[open] months into days, days into hours, hours into minutes

[tumang]

» WHO? Amos and Prax and whoever else interested
» WHEN? After Amos emerges from the cryopods
» WHERE? medbay, command deck, plant room, various and sundry
» WHAT? Amos goes in and out of the cryopods, and is kind of different afterwards. Also, he has a really nice beard now, it's all full and also full of feelings. Oh and he also has a massive black eye. Basically looking like this.
» WARNINGS? probably none? besides potential spoilers for the expanse I guess?


1, MEDLAB (OTA)

[ He comes to on the floor of the medlab, on Reverie Station. He remembers it, barely, from the time where he felt like he had no choice but to walk into one of the pods. The medbay had barely been unlocked that he was checking it out and stepping in without thought. And now he's on his hands and knees, feelings so much older than he was when he first laid eyes on this room.

He lets out a groan, wishing - wishing it isn't true. That he isn't here, right now, instead of on his way home, finally out of the Slow Zone, with the promise of shore leave ahead of him. No death and danger, for a moment. In his head, months have gone by. More than half a year. He wasn't on Reverie anymore, he was back on the Roci, with everyone, with Naomi's betrayal hanging between them until she left them. With Prax and Io and Bobbie and Avasarala. With a ghost of Miller haunting Holden's thoughts.

He lets out a breath, before pushing off to stand, feeling a little out of breath, his insides clenched in worry. If he's back here, is everyone, too? They were there, on the Roci, with him. Is Anna here? Clarissa?

Okay. Take stock. Reassess. Restart. Looking around, he takes a few steps, out of the room, and towards one of the diagnostics beds. Surely that'll tell him if something's wrong with his head. If he meets someone in his way, he'll grab their sleeve, leaning close. ]

How long have you been here? On this station? Have we found a way home yet?

[ Has it been months too, for people? ]

2, CORRIDORS, COMMAND DECK (OTA)

[ If you've ever wanted to find Amos wandering through the corridors of the station to try and find some answers, here he is. He's looking for - for his crew, for Anna, for anyone who can tell him when he is and why is he back here. To anyone seeing him, he's probably looking haggard. Confused. Like someone who just woke up from a very long sleep.

He's fine. The diagnostics bed deemed him completely fine, aside from that mild concussion he got with the braking incident back in the Slow Zone. So his memories, what happened... happened. To him, physically. He doesn't just remember it. He has the new, very obvious, bruises that he got from it. So where was he? For how long?

The consoles are not giving him much information, when he finds functional ones. Most of the corridors are empty, and that's when it hits him: the command deck. It'll have video. Timestamps. ]

The fucking command deck!

[ It doesn't take Amos much time to get there, and he ignores anyone in the room as he gets to a console, starting to type away, hoping to get to the medbay video logs. A futile attempt, which makes him swear loudly, a fist coming down to crash on top of one of the consoles. ]

Let me into the camera feeds, you piece of shit -

3, PLANT ROOM (closed to Prax)

[ After it all, after realizing that whatever happened, whatever happened back home, that he lived through, for months and months of traveling and fighting and almost dying at every second; after all of that and discovering that all of it was just mere days on Reverie, Amos remembers. He remembers before he stepped into the cryopod, he remembers Prax being here, the plant room being opened, Miller and his hat and their codes.

Prax is here. Or he was, before Amos left. But he didn't know - he didn't know then.

So Amos wastes no time rushing up to deck 1, not surprised for an instant to find Prax here, overlooking some charts he's probably set up while testing the viability of the seeds. He's here, and he looks the same - sort of fragile, but determined in his work, so much so that he forgets to eat, to drink, to sleep.

Seeing him again, after what feels like months, is - Amos can't breathe for a moment, lungs seized up. He coughs, dislodging the sensation, allowing the strange, warm feeling in his chest to bloom in its place.

Amos steps closer, a tentative smile on his face. ]

Hey, Doc, I - I need to talk to you, about something. Something important.

Comments

[contorta]

[ prax hasn't been sleeping well, when he's remembered to try and sleep at all. mostly, he's been burying himself in work. he finally has something that he knows, something he's good at. something he knows is necessary and important. it's a worthy thing to lose himself in and it helps distract him from things he'd rather not linger on, like the ever-present and all-encompassing fear for his daughter, the guilt that he's letting her down, that he isn't there, that he isn't a better father, that he couldn't fix her. added to that has been worry for amos, who just —disappeared into a cryopod and hasn't emerged since.

he's thought about staying in the medbay. he's thought about watching over amos' still form. in the end, he hadn't been able to bear it and besides, the plants are important.

so he's in the plant room. he's working. the circles under his eyes are a little more pronounced again and he's lost in what he's doing, not really paying attention to anything happening around him.

until someone says hey, doc. until amos says it. ]

Amos! [ amos is smiling and prax can't help but smile back, a small thing that slowly grows as he keeps looking at amos. he's awake. he's not in a pod anymore. ] Are you all right?

