genessia | Awakening [action] [video]

Who: Betelgeuse OPEN
What: Arrival
When: November 28 mid-morning
Where: The Bay

Betelgeuse hadn't slept like this in ages. Oh, ghosts, even poltergeists like him, did sleep, but it was a shallow, dream-filled activity that was more a habit than anything. Certainly, Betelgeuse hadn't felt this weary grogginess, since he died. He stretched and sat up to look around. He noted the metal container, somewhere between a bed and a coffin, with amusement. Heh. They should see his actual coffin...what was left of it after six centuries.

Well, time to rise and shine, regardless! Betelgeuse noticed the box on his chest and immediately began rummaging through it. He wasn't generally just given things and this was like getting a birthday present! He went through the items, becoming more and more puzzled. Okay, it was a nifty pile of stuff; he particularly liked the little videofeed. Modern technology, you know he loved it! The money went into an inside pocket of his jacket. He skimmed through the pamphlet and snorted. Get a job. Really? Somehow he doubted this place would appreciate his skills as a bio-exorcist!

Still, job or not, someone had gone to some trouble to give Betelgeuse a good head-start in this place...wherever the hell "Genessia" was supposed to be. He'd certainly never heard of it. Well, he'd been given a means of communication, so he'd communicate! Betelgeuse read through the videofeed instructions once more, then tucked the pamphlet away into a different pocket. Walking away from his recent bed, Betelgeuse began playing with the videofeed, turning it visual.

"Hey, you! Someone wanna tell me what's going on? What is this place?"

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"What?? No, I didn't get picked up from a Halloween party!" Betelgeuse snapped, the words bitten off and impatient. He made a rude hand gesture. "Yeah, I get that this place is called 'Genessia.' I'm apparently supposed to get a job, too...as if. Funny thing is, last time I checked, I was in CONNECTICUT!!"

Betelgeuse stopped screaming, glaring at his videofeed screen. He continued in a lower, though still angry tone.

"I'd kinda like to know how I got here and why, y'know what I mean?"

[He'd be less unphased if he hadn't been brought here from much, much farther than Connecticut...and if he hadn't taken some painkillers to dull the throbbing in his face.]

As far as I know, no one's figured that out yet. Sure would be nice to know, though.

[And why were people like that white-eyed psychopath in the cape dumped into the city too? What would that possibly accomplish?]

For all I know it's some intergalactic social experiment.

"Intergalactic, huh? So, where are you from, then?" Betelgeuse asked, rolling his eyes. "You look like you've been socializing with a meatgrinder."

He really didn't care why the young man looked so beaten, but Betelgeuse knew people tended to let things slip, once you got them talking, and who didn't like talking about themselves?

Feels like it too.

[Some of those goons hit like a mach-sledgehammer. He slaps the ice pack back on his swollen eye.]

Me? Grew up in Iowa, was crossing the galaxy on the starship Enterprise. Now I'm here.

[To boldly go indeed.]

Captain Jim Kirk. What's your name?

"Huh. So, this thing affects time too. No one's invented spaceships yet, where I'm from."

Betelgeuse looked a bit embarrassed at Kirk's question. He shrugged.

"I can't tell ya my name. I mean, I know my name, but it's kinda complicated."

"Why not?"

'Complicated?' He didn't understand, and that made him just a little wary. So he folded his arms and asked point blank, not really expecting an honest answer. But he'd see what this creepy guy had to say just the same.

Betelgeuse rolled his eyes, shrugging dramatically. He wasn't about to give some near stranger power over him, if he could help it and folded arms and a direct stare never boded well, in Betelgeuse's opinion.

"Look, I just can't okay? It's one of those things, ya know? Like, I tell you, then someone else finds out, and pretty soon, I'm busier than I know what to do with and certain Other Parties get involved..."

Betelgeuse sighed, shaking his head.

"Bottom line, someone, somewhere decided me being able to say my name was a bad idea. I haven't been able to in ages."

Since his death, actually, but Betelgeuse wasn't ready to admit that yet.

No, he didn't know. None of this made sense on any plane of reality in Jim's book. He had, however, come to accept that he was going to run into a lot of people and even more things that just didn't make sense in his world.

"So what do you want me to call you? Douglas?"

Betelgeuse gave him a hard stare, then grinned crookedly.

"Do yourself a favor, Kirk. Let your wife name your children. You suck," Betelgeuse told him dryly. "No, you can call me BJ, for now."

"I'll be sure to let her know." Kirk didn't have a wife, but he didn't exactly have a good reason to set the guy straight. "All right, then. BJ it is."

"Good, good, glad to have that settled," Betelgeuse rambled, grinning. "So, you're from Earth and I'm from Earth? Are we on Earth right now, compadre? I mean, apparently, you're from some possible future, so maybe some place called Genessia gets invented later on, who the hell knows, right? Tell me something useful."

"Probably not." Jim was no scientist, but he was sure there wasn't anything on earth powerful enough to completely block his signals from the Enterprise or any other agency that might pick up on his frequent distress calls. He swipes a hand over his chin, winces as he realizes that was kind of dumb considering he got socked in the jaw, and looks around. "Wherever we've been transported, it's nowhere I've been before, or even heard of. Maybe a different planet, or some sort of space colony."

"You said you're a captain. Shouldn't you know this shit?" Betelgeuse asked impatiently. "Fine, fine! This place has printed money. That means government, right? They must know something."

"I'm the captain of a starship, not a... Never mind," he held up his hands, huffing a quick and impatient sigh. He was starting to sound like a certain crabby medical officer.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too. There's a computer that'll answer some questions, but far as I can tell, there aren't any public officials. The City Guardians are all selected from people like you and me who just popped up."

"A computer, huh? Good thing I've kept up with the times. Not all ghosts do that, y'know? Figures no one is actually in charge," he sighs. "So, does this world or place have natives or is it just us chickens?"

"There are natives, I guess, but there's something off about them." He looked away from his screen as he spoke, watching a happy family of three walking down the street. "Most of them don't remember who you are after a day passes."

He'd been stood up for so many dates because of that.

"Well, that's not a problem," Betelgeuse guffawed. "I probably won't remember them, either!"

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