RP [Origin] OIF Karakoram; re: Start!

"I am Sharlett, your friendly Neshy fox girl." She said with a small hop in her step. The excitement of all these people meeting each other had washed away any fear she had before.

She walked over and booped Charles on the nose. "You remind me of someone I knew. I hope you are not as bold and slip into the girl's room after hours." She let out a small giggle as she turned back to look at Nora.

Charles' attempts (Read: squirming) to break free of Destiny's grasp finally bore fruit, and he dropped to his feet, rubbing his nose for a moment in embarrassment. "Why would I want to do that though? That would be rude." He asked Sharlett in confusion. He then walked over to his suitcase and stood it up, then dusted himself off.

"Speaking of rooms though, where do we move into on the ship?"

"So is running into someone, yet that happened." Destiny said from over top of Charles as she looked down on him. It wasn't so much she was looking down in a rude way... She was just really tall. The mention of rooms did raise some concern for the Lorath woman though as she looked to their leader and waited for an answer. She had spared a glance around to the others that had gathered and so long as she wasn't paired with this Charles boy or the rude loudmouthed woman, well Destiny would be happy. Better yet if she had her own room.

"Is there enough for single rooms? Or will we be sharing rooms?" Destiny asked.

"Well, that looks like pretty much everyone, at least everyone that's supposed to board right now, anyway," Nora stated snapping her fingers enthusiastically, although the pilot suit she was currently wearing did much to prevent any sound from happening. "Looks like we haaaave-" she counted them quickly "Four ladies, unless you count me, then that's five, aaand, we have Both members of the crew who have a Y chromosome! Yes!"

Listening to the following questions, Nora grinned, spinning in place before answering. "Wellllll, The Karakoram is pretty big so there's lots of rooms, the only problem is that a bunch of them haven't been made ready yet, so, you guys will have to share, at least until we can finish putting them together. The guys get to share a bunk unless you know how to install plumbing and furniture, and Sharlott and Monica also get to stay together. Jennifer and I already have our own rooms since we were on the shakedown, oh, and, Oracle, you have your own room as well since you're a contractor. and before you two boys complain~!" Nora pointed at Zeke and Charles "While Origin doesn't have any restrictions on relationships we do put people of the same gender together unless they are in a committed relationship, in which case they get to stay with their significant other." the redheaded freespacer grinned, with a bit of a mischievous giggle.

"HOWEVER! We will not tolerate any sort of trespassing into a room that is not assigned to you! It is forbidden! So be polite and also try not to make anyone angry. Although, you are allowed to enter somebody else's room if they are present and give you permission. the ship won't monitor anything going on inside a room but does monitor any common areas, so we can find out if you've been naughty, got it?" She waved an accusing finger at the entire group, not just the men, before finishing her spiel.

"Your rooms are all down on deck eight, all the girls are bunked near each other on the port side, while the guys are at the far back of thestarboard side, with a buffer zone of several rooms between you and any female crew. You'll eventually get to have your own rooms, the one next to the one you're currently staying in will become whichever one of you's wants to move their stuff!" A big thumbs up and a happy smile followed, and Nora then lead the group onward down the connecting hallway, filtering in with the few stragglers from the roughly 160 person crew.

Both members of the crew that had Y chromosomes? surely she was just referring to the mech crew, right?

Regardless Mo shook the thought from her head and continued lugging the hover-skid behind herself, it may have been annoying but nobody was going to touch her boxed-up baby - nobody! The ravenette drifted across toward the Daur she'd be bunking with, giving the significantly smaller woman an elbow in the side to get her attention before speaking.

"Top bunk is mine and I don't snore - any issues with that?" it was more of a rhetorical question than anything else, Mo was going to have that top bunk even if she had to pin the busty fox down to do so.

"I feel that since you have made it forbidden for the guys to come into the girls room that this is only going to encourage them. Though I am not sure these guys are man enough to take the risk." Sharlett looked over the boys and made a humph sound as she walked over to Monica.

"Nice to meet you Monica, so who gets top bunk?" She continued to smile. "I hope we become great friends."

Charles turned to see Zeke for the first time. He stuck out his hand in friendly greeting. "Hi there! My name is Charles, I assume you're going to be my roommate for a while, so let's try to get along! Don't worry though, I'll do my best to get the other room up and running as soon as possible so that you don't have to move."

He turned to the girls. "If any of you needs help setting up the other rooms on your side of the ship, I'd be happy to help any of you with that too." He gave them a smile that just oozed pure innocence.

Monica grimaced slightly at the smile so sweet it was giving her a toothache, although maybe that was the fault of her other habit - she didn't even turn back to Sharlette as the ravenette spoke once more.

"Yeah well good luck with that, and it might've slipped through those holes in the top of your head but I said the top bunk is mine - alright shortstack?"

