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mechcharlied‌:

Charlie looked over at Caroline, fresh tears running down her own cheeks.  She didn’t know how to answer her friend’s question- she couldn’t even fathom what was next for them.  The U.S.S.  visitor was their last hope, and most of them had gone through countless worries and ups and downs to even get there.  The fact that it was crashed and seemingly gone in a matter of hours seemed like a sick joke, and thinking about it caused a pain in the pit of her stomach.  She reached over to Caroline, putting her arm around the woman and pulling her in close.  She wasn’t entirely sure if it would be accepted, but affection seemed to be all she could offer for now.  Her words didn’t even seem sufficient enough to help.  “We- we’ll fix it”, she said, sniffling.  “The other mechanics and I will find a way to fix it, I’m sure we will”.

Caroline had become a little unused to affection over the years, at least the kind that was more personal, but that didn’t mean she was ungrateful or standoffish about it. It made her feel calm, even, when Charlie took her in close. It had been years since someone offered her such a simple, yet meaningful touch, and she returned it to her friend without hesitation. She wouldn’t take to blaming her, because she knew something as large and unfathomable as this had to be out of her control. “Right,” she affirmed with a curt nod, wiping at her wet face and doing the same to Charlie’s, “Y-You’re right. I’m just a soldier, what would I know?”

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newtonoakford‌:

“Better” he agreed, “definitely someone you should be careful around”. A laugh escaped through his nose, bowing his head in defeat. “Well then,” he nodded, shrugging one shoulder and approached the table ready for his shot. He didn’t have a clue where to hit the ball, but still managed to do it decently enough for the balls to get close to the pockets. He turned towards Caroline with a smug smile. “ Beat that”.

“Oh, certainly.” she teased before watching him attempt to hit the ball evenly. Caroline’s eyebrows flicked upward in surprise as she watched a couple balls make it within the pockets’ vicinity. “Bravo,” she clapped a little, lining up her shot shortly after and making a slightly clumsier move.

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gabbeltran‌:

Her heart was drumming in her chest, looking around for anyone she could recognize. She shouldered past a few people, gathering supplies and taking order from whoever seemed to be thinking rationally. Exhausted, knowing her leg was about to give in, she decided to rest for a moment, settling nearby just in case she was needed. She hadn’t even registered the person’s words initially, until she glanced to them. “Caroline” she grabbed the girl’s shoulder, recognizing her. For what it felt like the first time, her lips twisting into something other than a scream or a frown. The momentary relief didn’t last long after she considered the question. “I…we help. There are people who need us still. We’ll manage, for now. It seems that we can survive on this planet? I don’t…know”

There wasn’t anything more comforting in the moment than seeing someone familiar like Gabrielle. Their interaction didn’t last too terribly long, but it still meant something to Caroline and instilled a sense of trust within the other woman. She felt the sudden need to pull herself up and cease the waterworks. It was ten times more humiliating in front of a person she knew rather than a stranger. “All I can do is sling a gun around,” huffed Caroline as she reached out to grab onto her arm in slight desperation. “You’re the brains here.”

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lorelaicrewe‌:

Her head was spinning, but she was alive. Alive and relatively unharmed. Only a quick glance around showed her she was one of the lucky ones. Turning to the voice beside her she began pulling herself to her feet, slowly checking to ensure all of her limbs were intact. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to find any supplies I can get my hands on.” Before everyone else stashes them away. 

She should have walked away from the hysterics, but something stopped her. I better not be growing a conscience. She offered the other woman her hand. “We survive.” 

Supplies in Caroline’s mind quickly translated to guns in her own language. Yes, that was right, if they truly were stranded on this strange, unknown planet, and it wasn’t a fever dream, then she would need ‘supplies’. If this were any less dire of a scenario, she might have been overjoyed to finally have a reason to bear arms again.

“Of course,” she mumbled, grabbing onto the woman’s hand gratefully. Caroline felt her tears almost evaporate - not because she was relieved or even felt better, really, but because they had to.

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atlasriley‌:

“Always am,” Atlas quipped. He snorted at her suggestion, raising a brow. “Is there anyone left to sue? Pretty sure everyone who built this thing died decades ago down on Earth or went ahead to the planet, and I’m not sure what kind of court system they have on Abellio.” Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anyone to hold accountable. “Oh, space is the best. A million terrible ways to die, you never know which you’ll get.”

