redshiftlogs | persona non grata. [OPEN]

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persona non grata. [OPEN]

WHO: Rey and you!
WHAT: After keeping her distance for a while, Rey runs into the inevitable -- other people. And also an obsessive mutant cat that seems to follow her wherever she goes.
WHERE: All over Anchor.
WHEN: Month of October.

NOTES: I have a strong preference towards prose but I can handle brackets as well!

i. Bar;

There were periods in which Rey would spend days without seeing or communicating with another person. An unhealthy habit for sure, but it was something she had become used to during her period in the sky prison, carefully evading the synthetic wards among the labyrinthine corridors and inner tunnels and pipes. For someone as heavy and lumbering as Rey, she was surprisingly agile and stealthy. It also helped that she had plenty of experience in knowing where to go and how to avoid being seen.

Right now she's not spending much effort in doing so. After all, she's found that this isn't in fact the sky prison. There's no IV or synthetic sentry in sight, as far as she can tell. If there were... Well, she would just have to deal with them as they came.

Today, she just wants a drink or twenty. Except every time she orders, the fucking robot bartender gets her order wrong. And it couldn't have possibly gotten her order more wrong if it threw its memory core through a trash compactor where it belonged.

"Useless heap of fuck-metal shit," Rey seethes as she tosses the tequila sunrise aside. "Don't you know how to-- AUGH."

Luckily, she's not too drunk to avoid ducking in time as another tequila sunrise goes sailing over her head, intended for her face. The glass shatters against the wall, spilling liquor across the floor and then some.

Hissing between her teeth, Rey straightens herself immediately, fingers balled into fists as her eyes widen at the robot. "You motherfucker, you planned that, didn't you!"

Honestly, you just can't trust robots. None of them.

ii. Mess Hall;

Much like her social habits, eating is something Rey has been putting off for a while. There's plenty of water and booze at the bar, but you can only go on for so long on a liquid diet before the body starts to crave for something more.

Rey, on the other hand, could stave off those urges for months if she had to. If she had to being the key phrase here. Once it became glaringly obvious that she doesn't have to starve herself in order to evade whatever authority or presence here, or if it even matters to do so at all, she finally takes the risk to venture deeper into the depths of the city for something more than just scouting the vicinity. She could survive without food and water longer than a human, but that doesn't mean the urge doesn't creep up on her after a few weeks. Then, once again, it's about survival rather than obstinacy and pride.

Upon arriving there, however, she's not quite sure what to do with herself anymore. She's never cooked before, at least never any complicated meals that didn't come already prepped out of a can. She grimaces at the pre-made options, most which look to be well passed their expiration.

"Wehhhh," comes a whiny voice at her heel.

Rey looks down to see the same one-eyed tripedal feline bumping its head against her knee. It's been following her after she ran into some other weirdo at the bar, and she hasn't been able to shake the thing ever since. It doesn't take an animal person to assume what it probably wants, though. "Guess you must be hungry, huh?"

Naturally, the cat doesn't answer, though you never know. The last saptient being pretending to be just another animal turned out to be pretty wordy in the end.

No such luck this time. Just another flat "weehhh" as the feline sits on its hindquarters to paw at her with its one front paw. Chances are more likely that it's trying to urge her to care for herself first, but hell if Rey is going to take that hint.

iii. Bottom Levels;

Despite a perfectly functional barracks in the upper floors, Rey doesn't make herself known there. Being in places where people can expect to find her, where she can be easily tracked, is not something she is accustomed to. It's better to make herself scarce wherever possible. Don't get comfortable. Keep moving. No use in getting attached to whatever lifestyle they're expected to have here. And she refuses to become a complacent little hamster in a cage. No, that's not her. She won't let it happen; not if she has a say in the matter.

What few hours of sleep she allows herself ends up being in the most awkward places. Sometimes she can be found at the plaza or park, eyes mostly closed, only peering through slits as she stands in the middle of a walkway or shoulder leaning against a wall -- quietly snoring and drooling a little out the corner of her mouth until she's nudged awake by a concerned or amused passersby.

Other times she is pouring over what remains of the library, though barely able to keep herself cognizant of the words in front of her before nodding off at a desk. From time to time she'll jolt herself awake, slamming her forehead against the tabletop.

That damned cat might be accompanying her again, pawing and nudging at her as if trying to communicate some message that she refuses to diciper. Honestly, she figured that it would have moved on by now once it realized she had nothing special to offer it, but no matter what she does the animal always seems to find its way back to her. It would be annoying if it didn't also didn't help keep her awake at the same time. Small miracles, indeed.

iv; Wildcard

[ooc: Have something else in mind you'd like to do with Rey, or none of the above suit your fancy? Make your own or hit me up! Also feel free to check out my CR meme comment for info/ideas.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's hard not to fight that immediate instinct to take on the first poor soul that makes themselves known. Then Rey casts a glance over her shoulder -- it's just a kid. And it'd probably look bad if she tried to take a swing at a teenager. She could hear her brother berate her for even thinking that now and grimaces.

