Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

Topic: Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions (Read 5671 times) previous topic - next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

August 24, 2019, 05:01:02 AM

Scruffy groaned and rolled over him his bed the chime of his alarm sounded, alerting Scruffy that it was time to wake up and prepare for his duty shift. He pulled his pillow over his head, hoping to fend off the hellish chiming and everything that it represented. Sadly, Starfleet seemed to have anticipated his reluctance to heed the call of the chime, and had thus designed their stand issue pillows to be thin enough not to block the noise. Scruffy rolled onto his side, turning his back to the chime and pulling the pillow tighter around his head, though it proved to be a fruitless endeavour. The chime continued it’s quiet assault on his hopes of slumber, and would not be ignored.

Finally, accepting that he had no choice but to offer an unconditional surrender, Scruffy rolled back towards the edge of the bed, one hand still holding the pillow over his face while the other fumbled blindly for the control panel that would silence the hellish nell which had foretold the death of his slumber.

”Fuck mornings…” Scruffy murmured through the pillow, groaning again and rolling onto his back. He forced himself up into a sitting position, the pillow falling away from his face to reveal an unshaved face with one eye firmly closed, the other having cracked open just a bit to survey the horrible landscape of the waking world.

”Computer. Lights. Low.”

The single open eyes winced as the light sprung to life, basking the waking landscape of Scruffy’s room in feint light. He sat where he was for a long moment, his single open eye taking in the doors of the lockers set into the far wall, as well as the barren shelves. Scruffy sleepily turned his head, taking in the doors to the common area of his NCO quarters, as well as the empty wall which practically pleaded for the addition of decoration. As he surveyed the unadorned room, Scruffy worked his mouth, smacking his lips and using his tongue to push free the errant hair that had worked their way into his mouth as he slept. Finally accepting the fact that he had to get up, Scruffy scooted to the edge of the bed, and swung his legs over the precipice and pushed himself upwards.

Unfortunately, Scruffy’s thrashing and rolling throughout his attempts to deny the waking world had tangled the bedsheets around his legs. As he had swung them off the bed, the pillow had fallen to the floor, and the combination of the tripping hazard of the pillow and the restraints of the bedsheets proved near-fatal to the groggy engineer, who found himself bound, tripped and crashing, arms flailing, to the floor of his room with a resounding thud. The remainder of the sheets, apparently intent on adding to the downed engineer’s humiliation, slid off the bed and pooled on top of him, leaving only a leg and a pair of splayed arms visible, protruding from beneath the heap.

”Fuuuuuck…” Came a muffled groan as the heap of linens stirred and writhed, finally receding to reveal Scruffy’s head, still with only one eye open to the world around him.

Emitting some barely audible grumbles, Scruffy freed himself form the murderous bed linens and forced himself to his feet. Once upright, he stood a long moment, swaying sleepily before taking an unsteady step forward. He made for the doors to the common area, though his single, barely-opened eye made for poor depth perception, and as the doors to the common area hissed open Scruffy walked into the doorframe, bouncing off the offending wall and stumbling two steps to the side before catching himself and stepping into the common area.

He made a bee line for the replicator, his steps jerky and uneven like those of a newborn, and nearly ran into the wall in which the replicator was set, raising his hands in front of him to brace himself just in time.

”Coffee…” Scruffy murmured to the machine, his tone pleading. ”Hot…”

He allowed his eye to close as he listened to the whirring noise of the replicator, the delightfully seductive scent of coffee filling his nose as the whirring faded. Cracking his right eye open once more, Scruffy reached out and seized the steaming mug in both hands, looking almost akin to a drowning person grasping for a life preserver, before raising the mug to his lips and taking long desperate sip.

”Ahhh…” Scruffy sighed, pivoting in place and leaning his back against the wall before taking another long, noisy draw of the dark, bitter caffeination. After third sip, he lowered the cup from his face and attempted to open his other eye, the eyelid finally obeying after a moment of twitching refusal.

It was then that Scruffy saw the other man in the room, sitting on the couch set against the wall opposite the one Scruffy was currently using to prop himself upright.

”Huh?” Scruffy grunted, his eyes peering blearily at the rooms other occupant, still trying to bring themselves into focus. ”Oh… uh…” Scruffy had arrived at his new quarters late last night, and had seen nobody upon entering. It hadn't occurred to him in his tired state the previous night, nor the zombie-like state of that morning, that there might be another occupant of the room. Now, glancing down at himself, the realization dawning that he had not dressed before emerging form his room, and that he was, in fact, standing in the common area wearing nothing but a tight pair of black boxer-briefs, clutching a mug of coffee as though it was going to save his life. He raised his gaze, staring blearily at the Asian fellow regarding him from the couch. ”Hey man… uh… I’m Scruffy…”

NCO Quarters:
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #1 – August 25, 2019, 11:58:33 PM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

It had been a comically long day, all things considered. Everything Morgan had touched — heck, everything he’d looked at — had instantly broken or malfunctioned or caused some kind of terrible disaster somewhere and then needed an hour or so to be painstakingly fixed. By the time his shift ended Morgan was exhausted and miserable, covered in oil and sweat, and with a large stain on his shirt that he didn’t recognise and had no memory of acquiring. All in all, when he finally made it back to his quarters it was all he could do to take a quick water shower and fall head-first into bed, ready for a long and deep sleep.

But of course, that would’ve been too easy.

Three hours of tossing and turning later, Morgan finally admitted defeat to his insomnia. His body clock had been up the spout ever since coming out of stasis, and it seemed no matter what he did sleep refused to come. Even after thoroughly tiring himself out on every last maintenance problem the Theurgy could ever feasibly have, he still found himself staring at the ceiling in sullen silence, and there was only so much of that he could take before he went crazy.

So, up he got, and padded back into the common area of his quarters. He had the suite to himself, no one else having been assigned to the rooms with him, so it was basically just his personal living room. Perfect for nights like this.

He replicated himself a midnight feast of scrambled eggs and decaf tea, not for the first time frustrated his quarters weren’t equipped to allow him to cook. There just wasn’t enough space. When he’d had insomnia before, the ritual of preparing food had always helped him wind down. He couldn’t cook here, but he could at least keep to part of his old practice.

Retreating to the sofa with his food, Morgan settled in for a long night of reading before what would undoubtedly be an even longer day tomorrow.

He woke suddenly, startled by a sound and groggy with confusion. Where— The sofa. He’d fallen asleep? Must’ve. In a stupid position, according to the crick in his neck. What woke him? A glance at the computer display told him his shift wasn’t due for several hours; not his alarm, then. He kept still in the darkness, listening. Had he imagined it? Just been woken by a shift in air currents? He’d become such a light sleeper…

A muffled thump from the next room. Okay, he hadn’t imagined it then. Was there someone else in his quarters?

The door to the empty bedroom hissed open, and Morgan was caught, rabbit in the headlights, halfway between standing and sitting. The lights came up but only dimly, and Morgan could only just make out the outline of a figure shuffling out of the other bedroom. The person shambled to the replicator without even glancing in Morgan’s direction, seeming to misjudge the distance and almost whacking themselves on the wall.

‘Coffee,’ they groaned — a man’s voice? — like some old-world zombie.

Morgan was still too groggy to think straight; he rubbed a hand over his face and tried to sit up straighter, almost ending up with a lap full of cold, gelatinous eggs in the process. Having rescued the plate and put it safely on the coffee table, Morgan squinted back over at the man currently slurping at a mug of coffee and leaning against the wall, apparently half-asleep. And less than half-dressed, he realised; honestly the guy was almost naked, wearing only the tiniest pair of— Okay, Morgan needed to look somewhere else, those things did not leave much to the imagination.

He met the man’s gaze almost by accident; ah, he’d finally noticed Morgan. He was suddenly aware of the pile of detritus from his midnight feast strewn on the coffee table, and his own relative state of undress — he was in his usual checked pyjama bottoms, but he never wore a shirt to bed.

Luckily his new roommate (he had to assume that was who the man was, rather than a very confused burglar) was in no position to judge; actually, he seemed to be coming to much the same realisation as Morgan, blearily squinting across the room at him.

‘Er, hey,’ Morgan said slowly, the surrealness of the situation catching up to him. ‘I’m… Morgan. Are you… staying here, then?’

A sudden, mortifying thought occurred to him: had the man been here the whole time, all of the last few days, and Morgan had just somehow not noticed? Had they been coming and going at exactly the right times to miss each other, like in some old sitcom? Goodness, surely they would've bumped into each other by now...

Now he could get a proper look at the man — the top third of the man, at least, Morgan was working very hard to keep his eyes above chest-level — he was relieved to see it wasn’t anyone he recognised. He hadn’t fancied unknowingly sharing a room with the person who shot him, accident or no. But this guy, Scruffy, he was a clean slate. Or, well. A clean slate whose first impression was whatever this was supposed to be.

Still, he’d take what he could get.

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #2 – August 26, 2019, 10:24:12 PM

Scruffy finally managed to study the other occupant of the common area of their quarters after what seemed like a lifetime of trying to get his eyes to focus properly, though in truth it took only a few more moments before he managed to force his eyes to obey. The Engineer remained where he stood as he raised his mug and took a long, noisy sip, regarding the other man with a lazy, not to mention extremely sleepy, gaze.

The man was wearing only a pair of pajama pants, though as Scruffy thought for a moment, he concluded that, outfitted as he presently was, he was in no position to judge. Though he was seated, Scruffy could tell that the man was quite tall, with a lean yet fit frame. Scruffy hid an amused smile behind his mug as he watched the other man’s expression. Scruffy could see the fellow’s eyes seem to jump around, apparently unable to settle on a point of focus, and Scruffy wondered for a moment if the poor dude had some sort of neurological disorder. At the same time the poor guy seemed uncertain and surprised, though again, Scruffy could relate to how the other man felt; he felt the same way. He hadn’t realized there was another occupant in the quarters when he’d arrived, and he was now glad that he hadn’t wandered into the wrong room when he’s groggily stumbled into the quarters.