“We’ll try our best,” said Caroline, sipping modestly on her drink now. She wasn’t sure how wasted she wanted to get with all this talk of more malfunctions and death. Usually she’d welcome the intoxication over such dark subjects - but sometimes she just sunk into a worse mindset. “I wish they would have warned us this was a game of Intergalactic Roulette. I would have bought a ticket myself, and a lot sooner.”

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thechsenones‌:

“I wish I knew how. I do not understand science or building ships. But we have to be okay and we have to survive.”

“Right- fuck, shit,” she cursed loudly, running her hands desperately through her hair. “Where the fuck is the captain? Is she dead? Is there anyone else alive?”

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thechsenones‌:

Yael was a complete mess ever since the crash — she hadn’t been able to make contact with Matt and everything on top of that was just pushing down on her.

“We have to live,” she answered, letting out an anxious sigh. “We live and we fix the ship.”

Caroline remembered Yael from not longer after she awoke from cryosleep. It made the unbelievable pain feel a little more manageable upon seeing a familiar face. “How?” she whimpered. Another rarity. She was supposed to be a soldier. She was supposed to be brave. “How can we recover from this?”

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You could never see Caroline cry. She saved her tears for special occasions and after the malfunction, the Visitor crashing should not have been considered a ‘special occasion’. But it broke her. What had she done? Her anger worked not only toward the captain and the bridge members, but God as well. Her entire faith was on the line as she took a seat near the crash site.

“Fuck. Wh-What the fuck do we do?” she looked to the passenger closest to her.

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atlasriley‌:

“You know, it wasn’t on mine either. Feels like false advertising,” Atlas snorted, shaking his head. He guessed if they’d admitted how likely they all were to die in space, they would have had a lot less rich people dropping money on tickets. “Guess it’s too late to go back now, though. We’re stuck on the death rocket until it lands. Or, you know, until it shoots us out into the vacuum of space.” Both options seemed equally likely at this point.

“Hell, you’re right,” she gave him a look. “We should sue.” mused Caroline, though she was particularly amused with the idea. God knew how much money they could milk if they were on Earth and had a functioning government - though, maybe Abellio did. Wouldn’t know until they got there. If they got there. “Ah, what a comforting revelation. Don’t you just love space?”

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atlasriley‌:

Atlas couldn’t bite back another laugh as she gulped straight from the bottle, nodding at her toast. He raised his glass again. “To air,” he repeated with a quick grin. It was nice, being able to breathe properly again. It was also nice having a friend. He wasn’t sure he’d ever had one of those before, at least not properly. “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be even worse. They’ve got to top it, don’t they? Each issue has to be worse than the last.”

“All of this bullshit was not on the nice pamphlet they gave me,” she grumbled, feeling the alcohol singe the back of her throat. “I thought I was just boarding a space yacht, not a death rocket.” It appeared that way, by the abundance of recreational activities she was advertised. When laying in that cryopod, Caroline assumed she’d be waking up to a martini and flip flops. But instead she’d spent most of her time feeling useless and thinking she was one foot in the grave.

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trent-roth‌:

“Ah. That was very kind of him. He must have regarded you very highly.” Trent briefly recalled how he’d waived his option to bring someone along with him. The guilt gnawed at his belly in the way that sour food did, a lingering curdling that undercut everything else.

He glanced between her and her hand for a moment, something stopping him from immediately accepting. But accept he did, and he shook her hand quickly. “Uh, of course. You too. Hope you like fake meat loaf, Caroline.” He tried to smile.

“I suppose he did. I wish he would’ve joined me, he was a good man.” she said truthfully. He was always an excellent mentor toward Caroline, guiding her through training and giving her in particular lessons that the others didn’t receive. Some poked fun at him, implying he was interested in her, but she knew his faithfulness toward his family outweighed his preference for her at work by tenfold.

Caroline almost questioned his seemingly mechanical movement, but didn’t want to pry as he’d split his food with her. “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be marvelous.” commented the brunette sarcastically.

