Log:Aviophobia

Hyperspace-induced existential dread

OOC Date: April 1, 2016
Location: Snipe
Participants: Uli Gosse, Stavros, Kasia Ciph, Rebel Yell

Uli Gosse does not like flying. But, he also realizes that getting over said fear of flying is fairly vital to his career as a criminal. So when Stavros said he was going on a shortish run, the pickpocket asked to tag along. Things went okay for take-off, but once they hit hyperspace, he disappeared. He's found...a spot, somewhere. A spot around a corner, somewhere snug with no windows. He's been there for awhile now, in a cold sweat and taking rather large mouthfuls of something strong from a hip flask. He's basically trying not to think too hard about where he currently is, or rather, where he currently //isn't.// AKA, safe on an actual planet rather than hurtling through space.

Stavros knows better than to call Uli's name. If he left and is not to be found in the crew areas, he doesn't particularly want to be found. There is plenty of time before he needs to pull the lever and pull them out of hyperspace, and timers and alarms will alert him when that time comes, so he goes hunting.

There are a remarkable number of places to hide even on a small freighter, and this is a bit large for a light freighter, but finally at the bottom deck, he finds the pickpocket. It's as far as you can go without entering the engine room or approaching the power core or weapons systems, and Stavros was pretty sure he'd never find Uli in there. "Hey," he calls as he drops down the ladder. "You okay?" Obviously he is not, but it seems a little rude for even a Zeltron to say 'I'm sensing your imminent panic attack.'

Uli doesn't answer Stavros. Instead, he takes another pull from the flask and then holds it out towards him. And then he says, somewhat apprehensively, "Shouldn't you be flying this thing?"

"We've got hours to kill," Stavros says, accepting the flask and taking a swallow. He covers the top with his hand to prevent spillage and sloshes the flask around a bit. He says incredulously, "Was this full when we left?" He offers him the flask back. "Maybe take it a little slower? You have to climb a ladder to reach the head."

Uli is quite fair on a good day. Right now, 'white as a sheet' would be an apt description. He just gives Stavros a //look// at the notion of taking it slower. He grabs the flask back and takes a large, defiant swallow. "It's either this or I stare out at the void of hyperspace and hyperventillate. Which would you rather?"

"Well, you're going to run out before we get there." The Zeltron is concerned with the logistics, of course. "But we have more." He is also an enabler. "Maybe drinking while looking out the window?" he suggests. "This thing is less shaky than most of the Nar Shaddaa taxis, and Razz is great at this calculation stuff. We're not gonna hit anything. So we're safer than flying back home, too."

"And I showed you the list, right?" The list of emergency measures, like escape pods, that are used in various scenarios. "We got it handled any which way." He is awfully confident for someone who hasn't been piloting ships for more than a year, but let's not dwell on that.

"That would involve moving. I don't know if my stomach could take that," says Uli. He takes a deep, steadying breath. "Space flight is insane if you think about it too much. Hyperspace is even more crazy." Existential angst involving space travel - he has it. "I'm pretty sure if we run into trouble I'm going to be sitting and wishing for a quick death, not running for escape pods."

Uli vanished shortly after the jump to lightspeed, and Stavros left the cockpit a bit after that. Neither have returned. There are timers that will go off when it's approaching time to actually leave hyperspace, so this isn't particularly concerning in and of itself. But they aren't to be found in the crew relaxation areas.

In point of fact, they are both down at the lowest level, in the passageway that separates the engine room from the power core and the weapons systems. It's about as far as you can get from the scary view outside. "You'll be walking, Uli, because I'll be dragging your ass, and you're too heavy for me, so if you don't help bear your weight on the way to the escape pod, you will be murdering me." Stavros says this matter-of-factly.

"But the odds are super-low we need to do that," the Zeltron says, trying to soothe Uli's tangled emotions a bit with that with some projecting empathy. "Like, very low."

Uli is sitting on the ground, back wedged against a divet in the bulkhead, a flask in hand. He's white as a sheet and maybe sweating a little. The flask is lighter than it should be. "Yeah, well. Your own fault for letting me board this death trap." Swig.

Where has Kasia been? Not in this corridor, that's for sure. She's been all over other parts of the ship, sort of quietly sneaking the way one might when they're just a little bit afraid they might interrupt something. She slips into the corridor tentatively, looking between both men. "Everything okay here?" she asks, rocking back on her heels, as though uncertain she should stay.

