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Topic: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position  (Read 9650 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #25 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @Doc M. , @FollowTomorrow
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As her silver eyes moved from the Chief of the Propulsion Department to her friend, F’Rell once more felt there were some subtleties to the language of most humanoids that were still lost on her. She was certain that his words were that of anger, yet his tone did not seem to reflect such emotion. This incongruity was interesting and F’Rell did consider commenting on it for a moment, however as with many aspects she noted about humanoid speech it was perhaps better to not speak her observations out loud.

“<So be it,>” F’Rell said and inclined her angular head toward the chief. “<I will endeavor to serve your department to the best of my abilities until such a time as I am not longer able to do so.>” Her tone was solemn and respectful. Then, without waiting to see his response, she turned and eased her body out of the office. She kept her form close to the ceiling, maneuvering her long body py alternating gripping and pushing off against the panels that made up the ceiling to give herself momentum. Had she the space she would have swam more freely, but the ship was not built for creatures such as her, so she needed to move in just the right way.

Once she was out of the office she turned to look at Suq. “<It is not yet noon,>” she observed flatly. Turning her head to face him more fully, her silvery eyes gazing down at him. “<What purpose would unconsciousness serve at this hour? Are you not achieving an adequate state of unconsciousness durring your off hours? If so I do believe your next stop should be to the Medical Department to see why this is a problem. Achieving an adequate state of unconsciousness for a number of hours is important to the health of humanoids. It will do little good if you are unhealthy.>”

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #26 –
[ Lt. J.G. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Outside of the Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | USS Theurgy ]

Once they were out, Suq got yet another interrogation. He smiled sheepishly, because she was right, it was only 10 in the morning and he was pining for a nap. Definitely off his schedule. “I haven’t slept in days. And I’m not going to sickbay.”

He held the cup of coffee in his hands from earlier, not wanting to take another sip but knowing if he didn’t keep drinking, he’d probably just collapse on the floor and sleep there. So he forced himself to take a drink and grimaced. Disgusting.
“I--” He coughed, what a nasty nasty taste, “I don’t trust them. Or anything. That holograph—Thea? She could be watching. They could put stuff in me to alter my mind or force me to obey and I’m not having that.” Everything he said was in a quiet voice, as if sharing a secret, and nothing he said was normal for him. He made fun of people who thought like this, and now he thought like this. His hands shook subtly from caffeine and exhaustion and his bloodshot eyes wouldn’t focus on F’rell for longer than a few seconds at a time.

“I just need a nap. A safe nap where nobody will get me, so let’s just nap.”He ended the conversation by shuffling away, without much spark or aggression. He didn’t want to talk anymore about this or the continuance protocol or staffing. All he could think about was laying on F’rell like a giant nitrogen pillow. Not that she’d allow that. Maybe.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #27 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Outside of the Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @FollowTomorrow
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Pausing for a moment F’Rell considered him. Humanoids continued to confuse her. They seemed to act more impulsive and less consciously then even T’Fanrell children did. It was a continuous source of frustration for her, watching them and attempting to understand their motives in any logical way. They seemed to focus on short term survival and ignore long term survival, such short term thinking was not uncommon in her thinking, but it was viewed as significantly immature.

So without asking him, F’Rell moved and with one of her lower appendages grasped Suq’s arm to lead him through the ship toward her cargo bay. Perhaps like her, he had a hard time feeling safe in this new ship, especially given the current worry of parasitic lifeforms nearby.“<Again, you are a foolish child Suq,>” she said admonishingly. “<You must tend to your body and that means resting and achieving a state of unconsciousness for a sufficient duration.>” Her translator made her tone clear, though she was scolding him, there was a note of nurturing concern.

“<You will come with me to my cargo bay and we will use the replicator there to get you what you need to achieve this state and then you will do so.>” Now that was the tone a mother would command a child with, nurturing, yet not to be trifled with. “<I will watch over you while you do so.>”

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #28 –
[ Lt. J.G. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Outside of the Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | USS Theurgy ]

Even if he was not exhausted, running on autopilot just to function, Suq would have allowed F’rell to lead him wherever she liked. The rare chance to have contact with the T’Fanrell was only part of his unwillingness to resist. More than anything, he just trusted that whatever she would do with him would not hurt him.

It was everything else he worried about. The ship, Thea, BB, the continuance protocol, his crew...his mind was filled up to the brim and overflowing. The coffee didn’t help. Speaking of, as he and F’rell were on their way to the cargo bay, he held his arm out and placed the cup of coffee on some poor crewman’s stack of things. That cup was hers now. Suq never wanted to see it again.

“How do I know you’re not going to get hurt?” He asked, though he knew. He slept so light these days, he’d probably bolt awake if F’rell even so much as farted. He was almost too exhausted to care about her answer. In fact, he was too exhausted, he decided. "You're not gonna get hurt," He decided, "just give me a pillow. Spirits be, I'm tired." And so he'd follow her to the cargo bay, for a nap of comfortable proportions. He hoped.

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #29 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Corridor - Cargo Bay | USS Theurgy ] attn: @FollowTomorrow
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The journey to her cargo bay was not a long one, though F'Rell took her time. She was capable of great speeds if she chose to be fast, but instead she was more interested in letting Suq keep up with her. She held him by the arm and led him as a parent would lead a child. His questions only showed how worried and distressed he was. She could not hold him at fault for feeling that way. The crew of the Resolve had expected to come home to open arms and warm beds, to family and friends. Instead, they had only gotten swept up into another troubled voyage, this one without any clear end goal.