[tumang]

[ Amos still has no idea what's happened to everyone while he was in the pod. He wouldn't have wanted anyone to be waiting for him to come out, especially Prax - what he's doing is way too important for him to wait for Amos. It was true back home and it is here and now, still.

It's hard for Amos not to dismiss the immediate concern on Prax's face, in his voice. ]

I'm good. I don't know what happened, exactly, I don't - I don't know. But something definitely happened. I was home. For a long time. For months. I was right back where we were, when we saved Bobbie, and when we went to Io together. I remember it now.

[ It's not what he wants to say, exactly, but it's a start. ]

[contorta]

[ prax has been concerned. that he's thrown himself into work to distract himself from it doesn't detract from that fact. if anything, it's an indication of just how worried he'd been. amos has been —amos has been his gravity, keeping him grounded, keeping him sane. even in the aftermath of their kiss and prax fleeing, amos had looked after him.

maybe it's selfish not to want to lose that. not to want to lose amos. if so, prax is a selfish man. ]

You can't have been. [ that — doesn't make sense. ]

You were in a cryopod. I don't know how you got in there, but you were. I don't think you've left. [ but there's a hint of doubt creeping into his tone at the end there. he hadn't been watching over amos, had he? so how would he know? ]

[tumang]

[ Amos motions to his face, the black eye and bandage just above it. ]

How did this happen while in cryosleep?

[Cryosleep, back home, is barely a thing. It wouldn't make sense anyway.

Amos steps closer, a hand on Prax's arm. ]

I was, I don't know how, but I was home. I was on the Roci. And that's what I need to tell you, Doc. We went to Io, together. We got Mei out.

[contorta]

[ prax shakes his head a little, not a denial so much as an expression of confusion. ] I don't know. It doesn't make sense —

[ and then amos steps in, a hand on his arm, and prax falls silent. looks up at amos, throat working as he swallows. there's blood rushing in his ears, seemingly so loud that he's not sure he understood amos' words. he did. didn't he?

he swallows again. clears his throat. ]

We did?

[ please confirm. he needs to hear that again before he'll even let himself begin to hope that it's true. ]

medbay

[morphogenia]

[Kamala's been coming here to check on Matt: local blind guy with no self-preservation skills. Half of the time she's just making sure he isn't pulling off bandages like a drama queen. She isn't expecting to see Amos here looking banged up and distressed, but concern always wins out. She cares too much to just ignore him like she might have any other time. Kamala starts off with a soft 'hey' as she approaches. She understandably tenses up when he grabs her. It's not that she thinks he's going to do something. He just invaded her person space a little too fast for her comfort.] A while? And no.

[She frowns deeply. This is so unsettling, but clearly something is wrong so she needs to suck it up.] Amos, are you okay? You look like you just came back from a war or something. I'm kind of worried to be honest.

[Now that's said, she's going to very gently push his hand away from her. Take the hint, bro.]

[tumang]

[ You look like you just came back from a war, she says, and Amos pulls back, leaning against the wall behind him, fingers itching for a gun, like he was in that corridor, with Alex by his side, Anna at his back, Bobbie in front of him. ]

How long is a while? How long have I been out?

[ He needs to understand. It needs for this to make sense. ] I've been gone for - a long time. Months. I left this place. I went back to the Roci, and everyone was there, too. So much happened. So why am I back here?

[morphogenia]

[Kamala watches him and yeah. She's more worried than ever. Her voice is surprisingly soft and gentle for once.] I'm going to say not very long considering the fact that we would have totally had a search party going after like... How long do adults get again before they're declared missing? 48 hours? Yeah basically whatever is going on with you couldn't have gone on for long. Your friends would have told literally everyone.

[She checked her device before coming in. There's no big drama about missing people. She thinks Alex would have reached out if nothing else. He cares deeply about people just like she does.

Her lips press together in a thin line as she struggles to make sense of this. Honestly? If not for the physical changes she'd think this was in his head. The proof is right there on his body. She has to take this seriously and be supportive.] ... I mean I want to ask are you sure, but judging by that beard? Clearly something happened to you. You seriously look older. I honestly don't know what's going on here, but I think we should have Hank review our security footage. You have a black eye so clearly someone or something hurt you. We should figure out what it is so they can't do it again.

[tumang]

I know what hurt me.

[ Because he does. That’s not one of his many questions, after all. ]

We were in the Slow Zone and something happened on the station down below, something with Holden, and then - it was like we hit emergency brakes. We had to slow down even more. So when we did, I was in the machine shop and I got banged up. Took me out for a little while, too.

