up the other.]

[ my father died.

now that's something kathryn can relate to in ways she wishes she couldn't. she lost her own father some time ago, back when she was just an ensign wearing science blues. it had been quite the traumatic experience for her, one an invasive non-corporeal lifeform they'd encountered in the depths of the delta quadrant had seen fit to exploit for its own benefit. and while the loss of her father in that shuttle accident on tau ceti prime wasn't something she enjoyed revisiting or being reminded of, like most things, she buries it. she shoves her own discomfort and pain aside to focus on this girl's. ]

I am so sorry to hear that, [ she says gently, moving to squat before the younger woman. ] That couldn't have been easy for you.

A year... So you're still fairly new here yourself.

[He had forgotten that there were so many people who had woken up, who were so comfortable with the lives they lived before this, that suddenly being thrown into El Nysa was such a hard thing to conceive. Of course, he still had difficulty believing that his own world was now completely gone. But at least he was used to such change. He was used to being flung from one crazy random event to the next and moving on with it all.]

And your mother is here. Nearly as long a some of the first batch of refugees.

[Like him. It's so strange to think it's been more than a year.]

That means you have plenty of time to adjust, and you have someone you know to help you through it all. It also means he has plenty of time to come back to you.

[Maybe.]

You're lucky. There are so many people from so many worlds here. It's good that you found him.

[Well, that definitely attracted her attention. Which Caleb meant it to. But he didn't mean for her to be this concerned. A miscalculation.]

Ah, nein, I'm not hurt, it's alright. [He holds up his hands, a sort of placating gesture.] Please, don't worry. I don't want to interrupt your time.

[His eyes flicker back towards the pod she'd been sitting by.]

[Roxas' eyes go wide before his expression turns sympathetic. But he knows exactly how that kind of surprise feels—the only difference is that his best friend apparently gets a post-death second chance outside of this world anyway. That doesn't change the impact of his death, though.]

I don't know. It doesn't make sense.

[He takes a step closer, looking toward the man in the pod. He looks like he'd be a nice person, or maybe that's just what Roxas wants to see in his face.]

The Natha saved someone I knew who died, too. I didn't know what to think when I saw him again.

[ Bree studies Fergus intently for a second. It's not a good shock of surprise on his face, and she tries to connect pieces of what her mother's told her to what Fergus is saying now. ]

An ancestor, maybe. Mama mentioned something along those lines.

[ For some reason, that makes Bree want to comfort her mother, a reversal of their momentary roles, and she tightens her arms this time around Claire. ]

I know. It's okay, you don't...you never have to worry about whether or not I understand that part, because I do.

[ She may wonder about how Claire and Frank's love functioned, how it was different from the way she loved Jamie. But she doesn't really fault the decision making anymore. It was a situation no one had the right answer for. She gets that now. ]

[ Bree looks up, swallowing and inhaling as she nods. As she exhales, she rubs her face with her hands. ]

So much changed in such a short amount of time, but I had to be the strong one for everyone.

[ She should stop talking, she knows she should. Pouring her heart out to a stranger isn't what the other person signed up for, probably. So, she does look just a little apologetic now. ]

I'm sorry, I'm too old for this, probably.

[ To be found crying on the floor, she means. ]

I only woke up two months ago. Something like that.

[ It's getting harder and harder to track time the longer she's here. ]

But...are you saying people only started to wake up about a year ago, a little longer?

[ Bree didn't realize that, and she doesn't even know if it matters in the grand scheme of things. She looks back at her father and nods in acknowledgment. ]

I had to look for a while.

You weren't really interrupting anything but my wallowing. I should find something else to occupy my time before I can go back. I'm probably too...[ mature? too dramatic? ] ...old to sit here like this, acting like a child.

[ A kid who misses her dad. It's natural, but in front of a person now, it seems immature, whiny even. ]

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also....super late....

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lot of people walking in on her having a moment but here's another one

I ACCEPT

it's what she gets for doing this in public!!!

obviously you're targeting him or something of the sort. How cruel~

yeah bree GOD why don't you know better!!!!!

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