She then pauses when he belts out her name, though. It isn't the first time Rey has been recognized by someone she doesn't quite remember, but which version of her past selves could he have known?

This time, she turns towards him, expression forced neutral. Any concern of the robot is quickly forgotten.

"Depends on who's asking. Is it just 'Rey' you know? No last name?"

Or is it one of her past selves? She gets those memories mixed up sometimes. While she might be wearing Schuyler's dogtags around her neck, it's not... really her, at the end of the day. Just someone else's identity that she had slipped on and conveniently wore for a time.

"Uh, n-no, I don't think I ever caught your last name."

Huh, that's a little odd, she doesn't seem to recognize him at all. Then again, they hadn't really hung out at all. He'd seen her in the Speakeasy a few times, he was pretty sure he'd seen her during the Null battle doing battle stuff. Maybe his face just wasn't that memorable? There had kind of been a lot going on, so it was entirely possible.

"Um, I-I'm Peter Parker? We were in Hadriel together. I think you ran the bar, you had a weird cat...?" Ringing any bells there, Rey?

...

Well that's uncomfortable.

"Weird cat? Is that why that little shit has been so persistent...?" She doesn't regard Peter with any hint of recognition, but at least the cat that's been following her around ever since it found her might finally have a story to it. "Someone else mentioned something about running a bar. Didn't mention a 'Hadriel', though."

And Rey sure as hell was never any bartender in her previous lives. She's pretty sure she would remember that little detail.

Juuust a bit uncomfortable. Peter almost regrets bringing it up, but it's not like he could have known that she wasn't going to remember him or Hadriel or the weird cat. It's throwing off his game a little, but he can work with this.

"I um. I think it was your pet? And to be fair, sometimes you looked more like you'd rather be fist fighting a bear than running a bar." He didn't know a ton about her but she could probably totally beat the shit out of that bear.

"Honestly there are parts of Hadriel that I wish I could forget. Um, who else have you talked to about it? Just, out of curiosity."

If this conversation was taking place a couple weeks ago, Rey's pretty sure she'd be reacting differently right about now. And with more incredulity. As it is, she's got her bearings and done enough snooping around to accept that maybe it's possible. The kid's at least talking like he knew her at one point, if only in passing.

She draws in a sharp breath as she brings a hand to her face, brows pinched together. Between this and the damned robot that just tried to chuck tequila in her face, she's way too spent to overreact at this point.

"No one, really? This guy left a fucked up cat behind, saying a speaker told him it belongs to 'someone who runs a bar' -- and not much else." If she had spoken with anyone else who knew her, they didn't let on. "Judging by what you just said, take it there are... others, from that place?"

Should she be expecting more of this kind of reaction?

"There are a couple, yeah. There's Deputy Pratt, he's this kind of scruffy looking dude who has a wolf that following him around. Does a lot of work up in agriculture, works with the animals, I think. There's Poison, she's kinda short, dark hair. She spends a lot of time with me up in R&D. Um, there's actually another person here from Hadriel who doesn't remember being there. So, I guess there's a few of us."

He pauses for a bit, to give her some time to process all this weird shit. Man it is kind of a lot of weird shit. Like damn.

"Sorry if- if this is too much right now. It's jarring enough showing up here with all your memories in tact, this must be super trippy."

None of the names ring familiar to Rey, but that doesn't matter. The information is good enough. It's something to start with. Whether it's particularly relevant or not doesn't matter; it'll at least give her something to do.

Her mouth tightens into a thin line at Peter's apology. If he only knew how much her memories had been messed with over the last near-century... But he already knows more about her than she does of him -- so far, anyway.

"No worries. Not as bad as it could be," she quips with a collected enough pokerface, her muscular arms folding over her chest. "Would rather know there might be some 'other Rey' floating out there somewhere than be surprised by it later on."

Creepy as it might be. The way she refers to herself -- or her other self -- is detached, though. Like she's speaking of something rather a someone. Easier that way.

"I can definitely say that there are no other yous here."

This doesn't even sound like a weird thing to him, honestly the idea of having more than one version of the same person here isn't a weird one to Peter at all. He'd met another him from a different universe back in Hadriel, if doubles of people started popping up here, he wouldn't even bat an eye.

"Good. Can't say what would be left, if that were the case."

The last time Rey ran into someone with her face, she exploded an entire city. Running into a different version of herself might not work the same way here, but given personal experience experience... she would rather keep a distance from the prospect.

After a beat, she returns her focus to Peter. "You mentioned someone else with no memory of that place. They got a name?"

Can't hurt to know more, can it?

"Thaaaaat's a little concerning."

But also somehow not surprising. Like, he doesn't look bothered by this at all, maybe he's too used to crazy shit like that. That's probably not a good thing.