Scruffy had become lost in his thoughts for a moment and his eyes, which had apparently opted to exploit the moment’s weakness, began to drift closed again. Rather impressively, Scruffy remained upright, the cup of coffee still held in his hand as he began to drift off, though he started awake as the room’s other occupant finally spoke. The fellow introduced himself as Morgan, and asked Scruffy is he was staying there.

”Uh, yeah, I got assigned to these quarters yesterday.” Scruffy murmured, looking at Morgan over the rim of his mug with his right eyes fully open, and his left eyelid once again opting to rise only halfway. ”I, uh… didn’t know anyone else was staying here.” Scruffy admitted, lowering his mug away from his face and giving Morgan grin which looked both amused and dopily half-asleep. ”Good thing I didn’t wander into your room! I was so bagged when I got back, I probably woulda crawled into bed with you without even realizing it!” Scruffy chuckled, shaking his head slightly. While the other man might take the comment as a joke, Scruffy truly might have done it. He was not known for being the most alert of individuals when he was tired. Though, given the extreme level of poise and grace with which Scruffy had made his entrance into the common area just moments before, he supposed Morgan might have figured that out for himself.

Scruffy pushed himself away from the wall, padding across the floor on bare feet and placing his mug on the coffee table, the steaming vessel taking up one of the few empty spots amid the chaotic assortment of plates which Morgan had generated. The mug deposited safely, a feat which Scruffy was rather proud of given his lack of coordination without caffeine, though he supposed those few sips of coffee might have been working their magic, Scruffy allowed himself to flop down onto the couch. He angled himself so that he faced both Morgan and his coffee equally, resting his back against the couch’s armrest. ”So, uh, nice to meet you, rooooomeEEeeee!”

Scruffy had intended to say “roomie”, but a rather malicious yawn had assailed him just as he attempted to put voice to the word, contorting the word’s sound just as much as it did his face. His eyes scrunched up, giving him an expression that might have been either pained or confused, depending on how you were looking at him, and his jaw jutted forward and shifted sideways, his mouth open wide as the last syllable of the word was drawn out and expelled along with a heavy exhalation. ”My bad, man. I’m not really a morning person.” Scruffy said by way of apology for the yawn. ”I’m useless without my coffee.” He explained, giving Morgan a sleepy grin. The grin faded slightly as he added, ”though, if you as Commander Tiran, she’d probably tell you I’m useless with the coffee too…”

Scruffy shook his head, clearing the mixture of pleasant and horrific thoughts of Blue Tiran from his head as he turned his attention back to Morgan. ”So dude, what department are you in?” He asked, leaning forward to pick up his mug and take a sip of coffee. He paused with the mug poised just in front of his lips as he gave Morgan a grin and added ”The checkered jammies aren’t much of a hint.” Scruffy chuckled again and gave Morgan a sleepy wink before taking a rather noisy slurp of the bitter liquid which he prayed would revive him and bring him soundly back into the world of the waking.

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #3 – September 01, 2019, 02:36:27 PM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

The man seemed completely out of it, although whether that was because he was still half asleep or because he was… something else, Morgan couldn’t tell. One of his sister Kitty’s friends had, er, dabbled, recreationally, and she’d had the same kind of hazy expression a lot of the time. She’d been funny and chill, but usually not quite all there.

He idly wondered if his new roomie hadn’t replicated himself something other than coffee before going to bed last night. Could you jimmy a Starfleet replicator to do that?

Then again, maybe Scruffy was really just knackered -- for a moment it almost looked like he fell asleep, propped against the wall. He started to lean slightly to one side but seemed to wake and right himself before he could pour coffee all over himself. It was like watching a natural disaster in slow-motion.

At least the man had only just been assigned here, that was a relief. Morgan offered a sheepish smile: ‘Me neither. I guess we both missed that memo.’ The thought of a half-asleep Scruffy crawling into bed beside him almost made him blush -- eyes above waist-level, Song. He tried to laugh it off, but it probably came out strained. For all his weirdness, Scruffy was kind of cute, and Morgan was chronically awkward. Never mind that if Scruffy had tried to get into bed with him, Morgan would’ve probably just squealed in surprise and leapt out of bed like ants were after him.

Thankfully, Scruffy took that opportunity to move from his vantage point and come sit down on the couch, searching for a space to put down his mug on the coffee table.

‘Oh, no, sorry,’ Morgan said, scrambling to clear his mess. ‘I, er, couldn’t sleep,’ he explained, lamely. He was going to have to be tidier now he wasn’t living alone. Not that he expected someone with a name like ‘Scruffy’ and apparently no clothes to be a neat freak, but still. He piled up the plates and dumped them on the floor beside him before sitting back and taking a swig of his tea. His cold tea. He pulled a face; okay, that mug was going on the floor too.

With his little empire of crockery safely deposited by his feet, he shifted slightly to get a better view of Scruffy beside him. His name certainly suited him, with his wild hair and unruly beard, and with his sharp face and wiry build he kind of reminded Morgan of a dandelion clock. He was also, Morgan realised, sat pretty close. The couch wasn’t very big, and in all Morgan’s moving around to clear the coffee table he must’ve gotten even closer to the guy. He suddenly noticed their knees were almost touching, and scooted away slightly to give them more space, inwardly cursing himself. Goodness, he was still half-asleep, he wasn’t thinking straight. Clearly. Straight.

He rubbed a hand over his face and hoped his brain would come online.

Scruffy started to say something, but halfway through got accosted by an enormous yawn -- a yawn which jumped contagiously to Morgan, and sent him yawning into his own hand.

‘You too,’ he said in response to what he thought Scruffy had been saying, although his own words were probably also lost inside a yawn of his own. Goodness, how much sleep had he gotten last night? Not enough.

Once they were both done with their yawning fit, he gave the man a sleepy grin. ‘I was getting that impression, yeah.’ It seemed he was more awake than Scruffy, but that wasn’t much of a feat -- as proved by how long it took him to place the name ‘Tiran’. He knew he recognised it, but why?

‘Oh! The new Chief Engineer?’ he asked, stupidly. ‘Do you know her?’ His sleep-deprived brain took a second to put it together. ‘You’re from the Endeavour?’ He looked at the man more curiously now -- he'd heard all sorts of stories about the refugees they picked up from that ship, and the survivors from the Versant. Scruffy looked human enough to him; he didn't want to be rude and pry.

Scruffy’s reminder of Morgan’s state of undress -- accompanied by a wink, of all things -- sent him ducking his head in embarrassment. ‘Er, yeah, sorry, I didn’t think anyone else was here,’ he mumbled. He was glad to change the subject quickly: ‘I’m in Engineering. Maintenance. And you?’

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #4 – September 05, 2019, 09:49:01 PM

Morgan had let out a laugh as Scruffy had joked about crawling into bed with him by mistake, though the laughter seemed strained. Scruffy wondered if perhaps the man was shy and awkward, or if he had some sort of issue with personal space. He was certainly looking at Scruffy in an odd manner, his eyes still darting somewhat.

Scruffy thought that perhaps is was a matter of being shy as Morgan scrambled about, attempting to tidy up the table despite the fact that Scruffy’s mug had plenty of room in it’s little clear patch amid the chaos. Not that it sat there long before Scruffy took it back up, taking another sip as the other fellow frantically tidied the chaos which had taken over the coffee table. Morgan paused in the act of stacking the various plates and dishes on the floor to take a drink form a mug. After pulling a rather unhappy face, he banished the mug to the floor as well. That done, he seemed to study Scruffy for a long moment, with the shaggy, mostly naked newcomer simply staring back over the rim of his coffee mug. Scruffy stared blankly at Morgan as the man suddenly jolted, scooting further away from him on the couch. Scruffy blinked lazily as he watched the man’s sudden movement, and wondered if he was in need of a shower. He’d meant to grab one last night when he’d gotten back to his quarters, their quarters, but had been too tired and had instead opted to simply strip, flop onto the bed and drag the covers over him. He had been out in moments. Now, Scruffy fought the urge to raise and arm and give himself a sniff, thinking that it might not make for the best first impression with his new roommate.

First impressions were important, after all.

Scruffy leaned back against the couch and brought his right leg up, resting the ankle on his left knee and letting out a soft, relaxed sigh as he watched Morgan scrub his hands over his face.

Morgan quickly mirrored him as Scruffy had let out his rather expansive yawn. The things really were contagious, and Scruffy yawned more often than most. People would often grumble at him to stop, though it wasn’t as though he was doing it by choice.

Scruffy flinched behind his mug as Morgan asked if Scruffy knew the Theurgy’s new Chief Engineer, the reminder of his dealings with Blue Tiran the previous day fresh in his mind. ”I, uh… yeah… I guess you could say that…” Scruffy murmured before taking a long sip of his coffee. ”I served under her aboard the Gettysburg. She, uh… wasn’t my biggest fan…” Scruffy had considered using the terms loathed or despised, though he still held out a glimmer of hope that somewhere, hidden deep down inside, deep, deep down, Blue Tiran secretly liked him. When Morgan asked if he was from the Endeavour, Scruffy shook his head. ”Not the Endeavour, no. I’m from the BelleeEEEeeeee…” Scruffy paused as another yawn forced it’s way past his jaws, his jaw muscles creaking as they were stretched wide by the involuntary action, ”…erophon.” Scruffy gave Morgan an apologetic smile and took a long swig of his coffee. ”I spent the last year aboard her…” Scruffy trailed off as he realized he’d been about to make mention of their pursuit of the Theurgy, though he’d clued in to the fact that Morgan was a member of the Theurgy’s crew just in time. Perhaps it would be best not to make mention of that to the seemingly skittish fellow.