Watching as the group starts heading onto the umbilical to the ship proper, Jennifer stepped up, stopped next to Nora, and adjusted where the unlit cigarette was in her mouth. "On' off-d'ty sh'ft says th'y s'art fi'htin' th' minute th'y reach th' rooms." She stated calmly, crossing her arms under her bust. After all, it was sort of expected that the new pilots were going to chaff a bit until the rooms were fully brought up. A task that Jennifer was already working out the shifts to perform.

"Wh'ch 'abin 'as priority? Th' boys, or th' girls?" She asked, looking over at the other pilot who'd helped make sure the critical systems on the ship, including the ones needed to run the mecha operations, ran smoothly.

[Translation:
On' off-d'ty sh'ft says th'y s'art fi'htin' th' minute th'y reach th' rooms. - One off-duty shift says they start fighting the minute they reach the rooms.
Wh'ch 'abin 'as priority? Th' boys, or th' girls? - Which cabin has priority? The boys, or the girls?]

Zeke accepted the other man's hand with a shake, "Zeke Rykiel, nice to meet you. Seems like some of the ladies are already wary of us my friend. You seem like a hard worker with lots of energy, if you don't mind me saying."

Zeke waited to see if Charles would follow him, before walking to board the ship as well. Hoping to learn about his teammates a bit, as well as idle chatter while they boarded Zeke asked, "So what did you do before working here Charles?"

Destiny remained silent as she followed the others, the heavy armor still over her shoulder. Her sword swung at her hip gently every so often as she followed along and listened to the conversations the others were having as best she could over the din of the crowds around them. She was pleased to see that she had garnered her own room at the least and wouldn't be forced to share with anyone else, especially the two that had already been fairly rude to her. Both the boy and the smaller woman with the terrible attitude had already ruffled her feathers in a manner of speaking.

Charles thought for a moment before giving Zeke an answer. Maybe it'd be better if I said less. I don't want to make people think of me differently than they would anyone else. Finally, he settled on an answer; "I was in the NSN. A pilot." Charles looked to the rest of the crew, who were boarding. "Come on, we'd better follow them. Wouldn't want to be late" He said after an over the shoulder look at Zeke as he began walking forwards.

Soon, Charles too was on his way onto the ship. The umbilical was always an interesting area to walk through. Sometimes, if the station's gravity fields are either not extensive enough or tuned so well that they only encompass the station itself, you got a brief moment of weightlessness as you passed between station and ship.

It seemed like Origin's technicians were more towards the side of well tuned. The moment of weightlessness was brief, just long enough to carry him up an extra inch after a footstep, but it was there and noticeable to someone who had spent a lot of time on spaceships.

As Nora bounced down the gangway, it was becoming quite clear that what Nora had mentioned about Y chromosomes more than likely applied to the entire crew, not just the mecha pilots- The remaining personnel getting onto the ship were indeed all female. A male face or two would appear, but they were clearly dock workers, and heading the wrong direction to be boarding the ship, likely having been working on a few last minute fixes or changes before the ship was to launch.

It wasn't too long, maybe a hundred meters or so, until they were out of the gangway, and into the ship. the room that they entered looked more or less like a gym, a track ran around the outside of the room, which they had to pass over, and then the inside of the track had a couple of small sports courts, a padded area for sparring or the like, and exercise equipment as well as free weights (of course locked down to the racks to avoid incidents in rough transit or battle) In roughly the center of the expansive deck, however, was an elevator, flanked by two sets of stairs, all leading downward into the ship's other decks.

"Okay, here's deck one, if you need an explanation, the door's behind you," Nora explained, jokingly, heading toward one of the stairwells, as the elevator currently had a line waiting for it. She descended to the next deck, and stopped, for further explanation. "This here is the Entertainment Deck, it contains a movie theater, ten simulation pods to practice piloting, or whatever, and the mini-mart, where you can buy snacks and stuff, got it?"

Mo had noticed the fact their ship seemed to be swarming with those of the fairer gender, running around as if the two men - rather the man and the boy - were the last of their kind or something, it made her chuckle a wee bit as the ravenette turned away from the busty Daur to ask Nora a question.

"So why so many lasses and so few lads? scared people might start families on the ship or something? I mean I'm not complaining but..." Monica's voice trailed off a bit as she gave a grin, hinting that she knew something she shouldn't have known before continuing.

"...There are other ways two ladies can do that if they really wanted to."

Jennifer turned and looked over at Mo with a grin, which was offset by the unlit cigarette in her mouth. Who knew if she was gonna actually light the thing. "Th'se were th' only on's not on o'her priority assignm'nts. 'specially fer th' sh'p's firs' ac'ual launch." She explained. "Also, Rams'ein is docked in Bay 4." She stated to Mo, with a quick nod. Even as they reached the stairs she only then turned her gaze back to the front and watched where she was going.

