fandomtownies | The streets of Fandom, Saturday afternoon

Entry tags:

The streets of Fandom, Saturday afternoon

He'd woken up in bed with two extremely hot people in a house with a dog that was extremely excited to see him, so as far as he could tell life was good. Investigation around the house told him that a) he naturally moved pretty damn quietly, b) the kitchen had been stocked by a gourmand with a trashy sweet tooth, and c) his name was probably either Eliot, Alec, or Parker, since those were the names he found on the most mail, credit cards, and IDs around the house.

The fact that there were quite so many other names on mail, credit cards, and IDs, with only pictures of himself and the two extremely hot people was a little bit disconcerting. As was the basement full of bear traps and really antique surveillance equipment. But he figured on the third time both he and the dog (Megabyte Valentine, said her tag, which was a mouthful, and she seemed to respond to pretty much anything vaguely name-sounding he called her, so who knew) snapped to attention when a squirrel ran past on their morning walk that he was naturally pretty alert, so whatever it was he and the hot people needed all those different IDs for, they were probably pretty good at. He was sure he'd know how to react if it became a problem.

The morning walk stretched easily into the afternoon, full of stairs and long pauses along the coast to watch the water and the seagulls and stare in wonder up into the perpetual night sky, and the dog was perfectly content to wander around with him, so he wasn't in any hurry to head back to the house he'd woken up in, just yet. "Astronaut spy" was his current working theory for who he was. It made about as much sense as waking up an amnesiac without any apparent trauma for cause.

He probably should have woken the two extremely hot people this morning and asked them for intel, but he'd wanted to figure it out for himself. He seemed like that kind of guy. Which made sense, for an astronaut spy.

[open!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This... this was weird. Not, he supposed, the strangest thing he'd experienced in his life (which was, admittedly, a wild guess based on the fact that he didn't know the first thing about himself except that he apparently carried a blaster around and lived on some kind of primitive rock with no proper sky to speak of), but waking up without even really knowing his name really had to be, he supposed, up there.

And scouring the apartment he'd woken up in didn't help, either. There weren't computer panels, he didn't have anything with a name on it anywhere. He did apparently have a roommate, or else he was crashing on some person's couch, but clues beyond that were few and far between. So he was taking the last option he could see open to him, making a note of where he was staying and then heading outside.

Outside was all stairs. Stairs and that strange sky that was a little too much like open space for his comfort, and...

"... Is that some kind of canine?"

You'd asked that question before, Kanan.

That was alright. Eliot -- or possibly Alec or Parker -- didn't remember that, just now. "'Sright," he said, smiling at the young, also very hot guy. Was a prerequisite for being an astronaut spy being good looking? All the spies on TV were good looking, but then so was pretty much anyone else they wanted to actually tell stories about on TV, so that wasn't really a good way to judge. "It's a dog, from Earth. Which -- is apparently where we ain't, and judgin' by you not knowin' it, ain't where you're from."

Huh. Apparently he was southern. Good to know.

"Never even heard of it," he... whoever he was, he'd have to make something up, he supposed, if anybody asked, replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't think. But odds are pretty high we're on some kind of asteroid or small planetoid. I don't really recognize anything that's going on up there."

He waved a hand at the stars above them. And then grimaced faintly.

"So, you, uh, don't know where we're at, huh? I can't even tell if this is Inner Rim or not, from here." He squinted upwards again, and then shook his head. "Force," and there was a word he hadn't just casually used that way in a while, "please let this not be Wild Space."

Yeah, using that word as an expletive was new to Eliot. "Yeah, the buildings all look pretty Earth-like, but I'm with ya on the stars." He shrugged. "Honestly I ain't clear on a lot just now."

Well, that caught Kanan's attention, at least. He looked curiously, and maybe a touch hopefully, at the other man, reaching a hand up to run through his hair. Which... was tied back. Right. Never mind that, then.

"So... it isn't just me, then?"

Because he kind of wanted to run around this place and ask a million questions until it all made sense, but he didn't even know where to start.

"You too, huh?" Well, that trashed the slowly emerging Ludlumesque theories. Unless this guy was a fellow deep-cover astronaut spy or whatever. "Weird. One guy with retrograde amnesia is weird, but not totally unheard of. Two of us in one . . . weird space town?"

