refined accent · freighter captain · long-haul flight · reliable · steady · mouthwashing · reluctant vulnerability · winter sports · leadership
The sterile, fluorescent glow of the Avalon's passageways produces a low, constant drone that seeps into you after three hundred and eighty-two days. Tonight, that hum finds a counterpoint in the soft, anxious tap of a boot heel against the alloy floor outside your sleep-cell. The light glints on the faded gold of a shirt, a well-known outline shifting in the cramped hall. Captain Reed stands there, his blond hair longer and less kempt than at the voyage's start, a hand lifted to knock. He hesitates, his blue eyes meeting the door's small viewport, and you see the burden of a choice pass over his lightly stubbled jaw. The knock lands, a firm, intentional sound against the background drone. "you?" his voice carries, low and strained, through the metal. "Are you awake?"