KY321B; voice; night 007

[backsassin]

[ It’s the dead of night when the broadcasts start—short, choppy bursts initially, static interspersed with the occasional snatches of a woman’s voice against the low susurrus of waves on sand. It’s several long moments before they resolve into an actual message. ]

—anyone there? Please, anyone—I don’t care who you are, just say something!

[ There’s a clear edge of desperation in her voice and it’s no wonder; Zam had woken up pressed against a sand dune in the pitch black night, her last memory being of her own untimely murder. She’d thought she was buried at first, then in hell—and then she’d noticed the radio clutched in her one remaining hand. Then came the struggle of trying to figure out what it was and how to operate it one-handed in the dark and—suffice to say, she is experiencing a lot of stress at the moment. ]

Does this thing even work? [ More static as Zam starts blindly pressing buttons in the dark. ] —anyone receiving?

Comments

BT612L; audio

[ichoosefight]

It works, it works! There are people here, it's just really late.

Are you okay?

[backsassin]

Fierfek, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that.

[ If there's other people here, people she can hear and speak to, then maybe she really isn't dead—even if she isn't sure how she could have possibly survived. Taking a lethal dose of neurotoxin straight to the carotid artery should be a guaranteed death sentence. Unless... Had Jango spared her after all? ]

I... don't really know. I'm uh— [ She winces. ] Someone cut off my arm but it's not bleeding. Cauterized. It doesn't even hurt as much as it probably should though that might just be the shock talking. [ A small, light-headed laugh. ] I don't know. Someone might've just killed me. I'm, uh... I'm still trying to figure that one out.

[ In short: no. No, she's not doing great. ]

[ichoosefight]

Okay, wow.

[ That sure is a hell of a lot. But 'not bleeding' is a good start. ]

So, bad news first, if you're in shock you need water, and it's not easy to get. Good news, you're not dead now by most people's definition.

Are you on a beach? Can you see the sun, or the moon?

[backsassin]

[ Right. She has to find water. On a deserted island. While in shock and missing an arm. Okay. ]

I see the moon. And yes, I'm on a beach with—I guess they're dunes? They go on for a while and then there's trees, but it's too dark to see anything past that.

[ Stars, she hopes that sounds familiar to someone. Why'd she have to wash up here at night? ]

I don't know, do I just—do I just start walking? I don't think I can make it through the forest in this dark, but maybe I could just skirt around the beach...

[ichoosefight]

Okay, the moon should be East at this hour. Which direction is the forest?

Don't try to navigate the woods, but find a spot where you'll be under cover in the morning. And then I need you to sit down, breathe, and tell me your condition in detail.

cw: mild body horror

[backsassin]

North.

[ And then there's silence as Zam stops her broadcast to follow the voice's instructions. They give her something to focus on, at least, some sense that this is real and not the result of some dying neurotoxic hallucination.

Still clutching the radio in one hand, she starts to walk towards the trees in the distance, winding around the sand dunes that dot the beach. Even ignoring her arm, her body feels off in a way she can't quite define. Light and insubstantial, like she's lost more than just a limb. She grits her teeth and tells herself that it's the shock talking. Obviously, she's not dead—otherwise, she wouldn't need to worry about dying again.

Finally, she reaches the treeline and finds a place to sit at the edge of the forest, facing into the deep dark beyond. It's a good thing she's not bleeding; the last thing she needs is some kind of native predator coming across her in her current state.

She presses the broadcast button on her transceiver again. ]

Okay, I'm under some trees now. Feeling... not great. Light-headed, I think. The last thing I remember before waking up here was taking a saberdart full of neurotoxin to the neck, so... that might be related. I'm not dead, though, so that's an unexpected plus. [ She looks down at herself, trying to gauge anything else about her condition. Obviously, there's the severed arm, but now that she's actually somewhat calmed down and paying attention, she notices it's not the only thing that's missing. ] Looks like I've lost most of my armor... and blaster. Or maybe someone took it.

