Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Dum and Dee Tweedle (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim - Before the Party… XO checks in on Engineering

Posted by Commander Valentina Bellini (aCO) in Side Sim - Before the Party… XO checks in on Engineering

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Dum and Dee Tweedle (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim - Before the Party… XO checks in on Engineering

Having heard of the new pair of engineers that had arrived, Valentina was anxious to meet them. Their species was one she hadn’t had contact with before, so her curiosity was as high as it could be. Anthropomorphic beings were still relatively new in the Federation and these were the first she had ever heard of being assigned to a ship in space. Excited and curious, she stepped into engineering and looked around for the new dual Chief Engineers.

Commander Valentina Bellini
Executive Officer

bump 10.14.20

OOC: Thank you Meli.

The Tweedle siblings - were currently involved in an improvement to the central chair on the bridge of the ship. The ‘pool table’ in the middle of Main Engineering had 3d schematics of their ‘improved’ design and the two blobs - nutty, brown and opaque Dum and translucent Dee were pointing at it and discussing the plans for it to the Engineering officers near them.

“It needs a glitter release device,” Dum rumbled.

“Indeed it does, Dum,” Dee agreed, “but is that more or less important than the disco ball and laser lights? Without the disco ball, the crew won’t know that the glitter is about to be released, aand without the lights, the glitter won’t sparkle properly.”

“But without the glitter, there’ll be no need to have either the disco ball or the laser lights, as there’ll be nothing for the crew to see, and the crew might think that the disco ball means they have to dance, or get me to dance,” Dum said, “really, it is like the peanut butter and the jam, does the peanut butter go on the bread first with the jam on top, or does the jam go on the bread and the peanut butter goes on the jam. And does the bread need butter or margarine before either gets spread on the bread?”

“We really should have had our other siblings with us, I guess, Dou (the bread blob) and Dem (the butter blob) would be able to assist us with these discussions,” Dee said.

Dum said, “Right Ensigns, you and you, work on the glitter dispensing, and you and you work on the laser lights and disco ball,” the ensigns so ordered did as commanded.

“Now, about the XO’s hot tub modifications …” Dee said, and then seemed to notice the XO for the first time, “excuse us, Commander, we’re just seeing to improvements to ship equipment, how may we assist you?”

The two blobs turned their attention to the XO, the 3ddesign of what seemed to be a hot tub over the Engineering ‘pool table’.

• Dum and Dee Tweedle
  Co Chief Engineers

Valentina laughed and shook her head. “Please, save the hottub for someone else. I would prefer not to have one in my quarters, if it’s all the same to you. Though, to make up for it, I would very much appreciate a special vacuum bot that specializes in glitter removal. Do you think you could come up with that? Perhaps something that can also clean up jello. I think that would be far more appropriate use of such wonderful and creative talents. Don’t you?” She nodded to them both respectfully.

“Actually I just came up to see how you two were doing. I realize it’s been a hard few days and I wanted to make sure everyone was all right.” She clasped her hands before her, a smile warm and sincere on her face. Seeing them had been a shock, to be sure, but now she was used to seeing them and also used to the double speak as they seemed to know one anothers’ thoughts and actions. Though, she had to admit to herself, the idea of there being another set of twins, quadruplets, made her stomach hitch a bit.

Valentina
XO/aCO

Dum and Dee looked at each other at that point and Dee pushed the buttons to dissipate the 3d model of the hot tub above the pool table.

“Apart from the crew who insist on calling us ‘brothers’, all is going well for us,” Dum rumbled, “the Engineers are hard working, and they seem to be keen for us to sit on that chair over there, they don’t seem to understand that due to our amorphous blob nature that sitting is not something we can do. It also seems that there is something rubbery beneath the cushion on top of the chair, but we are unable to dispose of it, and our engineers are refusing to do so for us. We don’t understand why. It seems they have the correct appendages to do so, and that chair seems to be the same as the others, but for that rubber thing beneath the cushion on it. Why do you think that’s the case? Is the chair dangerous? Also, when we hold meetings, no one has EVER sat in that chair. We’ve scanned it, it all looks normal, but if so why would our staff prefer to stand instead of use that chair when we have staff meetings?” Dum seemed to be growing agitated.

Dee then said, “would we be within our rights to command one of the Junior Engineers on board to sit on that chair, during out meetings, Commander? If there is something wrong with the chair, shouldn’t it be attended to and fixed?”

• Dum and Dee Tweedle, Co Chief Engineers

Valentina listened to the lament about the chair and moved towards it. “My guess…” she lifted the cushion. Sure enough, it was a whoopie cushion. A small laugh escaped her throat. “It’s merely a prank. When you sit on it, it expels air and sounds like a fart. pppttthhhhh.” She made the noise and laughed. “The chair is fine to sit upon. But if you are not the kind to ‘sit’ then perhaps nice tray with a bottom that is more pleasing to your outer self than mere deck plates? I am sure your cleverness could contrive something.” She was grateful they weren’t pressing the hot tub. She wasn’t a great fan of them to begin with. But the idea of it being it her quarters was even more disturbing.

Valentina
aCO/XO

“A fart,” Dee questioned, sounding confused, “what is a fart?”

“Flatulence, passing wind, that noise those tellarites at the Academy would make regularly at the Academy, with their hands under their armpits,” Dum rumbled, “that noise that they found very amusing, Dee.” Following an aha of understanding from Dee, Dum continued, “So, Commander, should the sound made by the doors when they open and close be changed to sound like someone sitting on one of those whoopie cushions? Especially if they make people laugh.”

When Dum paused, Dee took over along the same line of thought, “It wouldn’t take us long to get it sorted … we could do a poll of the crew to find out which species version of flatulence is preferred as a sound, and perhaps see if we can also include the olfactorary part of the equation. We blobs don’t have a sense of smell, of course, nor do we … pass wind, but we understand that such things have a distinct smell to them and wonder if that would assist in the process of keeping the crew’s spirits raised.”

• Dum and Dee Tweedle, Co-CE

It was a good thing the XO hadn’t been taking a drink because she would have blown it out her nose or choked on it. “Ummm… no I don’t think that would work. It’s the sporadic, rare… yes very rare occasions that make a fart so funny. It would cease to be so if the door did it constantly. And the smell is never a laughable matter so no need to consider that, either. But I do applaud your …ummm creativity and curious nature. Perhaps a gag type place programmed for the holodeck may be more appropriate. A set of instances that are funny, like door farting when they open, or perhaps confetti coming out when the replicator is supposed to make coffee. Only in the holodeck program of course. But it would give the crew a program to run that could lift their spirits and give them reasons to laugh when things went sideways. How about that?” She hoped the idea would help to keep such suggestions located on said holo programs and not in her quarters, or the doors to the bridge.

Valentina
aCO