The Last Test [closed to: Adam M., Cale, Inara, Miku, Robin, Shadow, Sheik/Zelda, and Tony Stark]

[cityship]

There is a traitor in your midst, meatship. A crew member working for the Nightmare King, enacting his will subtly on the crew.

This person has access to all the Nightmare King knows about their crewmates, and there's plenty the horrible being can glean from their dreams.

Today, it's time to act, to try to cripple all they can, to bring the fears of their crewmates to the forefront to make them easier prey. Today they revel in their cruelty, their soul twisting and writhing in the grips of their cruel master.

[ooc: This is your cue! Each of you, tag in making a new subthread, and set up the setting of where your character is, like you'd do for an post to the comm in general. In the OOC post please lay out the fears and insecurities you plan to exploit in your character's final nightmare to help with the messin'--they'd be bringing those fears to the forefront with their comments, to make it easier for the Nightmare King to act on them]

Comments

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

Cale is in his room, laying on his back with his hands tucked underneath his head. His gaze is fixed on a spot on the ceiling. The dreams and the ghost of his father had bugged him more than he wanted to admit. Unlike the rest of the crew, Cale had felt a sense of relief when he found out that his universe was gone.

He wasn't the only one without a planet any more. Even if the rest of the crew was set on defeating the Ohm and undoing all the destruction they had wrought, he was--for once--not the only homeless person he knew. Yeah, there were plenty of human refugees left back in his universe. But he didn't know them. They were just drifter-colony bums. Strangers. Strangers that, according to Korso and Akima, Cale was supposed to save. Why? Just because dad designed some ship that was supposed to lead them to salvation? Some ship that was supposed to save the human race from extinction? That made it Cale's responsibility? Even if he didn't want it?

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

There's a knock at the door.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, what?" Cale called out grumpily.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"What nothing," she says, and peeks in the room. "You naked?"

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Leela?" Cale said aloud. How to answer that question? Was she wanting a 'yes' or a 'no?' Looking down at himself, Cale decided the truth was probably a safe option.

"Not quite, why?" he asked as he climbed out of bed and, shirtless, went to the door, pushing the button that would open it. "And since when do you knock?"

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Aw, why not?" she says, making a face at the lack of naked. "And usually I don't, but everyone's all jumpy lately, on account of the nightmares. Best to tread quietly, y'know?"

She comes into the room and plops on his bed like she owns it, not at all unusual for her.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"No, not really," Cale answered, shutting the door before walking back over to his bed and, climbing behind Leela, laid down and rested his head on the pillow. "But since when have I ever tread quietly."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Never. You're a loud kinda guy," she says with a snort, leaning back and propping herself up on one arm, looking at him.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's what my neighbors keep saying," he replied, tucking his arm underneath his head as he looked up at her. "So, what are you doing here anyway? Isn't your room like at the other end of the hall?" He's not annoyed, Leela, just curious and, ya know, maybe a little hopeful.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

She fiddles with her hands.

"I needed to talk to you about somethin'. Important," she says slowly.

"We're friends, right?"

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

He frowned at that.

Being separated from human culture for most of his life, Cale hadn't really gotten attached to titles or anything, especially when it came to social interaction. In all honesty, he'd tried to avoid them. He hadn't had many people he would call 'friends,'here or back in his home universe, so they were never really important. There were, of course, exceptions. Before she asked the question, he might have said, yes, that he and Leela were friends, if only to avoid confessing to anything bigger. But the way she said it, something in her tone, told him that it wasn't a good thing.

"I guess. Yeah, why?" he asked, looking up at her suspiciously.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"Friends with some benefits. See, uh, what I wanted to talk about was cutting some of them benefits off."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"O-k?"

Any playfulness that he'd shown when she'd arrived was gone now. The old Cale, the moody, closed off, insecure Cale slowly crept back into the picture. He felt a familiar sinking feeling in his chest, one he hadn't felt in years, not since he was a kid and he finally--after waiting and waiting and waiting--realized that his father wasn't come for him.

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"This isn't really working out," she says, a little too lightly for what the situation warranted, "and I was just letting you know."

That's it. She's moving on, like it's nothing.

"'Cause, you know, I'm not the type that likes getting tied down, and you're a little needy."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

Cale shot right up, smacking his head hard against the top of the little cubby that was his bed. "Ow!" he cried out, rubbing the already forming goose-egg.

Turning his attention back to Leela, Cale's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Needy? I'm needy?" he shot back angrily as he pushed his way out of bed and stood up, quickly gathering the top half of his plantsuit and pulling it on.

"I'm not needy. I don't need anyone. You're the one that followed me around and mauled me in the hallway and wouldn't leave me alone, remember?"

He was pissed. But the anger was little more than a cover, a cover for what the NK was after: fear. It was happening again. Just when Cale thought he had someone who cared about him, they were ditching him, leaving him behind, just like his father had.

"I mean, do I look like I wanna be tied down? Because I don't. I've been taking care of myself all my life and I've been doing a pretty good job of it. You'd just--you'd just get in the way. So...."

[daaayum.livejournal.com]

"So I guess it all works out then, huh?" she says, getting up. "Later. I'll see you around, I guess."

Like it means nothing to her. Like it never meant anything at all.