[OPEN] a shade of an angel born

[badcoverband]

Who: badcoverband & you!
When: OOC: 8/23
Where: Outside Niteo, OR inside the CERES game center, OR the Entertainment District shrine, OR your own choice!
What: Kara's return after death and a canon update has her confused more than ever. But she's keeping busy...
Rating/Warning: None for now.

---

[Kara has to be honest with herself. Sitting through the presentation a second time upon her return from canon update brief disappearance of three days, she's had enough of the disorientation she experiences now. Her mind's filled with colors and galaxies and star patterns, and she'd returned to find herself under deep suspicion...and now she's back here again? And now there's a strange glow about her, almost undetectable but undeniably there.

Well, at least she won't find herself under threat of airlock...well, hopefully. Even if she did, wouldn't she just come back? Something...some kind of weird emptiness inside her is different, like she can't reach a part of herself that would make her feel normal again. (Whatever the hell "normal" is.)

There are only a few ways of handling this situation.]

--
scene i.

[Kara takes a trip to the CERES marketplace, armed with her pay card and a picture in her head she needs to get out before she loses it. Some picture that makes her feel closer to her goal, to the destination she'd been trying to reach before she was plucked out again and reshuffled into the mix. It's Earth, actual Earth, the one she's stood on before -- she's sure of it, and she's got to get that star system from her mind to reality.

So she buys twelve cans of paint, sixteen different brushes, a small table, and jars for paint water, and heads to the Entertainment District. She picks one of the blank walls of her very own workplace, Niteo, and begins. Her manager might say something, but since when has that ever stopped Kara Thrace?]

Hey. Isn't that vandalizing?

[She's into her painting but not enough to ignore the voice behind her. She rolls her eyes. Here we go, some kind of BS she doesn't have the energy to deal with. Can't they see she's busy?]
--
scene ii.

[Kara's tired of obsessively thinking about it so she takes a break from painting, covered in various colors, and decides a game of pool and a beer is exactly what she needs. So she heads not to Niteo, but for the CERES game center.

Three beers and the same amount of pool matches later, she has more than the recommended amount of alcohol (but, strangely, she can hold it better than before). When she perceives someone as starting Some Shit™ a.k.a. someone talking about her game, she turns around and decks them right in the face*. (*Or! you can choose for her to break the pool stick over your head! Choose your own adventure~)]
---
scene iii.

[She finds herself wandering on one of her breaks at Niteo she intentionally takes an extra twenty minutes for, when she discovers the little shrine. She enters, feeling oddly out of place, but pulls out the two figures she has, little ones of Aphrodite and Artemis and kneels. She stares and wonders if they're the ones who guided her. Candles flicker over her and she sighs, feeling lost more than ever.

It figures that when she finally knows where Earth is, almost everything in the universe is working against the Fleet and her.]

Lords of Kobol...I don't even know if I should pray to them anymore...
---
scene iv.

Wild card - choose your own adventure!

Comments

i.

[fishyoldman]

Vandalism? Geez, heckling an artist like that is pretty rude!

[Raven has a knack for knowing when to show up at the most convenient of times... Or maybe he was just lurking around all along. Either way, he's slouched against a wall nearby, and he'll offer Kara a lazy wink when he gets her attention.

Of course, the real goal for now is to intimidate the stranger into buzzing off, since Raven's a pretty shady-looking guy openly wearing a knife at his belt and all.]

[badcoverband]

[....Raven...you lurker...

Kara's plan was to just fling paint from her brush at whatever dumbass (as covered in paint as she is herself), and/or was ready to knock someone out as quickly and efficiently as possible so she could get back to this ASAP --

--but there's that voice. One of the first she'd heard the first time, and now this time. She's honestly glad to see him. At least someone's not acting weird or being an ass.

Don't think she doesn't notice that knife when she turns. No wonder they're friends.]

You the hero here to save the damsel in distress?

[She quips, returning his wink with a grin. Nothing's normal for her -- especially not now, not anymore -- but she can't get caught up in that now.]