[ It was definitely a concussion, but they had no time to deal with it. He gestures to his eye, before shrugging. ]

It doesn’t matter. It’s the not important part. I left this station. How come I’m back here?

1

[oorah]

[ frank starts at the sudden grab, but then seeing that it's amos he just puts his hand over the other man's and tries to gently pry him off. his face is a mess of black, blue and yellow as usual, but there's no doggy tagalong today thankfully. ]

Uh. Amos? You okay, man?

[tumang]

[ Amos pulls back just as fast as he grabbed, blinking at Frank. ]

No, no I'm - I'm not supposed to be here anymore. We were all back home. We were.

[oorah]

[ oh... ] Who's we?

[tumang]

Alex, Naomi, Prax, Bobbie, Holden. All of us. We got Prax's kid out of Io, we saved her. How long has it been? How long was I away for?

one

[onlydoubts]

[ it's hard not to jump at being grabbed suddenly by the man stepping out of the Med-Bay, which Bodhi absolutely does. try as he might, being touched without warning still sets him on edge. he recognizes the man, though - looking a bit more confused and haggard then he remembers. ]

What? [ it's kind of an odd question, he's sure Amos has been here as long as he has, but gives it a moment of thought regardless: ] Uh, two months now, give or take? I think... Wait, why do you ask?

[tumang]

Because I've been gone. I've been gone for months.

[ Again, he's quick to pull back, having had his answer. He's not trying to threaten, or scare. He's just here to try and understand, where he's been, why he's back. ]

I was home, and I'm back here. I shouldn't be back here. Two months? Shit. It's like no time has passed.

[onlydoubts]

Months? Longer than two? [ he thinks that if Amos had vanished for longer than a few days, his friends might've said something over the network - and he's spoken to the man a when they'd been opening the door. seen him in passing, since.

his beard was not so beardy, to his memory. ]

You look as though you've been in a fight recently.

[tumang]

I was gone for... 8, 9 month’s. At least, time was weird in the Slow Zone.

[ Gone long enough to go to Io, and then travel to the Ring. For everything in there to happen. ]

Been in a fight or two, yeah. But this was because of a - braking situation.

Waking up

[donkeyballs]

[ The first thing he thinks of when he wakes up is that his arm is still sore, but not as much as it had been. The second thing he thinks of is that this ceiling is very familiar, but he can't quite place it right away.

The third thing he thinks of is interrupted when Amos suddenly sits up a few feet away from him. Alex lets out a small groan and sits up as well, rubbing at his head. ]

What happened?

[ He'd thought they were out of the slow zone.

[tumang]

I don’t know!

[ He’s just as confused as Alex seems to be. But at least Alex is mentioning the Slow Zone, which tells Amos it wasn’t a dream. It happened. The two of them were there together, wondering what Holden was doing. Amos looks straight at Alex. ]

Why are we back here? We were home. We were back where we were supposed to be.

[donkeyballs]

Back here? [ He sounds incredibly confused, as he looks around, and then the colour drains from his face. ]

That station. We're on that station. I - how did I forget everything about this place--

[tumang]

Yeah, here.

[ Amos makes an angry sniffling noise as he breathes. It was disorienting, to even think about, but he recognized the look of the place, just as easily as he'd recognize the Roci. ]

It's been months. Nobody mentioned it. It was like... a dream. Like this place was a dream.

[ Which reminds him, after a moment - ]

Prax.

1

[fuckingpassw0rd]

[Someone didn't quite like their sleeve being suddenly grab and stares at the man, hand into a fist until he realizes the other means no harms.]

Hey just cause I look old doesn't mean been here forever. It's only been a few weeks.

[Still, that just raises more questions that answers. He'll start with a simple one.]

You alright?

[tumang]

[ The fact that Amos has never seen this guy before gives him a moment of hope, until the guy says he’s only been here a few weeks. Amos sighs, pulling back and running a hand over his face as he leans against the wall. ]

You just woke up here? You’re not from this station or anything? I’ve not gone back in the past?

[ He could have been, right? He could be back with the former crew of Reverie. Is he? ]

I’m fine. Just confused.

2!

[marineris]

[After Bobbie finds Alex and makes sure he's okay, she sets out to find Amos, and hears him before she sees him, trying to bust up one of the consoles. She spots the beard, and, more alarmingly, that huge ass black eye, and she clicks her tongue.]

Shit, Amos. You look like a truck hit you.

[That's her way of saying she's happy to see him, obviously.]

[tumang]

[ Unsurprisingly to him, but maybe to Bobbie, he is also happy to see her, right now. He looks up, and she looks the same - minus the gut wound, which is both a blessing and a curse. Does that mean - ]

Close enough. You don't remember, do you?

[ Has Alex seen her first? Has he told her, about everything they've gone through? ]