Posted by Lieutenant Tija Aizala (Visitor) in Deck 4- Crew Lounge

Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in Deck 4- Crew Lounge

Posted by Lieutenant Tija Aizala (Visitor) in Deck 4- Crew Lounge
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

A drink was slid to Bob and it would smell decidedly like real bourbon too.

Bob sniffed the glass, and raised an eyebrow in surprise. He considered the odor along with his new acquaintance, and seemed to smile slightly.

Dira could have made another quip, or explained, but she didn’t like answering for people. Instead, she sipped her wine and watched the exchange.

Commander Myqian, XO

“En-gin-eer-ing,” he said. The syllables came out at something of an odd pace; slowly and with extra emphasis, as though for some sort of dramatic effect. “I help make the ship go. You can only see me now because I might have actually figured out how this new ship works. It is remarkably more complicated than the previous one, in part because it is actually… erm… working.“

“I’ll take your work for it. Engineering and figuring out how starships and all work, always eluded me, to be honest. The working of living organisms is more my forte,” she said with an attempt at humour, though probably sounding more serious than intended.

Bob looked at Aizala, not entirely sure how to read that statement. “I would certainly hope so, Doctor,” he said with a slight smile. He was pretty sure it was a self-deprecating joke of some kind, but he wasn’t sure if or how to play off of it. But he didn’t have to. Not yet, anyway.

She must be like, fresh out of med school or something, he thought, making the mistake of assuming that Aizala was as young as she appeared. But she’s a full… no, wait… doctors…

“I always thought they harmonized quite well with each other,” Myqian said thoughtfully.

“Well, when they don’t, people stop breathing,” Bob said non-chalantly. “Hard vacuum of space and all that.”

“‘Our ships in space,’” Bob said as he held up his glass, making the toast of the day for Monday.

– Robert Mason, CE

“To our ships in space,” Aizala repeated and listed her glass as well. She wasn’t quite sure yet what to make of Bob, but that was okay. While her bedside manner was fairly well, she had never spend much of her spare time with people and so in some way her social skills weren’t as well developed as one might expect. Which was part of why she was here, in the lounge that is, to be more social. Even if it might be awkward at times.

~Lt. Tija, Doctor

“Cheers,” Dira said, lifting her glass and taking a sip.

Bob sipped his own glass of whiskey. Yep, definitely the real thing, he thought. Did she arrange that already?

Looking around, Dira had a rather mischievous smile. With such a large crew, compared to the former Ogawa, it was understandable for those that came from that ship to maybe feel a little overwhelmed. But for Dira (and she could guess probably Bob too), this was business as usual. “I think we need a karaoke night here, like Lieutenant Lamb organized on the Calypso.” She managed not to call their mutual former posting anything derogatory in public and called that a win right now. Distance and time were blessings, clearly. “Feel free to talk me out of it but it might be better than any of the team building exercises I might come up with.” Was she joking? Was she not? Either way Dira just sipped her drink again.

Commander Myqian, XO

“Yes, I can’t imagine anything that would inspire greater unit cohesion than making us all listen to your rendition of ‘The Old Gumbie Cat’,” Bob deadpanned. That particular instance of Lt. Lamb’s karaoke night was memorable in part because of the bizarre turn the evening had taken, thanks to then-Counselor Myqian’s rather conspicuous consumption of alcohol. Or at least that was the consensus view on what had fueled that bizarre incident.

Myqian pressed a brown hand to her chest, her face etched with mock-horror. “Ah! You insult me. I’ll have you know if we’re going anywhere near Cats, it’s the song Memory. Always Memory,” she said shaking a finger at him, though her dark eyes were alight with mischief. She sipped on her wine a bit more, almost ready for a refill.

“That’s not a very good defense,” Bob replied simply. “Both the ‘if’ part, but especially the part where you demonstrate that you actually have familiarity with that particular musical.”

“Do you have musical talent, Aizala?” He stumbled slightly on her name; he clearly had remembered what it was but still wasn’t confident in pronouncing it properly…

– Robert Mason, CE

“I don’t think so,” Aizala replied, shaking her head. “No body ever taught me any music,” she continued as sadness clouded her eyes for a brief moment. Pushing those feelings to the back of her mind and looking more at Dira than at Bob, she asked, “But tell me, what is karaoke?”

~Lt. Tija, Doctor

Dira naturally picked up on Tija’s reaction but she simply offered her a grin, though she briefly glanced at Bob. “Karaoke is a social singing event where people sing songs with the lyrics scrolling on a screen and the musical pre-set in the background. It’s intended for amateurs with a whole range of musical talent. Or none at all,” she said with an easy shrug. “We shall have to teach you,” she added with a grin.

Commander Myqian, XO

Bob didn’t quite know what was going on there, but knew from Dira’s glance that it was… something. He wasn’t sure what to make of that.

“Thank you Commander,” Aizala replied with a small smile. “That does sound interesting, but also like it has a lot of potential for humiliation.” While she did hum or sometimes even softly sing along when she had some music playing while alone in her quarters, singing in front of a group of people was something that she had never considered in her life. And right now she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it. Even though it sounded fairly harmless all things considered. And maybe in her attempt to get better social skills it was an event she should attend.

~Lt. Tija, Doctor

“That actually is part of the appeal of it for some people. Both to watch the humiliation and even to be humiliated,” Bob observed plainly. He wondered if he should elaborate more, but decided not to, now not really being certain whether or not he should have said anything earlier…

– Robert Mason, CE