TEST DRIVE #16 - Turbolifts and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 001. Trapped in a Turbolift: This space travel thing is new to you, and you're starting to think the ship is purposely out to get you. A turbolift is just a grandiose name for an elevator, which should be the safest way to travel after all! But someone out there is out to get you, you're sure of it. Because the next thing you know, the lights flicker and the lift grinds to a stop. You're trapped, with whomever was unlucky enough to be in the lift with you.

It could be hours before you're rescued. These turbolifts span the entire massive ship, and don't just travel straight up and down. No, they can travel horizontally, vertically, sometimes even diagonally. You could be stuck between any deck now. There is a small access panel on one of the smooth walls, but how good are you with getting these things to work? Let's not forget that sudden stop tossed everyone around a little, and people could be hurt. Time to put your emergency thinking cap on, and make friends with the people beside you fast. You could be the only way back to freedom.

Conversely, you could slide that pack of cards out of your pocket and start a rousing game of gin rummy. Really it's up to you.







Option 002. Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, minding your own business, and now you're on a spaceship in the middle of a crowded room! It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens, and some of the food is looking rather strange too.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward. A long bar with barstools and a bartender span one side of the room, with a bank of strange computers on that same wall. It looks like people are ordering food and drinks from them. Tables are sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but floor to ceiling windows with a view out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[iwatchtjhooker]

"Oww! Christ!" He hadn't been expecting that, but through the pain he tried to twist his grip and turn her so he could press her back to his front, shutting down further such attacks. Girl was determined, though.

"You're making a lot of assumptions about what I would and wouldn't like," he said. "But I've never met you in my life, I'm sorry. And I'm not interesting in hurting you, I just--"

[dust_of_life]

Fatima wanted to punch him, but in all the confusion, she was still clutching her pocket watch. The idea clicked in her head before she fully thought it through.

It was her way.

Back in Zelien, she'd asked Cas to record an exorcism ritual for her. She'd been determined to commit it to memory, as part of her preparations for going back to Sam's world with him. She'd never actually bothered. Mostly because of Q and a thousand machinations. But she'd kept the audio file.

With her thumb, she activated it. And Cas and Latin filled the lift.

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam let go, backing off but keeping his distance.

"Uh..." he said intelligently. "Cas?" His considerable brow furrowed. "Seriously. Tell me what's going on."

[dust_of_life]

Fatima whirled around, holding out the watch like Van Helsing held up a cross to Dracula in all those shitty movies. It was an instinct more than anything else. The way that Artemis would sometimes hold up a relic of faith when driving off Cainites.

Of course, Fatima lacked any kind of faith but...modeling and all.

Her own confusion began to match Sam's though as nothing happened. He knew Cas, knew Cas' voice. But nothing was happening.

As the adrenaline began to abate, the conclusion was suddenly so obvious, Fatima nearly burst out into laughter. And not the happy kind.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no. This isn't happening. Tell me you remember Zelien. Tell me you remember the casino with the vampire clowns and the week in the corn field. Tell me."

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam shuddered at the phrase "vampire clowns" even as he peered suspiciously at the watch.

"Uh... No. I'm afraid I don't. I'm... sorry?"

Possibly. Except for how all of that sounded awful.

[dust_of_life]

The only word that could be used to describe the look on Fatima's face was 'crushed.' Which was funny, because Zelien had been a nightmare world. Not something that Fatima would wish upon her worst enemy.

Let alone the love of her life.

But the pieces clicked into place. She wasn't stupid, after all. A different Sam. A different point in time.

And there was literally nothing she could do about it.

Slowly, she turned off the audio, lowering her hand. "Oh."

[iwatchtjhooker]

"I'm sorry," he said again, at her look of defeat. So, attacking him aside, she knew him... or anyway, some other Sam Winchester. Somehow. And he wasn't him. He rubbed his shoulder, where she'd kicked him. "You must have, um, quite the history."

[dust_of_life]

"You...could say that."

And, of course, they were trapped in an elevator. She couldn't run away. She couldn't find Beverly and collapse in her arms and ask her what she was supposed to do.

No. She had to stand face-to-face with the love of her life who didn't even know her name.

Fantastic.

She put the knife away, mostly as an excuse not to make eye contact. "You okay?"

[iwatchtjhooker]

"Fine," Sam said, feeling immensely better now the knife was away. "Look, I can tell my being here upsets you, so... whatever this other me did, I hope you won't hold it against me."

[dust_of_life]

She had to look up at that, her features wrinkling in incredulity. That was just like Sam though, wasn't it? Taking on responsibility willy-nilly as though he and he alone was in charge of keeping the world afloat.

"It's...not like that," she said carefully.

[iwatchtjhooker]

He'd said something weird but for the life of him, Sam didn't know what. He could only look back in wide-eyed ignorance. "Okay," he said slowly. "Well, you clearly have, you know... strong feelings. Whatever it is, I'm sorry it makes you uncomfortable."

[dust_of_life]

"Stop apologizing!" She said it a little more fervently than she intended but... "I'm the one who tried to break your nose. I should be the one apologizing."