[ They'd even taken her one remaining glove. The skin of her left hand is pale, but otherwise unmarked and there's no sign of—wait. Zam's brow furrows as she stares at the hand, then raises it to her face. She feels smooth skin, small eyes. That's... weird. She'd woken up already shifted. That wouldn't be unusual under normal circumstances—she's trained herself to hold a human form even while asleep—but she distinctly remembers reverting to baseline after Jango's saberdart had hit. Had she reshifted while unconscious, somehow?

Still holding a hand to her face, she tries to relax, tries to let it go. Her human form might be her preferred one in most cases, but in a life-or-death scenario such as this, it'll only be a waste of energy to keep it up. It should be as easy as letting out a breath. She closes her eyes, lets her expression go slack...

And nothing happens. The fine bones and muscles of her face remain set in place, and the skin stays soft and smooth. She opens her eyes and tries again, focusing this time. She thinks about what she should feel: the sockets of her eyes expanding and filling, cheeks hollowing, skin becoming tough and scaled. But nothing moves; her features remain stubbornly human, as if they've forgotten any other form. Zam feels a new seed of panic planted within her. Has she lost control of her shapeshifting?

She reaches for the radio again. ]

Something's wrong. I don't know how, but I can't—I can't... [ How does she even begin to explain this? She's not even in the habit of telling people she's a Clawdite but if they're talking about her medical condition, then that context is pretty karking important.

With a strained sigh: ] Listen, do you know what a changeling is?

[ichoosefight]

[ Crap. She doesn't know nearly enough about neurotoxins to be helpful in this situation.]

Yeah, whoever dumped us here didn't leave us with much. Is that all you feel? Lightheaded?

[ Steph gets no response while Zam is freaking out. ]

Hello?

[ Then Zam is back and Steph is now privy to the freakout. ]

Changeling, um... Something about babies switched with a fairy at birth?

I'm gonna guess the answer is no, I don't know what a changeling is.

[backsassin]

No, no, nothing to do with fairies. [ Where do people even hear this stuff? ] It means I can change the way I look—skin, bones, muscles, that kind of thing. Or—I could. Can't do it now. I'm, uh. Stuck?

[ She tries to focus on different, smaller changes: lengthening her nails, subtracting a finger. Still, nothing happens. Her body remains solid and immutable in a way it's never been before. ]

Fierfek, what the hell is going on?

[ichoosefight]

Change the way-- Shapeshifter! That's what we call it where I'm from. You can shapeshift. But you're not able to do it now?

[ How does M'gann's shapeshifting work? She's sure she read that file, but not very closely. It felt like spying on her ex's new friends. ]

Is that something that's ever happened before? A known side effect of some poisons, maybe?

[backsassin]

Yeah. Shapeshifting. I've heard it called that, too.

And no, it's never happened to me before. I mean, there was a time before I knew how to control it, but that's not really the same thing. [ She runs her hand through her hair—short and soft and also something she wouldn't have in her baseline reptilian form.

She also realizes that she's missing her helmet, too. Great. ]

If I were really sick or dying, maybe I'd be forced back into my baseline form. But this isn't that. It's—it's one of my human forms. Unless... [ She shakes her head and then laughs, a sound of incredulity and frustration rather than amusement. ] I don't know, I've never been injected with neurotoxin before; for all I know, this is a normal side effect. Or—or maybe I'm hallucinating. Maybe I'm not stuck at all.

[ Maybe she's lying in a ditch somewhere, face and body contorting uncontrollably from her efforts. Maybe she's still curled up in an alley outside some seedy nightclub on Coruscant, waiting for the lights to go out. It's not like either notion could be more absurd than what she's experiencing right now. ]

Makes sense, right? [ Another laugh. ] Why wouldn't a neurotoxin make you trip?

TO994M; voice

[cactusy]

The arm thing - this happened here?

[backsassin]

No. Order of operations is: got arm cut off, got shot, woke up here. All in the space of a few minutes.

[ A very disorientating few minutes, needless to say. ]

[cactusy]

Guessing nobody near you at home could have healed you, right?

[backsassin]

Even if there had been, I don't think they could've done much. When I say "got shot," I mean with a saberdart full of neurotoxin.

[cactusy]

Yeah. Heard you talking about that with BT6.