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newtonoakford‌:

“Your mum wasn’t very good at names…Caroline Bold doesn’t flow so well” he teased, rubbing his chin. “Listen, I don’t have any doubts you could do just that” he raised an eyebrow, picking up the rack from the table and gathering the balls.  “Doesn’t mean I won’t try my absolute best not to make a fool of myself in front of you” he leaned some of his weight on the stick, gesturing to the table. “Ladies first?” 

She chuckled, almost proud of herself as no unnecessary feelings brewed at the mention of her mother. “We’ll switch it around then, Bold Caroline sounds like a female action film.” joked Caroline, smiling and raising an eyebrow at him as she folded her hands over the stick, leaning her chin on it. “Go on, then.” she teased.

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gabbeltran‌:

“Of course, makes sense” she offered a reassuring smile. “How old are you?” the idea that younger woman were going to be faced with such an important decision so soon in their lives left a bad taste in her mouth. Then again, nothing about the situation they were in was natural. “Well, like I said. It’s not something that we should worry about for now. I don’t think it will be the immediate priority as soon as we land either…but, it’s good for all of us to consider the possibility” she clasped her hands behind her back, lowering her voice. “If we’re being honest, I don’t think I wanted kids when we were on earth. So that’s advice for you and for me”. 

She almost sighed at the inquiry of her age, like she was sixty and didn’t want to believe it or something. “Twenty-five.” she said anyway. Caroline could have gone on an entire rant about how she felt older, and technically she was after cryosleep, but before that she felt older too. Like she was wearing the light-up Sketchers of a ten year old while she was forty-five. “I guess the immediate priority will be shoving us all into housing units and giving us boring jobs?” It was only half a joke, though it might have applied solely to her in that situation. What good would an army be on an empty planet? “Suppose we’ll have to take that messy back road together then.”

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atlasriley‌:

“I hope I’ll always catch you at a good time, then.” Atlas raised the glass, throwing it back. He didn’t miss the way she was looking at him, couldn’t help but wonder if she’d heard the rumors Roman had doubtlessly spread about him. The guy didn’t seem the type to take any fight lightly, especially not one he hadn’t exactly won. (Atlas hadn’t really won, either, but he wasn’t willing to admit to that.) “Air is nice. I’m enjoying that.” He took an exaggeratedly deep breath, as if to demonstrate how much he was enjoying it. “I’m all right, all things considered. Waiting for the next catastrophe.” 

Caroline let out a chuckle, grabbing the whole bottle instead of waiting for the glass and tilting it back into her throat. “Ah. To air.” she toasted, raising the bottle with a hiccup. She was still debating between whether or not she wanted to mention Roman and their altercation. One one hand, she was moderately concerned, though they’d both come out decently intact, and on another she was more worried with preserving the peace between her and Atlas in that moment. “Hm, what do you reckon it’ll be this time? Hoping something worthwhile, nearly dying of suffocation was not a glorious way to go out.”

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atlasriley‌:

Grinning, Atlas raised a brow and reached for the cup. “That’s a relief. Our marriage would be pretty awkward if you weren’t willing to share your booze.” He hadn’t seen her since the malfunction, and while another man might have felt a spark of guilt about that, Atlas didn’t mind it. They had two years to run into each other on this ship, after all. “How’ve you been?”

“As long as you catch me at a good time, there will always be booze to share.” she chuckled lightly and rested her chin on her propped elbows. Caroline was constantly wondering why he had attempted to steal a ship, and had a million questions picking at her brain, but she did her damnedest to quell them for now. “Glad to have my air back, that’s for certain. And you, my emo love?”

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atlasriley‌:

Things had been a little awkward since the malfunction, and Atlas had been lying low. Getting into a fight with one of the main guys in charge of security hadn’t been his smartest plan. Still, when he spotted a familiar figure with a drink in her hand up ahead of him, he couldn’t help but approach.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he teased lightly, leaning against the wall. “You gonna share that?”

There were a lot of questions rolling through Caroline’s mind as she saw Atlas, especially since discovering that the person at fault for his injuries was Roman, but she decided not to lead in with that can of worms. Instead, she opened with a grin and shook her cup at him.

“For my future husband? Of course.” she returned teasingly.

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