Roomates

Posted on 25 May 2014 @ 4:38am by Vincent Kramer Ph.D. & Lieutenant Asahi Kita

1,727 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, 03-2207 JO
Timeline: MD -06 - 0800 hrs

ON:

Vincent Kramer had found the shared quarters undesirable, but understandable. Moving from individual quarters was just something to put up with. He had not met his roommate as yet. He had heard that he was an engineer and spent most of his free time there in Engineering as well.

Vincent entered his quarters and saw that no one was there, as usual. He turned and went into his sleeping area.

If Asahi had even been made aware that he had a roommate to begin with, he may have been a little more keen to meet with said roommate. From his understanding, however, when the Galileo was refitted with all of it's wonderful attachments, he was given a new room on a deck that was four decks away from Main Engineering. As he hated to be too far from the one place he knew he could bury work into, he had not made an attempt to formally acquaint himself with either room or roommate.

He entered as soon as Vincent had turned to the sleeping area, apple hanging out of his mouth, having been forced out of Main Engineering by a particularly concerned petty officer (who he still couldn't name). His eyes were glued to his PADD, deeply engrossed in the specs he had just received, heading straight for the bathroom without batting an eye.

Vincent came out of the sleeping area and looked about. He thought he had heard something, but just shook his head and thought it was just his imagination. He picked up a PaDD from the shelf and returned to his room where the door closed behind him.

The first body to emerge from the bathroom was not Asahi, but a tiny border collie pup, who shot out from where he had made a home, staring at the bedroom door intently. It didn't take long for Asahi to emerge from the shower, in little more than a towel, moving toward the tiny kitchen area. He whistled, and the pup perked his ears up, following after him.

That is odd. Kramer thought and got up and walked out of his room to find the outer room as he had left it. He did think that it felt a little warm and moister than usual. He returned to his room.

As Kramer once again returned to his room, a black and white collie puppy shot from the kitchen area, where he proceeded to bark loudly at the bedroom door. "Hojo! Hojo, get back here!" Asahi followed after the pup, plate in hand. "What is your issue? You've been at that door on and off since we got here..."

Kramer's bedroom door opened with a whoosh. Standing in the door way was Vincent looking down at a small dog barking at him. "Well, hello there!?" he said softly.

The black and white pup stared up at Vincent for a few fleeting moments, only to return to his barking, zipping back and forth in front of the man. Eventually, the pup remembered Asahi was also in the room, and began zipping back and forth between the both of them. The engineer blinked, eyes darting from dog to the other human in the room. "... That... explains a lot... roomie?"

Smiling he extended a hand and said, "Hi. I'm Vincent." Looking down, "And this is?"

The dog stopped himself in front of Vincent, sniffing the air around the man as he spoke. "That's Hojo. He's about three months old, so if he gets too energetic, let me know." Asahi smiled bright. "And I'm Asahi, from Engineering. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Same here." Kramer replied. "We've been on this little cruise for several days and have never run into each other yet. Rather amazing I'd say."

"There's never been a lot of time for me to step out of Main Engineering." Asahi admitted. Had he found it appropriate to step out of Engineering, the meeting may have happened sooner. "So when I do manage to step away, it's never for very long. So it's probably been a ghost room. Random things moving about and random pups making strange noises, huh?"

"Ya, pretty much." Vincent replied, "I had heard a few noises," looking down at the small dog, "but I never heard him bark."

"He's a pretty good dog, but easily excitable." Setting his plate down, Asahi scooped his wiggling pup up into his arms. "It's surprising you haven't heard him bark. It's in his nature... hm... how about you? Any pets? No weird sheep wandering about, I'd hope?"

"Ahhh . . no. No animals in my life." Vincent replied. Looking down at the down in Asahi's arms he said, "Animals in my life have been too distracting, and I never seem to have the proper time for them." He was drawn to reach out and pet the animal, but decided not to, just yet.

The puppy's tail wiggled in delight as the pair continued their conversation. "I don't exactly remember why I got him in the first place, but I'm definitely not complaining. He's great for company."