[Along with the shapeshifter stuff that she is very pointedly not addressing right now.]

What kind of neurotoxin? Do you know?

[backsassin]

No. [ A sigh. ] Didn't exactly get a chance to ask for the chemical formula. But I'd seen Jango use it before and it was fast. Really fast.

[ Then, under her breath: ] Bastard probably thought he was doing me a favor.

[cactusy]

This is gonna sound crazy, but, uh-- what year are you from?

[backsassin]

Year 13. Why? Are we throwing time travel into the list of possible theories?

[salamanca]

[ Wait, she lost an arm??? He thought she was just freaking out for no reason! Shit. Now he has to pretend to be sorry for how he responded before. ]

You... You lost an arm? [ He sounds shocked; remorseful. ] I'm sorry — I didn't realize —

Do you remember it being cauterized before you arrived here?

[backsassin]

[ She recognizes the voice of the jokester from before. ]

Don't worry about it. I needed the laugh.

[ It was exactly the dumb sort of joke Zam would've made if their positions were reversed; she can't really get mad about it. ]

Yeah, I think so. They used a... a plasma weapon. [ She's not going to say 'lightsaber' when that could potentially invite questions as to how she'd pissed off a Jedi. ] Those cut and burn at the same time.

[salamanca]

[ Despite himself, Lalo can't help but feel a sense of relief seep through him at the sound of her, apparently not angry, voice. Oh, good. She's not pissed off. He doesn't have to grovel.

And it means she has a sense of humor. He approves! And decides, at least for the time being, that he likes her. ]

Then it was my pleasure. I'm Ben, by the way. Ben De Guzman.

[ He would not know what a Jedi was, anyway! He doesn't even understand the concept of a plasma weapon, as evidenced by the obvious confusion in his voice. ] Plasma... weapon...? Ah...

[backsassin]

Ben. I'm Zam.

And yeah, a plasma weapon. Convenient if you need someone alive, but not necessarily in one piece.

audio (cw: lalo being lalo)

[salamanca]

My pleasure, Miss Zam. That's a pretty name! Very unique.

[ Alive, but not in one peace, eh? Lalo briefly loses himself in a vivid and extremely fucked up daydream wherein he imagines how he could torture The Chicken Man with such a device. He gets so excited he almost goes into cardiac arrest. For a few seconds, there's nothing but silence, except for the sound of his footsteps on the ground as he walks.

He's careful to make sure he sounds calm when he actually speaks, though. Calm but befuddled. ]

I... see. I'm afraid we don't have anything like that where, uh, when, I'm from. I can't even picture it. I'm sorry to hear such a thing was used against you. It sounds horrible.

Do you possess one of these "plasma weapons" yourself?

[backsassin]

[ Deadpan: ] Thanks, I picked it myself.

[ Zam doesn’t mind flattery, but she’s also used it too many times before to be particularly trustful of it. Even Jango knew how to use it in a pinch. All it tells her is that there’s likely something that Ben wants—

A suspicion that seems confirmed by his next question. ]

No. [ Maybe he’s just trying to figure out how dangerous she might be, or maybe he’s asking because he’d like such a weapon for himself. In the end, it hardly matters since Zam is telling the truth. She doesn’t even have her blaster anymore. ] Why? What kind of threats are we dealing with on this island?

[salamanca]

[ There's a delighted "Ha HA!" on the other end of the walkie. He appreciates a good dry sense of humor! Anyway, her assessment isn't totally off-base, in that Lalo is always playing an angle all the time. He's always trying to figure out what he can get from people all the time.

But, there's a part of him that treats it as simple instinct to compliment a woman, even if the only thing he can compliment is her name, because that's all he knows.

His disappointment when she says she doesn't have a "plasma weapon" is crushing! He had hoped to see one for himself. Who knows, maybe she would have been so kind as to let him borrow it? ]

Mi bella, be lucky you missed the drones! They were terrifying. I... [ He swallows. ] Ah, nevermind. They were these electric flying things that kidnapped people and locked them up in cells.

Someone else says she had guys in trees firing crossbows at her, too. Guys she couldn't see. [ And that is all he is going to say about that where Shaw can see it. ]