"Uli needs some TLC and more liquor," Stavros says. "Come on, trooper, let's get you up to a couch, at least." The Zeltron extends a hand towards Uli. "If you stay down here you've got nowhere to sick up but on the deck, and Kelnas won't be happy with me unless I clean it up. Kasia, can you help me get him up?" Despite his words, Stavros does look concerned. "It's not a deathtrap. It's probably safer than that bar."

"At least I can //do// something if someone comes at me in a bar," says Uli with pursed lips. He takes a deep breath, then reaches up to clasp Stavros' arm. He wobbles a bit and looks a bit green. But a deep breath later and he's straightening. "If it happened here, I'd just be atoms and debris. Hi, Kasia." He makes a huffing sound. "I don't like space." Gee, ya think?

"Liquor always helps," Kasia voices as she moves down the corridor, giving Uli a reassuring smile. "I was terrified the first time I ever went up into space, but of all those times, I've never had a problem." She nears them both, and then steps over so that she stands on Uli's other side, one arm sliding behind him. "I hid, a lot like you are, and refused to look out at anything. I jumped at every sound, thinking that was some dire warning that something was about to go wrong." She glances to the side, over at both Uli, and Stavros. "But it wasn't, it was normal, and we landed safe and sound."

"What she said," Stavros seconds. "Okay, sailor. Let's get you up a deck." The ladder Stavros took is out of the question, so they retrace Kasia's steps towards the lift. "This ship is solid. Moergog does good work." Once they reach the interior of the lift, the Zeltron says, "Drink some more. Couch is less than ten meters away out the door." When it opens.

Uli has to close his eyes and steel himself before stepping into the elevator. As close as they both are, they can tell that his breathing is rather ragged. He also looks like he's having a case of cold sweats. "Nnngh." Still, he cooperates, even though he looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Remind me to never leave Nar again."

Kasia's hand rubs back and forth against Uli's back, trying to comfort, or distract. "I promise that you will get used to it," she remarks, glancing across Uli to look at Stavros a moment. "It just takes a little time." A little time being totally miserable and terrified, no sweat, right? "And there are a lot of amazing things to see out there that you can't find on Nar Shaddaa."

"Like clean air, clean water, and sunsets that aren't hazy," Stavros says. "Also lots of green. Like those parks in the Corellian Sector, but for kilometers and kilometers. So much green you can't see through it, and they make a rustling sound when there's wind." Stavros is also being distracting, he hopes, but without touching more than Uli's arm.

"Some places you can go for tens of kilometers and be the only sentient around. It's kind of creepy." Stavros does hate being alone. "But it's also nice to see running water and know it wasn't reprocessed in a filtration plant, but by, like, trees."

"Doesn't sound sanitary," says Uli in response to Stavros' comment about water being filtered by trees. He takes a literal //gulp// of air. Both can feel him lean on them to keep himself upright. "I'd welcome some goddamn smog about now."

"It's a lot more sanitary than you'd think," Kasia replies with a little laugh. "Not that you want to drink from any old pond, but it's a lot cleaner than you'd imagine. I remember thinking how odd it was when I left Nar for the first time, how weird big open spaces felt, how /quiet/ it all was. It was the quiet that got to me the most, it's insane how intrusive quiet can become when you're used to hearing noise all the time." She's just yammering on at this point, then pauses to look over at Uli again. "For now though, I'd say the couch is probably as wide open a space as you need."

"Almost there, sailor." Between Kasia and Stavros and Uli's efforts, they manage to reach the couch. Between Kasia and Stavros, it's actually not a terrible landing that he makes. Stavros caps the flask, tucks it into Uli's pocket (who knows where it actually came from), and while Kasia can be all comforting and feminine, the Zeltron fluffs a pillow and puts it at one end of the couch. "Don't worry about a thing." Once he's sure Uli is settled adequately, he also goes to fetch a waste container with solid sides and a bag, putting it next to the pillow, but on the deck.

Uli makes a slight whuffing, gurgling noise when his ass hits the couch. He manages to steady himself with a few long breaths, so he isn't in immediate need of a waste basket. "I'm sure..." he begins with some effort, "...that green and open spaces are lovely. Right now, I'd settle for being on a planet. Any planet. Or moon. Or anything that isn't a tube of metal." Since he can't have that, he instead lowers himself carefull to the couch and covers his face with his arms. "Wake me up when we're back on Nar. You can try to sell me on this whole 'green space and water filtered by trees' thing later." When he's sober.

While Stavros gets items for Uli to vomit, Kasia remains near the drunk man, fussing a bit here and there in an effort to make sure he's comfortable, or at least slightly less miserable. She steps back when Stavrus returns, letting poor Uli hopefully pass out and sleep through the rest of the trip. It's better than vomiting the rest of the way.