( video )

[drawed]

[ Some of the crew might remember her post back during their trip on Ceta, but that had only been her network ID ( Cassie Holmes ) and a bunch of text in addition to her drawing. This time, though, she's got some things to say that'd be easier like this, but the video is a little shaky. It's hard to tell if she's wandering some darker part of the ship or just sitting somewhere. Alone. ]

Hi, um. I know I said this before, but I'm Cassie. [ It deserves repeating, and anyway, now there's a face to go with the name, pink streaks in her hair and all. ] I guess it's nice of that lady to let us take a trip home, even if some of us haven't been here as long as others. Looking at space all the time kinda gets depressing after a while, right?

[ Not enough color for her tastes. ]

But it can't be real. Jumping in didn't really take me where I wanted to go, and I keep wondering if that's the point. I don't see any of the places I visit or what might happen. I didn't see-- [ She doesn't elaborate and skirts right on by in a rush. ] Has anyone gotten hurt there? What if they die? What about the people who're already dead? It's not the first time the future hasn't been all that clear to me, but there are things even I know not to mess with. I wanna go home, but not to something like that. [ She lifts up her drawing pad to show a blank black page, eyebrow cocked slightly. ] This is what it's going to be if we don't figure something else out.

[ A whole lot of nothing, and she just leaves it at that, slouching down out of the video but giving a view of the medbay before it ends. ]

Comments

video

[pushed]

No, that's gonna be your next hair color, along with all of your clothes.

[the heavy eyeliner, the whiny music...god, he dreads it.]

Cassie, you gotta stop worrying about this shit all the time.

[drawed]

I don't worry about it all the time - only when someone's doing something stupid. [ There's that eyebrow again. ] No one around here gets any of it.

[pushed]

Someone's always doing something stupid.

[which probably didn't help.]

Just about everyone on this ship wants to go home. Sometimes that makes people a little desperate, that's all.

[drawed]

So we're not supposed to do anything about it? [ There's a sigh. ] I wanna go home too, but not like that.

[pushed]

There's only so much that you can do. People think they see a chance, they're probably gonna take it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't warn 'em, and maybe they'll listen. Just don't get all frowny if they don't. I hate it when you're frowny.

[drawed]

[ Just because she can, she frowns at him. ]

You're still bad at this kind of thing, you know that?

[pushed]

And you're still alive. I think that's a good sign.

[drawed]

I just have to make sure you stay that way too.

[pushed]

Me? I'm a cockroach. I even crawl through the sewers. Sorta.

[why do you even want to keep him around.]

[drawed]

Doesn't mean you don't need someone helping to keep you in one piece. [ She's just giving him That Look. ]

[pushed]

I know.

[there's an apology in the words.]

Did I ever show you the scar from that time I almost got gored by an elephant?

[drawed]

When did you ever see an elephant? [ He's making that up to distract her, isn't he? ]

[pushed]

Mumbai. I was about seventeen and I knocked over a basket of fruit that he was eating. Must've pissed him off because he turned on me. And then his handler guy tried to get me to pay for the fruit. It was crazy.

[drawed]

I believe that last part. [ She's grinning at him a little. ] That's why I came to find you in the first place, you know. Knew you were gonna need help staying out of trouble. [ Never mind she needed his help. There's a pause, and then: ]

You think there are elephants in space?

[pushed]

And here I thought you just came along to keep me company through it.

[he's teasing, although they haven't exactly been trouble-free times either.]

There were whale-thingies at that one place. What if space elephants can fly too? Or maybe they're like the size of ants. I wouldn't mind seeing an antephant, would you?

[drawed]

Depends if they stick to everything like ants do or not. [ The mental image is making her itchy. She scratches at her arm. ] If we see anything else that flies, it should be a horse. Those are so much cooler.

[ Sorry, Nick. It's true. ]

[pushed]

But how much cuter would tiny little elephants be at a picnic? Picking up sugar crystals with their tiny trunks.

Flying horses are boring.

[yeah, he said it.]

[drawed]

Not when you can ride them. What are you going to do with a bunch of those elephants besides accidentally squish them?

[ Don't start a fight you can't win. ]

[pushed]

Two words: antephant farms. You can't put big ass flying horses between glass.

[drawed]

So you want to put them in elephant jail.

[pushed]

It's not a jail.

More like a commune.

[drawed]

That's almost the same thing. [ She thinks. Either way, it sounds good to her. ] I'd still want the horse.

[pushed]

Fine. I'll try to find you a winged pony for your birthday.