InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "nothing"

Karolina Dean (ex_karolinad994) wrote in expresslogs,
@ 2012-05-08 09:45:00

Entry tags:

!dice, {karolina dean, {nathan petrelli

Characters: Karolina Dean & Nathan Petrelli - dice!
When: Tuesday around midday.
Location: Observation car.
Warnings/Rating: Likely none; will update if this changes.
Summary: Karolina's catching some rays to keep herself charged up!

Karolina didn't technically need to sunbathe. She'd barely taken her MedicAlert bracelet off all the time she'd been on the train. And when she had, she'd only taken advantage of flying, not creating gigantic concussive blasts or laser beams that could cut through metal. After all, it didn't seem there was much of anybody to attack around here - not that she was complaining.

But it never hurt to be prepared. From what Karolina had heard, you never knew when the train was going to throw you a curveball and decide to do something that would hurt you. And if that happened, she fully intended to be ready. The observation car, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and comfortable chairs, seemed to her to be the perfect place to sit and sunbathe while she read one of the books she'd found loaded on her tablet device. The only problem, she discovered, was that the glare on the tablet made it impossible for her to both catch the most light and read the book. "God, this is lame," she said to nobody in particular, setting the tablet aside.

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theflyingman
2012-05-09 02:45 am UTC (link)

After pirate town, Nathan had had enough of whatever the train had to offer for a while. He hadn't been planning on letting anyone know about his ability, but considering it was either fly or experience being on the receiving end of a sword, he figured he'd make that exception. Amy hadn't seemed weirded out by it, so there was that at least.

He'd taken to wandering around the train, just because there wasn't much else to do. He was grateful Peter and Claire were around, because otherwise, he'd probably be trying everything he could think of to find a way back home again. Part of him was entertaining the thought of just jumping off and flying as far away as he could to see where he'd end up even.

When he got to the observation car, he hadn't realized anyone else would be in there. "It's not that lame," he said, replying out of habit and then realizing what he said. "...I mean, it's an experience anyway."

If there was anything he'd learned as a politician, it was never have too much of an opinion. On anything. "Sorry. I hope I'm not bothering you."

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ex_karolinad994
2012-05-09 02:58 am UTC (link)

Karolina hadn't realized there was anyone else in the car, so it startled her a little when she heard somebody reply to her statement. "Oh, I didn't mean the train," she said sheepishly, although she concurred that being trapped on a runaway time-traveling train that nobody could stop was lame beyond belief. "I just meant - I'm trying to sunbathe and the light is hitting my tablet so that I can't read." All of a sudden, it sounded like a really pathetic thing to be complaining about, and she blushed, standing up.

"Oh, no, you aren't bothering me," she answered, holding out a hand to shake. "Karolina Dean," she introduced herself. "I'd rather talk to somebody than read a book, anyway, so it's a good kind of distraction."

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theflyingman
2012-05-10 12:16 am UTC (link)

"Nathan Petrelli," he replied, shaking her hand and smiling. "It's nice to meet you. And in which case, I'm glad I came along."

Shaking hands was like second nature to him - it came with the territory. Running for congress and then making the senate had given him plenty of time to practice. The only difference here was that he wasn't pretending to like anyone just yet - she seemed like a nice girl. If anything, she was just as lost as he was.

He took a seat and looked around, just to make sure he was seeing everything that was supposed to be there. He hadn't seen Linderman since he arrived and given the fact that seeing dead men everywhere he went was never a good thing, it was a relief. "You been here long?" he asked curiously. "As in here, on the train?"

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ex_karolinad994
2012-05-10 04:49 am UTC (link)

"Nice to meet you," she replied, a little bewildered as he shook her hand. Hand-shaking wasn't something adults usually did to kids. There was something, though, about the way Nathan carried himself that suggested comfort with several different kinds of people. Confidence. She smiled as widely as she could, hoping that exuded the same self-assuredness that he had.

"I've only been here about a week," she admitted, sitting near Nathan so that her face was exposed to the sunlight streaming in through one of the big windows. "It's gotten old awfully fast, let me tell you. There's not much to do and judging by our last stop, it doesn't even seem like we go anywhere particularly interesting or useful." Then there was the piece about just plain not knowing why she was here. Karolina was the kind of person who liked certainty and answers, and this train didn't provide much of either. "How about you? I haven't seen you around before."

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theflyingman
2012-05-11 04:03 am UTC (link)

Nathan could see she was young, which put him at something of a loss. He barely knew how to talk to his own boys or even Claire. He loved his kids - that was never a question, but never did he think he'd come anywhere close to understanding them. Talking to this girl like an adult was the only option. "Not much of a history buff?" he asked. "I can't say I was either, but getting to see the 16th century in real time wasn't too bad. Before they came after me."

How Hiro Nakamura could travel through time and not get skewered was beyond him, but then again he didn't know how far back the little guy had traveled. Also, it probably helped that Hiro was like a walking do-over.

"I've been here about a week too. Still barely know what's going on, but that seems to be what passes for normal around here. You got any family?"