For F'Rell things were different, she was a stranger in a strange land no matter where she was. It made little difference if she was on the Resolve, some starbase, or now the Theurgy. She could not go home, she could only make the place that she was more comfortable for herself. In some ways, she was more grateful to be on the Theurgy as at the very least it meant she was among the people she knew, friends whom she had already been through a troubled time with and survived.

So she would protect them, tend to them. Especially tending to Suq, whom she had in some ways come to adopt and take on the role of a caretaker of.

When they reached her cargo bay she released Suq and moved to the industrial replicator. She quickly keyed in a command and within seconds a number of pillows of various shapes and sizes formed on the pad. She turned her attention to Suq and inclined her head.

"<Hopefully these will serve your purpose well,>" she intoned gently as she gestured to the pile of pillows now taking up much of the industrial replicators pad. By far it was more than sufficient, but F'Rell did not use the replicator for much and likely no one would mind her creating a large number of pillows. "<Do you require anything else?>"

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #30 –
[ Lt. J.G. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Definitely not a Bedroom| Cargo Bay | USS Theurgy ]

The Efrosian paid no attention to the journey there. He probably should have, but as soon as F’rell had him in her squishy grip, he didn’t feel the need to. His eyes checked every doorway on the way there though. Checking every hallway, making note of jeffries tubes, niches, ways to get out…

When he got to the cargo bay, in some ways he felt safer. It may be more open, but he was a small man and could take cover under most everything in the room. F’rell, on the other hand...his mind tried to keep worrying about her, but he shut it down. For a moment, he had full permission to quit fussing over his people. By the time F’rell had brought him to the industrial replicator, he realized his hand had come to grip her tendril, like holding another hand. He was reluctant to let it go.

He watched her operate the machine with such fluency that he was jealous. He’d spent a lot of time with industrial replicators, and she could still hit the console keys faster than he ever could. In no time, there were pillows galore. Clearly a misuse of engineering’s resources, and also clearly something he couldn’t give a crap about right now. He grumbled at F’rell, walked to the industrial replicator’s pad, and allowed his legs to just give out under him. His body hit the pillows, and then he ceased to move.

His eyes were closed, but he did not find sleep immediately. He curled up small and covered his body with one pillow. He’d rest, but sleep would not come to him just yet. Like being so thirsty, with a cup of water in front of you, but you just can’t.
“F’rell?” He started, but never finished. He shot the idea down before he could even put it into words. No need to put that on her.
“G’night.”

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #31 –
[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Cargo Bay | USS Theurgy ] attn: @FollowTomorrow
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As he made himself comfortable in the pile of pillows, F'Rell tapped in a few commands into her tricorder and the lighting of the room began to lower. She was aware that the majority of humanoids preferred to sleep at night and thus preferred to sleep in darkened areas. The vents clicked on and began to slowly drop the temperature by several degrees to better synthesize night for him. 

Then in a swift movement, she coiled her long body around the pile of pillows, her body wrapping protectively around where he lay.

"<Sleep now, Suq, do not fret of anything beyond here and now,>" she said gently reaching out an appendage and turning off the industrial replicator. She could not help but think of her children, of the nights when they could not rest because of imagined fears, monsters within their imagination making rest impossible. Though they would one day outgrow the need for hours of rest, while they were still young their bodies needed some rest. So in those moments, when they could not, she would hold them close and comfort them by singing the songs her mother would sing to her and that had passed that way down the generations.

Quietly F'Rell turned off the translator of her tricorder. Gently, softly her tendrils began to vibrate. The sound cause vibrations to move through the pillows and into Suq. They were not loud, but rather formed a rhythm, almost like a humming or droning, accented by a melody. The words, if they could be considered words while the translator was turned off, were lost within the melody and droning sound.

Though to some it might have made them uneasy, F'Rell did hope that it would help Suq relax, that she would be at least able to provide him with that comfort, if only for a little while.
 

Re: Day 03 [1000 hrs.] Engineering a Position

Reply #32 –
[ Lt. J.G. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Well we made it into a bedroom now | Cargo Bay | USS Theurgy ]   

He expected that F’rell would leave. After all, she was a creature who didn’t need pillows or naps or hugs or comfort the way Suq did. He was a humanoid and she was above such humanoid things, sometimes very literally.

   And yet, here he was. Buried under a cocoon of pillows. F’rell laid atop them, around him. She’d turned off the lights and made the immediate area feel more like nighttime, to suit his (supposedly) diurnal schedule. On top of that, she was...singing? It was ‘singing’ in the way Efrosian speech was ‘singing’. It was weird, but just familiar enough to soothe him. All this for him, though. All this to make him feel safe. He couldn’t promise her nor himself that he’d sleep well because of it, but it’d make trying far more pleasant.

   He reached his arm out from the mound of pillows. His hand gently wrapped around one of her tendrils.
“I’ll try.” He mumbled, as his body relaxed. He was protected, safe. The only horrors that could get him now lay somewhere in a locked part of his mind. If he was lucky, his sleep would be dreamless...

He tried not to worry about it, for once.

- FIN
 
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