trans_9 | Meet-n-Greet

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Meet-n-Greet

After being released from stasis, having the slime removed from their bodies and clothed in the creepy, pulsing leaf-suit that everyone wore, and being taken to the Weapons & Possessions lockers to collect their belongings, the new arrivals would find themselves standing in the Observation Deck. Round windows lined the fleshy walls, revealing the bright display of lights that was inter-dimensional travel. They would also discover that there were people--members of the command staff and crew that had woken earlier--waiting for them.

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Lois didn't really buy that, but then again, who would? She was continuously surprised that the people here didn't all fall apart, and even this kid was keeping it together, more or less. Better than she did, what with the arguing with green people and...

She smiled back.

"You're pretty brave, then. What's your name?"

Leon will answer that question for you, Lois.

"...Sherry?!"

He honestly couldn't believe it when he spotted her. It had been over seven years since the last time he saw the kid, but she looked like she hadn't aged at all. If the ship pulled people from different places and times, she must've been straight from Raccoon City.

The voice was familiar - it better have been, she'd just seen him days ago - and Sherry's expression changed. She was still scared, but there was also relief.

"Leon!" Quick as a blink, Sherry was up and launching herself at the (much) older man. She could figure that out later, though, figuring out why he was older could go somewhere behind why she was on a living spaceship. It wasn't as good as seeing Claire, but Leon definitely was an improvement.

Lois had never been more pleased for a kid in her life, seeing as it was now apparent that this kidnapped, alien-terrorized, forced-into-a-plantsuit child at least had an adult who presumably knew her and cared about her well-being.

"Hey, isn't that convenient? Good to see you've got a buddy here."

Much older, and fortunately stronger man. He caught Sherry easily, and held her in a tight hug.

"Yeah, it's me sweetheart." God, what was she even doing here?

He pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He looked over at Lois, and gave her a smile, as if to say 'thanks'.

Sherry clung to Leon for a long time, even though his plantsuit pulsed against her face weirdly, before finally turning her face to Lois. She smiled too, albeit weakly. The line of tension across her narrow shoulders eased, and she made a conscious effort to not start sobbing all over his suit.

"I'm much better now," she promised.

Lois gave a friendly little shrug and a smile back. Inwardly, she was really relieved.

"Good stuff. I'll just run along and let you two have your reunion," she said, and turned to stroll off.

He gave a nod to Lois, but didn't put Sherry down just yet. He did pull back a little to get a better look at her.

"Look at you... you haven't changed at all."

Sherry's brows drew together, confused. "Why would I? We just saw each other a few days ago. You're the one that's changed, Leon."

It had been years for him, so he figured she had been in that pod of snot for at least that long. God, there was going to be so much he was going to have to explain to her. At least he wouldn't have to explain everything to her by himself.

"Yeah... yeah, I guess I have changed." He thought about it for a moment, but gave her a reassuring smile. "But not that much."

He was still finding himself smack in the middle of insanity, for starters.

Sherry smiled back, "Well, that's good." So, even if he was Old!Leon, he was still Leon? She could work with that. "So... are we..." It was stupid just saying it, much less thinking it, but the proof was literally right out the window. "In space?" She swallowed, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Leon would say something like, Of course not, Sherry! You're just dreaming.

It was dumb to not want the truth, but she wasn't sure how much more she could take after zombies and monsters. Plantsuits and spaceships wouldn't find a lot of room in Sherry's sphere of believability.

He wished he could tell her that this was only a dream. That would make things so much simpler.

"Yeah, sweetheart. We're in space." The expression on his face let her know that, yeah, he knew how stupid it sounded. "It's a long story-- a really long story-- and I promise I'll tell you everything I can in a little bit. But first... what do you say we track down Claire and say 'hi'?"

Sherry dropped her head and sighed. So much for normalcy, if being the daughter of neglectful scientists had been normal, anyway. Still, Leon had promised to explain, and not in that pithy, superior way some adults talked to her (see? This is why she liked Leon). She'd had her fill of that, thank you.

Leon's next news was like... like... like a birthday wrapped in Christmas and sprinkled with Easter. "Claire's here, too? Really?" Sherry's eyes widened and her smile grew less and less fearful. Claire and Leon? The little girl threw her arms around Leon again.

Okay, maybe this could be The Worst Half-Day Ever.