When Scruffy had teased Morgan about his pajamas, giving the mana wink, Morgan had responded with an awkward duck of the head, mumbling an apology before answering Scruffy’s question about his department. Apparently the other man was a fellow engineer, more specifically a Maintenance engineer. Scruffy grinned at the news. ”Don’t apologize, dude. The ‘jammies look comfy!” Scruffy teased with a grin, his eyes travellign down to the pajama bottoms the man wore, then back up over Morgan’s torso, making no attempt to hide his momentary indulgence. It wasn’t that Scruffy meant to be obvious about his inspection of the fellow’s physique, but rather that the idea of attempting discretion never occurred to his caffeine-lacking mind. ”I’m technically a Systems engineer, though I’ve spent most of the past months working as a Maintenance engineer, since you lot kept fucking the Belle up pretty good.” Scruffy’s eyes widened as he realized what he’d said. ”Fuck, I mean… uh…”

So much for not mentioning that…

”Sorry, man. I, uh…” Scruffy reached up with his free hand and absently scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. ”I guess that wasn’t the best way of phrasing that, huh? Given that we were on opposite sides and all…” Scruffy gave the other man a sheepish grin. ”My bad, man.” Scruffy paused, letting his hand fall back to his lap during the moment’s silence.

”So, uh, what else you got, roomie?” Scruffy asked, hoping to change the subject. ”What do you like to do besides sleeping on the couch and eating a weeks worth of replicator rations?” Scruffy chuckled as his own lame joke, flicking his foot forward to nudge the other man’s knee playfully. Morgan seemed the skittish type, after all, so perhaps lightening the mood would let his new roommate relax a little.

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #5 – September 06, 2019, 12:01:20 AM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

Morgan could tell Scruffy was watching him, could feel the man judging him, his eyes roaming lazily, sleepily. Goodness, Morgan was such a mess this morning (he was such a mess most mornings, but most mornings he didn’t also wake to find a new roommate standing in front of him). Half-dressed, stiff from sleeping on the couch, surrounded by dirty dishes and cold tea… Yeah, great way to introduce yourself to your new roommate, idiot.

He was really very tired.

At least Scruffy didn’t seem the judgemental type. Morgan snuck glances at him so as not to stare, and the guy seemed relaxed, spread out on the couch as he was. That is, until Morgan asked about Commander Tiran; then Scruffy became almost tense, explaining that his relationship with the woman had been less than stellar.

Morgan caught the meaning behind the man’s words and grimaced. ‘Sorry, that must’ve been rough.’ He’d been lucky — all of his superiors had been pretty decent. He hoped Chief Tiran wouldn’t ruin that streak. He wouldn’t have much contact with her, but now he was a Chief himself (a much, much lower kind), he’d likely run into the Commander more often than he would’ve before.

‘What’s she like?’ he asked, curiosity getting the better of him. ‘No worries if it’s like a sore subject.’ Better to go in with your eyes open, right?

He was surprised to hear that Scruffy was from an entirely different ship. Goodness, they really had adopted so many new crews, no wonder he hardly recognised anyone anymore. The Bellerophon, that was… Oh. Oh. That one.

It’d been his first battle since waking from stasis, and he’d spent most of it fighting a plasma leak — and not fighting boarders when they beamed across. After the fight, it’d taken him a while to even learn what had happened to Commander Trent; he hadn’t found out about the Bellerophon until much, much later.

Scruffy trailed off awkwardly, and they sat in a weird kind of silence for a moment, neither of them really wanting to touch the subject. Morgan felt like he should say something, but ‘sorry we destroyed your ship and killed almost everyone on board’ felt, y’know, a bit rubbish really. Considering everything.

He hadn’t come up with anything better by the time Scruffy spoke up again, changing the subject to their department. He felt the man looking at him again and suddenly became very interested in the material of his pyjamas. There was a loose thread on the left knee; he fought the urge to tug at it. He only looked back up as Scruffy began talking again, explaining he was kind of both a Systems and Maintenance engineer lately.

And then Scruffy mentioned the thing they’d both been avoiding, and his eyes widened as he realised what he’d done, and Morgan saw the man become awkward for the very first time. It was so jarring to see embarrassment on the man’s face Morgan was almost surprised into laughter; awkwardness suited Scruffy about as well as confidence suited Morgan, which was to say, not at all.

‘I think actually it was our bad,’ he said, his brazenness surprising even him. ‘Er, I mean… I guess, it’s water under the bridge for me. I mean, I’ve only just gotten out of stasis, I wasn’t awake for most of… I mean. I’m not really.. If it doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t bother me.’

What on earth had that been, what on earth had he been thinking, ‘I’m sorry’ would’ve been better! It would’ve been fine! Instead he went for whatever that was meant to be.

He wanted to drown himself in his cold tea.

Thankfully, Scruffy changed the subject again. Heavens, at least they’d both been awkward for once. Morgan had been starting to think he had a monopoly on it.

He was starting to get the hang of Scruffy’s teasing, so even though he was on edge after his frankly horrifying display earlier Morgan managed not to do anything weird when Scruffy nudged him.

‘I, er, I like to read?’ It came out as a question, so he tried to be more assertive with his next statement. ‘And cook. I cook. Sometimes.’ Well, he’d started out strong at least, even if he had ruined it at the end. ‘Er, how about you?’

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #6 – September 06, 2019, 04:47:58 AM

Scruffy was assailed by yet another yawn just as Morgan uttered his apology in regards to Scruffy’s experiences with Commander Tiran, the shaggy man’s jaw creaking from the loud groan which accompanied the forced exhalation. The yawn lingered, and all Scruffy could do was wave a hand back and forth to dismiss the other man’s apology as unnecessary. The yawn finally ended as Morgan asked what Tiran was like, adding that if was ok if he didn’t want to talk about it if it was a sore subject. Scruffy chuckled and shook his head, giving Morgan an amused glance. ”Nah, it’s fine, man! I mean, dude, it’s not like she beat me or sexually harassed me or anything!”

That second part didn’t sound so bad… Scruffy thought to himself, staring off into space for a brief moment before shaking himself back to his senses, looking much as a dog would as it shook water from it’s coat. The lackadaisical engineer pushed himself up off the couch, the movement seeming to take a great deal more effort than it really ought to, and began trudging warily back towards the replicator. He paused halfway to the replicator, turning and glancing back at Morgan. ”I’m gonna need more coffee, man,” he informed his roommate, raising both hands and pointing the index fingers of either hand at Morgan, ”you want?”

Once Morgan hand answered, Scruffy had continued his arduous journey to the far wall and leaned lazily against the bulkhead next to the replicator as he waited for the order to materialize. After a moment of waiting, Scruffy clued in that he had not yet placed the order. Scrubbing a hand up over his face and through his wild hair, he murmured a quiet ”Oh, right…” and glanced over at Morgan with an amused expression, peppered with a hint of embarrassment, and turned back to the replicator, ordering the drinks. Once the drinks had shimmered into existence, Scruffy took the mugs in hand and began the return journey back to the couch, placing the pair of mugs on the coffee table to the sound of crunching crumbs, the last remnants of Morgan’s midnight feasting. The mugs safely deposited on the table, Scruffy flopped unceremoniously back down onto the couch, grinning over at Morgan. ”What were we talking about?” Scruffy stared blankly at Morgan for a moment, blinking several times in slow succession before the subject of their previous conversation came to him. ”Oh, right. Tiran.” His brain having finally regained it’s place in the progression of their conversation, Scruffy leaned forward and retrieved his mug from the table. He raised the mug up before his face, closing his eyes as he inhaled the sweet aroma of the bitter beverage before reverently taking a long, lazy and rather noisy sip, finishing the sampling of the new mugful with an equally loud and lazy sigh. ”Oh man, that’s good…”

Opening is eyes, he glanced back at Morgan. ”Oh, right, uh…” Scruffy hesitated for a moment, then remembered where he had left off, not wanting to admit to his new roommate that he had once again forgotten what they were talking about. ”Blue Tiran is, in my experience, both beautiful and competent as an engineer.” Scruffy grinned at Morgan, letting the words sink in for a moment before adding ”She’s also fucking terrifying!” Scruffy’s eyes had gone wide, the grin melting from his face ass he spoke the words. ”It might just be me, but dude, seriously, I swear the woman is evil. She once made me go through and entire Jefferies tube with an old school screwdriver and a bucket of screws, replacing every fucking screw. No reason, no explanation, just out of spite.” Scruffy looked down into his steaming mug, remembering the sadistic look of glee which had crossed Blue’s features as she had doled out his assignment. ”She’s brilliant with the engines, but… well… she’s not such a people person, you know what I mean?”

Scruffy sipped from his mug, sighing contentedly before he continued. ”Yesterday when she saw me, she said it was an amazing thing, though I don’t think she meant it in a good way…” Scruffy stared into his mug for a long moment, a snippet of memory of the previous day’s conversation playing through his head.

Quote

Blue rolled her eyes. "Have a seat." she pointed to Scruffy. "So tell me Lazy, I haven't seen you in years and suddenly you're on my deck. So I'm trying to figure out what fresh fuck magic or what fucking voodoo priestess I fucking pissed off to make this amazing thing happen."