"Weird, completely backrocket asteroid settlement," he offered, because 'space town' just sounded weird to his ear. He frowned a little more deeply, crossing his arms over his chest and looking around. "Everything here is old stone and brickwork. People don't build like this often, at least not on most inhabited planets that I can think of, and it's all too well-kept to be ruins."

And how frustrating was it that he could think of dozens of planets off the top of his head, but he couldn't place where they were right then?

"I don't think we're the only ones confused, for what it's worth."

He had a... sort of a hunch. He couldn't really explain it. It was just... there was a lot of confusion about, all around them, weirdly pervasive and nudging at his senses unbidden, like a pet that had been left behind all day, begging for extra attention to make up for lost time.

"Yeah? You talked to other people today?"

Eliot -- hadn't. He hadn't been actively avoiding it, but he'd definitely had the sense they'd all be better off if he didn't approach people and try to be friendly. There may have been a near wall punching incident when he first started trying to figure out what his own name was, earlier.

Kanan, at least, hadn't had that problem. His name hadsn't really struck him as too important yet today. And besides, he had a vague notion that he could take or leave a name on a moment's notice if need be.

"No, not exactly." He frowned. "I guess you could just say I have a feeling about it."

Which he did. Because the Force was being pushy. It had a funny way of doing that when he let his guard down, and when he'd woken up that morning, he hadn't been aware that he was supposed to be pushing it to the side.

"But then, I suppose a hunch isn't really much to go by."

Edited 2016-07-10 00:32 (UTC)

Whereas Eliot didn't think he'd mind pretending to be someone else, but felt like he should at least know who he was -- and by extension, what his actual name was -- while he did it.

"Well, it's a place to start, anyway. Though I gotta admit, I'm tempted to just ride it out. I feel kind of like I've got a big weight off my shoulders."

That'd be the many, many, many people he'd killed.

"Tell me about it." Kanan offered up a crooked little smile at that. "I feel like I've been grinding my teeth for years and this is my first time just relaxing in far too long. It's probably a bad sign when not remembering your own name doesn't stop you from feeling weirdly relieved, but... there it is."

He shrugged. What could you do, right?

"This doesn't seem so bad."

"It really doesn't." And worrying about it led to potential property damage, so. "We've got air, looks like plenty of food and water supplies, and this town looks pretty clean and all. I say for now we just -- enjoy what we've got."

"Right. Maybe keep an eye out in case things get messier later, but for the time being, I think I can live with this." He turned a wry smile toward the other man. "I'd introduce myself, but, you know."

Shrug.

"Hi. I'm 'that guy who wakes up on unfamiliar couches with a blaster nearby.'"

Said blaster was now in a holster on his hip, because even if he couldn't remember anything, it felt wrong to be leaving the apartment without it. Especially if he had no idea what was out there besides a bunch of distressed people.

"That's a bit of a mouthful. Near as I can tell I'm either Eliot, Alec, or Parker. Feel free to pick one."

"Eliot it is," Kanan decided. "There's a one in three chance of getting it right, so I'll just go with the first one and hope for the best."

It was easier that way.

"I guess I'll also answer to, 'Hey, you,' or 'that guy.' I don't think I'm actually that picky."

"Yeah, but I'm guessin' there'll be a coupla 'hey, you's and 'that guy's. You look like you could be a . . . Chris, to me."

"A Chris," Kanan echoed, raising an eyebrow. And then shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, I'll be a Chris. It's better than anything I could come up with, anyway."

Said the guy who named himself Kanan.

So, basically, yes.

"Chris it is, then. Nice to meet ya."

"A pleasure," 'Chris' replied, offering Eliot a handshake. "I'll let you know if I find out any different. Or, hell, maybe I'll just answer to 'Chris' forever. Why not?"

There were worse fates than being called Chris. Probably. Not that he could know for sure, since his memory spanned all the way back to waking up on a sofa that morning. But it seemed like a safe bet.

"You do that," Eliot said, giving him a firm shake. Very firm. 'Unaware of own strength' firm. "And if you find anything out about this whole memory loss thing."

Yeaaaah, there was a handshake that had Chris-née-Kanan-née-Caleb blinking a little. Were they supposed to be that firm? Maybe he also didn't remember how handshakes worked?

"Absolutely. Where can I find you, if I do come across anything worthwhile?"

