Strange Attractors
Invictus - Crew Commons =>Invictus<=
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This is the ship's common room, a place for the crew to relax, eat, and talk. In the middle of the room is a big table with comfortable chairs placed around it. To the port side near the Med Bay's entrance is a simple kitchen beside a basic storage rack for food and drinks. Starboard, the entry to the Crew Quarters can be found, as well as a number of large lockers for the crew's kit storage. To the room's aft are placed some couches opposite to a Cortex terminal and a large screen where currently some sort of gaming console appears to be hooked up. Between the couches, a small table holds some books and other things to read. Finally, to the front near the entrance to the Captain's Quarters, a corkscrew stairway up to the Bridge can be seen.
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Sitting at the table, Wren is hard at work, taking recently dried herbs and sealing them into containers for storage. She hums softly as she does so, engrossed in her work.
Gabriella hobbles in from the general direction of the crew quarters, a pair of slim silver crutches tucked under each arm, the ever present black satchel tucked behind her, sans one boots, however. In it's place, a line of bandages have been rolled around her mid calf area, the bandages at the front and the back tinged with red, indicating it was some kind of through and through. She swings in, the smoothness with how she moves on the crutches indicated she's pretty used to being on the crutches, but she looks generally more tired or drained than in over abundance of pain.
Glancing up, Wren smiles at Gabby and then tilts her head to the side in a quick bird-like motion, taking in the crutches and the bandages. "Did the ship beat up on you again?" she wonders after a short period of consideration.
Gabriella's head turns to find the source of the voice, shaking her head. Not able to give much of an answer yet, she pauses, rescues the pda and slides it into a pocket, then picks up the crutch again and continues towards the fridge. "No, not this time." She says, giving a half smile over her shoulder to the other girl. "Got shot." She says, leaning one of the crutches aside as she pulls open the door to the fridge and stares inside.
Wren frowns, turning her attention back to the herbs as she carefully tucks them away in airtight containers. Silence fills the air for a time while she focuses on her task, until she finally finds the single word response she has to this news. "Why?"
"Cause I didn't want to die." Gabriella mutters, as she straightens, stealing one of the sandwiches from the ones JR had made the day before. "I thought somebody was going to kill us all, and tried to stop them, and they shot me." She says by way of further introduction. Instead of trying to balance crutches, and plate, she closes the fridge and pulls herself onto the counter, content to eat there for the moment.
Further consideration brings another question to Wren's mind. Or perhaps she is simply stuck on the first one still, as she repeats, "Why?"
Gabriella gives Wren a slightly blank look, brow arching upwards slightly. "Why, what?" She asks, with a small sigh, as she takes a bite out of her sandwich. "Why did I think somebody was going to kill us al? Why did I stop them? Why did they shoot me? Why didn't I want to die?" She asks, flapping the sandwich in a vague way that indicated for Wren to pick any or all of the above...
Wren's eyes lose focus for a few moments, lost beneath the barrage of words that Gabby rattles off in rapid-fire fashion. It doesn't take her very long to make her response, however. "Yes," she agrees with a nod, clearly pleased that the hacker has perceived the extent of her question.
Not sure whether to sigh, laugh, or something in between, she opted for none of the above. "Well... let's see. One." She says, counting off on her empty hand with the sandwich, after taking another bite, talking around a mouthful. "I didn't want to die because... well... I just didn't." She pauses for a moment. "Two, they shot me cause... " She ponders. "Either because they're bad guys, and that's what bad guys do... or they thought I was a threat. Maybe both." Another bite. "I thought they were going to kill us all because they were wearing the same kind of masks that Wellington told Katrina to put on before he and all the crew on the Antoinette died. I thought..." She sighs. "I thought they were going to use a deadly gas.. not just a sleeping one." Another pause and count off. "Four, I wanted to stop them cause I didn't want to die." She says with a shrug.
Again, Wren's eyes lose focus as Gabby speaks, one hand moving to rub against her forehead for a moment. "Masks," she echoes faintly, shaking her head a little. "Okay," she finally responds, accepting the entirety of her answer with a nod. "Strange attractors," she adds after another moment, bobbing her head thoughtfully.
Another bite taken, watching Wren as she ponders. "What are strange attractors?" She asks around a mouthful of sandwich, brow arching upwards slightly. She didn't have the brain power today to try and decipher the puzzles on her own and hey, Wren didn't seem much the kind to take easy offense.
"You," Wren answers simply, but then seems to take a certain amount of pity on the injured woman. "In a chaotic system," she begins slowly. "It's a set that evolves, attracting certain points that remain close, despite perturbations in the field," she continues, voice picking up speed as she does. "Particularly useful in fluid dynamics."
