Excerpt 003: Ship’s Cradle

[rekindledtitan]

TYPE: Personal log

LOCATION: Orbit, Earth

PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [rekindledtitan], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Hughes, Maes [bestdadinamestris]


ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Maes Hughes; Earth; Multiversal Phenomena; Blaze-37; Amestris; Dr. Hill; Deep Stone Crypt; [REDACTED]




Blaze should have figured the warning signs for what they were. When the senses slow and the body insists on sinking into the nearest furniture, it ought to be a clue. But she has no memory of fatigue, no sense of whether her body is just complaining or injured or seriously needs to rest. So it’s not until their meeting at the Harp sees her stuffed with food and forced to actually sit down for a while that the torpor kicks in.

She’d like to shake it off, but the more level (and more inorganic) heads around her are able to point out that that’s not how human biology works.

She’s yawning uncontrollably when they materialize aboard her one-room jumpship. It wakes up for them with a soft hum, lights revealing a cabin just big enough for both she and Hughes to move around. Every inch of the clean metal plating looks like it’s part of some compartment or pull-out section, and that includes the floor. To sharp Exo senses it might look a bit patchwork, too: different panels have subtly different finishes; signs of repair are everywhere. There’s little sign of home comforts: just one cushy pilot’s chair, Blaze’s helmet clipped alongside it.

“I’m… going to power up the life-support systems,” the Ghost says, swooping over to the controls.

Blaze tries to talk through her next yawn. “Oh… yyyeah. Good thinking. Uh.” She looks up at Hughes and waves a hand toward the star-speckled view up front. “Welcome to Earth orbit.”

Comments

[rekindledtitan]

She's burned through the brief spurt of energy, and doesn't resist being plonked back down. She's trying to straighten out her thoughts - she's still human, Hughes is here, Hughes- Hughes saw this. This state. Light, humans just aren't built for this.

"Help?" Blaze sounds outright confused by the word. She rubs at her face, mindful of the glasses when she nudges them. Finally she pins down what's confusing her. "...Why'd you wake me?"

"You showed signs of physiological distress. We... were concerned." Blaze may not (apparently) be thinking straight, but her Ghost has Hughes' back.

[bestdadinamestris]

"It's not good to be like that for too long," Hughes adds. "I'm not that old, but I'm still human. My body's not quite as durable as I'd like it to be." He's trying to be self-deprecating here to take Blaze's mind off of the fact that they're so worried about her.

"...you wanna talk about it?" he asks after a moment of silence.

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze tightens her mouth in a grimace – she might brush this off, but she can’t overlook the fact that she’s wearing Hughes’ body. She has no idea what it can handle – or what she’s liable to do to it. She just has a hard time believing a dream could do much harm...

“It’s just a dream,” she says, which is true in its way. It’s the only kind she knows. “Exo stuff. Nothing to say about it.”

Nothing that’ll help, anyway. She can’t talk her core programming away and no good can come of explaining the dream’s contents to anyone who isn’t Exo. To her friends. Why do that to them? She likes her friends.

And she wants them to keep liking her.

[bestdadinamestris]

"Given your physical reaction, I know it was more than that. Humans sometimes do strange things while they dream, but they don't have the same kind of physical reaction as they would to getting the hell beat out of them in a fight." This would be the perfect time for a frown, but Hughes can't really manage that when he's not in his body. "What happened?"

Let's face it, Blaze, it's going to be best if you open up.

[rekindledtitan]

The only reason Blaze's reactions are ever hard to read is that metallic mask, and she's missing it now. There's no hiding the alarmed widening of her eyes, the uncertain frown, the questioning look she gives her Ghost. She has no grounds to argue from, and she's awful at lying on the fly.

She looks down at the gun still in her hands, her mouth tightening. "It was a dream about fighting, like that's a surprise. Didn't figure... I guess this body doesn't handle it so well."

Human minds aren't quite so... meticulously accurate about simulating the effects of combat and injury.

[bestdadinamestris]

"Seems like it was more intense than just a dream." Or maybe it's just a difference in how people like Blaze dream? "It's almost as if... you were experiencing the dream physically as you slept. That would explain the physical reaction, at least."

Well, maybe, but the idea makes Hughes feel a little better about it.

[rekindledtitan]

"Yeah, it's sorta like that." She shrugs. "I don't know what other dreams are like. Mine are always this way." She yawns. "Guess I'll get more of the same when I go back to sleep. How long was I out? I, uh. I can't tell."

"A little over five and a half."

[bestdadinamestris]

Again with the desire to frown. This time Hughes crosses his arms in front of his chest to emphasize his point. "If it's going to happen again, you're going to feel even more like hell tomorrow. You need some actual rest if we're going to have any chance of functioning properly tomorrow. Is there something we can do to prevent this from happening again?"

[rekindledtitan]

She looks up at him blankly. "Stop dreaming? Didn't know you could. I just sleep right through them. It's normally fine when I wake- but then no-one ever woke me early before."

"Perhaps your- um." The Ghost looks up at Hughes. "Your body will adjust in time. At least... I hope so."

[bestdadinamestris]

Hey, it was worth a shot. Sure, it was a complete shot in the dark, but you can't know if you don't ask, right?

"I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" He sighs heavily and nods. "You should try and get more sleep, then, but if it looks bad again for my body, I'm going to wake you up." Because he likes his body, damn it.

[rekindledtitan]

"You keep making me start again, the whole thing's just gonna take longer," she points out with something that might have been a sigh but just turns into another yawn.

It's actually kind of hard to consider sleeping now, but better get it over with. If Hughes isn't going to stop her, she'll haul herself right back over and slump down against the wall again.

