peasant: (Default)
☀️ ᴀʟɪɴᴀ sᴛᴀʀᴋᴏᴠ. ([personal profile] peasant) wrote in [community profile] ximilialog2022-07-18 07:42 pm

( OPEN ) they say you grow,

CHARACTERS: alina starkov ( [personal profile] peasant )
LOCATION: common room, sunlight room, training room.
DATE: a week or so, post-mission.
CONTENT: catch-all vibes
WARNINGS: none that i can think of atm! will update if/when they occur.

[ all starters will be in comments below, both open and closed! lmk if you want a closed starter via PM or [plurk.com profile] nereids. ]
lateness: (263)

[personal profile] lateness 2022-07-20 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ Unfortunately for the Doctor, it's one of his mugs that happens to be a victim of Alina's artistic chaos. But no matter! It's the little paint tube that bears more importance right now.

And ah, blue. Yes, of course. His favourite colour. He inspects the little tube for about half a second before passing it over in Alina's direction as directed. ]


It's a bit like being back there.

[ His voice is soft, not spoken with wistful nostalgia of any kind — but it's thoughtful; pensive. He looks at the mural that Alina has recreated of E-23b and thinks that he's come across this image so many times, passing back and forth to get from one part of the station to the next, and he never took it for anything more than an outer-planet city. A lot like ones he'd visited in the past, it had all become something of a blur, really. It's not an uncommon experience for him, it's why he always enjoys seeing everything through someone else's eyes. This mural, this time, is no exception.

He comes to stand beside his little bird now, one hand holding onto his mug of tea with one of Alina's brushes submerged in cooling chamomile, turning the water a milky hue of bluish-greenish yellow. ]
construing: (whatever.)

[personal profile] construing 2022-07-20 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, vinyl. 〈 gwen reaches for it. 〉 Who is it?

literally unhelpful, gwen. maybe some part of her clues into that as she adds, 〉 It stores music. Can store any sound, actually, but. Usually music.

seated comfortably on the ceiling, gwen flips the record in one hand to catch the artist. in the other, she holds a milkshake (right side up—gravity might owe her, big, but it remains a bitch.) she is back to her spider-woman hoodie, paired this time with a blue jeans and her usual blue-soled chucks. new is her hair: the only physical sign that anything happened to her back on e-23b. the left side of her head has been shorn; a french braid done with a skinny sky blue ribbon marks the divider.
malta: (☾ seventy two.)

[personal profile] malta 2022-07-21 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ the unfortunate side effect of space travel is that joe's sleeping habits have become somewhat unpredictable. it isn't as if they have very consistent schedules to begin with but usually during downtime he is able to ease away from the "sleep when you can" mentality to build a routine for himself so his body can relax and come down from the constant adrenaline that missions require. not so on the ship, his body struggles to set itself entirely at ease, even with nicky in his arms. it's frustrating, to say the least.

another side effect is that other people are up at all hours of the day, all with little routine to guide them. he's used to the same three people he has known for hundreds of years, it hasn't gotten easier to fold in another fifty. he's not surprised to find someone else in the sunlight room, but whatever disappointment there would have been for a lack of privacy splutters out when he sees it's alina. ]


Easing into it, hmm, lucettina? [ he tosses his journal onto the grass, away from the flow of the river lapping at the shoreline, before he steps into the water himself and silently holds out a hand to help alina haul herself back onto the grass. he seems unbothered by the water soaking his trousers. ]
oiorpata: (29)

[personal profile] oiorpata 2022-07-22 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ even though it's one of the aforementioned erratic hours of the night, she'd made a pitstop to grab some snacks and a drink first - a handful of cookies and a dark bottle of whiskey - before moving to the training room to get out some of her own pent up energy. it's hard for her to keep track of time on a regular basis, so being in space does not help. 3am (4am??) seems like a perfectly logical time to work out in the training room as far as andy's concerned. ]

[ she blinks up at the blinking lights, not particularly bothered. electricity is so new in the grand scheme! ]


Are you speaking from experience or is it wishful thinking?
unclesam: ((123))

[personal profile] unclesam 2022-07-22 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
Oh man.

[ Sam's been a rare sight, curiously. Or well... not a rare sight. But rarer than usual, and always at work. Their failures have hit him hard - he'd sworn to Callan he'd rather fail the orb mission than the Fables, and even though Sam damn near broke his back trying to honor their wishes and help them... well.

Thing had gone to shit, hadn't they.

It brings him back to Afghanistan. It brings him back to Karli bleeding out in his arms. Karli, who looks just like Viveca. Who is now no longer talking to them.

Sam feels like a failure in everything he thought he stood for. So he's been a rare sight - holes up in the simulation room, often with the door locked, clocks in much too long shifts at the infirmary, busies himself with inventories, training that leaves him with ugly bruises hidden under soft sweaters.

He's not ignoring Alina - or anyone, really. He's just mostly trying to work through all the ways he's falling apart in the best way he knows how - alone, without asking for help. Alina's voice, however, pulls him out of his thoughts, and makes him slow to a stop rather than pass through the common room lost to his thoughts.

And then, slowly, a genuine smile spreads wide over his lips. ]


That is the best damn music you coulda found.
savingthrows: (017)

[personal profile] savingthrows 2022-07-22 07:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ This, she will never understand. Eleven shies away from the water. Can't swim, and doesn't want to. Just brings back unpleasant memories of the submersion tank. Of wearing a weighted vest and having a heavy helmet placed on her bony shoulders. Of being sent underwater so he mind would flicker into the void easily, unable to pull back on her own.

