001 (video)

[jumpiness]

[ Maybe Independence Day is Coach Finstock's favorite movie for a reason. All Stiles knows is, at first he was in his jeep, dropping Scott off at home - and then he was in a shuttle, with some nasty-looking dude with six eyes staring at him.

He may have shrieked in a totally manly way and sat on the bench furthest away from him.

Anyway the shuttle - space shuttle, space ship - had set down, and he'd been herded out and dumped on a launch pad in some serious need of scrubbing. Some dude with actualfax fucking mandibles had tiredly told him that he was supposed to go to Zeta district and help with repairs if he didn't have anything better to do. He did not field any other questions. Stiles has been flying by the seat of his pants for the last few hours.

That first hour may have involved hyperventilating.

Regardless, he knows how to work this omni-tool thing now and he's using it thanks to ingenuity and possibly some passerby help. His face fills up the entire screen. ]

So aliens are real. Big, giant huge wrinkly aliens that look like they want to eat my face, and blue space babes. Okay, that's cool, we respect all of the species in human-land. Totally cool bros here.

[ A teenager's very determined expression of resolve goes here, though. ]

What we don't respect is kidnapping. Which I'd say is what just happened, you know. But I've got questions. If any of you see a five foot three girl with fair skin, green eyes, and strawberry blonde hair, or a five foot ten dude with tan skin, brown eyes, brown hair and an uneven jawline, you're gonna tell me, okay?

And if any of you touch a hair on that fine lady's head, I'm going to go Will Smith on your butts.

[ Scott can handle some heat. Stiles turns the video off, then switches it back on suddenly. ]

And the dude you're telling is Stiles!

Comments

video ]

[sucking]

[Lydia's experience thus far has been eerily similar. Except there's been no shrieking of any kind. Instead, silence. Utter and complete silence as she tries to rationally think of all the possible drugs that could have been introduced to her system to allow her such vivid hallucinations.

She's shuffled away and she immediately finds a place to sit that doesn't feel like the world is going to swallow her whole and begins to take inventory - mostly of her well-being. When she realizes that her pulse is steady (not elevated), her pupils are reacting to light properly (not blown and sluggish), and her reflexes seem perfectly fine... she's flabbergasted.

What is going on? She was on her way away from the Stilinski residence, away as in - not going into space. Yet, here she is.

A few hours of wandering and decidedly not touching anything and she's trying to figure out this device. Her timing must be categorically coincidental because she catches the end of Stiles' transmission. Which is just in time to hear her own physical description and then an odd threat of harm that she's positive no one here is going to get.

She figures out how to work this thing and tries to reconnect back to Stiles.]

I hope you make sure to specify which brand of Will Smith you're going to be descending upon them with, because some of his earlier works aren't exactly stellar.

And what the hell did you do, Stiles? [Because if he is looking for her, in a strange place, where she's never been before, OBVIOUSLY this is his fault.]

video;

[jumpiness]

[ It doesn't take long for the device to beep and make Stiles jump a little. But at least it's for a good reason, because Lydia's alive. Alive, okay, whole, and actually talking to him which is more than what's happened for him normally. ]

The brand that starts with an I and ends in Day, duh! [ Not that Stiles can fly planes or code viruses that are compatible with totally alien mainframes. ]

I [ His video feed shakes as he gapes at her, ] I didn't do anything! I was driving Scott home and then [ Points at the nearest alien, points back to himself ] I was here!

Where are you? [ Switching tack because he has to know okay ]

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[sucking]

Jeff Goldblum's finest work. [She says that as if it doesn't need any qualifiers. But now she's back to the ACTUAL problem.]

I'm in Omega, apparently. Wherever that is and it's loud... [She glances up and looks around.] Okay, there's a bar and some people and they don't exactly look like the type of 'people' I can ask for directions.

[Cut to Lydia trying to be stealthy with her device and possibly giving Stiles a bit of motion sickness with the quick movement of the lens to point out where she is and the lurkers around the outside of the bar. How she managed to wander to this area is beyond her. She isn't exactly claiming to have been paying attention. She thought it was a dream or a paranoid delusion of some sort.]

video; NOW THAT IM DONE NOMMING

[jumpiness]

[ Oh, shiiiit.