”Yeah, she definitely wasn’t happy…”” Scruffy concluded once the memory had finished it’s mental playback. He glanced over at Morgan, eyes wide and full of worry. ”Dude, if they find me floating out in the vacuum, it was probably her. I just want someone to know…” Scruffy shivered visibly for a moment, the fear of both Tiran and the terror of the cold vacuum of space weighing heavily on him for the briefest of moments before he managed to shake it off.

Scruffy glanced back down at his mug, staring into the dark depths of the coffee for a moment before taking a deep gulp, his eyes bulging as the steaming liquid burned his whole mouth. He swallowed the liquid on instinct and reflected, not for the first time, how stupid it was that the Human body would reflexively swallow liquid that had already scalded the interior of the body’s mouth. Coughing and gasping the word ”Hot!” several times, Scruffy finally recovered enough to look back at Morgan, all signs of worry having vanished from his face ”Anyway, I’m sure you’ll be fine, man. Blue isn’t all that bad once you get used to her.”

And learn to hide or run for your life… He mentally added, though didn’t put voice to the addition. No need to worry the seemingly skittish Morgan any more than he already seemed to have.

The conversation moved on, the awkwardness of their respective crews trying to kill each other weighing down the tone of the conversation before it eventually moved on to Morgans pastimes, aside from the previously mentioned midnight snacking. Or midnight feast, judging by the multitude of dishes he had accrued. Morgan informed him that he liked to read, although the guy didn’t sound overly certain as he said it, leaving Scruffy wondering if he really enjoyed the activity. As Morgan added that he liked to cook, he’d initially sounded more certain, though the added ”sometimes” took some of the force out of the statement. Morgan seemed hesitant as he asked what Scruffy liked to do.

”Me? I read, I do yoga, I play music a bit…” Scruffy paused, looking up at Morgan with an almost surprised look. ”Though I guess I need to replicate new instruments, now. And a yoga mat…” Scruffy glanced down at himself, seeming to only just realize that he was, in fact, practically naked. ”Oh… yeah… and clothes.” Scruffy glanced up at Morgan, a goofy grin plastered across his features. ”I’ve been pretty much naked this whole time, huh? My bad, man!” Scruffy followed the apology up with another long sip of coffee, his eyes holding an innocent expression while remaining on Morgan throughout the noisy slurping of the caffeinated liquid. Despite the apology, Scruffy made no attempt to rise or move to find clothing.

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #7 – September 17, 2019, 12:37:00 AM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

Scruffy’s reaction to Morgan’s question about Tiran had him second-guessing everything. So, wait, she wasn’t all that bad? Or she was? Did Scruffy consider beatings and, er, unwanted advances to be the only ways a superior could be nasty? And what was his quiet daze afterwards — getting lost in unpleasant memories, or just his general unfocused sleepiness coming back with a vengeance?

It wasn’t the reassurance Morgan had hoped for, not at all. Nor did it help him get a handle on what kind of officer Tiran was, or what he could expect. Maybe she was fine, and Scruffy was just being weird. Actually, thinking about it, that was almost certainly the case. Scruffy was… odd. There was nothing to suggest there was anything wrong with Tiran other than Scruffy’s word, and honestly… Morgan was more inclined to trust command than he was someone whose literal name was ‘Scruffy’. Sorry, roomie.

Though, that didn’t mean he couldn’t take tea from the guy.

‘Yeah, thanks,’ he said. ‘Green tea, please.’ What he wouldn’t give for a replicator that could brew Jade Tie Guan Yin; even back in Tycho, green tea was often the closest he could get. He’d honestly forgotten the difference at this point — he thought the ship’s tea was more nutty and less floral, but it’d been so long he couldn’t be sure. Chalk it up as one more thing he’d have to re-learn when he finally got home.

Scruffy crossed to the replicator, leaning against the wall in a parallel with how he’d first entered the room, half-asleep and more than half naked still. And Morgan really was trying not to… y’know. But it was hard! The guy was kind of weird, but he was also kind of cute, and Morgan’s brain hadn’t woken up enough to stop him from thinking that kind of thing. Eyes up, Song! Scruffy had a certain… leanness… an, er definition… Listen, he may have looked like a skinny stick with an explosion at one end, and he may have had more than a 5 o’clock shadow — more like 11 o’clock — but…

Scruffy moved suddenly, and thankfully the moment was broken. The man seemed to shake himself slightly and straightened, running his hand through his hair in a way that was honestly more than a little unfair considering the little glance of amusement he shot over. It took Morgan a full moment to realise what Scruffy was doing — the man had never ordered. Heavens, they were really in for it. Both of them so away with the fairies they hadn’t noticed something this basic.

Morgan hunched forwards on the sofa and made himself study his hands until Scruffy pushed tea into them. Thank goodness, something else to focus on. He drank gratefully, listening to Scruffy as he returned back to their earlier topic.

His mug ended up halfway to his face, frozen in horror as he took in Scruffy's description of their new boss. Oh no, oh goodness, oh… 'Not a people person' didn't even begin to cover it if the story Scruffy had told was true.

Maybe there'd been a reason for it, Morgan tried weakly. Yes, of course, there must've been a reason. Silly of him; the Chief Engineer wouldn't just waste manpower doing something unnecessary like that out of nothing but spite. Right?

Surely not.

Tiran must've had her reasons. Scruffy was being overdramatic, she couldn't have a personal vendetta against him, and she certainly wouldn't dislike him enough to threaten him.

Then again, the look on Scruffy's face… Morgan had never seen the man so serious. He hadn't even known it was possible.

Of course, Scruffy ruined it instantly by taking a glug of scalding coffee and nearly killing himself choking on it. It seemed the guy had a knack for that sort of thing.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm sure,' he said as Scruffy recovered enough to cough out a sentence. 'Every boss has their quirks, right?'

It took him a second to realise Scruffy had referred to the chief by her first name. Just how well had he known her? He tried to stifle his curiosity, smothering it with another gulp of tea. He couldn't say something stupid if his mouth was full.

He proved himself wrong with his stupid, ridiculous attempt at an apology, of course.

Luckily Scruffy chivvied the conversation along and they moved onto hobbies. Scruffy was into yoga, predictably, and music, which was cool. Morgan had never been very musical honestly — he could appreciate it when he heard it, and he could hold a rhythm well enough, but, er, he wasn't a singer by any means. Barely even a hummer, honestly.

It was only now that Scruffy realised he wasn't wearing anything, apparently. Morgan had kind of assumed the man knew and just didn't care — he wasn't sure if it was better or worse to think that Scruffy just hadn't noticed his lack of clothing. And he wasn't exactly leaping up to fix that, either; in fact, he just sat drinking coffee and looking directly at Morgan with an expression that was clearly meant to be innocent.

'Er,' Morgan said eloquently. 'I, er. I hadn't noticed?' Dumb, bad, clearly a lie. 'I mean, I had, obviously. Kind of hard not to. You're not… I mean. You're not wearing a lot, there's, er, a lot, um, to see.' No, bad, backpedal, backpedal. 'Not that I've been looking! Of course. Just. Hard not to, um, notice. But it's all fine! You can wear as much or little as you want, I won't complain.' Worse! What was he doing! 'No, wait, I mean— You know what I mean, right?' He tried not to look too pleading.

Great heavens above, Morgan was going to throw himself out the nearest airlock at the very next opportunity. Until then, he tried to hide his entire face in his mug. Tea would never sit next to him half-naked and give him doe eyes. Tea would never surprise him at 6am and prance around the common area in nothing but its underpants, tea would never be weird and confusing and kind of terrifying and also kind of attractive all at once. Tea was safe. He liked tea.

He really hoped he wasn't blushing.

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #8 – September 17, 2019, 01:56:20 AM

”Yeah, yeah, I’m sure.” Morgan had said once Scruffy had recovered from his near-death-by-scalding-coffee experience. ”Every boss has their quirks, right?”

”Sure… let’s call them quirks…” Scruffy said slowly, his reply both non-committal and incredulous. Song obviously hadn’t met Commander Tiran yet, or he wouldn’t have asked what she was like. His words, coupled with the unconvinced expression painted across his rather striking features, told Scruffy he didn’t quite believe his story.

Whatever, man. Scruffy thought casually to himself, grinning at Morgan. He’ll find out soon enough. Poor dude…

As Scruffy studied him, he noted the man had a strong jawline which gave him an attractive countenance. Song’s brown eyes were soft and pleasant, even in their current state or sleepiness and with the way they seemed to dart up and down. Scruffy wondered if he should suggest the man go to Sickbay in case there was something serious going on there neurologically.

Once Scruffy had finally come to the realization that he was, in fact, naked, Morgan seemed unsure of what to say. The attractive Asian first stammered that he hadn’t noticed, though he immediately followed up the statement by saying he had noticed, adding that it was hard not to. Scruffy considered that briefly, thinking that it couldn’t be that hard not to notice. It had certainly taking him long enough. Morgan continued his stream of stammers, informing Scruffy that he wasn’t wearing a lot. Scruffy glanced down at himself again, then back up to Morgan. He gave his roommate a lazy grin. ”Nah, I’m not, am I?” Morgan noted that there was a lot to see, though quickly added that he hadn’t been looking. ”You haven’t? Dude, you’ve been looking at me this whole time! Kinda hard to talk to someone without looking at them, right?”

Morgan went on to contradict himself again as he said it was hard not to notice. Scruffy wondered how he could notice if he hadn’t been looking.

His new roommate was a pretty confusing guy.

Morgan was telling him it was fine, and that Scruffy could wear whatever he liked. Apparently Morgan wouldn’t complain. Then he said, no, then he told Scruffy to wait, then asked if Scruffy knew what he meant.