"Yeah, she's here. And she hasn't changed much either." He looked around, trying to see if he could spot Claire through the crowd. "Just keep your eyes peeled for that ponytail of hers. Or an explosion," he joked. "Either way, she should be easy to spot."

"Right." Sherry could pick Claire out of dark room filled with zombies. A well-lit room filled with regular people should be a piece of cake. Well, should be, anyway. Sherry pursed her lips and looked around, when a sudden thought fought its way to the forefront of her mind.

"...Do you think she'll be mad I don't have her vest anymore?" she asked quietly, trying to quell the fear rising up in her chest as she looked over people she knew her parents would have classified as Do Not Go Nears. "All my little box had was my headband."

Leon chuckled a bit and shook his head.

"Don't worry about that, sweetheart. She won't be mad at all." He really couldn't see Claire getting mad over clothes. "It's not your fault anyway."

"I guess so," Sherry agreed, looking out over the crowd of people like a tiny meerkat from her Leon perch. "I just don't like that I don't have it, after I promised to take care of it." She'd also promised to take care of her locket, too, but that was neither here nor there. It wasn't like her mother could come back from the dead and give her a talking-to.

"I can't see her from here," she sighed.

There were a lot of people there. It seemed the crew kept growing by leaps and bounds.

"I think, given the circumstances, you're forgiven. Now..." He raised her up higher, turning her in his arms some so that she could sit on his shoulders. He started to wade into the crowd. "...that should give you a better view. You let me know when you spot her."

~~And she better not get any gum in his hair.~~

Okay, she was officially on the best perch ever. As they waded into the crowd, Sherry tried to keep her mind off how weird everyone looked. Uniform space/plant/tentaclemonstersuits aside, everyone just seemed to be a little off her normal radar.

Then again, zombies had been off her normal radar, too. At least these people weren't trying to eat her alive. Sherry shook her head and looked through the crowd again, when she finally saw Claire.

"Over there! Over there!" she cried and pointed (it's rude to point, Sherry), "Claire!! Claire!!" Sherry waved her hands frantically.

~~Just wait until they find some hairbows, Mr Kennedy.~~

Claire was making her own way through the crowd when she heard a voice she'd recognize anywhere calling her name. It seemed fairly impossible, since Sherry should by all rights in her late teens by now, but she stopped all the same and looked in the direction of the voice.

It took her a moment to locate the little girl perched on Leon's shoulders, but when she did she stared in stunned silence for a brief second before turning and making her way through the crowd towards the pair.

"Sherry!"

Once Sherry pointed her out, Leon waded through the crowd to make his way towards Claire. Thankfully, it wasn't too crowded, so it didn't take long.

"Ok, I know I said wasn't going to bring home any more pets but just look at her..." He lifted Sherry off of his shoulders, making it easier (and safer) for her to launcher herself at-- and subsequently latch on to-- Claire.

"She's so cuuuute. Can we keep her?"

And latch she did, clinging to Claire like she was a lifeline. Though it had only been a few days since she'd seen Claire, she was different, too, the same way Leon was.

But that didn't matter. Claire was here now and that pleased Sherry immensely. She looked up at Leon and grinned a little bit and then looked up a Claire. "Please keep me?" she chimed in.

Like Leon, it had been over seven years since Claire had seen Sherry, so the reunion had that much more poignancy in the older woman's mind as she hugged Sherry tightly to her.

Her expression wavered slightly from relieved happiness to concern very briefly when she glanced up at Leon and it hit her that Sherry still looking as she had when they'd been in Raccoon meant the little girl had been in this place at least seven years longer than either of them. She brushed it away quick enough, looking down at Sherry and grinning a little at the puppy dog look on her face.

"Oh I suppose we've got room for one more."

His glance in return was equal parts I know and I have no idea. But it was definitely Sherry. He wasn't sure how he'd explain how she was connected to him and Claire, but he'd worry about that later.

"I promise I'll feed her and walk her and everything!"

Sherry grinned back, and turned to Leon with her eternally curious look. "You're not going to put a bell on me, are you?" It wasn't like she'd go too far away from them, provided there wasn't anything really scary around.

Most of the people on this deck looked normal except... Sherry held tighter to Claire as her attention span went from Leon's face to the dinosaurs just a few short steps away. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing except a squeak came out.

Meet-n-Greet

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