Get up, get back on your feet [OPEN]

[craaazyisland]

The Bleed looked a lot the same whether you were looking at it upside down or right side up. Good to know.

Steve was sitting on one of the chairs in the obs deck... slouching, really, a typical teenage slouch, his head tilted off to the side and his hair hanging in his face as he stared out the window. He was fighting off the end of one of his dizzy spells, the ones that always hit about an hour after his weekly treatments in medbay. He looked a little more pale than usual, and a close inspection would notice the greenish veins trailing up his left arm towards his tattoo, but the spell was finally passing and he'd be back on his feet in a little bit.

He already knew from past experience that there was little point in trying to exert himself until it was over... otherwise they might find him unconscious in the middle of the mess hall again. That had stirred up a few conspiracies about what was really in the food, and was really more trouble than it was worth. He didn't want to freak out Kaylee, either, particularly when she'd been so nice in helping get him situated in the Engineering department.

Yes... for once, Steve didn't have a whole lot to be cynical about.

Hell, it might even be safe to make some small talk with him.

Comments

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi wasn't particularly interested in watching the Bleed (seriously, it was interesting the first time; that's it), but he was a little curious to see Steve up there looking a little out of sorts.

"Hi," he said, walking up and definitely not commenting on that awful posture. "You okay?"

[craaazyisland]

"Huh?" Steve sat up, looking a little groggy both from the headrush and from the dizzy spell itself. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine... I was just kind of dozing off, that's all."

Well, now he was embarrassed. If he was attracting enough attention to get strange people noticing him... jeez.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He sat down in one of the nearby chairs, looking out at the view. Such that it was. Steve seemed coherent enough.

"A little tired? I just got off that mission to Galilee. I feel like I could sleep for a week." Which was kind of an exaggeration, because Zouichi hardly ever slept. Whatever, he was working on his colloquialisms.

"I don't think we've ever spoken before. I'm Zouichi."

[craaazyisland]

"Yeah. I wasn't on the mission. I just get tired like this every so often... growing pains." It wasn't technically untrue, either.

He sat up a little further and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I'm Steve. It's, uh, nice to meet you."

[helpmeleon.livejournal.com]

This was Ashley's first time up here since she'd popped, instead opting to spending most of her days stalking Leon and occasionally bothering him to pay attention to her. But when one got lost, one tended to find something new.

"Wow, that's so cool!" She ran up to the window and looked out of it. "It's like in those space movies..." She didn't notice Steve right away until she glanced around. He was kind of cute. He had a Leon doppelganger thing going on. "Hi!" she said brightly. "I'm Ashley." She just wished she was wearing something cute instead of this stupid plant suit. It left little to the imagination.

[craaazyisland]

Wow, she sure was friendly. And he hadn't seen her around before... so she must have been a new girl. Steve turned his head slightly and sat up, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Hi," he said.

"I'm Steve. Did you just pop last time around?"

[helpmeleon.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I did." She leaned on the console, bouncing her heel off of the other foot's toe. He seemed normal enough, compared to a lot of people on the ship. "Most everyone's pretty nice. But some people are weird."

[craaazyisland]

"Yeah, you can sure say that again," he muttered, but it was good-natured. "It's not so bad, I guess... it just takes a lot of getting used to. Do you know anybody on board already?"

I had a mini crush on Steve as a kid... =P

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Being on the ship allowed Rarity broadened her experience as a designer. She used to get inspiration from the flowers and trees in nature but looking at The Bleed gave her new ideas.

The unicorn was about to leave when she spotted a young man slouching and staring out the window. "Hello there! I'm Rarity."

Hahahaha

[craaazyisland]

Okay. Maybe he should get back to medbay, here, because the treatment had never made him hallucinate giant goddamn ponies before.

"Uhhh..." was his eloquent reply, staring in shock at her.

"... what the hell?"

[whining-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Rarity was a little offended and huffed. "Yes, I am a talking pony. They do exist in my world. I would appreciate it if you do not scream." She kept her distance in case he did. The last time someone screamed, it hurt her ears for a while.

[craaazyisland]

Steve paused for a moment before answering.

"... okay," he said, pretty calmly. He took a deep breath and decided to just carry on, here. "How are you, I guess?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

Someone hopped over the chair next to his and landed upside down, head dangling off the seat.

Superboy's arm was in a sling, bandaged up. The sling was disturbingly empty.

"Hey. Does it look any different upside down?"

[craaazyisland]

"Not really. Same swirly colors and stars and shit."

Steve made a (literally) sideways glance over at Kon, stretched out and sat up straight. He'd walked past the other boy earlier when he was heading into Medical.

"Feeling better?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"If I get one more person asking why I do the hero thing I'm gonna puke, but other than the situational nausea and losing my ability to juggle, yeah, I'm okay."

He scratched his nose with his good hand.

"There's a war on. People lose stuff like hands during those and just superheroing (seriously Aquaman had a hook for one for the longest time). So it's business as usual."

[craaazyisland]

Steve couldn't relate. He watched Kon for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and tightened his arms over his chest with what might have been self-consciousness.

"I wouldn't really know about any of that," he muttered, "So I'm not gonna ask either, at least."

[letmelive]

Claire's arrival on the Obs deck was preceded by the well-familiar bark of Boon, who had caught Steve's scent long before he and his owner were in sight. The puppy that no longer looked very much like a puppy was getting better about bounding ahead of Claire, however, and only sprinted to Steve's side when both of them came out of the hall they'd been walking down. She followed the dog over at her own pace, sitting down next to Steve, giving him a tired smile.

"Hey there, stranger."

[craaazyisland]

Steve perked up the moment he'd heard the familiar bark, and his familiar old stupid grin was back on his face as Claire showed up. It seemed to make him less sick-looking, which was good, because he hated looking sick in front of Claire. She worried about him too much as it was.

"Hiya," he said with an awkward little wave of a few fingers. "What's up, Claire?"

[ghost-bait.livejournal.com]

Miku quietly came up behind Steve and put her chin on his shoulder, "It isn't that interesting, Steve." She knew better by now than to harp on him about not feeling well and resting. "We should watch a movie instead."

[craaazyisland]

He grinned and pointed out the obs deck window at the twisted, colored masses of deep space in front of them. "No, it is... if you squint, that one right there looks like a rabbit."

[ghost-bait.livejournal.com]

Miku tilted her head slightly and squinted at the spot, "It looks like a waffle cone from the conbini." She tilted her head to the other side, "Or maybe a cat."

[craaazyisland]

"A waffle cone?" he started laughing, leaning his head against hers. "Ugh, don't talk about food yet... I'm gonna need another half an hour or so before I want to eat anything."

He rubbed his left arm a little bit to try to mitigate the tingling feeling that was still there. "How are you?"

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

"Weird place to take a nap."

Paco leaned against the back of Steve's chosen flesh-seat, glancing out the window and rubbing his eyes before looking back at Steve. Staring too long into the Bleed made his eyeballs itch.

"'Sup Steve?"

[craaazyisland]

"Nothin'," Steve said, waving vaguely over his shoulder. "Just got back from my weekly date in medbay and feeling like my head's turning inside out. How about you?"

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

"The usual," Paco said with a shrug. "Wandering around and talking to people, checking in on the workaholics to make sure they're not about to explode their heads. You want me to get you some water or something?"