The truth was, Scruffy had become lost partway through the other man’s riotous rambling, and had no clue what Morgan meant. ”Uh… honestly? That was all kinda crazy, man.” Scruffy admitted, ”You lost me.” Scruffy shrugged, giving the other engineer an apologetic grin and running his hand through his hair. He cocked his head to one side, a curious expression on his face. ”Do you know what you mean?”

Morgan had finished his stammering stream of senselessness by burying his face in his tea. Scruffy blinked several times as he watched the hansom fellow seemingly attempt to drown himself in his own mug and wondered, yet again, if the other man was some sort of complex.

”Dude, you seem kinda tense…” Scruffy observed, lowering his own mug slightly as he spoke. ”Here man, I think I know something that might help.” Scruffy placed his coffee on the table, scooting forward on the couch and grabbing Morgan’s cup, saving the man from drowning himself in the drink like some sort of green tea lifeguard. Scruffy twisted, leaned over and deposited Morgan’s tea on the table beside his coffee before straightening and grinning at his new roomie. Scruffy gave Morgan a lazy grin as he reached up and grabbed the Asiatic array of anxiety by the shoulders and guided the man to turn around. ”Seriously, man. It’s not good to be so tense. You gotta learn to relax, dude.” Having successfully turned Morgan so that his back was now to Scruffy, the shaggy man adjusted his position on the couch, sitting cross-legged on the cushions facing Morgan’s back squarely. ”Have you tried yoga? It’s great for relieving tension and relaxing the muscles, man.” As he spoke, Scruffy had reached up and placed his hands on Morgan’s shoulders, gripping them gently as he began to work his thumbs into Song’s trapezius muscles.

”Whoa, man!” Scruffy exclaimed, his thumbs feeling the tense state of Morgan’s shoulders. ”You’re more tense than I thought!”

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #9 – September 24, 2019, 06:33:35 PM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

Of course, it would've been far too easy to just let that stream of absolute mortification go. Of course Scruffy didn't understand what Morgan meant, because Morgan was insane, and everything he'd just said was the words of a madman. That was all kinda crazy, man — yeah, really. It would've been far too much to expect any person with a working brain to understand any of it.

And then Scruffy had to go and run his hand through his hair again, and Morgan knew it wasn't on purpose, obviously — it seemed like Scruffy didn't really do anything on purpose — and yet. And yet! Didn't he know that Morgan was half-asleep and weaker than undercooked porridge? Hadn't he just heard that this was a man on the brink? Honestly one more stunt like that and he might spontaneously combust. Though it'd probably be better than having to sit here through… whatever this was.

'Sorry, sorry, I know that was — confusing,' he mumbled. Understatement. 'I just meant… These are your quarters too now, right?' Stating the obvious, doing just great here Song. 'You can do whatever you like in them.' More like it. Now, for some levity: 'I— I'm hardly one to judge!' He attempted a smile to reinforce that; even from his vantage he knew he'd missed the mark, and it probably came out watery and diluted. Ah, heavens, what a morning this was shaping up to be. At least between his garbled apology and mangled attempts to explain himself, it couldn't get any worse.

Oh, he was so terribly naïve.

Scruffy was looking at him with a strangely analytical eye, before announcing that he thought Morgan seemed 'kind of tense', and Morgan was fully aware that was the polite way of putting it.

'Really?' he said, stupidly trying to laugh it off. 'Sorry. I swear I'm not usually like this.' A lie, but a believable one, he thought. Surely Scruffy wasn't normally… like this either. Goodness, he really hoped not. Although it would explain his feud with the Commander if Scruffy never wore clothes…

And then Scruffy was scooting towards him, declaring he knew something that 'might help', and Morgan had to stifle what would've been a pretty terrible squeak of surprise. He managed, which he was honestly pretty proud of, but then realised he'd been so distracted by that he hadn't noticed himself moving away instinctively. He fought himself into stillness, over-compensated a bit by sending Scruffy a smile. Oh goodness, he hoped it hadn't seemed like a 'come on' smile. He hadn't intended it that way! It'd just been a smile! An 'I'm not insane I promise' smile!

He was so on edge this morning it was getting ridiculous. He was being so stupid, Scruffy wasn't gonna do anything bad. Well, he stole Morgan's tea, which wasn't very nice of him, but Morgan was too confused to protest. He did try a weak 'wha?' but that only got him a grin in reply. Ah, well, he should've expected that really. He wasn't gonna do anything properly bad.

Scruffy once again proved him wrong by grabbing his shoulders. The man proceeded to spin Morgan around on the couch so his back faced Scruffy, leaving it feeling very open and— Okay, now this was getting really weird. Scruffy could do anything right now, and Morgan wouldn't see it coming. He could feel the man's presence behind him, even though they weren't technically touching; the couch shifted as the man moved, and Morgan had to work very hard to keep himself still, his brain working at lightspeed to try and predict what Scruffy was going to do, his body tensing every time the man moved even a little. He wasn't panicking, he wasn't that far gone, he knew it was going to be fine — it was! it really was! — but his brain was so busy sending two completely different red alerts all through his system, and he could feel himself tensing up as his body went into fight or flight, locking him up like a rabbit too stupid and terrified to flee. This is fine, he tried to yell at himself, nothing's happening!.

And then Scruffy's hands returned to his back, and something was definitely happening.

'I— meditate!' he yelped, far too loudly, and scrambled away from Scruffy like he'd been burned, dropping explanations and apologies everywhere as he went. 'I really am— I'm fine, thank you for— ! But it's all fine, all good, no need to, um, put yourself out, really — I'm fine, super, never been better.' This couldn't be happening, why was this happening, why was Scruffy so— ! And Morgan so— ! He belatedly realised his shoulders had come up round his ears like a fur muff, and tried to drop them as nonchalantly as he could. Keep going like this, and his heart rate would be able to power the whole damn Theurgy.

He was gonna need one heck of a meditation session to get over this mess. Or— therapy. Would the counsellors see him for 'roommate-related anxiety'?

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #10 – September 29, 2019, 10:34:40 PM

Morgan practically hollered the words “I meditate” as he clamoured away from Scruffy, moving so fast it was like the man had been burned. Scruffy stared up at Morgan with a sense of complete and utter puzzlement as the other man let loose with a string of broken and stuttered apologies and insistences on his being ok. Despite his protests, Scruffy saw Morgan’s shoulder had climbed even higher than before, so much so that the poor fellow would never be able to get into a uniform in his current state.

It certainly didn’t look comfortable. Scruffy wondered if Morgan was always like this, all tense and jumpy. It must make working in the tight spaces of engineering pretty uncomfortable! It certainly wouldn’t be good for the poor man’s posture. His new roomie insisted that he was fine, and that he’d never felt better, and that there was no need for Scruffy to put himself out, though Morgan’s body language and the desperate look in his eyes told a much different story.

This guy needs to learn to relax! Scruffy thought to himself, a momentary mixture of confusion and concern flashing over his features before quickly being replaced with another sleepy grin.

After several moments of pondering what had just happened, a thought dawned on Scruffy. ”Oh, shit, sorry man! Were my hands cold?” Scruffy immediately raised his hands in front of his face, breathing on them for a moment before rubbing his hands together vigorously, the friction creating a nice sensation of warmth in his palms. ”My bad, man!” Scruffy apologized as he directed a lazy grin at his roommate. ”I didn’t even think that they might be cold. No wonder you jumped like that!” Scruffy repeated the motion of breathing on his hands, then began rubbing them together again. ”There we go! All warmed up!”

Scruffy reached out and patted the couch right in front of him, giving Morgan a friendly smile as he did so. ”Don’t worry, man. It’s no trouble! Take a seat and lets see if we can’t get rid of some of that tension you’re carrying around. You look like you’re about to fold yourself in half, dude.” Scruffy’s grin broadened. ”And I don’t mean in the relaxing, yogi sort of way. You look like you’re about two twitches away from becoming a piece of origami!” Scruffy absently wondered if Morgan would fold himself into a crane or a frog as he gave Morgan a look that practically dripped of concerned innocence, his face serious and yet somehow still appearing lazy and sleepy. ”You really need to learn to relax, dude. You’re going to end up in Sickbay if you keep holding your shoulders like that! No wonder you can't sleep!”

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #11 – October 08, 2019, 01:20:18 AM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

For a few moments, Scruffy just looked at Morgan in what must've been surprise, confusion, and more than a little judgement. Of course, Morgan had practically launched himself across the couch to get away from the guy at no real provocation whatsoever. None that Scruffy would understand, anyway, never mind that Morgan had been-- whatever he'd been. Scared, he supposed. It sounded so childish when you put it like that. But he wasn't supposed to think of it that way, and he'd come a long way since those early days, so he worked hard now. If not rational, it was certainly understandable; that, at least, he could allow.

Still, Scruffy didn't look like he understood. He looked almost comically confused, a cartoon character stuck in an expression of bewilderment, combined with the kind of look people gave you when you did something... Well, something weird. Like this.

The thing was, logically, Morgan knew that even if he hadn't had his little hang ups it would've been a strange thing to do -- lots of people didn't like to be touched, for all sorts of reasons! Just because he didn't want some half-naked stranger he'd only met ten minutes ago touching up his back didn't make him insane. If anything, it made him normal. Though, from the looks of Scruffy, 'normal' wasn't something he particularly dealt in.

But it looked like Morgan had underestimated him. After a moment, understanding blossomed across Scruffy's face, and Morgan felt himself relax slightly in surprised relief -- thank the heavens, somehow the man did have enough sense to realise what had happened, what line he'd crossed, and why Morgan even had the line in the first place. And maybe it would still seem weird, but that was fine, just as long as he didn't try anything like this again.

And then Scruffy spoke, and ruined it all.

He thought... He thought it was because his hands were cold? Like everything else had been fine, the random touching, the complete stranger, the back turned -- no problem! It was just his chilly hands that'd done it.

