Rec Room

[hellsbel]

The wardroom, or rec room, is a place to connect.

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thisavrou IC Inbox

[A sharp, ambiguous face appears on the directory screen; the voice is a curt, ironic alto.]

You've reached Bel Thorne. Leave me a vidcall or message here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

[note: Bel is in cryo from May 9 to May 23, and messages received during that span will be answered after it.]

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Please state the nature of the communication (video, audio, text, etc) in the subject line. Non-electronic communications can be directed to Bel's quarters (Nomo Deck, room #005), or left in Bel's shipboard mailbox. If responding to a Spacebook post, please indicate which one.

Comments

text; yay!

[hellsbel]

It's 'crewperson', just to clarify. A training course? What did you have in mind?

[and how have you been, Crewwoman Quinn? they've seen too little of you since the trials.]

[niffin]

[ That's the handy thing about invisibility: You don't really have to see anyone. ]

Sorry. My bad.

Your suggestions about ship safety courses, they were good ones. But I think using them punitively (and I'm assuming: presenting the information tediously) isn't as helpful as making them available to the crew at large.

We're all stuck here, and a lot of people don't come from places where ships like this are even a thing. We've got a space 101 lecture going already, and I think your ideas would compliment it well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you've had practical experience before this.

[ It's why she's using a title to address Bel in the first place, inaccurate or not. When you're fishing for information, any reaction helps. ]

(In the interests of disclosure: I'm also asking Shepard.)

[hellsbel]

It's all right, Crewwoman Quinn. We have three genders where I'm from; men, women, and both. Most people I meet here are just used to one end of the binary.

[intrigued -- can't say they hadn't thought about doing something of the sort; other things had just kept coming up. she's being so carefully professional, though, and merits a response in kind.]

Yes, I'm a captain in a deep-space military fleet back home. We'd live on our ships for years on end, during deployments and between actions. My light cruiser carried a crew of twenty, trained to within an inch of their lives because every one of them knew they'd have to depend on each other.

[this is a ship of civilians, most of whom don't want to be here, most of whom don't have any organized training, a significant fraction of whom are perfectly willing to kill fellow crewpersons, trapped on a literal haunted ship under an inexperienced captain triad on an unmapped route through hell. to Bel, it's been a systemic disaster from the start.

a glimmer of humor] It's a big crew. Do you think the two of us will be enough? -- Agreed, it should be a course taken on arrival. I think people who disregard the warnings should be put through a refresher, but it does have to start somewhere. Count me in.

1/2

[niffin]

We sort of have that too, it's just not very widespread. Are there any pronouns you prefer?

Other than 'Captain'. I'm not sure how that one would work in a sentence.

Thank you for agreeing. I'll keep you updated with it. I'm hoping to find a civilian volunteer as well, but it seems like that's even rarer here.

[ Even Leia had talked about having a war to return to, and she's discounting anyone from the CDC outright. ]

And for stuff like emergency procedures, that kind of discipline's probably useful anyway.

2/2

[niffin]

[ It's another moment before she taps out an addition, sends it before she can second-guess it. Bel's a stranger, and it isn't something she'd like to advertise — but Bel's also been easy enough to talk to. And there's that nagging old suck-up's sense still in there, the persistent illogical need to justify herself.

Besides. It's not like Niko hasn't already spread the information further than she enjoys. ]

The last ship I was on was pretty different from this one. It's been an adjustment.

I'm so sorry this is late!

[hellsbel]

[a start of surprise, and a smile; lost behind the text though it is, Bel appreciates that she asked.] Singular 'they'. We're a minority too, back home; I've always felt my ancestors picked that for the psychological edge.

It's true, an outsized number of us have seen combat in one way or another. Even the children. Who would count as a civilian, from your end of things? [had been mentally leaving out anyone who isn't career military, but that does exclude a lot of really dangerous people.


stares thoughtfully at the last line. she's not the first who's mentioned another ship -- the spectre of being ported from trap to trap is chilling.]

It would be, of course. Have you been long away from home?