driftfleet | Mingle-ingle

[Katie became one of the Vanquish's captains a few weeks ago and has yet to mention it since or do anything vaguely captainly. To be honest, she's pretty sure nobody would trust her to be one and she was only making a point. She spends much of her time off the Vanquish in any case, though from the beginning of June she takes ill with a mild fever and stays closer to home. Something about memory-transmitted illnesses, it's all very rude.

- Her office is always open even so, with its paper THE DOCTOR IS |IN| sign hanging on the door, because she does still function as the ship's counsellor.

- Otherwise she can be found having long and possibly one-sided conversations with Licorice, the sleek black cat that follows her into the kitchen and is extremely demanding, and she cleans out the cupboard and restores it to some vague order in the process of feeding them both. (She sorts it by label colour. Very useful.)

- Finally, when she's starting to feel a bit better, you can find Katie in the cargo bay with her sketchbook, taking measurements and making plans. And possibly breaking from them to sketch you as you walk past, because why not?]

[What's this room? Manji's never really given it much consideration before. He wasn't really interested in talking to a doctor, but he was still curious. So in Manji walks.

He stares for a moment at the "doctor" sitting inside.

Nope.

He turns and leaves without saying a word.]

[Gosh, that was a quick visit.]

Want some cream for that worm infection?

[She calls it out gaily as he leaves. Don't worry, she doesn't really expect an answer, you carry on being grumpy elsewhere.]

[still getting used to the ship and being here, the cargo bay and what it carries is a good place to get a feel for what they have and might need. As well as a bit more about her new shipmates.

It's not really until she notices Katie looking up at her occasionally then turning back to her sketchbook that Leia really pays Katie more attention.]

Did you need something?

I always need something. [Katie lowers her sketchbook and grins.] But nothing in particular, if it helps. Do you mind?

[She flips the page to show what she's drawing. It's a flattering likeness, at least, complete with some quick star doodles around the edge.]

[Leia appraises the drawing for a moment, clearly a bit impressed with it. Okay maybe it's a bit strange drawing someone you don't know yet, but it's a well-done picture, and Leia's going to assume it's in good intentions.]

That's not bad at all. Do you do this often?

As much as any artist does, I suppose. I don't often get time to sit and just have fun.

[She smiles cheerfully.] I'm Katie.

[That much makes sense. She doesn't know much about just how busy this ship can get yet, but she knows she's personally had little time to just sit and relax. (Even if that's mostly of her own choice)]

Leia. I don't know that I've seen you on board before now. Not that it means much, really.

[Since, well, it hasn't been long.]

Well, I'm not often on board, so between my flightiness and your newness it's no wonder we've never met. [She folds her sketchbook shut, tucking her pencil to mark the page.] Have you met everyone else on board so far?

I've met a good number of them.

[But well, who knows if that's all of them. She might have missed others for similar reasons, for all she knows.]

Where do you typically go, if you're not on board here?

Everywhere I can. I suppose I don't take well to being stuck within the same four walls at home, so I just continued old habits. [Hmm.] Have you been to the Iskaulit yet?

[She shakes her head. She's heard the name, but so far she hasn't visited there. There's too much else she wants to get accustomed to first.]

I haven't. Is that where you tend to go, then?

Sometimes! If you haven't, would you like a tour? There's all sorts of places down there. Bars and swimming pools and gardens. A bored Fleet is an industrious one.

If you don't mind.

[Most of Leia is insisting that she can find her way around on her own and explore on her own time, but there's another part of her that recognizes the offer for what it is and sees no point in getting on bad terms with people she'll be stuck with for the foreseeable future.]

If it's that large, I'd rather not get lost trying to find my way around on my own.

[Katie wouldn't take offence at a refusal. In fact, she's faintly surprised Leia takes her up on it. Pleasantly so, mind.]

Well, then. When would you like to go?

The gardens sound nice.

[Not just because time spent outside--or well, in anything resembling outside--in relative safety is something rare that she still cherishes, but because if they aren't on a planet all the time, nature is a nice way to break up space monotony.]

It might be nice to push aside the thought that we're in space, even if only for a short while.

I suppose the gardens would help with that. There's all sorts of trees and flowers and fruits to be found within, though I suppose different parts would be in various stages of health. [There's a lot of plots owned by previous passengers. Sometimes the slack gets taken up when those passengers leave; sometimes it doesn't.]

Oh, and do you like foxes?

[of all questions, that's again, not one Leia would have expected to be asked. Leia blinks, just a bit of that confusion leaking through into her expression.]

I can't say I have much experience with any sort of fox.

Not many foxes make their way out into deep space. The ones that have-- some nice person built them a park to play in. If you want a place to sit and relax and get mobbed by small fluffy animals, I can highly recommend it.

[Katie does tend to bounce from subject to subject.]

But where did these foxes come from in the first place?

[It's not that she minds the subject change, really, she just feels like she's missing a pretty big part of the context here.]

I have no clue. They've been here since before my time, but given the Fleet has a tendency to adopt everything fluffy in sight regardless of consequence, I would imagine they were from a previous planet and came along for the ride.

It doesn't sound very fair to the foxes to keep them on board.

[Not that it's very fair to keep any of the other residents here on board against their will, but. That's not an argument Leia wants to get into, because she's pretty sure most people agree there anyway.]

What else has the Fleet adopted, aside from them?

I think it varies from ship to ship. I don't know about anyone else here, but should you meet a black cat on board, she's come a long way and very much enjoys being here. Other ships, who knows? Has anyone told you about the Atroma's habit of giving poorly conceived but well loved gifts?

[There's a connection there, promise.]

I can't say they have. I've only heard about the various states the Atroma can bring us here.

[Alive, dead, from entirely different points in time to each other. A whole mess of different situations of which Leia likes the sound of none of them.]

They can bring items in much the same way. So I'd imagine. Do you have any childhood pets? It's possible you may see them again, if so.

Katie - OTA

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