trans_9 | Relaxation Time (Open)

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Relaxation Time (Open)

After everything with the bridge team, the zombies, and the big reveal, Mei Ling needed a bit of time to herself and reflect back on this ordeal. And by this, she meant not thinking about it and focusing on something else entirely to keep her mind of all of the bad feelings seeping through the ship at the moment. Mei Ling's constant optimism was upheld by her simple choosing to ignore the sheer enormity of the fact that her entire world was gone and... it was actually working out pretty well so far.

Instead of moping around, Mei Ling distracted herself. She immersed herself in what she loved most, technology. She has spent the past several hours leaning over several disassembled communications devices she had pulled out of weapons and possessions next to her own comm ring, which may look broken, but she totally knows how to put it back together. Trust her.

She was incredibly focused on her work, she may or may not notice anyone walking in.

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Did Billy know the urge to delve into work when his thoughts were jumbled?

Yes, yes he did. That's why he found himself on the familiar path to the laboratory once more. Here he could fix things, do something, be useful, matter again. He intended to lock himself away and work for hours, drowning out all other distractions.

When Mei Ling's presence ended that plan, he took a breath and entered the doorway after a twinge of disappointment. He'd meant to catch up with her eventually, and now was as good of a time as ever. Actually, he was curious about those scattered communicator parts too. "Mei Ling..."

Billy hoped that was loud enough to catch her attention.

It did catch her attention. She glanced up from her workspace. The interruption didn't annoy her, but it did catch her by surprise. She spotted Billy and smiled. There was clearly some pep missing from that smile, though. It was obvious she was tired and distracted among other things, but it was genuine none the less.

"Hi, Billy," she straightened up in her chair, a bit.

"Hey." Billy wasn't exactly the poster boy for energy either, as evidenced by the tired smile and slow walk around the desk. He settled down on the other side, eyes darting to her communication equipment.

"Was this the equipment damaged on the mission?"

"This?" She shook her, "These were just a few things I picked up in Weapons and Possessions earlier. I figured I'd take some time to do some research on communication devices available on Stacy in case we have another incident with the comm system."

Speaking of that, Mei Ling got up from her chair and went over to another shelf retrieving the comm console she was using during the mission. She placed it down on the table next to the other pile. "I managed to restore it to it's original function, though not until after the team had made it to the bridge."

Billy nodded. He was definitely impressed. "Have you asked any of the others about communications technologies on their home worlds? I realize that they will probably be reluctant to talk about their pasts, but maybe you could find room for enhancements. We based the comm rings partially on my old communicator blueprints, but there are others who weren't yet podpopped during the design process."

Now, done with the 'yay science' cheer, his voice darkened a little. "For all our knowledge, we were still knocked completely out of contact with each other. Not knowing if your team was alive was the worst part." Billy's head dropped into his hands for a moment. "Thank you, though, for repairing everything as quickly as you did."

"I did what I could. I had hoped to get it repaired sooner but..." She trailed off. This conversation was getting a bit darker than Mei Ling had hoped. She turned her attention back to the equipment in front of her for a convenient distraction.

"I thought about asking, though I wasn't sure if I should do it so soon after..." a pause, she moved onto the next train of thought, "That's why I was just taking a look at what was on the ship and seeing if we can make any enhancements now."

"I know. I highly doubt the zombies were offering assistance." He lapsed into silence then, aware that he'd probably pushed her too far. It wasn't intended to be a joke---now wasn't the time---but a sad comment on their lot.

"Right. Hey...while I'm here, is there anything I can help you with?" Billy's gaze is on the half-broken equipment, trying to puzzle out its mysteries with a glance. He hoped he could compensate for his tactlessness by working.

"Sure," She was actually pretty happy to have some company now. "There were a few interesting devices in W&P. I've been looking at this..."

She held up a small, square walkie talkie look a like equipped with a screen, "As far as I can figure out, this device is used to transmit audio as well as visual data, but when I open it up I can't find anything that seems like it would be able to transmit visual files, and when I look at this..."

She picked up another device, technobabble ensued.

Billy reached for the 'video walkie-talkie', carefully examining the interior. "A most impressive device. Hypothetically it would function with a transmitter equipped to..." His babble eventually reached the important part. "Its power is depleted and the visual data encoding needs to be repaired, but with those changes it would come online. The capability to transmit video feeds on the field would be highly useful. Perhaps the parts needed to repair it are elsewhere on the ship."

Then they moved to the next device, and Billy found himself almost smiling. After a few discussions about the functions of objects, he was suddenly struck with an idea.

"Have we looked at the equipment in the areas beyond the Observation Deck yet? The key to improvement might be there."

"I don't think anyone has looked, yet," she set down the apparatus she was holding. "I think we should start looking, and then no giving up until we reach the Yellow River."

Proverbs were her best methods of inspiration.

"Right," he smiled. He thought for a moment about what she said, trying to envision where they'd encountered a Yellow River on their quest for the bridge.

It was then that he realized that she probably wasn't speaking literally. "The Yellow River? Are you metaphorically referring to the river in China, or did I miss a rather large discovery on the trip?"

"I guess no one told you what's on the other side of this ship," Mei Ling grinned.

"And once we reach it, our hydraulics department will be the greatest in the universe." It would be pretty neat to use that as a source of power, though Katara could do a fair few things on her own with those waterbending powers.

"So, should we put out a message to the rest of the ship and gather a search party?"

A nod, "I think so. I'm sure others would love to help."