She wasn't. But that was a different story.

"Look. Long story short, I knew you. You and Dean and Cas and a host of other colorful characters. We were all held prisoner in this terrible place. I remember it. You don't."

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam raised a hand. "Okay, okay." Yeah, that was gonna be sore tomorrow, too, but he was kind of used to that, by now. "That sounds awful. Um. Broken elevators aside, this seems... preferable. You kind of have the advantage over me, though. I'll forget the nose if you'll tell me your name."

[dust_of_life]

And he was still adorably charming. This got better and better.

Fatima nodded slightly, trying to relax against the side of the lift. "Fatima," she said. She used the most Americanized pronunciation of it. "Fatima Merali. Originally from LA. Haven't been there in two years."

Two years. Wow. She hadn't said that out loud before, but it was kind of shocking.

[iwatchtjhooker]

"That's a long time to be away from home," Sam said. Not that he really knew that feeling, but it was one he'd always kind of wondered if he missed. Like, was it good to have a home to miss? Or did moving all the time shield you from that kind of annoyance?

Well. If it wasn't awkward enough, being trapped in an elevator with a stranger, it was with someone for whom he wasn't entirely one, and in a way Sam hadn't yet been able to figure out, given her behavior.

Wait.

"'A sweet puppy-boy in an emo-hoodie who likes to suck my toes'?" Sam said after a moment, forehead furrowing dramatically.

[dust_of_life]

Crap.

Somehow, Fatima had hoped he'd overlooked that. But, of course not. He was Sam Winchester. More attention to details than Martha Stewart and a memory like...

Well, memory wasn't the best thing to think about right now.

"Um..." How to even begin to approach this one? "Well..."

[iwatchtjhooker]

Then Sam's brain flipped back over what he'd just repeated her saying and a flush crept across his cheeks. His face fell into his palm.

"Oh my god," he mumbled. "I walked straight into that. We... don't have to talk about it, if you...unless you... uh."

Yeah, the etiquette for this sort of situation was not something he'd ever studied.

[dust_of_life]

There really was no etiquette for this kind of thing. And Fatima desperately wished she hadn't blurted out the toes thing.

But what was it Auntie Diana said? The world only spun forward.

She ran a hand through her hair, biting down on the inside of her cheek for a second. "Unless I what? I can't exactly take it back."

[iwatchtjhooker]

"Want to," Sam said, forcing himself to look up so he wasn't talking into his hand. "Talk about it. Like, if you needed to, because that would make it less weird. I don't know. Or I can shut up."

He winced. And felt simultaneously somewhat violated and very curious. There was a whole relationship he didn't know about. In some kind of hell dimension.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima let her head drop back against the wall of the lift. Just say yes, she told herself. Just go back on everything that you said and everything that you were with Sam Winchester. Except that she couldn't. Not at all. He was too important to her. And not just because of the sex stuff.

She wasn't the same person she'd been when she arrived in Zelien. She'd changed so much and mostly for the better.

A the biggest part of that was because of Sam.

But he didn't remember. And he'd never be able to remember. So wasn't she just setting herself up for hurt?

It was all a little too confusing.

"First of all," she said, "I will never tell you to shut up. Unless you start rambling about serial killers or jogging routines."

[iwatchtjhooker]

Okay maybe there was a "less weird" this could be, and in Sam's experience there was always a whole lot more weird something could be, but this was... really, really weird. Like, did he respectfully disengage, for both their sakes? Or did he in some weird cosmic way owe her some kind of, he didn't know, closure for the unpleasant reunion?

"I don't ramble about serial killers," he insisted a little too forcefully. "I mean, that's just normal, human curiosity. It's not like an obsession or anything."

[dust_of_life]

For, perhaps, the first time, Fatima cracked a smile. It was incredibly fond and...well...honestly loving. She couldn't help that, really. He'd said the exact same thing--she was pretty sure--to her before. Possibly word-for-word.

He was Sam. Always and forever. The guy she fallen for completely.

"It's weird, Winchester," she said teasingly. "Just like the clown thing."

[iwatchtjhooker]

Sam held up a hand. "Again," he said. "Not weird. Anyone not afraid of clowns is just not paying attention."

He stopped short, shaking his head and laughing softly to himself. It was a little like that time in the elevator with Dean, when they'd been Smith and Wesson, just that feeling of familiarity only this made if anything less sense.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima laughed too. Same defensive Sam. Humor was always her best defense. She made inappropriate jokes. She teased and weedled. And she felt so strangely proud of herself, every time she managed to get him to smile or laugh. Like she'd accomplished the impossible.

Which was only a step away from the truth, really.

"Okay," she said, "I'll give you the clowns. Especially after running into some seriously nasty vampire clowns. That was fun. Except for the part where it was the opposite."

[iwatchtjhooker]

"Ugh." Sam shuddered. Because that sounded like literally the worst. But it just made his shoulder hurt again, and he winced and rubbed it, unthinking. "So um... I guess you got pulled into the hunter thing."

He kind of wanted to apologize again but it would probably get him hit.