July Arrivals

[sixthiteration]

WHO: Arrivals
WHERE: The fountain park
WHEN: July 1, 12:00 PM
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: CLOSED

---

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

It is the first of July.

It is precisely twelve o'clock in the afternoon.

Comments

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"How can that happen?" she wonders. Even with all the strange things she's come across in her time in the SSR, there's been nothing that could manipulate time. Worlds, yes, dimensions, of course, but time? Time is supposed to be a constant that exists to help guide them. If this woman is from outer space, she's clearly form a time far past what Peggy can even conceive, and yet here they are wearing the same clothes in a terribly antiquated looking town.

"Have you ever experienced something like this before?"

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

"Temporal anomalies, omnipotent beings, dimensional rifts..." Nerys shrugged one shoulder, as all of these were relatively normal to her, or at least within the realms of possibility. "I have to admit, I'm not exactly schooled in that kind of thing, but as far as I can tell, it happens sometimes, it's plausible."

Her brow furrowed in further thought. "It's never happened to me, but it's happened to people I know, sure. Lost colonies, shifts in time, though never anything quite this...old."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"I have some experience with the last on that list," Peggy offers, still feeling somewhat overwhelmed, but at least she's now thinking that maybe the rest are things she just hasn't encountered yet. There's plenty of years left in her life for that, at least. "I have a colleague who was struggling with dimensional rift issues. We had resolved it, though."

"Or so I'd thought," she admits, a beat later. "This doesn't exactly look very resolved, but he's not here."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

"I get the impression," Nerys said, "that once you have something like that, it doesn't really go away entirely. It just eases up a little bit, or you mark that area of space and just leave it alone." This, at least, based on Chief O'Brien's stories from the Enterprise--though Nerys was well-aware she wasn't allowed to hear about half the stuff that had happened there due to security clearances.

"But it's all scientifically valid, or so my friend Dax makes it sound."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"I work with the science, but I don't tend to understand it so well as my resident geniuses," Peggy admits, not quite sure that she could ever hope to explain something like this as well as Howard or Jason. "I think, though, that we should find ourselves some shelter." She may not be innately clever scientifically, but she's always prepared to survive.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

It was a good point, and Nerys was frustrated she hadn't thought of it herself, because clearly she still wasn't thinking straight. "Well, if there's a fountain like this, there's got to at least be some kind of ruins or buildings nearby that we can fix uh...p."

That was about the time that she had looked upwards to see rooftops just past the trees. By the Prophets, she needed a slap or something, she decided.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

Peggy follows her gaze and can't help her satisfaction at the sight of the rooftops that loom so near to them. "Well, it looks like we're going to be able to sleep without worrying about the elements," she says, satisfied in that much. "Come on," she encourages. "Let's set up a base camp and then we can go through the packs."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

Nerys nodded, because Peggy was decisive, and decisive was what she needed right about now. A plan, that was, and further stuff to do with it. "Should we round up some of the others?" she asked, a breeze ruffling her hair a little as it started to dry.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

The others are an unknown element that Peggy is still trying to process. Yes, she will absolutely have to deal with them at some point, but right now she can only handle one at a time and this is the peak of what she can do, as far as she's concerned. "Soon," she says, hoping she doesn't seem standoffish, given the fact that she's trying to keep control of the situation. "I'm sure we'll all be in need of shelter soon enough."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

Something in Nerys understood Peggy's reluctance. More people meant difficulty in consensus, meant indecision. If they got things in order first, then they could take stock and come at the situation from a better vantage point.

Also, if she was being honest, she wasn't sure she wanted to (or could, if she was being really honest) deal with a good dozen confused, scared people, all of whom had arrived in the same traumatic way, if the dripping clothes had anything to indicate it. She wasn't sure if she could even fully deal with herself yet without time to process. It'd been one of the biggest lessons to learn, in the Resistance, to make time to think, feel, react, whenever you could.

"I follow you," she said, pushing herself up to her feet. "Shall we?"

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

She nods, grateful that this woman seems to be in agreement. Even if they don't really know each other, the last thing Peggy wants to worry about right now is betrayal. "I still can't believe you're from out of this world," she admits, mostly speaking out loud to fill the silence. "And here I thought Los Angeles was the most foreign place I'd ever encounter people from."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

Deception wasn't exactly one of Nerys' top skills at the best of times, though she certainly could use it. She preferred to keep all cards on the table whenever possible, though; it kept things honest. Having lived for two and a half decades under the thumb of a people whose very social paradigm was built on mind games and subterfuge, she was sick to death of lies.

