Nova Prime / Rich Rider (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iamresponding) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
legionmissions2018-01-03 09:31 pm
iamresponding) wrote in legionmissions2018-01-03 09:31 pm
Entry tags:
"A Three Hour Tour" [locked to Rich and Grif]
Who| Grif and Rich
What| "A Three Hour Tour" plot. After investigating a garbled Legion distress call, Grif and Rich crash several months in the past on an alien planet and have to survive together and wait several months until rescue
Where| Azhol IV.
When| Post- Blargh, pre-"Lights Out"
Warnings/Notes| Shippy self-indulgent nonsense
Rich is feeling better. He'll never feel the way he used to, before getting his memories of the Cancerverse back, but the medicine and therapy are helping - and even allowing him to unpack things he tried not to touch before, like the War, and the fall of the Corps, and being controlled by the Phalanx.
He can never be his old self again but he can still be something healthy, if he works hard enough at it and actually accepts help. In fact, all of it's helped enough that Kid Q even let him go on a minor mission with Grif, some diplomatic talks and security consultations with a new UP member world.
And it'd gone well. He feels almost human again. He feels like he actually has a future.
So even now, after receiving a Legion distress call, responding to it, getting caught in some weird time storm, and crashing on a planet, he feels okay. Even after they figured out it was their own past distress call they were responding to. Even after figuring out they're stuck several months in the past, according to some of their instruments that use certain physical forces to calculate the correct time. Even though something in the atmosphere is making their flight rings fail and making their long-distance comm functions go offline.
They're both mostly uninjured, they have their omnicoms - which are saying there's fresh water and edible plants nearby - they have some rations and supplies like water filters, emergency blankets, backup transuits.
And they have each other. Grif definitely isn't the worst person to wind up stuck with.
"Our flight path took us right past this planet. We just have to hold out until the rest of the universe catches up a few months and they actually notice we've gone missing. The search pattern spread will bring them here."
It could be way worse.
What| "A Three Hour Tour" plot. After investigating a garbled Legion distress call, Grif and Rich crash several months in the past on an alien planet and have to survive together and wait several months until rescue
Where| Azhol IV.
When| Post- Blargh, pre-"Lights Out"
Warnings/Notes| Shippy self-indulgent nonsense
Rich is feeling better. He'll never feel the way he used to, before getting his memories of the Cancerverse back, but the medicine and therapy are helping - and even allowing him to unpack things he tried not to touch before, like the War, and the fall of the Corps, and being controlled by the Phalanx.
He can never be his old self again but he can still be something healthy, if he works hard enough at it and actually accepts help. In fact, all of it's helped enough that Kid Q even let him go on a minor mission with Grif, some diplomatic talks and security consultations with a new UP member world.
And it'd gone well. He feels almost human again. He feels like he actually has a future.
So even now, after receiving a Legion distress call, responding to it, getting caught in some weird time storm, and crashing on a planet, he feels okay. Even after they figured out it was their own past distress call they were responding to. Even after figuring out they're stuck several months in the past, according to some of their instruments that use certain physical forces to calculate the correct time. Even though something in the atmosphere is making their flight rings fail and making their long-distance comm functions go offline.
They're both mostly uninjured, they have their omnicoms - which are saying there's fresh water and edible plants nearby - they have some rations and supplies like water filters, emergency blankets, backup transuits.
And they have each other. Grif definitely isn't the worst person to wind up stuck with.
"Our flight path took us right past this planet. We just have to hold out until the rest of the universe catches up a few months and they actually notice we've gone missing. The search pattern spread will bring them here."
It could be way worse.
no subject
He loops his free arm around Rich and pulls him to his feet.
"Hey, saving your butt is what I do around here," he says. Everything about this is fine, he's nonchalant, but then...
"Do you think it's going to get worse?"
no subject
"I hate to say it but probably. The upside is it's never going to be as bad as it was, like when I first got the memories back. Going nearly catatonic like that was the whole acute stress reaction thing. A psychotic break. What it is now is PTSD. So...flashbacks, paranoia, hyper-vigilance, nightmares, that kind of stuff. Like you see in combat vets."
