TEST DRIVE #1 - Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

You know how you were standing there, back in your home world, just minding your own business?

Time to forget all about that.

Instead of doing whatever the heck you were just doing, you're standing in the middle of this very stylish, sedate barroom. Happily, you're not alone there - in fact you're surrounded by people who seem to be as confused as you are...and some of them look a little, well unusual

Now would be a great time to do....well, something. Ask some questions of the person nearest you, throw a fit, stage a coup....maybe do a little exploring? No matter what you do, you're going to be here for a very long time.

For others might call it the USS Enterprise, but for the foreseeable future, you'll be calling it home.

[OOC: this test drive's open until the next app period.]

Comments

[rivera62truck]

He flashes a smile, deciding to follow her lead and think of it as a joke. Mostly. He can't help reflecting on it a little, and the idea chills him to the core.

"Hey, I'm always up for trying new things, but I prefer to be the one doing the probing, yaknow what I'm sayin'?" he chuckles, running his thumb along his chin. "I tell you what, you watch my ass and I'll, uh, gladly watch yours."

He knows it's a horrible line, but he's hoping she'll appreciate the humor. "One Italian soda, comin' right up."

[pyrrha_pandora]

"I've had my share of probing in my time, but you know, I like to have some say in the matter. And I'm sure they're all lovely people, but aliens aren't really my type."

She's probably not their type either, so it works out. Being from a different time, and not being up on whatever water-cooler conversation topics people have here.

"I'll watch yours, sure. Nothing'll touch you, with me on the job--I fight dirty."

[rivera62truck]

She just got a whole lot more interesting really fast. Franco laughs, storing up the one-liners he can use on her while he heads over to one of the food replicators. He figures they don't keep Italian sodas behind the bar.

"All right," he mutters under his breath, still at a loss over which buttons to press. Someone said these things were voice activated, right? "One Italian soda."

The thing chirps at him. "We have twenty-six varieties of Italian soda on record."

"I don't care," he grumbles. "Surprise me."

Another chirp. "What flavor would you like? There is strawberry, peach, strawberry-banana, orange, orange-mango--"

"Jesus Christ, strawberry, OK?" he snaps. A bottle of strawberry Italian soda materializes. He snaps it up and returns to the bar, hoping this chick didn't catch all that. Time to dial up the charm.

"Would you like a straw, milady?" he grins, holding out a hand. "I'm Franco, by the way."

[pyrrha_pandora]

Hey, she doesn't judge. Especially not after her equally-clumsy attempts to order pizza for breakfast this morning. There's just something really irritating about the tone of that computer voice--sure, it may be supposed to be neutral, but after a few rounds of I don't know the Kelvins, just--just hot, right? Not hot enough to burn my mouth, not too hot to eat, but not cold it starts to sound... patronizing. Like she's being tested, and the computer voice has decided she's incompetent.

Which is more than a person should have to deal with before breakfast.

"I think I'm good without a straw, but thanks. I'm Pyrrha. It's nice to meet you."

[rivera62truck]

"Nice to meet ya, Pyrrha," he says, taking his seat. He wraps his hand around the last half of what passes for a beer in this place, and sets his free hand on his knee, giving off an air of casualness.

"So tell me more about how you fight dirty," he smirks. "Should I be worried?"

[pyrrha_pandora]

"If I got nothing to worry about, you got nothing to worry about," she says. "I'm tall but I'm clumsy, and I got noodle arms, so I try to stay out of trouble--but sometimes, you know, fights happen. Sometimes people push you, and you gotta stand up for yourself. Or they're pushing somebody around who's even less suited to fighting than I am."

She shrugs lightly. "Most of the time, I've found, you just look crazy enough and people back down. They don't know what you might do, and they don't want to risk it. But when they don't back down... I take the advantages I can get."

[rivera62truck]

He laughs.

"Noodle arms, huh? Nah, I think you could take down just about anyone if you set your mind to it. You look scrappy," he smirks. "I already feel better just knowing you're around."

He takes a sip of his beer. "So this whole 'alien' thing is new to you too, huh?"

[pyrrha_pandora]

"I gave a guy a cheese-grater to the face once," she says. "But he totally had it coming, and we were in the kitchen of a pizza place. It was right there."

A bit messy, though. But you take what you can get.

"Yeah, it's... I know people are people everywhere, but this here is a lot to get used to. I used to think I'd seen just about everything, all the time I'd spent on South Street. It didn't prepare me for this."

[rivera62truck]

Welp. That was the wrong moment to take a drink. Franco chokes on his beer, setting the bottle down hard so he can give himself the Heimlich. This is not going to go down as one of his smoothest moments ever.

He coughs so hard that there are tears in his eyes when he faces her again. "Damn, chica. Remind me to never do you wrong."

He holds up his hands in mock surrender. "South Street, Philly?"

[pyrrha_pandora]

"I don't normally do things like that, but when there's no other choice... well, you do what you have to. You okay? I'm sorry. I do that sometimes. Not much of a filter, you know?"

Especially when she's a little nervous. Being in a strange place, meeting new people.

"Yeah, I grew up about an hour north of the city and when I was fourteen I moved to South Philly, and South Street's always great for people-watching. Mostly drunk tourists."