"Los Angeles?" she asked, trying to place the somewhat familiar name, and kept herself from getting irritated at the 'out of this world' sapiocentrism--Peggy seemed to be from somewhere far from the Federation, so she couldn't help it. This could very well not be your world either, she thought, but figured now wasn't the best time to point that out, nor the fact that she wasn't human either.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"California," she says, though she thinks that it still might not be enough information if they're talking about space and other things to do with places Peggy's never even considered. "Earth?" she offers, thinking that while it might be strange, she has to at least offer that out. "I never thought I'd have to identify myself by my planet."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

"Oh, like San Francisco," Nerys said, because that she knew about. Ensign Morales wouldn't shut up about it, ze being from that part of Earth. "And I know Earth," she added, nodding a little bit. "I haven't ever had a chance to go there, but friends of mine come from there. My, uh, boss, for starters."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"Yes!" Peggy rushes to agree, so pleased to hear some familiarity. It's so strange speaking to someone like this and having them know about Earth, but so relieving at the same time. Good to know that it's still kicking around, even if in a manner of speaking. "I haven't had time to go up to San Francisco yet," she admits. "I had been thinking about it, but...well, the job does get to you, sometimes."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

"I know the feeling. I'm...pretty sure I don't remember the last time I stopped working." And that was when she'd had what could be classified as a job, as compared to a way of life that never, ever stopped, but Nerys had learned that you didn't just go around telling people you were a terrorist in a past life when they had no sense of the context.

She shifted her pack over her shoulders and back, trying to make it more comfortable.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

Does that mean this is the forced vacation that she's being meant to take? All that time in Los Angeles working on her vacation had been so good to have purpose and to not have to deal with Jack and his cronies. It doesn't seem like they're here, but what's Peggy to do with a deserted town?

"We should figure out why it seems that we're the first residents here in some time," she says absently. "That can't be natural."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

"I don't know what bothers me more, that we're the first people here in some time or that we're not the first people who've ever been here," Nerys replied, frowning in thought. "I mean, it's a relief that there's shelter, but..."

Shelter definitely wasn't everything, wouldn't feed people or keep water clean.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"Yes, I know what you mean," Peggy agrees, that chilling sensation down her spine not helping her in the least. If they're not the first people here, that does beg the question of what happened to the last group.

And why isn't there a single one of them left? "Maybe we're just not looking in the right places. Maybe there are other people in another part of the settlement."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

"Maybe," said Nerys, but she sounded incredibly doubtful. It was rare that people kept living in a place in this condition, in her experience, but maybe they didn't have the right kind of resources--something in her gut said everyone was gone.

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"Or maybe there's a reason that they're not so easily found," Peggy adds, a wariness in her words. If there's some natural predator or some possibility of something that could harm them, she can imagine that people might go underground or hide away.

"We'll need to do a thorough investigation, I think. Only then can we know if we're truly here alone or whether the civilization has simply evolved to something else."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

Thorough investigation sounded enough like Odo that Nerys nearly smiled, though she stopped herself easily enough by remembering the gravity of the situation. "Once we have the resources to do it," she said, agreeing with reservations. "Gotta get enough food to keep ourselves able to do more than, well, just finding food."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"Yes, I would rather avoid the part where we all starve trying to be neighbourly," she tries to joke, but she'd much rather simply not return to rationing if at all possible. Those are years of her life that she'd like to avoid.

"Still, I would rather not have to worry about sleeping with one eye open. A thorough investigation to see who else is here would help with that."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[thenewways]

The joke felt to Nerys a bit like a rebuke, but her interpretation was that it was a joke of a kind she was used to from Odo, so there wasn't much sting. What bothered her more was the fact that she hadn't thought that there might be danger from others, had assumed they were alone, but Peggy was right.

Clearly, she was getting soft. "It's a good point," she agreed. "A surprise attack...those are the worst."

Re: Arrival: Kira Nerys [OTA]

[womanofvalue]

"Yes, especially if we're the ones thinking that everyone will be friendly," Peggy admits, trying not to think about those long nights in the war, not sure she wanted to sleep because of what might come over their lines in the middle of the night. "Then again, I know from experience that it's no way to live. Maybe we can set up alarms. Traps?"