Get lost, bozo. [She gestures to the heckler, who looks between the two of them for a moment, eyes settling on Raven's knife before he does indeed buzz off, muttering and cursing but who cares.]

So. Didja miss me, old man?

[fishyoldman]

[Spies are nothing if not good at lurking.

Once the stranger leaves, Raven pushes off the wall and slouches over, privately a little relieved. He's not much for picking fights. To the question, he's all ignorance.]

Who, me? Did ya go somewhere? [Showing up to bump into her not long after she returned was a coincidence! Totally! He takes a closer look at what Kara had been painting, then back at Kara herself.]

But, uh... You're lookin' a lil more radiant than usual. Did somethin' happen?

[badcoverband]

[Don't you mean peeping Toms... Kara purses her lips as he makes his way over, but still, she appears somewhat distracted. She rubs her nose, apparently unaware or just apathetic about the smear of blue she'd just spread over it. Her tone is just as put on as his.]

Yeah, got to bribe the leaders of this...whatever to let me go to the beach. Real relaxing, y'know.

[She looks down at herself after his comment, not seeing whatever the hell he's talking about. Is it some new come-on? She hasn't heard that one before if it is. The only thing that's different about her is...well, everything. But she can't place it, other than she's been to Earth now. But something tells her she can tell him most anything and, sure, he might make a smart-ass comment, but he doesn't seem like the type who would think she were crazy. Or, at least, he wouldn't probably report her or turn a gun/knife/bow on her for it.]

I uh, I don't know. A lot happened. I found something I've been looking for, something important to my people, but...

[She shakes her head and her voice is quiet when she next speaks, a rare thing.]

Before I got brought back, people were saying I died, that they were sure of it. And, I don't know if it's just the power of suggestion but I feel different. Like I'm me, but not the Kara I was before. [She forces a laugh.]

How frakkin' crazy does that sound? Me resurrecting? Seriously? Who buys into that?

[fishyoldman]

Oh, I dunno, you'd be surprised.

[In ordinary circumstances he'd tease her about the paint on her nose, because that's actually kind of cute. Serious conversation time now, though, so that can wait. The flippant tone in his voice disappears, and he frowns at her, expression growing more serious by the moment.]

People die and get brought back in this place all the time. And I know of some poor saps who've died and been brought back to life back home, too... It ain't as crazy as it seems.

[badcoverband]

I mean, it wasn't from here. I was taken from here to die? I don't know how to describe it. [She looks up at him with a curious look, though her mouth twists into a wry smirk.]

Look at me, getting all serious. You said that happened where you're from too? That Terca place? Is there some kind of "are you dead" test then?

[Leave it to Kara to lighten the mood. She swipes a stripe of yellow paint across his cheek.]

[fishyoldman]

Heyyyyy!

[He rubs his cheek to try to get the paint off, and... winds up smearing it across his cheek and hand instead. Oops.] Y'know, it's kinda hard to believe you died. Ya sure aren't actin' like it. [He wipes the paint from his hand onto his coat. Bleh.]

Anyway, it's called Terca Lumereis. Normally, when you're dead there, you're dead, but some nutjob figured it'd be a good idea ta try bringin' people back to life with some special technology. Did anythin' like that happen ta you?

i

[sayonaradumbass]

[The heckler in question grins once she finally turns around, having procured a spray can himself, already shaking it up.]

Sup? Didn't know you doodled too.

YOU LITTLE...! cutie

[badcoverband]

[Kara's ready to fight but laughs upon sight of Kaneda, the serial hitter-oner. Well, besides Raven. Maybe they knew each other...it would explain a lot. She dunks on him her brush in the water.]

Godsdammit, I knew I forgot something. Spray paint. I paint from time to time, yeah. Got a reason to this time, though.

[She grins.]

It's great to see ya, kid. How have you been hanging on without me?

;0

[sayonaradumbass]

What reason? Paid to do it or just wanna blow off some steam?

[he doesn't hand her the can, though. Just draws closer to the scene she's painted out, curious.]

