[Semi-Open, Arrival] Dreaming Wide Awake

[oyedeng]

WHO: Naomi Nagata, James Holden, Amos Burton, a Rescue Crew and OPEN
WHAT: A woman falls out of space and onto Thedas. Some damage is incurred, some recovery time is needed, some reunions are happening. Also: Space resident's first exposure to snow.
WHEN: Covering arrival, quarantine/recovery and first steps in a snowy Kirkwall
WHERE: Wounded Coast, Riftwatch Infirmary, Kirkwall
NOTES: If you want to continue any CWs for description of/discussion of injuries sustained, pain suffered, Holden being a sap

At first, there is nothing. She floats, as she has done all her life, when the ring gate decelerates everything in an instant, and Naomi is knocked out cold.

Her dream is a simple thing. To stand aboard the Rocinante, to hug Alex, to touch her forehead to Amos', to hold Holden close. To tell them all she has to say, and to be welcomed back.

Instead, she comes to when she falls, thin body impacting on hard ground, vision flooding with flickering green, and beyond... the horrifying sight not of metal, not even of the darkness between stars... but of a grey, cloudy sky.

[ ooc: Closed and Open Prompts in comments below. If you'd like to do something else or discuss handwaving/continuing TDM threads, feel free to shoot me a message: inkcharm or Discord: inkcharm#4573.

Please also take a gander at Naomi's Permissions/CWs/Opt-Outs as well as her Info post. ]

Comments

[truthtied]

She doesn't know this woman, other than glimpses she's caught around Kirkwall. But it's second nature to offer her hand when the woman reaches out in the midst of her wonder.

"It's snow," she says, smiling. She holds out her other arm to catch some of the flakes on her sleeve, turning to show the woman, "Here, before they melt. If you look close, you can see their shapes."

[oyedeng]

The woman is tall, towering over Naomi in both height and build, and it's by virtue of her disposition that Naomi doesn't feel an instinct to back away. She knows the types of people who use their physical stature to try and intimidate anyone they come across.

So at the prompting, Naomi leans in more closely, looking at the flakes on the woman's sleeve with fascination, mind already tripping over the laws of thermodynamics.

She huffs a laugh, behind her cupped hand so her breath doesn't melt the flakes faster. "They look like small ice crystals, but... softer."

[truthtied]

"That's an excellent way to describe it," Diana says, smiling warmly at the woman. She loves moments like this, the wonder of discovering something new and being able to see that moment happen in another person. She studies the snowflakes on her sleeve herself, admiring the lacy, intricate shapes.

"It's snow. I've been told that each snowflake is different from each other, but I can't say I've ever been able to confirm it. They do tend to blend together after a while." And, of course, it's cold, though that's a drawback Diana is still learning.

[oyedeng]

Cold isn't something Naomi is overly bothered by. Space is... well, it's different perhaps. It's the absence of warmth more than anything else. There's no wet chill that creeps beneath your clothes.

"That's brilliant," Naomi says, lips tugging into a small smile. "Is this a common thing, then? Snow, I mean. I've never seen anything quite like it."

[truthtied]

"In some places, yes, very much so," Diana says, tipping her head to watch the snow fall, "It happens mostly in the winter, in places where it gets too cold to rain." She looks back down, "And I'm afraid that's the extent of my meteorological knowledge. My name is Diana, by the way."

[oyedeng]

"Naomi. Lovely to meet you, Diana."

Her gaze follows Diana for a moment, though she has to shift, rebalance her weight. The vastness of the sky still makes her a little dizzy, on occasion.

"There's no snow where I live," Naomi explains. "Or any weather, actually. So you have me beat on meteorology."

[truthtied]

"And you, Naomi. I admit, that makes me want to ask you even more questions. You must be a Rifter like me, yes? The only place I can think with no weather is space."

Even the realm of the gods had weather. Perpetually beautiful weather, but weather all the same.

[oyedeng]

Space - the word immediately makes Naomi's face light up.

"It's refreshing to meet someone with a concept of space. I'm a Belter - humans who've lived on ships and stations in the Asteroid Belt for generations. I've never been on a planet before."

[truthtied]

"Truly? That is surprising," Diana says, her own curiosity caught, "I've spent some time in space, I don't know if I've met very many who do not have a home planet in one form or another."

Excluding perhaps the green lantern she'd heard about who was a planet. She's not sure if that counts. "Have you had any difficulties adapting to planet living?"

[oyedeng]

Naomi shrugs - curiously, she makes the gesture with her hands, palms up, rather then her shoulders.

"When humans started mining the asteroids in the Asteroid Belt for resources, at some point I guess it just became easier to stay up there and do the work, rather than take the long trips back planetside. Our bodies have adapted over generations."

And then she winces.

"Downside is, arriving here fucking hurt, and I still feel it. My muscles, bones, and organs just aren't made to handle existing here. I'm getting better, though."

She'll never be okay - but that in turn isn't something she feels like drawing attention to right now.

[truthtied]

"I'm sorry to hear that," Diana says, concern wholly genuine. She considers the possibilities. Which Naomi has also probably considered, but sometimes two heads are better than one. "I don't imagine there's much the local medicine can do to speed your getting better..." Less a knock on their nonmagic physicians and more an acknowledgement of the fact they were clearly in a world that hasn't conceptualized germ theory just yet. "What about the magic?"

[oyedeng]

Naomi presses her lips together, then shrugs briefly - with her hands, rather than her shoulders.

"I've been in the care of some of the healers with magic," she allows. "It's still strange to me. They've done a variety of things that helped. At home, it's likely I'd already be dead."

Perhaps it's a little too casual, the way she says it, but then Belters are used to shorter life expectancies than anyone else. Lack of health care combined with dangerous existences in space...

"It helps, but... they can't well rebuild my entire physiology."