Re: IC: On the Lucky Drifter
—the little girl grabbed at the harness, pouting and irritated. She wanting to run free and play, but it was all buckled up tight now. 'All safe and sound.' said her mum reassuringly, stroking the girl's hair out of her eyes. There was water on her mum's face, and fear and sadness in her eyes, even while she tried to smile. The girl knew something was wrong; the grown-ups had been acting all worried for days, talking about something called "war" and "fight", while the thunder got louder and louder and towers fell down.
'Mummy!' the girl cried, realising she was going away, far away.
'Shush, hun. It's okay. You're going to a new home. I want you to stay close to Nanna, okay? Stay with Nanna. She'll look after you. And Puddy's here with you. See, there's Puddy.' The stuffed cat sat in the pouch with drink bottle and snacks, looking just as sad. 'Mummy and Daddy will be with you soon.' The mother kissed her daughter on the head, again, and tried to hug her, again. 'I want you to be a brave girl for mummy and daddy.'
'Brave.' she murmured, trying out the word.
Then Mummy was gone, and Daddy. Nanna was in another room. There were only the children in their harnesses, some eating, some playing, some sobbing and crying. Then the lights went out and the whole room rumbled and there was a loud roar and the girl was pressed into her seat and then somewhere an explosion and then everybody was screaming.
'Brave—'
'—and bold as a Kang should be. Brave and bold as a Kang—...' she muttered the mantra as she held tight to the strap looped around the bracket and her own wrist. Tied and true. She wasn't too bad at riding the smaller motions, the "turbo-lens". But when the room rocked one way, she swung far out over the ground. And when the room rocked back, she was slammed into the wall, knocking the breath from her and interrupting her chant.
But better this than to be out on the floor, holding nothing. She saw people standing being thrown to the ground. Those on the ground were bounced up and down. Some people were thrown into the walls and crates, and into those like her who'd gotten to the brackets and other handholds. She felt like she was in the trash compactor in the Basement. This was completely unfun.
Then she let go of her strap. In a moment of peace, she grabbed the hand of someone who'd fallen into her — an old Rezzie man — and clasped it to the strap. 'Be holding on.' she told him. After all, Kangs were young and strong, Rezzies old and weak. She moved out on to the deck, into the rolling crowd of people, falling over with them. People were getting hurt. People were crying and screaming. Scaredy-cats, she thought, but right now she felt like a scaredy-cat herself. So many people, youngsters, oldsters, inbetweens. Boys and girls. Aliens. All together now, like Kangs.
'Hold hands!' she shouted over the crying and the roaring and banging. 'Be holding hands!' She had a hard time making herself heard or known, so she simply grabbed two people's hands and linked them together, then pushed one at the old Rezzie. 'Hold hands! Line up!' Thus she shepherded the people together. Holding hands, one to the next, lining up across the cargo bay, they could all carry each other.
OOC: Keep footing: coordination + athletics: 14
Leadership: presence + convince: 8
Linking hands: coordination + strength: 16
This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Sat 30 Nov 2013.