Oh just awful, how could I go on without you. Where were ya, anyhow?

stop enabling him kara

[badcoverband]

No, gotta get it out of my head. I can't forget it, it's all I've got so far. [She realizes she's rambling like Gaius frakking Baltar or something so she sighs.] It's a long story. We'll leave it at blowing off steam.

[She folds her arms over her chest, a smirk quirking at the corner of her mouth.]

That's...kinda part of the story. Earth, I thought, apparently back from the dead according to everyone else. I knew I felt you missing me even through the universe.

dont ever stop

[sayonaradumbass]

Earth? It's always been there, no matter how many times you bomb it.

[it feels like he just started the story partway through the end.]

Did you feel me honking your titty through the universe too?

oh never bby

[badcoverband]

Is that what it's like when you're from? I think there have gotta be a ton of the Earths the way people talk. One person says it's better than the gardens, you're talking about bombings or whatever... I don't get it.

[There's a lot neither will get until they actually, like, talk about things. Besides titty honking.]

Oh yeah, you know it. Really kept me going when I thought everything was hopeless.

III

[faithfulflame]

[Rei doesn't exactly frequent the local shrines, as they're homes to violent, primordial gods who've hurt friends and family, but she does sometimes wander by, and today's one of those days.

Her head tilts when she spots Kara, and she waits for the woman to notice her before offering a little wave.]

I...don't know if you should or shouldn't. Do you feel like they've abandoned you?

[badcoverband]

[Rei's presence and voice pull Kara out of her thoughts and she sets down the little figures while turning to the younger (older? much older?) woman.]

Not abandoned me so much, but changed. I dunno. Something's different, something that makes me think...maybe they were only here for a short time for a reason. To give my people something to follow. Does that make sense?

[faithfulflame]

[She's 19 going on ten thousand. It's hard to say really.]

It does, yes. It's not like they've held your hand all this time. That's...not really good leadership. You know the old saying about teaching a man to fish, yes?

[badcoverband]

Oh yeah, about a million times. [She smiles faintly.] I just don't know what to believe. Your whole life you believe something, then one day something happens that makes you question everything.

[She wants to ask Rei something she suspects might be true but can't find the means to do so just yet. Her voice closes up whenever she starts -- something rare for Kara.]

Maybe they did leave.

[faithfulflame]

Yeah. I know...I know how that can be.

[Rei looks at Kara more intently, stepping closer and offering her hand. They're new acquaintances but she feels a strange kind of bond with this woman, if only because of the Mars and last survivor of a dead world bit.]

You look like you've got a question on your mind, Kara. Ask, I'll answer if I can.

[badcoverband]

[Kara's surprised by the action but takes Rei's hand anyway. Just the presence of another person is enough to calm her momentarily, and she sighs. She feels a kind of bond too, one that seems to transcend time and universes.]

I'm...um...

Well, have you ever known someone who died and came back? Inexplicably, without no possible way that she can find?

I

[notsosolo]

[Han looks over what she's working on. He's hardly going to judge something as minor as vandalism with his history.]

Looks like quite the project.

[badcoverband]

[Kara glances over her shoulder to see some the guy in the vest she'd seen around watching her. Is she making that much of a spectacle?

Whatever. It's gonna add some spice to the area, anyway, she figures. She laughs then speaks:]

Well, you know, my mom always said I was crap at science fairs so I got into art.

[notsosolo]

Well, I can't comment on your science abilities, but the world always needs a bit of colour.

[Imperial Chic is so not in right now]

[badcoverband]

I understand enough science to pilot what I gotta pilot and figure out what I gotta figure out. That's the most important kind of science.

[She shrugs.]

It's an important picture I just can't get out of my head before I forget.

[Then, a grin.] But hey, if it benefits the world, all the more to it. Makes this place a little more homey, right?

[notsosolo]

[There's one statement in there that is clearly the most important part, though he's sure getting this image down is too]

You're a pilot? Now we're talking about my kind of science.

[badcoverband]

Frak yeah, I am. Best Viper pilot in the Fleet.

You a pilot too? I should've known my own kind. [She's also ding-ding-dinging over this important trait.] You're civilian, though, aren't you? [Gee what gives it away]