Posted by Ensign Devin Kindle (Security Officer) in Side Sim; Something in the Walls

Posted by Ensign Kaia (Engineering Officer) in Side Sim; Something in the Walls

Posted by Ensign Devin Kindle (Security Officer) in Side Sim; Something in the Walls
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Late at night, in the middle of the day, any time and any place aboard the Manhattan, one might occasionally hear whispers. People mutter quietly to one another about the things in the walls. Those that have been aboard the ship for the longest have the best tales to tell. In corridors, labs, and even in crew quarters, one might occasionally hear a skitter, a patter, or a scratch coming from the walls. Sounds of things shifting and crawling through the crawlspaces. The clank of metal accompanied by strange yowls and hisses. These things and more were told and exaggerated by the crew.

–

Kaia relaxed in the lounge, slowly sipping from a large mug of milk that was kept at a perfectly cold temperature by the insulating properties of the vessel. Someone a few tables over was talking about the wall monster, and it took a bit of self control to contain her giggles. Of the people who knew the true nature of said monster, over half weren’t even on this ship anymore. The other half were either in on the joke enough to not say anything, or didn’t want to spoil the fun.

Kaia took another sip of her milk, enjoying the moment. Bovine Milk. A thing she’d discovered during her stay on Earth. Oba had a population of Wer’nem, but the protein-rich liquid harvested from the chicken-sized animals was nothing compared to bovine milk. It was so GOOD. Like a human enjoying wine, she savoured the cold drink.

Kaia, Eng

Devin walked into the lounge glancing around the room making note of numbers out of habit and she paused as she saw a very distinct Feline-featured crew member she blinked bemused and shook her head softly. She didn’t know about the crew member’s race and she didn’t want to step on toes. She got a cup of hot chocolate and resisted in asking for peppermint to be added to it. She could wait to enjoy that on her own later. Devin walked slowly through the lounge and paused by the feline-featured person, “May I join you or would you rather be let alone?” she asked lightly as she realized she was facing someone shorter in stature than she was, it was a surprise.

Kindle, SO (No she’s not purring … yet … )

The engineer looked up, and was pleased to find she didn’t need to look as up as she normally did, she waved her empty hand in the direction of the empty table in a “go on” motion. “You’re welcome to sit. I’m Kaia.” Kaia watched the younger woman, examining her through sight and smell without making it obvious that she was doing so. She looked and smelled human, no odd colours, markings, ridges, or features like copper blood giving away a difference. The fingers of Kaia’s prosthetic hand tapped on the table as she retreated briefly into her thoughts, but she was brought out of her musings by another sip of milk.

Kaia, Engineer

Devin sat down she eyed the prosthetic in passing curiosity but made no move to question it. “My name is Devin I will be working with Security,” she offered lightly to the smaller feline-woman. She wasn’t going to ask if they were older or younger as that might be considered rude. She sipped her hot chocolate and tilted her head slightly as the folks at the next table kept going on about “something in the walls, scratching, and other odd sounds” she shook her head. Devin hadn’t noticed anything yet but she had only stayed in her quarters long enough to set down her duffel and pick a spot for her Sakura blossom bonsai then she’d gotten her medical and counseling sessions done. She had been exploring the common areas and when she’d found the lounge she entered to see how it would go for her first foray into joining off duty crew. So far so good.

Kindle, SO

“Engineer,” she commented in response to Devin’s explanation that she was in security. Kaia’s ear twitched at the sound of people talking about the thing in the walls, and she caught the slight shake of Devin’s head. “Try not to get assigned to guarding nightshift in the auxiliary corridors on Deck 14. That’s generally where the ghost noises are the worst and most frequent, and I’ve heard of many a security ensign being sent down there and getting quite spooked. It’s also not an official posting. It’s just lighthearted hazing.” She winked, giving Devin a friendly smile. Kaia wondered how long it would be before Devin was repeating the same stories to another new ensign.

Kaia, Eng

“I don’t scare easy, hazing is the least of my worries.” she didn’t add that if anything she might return pranks for hazing depending on how it turned out, “Engineering? That is cool. I know who to ask about best crawl space hide-away. Have you found the sweet spot on the ‘Manny’ yet or would you rather I find that on my own?” Devin grinned cheekily in reply, at the shorter feline woman.

Kindle, SO

Kaia chuckled. “I certainly know my way around the crawl-spaces of the ship… hmm, I think I’ll let you figure that one out on your own. If you already know it exists, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where to find it,” she decided with a wink. Her ear flickered as the noise on the next table rose in volume. Without her hands moving or head turning, a small washer was pulled out of a pocket and tossed at the loud one, hitting him in the cheek. She flicked her tail again, smiling as the man stopped shouting and looked around in confusion for the source of the small disk of metal. “There are a few other hideaways that some crew have made. If you’re back there, try to avoid the smelly area in section 4 on deck 9… although… it probably wouldn’t bother you as much as it does me. It smells like something died there but I’ve investigated. Nothing dead. There are a few other secrets, but none of them are too dangerous. Obviously don’t crawl around too close to engineering, there’s a lot of dangerous materials running through those walls.” Not that the redhead was likely to be able to fit in most of the dangerous areas, those were supposed to be accessed by removing panels, not by crawling around behind them. Might as well give the warning still.