Stiles is perfectly aware that Lydia is capable of taking care of herself. Aware, but that doesn't mean his first reaction isn't to tell her to get out of there. So. ]

You should probably, actually, definitely get out of there.

[ Then, a moment later, ] But tell me what it's called! [ He couldn't see from the quick flash of the bar. ] I think there's a map on this thing, so if I can find it, I'll find you. Okay?

video → forever

[sucking]

[She gives him a look, then another look at the bar and the lurkers.]

Fine. I just - where should I even go?

[She gets a look at the name of the bar.]

It's call the [insert plausible name here]. I hope that helps and I'm not going to go far.

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[airraid]

[have nothing but a pair of eyes and the brim of a hat, at first. there's an eyebrow raised, and the guy on the other end of the feed is laughing - and not really bothering to hide it.] Never been to Omega before, I take it? If you need a tour guide, let me know.

[and then:] Stiles, buddy. You might wanna tone it down a little if you expect to get any help at all with the people you're looking for. You might not like the sound of it, but blowing hot air isn't exactly how things work around here. At least .. unless you want to get yourself messed up.

[listen to the cripple, stiles. listen to the cripple.]

video;

[jumpiness]

[ Stiles has a miniature heart attack for two seconds because Omega, what? IS HE ON A COMMUNE OF LONE WEREWOLVES IN SPACE, THAT WOULD BE HORRIBLE.

Then he remembers that werewolves don't look like custard-faced six-eyed aliens, and relaxes only about a fraction. ]

No, I have definitely not been kidnapped out of my ride and dumped onto stations called Omega. [ he might need the tour guide.

Also, Stiles is painfully, painfully familiar with getting messed up. It's pretty sad. ]

I'm pretty against getting messed up. I like all my bones where they should be and not in fractional pieces.

But I need to find them, man. [ Even if .2 seconds later he's found Lydia, at least visually. ]

Do you know which button is the map?

perma-video;

[airraid]

[ohhhh boy. he can already tell that this is going to be pretty difficult to explain.

why does everyone have to come from a version of earth where none of this makes sense. why can't everyone just make it easier and know what the reapers are and what the collectors are and understand that HEY WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR, HERE, WE'VE GOT MORE IMPORTANT PROBLEMS THAN YOUR MISSING GIRLFRIEND.

.. okay he's calm now.] Uh, I'm pretty sure you have, kiddo. Don't see your ride anywhere around here, do you?

[he pauses, eyebrows raising. at least the guy isn't going to start looking for trouble. joker's pretty sure that it'll end up finding him pretty easily one way or another. that's just how things work around here.] There should be a sub-menu that lets you bring up a map of the station. But .. good luck figuring out how to read it.

[helpful as always!]

[jumpiness]

My ride actually has wheels, you'd know it if you saw it.

[ Most of the shit he's seeing is flying, he thinks he'd be hard pressed to find an internal combustion engine that wasn't in a museum here. If this place has museums.

The advice isn't exactly stellar, but there's only so many buttons and sub menus and he will find that map, dammit. ]

Just knowing where the hell I might be going is about a thousand times better than staring at this wall.

The blinking one is me, I think. I hope.

[airraid]

So I'm assuming your ride isn't a remastered Mako or the Hammerhead.

[he swears if he has to hear vega ramble about that shit any more than he already has he's going to hire somebody to kick his ass for him.

and this place doesn't have museums, so you're shit outta luck on that one.] The blinking one should be you, yeah. What's it look like where you are? Maybe I can try to help you figure it out.

[because he has nothing better to do with his life right now, let's be real.]

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[techburst]

[have a very unimpressed-looking shadow staring into her omni-tool at the smattering of wordvomit that just pretty much smacked her in the face.

oh, no. not another one of you.] .. Great. Another one of you that isn't familiar at all with aliens. Or this station. Or just where in the galaxy you are to begin with.

[this is offered kind of as an aside, over her shoulder, as though she's speaking to someone else.

(that someone else totally being her little sister.)] They really should start handing out welcome brochures at the dock.