"So... I attract chaos?" Gabriella puzzles, running the words back through a couple of times. Another few bites, and the sandwich is gone, the last bite getting a betrayed look from the woman. A sigh, and she twists around to open the cupboards behind her and she begins rummaging.
"Or chaos attracts you," Wren replies with a shrug, not seeming to differentiate much between the two states. "People think chaos is just random, but it's not. There's a pattern to it, and a shape," she confides, watching Gabby rummage the cupboards.
"Huh." Gabriella grunts in reply to Wren's explanation, pulling down a couple bags of chips, and a bag of jerky. "I suppose that actually makes a good amount of sense." She says thoughtfully, brows furrowing slightly as she considers the theory. "Want some?" She asks, as she pulls open one of the bags, shaking out a heap onto the plate beside her.
Wren grins at Gabby, pulling her chair over beside the counter where she sits and snagging a handful of the chips. "Course," she agrees, bobbing her head a few times. "It's a mathematical fact."
"And who can argue with math, right?" Gabriella says with a smile. She chomps a few chips down, pulling a bottle of water out of her satchel and taking a long drink. A moment later, the orange plastic pill bottle is retrieved and a couple of pills shaken out and swallowed. Another sip of water, and she tucks the bottle away.
Canting her head to the side, Wren ponders the question. "Well, anybody can," she determines, pursing her lips. "Just, usually won't win," she notes with a little shrug, crunching away at a potato chip.
A light chuckle, and she nods. "God, it's nice to have a few minutes to just breathe." She says, leaning back and pulling a pack of smokes out of her hoodie. "Even if it did take being shot to get it." A sardonic snort.
Wren blinks rapidly at Gabby, forehead creasing into a frown. "Breathing is very important," she states definitively, watching the woman as she pulls out a pack. "Being shot doesn't help," she continues, only wincing faintly at the word as she shakes her head.
"Aye, but it's not often as late that I get to do the chance to do /just/ the breathing." Gabriella explains with a flash of a smile. "And nothing else." she lights the cigarette, and tucks the zippo and pack away without offering one to Wren. Apparently, she'd learned her lesson on that one.
Gabby's words are met with another shake of Wren's head, clearly this explanation is not one the girl accepts, but she refrains from actually arguing the point. An awkward silence falls, and she stuffs a few potato chips in her mouth, her chair pulled up beside the counter where Gabby is perched.
Gabriella takes a long drag from the cigarette, head tilting back to rest against the counter behind her, a long lazy exhale sending a winding cloud of grey smoke towards the ceiling, her eyes watching it drift upwards. She didn't seem overly motivated to re initiate conversation, enjoying the moment of relaxation.
Wren's gaze follows the path of the smoke as well, watching the stream as it dissipates upwards. "Chaos. Patterns," she notes softly, potato chips forgotten in her hand.
"Hey, everyone," says Tyr as he makes his way out of his quarters. He smiles especially brightly when he sees Wren there, but frowns when he sees Gabby. "Hey, Gabby. How are you feeling?"
"Been better... been worse." Gabriella says idly, another drag taken from the cigarette. "How 'bout you?"
"She's breathing," Wren notes as well, nodding a little as she turns to look at Tyr.
"Well, that's good," says Tyr to Wren. "If she wasn't breathing, I'd be pretty scared since she's talking to me and all." He looks at the seat next to Wren. "Mind if I join you?." To Gabriella: "Well, I wasn't shot, so I can't be worse.
"I s'pose that's true." Gabriella says lazily to Tyr with a half smile. She crushes out the cigarette in the ashtray, stuffing the bags of chips back into the cupboard, glancing back at the two. "Well. You're welcome to join us, but I gotta bail for a few." She says with a yawn. "Time for my nap, I think." She says, sliding down carefully and retrieving her crutches. "Be back in a little bit, k/"
Wren blinks a few times at Tyr, puzzling at his words. "Air passes across vocal cords to create speech," she notes cautiously, glancing from him to Gabby. "Sleep well," she tells the woman as she watches her hobble out.
"Well, that's why I'd be scared," agrees Tyr. "So if she was talking but not breathing." He waves his hand. "Anyhow." Big grin. "How are you, Wren?"
A deep crease forms on Wren's forehead as she tries to follow Tyr's explanation without much success. "Anyhow," she echoes, watching his hand as it waves in the air. There's a pause as she re-orients her thoughts to the next question. "Okay," she tells him, adding in quickly, "An' yourself?"
"Well," says Tyr. "Assumin' I still got a job on the boat I'm all right." He glances down. "Uhm. The invasion thing was pretty awful. Gabby got shot, as you saw. I imagine she'll be kinda cross at me."
"She didn't wunna die, an' they were bad guys or they thought she was a threat, cuz they were wearing masks and not sleeping," Wren informs Tyr gravely with a nod.
"Gotcha," says Tyr with a small smile. "You sleepin' okay these days?"
