I'm a bit lost

Posted on Thu May 25th, 2023 @ 2:47pm by Lieutenant JG Amari & Lieutenant JG Nezuko

871 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Descent
Location: Deck 5
Timeline: Shortly before launch

Somewhere on Deck 5 Amari wondered around somewhat aimlessly, she'd managed to get herself lost looking for the mess hall and though it might have been a good idea to ask the computer she hadn't thought about doing it yet, she had gone back and forth for several minutes and was no closer to finding her way having seemingly passed the same series of doors repeatedly.

Eventually she settled on asking the next person she came across, who happened to be a slightly taller than her human looking women who she was quickly approaching from behind. "Excuse me, I'm trying to find the mess hall is this the right way?" she asked.

Nezuko turned around to see the unfamiliar voice speaking with her. She was met with a woman slightly shorter than her, with blue skin, white-blonde hair and various markings. A new friend! Someone of a species she’d never encountered before. Be polite, she mentally reminded herself, people don’t like to be novelty.

She was also fairly new to the ship, but she knew the way, so she gestured for the newcomer to follow. She was clutching her PADD, so she turned it around and quickly typed her name. Nezuko. She pointed to herself.

When the woman turned the first thing Amari noticed was the strange device around her mouth, she looked at it for a moment trying to determine its purpose and figure out why she hadn't responded verbally to her, when the woman showed her the Padd she looked at it and attempted to pronounce the word "Ne-zuko.... that is you?" then her mind put the several unusual bits of information it had gathered together. "You can't speak?"

Nezuko nodded. She also signed a short greeting, which she assumed her new friend wouldn’t understand but would at least get the gist that she normally used a sign language.

Watching Nezuko move her hands into a series of patterns Amari looked at her hands then mouth for a moment. "You can hear me but need to use signs to show your words.... interesting."

Another nod. Nezuko typed a bit more onto her PADD, stopping a moment so she didn't bump into a wall as they turned. What's your name? I've never seen someone like you.

Amari looked at the Padd, the implant in her eyes taking a moment to translate the English written on it into Lesrai and relaying it into her head. "I'm Lieutenant Amari, I'm a Lesrai, they assigned me here as an engineer from the officer exchange program."

Nezuko had heard of that program, and had worked with exchange officers from a few other militaries in her last assignment and at the Academy.

They reached the mess hall, and Nezuko mimed taking a sip from a drink.

"I found Tarkelian tea to be quite nice." Amari said, not sure whether Nezuko's mime was 'what would you like to drink' or not. She'd sampled several dishes and beverages on the runabout and she'd found several to be very nice indeed.

Nezuko hadn't in fact asked for Amari's opinion on drinks, but was rather making an invitation to have one with her. She decided to assume the answer was positive and walked to the replicator, requesting via keypad two Tarkalean teas. The drinks emerged, one with a tiny straw. That's the one Nezuko picked up for herself, sliding the straw into the small induction port under her rebreather.

Amari watched Nezuko wondering how the woman was going to eat or drink with the device in her mouth, then she saw the..... item she was using as some sort of emergency induction device and that partially answered the question but it seemed extremely inefficient. Surely the device in her mouth was removable somewhere, then her mind clicked into gear again. She'd heard of planets that had different gasses in the air to hers, she must be from one of them.

Nezuko passed Amari the other tea and gestured to one of the available tables.

Taking the cup she followed Nezuko to the table she'd gestured to and sat down. "You breathe something other than oxygen don't you, that device is for generating it right?"

Sitting down with Amari, Nezuko nodded. She typed a short reply and showed Amari the PADD. Argon and gaseous nitrate.

"I've never seen anything like that, is it not.... intrusive? Surely it is hard to do some things with that sticking out of your mouth." Amari asked, she wanted to touch it, feel how it functioned but knew that it wouldn't be appropriate.

Nezuko shook her head. It was something she was used to. She took a deep breath so she could remove her rebreather, and gave Amari a smile. She took a bigger sip of her tea before putting the rebreather back on.

Amari smiled back when she saw Nezuko's, it made sense she could take it off for a very limited time, a breath or two probably wouldn't kill her. "It's a shame you have to wear that device, you have a very kind face."

Thank you, Nezuko wrote. New friend?

Amari nodded slightly. "I'd like that."

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