Luis had not been down to engineering for some time. He'd been so busy in med bay it didn't even cross his mind to stop in there for some time. There was also a sort of... respectful disconnect from the place, since he'd heard about the death of ~~that obnoxious~~ Brainiac 5. He knew the snotty kid hated him and hated his presence in engineering, so maybe it was his way of showing his gratitude for the whole "dying to save us all" thing.

But now he was looking for some equipment he needed for an experiment he was setting up, so progress hedged on his breaching engineering once again. He had his eyes set on the tool shelf in the back-- and then he had his eyes on the extremely cute girl hard at work.

"Hey, señorita! What's on the agenda?"

Oh? Another visitor? Mei Ling hadn't met this one in person before, but she could assume who it was. She set down the tool she was using and gave a sweet smile back at the newest occupant of the engineering room.

"Hi," she really was cute, wasn't she? "Just doing a bit of tinkering for now. Can I help you?"

Luis leaned against the end of the bench, giving her one of his smoother smiles. "No, not at all. Don't let me interrupt you. I'm just looking for a few supplies for med bay."

His eyes raked over the communications equipment she was working on. He knew more or less what the pieces were and what she was doing, but she clearly had a practiced hand and a level of expertise he couldn't have hoped to mimic. "Mei Ling, wasn't it? Luis Sera. What are you working on?"

"Nice to meet you, Luis," She grins again. This was a nice distraction. "I was just poking around some devices I found in Weapons and Possessions. I'm sure you know the comm system was down during this last mission, and I was hoping to find a back up system in case that ever happened again."

"That's a good idea," Luis complimented, looking over her work again. "That's right, you're a communications expert, sí? If you come up with something substantial, I'd be happy to pass it on to command staff for you. I don't think anybody wants to be stranded like that again."

He shook his head at all the little parts and pieces. He could work with machines, but he would always prefer living things. "You've got me impressed already. Where did you learn all this?"

"I'm not an expert. Many know much more than I ever could about these." She laughed slightly and shook her head. Always modest, Mei Ling. "It was just a hobby in school, but I got more involved with communications after I graduated."

"Well, expert or no, I could never figure out something like that," he replied, in a tone that read she had no reason to be modest. "I'm more of a petri dish kind of guy myself."

"And you're already back at work so soon after all the turmoil," he commented. "You're taking the time to enjoy yourself too, right?"

Mei Ling shrugged, "I enjoy my work."

This really was her idea of time to herself on the ship. That needed to be fixed.

Luis fancied himself a repairman.

"I know how that goes," he sighed. "It's been nothing but work, work, work. Ever since things calmed down, things only got worse for me. I'm quite the workaholic, but even I have a breaking point."

Aaaaand time to move in.

"I was thinking about taking an evening off, check out the sensoriums, maybe have a few of these drinks I've heard about. Maybe you'd like to join me?"

"Oh? Well, I'd have to think about it..." Mei Ling gave a more flirtatious grin. "Maybe. What time would I meet you if I did go?"

He shot her back a flirtatious grin of his own. "Well, hypothetically speaking, I was thinking of heading out around... seven by my watch."

"Seven? Oh, I think I might be free by then."

"Maravilloso," Luis said pleasantly. "Well, if the mood so strikes you, I'll pick you up on the obs deck?"

"Okay," and a wink.

"Perfect! Perhaps I'll see you then." He regarded her with another one of his devastating smiles. "I'll leave you to your tinkering then. Have fun, bonita."

"Did you go on a hunt through the lockers or did that all just come with you?" A voice asked behind her.

Even if she was inclined to notice someone coming in, Dark Smoke Puncher was ninja, so she probably didn't.

That caught her a bit by surprise. She jumped just slightly, but turned around with a smile on her face. She clearly did not mind the interruption.

"I found them in the locker," hunting made it sound bad.

Dark Smoke Puncher nodded. "I was thinking of checking the other lockers. Might be handy stuff. Let's see....most of these look like communicators, right?"

She nodded, "They are."

"Find any interesting ones?" Dark Smoke Puncher asked, looking them over curiously.

"All of them are interesting in different ways," leave it to Mei Ling to treat communication devices equally, "I was just looking at they way they all function differently. It's fascinating."

"Well, I meant more interesting in something you've never seen or expected to see before," Dark Smoke Puncher said, looking over one of the ones she already dismantled.

"This one," she picked up a seemingly random device out of the pile in front of her, "has some unique circuitry. You see this part here..."

It actually looked like the same mess of wires and other electronic doodadery as every device spread across her workspace. Mei Ling pointed at various parts, babbling on and offering more than needed technical explanations. Was he actually catching any of this?

"Now that is interesting," Dark Smoke Puncher said after she explained, having actually followed it completely.

Don't let the occasional gangsta talk fool you. The boy knew his machines and wiring.

Blitzwing hasn't been affected that much, to be honest.
He's not sure what a sane person's reaction would be, and after a while he decides he doesn't care.
So he wanders around, and eventually sees Mei Ling doing something he considers interesting, and walks over beside her.
"Vhat are jou doink?"

She gives him a small smile. She offers him a true answer, "Keeping busy."

"...I see."
He picks up one of the dismantled communication devices, turning it over in his servos. He's not much of a mechanic, but even this device seems fairly complex in nature.
His modified optic whirrs as he extends it to take a closer look at it. He doesn't look at her as he speaks.
"Und how are jou taking it?"

"I think I can maybe make a few modifications on the current comm system on the ship from this. Nothing major, just some small improvements, but something is better than nothing," always optimistic.

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Relaxation Time (Open)

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Because I still own you a lottery and he's engineering.

woo /o/

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