Snap, Crackle, and POP

[meatbabies]

[ooc: Newbie Helpers List | Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new

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[we_deliver]

The last thing she remembered were the bullets stitching into her cockpit, the toxic atmosphere of Pandora flooding in, the scream of a stinger heading straight for her-

And then she slid out of the pod with a disgusting wet schlorp noise and struggled to climb to her feet. Trudy was no stranger to waking up from stasis - she'd been put in cold sleep on her way to Pandora, and she'd been back and forth to the outposts at Jupiter in cold sleep a few times. The disorientation, the gnawing hunger, the stiffness in her limbs - those were all normal, and she immediately started going through the muscle exercises that would make her limber and fighting-able faster.

At the same time, she was taking stock. No service rifle. No uniform. Not even a goddamn radio- where the hell...?

"Great," she said, getting a better look at herself. "The afterlife is sticky alien glop."

[cattleherding]

If Aftran was disoriented, confused, and completely lost, she was at least lucky enough that Karen felt equally as such. When the Yeerk mentally snapped, Be quiet, the human girl was fearful enough to comply.

Aftran coughed and shook her goop-soaked hair out of her face as she got to her feet. She looked about, trying to keep the fear she herself was feeling off of her host's face. She caught sight of a human woman -- she seemed to be human anyway -- and decided it was best to act the part she looked. For now, anyway.

"Excuse me..."

[we_deliver]

Trudy was slowly beginning to think that she was not, in fact, dead. For one thing, there were other people around her - people she had never seen before, some of which weren't human or Na'vi.

For another, there was the voice... the voice in her head which... Usually when there are voices in your head it's a sign you've either been at the tequila too long or it's time to go on leave for a long time.

As she was taking stock, and trying not to get too annoyed at the naked part, she heard a small voice and looked down.

A kid.

Great.

"Yeah? Are you looking for your mom or something?"

[cattleherding]

This woman seemed as lost as Aftran was. So the Yeerk put on a scared face, nodding in answer to the question. "Where are we? Where's my mommy and daddy?"

And then came the voice. ||You are here.|| It was a voice and not a voice, in her head and yet distinctly different from the thoughtspeak she'd become used to when she'd worked in Visser Three's personal guard. This was not the doing of Yeerks, but the Andalites didn't seem to be behind this either.

And so Aftran would continue to be "Karen" for now. "I'm scared, lady."

[we_deliver]

Trudy may not have had the normal proportion of maternal instincts to violent instincts, but a scared kid hit just about everyone's buttons. She reached out and put her hand on Karen's head. "Hey kid, it's okay. I don't know where your mom is but I tell you what, stick close to me and I'll make sure you're okay. Wanna know why?"

She looked around and crouched down like she was telling the kid a secret. "Do you know about the Marine Corp?"

[cattleherding]

Aftran sniffled, but all that served to do was get more goop up her nose. She snorted to try to get it back out, and her eyes watered up.

She tilted her head downward, but looked up at Trudy with big, worried eyes. Of course she knew about them. But she lied. "The Marine Core?"

[we_deliver]

Trudy smiled. "Yep, the Marine Corp, the best soldiers ever. I'm Captain Trudy, and you stick with me, I'll make sure you're okay. Just don't wander off, got it?"

Of course, as soon as she found someone more willing to corral children, she was going to dump her off at the very first opportunity. But she wasn't going to tell the kid that.

[cattleherding]

A soldier, then. It might be useful to stick close to this woman; in this body, Aftran was weak and helpless. "Um... okay. Thank you, Miss Captain Trudy."

And then, with a shifty glance from side to side, she leaned closer, as though telling a secret of her own. "Um-- I'm not supposed to tell strangers what my name is, but... I-I'm Karen."

[we_deliver]

"Secret's safe with me, kiddo. And you can just call me Trudy." She paused, looking around at the cavern. There were some things here that a little girl should not see... Trudy shifted almost unconsciously to block the girl's view from the rest of the naked people.

"Let's see about getting you some clothes, huh? I could use some myself - it's warm enough in here but I'm not so hot on wandering around in my birthday suit."

[cattleherding]

Aftran nodded, looking down sheepishly. The human obsession with clothing was an amusing one, but one she had been playing along with for so long that it seemed almost natural.

"D'you think... those lights in the floor, is that a path or something?"

[we_deliver]

"Looks that way," Trudy said, looking down the path. "Looks kind of like a runway, doesn't it? You ever been on a plane?"

Trudy reached out to take Karen's hand as she started down the pathway. Keep the kid talking, keep her distracted from the situation. It was like babysitting a panicky civilian, only smaller. She could do this.

[cattleherding]

Once, long ago, Karen might have spoken up within her mind, to chide Aftran as she took Trudy's hand and walked with her. By now, though, she'd come to realize that nothing she said would stop Aftran from breaking the rules her parents had laid out for her. The first, and foremost of those being, Never go anywhere with strangers.

It wasn't as thought that could be helped right now, anyway.

Aftran nodded. "Uh-huh. I went on a trip with my daddy a few months ago. It was fun."