InsaneJournal

The last thing Rose expected to find when she opened her eyes was that she was on board a spaceship. She blinked a couple of times as she looked around and saw [...] something out of a scifi movie or something. She could barely work a cell phone some days, but even she could recognize that the technology here seemed to be, well, advanced.

The experience didn't get any less surreal as she went - none too patiently - through the exam they requested and then moved on to meet with some liaison person. The entire time - in between huhs and what the fucks - Rose was tempted to pinch herself, because there was no way any of this was real. She had to still be asleep.

Eventually, she was sent back to her quarters - without her silver stake, which made her kind of twitch - where she deposited her meager belongings and left again, intent on exploring as much of the ship as she could find her way into. There were apparently parts that were off limits to complete strangers from other dimensions. Go figure. At least she didn't have to be cooped up in a small room. After the days she'd spent in that cell at Court, Rose was desperately grateful for her newfound freedom, even if it had come in a really unexpected way.

Seriously, what the actual fuck? She'd apologized to the liaison for her language, but honestly, who could blame her for reacting this way. This was straight out of some cracked out sci fi shit and not even the good sci fi. It was more like cheesy, lame b movie sci fi that you'd see at 3am on cable. Definitely not something that happened in real life.

Only it apparently had and fucked up crazy or not, Rose was going to make the best of it. Pulling out the tablet thing they'd given her, which they'd called a PADD, she pulled up the map and tried to decide just what she wanted to investigate first.

Peter was just coming off of his shift in the mess hall, hurrying back to his quarters to see if Steven wanted to go do something, maybe check out a rec room and play a game or something, and because he was thinking ahead instead of thinking in the moment, he wasn't watching where he was going. He ran straight into the back of some girl he didn't recognize - hadn't they just got another load of new arrivals? - and stumbled back against the bulkhead wall. "Oh, uh, pardon me," he sputtered out, eyes wide. He brushed himself off and looked sheepishly at the girl. Yes, he thought, definitely someone he didn't know yet. "Are you lost? I mean, do you need help finding somewhere or getting somewhere? Er, looking for something in particular?"

Rose’s guardian instincts kicked him as the unexpected impact of another body colliding with her and she whirled around in one smooth motion of face... well, just a regular guy. He was human, mostly, at least. Her senses told her there was something different about him, but it wasn't anything she recognized.

Relaxing the tension in her body as she realized there was no attack to defend against, Rose offered him a friendly grin and shook her head.

“Just exploring, actually,” she admitted. “I'm trying to decide what I want to check out first.”

Peter kind of relaxed once she said something to him. For a moment there he was worried she might hit him or attack him or something. He almost reached for his wand but he was glad he didn't. "Did you just arrive?" he asked. He coughed a bit and put out his hand. "I'm, er, Peter. Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew," he said. "Are you hungry or looking for something to do? Maybe I can show you which way to go."

Nodding, she reached out to firmly shake his hand. “Rose Hathaway,” She kind of shrugged at his question. “Mostly, I wanted to get to know the place,” she explained. “I mean, I’m pretty much always hungry, but I was just kind of wandering aimlessly, I guess.” Glad to not be locked in a cell anymore, she thought, but that wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you said to someone you’d just met.

He nodded a few times and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, all right. I mean, I still get turned around lost and I've been here for a while." He laughed a little bit nervously and shrugged. "But if you've got a better sense of direction than I do, you'll be fine." He glanced each way down the corridor and shrugged. "Basically, this deck and then the one above and below are all quarters. If you get into any of the turbolifts - they're like lifts, you know, uh -" She didn't sound British so what was the other word that was used? " - ele-va-tadors? Uh - well, then you go in there and say the deck you want to go to and put your hand on the handle thing and then it'll take you there." Was he explaining anything well at all?

Rose couldn't help smiling. He was charming in a dorky sort of way. It was almost cute. She nodded, taking his instructions in. “Those turbo-elevator-whatevers, are they the only way you can get between levels or do they have stairs, too?” Getting to know the place meant knowing all the ways to get around. Her natural sense of direction would help, but it wouldn't hurt to get a little more from someone who'd been here a while.

Peter realized he had no idea the answer to that question. "I - don't know," he said. "I've only ever used the turbolifts." He shrugged. "They're really easy to use. I mean, they practically move all by themselves."

“No, I’m sure they’re easy,” she said, not sure why the idea of stepping into one bothered her so much. “I was curious. You know, like in case of fire or the one I want breaks, there should be another way to get to wherever.” Or in case the idea of being in a confined space kind of freaked you out for no good reason. “It’s okay,” she said, flashing him a bright smile. “I’ll do some more exploring and figure it out.”

He pushed his lips into a smile and nodded. “All right, well, uh - I guess I’ll probably see you around? I mean, it’s a big ship but not that big so we always go ahead and run into each other.” Peter kind of shimmied away from her. “Well, bye Rose. Nice to meet you.”

Rose nodded her head and grinned at him. “I’m sure you will,” she said. “It was nice to meet you, too, Peter.”