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ex_karolinad994
2012-05-12 03:07 am UTC (link)

Karolina shook her head. "It was my worst subject in school," she explained. Actually, nothing had really been her top subject in school - she'd always been a very middle of the road sort of student - but she'd especially never had much of a use for history. It didn't seem like it was all that important - a sentiment she held even more strongly now that she knew none of it was tied to her past, anyway.

"Did they come after you? Oh, no! God, I don't know what I'd have done." Pirates were pretty frightening in Karolina's book, particularly after all the chatter on the train about pillaging and looting and swordfighting. She got enough of that in her own reality. But all that left her mind as Nathan asked about her family. Her face crumpled a little before she smoothed her expression, cool as a cucumber. "Not on the train," she said evasively. It wasn't a lie, and it probably answered what he wanted, anyway. "How about you? I've met a girl who's got tons of relatives on the train, I think it's pretty lucky."

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theflyingman
2012-05-12 06:22 am UTC (link)

"I never really had one either," he admitted.

Nathan had never really needed to do anything in that sense of the word - he'd gone to Princeton more because of who his family was more than anything else and his parents had always covered up his mistakes in one form or another. It just wasn't something he ever admitted to. "We got away," he assured her. "Obviously. Just had to get a little creative."

Admitting to how he and Amy got away was another thing he wasn't comfortable with yet - whether or not other people on the train had abilities, his own was still something he couldn't quite come to terms with. A senator who could fly wasn't exactly going to look good. "I'm sorry to hear that," he replied. "I've got a brother. And a daughter - she's about your age. Her name's Claire."

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ex_karolinad994
2012-05-12 11:16 pm UTC (link)

"School isn't nearly as useful as I once thought it was," she confided, leaning her head back to catch the sun a little more fully. "There are more important skills, don't you think?" Not going to school was probably one of the few positives of her lifestyle.

"Well, I'm glad you got away," Karolina replied. "I'm not sure what happens to people who can't get back on the train before it leaves a stop - it sounds like it might be scary, though." Not to speak of what might happen if you died in this reality. If you died here, did you also die there? That wasn't anything she liked thinking about. "Claire is a pretty name," Karolina said. "What's she like? Is she here with you?" Karolina couldn't say she wished she had her family on board, but a friend wouldn't hurt - and right now, the closest thing she had was Toph. Someone a little closer in age would be better, she thought.

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theflyingman
2012-05-13 09:46 pm UTC (link)

Nathan fidgeted in his seat some, wondering if she was one of the people Peter had mentioned. He knew there were other people with abilities on the train, but he hadn't met any yet. He supposed that came from his own unwillingness to be too open about his. "I guess it depends on the skills," he replied. "But I tell my boys all the time if they don't go to school, they'll be pushing brooms at McDonald's. It seems to work, but then again, they're still in grade school."

He was definitely worried about what was going on with Simon and Monty now that he was suddenly missing, but then again, Heidi only let him see them once in a blue moon as it was. Obviously, there wasn't much he could do about it.

And the last thing he wanted to think about was what happened to people if the train decided to leave them behind. Tortuga wasn't exactly a place he'd want to be stuck in. "She is," he said of Claire. "She's in her senior year of high school _ I think she was picking out colleges last time I saw her, but here she's from a year behind me, so I don't really know. I didn't exactly know about her until a little while ago, but she's a good kid. I should've ignored my mother and acknowledged her sooner."

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ex_karolinad994
2012-05-15 02:41 am UTC (link)

At the news that Nathan hadn't known his daughter until recently, Karolina perked up noticeably, sitting up straight in her chair. Her face no longer caught the rays of the sun, but what he was saying was much more important to her. Though her parents had clearly always known she existed, Karolina wasn't sure if she had family left on her home planet (wherever that might be) - and the thought that she might be able to reconnect with them someday...

...Well. It gave her some hope. It half gave her hope, and half worried her, because what if all people from her planet were just as evil as they'd been?

"How was it?" she asked, leaning forward with her forearms on her knees. "Getting to know her, that is? I mean - did you know about her, or was it just - you hadn't seen her in a long time or weren't super close or something?"

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theflyingman
2012-05-15 05:22 pm UTC (link)

Getting a teenager's attention was definitely something he wasn't used to. He tried with Claire in the few conversations they'd had over the past year, but he figured he'd disappointed her just as much. He'd disappointed her more, if he were honest with himself. "It was awkward at first," he said truthfully. "I knew about her - I just...I was young and so was her mom. And since it was an election year, I had to tell her I couldn't acknowledge her until after."

Looking back, he decided he didn't want to see that look on Claire's face ever again. He had wanted to acknowledge her - it was his mother who'd discouraged him against it and stupidly, he'd listened to her.

"But after that, it's been pretty good. We talk, mostly through email and phone calls. She's smart - maybe too smart for her own good, but she reminds me so much of her uncle, I can't help but be proud of her. They're both impulsive, but in a lot of ways, they always try to do the right thing. I'm just trying to make up for past mistakes."

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