it's like playing the lottery with you ( OPEN )

[ethnobotany]

WHO: Beverly Crusher
WHERE: hospital, House 20, Inn
WHEN: Nov 4th and onward
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: will update as needed

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hospital - Nov 4th

Of all the things Beverly had expected to find in the hospital, it wasn't a red, sealed envelope. She was alone in one of the rooms, looking through their supplies. She'd turned around to pick something up and there it was on a table. It hadn't been there before. Frowning, she hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out to pick the envelope up and turn it over. It has a wax seal with the same insignia as the one on her backpack. Not a very comforting thought.

Slitting it open doesn't seem to produce any terrible consequences and she pulls out the letter inside. She doesn't really know what she's expecting, but this sort of letter, or these instructions, definitely weren't on the list. A frown crosses her face, one definitely of disgust and confusion.

"What in the world...?"

House 20 - Nov 4th-5th

As soon as she gets back to the house on the 4th, she builds up a nice fire and tosses the envelope and its letter inside. Whatever the Observers might want of her, she isn't about to obey. That isn't the type of person she is. When it reappears in her room, again when she's alone, on the 5th, she does the same thing again.

"Whatever you want, it's not going to happen."

She stands over the fire with her arms crossed, watching the paper curl and burn, until it's all a mess of ash and fire and she can't tell what is fire and what was letter.

Inn - Nov 6th

Eventually, she ends up at the Inn, throwing the next letter into the fire there, on the off chance that it was somehow the fire that meant it came back. Unfortunately for her, that doesn't seem to have much effect either, so she spends most of the 6th looks really put out and actually more than a little unsettled. Somewhere towards the end of the day, she returns with another, flops into a chair, and stares at the red letter she's set on the table. What do they want?

Comments

[ethnobotany]

"It does," Beverly allows, though she looks no happier about that. She lets out a rush of air, not quite a sigh, but definitely a sound of frustration and worry. "It turned up in the hospital a few days ago when I was alone looking through our supplies. I turned around and there it was. I've tried burning it a few times, but it always seems to come back. I'm starting to think I just shouldn't be left alone."

For all that her last statement is said with no small amount of dry humor, she's actually a bit serious about it. All the times the thing has turned up have been when she's been alone. If she sticks around people, maybe it won't have a chance to come back.

[rangerbecket]

"I didn't get one," Raleigh says. "So maybe this is something that only you got. Maybe it's because they knew you wouldn't want to do it?"

Raleigh isn't deluded enough to think that everyone in the village has good intentions all the time. There hasn't been any crime but, really, there's also no money and there's never been a motivation to commit a crime until, well, this. It doesn't seem to bode very well for the future.

[ethnobotany]

Beverly shoots him a dubious look. She doubts that's the reason, especially if they're going with the holodeck simulation theory. No, it's likely something much more sinister.

"I'm betting they want to see how much it takes before I crack," she says, her jaw setting firmly with displeasure. "If that's the reason, they'll be waiting a long time."

[rangerbecket]

"Then it's a good thing it went to you," Raleigh says. "Because I don't know that everyone, given that kind of opportunity, would turn it down."

It could all be for nothing, sure, but Beverly's strength in turning down even the possibility of finding out has to single her out at least. There's got to be others who'd take the letter on its face and complete the instructions in hope for getting a reward. In the grand scheme, stealing something small isn't that big of a deal for most people. He guesses she isn't most people.

"Why would they want to test you, though? Is this the new normal?"

[ethnobotany]

Unfortunately, Beverly can't say that she knows either. She would like to think the best of everyone here, but the truth is that she doesn't know everyone nearly well enough to predict that.

"Jean-Luc and I have something of a theory. One of many possibilities of what or who these Observers might be," she explains patiently, though carefully. The last thing she wants is to cause some sort of hysteria. "If we're right, these people will want to test us specifically, because of what we do back home. They'd like nothing more than to find the point where Doctor Crusher's ethical code will break."

[rangerbecket]

"You think it's someone from where you're from?" That's a new theory. Raleigh's had a few of his own over the past year that he's been here but the idea that the whole place and all the prisoners are due to the arrival of just two people? That's kind of unexpected.

"I thought maybe it had to do with who we all are too - maybe everyone who's here is supposed to do something important back home and the people keeping us here are trying to prevent that from happening."

[ethnobotany]

"It's entirely possible, though I wish it wasnt," she admits. The two most likely causes are Q or Cardassian guls trying to steal Starfleet officers, but there are others. "It might not be just for us. At least oneof them could transcend time and space to bring us all here just to test us, though he always seemed less sadistic than this."

She nods at his next suggestion. That could very well be true too. She and Jean-Luc would fit that bill very easily. "That could be true of both of them, though I hope not."

[rangerbecket]

"Well, whoever it is, I wish they'd show their faces," Raleigh says. "Because I'd have a few things to say to them. I didn't sign up to get stuck here, you know? And nobody else I know really wants to be here even if there's occasionally good parts."

Raleigh wouldn't trade his relationship with Sansa or his friendships with Peggy and Sansa's dad, no, but he'd much prefer not to be stuck here in this village while still getting the benefit of those relationships.