Out and about [open/anywhere on the ship]

[greennotgold]

After returning from Avania III, Fletcher was feeling down. He'd survived... everyone had survived... but that didn't undo the fact that he'd been tied up, trapped in a cave for three days, and almost sacrificed to some false religion. And he'd taken a life. Even if it had been in the defense of someone else, he couldn't get it out of his mind.

Now that he was back on the ship, he went back to his usual routine -- working in Hydroponics, reading up on science in the media library, eating in the mess hall, wandering through the City, and of course babysitting Russel, but it was much more forced than it had been before. Clearly, he needed someone to talk to.

Comments

[icanhashat.livejournal.com]

Jayne was bored.

Very bored.

And a little drunk.

This was not a winning combination.

And yet here he was, in Hydroponics looking for some fresh fruit. It wasn't his favorite treat but he had a solid craving for something sweet. Technically he should have asked someone.

Technically he should have cared but he didn't.

And so he made his way, carelessly along not paying attention to where he was walking as he scanned the trees for fruit.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher, meanwhile, was in the process of transplanting some vegetables from a smaller, manmade garden to the larger, actually in-the-ground patch that he used for growing veggies. However, distracted as he was, he didn't notice that he was crossing paths with someone else.

Oops.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time Fletcher met someone by bumping into them.

[icanhashat.livejournal.com]

And bumping into Jayne was like bumping into a brick wall. "Hey watch it!" He barked and discovered unfortunately that he had spilled the tankard of drink he'd been carrying with him.

Blinking and feeling a rising fury he realized...it was just a kid.

Great. He couldn't punch a kid.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher winced and drew back, holding the vegetable pot close. "I'm sorry! I-- I wasn't looking where I was going, I didn't mean to--"

He looked up nervously. An adult. And he'd spilled the drink he was carrying. Way to go, Fletcher. "Um-- I'm really sorry..."

[icanhashat.livejournal.com]

Jayne's fierce flare burned into Fletcher for a moment before he turned it off, "Whatever...just watch where you're going. And eat something! You look like hell!"

He'd seen a few handfuls of kids onboard the ship and the increasing amount was beginning to annoy him.

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

After the mission, Hot girl had disappeared for the moment: Mindy, after all, had to keep herself under wraps, even if she still had a few scratches and had to make sure some of that was taken care of before she was moving around the ship.

And at the moment, she just happened to spy someone she was sure that she had seen him before.

"Hey...you're that Fletcher kid, aren't you?"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher was surprised to hear his name. He stopped walking and turned to look; someone his age maybe, and she looked familiar, but he couldn't remember if they'd ever spoken.

"Yes... I'm sorry, I don't remember your name." Way too polite, even to other kids. He'd get over that someday. Maybe.

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

"I'm Mindy Macready," she said, offering a hand. "I saw you, I think, at one of those Outsider's meeting thingies. But I also look into things. Now, what's with the long face? You look like someone pissed in your favorite cereal."

In his eyes, of course: Mindy was very observant.

[greennotgold]

And it probably didn't help that Fletcher was absolutely terrible at hiding his emotions.

"Um-- nothing," he said, which was obviously a lie. "I'm just, um... tired."

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi was currently driving around, trying to find wherever her partner was. The only problem was that Stacy was frickin' huge and finding him would take effort.

However, to distract her was Fletcher himself. Wasn't he one of the ones she'd been called to rescue? She stopped the HardBoiler and then kicked the kickstand up before pulling her helmet off of her head.

"Hey. Are you okay?" she asked, walking up to him. She wasn't sure what kind of distance he'd be okay with in between them, so she made sure to keep a reasonable amount away.

[greennotgold]

Sure, he was just sitting on a bench in a random park area of the City, staring at the sky and not doing much of anything, but that didn't mean he wasn't okay. (Yes it did.) He lowered his gaze when he heard a voice, and looked over at Hoshi. Ah, she'd been one of the rescuers...

"Um... yes, ma'am, I'm fine," he replied quietly. He always felt awkward being asked how he was doing.

Crap, sorry about that. ><

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

She decided to kneel down by the bench, again keeping her space. She noticed that it was rather beautiful here and reminded her of a park from home.

However, her face balked when she was called 'ma'am.' She didn't look that old, did she? "That's great. Oh, hey, I'm Hikari Hoshi, last name, first."

<3

[greennotgold]

Fletcher would never understand the "last name first" thing, it was so confusing.

