Test Drive #7 - Ten Forward and Captain's Yacht

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprise's off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...





Option 02. The Captain's Yacht: Oooh, you sneaky stowaway! You've found yourself in a very exclusive part of the ship: Captain Picard's personal craft, used for short jaunts when a shuttle just won't do. (One must retain some decorum, after all.) It may not be as large as the Enterprise itself, but there are sure to be some surprises aboard once people start snooping.


[OOC: The Captain's Yacht is located at the very base of the Enterprise's saucer portion, so if you put someone in there you can also play them trying to get back to somewhere they know!]

Comments

[treadswater]

It's the wave which catches Annie's attention first, not the other woman's words, and that makes Annie grin before she can school her face. She'd been thinking about waves, about sails, about how a ship can sail through nothing with just an engine - no water or wind to speak of, no waves to break across the hull.

"Hi," Annie replies, fingers tightening around her glass of lemonade briefly as she makes the grin go away. Not hard to do when she remembers that she should have kept the amusement to herself.

At least she hadn't actually giggled.

"You, uh. You new here, too?" she asks, nodding at Kaylee's clothes. They look normal; work-a-day clothes, nothing as fancy or sleek as a uniform.

[meimeimechanic]

Kaylee doesn't mind the grin. Heck, meant for her or not she's more than happy to grin right back.

"Kinda, this ain't my home but I've been here a while now." Kaylee had quickly found the replicators could make things she wanted them too, replaced a good number of her clothes but not all of them would be the same. The stains of oil and dirt from Serenity would not be replaced. As for the uniforms, she'd have found some way to make them more comfortable for her but thankfully they'd not imposed them on the guests.

"Ship I come from is smaller, her names Serenity. An' I'm Kaylee. My boyfriend," She isn't quite sure if that's the right word for where her and Simon are, but it's the best fit and she likes it. "Simon, he's a doctor, he turned up with me here. What about you? Anyone with you?" Because she doesn't want to think that the girl might be alone.

changes canonpoint because WHY NOT

[treadswater]

The accent is reassuring; nothing put upon, no Capitol girl slumming it with an acceptably slight District-accent (which never really seems to correspond to any actual District accent anyway). So, Annie risks a quick smile back.

"I'm...Annie. And," her eyes want to dart off, double-check Finnick's still there (he is, he is, she trusts that he is alive and whole and not in that cursed arena), but she keeps them on Kaylee, on her glass, on the table. "I'm not alone. My boyfriend's here, too."

It's a small word to describe someone she wants to be with until the stars die, but it's the only one she has. They aren't exactly married.

"You, um. You know ships? Like this one or, uh, normal ones? I mean." Annie winces. "Sailin' on the water ships. They're the ones I grew up with, so they're normal to me."

[meimeimechanic]

Kaylee relaxes a little, knowing that Annie has someone with her. Someone special too, makes it better. "I'm glad." She wouldn't have objected if Annie felt the need to check, sometimes Kaylee felt like just dropping by to see Simon working but she didn't. But she tried to play that down to that she was still getting used to the ship being so big and not being able to bump into him as often as they would before. Or some other excuse.

"Yeah, grew up helpin' my daddy with them, though they were like this one." Kaylee had to stop herself reaching out, she was so used to patting Serenity and being all proud of her girl. "I seen pictures of boats like that but where I grew up was more dirt than water. What are they like?" Kaylee has a look on her face that is an absolute genuine wants to know more.

[treadswater]

Annie blinks at her, and then laughs. An actual laugh, although short-lived, not one of her nervous giggles.

What are they like?

"Never had to describe them before," she admits. "Never really talked to folks who don't know. But, um. All right. I. Grew up with them. My village was on a little island, so we had to use boats to get anywhere. Haven't been on many ships, though. They're a lot bigger. So used to sailing, and row boats. Um. All different kinds? For what's the water like and how far you gotta go. Don't want to row for ages unless you're fishing along the way. Sailing's a bit more complicated, because you have to watch the wind and adjust the sail, and steer it more because you're relying on the wind to get anywhere."

She takes a breath and stops, gaze going to Kaylee's face, then away, then back.

"Um. It's. You're in the sea. It's not all closed off like this is. You get wet from the waves. And you can...taste it. The wind? Not used to...ships where you can't."

[meimeimechanic]

Kaylee sits listening to her every word. It's wonderful. Kaylee wants to go sailing then. Not just seeing a planet from the skies like Bellerophon. She wonders what Simon is going to say when she announces this to him. If he has before. Core planets have lots of things that others don't. Or was he always too busy? Then she has an idea.

"Y'know I bet there's a holodeck proprogram that can sorta... be like that." So maybe not the same as the real thing but it could be a comfort.

"You may not be able to feel the wind but you can feel she's alive." Serenity it was a lot more obvious to tell, bits fell off and there were nouses so you knew. This girl, Kaylee could tell but the Enterprise was an awful lot quieter. Kaylee moved towards the observation window."She ain't as forthcomin' as my girl but you can still tell. I can show you."

[treadswater]

Annie is enchanted for a moment by the idea of a ship within a ship. Like a ship in a bottle, only this time you can walk around on it. A long moment - too long, maybe. Probably too long.

But before she can do more than blink, stutter slightly in her mind, Kaylee is moving on.

Annie gives her a grateful look before it fades into something more genuinely interested.

"I...I'd like that," she says, quietly, getting to her feet. She's not following Kaylee anywhere not in public, not in this room - she isn't that trusting. But to the other side of the room, that should be okay. "Ships, um. My ships and boats. You can hear them? They creak as they move. This place is so quiet."

She can't trust a silent ship. Not even ghost ships are that quiet. Least not the real ones, where the vessel lived while her crew vanished in a lost lifeboat.

[meimeimechanic]

Kaylee wouldn't expect it, certainly not when she's only just met her. Not everyone is like the little mechanic is and goodness knows what has happened to her so, as far as the other side of the room is more than enough right now. If this was Serenity Kaylee would be itching to show her the engine room when she felt like she wanted to, an' that boyfriend of hers would be more than welcome to come along to make sure Annie was safe. But this wasn't and Kaylee wasn't sure she'd be allowed to go poking around the big ships engine room.

"You just gotta learn a new way of listenin' to 'em I reckon." She puts her hand on the bulkhead.

[treadswater]

Annie follows her - not closely, but fairly surely. She risks a glance over her shoulder to where Finnick is, gives him a quick smile, and then goes back to following Kaylee.

"A new way?" she asks once they've paused. Her sea-green eyes focus on Kaylee's, and there's a wariness there that can come from mockery as much as anything else.

But, finally, she nods, and tentatively reaches out to put her own small hand on the bulkhead.

"The...hum?"

[meimeimechanic]

Kaylee nods. "Yup, exactly that." She smiles at Annie then. "Even when everything all slows down so it's like night that will always be there. Doesn't stop. Let's you know she's still okay."

She closes her eyes a moment. "Back on my girl, I had a hammock in the engine room. Best place for a nap. Kinda nice just listening to the familiar noise and drifting off to sleep. Usually gettin' woken up by the Cap'n or Jayne having broken something or just shouting for me to come fix whatever broke." Kaylee opens her eyes with a laugh.

"I better let you get back to your shuài ài rén."