[ OPEN ] Hot Springs Episode!

[shri]

CHARACTERS: EVERYONE
WHERE: The Second Flight
WHEN: DAY :022
SUMMARY: The Sauna!
WARNINGS: Nekkid times.

[ A few hours after the murder, she hasn't blown the ship up, and here they are. Another knock knock on everyone's brain: ]

( For those of you that are interested - I have secured us a place at the Sauna. Free for us to be use without interruption from outsiders.

You are to be clean before you come in. )

[ Maybe you're here because she bullied you, maybe you want to soak - maybe you're the poor bastard that is standing guard at the door. Either way, welcome to the Suana, have fun. Or don't. ]

Comments

[calhar]

[ Mat shrugs mildly in agreement to the first observation. It's nonchalant, like he isn't all that bothered by the notion of them blowing their act and plunging the planet into chaos. He is, really — he'd just rather enjoy his bath.

Bellamy clearly feels otherwise. That spark of dread registers, threatening to overturn Mat's carefully maintained sense of chill. His reply's a little hasty because of it, eager to keep himself from dwelling on the subject. ]

What sort of gun do you usually carry?

[ He asks, like he knows the first fucking thing about guns. There are big ones and then there are small ones. He's pretty sure Clarke mentioned an actual name, but it'd take some effort to recall it. ]

[deployed]

A pistol.

[ The flicker of Clarke's face in Mat's mind snags Bellamy's attention. He shifts forward unconsciously, responding to the echo even as he tries to come up with a better classification. ]

Murphy got it off the last planet we were on. It's not like any other gun I've used. It works well enough to get the job done though.

[ Is this discussion enjoyable bath talk? ]

[calhar]

[ Yeah, no clue what that means. He does know the name Murphy, though. The recognition isn't quite as sharp as Bellamy's, the memories that go along with it significantly more vague. ]

You know Murphy and Clarke?

[ Gun talk is whatever. Gossip is great, though. ]

[deployed]

We're all from the same world.

[ Passing over exactly how intimately Bellamy knows them both. Flickers of violence and shouting pass through his head, Clarke's face screwed up as she's about to cry, Murphy streaked with dirt and stepping out of the dark accompanied by gunfire. None of the quieter memories are ever the first to come to Bellamy's mind. ]

You know them. I know you know Clarke.

[ It's not hard to guess, but he'd seen Clarke in Mat's head. ]

Are you going to ask me about them?

[ Bellamy senses gossip afoot. ]

[calhar]

[ He's had a few glimpses of that world, but they've been few and far between. Clarke's surprisingly cagey for someone who's constantly leaking emotions. The memories from Bellamy match up, though they feel more oddly detached. ]

I've met Murphy. Clarke is— [ Mat's not sure what. He knows what they're technically called, but 'broodmate' isn't his favorite word. ] You know. Would you tell me anything if I did?

[ Look, gossip is amazing. Not much else to do in a small farming village, and old habits die hard. ]

[deployed]

[ The way Mat skips over the word "broodmate" isn't unexpected. Bellamy hesitates over it still. It feels foreign even months after he'd woken up. The connection had been easier to acclimate to than the alien words they'd been taught to use to identify it. ]

That depends. What do you want to know?

[ Though Mat's first instinct is correct. There's very little Bellamy would admit offhand. It had been easier to open up to Misato about his own attachment to Clarke than it would likely be to try to parse out what Clarke would have wanted him to share with Mat. ]

A few people know about where we've all come from.

[ And that it's a trainwreck, dystopian mess. ]

[calhar]

[ What does he want to know? Not about their world, honestly. His wasn't half as bad, but they all had their share of problems. And if his world was as much of a mess as the glimpse he'd gotten of Clarke's, he can't imagine any of them want to chat about it. ]

I don't know. About Clarke— is she the same as she was then?

[ The context is easy to read in the tentative unease behind the question: are any of them really the same, cut off from home and playing host to a bunch of alien bugs. ]

[deployed]

[ Mat clearly doesn't mean it to be, but it's an oddly painful question. The same now as she was then? Then is vague enough to provoke thoughts of the drop ship. Clarke has come miles from the person she was when they'd first arrived in that ill-fated ship. ]

She hasn't been here very long.

[ The answer comes cautiously. ]

Change happens faster if people give themselves over. But she hasn't.

[ And Bellamy isn't particularly worried about her doing so. Inevitably, the lines would blur. But Clarke wasn't going to help them along. ]