It was so ridiculous, so mind-boggling, and so utterly in line with what Morgan was coming to understand of Scruffy, that a slightly hysterical giggle escaped him before he even knew what he was doing. The sheer -- !! -- of it. The complete... !! Goodness. Scruffy really had no idea, the man was living on another planet. Morgan would say he was using moon logic, except honestly that'd be disrespectful to his home. Scruffy was using Scruffy logic, and it was completely and utterly mad.

'Your hands were fine,' he said, still caught in that weird amusement. Then, realising how that sounded: 'Oh heavens. I just meant they weren't cold. They were still-- damn it.' He giggled again at his own ineptitude, his complete inability to form a coherent sentence, and somewhere along the way it turned into full laughter, bubbling up and out uncontrollably. What an absolute mess of a morning. What an absolute mess of a person. Heavens above! He had to lean forwards he was laughing so hard, burying his head in his hands in an attempt to keep it all in. It staunchly refused, of course, escaping between his fingers, and he laughed, and laughed. This was all... It was all so ridiculous, complete madness, and he'd not slept nearly enough to deal with it like a functioning person.

But then, that was the point, wasn't it? Scruffy had technically been trying to get him to relax -- or at least, that's what Morgan thought he was doing. Of course he'd gone about it in his own, backwards, utterly confused way, but he'd technically had nothing but the best of intentions -- he'd just packaged them in the most ridiculous way possible. And Morgan, still surrounded with crockery and running on only a few hours sleep, had been nothing but a rabbit in the headlights of Scruffy's 'helpful' insanity.

The mental image was too much. He laughed until his ribs hurt. If Scruffy didn't already think he was mad, he certainly would now. But what the heck, Morgan thought Scruffy was mad, after all. Might as well be mutual.

As his laughter subsided into hiccups, he turned to offer Scruffy the first genuine grin that morning.

'Thanks,' he said. 'I, uh, I'm good. I'm not usually this, uh...' His smile turned sheepish, 'Y'know. You caught me at a bad time, I guess.' He was suddenly aware of how strange this whole thing must look, his insane swing from 'origami' to 'mad hatter', and felt himself shifting uncomfortably. 'I, uh. Sorry. I'm not really... a morning person?' he tried hopefully. If Scruffy would accept all this weirdness as nothing but sleep befuddlement, Morgan would be so grateful he could kiss him. What. No. He wouldn't-- Bad metaphor!

Re: Day 05 [0630hrs] Fine First Impressions

Reply #12 – October 16, 2019, 12:44:38 AM

Morgan let out a shrill giggle, his face seeming to take on a look of what appeared to be amused bewilderment as Scruffy looked on. Scruffy, upon hearing the sound, cocked his head to one side and regarded Morgan with a quizzical expression.

Was the man ok?

Morgan began speaking again, though he seemed unsure of what he was trying to say, and simply ended up giggling again. As that giggle turned into a full fit of laughter, Scruffy couldn’t help but joining in, despite the fact that he had absolutely no idea[ what Morgan was laughing at. Scruffy’s own laughter intensified as Morgan bent forward, burying his head in his hands as though trying to stop the laughter from escaping, though he proved ultimately unsuccessful. And so, they laughed on, Morgan seeming on the verge of a nervous fit, and Scruffy wondering all the while if his new roommate wasn’t in need of a touch of counselling. Between the tension and the stuttering and the incoherent laughter, it certainly seemed as though Morgan could do with it.

But hey, who was he to judge?

Well, to be fair, the man was standing amid an assortment of plates and bowls, arrayed around him so that he looked like a giant laughing hysterically among the ruins of some city of crockery. But hey, at least Morgan was laughing now, and not standing there all tensed up with his shoulders glued to his ears! That couldn’t have been good for the man’s posture, Scruffy reflected as he wiped a tear from one eye and watched as Morgan continued to laugh. Scruffy grinned, deciding that he’d let Morgan have his laughter now, and would find a good time at some later date to broach the subject of counselling.

The man could obviously do with some.

As Morgan’s laughter eventually subsided, the poor man finally able to catch his breath, he began to try to explain his behaviour, first by saying he wasn’t normally like this, then by saying Scruffy had caught him at a bad time, then finally by claiming not to be a morning person. Now that was something Scruffy could relate to. He generally didn’t function so well in the morning, and while today was perhaps the oddest morning he’d had in quite some time, he supposed he could forgive Morgan for having an off day. Who knew? Maybe tomorrow he’d be able to get a full sentence out!

”No worries, man!” Scruffy announced, accompanying the words with one of his lazy smiles. ”Mornings can be hard! I’ve had some pretty rough ones myself, believe it or not!” Scruffy raised his arms above his head then, letting out a groan as eh stretched in what might have seemed like a slow, lazy and over-exaggerated manner, though in truth it was simply Scruffy’s way. As the stretch finally ended Scruffy let his arms fall back to his sides, blinking tiredly at his new roommate before looking up at the ceiling with a confused expression. ”Computer. Time.”

[The time is currently 07:15]

Scruffy blinked, his head pulling back a bit as though surprised, then glanced over at Morgan. ”Oh, man. We should probably get going. Don’t want to be late!” Scruffy declared, pushing himself to his feet. ”Tiran will go all Blue Alert on our asses!” With those words, Scruffy stepped forward, skirting around Morgan and giving his new roommate a friendly pat on the shoulder as he made his way towards to door. He stopped as the doors hissed open, and a rather alarmed looking female Bolian gasped and scurried away in the corridor outside. Pausing and turning to look at Morgan, Scruffy looked puzzled for a moment, though a quick glance down at himself told him what was amiss.

”Oh, right…” Scruffy said with a chuckle and a wink in Morgan’s direction. ”Blue wouldn’t be happy if I did that again…” With those words, Scruffy turned and headed for his room in search of a uniform, absently reaching up and scratching at the back of his head as he chuckled to himself.

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

Reply #13 – October 23, 2019, 11:34:07 PM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Common Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

By some miracle, Scruffy seemed to accept that not being a 'morning person' was a reasonable excuse for... whatever all that had been. Morgan didn't, er, make good on his internal promise, but he was grateful nevertheless. He didn't know what he would've done if Scruffy pushed him for a better explanation -- probably claim food poisoning and hide out in his room until the man left for his shift. Because that would really fix the disastrous first impression the man must have of him.

What a morning this had been. He felt like he needed a nap to recover. But it was only just gone 7AM -- there was a lot of day left. He could only hope the rest of it was less... weird.

Scruffy let out a groan like a dying animal and started to do some stretches. Morgan could only watch in half-fascination as the man began a series of movements that looked so lethargic it was almost like Scruffy was swimming in his sleep. It was like if a sloth tried to do tai chi, or if all his bones had been replaced with soup.

The man would probably do well in zero G, Morgan thought.

The routine, if it could be called that, ended with Scruffy squinting over at Morgan blearily, like he'd only just remembered the other engineer was there, and confusedly asking for the time. The answer seemed to surprise him, and he blinked a little before announcing that they'd better get going and getting to his feet with the most energy Morgan had ever seen out of him.

'Er, my shift isn't for another couple of hours,' Morgan tried. Scruffy didn't seem to take much notice, although Morgan did manage not to jump when Scruffy made to pat his shoulder. His bare shoulder. Yep, still weird.

It took him a moment to realise what Scruffy was doing, and his call of 'Er, I don't think you should--' came too late to stop the man from opening the door almost completely naked and giving some poor Bolian the fright of her life. Scruffy actually turned to look at Morgan quizically, as if it was something he'd done.

'Clothes,' Morgan supplied weakly. 'You're not wearing any clothes.'

This, at least, Scruffy seemed to understand, even if he did send Morgan a completely unfair wink in acknowledgement. He made for his room to get changed -- goodness, Morgan hoped it was to get changed -- muttering something that almost gave Morgan a stroke thinking about its implications. Again, he'd said, Blue wouldn't be happy if I did that again.

Who exactly was he sharing his quarters with? And would he survive the trauma?

Morgan shook himself out of it and moved to clean up the detritus he'd collected around himself. That done, and still no sign of Scruffy, he scurried back to his room to get ready for his own shift later. With any luck, Scruffy would leave before him, and they wouldn't need to go through the awkwardness again until this evening.

The rest of the day went smoothly, or as smoothly as Morgan's days ever did. Thankfully, despite working in the same department, Morgan didn't see much of Scruffy during his shift, so he was mostly free from whatever it was that had overcome him that morning. By the time he finished his shift he'd actually managed to convince himself it really had just been the lack of sleep; he'd been perfectly normal for the rest of the day, and he had to have been exaggerating how ridiculous Scruffy was. No one could be that much of a caricature. He was mis-remembering, and Scruffy would actually be fine, and he was just being mean in judging someone based on his sleepy first impressions. They'd be fine.

Their shared quarters were dark when Morgan arrived back, probably meaning Scruffy wasn't home yet. Of course, he could just be in his room already, so Morgan made his supper quickly and took it to his room like he was stealing it. It wasn't that he was avoiding Scruffy, he just... He didn't want to sit out in the open, not knowing if someone was about to burst in half-naked. So. His room it was.

His evening was mercifully undisturbed, and apart from briefly darting back out to guiltily clear up the dishes, Morgan stayed in his room. After all the excitement, he decided on an early night, but found he was distracted. He always meditated before sleep, and had gotten quite good at it, but tonight every little noise had him tensing. None of them sounded like Scruffy moving around in the common area... Maybe he was already asleep?

He was being ridiculous, Morgan decided, and promptly put himself to bed. And if it took him a long time to get to sleep, well. That was just standard, these days.