"Be'ore yo' as' how I know whose mecha is whos, i's my job. An' I make dam' sure i's done right." She stated without missing a beat either. "Mecha pro'lems, or general w'rk on th' ship, I'll be th' one to go to. I may no' he'd all th' maint'nance d'partments, but I know who to talk to f'r gettin' somethin' done." She finished, clarifying her role. "You'll be docked nex' to my mecha in Bay 5."

[Translations:
Th'se were th' only on's not on o'her priority assignm'nts. 'specially fer th' sh'p's firs' ac'ual launch. - These were the only ones not on other priority assignments. Especially for the ship's first actual launch.
Also, Rams'ein is docked in Bay 4. - Also, Ramstein is docked in Bay 4.
Be'ore yo' as' how I know whose mecha is whos, i's my job. An' I make dam' sure i's done right. - Before you ask how I know whose mecha is whos, it's my job. And I make damn sure it's done right.
Mecha pro'lems, or general w'rk on th' ship, I'll be th' one to go to. I may no' he'd all th' maint'nance d'partments, but I know who to talk to f'r gettin' somethin' done. - Mecha problems, or general work on the ship, I'll be the one to go to. I may not head all the maintenance departments, but I know who to talk to for getting something done.
You'll be docked nex' to my mecha in Bay 5. - You'll be docked next to my mecha in Bay 5.]

"Ex-NSMC, 5 years. Nice to know I got someone with combat experience watching my back.", Zeke replied back as they crossed the gangway.

After, he simply followed and listened to Nora as she gave them a tour. Though he thought the following questions were appropriate. The man did find it quite odd that the ship was only female crew, with the exception of him and Charles.

Priority assignments, something about Ramstein being in bay 4, it was mostly just noise but if Mo strained then she could faintly make out something about the oddly spoken lady maybe being a mechanic or technician of some sort - "Cheers... I think," the ravenette said with a rather dismissive shake of her head, it wasn't like getting Jennifer to repeat all that would make it easier to understand to she opted to move on. At least Mo knew that big old fancy m3 Gekido they offered her was ready to go, if it was anything like its pilot then the mech might even be wanting to get something started by itself...

Destiny stayed silent for the most part as they were led onto the ship and simply looked over the space laid out before them. She looked over to where the pods were and knew she would be spending more time there than most any place else. She had recently switched into a new frame and needed more practice as she had spent weeks in the older one. She had some experience in the Knight, but she knew if she was going to be reliable for the team she needed more time.

The idea of a shop on the ship seemed... strange to the woman. She could see the perks of it, especially if they were going to be away from any real stations for a long time, but on a vessel that was effectively a military vessel (at least in her eyes) a shop was just out of place. She kept her thoughts to herself regardless and simply waited to be taken further in.

If the disparity between women and men on the ship seemed to put her off she didn't show it. After all her race had an entire house that was predominantly women who were in charge of all things combat.

The previous conversation was just ending as Charles made his way into a position to follow behind Nora on the stairs, as he walked, he marveled at the luxurious ship. Never had he seen a starship with such expansive crew amenities before, and he made it a point to ask about it. "Excuse me, Miss Nora? It occurs to me that with a whole deck devoted to having fun, whoever designed this must have expected us to have a lot of free time."

Charles looked around as he walked, and thought for a moment. "I guess I'll have to wait to find out about that though." He'd be too busy helping around the ship for a while, with things like setting up the rest of the rooms or other tasks. Keeping himself busy with shipboard tasks was a habit carried over from the navy.

A moment's more thought, and an epiphany occurred. Charles realized that there was a distinct lack of other males on the ship, aside from Zeke and himself. He hadn't seen any other man since he'd gotten onboard, and the reality of the situation hadn't quite occurred to him yet. Clearly, he wasn't quite as good at reading a room (or ship in this case) as he was at other things.

He had just missed the conversation (if you could call it that) and so wasn't in the know.
"Ummm, where are all the other men on the ship? Are they all in their rooms or something?"

Sharlett first just smiled at Mo and her comment calling her shortstack. While she did not have issue with jokes about her height too much, she did have an image to uphold. "I maybe short but that just makes me even more cute." She said with a huff. "We shall see who claims top bunk!" She declared.

It did not take long for Sharlett to notice the level of men on this boat was very thin. In fact it seemed that only two existed that she could make out. This was very pleasing to her as she got along better with the girls than the guys. Generally speaking she had trouble making any friends but would take the lesser of the two evils. The guys tended to only want one thing from her which was not going to happen.

She followed along after Nora and company. This was the beginning of a very special journey.