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[jumpiness]

[ Wow, rude much? Stiles clicks his tongue. ]

Uh, I'm pretty sure I was on Earth, in the Milky Way galaxy, which is also a delicious candy bar.

[ He digresses. ]

I'm getting the vibe that's probably not where where I am now, judging by your thinly-veiled disdain.

perma-video;

[techburst]

[she doesn't think of it as being rude. she thinks of it as being honest.

sorry if you think that's rude, kid.] .. I haven't had a Milky Way in forever. [damn it you made her lose her train of thought. good job.] But no, you're not on Earth anymore. Not that I think you'd want to be there right now, anyway.

You're on Omega.

perma-video;

[jumpiness]

Oh man, don't tell me they don't make those anymore.

[ Stiles despairs for a moment, then picks up the note about Earth and where he is. ]

Okay, so I'm on Omega. What the heck and where is Omega?

[ That is more pertinent of a question. ]

[techburst]

I'm pretty sure they do, I just .. haven't been anywhere that sells them.

[which means she hasn't been on earth in quite some time.

but .. okay. time to start explaining things.] Omega is a space station in the appropriately-named Omega nebula .. it's a hollowed-out chunk of asteroid that's been mined pretty much down to nothing. It's pretty much where you go if you don't care about killing people to get some credits.

[she shrugs. it feels like everyone should know this by now.] Have you been greeted by the batarians, yet?

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[tradecraftdude]

at least u dont have ne aliens in ur brain

...

u dont have ne aliens in ur brain rite

text

[jumpiness]

i'm pretty sure i don't have any aliens in my brain.

...

not that i would know if i did, if they were the kind that didn't tell you that they were in your brain.

75% sure its still all me.

[ thank you for casting that shadow of doubt marco. ]

text

[tradecraftdude]

ok dude 25% is a pretty big number 2 not b sure there arent aliens in ur brain

whats the last thing u remember b4 u got kidnapped

text

[jumpiness]

o was driving my friend scott home from practicing lacrosse.

one minute driver's seat, next minute bam, kidnapped.

and hey, how do i know you don't have aliens in your brain?

text

[tradecraftdude]

omg u play lax

ok n/m definately no aliens in ur brain pretty sure there arent ne aliens that lame

but were all the aliens here dude

voice;

[caltech]

Kind of jumping to assumptions, aren't you?

[ Not that he disagrees with the whole kidnapping aspect either, but there you go, Stiles. ]

video; where im sad that i have to pretend the avengers aren't a thing stiles knows

[jumpiness]

[ Stiles makes an indignant noise. ]

This is pretty definitely not where I was. And what would they give me these things for if not to track me. Maybe I'm part of some kind of weird experiment!?

[ It's okay. Once Stiles figures out what's going on, he'll be more about gawking at aliens and less about accusing everyone of kidnapping him. ]

video; WELL there's the option of recognizing bruce from the comics if you want

[caltech]

Aside from a few, this is definitely not where anyone was.

[ Just a little bit of reassurance there; he had seen a few people coming and going that seemed all too familiar with the location, but Bruce wasn't one of them. A minority for sure, but not one he was going to argue. ]

Plus, [ This time a bit more gently, because despite poking around the omnitools, he's not all that certain about his answer. ] your welcome committee didn't seem all that impressed about having a bunch of strangers show up here.

[ Gee thanks Aria. ]

video; haha i don't want to canon puncture anyone too badly though you know

[jumpiness]

[ Well, the reassurance works a little. Most of the people so far had told him he was another one, to calm down, or were Lydia. ]

Well, misery loves company, and all that. And I can be a whole lot of misery.

[ A pause. ]

You mean that purple lady - uh, Don't Fuck with Aria?

[ He found that post. He deeefinitely found it, because it was part of him and Lydia trying to figure out where they should go. ]

I thought that was just her standard setting maybe.

video; lmao well the offer is permanently standing if you ever want

[caltech]

Yeah her. Could be her usual mood, I guess.

[ It had been on his list of things to consider about Aria, but after the whole 'don't fuck with me' lecture, Bruce felt it was easier to simply avoid her right off the bat. For both her sake and his sanity, that is.

He shrugs uncertainly before continuing. ] I wouldn't really try to see how true it is though.