Vincent looked up at Asahi and said, "Anything special I need to know about your, Hoho?"

"... Hojo, but not really? Just the usual dog stuff. Don't feed him chocolate or anything like that. I've got him trained to not mark his territory all over, so you don't have to worry about that either. Pretty sure he'll warm up to you just like he warms up to everyone else."

"I guess that will be easy enough." Vincent replied then glanced over and saw a picture on the counter. After walking over and looking down he asked, "Is this your family?"

Asahi quirked a brow at the picture he was examining. "Yep. That was the most wild graduation ceremony some of the instructors have ever seen. It's like they had never been to the circus before." He grinned, looking over Vincent's shoulder. "If you look between the bearded lady, the muscle man, and the trio of midget storytellers, you can see my mom and dad in there somewhere."

Listening to Asahi and his description made him smile inside. He smiled a little on the outside, then turned back to him. "The . . ah . . circus was a very unique experience for me. I had never seen so many . . well let me say . . non-average people together in one spot."

"Circuses tend to be. Either they're odd or they're way too extravagant." Asahi beamed from ear to ear with pride. "The Sumi's been in the family for so many years, that it bounces back and forth depending on who's in charge. Mom's managed to find a good balance between both." He leaned against the wall, grin still plastered on his face. "What about you? Wrestle alligators on an odd moon of the Bolian homeworld? Or something a little closer to Earth?"

"Oh, no. Nothing so physical." Vincent replied. "I'm more of a blow up a planet from a distance and then count the pieces, kinda guy. HAH!" He didn't mean to be so silly, it just kind of came out.

"Didn't know I was rooming with a world dominator." The statement drawled out in a deadpan. Despite this, there was a large grin on his features.

Vincent was pleased that he had been successful with his bit of humor. The scientist continued, "Actually, I'm looking forward to this mystery on this mining colony. I'm sure the cause will be found to be something physical, even if in a different dimension."

Asahi quirked a brow at this. Everyone seemed to have their own opinions on the matter, and it seemed the scientists were convinced that there was some form of entity involved, or at least something a little more difficult to explain than something they could have already known. "Physical? How so? You mean like an entity of some sort?"

Vincent crossed his arms taking on the confident Doctor look, "It's just a feeling I have and a guess based on the information so far presented to us. I just think something in the physical nature of the planet is providing just the right environment for either a life form, physical or non-corporeal, and these miners have moved into its realm."

Asahi definitely hadn't thought about it like that, but then again, that's why Vincent was the doctor and he was the engineer. "Huh. You think whatever it is annoyed that there are miners drilling into its home?"

Vincent nodded, "That is a good theory, but I wouldn't want to guess any past that. We'll wait for the sensor data before making any accusations like that."

Scientists. Asahi refrained from rolling his eyes. As curious as he was, sometimes he never quite understood the nature of the scientific method. It was all so slow, rarely got any return until it was much too late. It was good he wasn't a doctor. That could have ended horribly. "Huh... Too many variables, I think. Something like that could have been caused by anything."

"Like you say," Vincent echoed, "too many variables." Vincent glanced down and saw that the pooch seemed to have accepted him more and was sniffing his shoes and pant legs.

"Hopefully there won't be too many 'cooks' in the kitchen to solve the problem either. Everyone seems to want a piece of figuring it out." Asahi laughed, nodding towards his pup. "Looks like he's taken a liking to you. It's good to know he won't want to gnaw your foot off if I look away."

"Yes, good to know." Vincent replied as he knelt down on one knee. The pup skittished back, but after a second came forward where Vincent was able to pet him on the neck and around the ears.

Asahi gave a small shrug, opening his mouth to respond, when a loud growling rumbled from the pits of his stomach. "... Oh, I almost forgot I was fixing myself something. Did you want me to fix something up while I'm fiddling about?"

Vincent smiled, but replied, "No, but thanks. A friend is expecting me in the enlisted mess. We play a little chess and get a bite to eat." He paused looked about the room and added, "Maybe another time."

OFF:


Lt. Asahi Kita
[Acting] Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

&

Vincent Kramer
Planetologist
USS Galileo

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