Re: Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

Reply #14 – October 24, 2019, 09:13:18 PM

Had Morgan been in the common room of their shared quarters, he would likely have heard a strange thud come form the doors which led out to the corridors of the ship. After a moment, the doors hissed open, revealing an extremely tired and confused Scruffy. The shaggy looking Engineer shuffled into the common room, moving in a manner reminiscent of the undead from a zombie movie. Scruffy shuffled his way to the middle of the room, looking more than a little bedraggled and fatigued, and blinked several times in confusion as his head slowly swivelled from side to side, surveying the interior of the room he now found himself in.

He was fairly certain this was his quarters.

It had been a long and exhausting day, full of menial tasks piled on by a sadistic and vengeful Blue Tiran, who had not taken kindly to a remark made on the lack of nutritional value contained in the twinkies she so loved. Such a small thing, a simply remark, had landed him in a world of toil, cleaning, repair, and replacing things which needed no such attention, on top of the work which had already been assigned to him. As such, it was well past the end of his shift by the time Scruffy had managed to escape, and was rather late now as he zombied his way back to a place where he could slumber, free of the terror of Blue Tiran.

Now, blinking, Scruffy looked left and right. To his left, a door to a room. To his right, a door to a room.

But which was his?

He had only slept in these quarters once before and, his memory being somewhat on the fuzzy side at the best of times, could no longer remember which of the rooms were his in his current state of exhaustion. He gave the quandary careful consideration, and while doing so reached up and absently scratched at the advanced stages of stubble which were perpetually present on his jaw. He was fairly certain that his was the room on the left. Or was that his room on the Bellerophon? Was it the right then? His eyes blearily arced back and forth across the room, peer and each door in turn as he weighed the likelihood of either room being his.

Maybe it was the room on the right.

Or maybe the left.

”Aw, man…” Scruffy murmured as he pulled his hand away from his jaw, running it through his hair as he agonized over this most recent dilemma in a day crammed to bursting with dilemmas. He’d only managed to get him self lost eight or ten times that day, which he didn’t consider to be too bad on a new ship which was separated into three separate pieces, but this new sense of disorientation was more or less the icing on the cake.

Steeling himself to make a decision, Scruffy knew there was nothing for it but to resort to a tried and true scientific method for making such determinations.

”Eenie… meanie… minie… mo!” Scruffy muttered to himself as his index finger, now extended, pointed alternately at each door. At he uttered the word “Mo”, he found his finger pointing at the door to his left. ”Left it is, then!” Scruffy murmured, grinning to himself as he reflected on the fact that this manner of deduction had rarely let him down in the past. His decision made, Scruffy lurched forward in another series of jerks, sleepy, zombie-like movements, making for the door.

Bed was calling to him.

The doors parted before him as he shuffled toward them, as though inviting him inside with the implied greeting of ”Welcome to your room! Your bed is waiting for you!” Scruffy very much appreciated the kind sentiment of the doors as he passed through the portal, the bed looming in sight in the darkness within the room. Not bothering with lights, Scruffy kicked off his books and peeled off his tunic, leaving each item on the floor wherever it happened to fall as he staggered he way to the promised comfort of the bed, those promises growing ever-closer. Next went his shirt, and finally his pants, before Scruffy let himself topple forward onto the bed, now clad only in his boxers. His head bounced slightly as it impacted the inviting fluffy warmth of the mattress, his arms flopping to the side as he lay there for a long moment, looking for all the world like a zombie that had shuffled it’s last shuffle and now lay dead and still. Then, with a soft groan, one of Scruffy’s arms slowly slid outwards, hand patting the mattress in front of it as it advanced in search of a comforter. Finding the edge fo the sought material, Scruffy’s probing hand took hold and, with another tired, forlorn groan, Scruffy rolled over, pulling the comforter over himself and revelling in it’s warmth, not realizing the cozy cocoon was warmer that it ought to have been, as though having been previously heated by another’s body.

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

Reply #15 – November 06, 2019, 05:30:28 PM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Morgan's Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

The sun was warm, seeping through his clothes as he lay on the sand, staring up at perfect white clouds scudding across a blue sky. Birds whirled overhead, and his cousins playing further down the beach were underscored by the gentle sounds of the waves. Soon Ama would be back to collect them all, calling for them to come home for supper — but for now, he had nothing to do but lie here in the sunshine and watch the sky.

'It's not the eggs,' said Theresa, and he turned to see her beside him. She sat, and the sand dipped, sending Morgan momentarily bouncing higher as it shifted and undulated beneath them.

'Yeah,' he agreed once she was settled. Only then did he realise he was getting cold, and he looked up to see the sun had gone behind a cloud. The beach was suddenly chilly, and he found himself huddling to keep warm. Theresa was mumbling something beside him, the sand still shifting with her movements, and the beach kept growing darker and darker. He blinked, and Theresa was just a lump in the darkness, and—

He wasn't on a beach, and that wasn't Theresa.

Um.

He blinked groggily, his brain still half-asleep and struggling to catch up with what he was seeing. There was… There was someone else in his bed? Why? What?

Peering through the darkness, he could see the lump he'd thought was Theresa was really just a pile of duvet, wrapped around someone like a cocoon. It didn't seem to be moving much, so the person was probably… asleep? Which somehow made this better and worse, all at once. It meant they probably weren't here to, uh, do anything, which was good, obviously, but it also meant it was significantly weirder.

What kind of madman just climbs into someone else's bed, steals their blanket, and goes to sleep?

Oh.

The kind of madman Morgan was sharing a room with.

It all made sense now. Who else could this be but his insane roommate? It didn't explain much, considering the man had no reason to be in Morgan's bed when his own was about ten feet away, but just 'it's Scruffy' was in itself an excuse he supposed. It certainly made more sense than anyone else on this ship having crawled into Morgan's bed, as everyone else was, as far as Morgan knew, not completely insane.

He wet his lips nervously. He should probably… wake the guy up, ask him to find his own bed. What was his name, again? His last name? They weren't exactly on first name terms yet, having only met this morning, but maybe considering the circumstances the guy wouldn't mind…

The lump groaned and shifted, coming worryingly close to him; Morgan instinctively plastered himself against the wall to avoid touching any part of The Lump, trying to take up as little space as possible. The very last thing he wanted to do was wake up Scruffy while they were lying nose-to-nose, especially considering Scruffy apparently slept in almost no clothes at all.

Oh goodness. What if he slept entirely—? No, no, Morgan couldn't wake him up. Not right now, at least. Unable to risk it, he just lay flat against the wall, shivering and uncertain.

What if… What if he just snuck out of the bed and slept on the sofa in the common room again? Surely Scruffy wouldn't make the same mistake twice, and tomorrow night he'd sleep in his own bed, and there'd be no need to bring this whole thing up. They wouldn't have to have a conversation about it while Scruffy was wrapped in Morgan's blankets, maybe-possibly completely naked. In fact, Scruffy need never even know at all!

Yeah, that was probably best. If Morgan was very, very careful, he could probably squiggle directly downwards in the bed and escape without Scruffy ever being any the wiser.

He tested his theory, sliding down the wall towards the end of the bed as surreptitiously as he could; but Scruffy let out an enormous groan, and Morgan froze like a rabbit in the headlights, halfway down the bed, his legs hanging off the end uselessly.

Well. Now he really couldn't wake Scruffy up. There was no possible way to have a coherent conversation with someone when you were halfway down the bed and positioned very badly considering your unwanted bed partner was probably wearing almost nothing.

Maybe he could just. Lie here. Like this. And Scruffy was unobservant, right, maybe he wouldn't notice Morgan in the morning? If Morgan was very quiet and still.

He realised he hadn't breathed in a while. Should probably start doing that.

Oh, for goodness sake. This was his bed! He hadn't asked to get saddled with whatever mad roommate Scruffy was! And to think he'd been willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt, he'd almost talked himself into thinking the guy was completely normal and it was just Morgan who'd been acting weird this morning. Well, Morgan hadn't climbed into anyone else's bed!

Had he?

Oh no. Now he really wasn't sure. This was his room, right? It was Scruffy that was the bedroom invader, not Morgan. Right?

Oh no.

He had to escape. If there was even the slightest chance he was the one who'd caused this mess, there was no way Morgan could still be here in the morning. The couch was his only option, he had to get out there.

Carefully, inch-by-inch, Morgan slid down the bed, freezing every time Scruffy so much as sniffed in his sleep. It was slow, painstaking, and, when he got to the point where most of his body was hanging off the bed, actually painful as well. But he did it.

Well. Most of it. Reaching the last few feet, Morgan felt a rush of relief — it was working, he was nearly free! Unfortunately his leg chose that moment to cramp, muscles giving way, and he fumbled, moved too fast, sent himself slithering to the floor more quickly than he'd intended. His balance non-existent, he ended up rocking sideways into the wall with a loud thump.

Heart in his mouth, Morgan froze, peering up at The Lump on the bed fearfully. Please still be asleep, please be a heavy sleeper, please don't wake up. The door was right there, he was so nearly free, goddammit!

Re: Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

Reply #16 – November 09, 2019, 02:55:05 AM

Scruffy was warm and cozy, curled up as he was within the comforting nest of his cocoon, warm blankets on every side. He took a deep, calming breath, the scent of the room seeming strange, though that could just be an after-effect of scrubbing filthy plasma manifolds and repairing fried EPS conduits all day. Maybe his nose was just on the fritz. Maybe he was actually dreaming.

All he knew was that he was comfy.

