"Hey, Red; you guys got a plan yet? Nothin' on sensors yet; I-- oh." Homura greets Aster over the bridge speakers as she enters the bridge, but her tone flattens as the engineer starts shamelessly picking her pockets.
"Y'know, I can actually see you doing that. Like, literally. Since I'm hooked into the cameras.
...And you're going to do it anyway, 'cos it's my shift and I can't stop you. It'd be nice if you'd just, y'know, ask occasionally, 'cos I'd totally share.
...Probably." She sighs at length. "Yeah, you have fun with that. And pay me back this time, maybe?"
<snip>
Aster continues rummaging through the pilot's pockets, not even pausing her movements as she looks up to flash a shit-eating grin at one of the cameras.
"It's almost like y'don't know me, 'Mura. Why ever would I ask when I can just swipe it straight from the pockets a'your unconscious body?"
((Time dissonance ftw!))<snip>
Upon hearing and feeling Aster scream and thrash awake, she drops back into her body as quickly as possible, jerking upright and yanking cords out of her head. "Shit, Red, you okay? C'mon, pull it together. You're with the boarding crew, ain'tcha?"
<snip>
Aster pants, bringing a shaking hand up to wipe a light sheen of sweat off her forehead. She blinks, then begins rubbing at her eyes with both hands before looking up to blink blearily at Homura.
"I... fuck... ‘Mura? Tha’ you? Ugh..."Without waiting for an answer, she lets out a groan and flops back on the floor. Unfortunately, she ends up hitting her head on a console halfway there, and, rubbing the back of her head with an obscene curse, she jerks back up, twisting around to glare at the offending metal panel. She mutters groggily as she begins to stand,
"Yeah, yeah... boardin’ crew... m’fine... jus’ a dream..."She stumbles slightly upon standing, but manages to steady herself on the same console she hit her head on, reaching to rub her back with a wince,
"Ah, fuck... learn me t’sleep on th’rustin’ floor..."
((Time dissonance ftw!))"You don't have to sound so cheerful."
Homura looks up at Greg's comment, eyebrow invisibly quirked behind the impenetrable curtain of her bangs. " 'Bout what, the drifter? Shit dude, you don't even like treasure?
...Fuck, tell me what it's like to be a joyless, empty shell of a man sometime." She mutters, slowly shaking her head as she digs through the detritus pilfered from her pockets for a smoke and a lighter, and passes them to Aster. "Here, toke up."
Standing, Homura tilts her head when the captain's announcement comes over the intercom. " 'Taint'? Shit, that doesn't sound good..." She sighs, fiddling with a dial at the back of her neck as she slides back into her seat. "Well, Red, was gonna invite you along while I hit the showers if you wanted t' talk, since I figured they had things handled over there, but I guess me and the Daimyo of the honorable Boring Clan here need to stay plugged in so we can beat it in case the others get eaten by aliens or somethin'... so seeya inna bit, yeah?"
Aster grins at Homura’s jab, taking a long drag from the drugstick before exhaling a cloud of smoke in Greg’s general direction, though she’s not quite near enough for it to really affect him.
"Can always count on you for a laugh and a half, Blue." She pauses, then adds with a chuckle as she moves to take another drag,
"An’ a good high, too!"The engineer waves the raven-haired pilot’s concern off, passing the smoke back to her. She replies nonchalantly, loosening a strap on her light armor near her chest as she moves toward the airlock,
"I’m fine ‘Mura. Told y’it was just a dream. S’hardly out’a the ordinary. An’ fuck, if aliens come out lookin’ for a meal I’ll jus’ wave the cappy at ‘em, that’ll lose their appetite right quick."Pausing just before moving out of sight to give Homura a sly grin, Aster adds,
"Wouldn’ mind takin’ y’up on that shower, though!"
((Time dissonance ftw!))Aster follows after the others cautiously, eyes flicking across the room with almost paranoid intensity before flinching back at the sight of the floating corpse,
"Fuckin’ fires a’Jigoku! Why don’t y’warn a girl about this kind a’shit before y’have her step inside the floatin' death trap!"Clutching at her heart for a moment, the engineer shakes her head in the helmet of the envirosuit muttering curses as she awkwardly makes her way through the zero-gravity environment towards a console. The suit’s radio barely picks up some of the words.
"Fuck-... can’t be... assed t’fuckin’... rustin’... these condi-... fuckin’ lucky I’m..."Aster finally reaches the console with a clumsy leap and a grunt. She steadies herself with a hand on the edge of the unit before beginning to tap at it, cursing even more when the thick fingers of her envirosuit leave her accidentally mashing the wrong buttons. Calming herself down, she resumes tapping, slower and more purposefully this time, muttering to herself,
"Let’s see what we have here..."Check the console for any extra information about the current state of the ship, logs of the previous days to see if she can find out what happened, and any emergency power protocols so she can have some goddamn gravity around here.