poly_chromatic | [video]

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— iece of crap. [ There's grumbling as the viewscreen jostles, bright blue (bloodshot) eyes squinting into it curiously. The would-be handsome face glances away a moment later, eyebrows pulled together; he's sick or was prior to arriving, more worn out from the exertion of walking than any young man ought to be. ] Alright, good. You'll do for the time being.

This is Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise ordering any and all Federation crewmen to report back with the location of the nearest Starfleet outpost. I'm off-world when I shouldn't be. This "computer" — [ you can practically see the airquotes around his sour tone ] — isn't responding as it should or giving me the information I need. I'm getting nothing but interference when I try and open a standard sub-space channel, the frequency's all off ... damn, this thing's gonna fry if I keep messing with it.

[ Opening his mouth to continue, a hurk noise clogs his throat and hastily, the video clatters to the ground as Jim reels around to vomit into the fountain. Classy. ]

[ Of course, where a sick Jim is, a wild, angry Bones appears. ]

Goddammit, Jim! [ He's there all of a sudden, a hand on jim's shoulder holding him for support and a - somewhat crazy expression on his face. ] Jesus Christ, why are you out of the medbay if you're sick?! Don't move or I'll hypo your ass!

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You might not have to worry about them if the curses are really done with, just like the deities. But sometimes I think the City's got a mind of its own and it wasn't really the deities at all.

[And wouldn't that mean they're all in trouble now?]

But the curses are—were?—these random things that would hit random people on random days. Some are harmless like... I don't know, making your skin taste like cinnamon or something. [Been there, done that.] Or annoying, like when a friend of mine had to sing everything he said. Or you'll turn into the opposite gender or old injuries will open up and you'll bleed everywhere.

[Check, check, check.]

They like putting our memories up on the network for people to see, sometimes, too. That's always charming and wildly invasive.

Sounds like I just walked into a messed up Twilight Zone. There's absolutely no way of avoiding the effects of an assault like that, staving them off? [ A frustrated noise lodges in his throat. ] If the technology here wasn't so backward, it wouldn't be half as difficult to stay on top of things.

[Pop culture reference goes flying over the witch's head. BUT SHE'S USED TO THAT. So she rolls along.]

No, not that anyone's found out. I do have this token thing, though, from when the deities were rewarding us for writing some awful essays—supposedly you could use it to rid yourself of a curse if you were affected. I never used it, though.

[Then she laughs, ducking her head, murmuring,]

Merlin, "backward" technology. [Louder, looking at him again,] You know when I got here, all of this was new to me? I mean, I'd heard of most of it. But using it was completely foreign. Different worlds, I suppose. You're from well ahead of the rest of us, aren't you?

Twenty-third century, all of this is twenty-first at best.

[ Look how pained he is, Ginny. Just look at that sour pout. ]

These things we're using? Would be in museums back home. Adding insult to injury, all our own tech is deadwood in the water.

[Poor baby, she feels all the sympathy for you. Really. :( ]

You might be able to get it work. I've seen people manage it. Though I reckon Pavel would be the best person, same world and all.

[Grinning,]

If I ever turned up in your world, I'm not sure what I'd do. I've got horror stories about the microwave.

He's my navigator back on the Enterprise, best in the whole fleet.

[ Give him a second to wrinkle his nose. ]

The microwave? I ... don't think I've ever used one of those. We mainly use food replicators.

[OH MY GOD LET HER SHOW YOU HOW TO USE ONE.]

No idea what those are. You've never used a microwave and you're from the future?

They're old, I told you the technology here is dated!

[ jfhgkl he doesn't need a microwave! Even if he really wants to master one on sheer principle, now. ]

Being from ahead's not much of an advantage sometimes, then, if things're still as confusing as they are to the rest of us. Well, some of us.

[Look, she's pleased.]

It's alright. You'll pick it up in no time.

[ What is it with all the teenagers he knows turning out to be sassy? ]

I don't intend to stick around long enough to. Getting my crew back to the ship is my main priority.

['Scuse you, she'll be 21 in August. ...Yeah, she's been here long enough to grow up. Blows.]

Well, you got out fairly quickly the first time. Maybe that luck'll hold out. At least say goodbye this time if you manage it, alright? Most people just fuck off without a word and it's exhausting to just stumble across their faces in the Hall of the Missing.

[ Enjoy that babyface while it lasts, kid. One day you'll be full of laugh-lines like him and Bones. ]

The Hall of the Missing?

[ Now that grabs his attention. ]

Yeah, just off the carousel. It's filled with portraits of people who were here and left. Kind of depressing, really, but I make a habit of checking it once in a while.

And it'll have my picture there, if I've really been here before?

You're back so it'll be gone. You can see if anyone else from your world was here, though.

Yeah. Hey, have you met anyone called, uh. Spock? He's my First Officer.

Can't say that I have. But he might turn up. I've noticed that sometimes people from the same world show up in groups. I had loads of people from my world when I first arrived... Classmates, professors, my brother. They all left at once too, but I had family come and go over the years.

There's no real pattern. Sometimes you're cut off from home and sometimes it finds a way to follow you here. I wish I had better answers for you.

Edited 2013-07-04 20:59 (UTC)

Don't worry about it. To be honest, I'd rather he doesn't wind up trapped with the rest of us.

No, but—

[Her brows knit as the thought occurs to her.]

Has anyone told you what happens when you come here? That time stops at home for you until you get back?

I know it's a temporal anomaly, I've already got the lowdown from Chekov. Doesn't mean I want my people getting stuffed in this birdcage with us.

Of course not.

[She exhales, frowning.] Sometimes people can't help but be selfish, want family or friends with them, and who can blame anyone for feeling like that? It's kind of lonely. But this isn't home, no matter how much we settle into it. We don't belong here and we've got lives to get back to.

That's exactly what I'm telling my crew, don't worry. They're trained officers who don't need to hear it, but we've unearthed a few complications; namely, that one of them has been here a while and the other remembers being here before, while the rest of us don't.

Well, there are loads of flats you can help yourself to if you need a place to sit down, plan things out.

Apartments around here go for free?

[ Somehow ... doubts this. No world/dimension/reality is that nice. ]

Because we have zero funds right now.

They're free. Twelve buildings around the carousel, basically furnished.

I know it's hard to believe. I wasn't sure of it, either. When I got here, loads of us from my world lived in this cabin out in the forest, but I moved into the city proper when they all went home. It's not bad.

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