[bestdadinamestris]

"You need the rest." Otherwise she's going to fall asleep on her feet tomorrow. Probably literally.

Once Blaze is settled again, Hughes will go back to reading, though he'll be keeping a much closer watch on his friend this time. If it gets bad again, he'll wake her up, but he's really hoping to avoid that. The more rest she can get naturally, the better.

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze shrugs and settles back to try and sleep again. When she does sleep… well, again, after an hour or so the dreams return. From her vital signs, they seem to come in short bursts within the dream phases, getting more prolonged as she keeps sleeping. If Hughes lets her, though, she’ll eventually push through them.

Her Ghost doesn’t leave her side this time, silently watching to make sure her vitals don’t show dangerous signs of physiological stress.

[bestdadinamestris]

If Ghost doesn't get excited like before, Hughes won't wake Blaze this time around. Even if she feels like hell in the morning, getting some amount of sleep is good for her. It would be better if she weren't so mentally stressed, but there's nothing that can be done about that.

Watching the sun rise over the earth when the time comes will be a great distraction from the sleeping Blaze. It's a sight he's only going to be able to enjoy once and he's taking full advantage of that.

[rekindledtitan]

It makes quite a sight up here, with no atmosphere to smear the light. Whatever the viewscreen's composed of, it automatically modulates that view of the sun to prevent blinding the pilot, but the light is still brilliant and sharp against the void, lighting up the swirling clouds below them and mingling with the gentler light of the Traveler's silver sphere.

It also wakes Blaze from her uneasy sleep. This time it's far more natural, a quiet shift in her breathing as she stirs and blinks at the deck-plates. She feels... better. Almost peaceful. Naturally she pulls herself onto her feet, shivering a bit. She doesn't keep this place warm (it's much warmer than the Nexus, of course) but somehow it feels even colder after she's been asleep so long.

"Hey." Her voice is rough, a little groggy, but she's steadier on her feet as she moves up alongside Hughes. The Ghost is floating around her attentively, getting her to reach up and give it an affectionate touch. "I miss anything good?"

[bestdadinamestris]

"Hell of a sunrise, but nothing else." No need to bring up the ruffled sleep cycles, considering she didn't do nearly as bad this time around. "Feeling better after a little more sleep?"

[rekindledtitan]

"...Yeah. Better than I figured on." She leans over to access the environment controls and dial the temperature up about ten degrees. "Kinda cold and... nnh. Stiff. Is it supposed to hurt when you're stiff?" She flexes her shoulders with a small grimace.

[bestdadinamestris]

"The cold thing is normal. Your body heats up when you sleep so the air feels extra cold right after you wake up. It's probably worse because of the cool temperature of the ship, too." Hughes can't really be certain, given his current body, but that seems like a good guess.

"Being stiff comes from the cold and the hard sleeping surface. It'll get better as you get up and start moving around." There's no way getting around that one in a place like this. And given how much Hughes has beat the shit out of his body over the years. For a man so young, you'd think he'd be able to recover better after a a single night on a rough bed. Sorry, Blaze.

[rekindledtitan]

"Always better when you're on the move." That's one piece of advice she's more than willing to take. She's moving right now, going to put that gun back in safe storage. "Uh. Sorry if the body's still sore when we get restored. Not sure I could've slept that much on a bed." She does care if her friends have to suffer the fallout from her habits, she just doesn't see much way around it.

She takes a minute to watch the view when she comes back: it's different, with these eyes, but it's still wonderful, still awesomely vast and serenely beautiful. A thought occurs to her, and she lets out a low 'heh', chewing it over before she changes course again and looks at Hughes.

"How are you holding up? My body doesn't have many needs, but, uh. It's still different."

[bestdadinamestris]

He shrugs at the concern. "I've got some ideas that should help." A few stretches, a hot bath, a glass or two of whiskey... All useful in different ways, and each with their own set of pros and cons.

"It's... different, but I guess I'm okay? I don't really know how to know if something's wrong." He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, a bit embarrassed. "Reading didn't help much with that either. Anything I should be watching out for?"

[rekindledtitan]

She grunts, her gaze dropping for a minute as she considers what to ask. Senses shouldn't be an issue. No pain since he hasn't been injured, no fatigue as a matter of course...

"I don't know. How's your memory?" she asks offhandedly. It's usually perfect, at least... for her most recent life. But she wonders. Wonders if he feels the same flashes of the past flickering in, fragments of mostly-forgotten memories jarred loose and slipping into his perceptions.

Reincarnation does funny things to the mind. But Hughes ought to be more stable, she hopes. His mind is young. Less clutter from past lives.

[bestdadinamestris]

"Memory?" That seems like an odd question. "Can you elaborate?"

He's now trying to index everything that's happened in the last day or so since the start of this whole body swapping thing began. The swap itself, the subsequent freak out, the flyers in the Forum, the meet up at the Harp... Everything seems to be there, so what is Blaze worried about?

[rekindledtitan]

"Just... wondering if everything's coming back when it should. You know. Probably nothing to worry about." She pauses and adds, attempting to act casual, "You have a family, right?"

Subtle, Blaze. Even her Ghost is blinking at her.

[bestdadinamestris]

Hughes blinks. "Are you serious? Of course I have a family. The pictures are in your pocket for fuck's sake! Or, at least, they were." Beat. "...you didn't lose my wallet, did you?"

It's not like he can't replace everything in said wallet, but damn. This was quite the shit to drop on him without warning.

[rekindledtitan]

"Huh? Don't think so." She pats herself to check which pocket he's talking about. She didn't exactly empty them out, so his wallet should still be there, and she pulls it out after a minute. "This thing?"