"It--it's nice to meet you, Ms. Hikari," he said. "I'm Fletcher Tringham. Um, first name first." He shifted awkwardly where he was sitting. "You were, um... you were there to help rescue all of us, right?"

[morphitudinous]

In the heat of those moments in the sacrificial chamber, Billy had promised Fletcher that they could talk later. It was later, and they'd both had a chance to clean themselves and heal up.

He located his fellow scientist near the city park, quietly strolling up to him. The looks on their faces nearly matched.

"Hey Fletcher," Billy greeted quietly, falling into step beside him. "Did you get a chance to recover from all of that? Physically, at least?"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher had been looking down at a patch of flowers near the edge of the park, not expecting yet another person to approach him. He looked up; realizing it was Billy, he didn't bother trying to hide how he was feeling. Billy already knew.

"...yeah. I'm all better," he replied. "I didn't get hurt that badly..."

[morphitudinous]

"They patched me up too, if you were wondering," Billy noted, pulling up the back of his shirt to show the patched-over skin. If Fletcher was like him at all, Billy suspected he might feel guilt over what had happened. "I've had worse. It didn't hurt for long."

He was just grateful to be out of there, though the feelings still lingered.

"I'd have to count that among one of my worst mission experiences," Billy sighed, scratching his foot against the ground. "They don't all go so badly, but I don't think that's very comforting to know."

[greennotgold]

Fletcher winced; he realized that he was extremely lucky he'd only experienced a few scrapes and bruises. He hadn't had to get any work done in Medical at all.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said. "I... That was the first mission I've been on. I..." He shrugged. He didn't really know what to say about it. There wasn't much to say. And yet he felt like he was keeping it all bottled up, anyway.

[tiny-chains.livejournal.com]

Russel laid in wait for his quarry. This is gonna be great. He had climbed into a tree with a bucket. What was in the bucket? Pond scum. Who was walking under? Fletcher!

And with perfect timing, he dumped it on his apparently bigger younger brother.

[greennotgold]

"Aaaah!" Suddenly, Fletcher was wet. Wet, and covered in pond scum.

Well, that was one way to deal with depression.

He looked upward, and when he saw who was sitting in that tree, he glared. "Brother!"

[tiny-chains.livejournal.com]

"Hi, Fletcher!" He waved energetically from his tree. He grinned widely. He looked very proud of himself.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher's lip wobbled, but he kept his glare focused. "Brother, get down from there! You'll get hurt!"

[hi_there_aliens]

He got back from the Era feeling a lot of things. Tired, nerves just a little frazzled, annoyed one one hand and enlightened on another, shoulder sore, but mostly feeling like he needed a good shower. At least it looked like someone had gotten through to the dragons; with the Melting Clock taken care of, it meant the others were no longer in danger. He should take advantage of the downtime and lie down somewhere. The worst part was that he was tired but he didn't feel tired. He felt weary but also incredibly wired, like he'd had two pots of coffee followed by multiple espresso shots. Daniel knew what that meant. He was going to crash, and crash hard, but until then, he wasn't getting to sleep any time soon. To much energy left unused.

He could, at least, make use of the time and check in on the rest of the Avania III team. It took some wandering before he found the place. Fletcher was there.

Daniel knocked with his free hand and then peered around the door frame.

"Hey. Mind if I come in?"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher looked up when he heard the knock; he was engrossed in an electronic textbook on 1990s Earth botany and hadn't noticed anyone approaching the door.

"Ah-- sure," he said. When he looked up, he saw it was Dr. Jackson. "How are you, sir?"

[hi_there_aliens]

The archaeologist couldn't stop himself from raising an eyebrow at the title. 'Sir'? Really? He might be a Doctor but it wasn't like he was military or anything. It felt too weird being called that. "You don't have to call me 'sir'. Daniel's fine."

Daniel glanced around, studying the place. "I'm good." He looked back at Fletcher, and then at the device in his hands. Maybe this was a bad time. "I wanted to see how you were holding up, after, you know..."

[greennotgold]

Fletcher looked downward sheepishly. "S-sorry, si... Daniel." That felt weird.

"Oh, um-- I, I'm fine too," he said, nodding. "I was just-- studying a little, they've made so many advances on botany since my time period, so..." He trailed off. "I, um, I didn't get hurt at all, so the people in Medical just let me go right away..."