Wren shifts uncomfortably on the chair, gaze sliding away from Tyr. "Sleepin' sucks," she responds succinctly, taking a sudden interest in the potato chips she holds in one hand.
Tyr frowns. "Well. Sorry to hear that, Wren." He reaches a hand out, but then seems to realize he has no idea where it could go. So he asks, "Can I have some potato chips?"
"Sure," Wren responds agreeably, passing him the potato chips she happens to be holding in her hand. She's had them a while, so they're a little worse for the wear, but it doesn't seem to occur to her that there should be any problem with this.
"Thanks," says Tyr, reaching out for the bag. Crunch. Crunch. Mmm. Potato chips. "So. Uhm. Wren. I was thinking."
Wren focuses intent hazel green eyes on Tyr, canting her head to one side in silence, waiting for further elaboration.
"We're on Persephone for a bit, and so I was wondering if you wanted to get off of the ship for a bit. I dunno, maybe grab a drink or go out for dinner or something." Tyr edges closer and closer to the 'd' word.
"Grab a drink..." Wren echoes Tyr faintly, expression a little puzzled. "We could do that," she agrees after another moment, nodding her head slowly. Judging by her expression, she's gotten the idea that this request might be of some significance, but can't quite figure out what that might be.
"That'd be cool. Like, a date." There. Tyr said he. He said the dreaded 'd' word!
Wren blinks a few times, eyes unfocusing for an extended moment as some silent confusion is resolved. She presses her fingers to her lips in an absent gesture before letting them fall back to her lap. "Like a date," she echoes slowly, nodding a little as she studies Tyr's expression.
Tyr is nervously hopeful. "Yeah," he says. Please don't let him get slapped. Please don't let him get slapped.
No slapping seems to be in the offering, as Wren simply nods again. Of course, there isn't exactly much in the way of encouragement, either, as she doesn't seem to express much emotion positive or negative to the idea. It's a little like asking a doll on a date, as the entire conversation seems to be dependent on whatever Tyr chooses to say or do.
"Well. I mean. If you don't want to." Tyr is okay with that, too. Except that he's not. Or that he's quite confused right now. Quite confused.
This results in more staring from Wren, drawing a complete blank in the face of Tyr's confusion. Oh the joys of trying to woo the mentally unstable!
"I mean, I want to go out with you, Wren. I do. But don't go out with me because I want you to. I want you to too."
Riiiiiiiiight. Wren isn't exactly the best at following complicated word conjugations under the most helpful of conditions. The tangle of words just generated leaves her utterly lost. "What?" is her eventual, ever-so intelligent response.
Gabriella straggles in, looking a bit on the mussy side, hair falling out of her ponytail, looking groggy. "Heya." She grunts towards the two, swinging towards the nearest couch to flop. Then, looking back and forth between the two, one brow arching. "Did I miss something?" She asks.
And now Tyr begins to trip over himself. Commence meltdown. "It's just. If we're gonna go out, I want it to be both of us that want to, not just me and you being nice to me and -- Gabby!" Cheeks flare bright red.
"I missed something," Wren agrees, looking over at Gabby and nodding.
Gabriella rubs her eyes with the heel of her palms, and running the hands back through her hair, pulling the pony tail holder out and scratching the hair free. "So... You're asking Wren out on a date?" Gabriella asks Tyr, as she focuses back on the area around her, glancing at Tyr, and then towards Wren.
"Well. Yeah. But. It's not a big deal," says Tyr, clamoring up to his feet, now thoroughly embarrassed. "I'll. Uhm. I'm gonna go to my bunk for a bit. So if you need me." Meltdown complete.
"I make him change colors," Wren observes to Gabby, watching Tyr flounder without any real comprehension. She's sitting over by a counter, and Gabby has just flopped onto a couch.
"Aw, that's sweet!" Gabriella says to Tyr with a grin, glancing over to Wren. "What'd you say? You said yes, right?"
"So. Uh. Yeah." Tyr is slowly edging to the area where the quarters are. "I'll. Uhm. See everyone. Later."
Wren shakes her head a little at Gabby. "Said Okay," she clarifies after a moment.
Gabriella gives Tyr a wink as he slips away, if only to watch him change colors a little bit more.
Gabriella pushes to her feet, yawning, retying her hair back at the back of her neck. "Anyways. I'm going to have a drink or ten." She says with a yawn, puling the crutches under her arms. "Anybody up to join?"
Alabaster Smith smiles. "Ah suppose Ah could use a drink or two," he agrees. "It's been an interesting time, hasn't it? Imperative we get a break."
Wren blinks a little after Tyr, and then simply nods and trails along after Alabaster and Gabriella.
"You're tellin' me." Gabriella says dryly, swinging herself towards the cargo bay door.
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