"Oh, yeah. His name is Carlisle. He seems to keep to himself a lot, but you might see him around. He's kind of hard to miss, he's always wearing robes and a mask."

Now that's a name and description that rings a few bells, unlike the stuff Peter was saying before. "Ah, that guy. Probably met him already. Couple times. Good to know."

If nothing else, Rey can take some solace in knowing that she's not alone in not recognizing who the hell these people who might just point and shout her name without ever meeting them a day in any previous life.

"So, you got our names, then. What's yours?" Rey doesn't feel very comfortable with how one-sided this is, if some kid knows even an inkling about her.

"Oh, sorry! My name's Peter. Peter Parker. I'm usually up in R&D. I uh, take care of maintenance and repairs. Haven't quite gotten to this guy, yet."

He motions towards the bar bot, who is currently washing glasses or something. Acting all innocent. It knows what it's done.

The reminder of the robot that had chucked a tequila sunrise at her face just moments prior has Rey checking over her shoulder at the thing again. At least it hasn't made any attempts in retaliation since then, but Rey's eyes narrow as she glares at it doing its thing, for now.

"Maintenance, huh? You handy with machines, then?"

Just behave, bar bot, just don't fuck around for a minute and this lady won't try to murder you. Maybe.

"Oh yeah, I've been able to figure out how most of the stuff works around here. Not the portal, though. Sorry."

With the promise of potential upkeep and maybe reprogramming, the stupid bar bot lives to see another day. Probably.

"No worries, wasn't particularly worried about that. Am not in much a rush here."

Getting back to impalement isn't high on her priorities at the moment.

"Oh yeah? I mean, nothing wrong with that, it's just usually that's the first thing people ask me when I tell them I work on the machines. The second thing is usually 'hey have you fixed the robot in the bar yet', which I haven't because it annoys this dude Kabal."

Just. Fuck Kabal sometimes okay, he's basically the worst.

That would sound petty to most people, but Rey's known quite a few people who harbor that level of pettiness that it's almost comical now. She just snorts, jumping over the counter in one fluid motion so she can just make her own damn drink on the other side, like she has been for some time.

"Well, in that case, can't really blame you. It's a luxury feature at best, anyway," she says as she pours herself a glass of bourbon. Liquor, it's what's for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.

Peter tries not to be petty but sometimes Kabal, okay. Just Kabal.

"Personally, I kind of like him this way. I just think it's funny when he starts whippin' cherries at people." There's not a ton of good entertainment here, okay. He'll take whatever he can get at this point. "Hey, while you're back there, would you mind scooting me a carton of juice?"

"Guess it doesn't take a mixologist to pour a drink."

Let alone a robot, and Rey sure as hell doesn't need one to make her a drink. Not that she would trust the results if she did...

She bites her tongue before making a sharp quip at Peter's request, and instead aquiests; retrieving something that looks juice-like from the bar's refrigeration unit. She makes a face at the label. "Looks... safe enough. Hope you don't mind synthesized apple-esque things."

Just going to slide it over the bartop so the kid can figure it out himself.

"Thanks," Peter doesn't even hesitate to pop that probably-juice open and take a drink. He's done this so many times, man. If whatever this was was gonna kill him, it would have like a hundred times by now.

"Ah- yep, that's fake. Half the time we get actual juice from the fruits growing in agriculture."

Now that her 'good deed' has been done (because handing a kid some fake-apple juice totally counts as philanthropy, shut it), Rey starts taking swallows of her own drink. Definitely synthesized bourbon, but she's had worse things.

"Really? Juice you make yourselves?" Rey arches a brow, looking at Peter from over the brim of her glass.

Booze is booze, right? It's not there's any good imported wine out in space.

He takes another drink and gives her an enthusiastic nod.

"I'm more of a tech guy, myself, so I couldn't really tell you how it all works, but yeah. We've got people who know how to do that kinda stuff. This station was designed to be entirely self sustainable, we're just trying to get it back to that point."

None of Rey's past selves were botanists either, so she was never much of one with a green thumb. She might've tried to keep a plant alive at the Chicago townhouse once, but it didn't take. Neither was it fire-resistant.

"Mixed blessing, then -- our numbers. Fewer people means less to care for; also means working with a skeleton crew... and glitchy robots." She's just going to help herself to those cherries said glitchy robot keeps throwing.

"We have a lot to do, yeah. We do have a lot of robots that aren't glitching out, though. They do a lot behind the scenes, like, without them this place would fall apart."

The only reason he knows that is probably because he's spent so much time repairing them and taking care of their maintenance. Aside from the bar bot, anyway.

That's not too surprising, even for Rey. She's seen facilities and whole towns maintained by automatons. Glorified toasters rather than anything with a thought to care, really, unlike the synthetics. She might not like them, but automatons have their uses.

"Guess their function extends only so far, though." She casts a sidelong glance to the bar-bot. "Think you could train them into your personal robot army, if necessary?"

Because she's already met one person who seems capable of doing that.

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