There was movement nearby, though the bleary engineer was unsure if the movement originated in dreamland or the waking world. Dreamland was much nicer. There was no work to be done in dreamland. Nothing to be cleaned, repaired or replaced. No meaningless toil in dreamland. No creepy bird with the glowing eyes, and no angry, evil and vengeful Blue Tiran in dreamland. Well, she was there sometimes… but she certainly wasn’t angry, evil or vengeful…

That thought brought a lazy, contented grin to Scruffy’s face as he snuggled deeper into the blankets. There was movement nearby again, followed by a thump this time, and Scruffy’s brow rose as curiosity got the better of him. Was someone here with him?

Was it her?

He’d been trying to avoid having any such thoughts about the lovely if psychotic Chief Engineer since finding out she was engaged, his forlorn dreams having been crushed with the revelation. That being said, if his subconscious wanted to go there, well, who was he to argue?

”Mmm…” Scruffy groaned, rolling over and reaching an arm out, groping blindly with eyes closed, feeling nothing beside him. His first few attempts to find something failed, his hand patting against an empty mattress as it made it’s way over the sheets. Had he imagined the movement? Had he imagined the thump? Had the tortures rained down upon him by Blue Tiran over the past 18 or so hour taken their toll, driving him to the brink of madness?

Scruffy was about to doze back off when something caught his attention. His hand had brushed against something, and now he probed further, feeling blindly as his hand made contact with hair. Was it a head? It was oddly low on the mattress, as though someone was only half on the bed. That made no sense. Why would someone have only half their body on the bed? Was there a little person in his bed? Was the head even attached to anything?

Somewhat alarmed by the last thought, Scruffy finally opened his eyes and glanced down, seeing the outline of the head in the darkness of the room. Scruffy felt a sweeping wave of relief as he saw that the shadow of the head appeared to be attached to the shadow of a body, which did nothing to explain why someone would only have half their body on the bed.

”Blue?” Scruffy asked in a confused tone which was still heavily laced with sleep. ”Is that you?” Scruffy reached up with one hand and tried to rub the sleep out of one eye, though was largely unsuccessful. ”Why are you down there?” With those words, Scruffy reached forward, taking hold of his surprise guest under the arms and pulling her up so she would be full on the bed, and therefore much more comfortable. ”There, that’s better, eh?” Scruffy said, eyes once more closed and his mouth grinning broadly as he settled back down, wrapping one arm and, by extension, some of the blankets over Blue’s form. No sense in letting his guest freeze, after all. Somewhere, deep in the murmuring echoes of his mind long since lost to the bleariness of slumber, he wondered what she was doing here in his bed. Why now? Was she relieved to see him? Had she missed him all this time? What would her fiancée say? Those questions never quite made it to the surface of Scruffy’s thoughts, which were preoccupied with the body lying next to him. He gently reached up and ran a hand through Blue’s hair, feeling…

Feeling hair too short to belong to Blue Tiran.

Not her then… but who was in his bed?

Scruffy paused, some echo of earlier events which had been rattling around in his mind coming to light.

Quote

"Aw, man..." Scruffy murmured as he pulled his hand away from his jaw, running it through his hair as he agonized over this most recent dilemma in a day crammed to bursting with dilemmas. He'd only managed to get him self lost eight or ten times that day, which he didn't consider to be too bad on a new ship which was separated into three separate pieces, but this new sense of disorientation was more or less the icing on the cake.

Steeling himself to make a decision, Scruffy knew there was nothing for it but to resort to a tried and true scientific method for making such determinations.

"Eenie... meanie... minie... mo!" Scruffy muttered to himself as his index finger, now extended, pointed alternately at each door. At he uttered the word "Mo", he found his finger pointing at the door to his left. "Left it is, then!" Scruffy murmured, grinning to himself as he reflected on the fact that this manner of deduction had rarely let him down in the past. His decision made, Scruffy lurched forward in another series of jerks, sleepy, zombie-like movements, making for the door.

Was this even his bed?

Had his tried and true method failed him?

Scruffy blinked several times, pushing the unimportant thoughts from his mind and straining to make out just who it was that was in bed with him. The frame was large, too tall for a female, and Scruffy could swear he saw an almost manic glint in the eyes as light from the stars beyond the room’s viewport glinted in them. Something about the manic eyes tweaking something in his mind, and Scruffy squinted harder into the darkness.

”Morgan?” Scruffy asked into the darkness, peering into those glinting manic eyes. ”Oh, hey roomie!” Scruffy grinned and raised a hand, giving Morgan a little wave that the man couldn’t be expected to see, as Scruffy’s hand was still beneath the covers. ”Oh, man, is this your bad? Aw, my bad man!” Scruffy gave Morgan a warm smile, but rather than making to get out of the bed, Scruffy lowered his head to the pillow, snuggling in until he was comfortable, his one arm still draped overtop of Morgan. ”Well, g’night roomie!”

NCO Quarters
[Show/Hide]

Re: Day 05 [0630 hrs.] Fine First Impressions

Reply #17 – November 16, 2019, 01:43:25 AM

[ CPO Morgan Song | Morgan's Room | Personal Quarters | Deck 22 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife

Morgan really should've known better. Of course it wouldn't be that easy, what was he thinking? Nothing was ever that easy, not even sleepingin your own bed, apparently. Scruffy had definitely heard him.

There was a rustling as Scruffy stirred above him, a darker smudge of shadow moving against the darkness of the room as The Lump appeared to prop itself up slightly. No, no, sit back down, go back to sleep. Morgan lay perfectly still in the hopes that he might just, er, blend into the background or something. Scruffy had to be bleary and half asleep, right? Maybe he wouldn't notice the half-dressed man hanging off the end of his bed. This is all just a dream, he thought loudly, as if that would somehow work. Go back to sleep, nothing to see here.

Scruffy definitely saw him. Briefly, Morgan considered pretending to be dead. No, wait, that probably wouldn't help.

Unless?

No, it wouldn't. Stop it.

He should just say something. Scruffy had clearly seen him, there was no point just lying here like a beached fish hoping for the whole thing to go away. But... What was he meant to say? 'Sorry if I'm in your bed, although it might be you who's in my bed, in which case please don't be in it' ? That was nothing, that wasn't even a sentence.

In the end, he missed his chance, because suddenly-- oh goodness. Was that... hands? On his head? Oh, under his arms as well, okay-- alright, he was getting dragged up the bed, oh goodness, Scruffy was pulling him, er, oh heavens, alright, okay, he was going back up the bed he supposed. Best to just let him, er, get on with it, then. Morgan was too surprised to do anything but humour the guy anyway.

At least from Scruffy's garbled mumbles about colours it sounded like he was still asleep. Thank goodness. Maybe Morgan could still escape... Aaaaand Scruffy was putting his arm around him. Alright, Scruffy was cuddling him now. Okay. This was fine and normal and exactly how he had wanted his night to go. Good. Wonderful. Perfect. Who doesn't want their roommate to turn into a sleep-limpet after you've met them once? That sounded perfect to Morgan! Hahahahaha.

He lay completely still, not wanting to agitate sleeping-Scruffy any further. Morgan stayed frozen in place, like if rigor mortis affected living people, except instead of being dead they were just extremely afraid of waking up their insane roommate who had trapped them in bed. That was normal and relatable, right?

Oh goodness. Please, no more. Scruffy's hand was moving upwards, fluttering over his face -- nearly poking him in the eye, actually, and if Morgan ended up getting blinded in all this he honestly wouldn't be surprised -- before coming to land on his head, running gently through his hair.

Wait, what.

Was Scruffy always this touchy-feely in his sleep? Was he... Oh no, was he having some kind of a dream, did he think Morgan was...

Scruffy was definitely still asleep, right?

Morgan squinted up at him. He was still slightly lower in the bed, Scruffy having given up on dragging him when Morgan's head was just below the pillow. From this angle it was pretty hard to tell, but Scruffy's eyes looked like they were still closed. So, asleep? Then again, Scruffy's eyes had been closed a lot this morning too, and he'd definitely been awake then. Or at least, as awake as it seemed he got.

No, no, he had to be asleep still, otherwise why was he here? He was asleep and dreaming and didn't realise it was Morgan he'd trapped here. He thought Morgan was someone else, whatever kind of person Scruffy would dream about.

Wait. Mumbling something about colours.

No.

No!

Oh heavens.

Did Scruffy think Morgan was... ? And that meant he... ? For his boss?

For their boss?

Morgan wished he could dissolve into the bed and end his suffering.

'Morgan?' Scruffy's voice came from above him, bleary but definitely awake.

No luck on dissolving, then. Morgan shifted in the bed to look up at the other man, sheepish.

'Oh, er, hi,' he said, as if he'd only just noticed Scruffy was there. 'How's it going?'

Maybe the ceiling would collapse instead. Being crushed didn't sound too bad right now.

At least Scruffy had realised his mistake, and Morgan could have his bed back. Tomorrow they'd avoid each other, and Morgan would never leave his door unlocked again.

But yet again, that would've been too easy, of course it would've. Instead, Scruffy followed up his half-hearted apology by snuggling back down in the bed, bundling himself back into a lump.

He wasn't leaving?

He wasn't leaving.

Oh heavens.

'Scruffy?' he asked weakly. A pause. Morgan lay in the dark, listening for Scruffy's movements, his own breathing loud in his ears. 'Are you asleep?'

Surely he hadn't fallen asleep that quickly? But then, the man never seemed more than half awake, so by that logic maybe he was always half asleep, too. Drat.

There was no way he was squiggling out now, not with Scruffy's arm still flopped over his chest, trapping him in exchange for a tiny triangle of blanket. He was just... stuck. Unable to move, staring out into the dark. Even the ceiling had betrayed him, refusing to fall and squash him, putting an end to all this. Though he held out hope he might spontaneously choke or something, save him from having to face Scruffy in the morning.

This was going to be a really long night.

--FIN