That was a good question. "Well, I woke up in a place down . . ." He looked around and pointed. "That way. Didn't check the house number, though." Which would make it difficult for him to give Chris the address. "But -- I seem to be kind of the restless type, so I guess I'll just be -- around." He patted down his pockets. "Hey, do you have a phone?"

"Uh... there's a chance of that." Chris? Also patting down his pockets. And surfacing after a few moments with some kind of primitive datapad-looking... thing. "Does this count?"

That was absolutely a phone, yes, Kanan. Chris. You.

"Looks good to me," Eliot said, holding up his own, which he'd just located. (Apparently he didn't bother to empty the pockets of his pants last night. Which was good, since he'd been too distracted this morning to think about finding it before he left.) "Let me see if I can get this thing to tell me what its number is, and then you can just call that."

Eliot was terrible with technology, but he didn't remember that, so there was a slim chance he'd manage it.

And Kanan was used to somewhat different technology, and his first written language was Aurebesh. Really, it was a wonder he managed to figure out how to get from sleep mode to the lock screen on his own phone.

"Looks like you stand a better chance than I do," he noted, squinting at the phone in his hand. "Apparently, I'm not some kind of phone savant."

Because generally it did not take a savant just to be able to get past the lock screen, Chris.

"Hang on a sec. I think it'd be in . . . settings? If I just -- woah." Eliot tilted his head at the phone. "Wow. Okay. Mr. Hot guy back home is apparently named 'Hardison' and he texts a lot." He shook his head. "Alright let's see -- and the blonde is really flexible."

Well, he'd managed to find messaging and photos, anyway.

"Here we go." He rattled off a number. "Try that."

Chris, who had never seen a proper phone receiver in his life, needed a few more moments of poking around at the weird looking icons on the screen before, mostly by fluke, or possibly because even the Force was taking pity on him today, making his way onto the right screen.

"Okay," he typed in the number that Eliot had just rattled off, and then hit the 'send' button. That seemed like the way it was done. "These things are not at all intuitive."

Just in case Eliot was wondering.

"I'm guessing especially when you ain't clear on what a dog is," Eliot agreed, then managed to jump slightly when the ring tone started on his phone. "Jesus, what am I, some kind of depressed cowboy?"

Well.

You were in good company, Eliot. It was okay.

"They play music when you get a call?" Oh, that was actually kind of exciting. Chris hit the red button to end the call, and then by some miracle managed to actually add that number to his contact list under 'Eliot, probably.'

... It was the first and only number on there. Which was spectacularly unhelpful.

"Apparently I need to get out more."

"Half the numbers in mine have international calling codes on them," Eliot noted. "I might need to get out less."

"Maybe it just means you're well loved? Or a very busy man."

One or the other. Probably the other, huh?

She'd woken up in some underwater pod thing with no idea who she was or where she was. It had taken her exactly no time at all to get out of there and head for something less... surrounded by water. Eventually she'd made her way to a place with sand and water and a furry four legged thing running at her.

Her hands went to her hips as if searching for something and she crouched slightly, ready to defend herself if it attacked.

"Megabyte -- Valentine -- dog!" Eliot called when the dog went bolting towards the new person. "Heel!"

The dog took a sharp turn and galloped back to Eliot to hang out by his leg.

"Sorry about that. I'd say she doesn't usually do that, but -- I'm not actually sure."

Kaylin's eyes were huge, but she came out of her crouch and managed to slow her breathing a little. "Is it dangerous?" she asked nervously.

Part of her was very wary of four-legged furred things, even if she didn't know why.

"Nah, she's too well trained," Eliot said. "Just friendly, I think. Not a fan of dogs?"

"I... don't know," she admitted. "I don't seem to know much of anything."

Including her name or where she was or what she was supposed to be doing here.

"Things that rush at me, though. It makes me nervous."

"Fair 'nough. And not knowin' things is going around. Nothing to be ashamed of."

"Going around?" She frowned. "You mean...? Do you not know who you are either?"

"Got some pretty good hints where I woke up this morning, but nah. Nothin' specific."

"I don't know if that makes things more or less disturbing," she said. "You know, whether it's just me or it's everyone?"

She sighed. "All I know is I'm not going back to that underwater bubble thing where I woke up."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The streets of Fandom, Saturday afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject