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Post by Red on Aug 23, 2014 13:44:03 GMT
Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Standing on the beach with his eyes closed, Theo could almost believe that he was back home, listening to the crash of waves and the sound of the wind. It lacked the cry of gulls or the once ever present sounds of the city he had grown up in. A part of him cursed what ever had possessed him to convince his family to let him go to space camp. On the other hand, his sister would have been going regardless of whether or not he was up there studying the station and the thought of Serenity trapped on her own on this alien planet was not one he cared to contemplate.
He still didn't know what to think or feel about this place. For all the alien nature of the plants and wildlife, it seemed that humans, for the people here were definitely fellow humans, weren't much different from the people of earth. With his arm currently in a sling to present to him a constant reminder of his injury, for otherwise he kept trying to use his arm for the numbing agent they had here was truly excellent stuff, there wasn't really much of Theo to do. He had always been someone who worked with his hands and having to keep one held still was not an easy thing.
Since he had been given a, mostly, clean bill of health, Theo was allowed to wander a little further afield than some of the other survivors were. Most often in these days since the crash his wanderings had found him at the beach, staring out at an ocean so like their own and yet, at the same time, so utterly alien and unfamiliar. His world had been turned upside down and inside out in an instant. No matter what a persons most base personality was like, it was not a situation which was easily overcome or moved past. Theo was trying though, even if some days it didn't feel like he was getting very far.
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Post by summerrain on Aug 23, 2014 15:16:40 GMT
Eternity was out again with the healer's black-colored flitter. Onyx was the color's name, so she'd been told. And the little flitter... Oh, what was his name again? Well, it didn't matter too much. He was just there to make sure nothing happened to her. And walking next to her was the little black puppy she'd found in a cave. As dirty as the puppy had been, black was her natural coat color. She was built stocky, muscular, like a guard dog, and Eternity wondered not for the first time if this puppy was the equivalent of being a rottweiler. She certainly didn't like strangers too much, but she was nice enough around the healers when it was time for Eternity's bandages to be changed. When the puppy was nearby, the girl almost seemed to transform. In fact, her personality had done almost a complete 180 since finding the tiny stray. There were times, even when she was with the puppy, that her eyes would darken, and she'd be hit with the reality that she was alone. That her sister was dead, and the rest of her family probably thought she was too. That she'd probably never see them again.
She'd asked one of the leathercrafters to make a collar for the puppy, and she'd asked it to have a loop on it somewhere so she could tie a woven cloth leash to it. They gave her strange looks, but almost all of them knew about the off-world strangers, so they didn't question it. Thankfully. It would've been weird to explain to them about how Earth had leash laws... Did they even know what laws were here?
Eternity looked up at a chirp from the flit on her shoulder, spying one of the other survivors. She was wearing a shorter skirt today, this one reaching her knees, and a dark green tunic. "Theo, good morning," she said to him. The little puppy, named Lucy, barked once, then went quiet. "Good girl," Eternity said, leaning down to pet her head. "Are you recovering well?" she asked the older boy.
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Post by Red on Aug 24, 2014 3:38:14 GMT
Theo's ears picked up the sound of someone approaching, the crunch and shift of sand under a person's feet. He didn't opened his eyes until they spoke to him, turning to look at the girl with a smile. "Good morning Eternity" He greeted her. Theo usually had a good head for names and he had put it to use in the time since the crash, doing all he could to learn the names of every one of those who had survived the accident.
"I'm well enough" Theo rubbed the fingers of his immobilised arm against one of the patches on bandages on his other arm. "I'll have some new scars, but as long as I remember to stop using my arm and let my shoulder rest, they tell me I'll heal up just fine" The shoulder wound had been the worst of Theodore's injuries, though he'd collected plenty of other nicks and cuts during his trip from the bowls of the station out to the rest of the survivors and then helping with rescuing the younger campers. Enough of them had been deep enough to warrant a bit of protective bandaging to keep him from getting anything in them.
"How are you doing?" The question was gently spoken, Theo's expression one of genuine concern for the young girl.
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Post by summerrain on Aug 24, 2014 4:05:01 GMT
"Thankfully, my concussion healed up pretty quick," Eternity responded. "Otherwise, they wouldn't be letting me out of their sight. Though, I do wish they'd trust me a bit more..." she rolled her eyes at the black flitter on her shoulder. "The healers don't let me leave the Weyr without having a flit on my tail... Pun not intended. As for scars, that gash in my leg is going to leave a good-sized one, but it didn't get deep enough to do any real damage."
The whole time she'd been speaking, her eyes had been a bit dark. Physically, she was healing up just fine. But her heart was still numb from the loss of the one person who had always been there. It would not be easy for any of them to move on from this. Lucy barked again, this time pawing at Eternity's leg. The girl bent over and picked up the little puppy. "Well, at least I've got you to help me," she said quietly. Lucy just looked up at her. She shook her head and began to pet the puppy's. "I found her right around here, you know. Poor little girl was all alone, hiding in a cave, and this guy here sensed her before I heard anything." She pointed to the black creature on her shoulder. "I was worried it would be something venomous, but I found a new friend instead." There was a hint of a smile on her face, but it didn't quite reach all the way to her eyes.
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Post by Red on Aug 24, 2014 6:12:12 GMT
Theo listened to Eternity speak, nodding as she explained that she wasn't allowed out without supervision, and then explained that the black mini-dragon, which the people here called a firelizard, was her supervision. Theodore presumed that it must belong to one of the healers. it certainly seemed quite a useful little thing to have, and it seemed better for Eternity's peace of mind to be accompanied by the little dragon creature rather than constantly followed about by a human or confined to the habited places where someone could watch her constantly.
He held his hand out to the puppy for her to sniff "She's quite friendly isn't she. She must be a stray rather than wild." He smiled at the pup "You're a lucky little thing" He told her "You've got yourself a good person there"
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Post by summerrain on Aug 24, 2014 15:27:08 GMT
"Yeah, she's a doll," Eternity said about the puppy. "She's getting big quick though, soon I won't be able to pick her up anymore." At Theo's words, the puppy barked once. "I'm already working on training her, but, well, I'm only having limited success. But that's to be expected with a stray. She was so scared when I found her, and now she's looking fantastic. It's amazing how something can transform in just a few days with a little loving care." Lucy licked at the hand that was held out to her.
"What're you doing out here? If you don't mind my asking," she added quickly. He was a full five years older than her, as old as Aster and Acacia. She had to remember that. Even if the people around here didn't really care too much about age differences, she had to keep the formalities for the sake of her sanity. If she gave everything up, she would be admitting that they would never get home. And she just couldn't handle that on top of everything else.
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Post by Red on Aug 25, 2014 3:14:04 GMT
Theo smiled when the puppy licked his hand, shifting to give her a scratch behind the ears. He'd always liked animals, though he'd never really had a pet. His father was allergic to cats and his mother disliked dogs. He'd had fish, and some small birds, but you couldn't really play with them or hug them when upset.
"I grew up near the coast" He said when he was asked why he was on the beach. "If I close my eyes and just listen, it's almost like home. No gulls though" His smile had a sad look to it now "Never thought I'd miss hearing gulls screeching."
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Post by summerrain on Aug 25, 2014 18:46:19 GMT
"Oh... Yeah, I grew up in the city, close to the NASA headquarters," Eternity told him. "My... My father was actually working the control room for the camp..." she admitted. "Mom was probably at work, she was almost always on-call... I... I never actually saw much of my parents..." She went quiet, closing her eyes and holding Lucy close. The black-colored flit on her shoulder nudged her neck with his nose. She may not have been His, but he had spent enough time as her chaperone to notice the subtle shifts in her emotions that played on her face.
"Mom's a nurse at the Sam Houston Area Hospital," she explained quietly. "It was a bit of a drive from the house, but mom was always happy to be able to help people..." She put Lucy on the ground. "Hey, can you hold this?" she asked, handing the makeshift leash to Theo. "I was always a good actress, I started when I was only in elementary school." She stepped away, then spun around to face Theo and began to recite from a play that had been written by one of the students at Lone Star College. It was a script they had been planning on performing just after school started, and she'd had the lead.
The plot of the play was that a normal high school girl from just a decade or two ago got kidnapped on her way home. She manages to escape, saving her father from paying the ridiculous sum of money the kidnappers demand as ransom.
How can it be, that I am alone here, with no means of escape? Surely, father will return to free me from this prison... They demand a ransom, though I am not from the most well-off family in this city... If money was all they were after, they should have taken Maria, who lives but down the street. Her father owns half the city, surely he has more money than my father... Wait... Oh, they are not smart at all. They whisper just outside the door... Oh, it isn't the money after all! They want father! ... But... What has father done to these men? He retired from the police force just last year... Oh! These are the men he arrested before I was born, I read about them in the paper. Oh, father, you can't! They'll kill you if you try to bargain with them! Surely he remembers these men... Surely he remembers the men that tried to capture Mother before they married... Oh, they're gone. Well, I should best pretend to sleep until they come with that slop they call food. If I work this just right, I can escape! Then I can save Father and Mother!
Eternity bowed slightly, smiling. "What do you think?" she asked.
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Post by Red on Aug 27, 2014 4:36:39 GMT
Theo took the leash when it was offered to him, crouching down to pet the puppy as he watched Eternity. His pale blue eyes remained focused on the girl, watching to see what she was going to do next. When she began to speak, it was clear she was reciting something from memory. It seemed to be a part of a play, though it was not any story which Theo was familiar with.
When Eternity had finished her recitation, Theo began to clap. The sound was soft, thanks mostly to the awkwardness of movement which came from only have one arm fully mobile. "Well done" Theo told the girl as he stood back up "I'm impressed. I was never much good at drama class myself. I preferred to be working the scenery rather than doing the acting. I take it you were the lead?" The part whose lines she had spoken certainly sounded like it was a leading role.
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