When Alina trudges back like a drowned rat, Eleven grasps for her eagerly, reaches out, as if she'd rather make sure her princess is safe and sound on land, thank you very much. ]


You're wet.

[ D'uh. ]
spoilers: (distance:  loving the almost)

[personal profile] spoilers 2022-07-22 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[ When River sleeps it's for short intervals at odd hours, leaving her awake and wandering the station more often than not. It's early morning when she stumbles into Alina.

They haven't really spoken since the evening on Sedorum when Alina had mistakenly crawled into her bed, but River can't help the prickle of sympathy or the weight that settles in her chest when she remembers Alina's words and how familiar they had felt. She wishes she'd had more answers for the young woman, a clear path to show her.

She takes a few steps further into the room, voice light as she glances briefly upward.
]

That happens often then, does it?
choicely: (pic#15548712)

[personal profile] choicely 2022-07-23 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yennefer doesn't often keep to a set of hours once they're on the station; the sunlight room can only replicate so much in the way of the natural cycle she's more accustomed to, and beyond that, her mind can be restless enough that she finds herself wandering to different places than her own designated room. (Regardless of what he'd claim otherwise, Billy does tend to snore, which also makes the ability to sleep relatively impossible whenever he's had too much to drink and becomes more difficult to wake — and there are times she'd rather not rouse him if he's only going to swear and breathe the scent of strong liquor in her face.)

The training room isn't the place she normally seeks out, but the sight of flickering light is ultimately what draws her in that direction, leaves her standing in the doorway as she watches the young woman draw light in between her hands, throwing it outward at several designated targets. She doesn't say anything, doesn't even attempt to draw attention to herself — nothing that would shatter concentration or prove distracting.

Perhaps she shifts, and the movement in periphery is enough to alert the girl to her presence; either way, Yen straightens up against the frame, lightly folding her arms across the front of her body, most of her carefully covered by the robe belted around her waist. ]


The lights here are garish enough as it is. I'd consider it an improvement, actually.
cruelyethuman: (pic#15494717)

[personal profile] cruelyethuman 2022-07-24 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[It takes him days to shake the feeling of being set apart again. To allow the unsettling knowledge of being othered again settle against all the other insults he's been forced to bear for too many years.

Hours of doing nothing but watch a painted sun shine its weak, winter light through a forest, the note that came with it dogeared from being opened and refolded too many times to count. His fingers brushing carefully over his name penned in her hand. It looks like any other pine tree forest near the Fjerdan border, or from some other alien place that Alina might have imagined when painting this, her eyes and her hands flitting over it to make it perfect. A special brand of magic, not Small Science, slipped in to it and that sunlight is the only light he sees for days.

He isn't hiding, or so he tells himself. He isn't covering in his hole to avoid Viveca and the body he went through so much trouble to secure, only for it to end up in the wrong hands in the end.

Late at night, when everything is quieter, he slips out of the room, allowing the tiny robot to clean it after all this time, to find something to eat. Stomach growling, he doesn't even see her, doesn't notice the shine or the popping colors until she speaks, too focused on pulling food from the cabinet to look around and at the sound of her voice, he stills-

one hand still clutching a container of neon-colored cereal, a carton of milk in the other

as he slowly turns around.]


Give me a moment?
construing: (wary.)

[personal profile] construing 2022-07-27 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks. I debated shaving it all off, but I'm not sure I have the right head shape for it. This was my compromise.

a joke, of course. only two know what happened to her planet-side, and gwen prefers to keep it that way. one, she is fine and whoever would just worry unnecessarily. two, healing quickly is one thing; the capacity to regenerate whole missing limbs is another.

she takes healthy sip of her milkshake.


Man, I want to listen to this now. If Newt doesn't have a turntable, I'll bet Degar does. Unless you've seen one. 〈 she holds her arms apart. 〉It'll be about this big. Circular base to slot these bad boys over. Has an arm with a needle that you can move. Might also feature a giant horn.
unclesam: ((33))

[personal profile] unclesam 2022-07-28 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
Bold and true. Whatever Bucky's gotta say about this, disregard it. That man's taste in anything but men is garbage.

[ Sam watches Alina for a moment, lets her be curious without immediately cutting in, but then follows along with her invitation. Curls one arm around her slight shoulders and fixes the vinyl on the platter with the other, making sure she's watching so she can learn how to do it. Softly, voice just a comfortable rumble: ]

Here. Like this, see?

[ Gives her a little squeeze too, encouraging - and signalling that yes, he's staying and listening to it with her. She's not Bucky - he won't relentlessly mock her and give her shit for not knowing something. Not when he can see the way insecurity is laced into her movements. Not when he's happy to show her, to help her learn. New experiences are fun unless you get shamed for never having had the chance to have them before. ]

I'll make us dinner after, how 'bout it?
savingthrows: (121)

[personal profile] savingthrows 2022-07-28 10:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ A shriek - of surprise and delight, though, not of terror. Eleven tries to bring up her hands to shield against the water, but it's of very little use, and the shriek basically immediately turns to sputters of laughter. Her smile is accordingly bright when Alina reaches out, brushes sunshine warmth against the tip of Eleven's nose, and she reaches out to mirror the gesture on Alina - sans the small sparkle of light, naturally.

The question makes Eleven squint a little in concentration, the word very obviously unfamiliar. ]


Si... Sil... dro--...?

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