ataraxion | 001 ☼ video

[ The video feed clicks on to reveal Robert Capa — a man in his mid-thirties with shaggy hair (still damp from the tube where he awoke) and a five o'clock shadow and narrow shoulders covered by the ship's uniform he found in the locker marked with his identifying number. His eyes, bright blue, are particularly striking in that they are wholly calm, despite the latest series of events. The rest of his face is calm as well, the muscles of which never really rearrange themselves much to convey this emotion or that. When he speaks his voice is measured and even, though there is a certain start-stop to the cadence.

His words are prefaced with an inhale. It seems to steady him. ]

I guess I should start with the obvious question. We can figure out where to go from there, depending how the answers trend. [ Capa rubs his chin; the scrape of his stubble is audible. ] Is anyone here part of the ship's natural crew?

[ He pauses, letting that inquiry and whatever implications it may carry set in. There's a vague flicker of emotion, maybe worry, in the set of his mouth but it's as understated as the rest of him. ] And maybe, more importantly: can anyone recall how they got here?

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I'm not, and I haven't met anyone who says they are. I don't remember how I got here either.

You make it sound like you're used to things like this.

[ She doesn't type out how that's impossible. ]

Has anyone? Been injured, I mean. Past feeling like we've got a concussion on top of the twenty-four hour flu.

Oh! That'd be good, yes. The elevator up should takes up back down again, right? Maybe we can take turns. Find the bandaids in the meantime or something.

[ She mentioned bandaids...or something. Capa guesses no. ]

[ Uuh... Bella grimaces. ]

Nothing formal. I took a CPR and First Aid class once? I can take care of most smaller injuries, cuts and scrapes and kitchen burns and stuff like that, but I'm not any good around blood.

[ Please don't suggest she help out with anything involving other people bleeding. She'd pass out from the smell alone. ]

Especially other people's blood.

[ Capa doesn't judge her. People were good at what they were good at, and bad at what they were bad at. For example: he wasn't the best with people. It's not like he could hold it against her if she didn't like blood. ]

I won't. My luck's not good with those sort of things.

[ That sounds..ominous. ]

Edited 2011-12-09 17:33 (UTC)

[ Astute observation, good sir. If it does make her roll her eyes a bit. She wasn't stupid. ]

Sure, like you say. I'll see what I recognize and go from there. No climbing chairs to get into the tall cupboards or anything, I promise.

And you are?

[ How many people have experience with space travel here? Was this an astronaut convention? Hadn't the space programs all gotten funding cuts? None of this made sense! ]

[ Oh. Right. The video feed clicks back on again so that she can see his face one more time. ]

Capa. Robert Capa.

[ While it takes her a moment to figure out the right means of activating a video feed herself, and she's not terrible enthused over doing so, Bella returns the favor. After an awkward pause, she also manages a fairly standard polite greeting. ]

Nice to meet you, Mr. Capa.

[ Figuring maybe the... name order introduction is important. ]

I'm Bella. Swan. Bella Swan.

Just Capa. Capa works. [ He's not particularly 'nice', though he is pretty straightfoward. Capa doesn't reek of sketchiness or anything shady — which is maybe a good thing? Hard to tell what qualifies as good while lost in space like that. ]

You mind me asking how old you are, Bella?

[ Leaning her head forward enough to send her hair half falling across her face, she smiles a little. She'll remember that. ]

Not if you don't mind me asking the same thing.

[ If she half expects no answer. People were weird about owning up to age. For her part she's matter of fact, sticking to that for now because if she thinks of herself as too young (and she does, she's not meant to go off and live on her own in strange places until after high school, but by then she'd be darn happy to), then she might be too tempted to do nothing for longer than she could afford to. ]

I'm seventeen.

[ Capa tries to remember what he was like at seventeen, but it's hard if only because it feels like a very long time ago. He had accelerated through high school and, subsequently, through college as well. He's pretty sure whatever he was like at seventeen is not what Bella is like at seventeen. ]

Thirty two.

[ She almost wants to say, "That's nice," because she has no real idea what else you say once you've exchanged answers on ages and it's more filling in the blanks of, "Good, you should be a responsible adult," and "Yes, I'm actually still technically a kid."

Welp. Her eyes drop away from the camera, and she pushes some of her still damp hair behind her ear. ]

I'll be sure to call. If I need to.

[ For what it's worth Capa isn't exactly sure what to say either, but this isn't any revelation for him — it's basically standard operating procedure. So he just nods, says alright and then moves to terminate the conversation. ]

Alright, good luck, Bella. [ He forgets that this isn't an official transmission in any capacity but still he ends it with a: ] Capa out.

[ She startles into brief laughter -- the way he ends this is so surreal -- that turns into embarrassment as soon as she realizes what she's done. She mumbles something like, ]

Bella, out.

[ Like this is what she had meant to do, even if by now she could be talking to a blank screen. Doesn't matter if she is, in the long run. She turns her communicator off right afterward anyway.

Holy crow, Bella, get a grip! ]

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