Which...he was one, but the war hadn't caused that for him, not quite.
"Certain things might trip it off and it's probably going to be hell trying to sleep at night but I might still be able to function. Mostly. S'just...probably going to get pretty unpleasant."
no subject
Grif tugs him forward, though it's now less holding him and more just walking with an arm across his back. It's a lot closer to casual, but the continued support perhaps betrays how much more concerned he is than he's admitting.
"C'mon, I think I found a good spot for us to stop. Two water sources."
no subject
And Rich lets himself be led. When they get there, he nods approvingly.
"That's perfect. It's high enough to avoid the rotterdins and all those thick crosscrossing branches up there almost make a shelter all by themselves."
He looks off in the distance.
"River's close enough that hauling water shouldn't be too hard, but God forbid we ever have to worry about any flooding, this is uphill from the river a bit. But we have enough flat ground here to build a fire and work on anything we need to."
He taps at his chin.
"I don't know, though, I was hoping for a picture window. And is this even in our budget?"
no subject
"Property values aren't great around here," he explains. "It's a zoo."
no subject
"Does it even have a good school district?"
no subject
no subject
"And you were on me about the animal puns before."
This is good. This might actually work. And all they have to do is run out the clock, right?
They decide to start building in the morning.
That night, they sleep in the bower created by the crisscrossing branches, where their future treehouse is going to be. They layer the bottom with a layer of soft leaves and moss and a silken net of a particular vine that crawls across the tree tops that's safe to skin. The furs are on top. It's cozy and warm.
It's just...nice. This world has something like fireflies, except they glow in more colors than yellow and they flit around the trees. They sing, too, like crickets, except it's not as sharp and harsh a chirp. It has more of a musical quality, like a glass armonica.
So Rich is in a much better mood when he falls asleep, but...
But it's not going to be an easy night. At one point, he starts to toss and turn slightly, jerking restlessly.
no subject
It's a very comfortable situation to fall asleep in.
...Until Rich moves.
Grif's eyes snap open and he tenses, trying to figure out what's hap- Oh.
"...Rich?"
no subject
He mutters under his breath, "Stop. Too fast... Worldmind."
The last word is a plea for help, him begging Worldmind to think of something, anything, before it's too late for...whatever it is he's dreaming about.
He sobs. Tears trickle from the corners of his closed eyes, glittering in the half-light of the forest's glowing lichen.
Then he wakes up, suddenly, dramatically, lurching upright, gasping like someone taking their first breath again after drowning. There's enough room in the little bower for him to scoot backwards, away from Grif, away from...everything, until his back is against one of the trunks of the tree. In that moment, he isn't a person, he's just a scared animal, recoiling away from everything, expecting to be hurt.
Then, gasping and wheezing and trying to catch his breath, he looks around, confused, trying to get his bearings again.
no subject
"You're okay," says Grif, soft and reassuring. "Bad dream."
He reaches out to grip Rich's shoulder, bracing him.
"It's just you and me."
Grif's not the best at this, he's sure. He's not good at comforting. But he's the one who's here, and Rich needs whatever Grif can give him.
no subject
His brain apparently was still chugging along, under the surface, stewing on those fears. He sits there for a little bit, sucking down shaky breaths, trying to get the fear under control.
"Sorry."
He feels bad for waking Grif up. And embarrassed.
no subject
"Shit happens."
And it's nothing in the face of how much more comfortable these nights are when you're touching another person.
no subject
It's a relief.
Rich crawls back in close again, timidly. He was like a scared animal before, cowering away. Now he's like some timid creature whose trust has been earned, curling in some safe space, looking for comfort.
He comes back to where it's warm and squirms in close, his breathing slowing down again, muscles untensing.
no subject
They've done enough sincerity that Grif knows no jokes about this will ever come back to bite him.
Shit's sacred.