Kaia, Eng

Devin sipped her hot chocolate to hide her grin when Kaia threw the washer at the shouting person at the other table. “I will be careful but I want to get an idea of the crawl spaces anyway. I have had to chase folks in them, before so knowing the layout and where they come out is a good idea in case someone takes to trying to avoid capture that way. Knowing there is a space that smells bad is good to be aware of. Was there a spill or something whose checked it besides you?” Devin asked genuinely curious.

Kindle, SO

Kaia took another sip of her milk, then shrugged. “Others have looked into it. No idea what’s causing the smell. You can’t really smell it from the regular corridors, and I’ve taken apart basically every panel and piece of equipment I can access in there (with a gas mask and oxygen supply) but couldn’t find anything.” She hadn’t considered that security would have to know the back areas for the purpose of chasing people. She’d have to keep an eye out for possible dead-ends and areas someone could be trapped in and point them out.

Kaia, Eng

Devin hmmmed softly, “Sounds like someone might have been making stink bombs and left something behind somewhere. Had a joker do that during finals second year in the academy, every security cadet was on the hunt for them for two weeks before we caught him.” He’d been an Admiral’s entitled brat and they had been told to drop the charges but at least they had gotten the brat to clean up the corridors and crawl spaces he’d used. Wasn’t the punishment it was supposed to be but better than letting him off the hook completely.

Kindle, SO

OOC: can so see Kaia helping Devin mapping out the crawl spaces for trap points for any wayward fleeing folks at some point.

Kaia let out a little unhappy sound. “I’ve cleaned everything twice and the darn smell won’t go away. Just stay away if you want to protect your nose… and your clothes. Ughh.” She let her forehead hit the table briefly and huffed annoyedly. “That sound’s annoying too,” she added as a final hurrah, then sat up again and downed the rest of her milk in one go, setting the glass on the table and leaning back in her chair. Her tail wound around one of the chair legs, and she crossed her arms, thoughtful. “Well, that’s all the tips I really have on the crawl-spaces. I spend a lot of time in there fixing things tall-folk like you can’t really access. Saves a lot of time pulling panels and things. Except when I get lost or stuck which is not that often.”

Kaia, Eng

Devin nodded her head softly, “Well I am smaller than most maybe I can help a little when I am not on patrol? I don’t mind learning how to fix things but if nothing else just tell me what tool you want and I’ll hand it over with a smile.” Devin said with a cheeky grin. She was not going to ask how often Kaia had gotten stuck. She knew all about matters of pride like that. (Though it usually involved yarn or terrier dogs in her case) not that she was mentioning that out loud.

Kindle, SO

Kaia evaluated the idea and shook her head, although the smile showed she was amused. “I get into places even I have trouble fitting. You’re smaller than most humans, but you’re still too big to make it worth the effort. Even so, I appreciate the offer. Maybe there are other things we could do together? I’d love to have another friend out here.”

Kaia, Eng

“Fair enough, do you like any sports or something?” Devin asked a she sipped her hot chocolate. She figured there must be some common things they might enjoy. Even if she thought about the slight mischief she’d already witnessed from the flicking of washer to the the loud speaker moments ago.

Kindle, SO

“Not a lot of competitive sports I can participate in because of the, uh,… physical differences, but I’m quite fond of rock-climbing and other vertical challenges. I do some running, but less of that. I enjoy jigsaw puzzles?” Kaia shrugged. She spent a lot of her free time climbing around in the walls just for fun, giving herself different challenging routes to complete in as short a time as possible. “I like solving things. Finding the best way to repair an engine, etcetera etcetera.”

Kaia, Eng

Devin nodded, “I like parkour, swimming and the like, I have tried rock climbing I haven’t decided how I feel about it for certain yet. Puzzles are always fun to solve. Have you ever tried Kal-toh?” she asked softly as she took another sip from her hot chocolate.

Kindle, SO

Kaia tilted her head in thought, considering the question. “I’m not sure that I have tried Kal-toh. I’d love to learn it! 3D chess?”

Kaia, Eng

Devin grinned, “I’d love to show you how to play but my Kal-toh set is in my duffel at the moment but I do know how to play 3D Chess if you’d rather do that for now?” she said as she finished her hot chocolate, “Want a refill or something else?” she offered as she stood up.

Kindle, SO

Kaia considered her empty mug. “Ehhh… I probably shouldn’t.” She gave Devin a slight grin. “That Dairy Milk stuff is addictive.” The tip of Kaia’s tail flicked. “There’s a Game room if you want to relocate there. Lots of games and tables, works on a bit of a library system. Might even be a Kal-toh set we can use.”

Kaia, Eng

Devin nodded her head softly, “Yes it is, I honestly feel sorry for the folks that are lactose intolerant.” she said softly, “Sure I’ll drop off our cups and you can lead the way.” Devin returned their cups to the lounge manager and turned back to Kaia with a cheeky grin, “Ready when you are?”

Kindle, SO

Kaia slipped off the chair and led Devin out of the Lounge and through the halls in the most efficient path from the lounge to the recreation room. It wasn’t as big as it might have been on a larger ship, but there was still a relatively diverse selection of instruments and table games. Chess, Settlers of Catan, Kadis-kot, and even two games Kaia had added from her culture - a chess-like game with a board that resembled a forest, with spaces being on branches on the trees, and a children’s game about herding the very dumb Lus’lus bird. The closer to the end of the game you got, the harder it was to progress. It was very funny to watch other people cry out in despair as an unlucky rice roll erased all their efforts. They reached the Games room and Kaia looked around for the Kal-toh game Devin had mentioned. “Hey, what culture is Kal-toh from?”

Kaia, Engineer