trans_9 | Meet Aeneas, the Hungry Creature [closed]

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Meet Aeneas, the Hungry Creature [closed]

The Sensorium food was good, but by no means satisfying. If it had been, then Aeneas wouldn't have bothered looking so passionately for the Mess Hall.
This time around, thank Spode, he had a companion who more than likely had a much better sense of direction than the alien did, so perhaps they wouldn't end up walking in circles around the Living Quarters.

But maybe even more powerful than the prospect of real food was the idea that Stacy may or may not have an area for cooking. If she did, that was fabulous. If not, then at least Aeneas would be able to find somebody that he could suggest the premise to. He assumed only good things could come from this escapade—which was ironic, considering how it had started.

Regardless.

Standing just outside the Sleeping Halls in the junction between them and the Sensoriums (the only place that Aeneas was familiar with), he waited patiently—with the human Matt nearby—for Will to show up. She would be guiding them to food.
This was a good thing.

Unfortunately for both of them, it would be an awkward few minutes until she appeared—Aeneas was terrible at starting conversations, especially with sustenance on the mind.

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Matt yawned just a little, thinking of what to say. It wasn't that he was bad at starting, but finding an ice breaker would be a little difficult. What to do. Ah!

"So are you finding the time here on the ship okay?"

Oh thank Spode. Icebreakers were Aeneas’s best friends.

“I suppose I am handling my situation much better than most of the crew,” the alien shrugged absently, staring into the endless columns of sleeping pods in the room nearby, “So yes. Are you?”

It was unfortunate that he wasn’t able to find the food, but that was about to change, so this was not so much of a problem as it had been. Aeneas was feeling fairly content.

"Well, it could be better but at least I'm not freaking out like most people," replied Matt with an easy grin. "I guess I'm pretty easy going no matter what the scenario holds."

Aeneas sighed, a low whistling sound passing gently through the slit-like nostrils above his muzzle. His expression was something between contentment and reluctance, though to a human who was inexperienced in reading the eyes of others these emotions would be hard to pick out.

“You are lucky that your nonchalant demeanor comes naturally.”
Aeneas’s was decidedly artificial in a way Matt probably was not expecting.

Matt did raise an eyebrow at that. "Having trouble adjusting I take it? I mean, you read off as tense and such."

Aeneas wasn’t sure what Matt meant by how he ‘read off’ as something, but he wasn’t about to ask. Humans were weird. It wasn’t worth his effort to try and learn every single nuance about the different flavors that they came in—nor was it practical, with his bad memory and all.

“Not…not exactly,” he shrugged, lavender pupils hazily glancing at the meaty ceiling, “I still adapt well, sure. I just…my adaptability comes for different reasons than yours, I imagine.”

He left it at that, feeling nervous and rather embarrassed. Perhaps he was hoping Matt would change the subject.

Matt nodded, leaning back and waiting for Will. "Hope we can find her soon. I really don't know my way around this place at ALL."

Another sigh. Aeneas didn’t actually think Matt would let him go about that—most of the humans who had gotten up the nerve to inquire about his personal matters had stuck to it until he’d given them a solid answer of some sort. In a way, Aeneas appreciated this sense of determination and curiosity that they expressed.

But he also liked keeping to himself, and he greatly appreciated Matt’s ability to distinguish when a topic should be left alone. It exhibited a level of maturity that Aeneas was not expecting from a human his age.
His purr increased in volume.

“Who, Will?” Aeneas blinked complacently, “Do we need to contact her somehow, or should we take our chances and look around?”

His feathers ruffled with a light snort of laughter at the second remark.

“Really? Have you found the bathrooms yet?”

"Yeah Will. I think I forgot to send her a message. Not used to these comm things. And YES I was shown the bathrooms."

He laughed and added, "We could look around a little."

Aeneas let out another snort-like chuckle.

“Well then you know your way around better than I do.”

Matt should’ve taken note that they’d been on this ship for several days now.

“I just learned how to use my own as of recent. If it would be useful, I could try sending her a message.”

Otherwise, Aeneas had no objections to looking around—so long as he was with Matt. Getting lost with someone else was better than getting lost alone, especially in a place like this. Despite Stacy's hospitality thus far, he was not inclined to lay his complete trust in her just yet.

"Sounds like a plan then," said Matt with a little grin.

"And we can get good and lost too if we need to," added Matt.

Aeneas nodded. “I plan on it.”

His comm ring had become quite the useful apparatus as of late. It was still, however, somewhat cumbersome in its current position; Aeneas had far from powerful arms, so having a sturdy metal ring weighing down his wrist was not extraordinarily comfortable or helpful. He had thought about removing the device entirely, but considering its relative convenience in recent times that was no longer a valid option. Instead, Aeneas decided that he could modify the ring so that he could move it someplace else—perhaps into the crook of his elbow, where it would not be such an obtrusive counterweight—nevertheless, this would require some spare parts and a few tools.
He had a vague idea of where to find these items; perhaps he would locate them later.

Until then, he needed to find—food. Yes, that. Food was good, Aeneas liked food.

His purring decreased in pitch, sound barely carrying. He was thinking a message:

>> (I’m hungry, blarg!) (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_channel/77993.html)

And then he turned back to Matt.
“Done. Where should we start looking?”

"Well the habitat ring sounds as good as any to find people," said Matt, feeling a little geeky at being able to say "habitat ring" and not get laughed at.

Aeneas cocked his head.

"...The what?"

"The place where everyone lives," said Matt. "Sorry, I'm a science fiction nerd."

“Ah,” Aeneas’s feathers ruffled with a snort of laughter. The Sleeping Halls.
Right.

He decided to let Matt lead the way, mostly because he didn’t like the idea of directing others where to go, but also because he was somewhat afraid of accidentally smacking the human in the face with his fuisti. Aeneas’s tail could become alarmingly unpredictable if he was startled in any way, and twelve pounds of moving vertebral process could cause a pretty serious concussion.

“…Though I have noticed, I am one of the few that actually passes through these hallways. I get the impression that most of the crew inhabits other areas.”

Or they just have different sleeping patterns, or they simply have cubbies in out-of-the-way places. Aeneas refused to answer his own question—dammit, he was going to have a conversation with this human and he was going to like it!

"May be yeah," said Matt, nodding in agreement. "Probably some have other places to live here."

He glanced at Aeneas and asked, "Did you find some place to bunk down for the day?"

Aeneas nodded in agreement. Yes, that seemed reasonable—there were quite a few cubbies here, but based on the number of pods and the already conscious crew, Aeneas had a feeling that even this would not be enough to accommodate the sheer number of humans (and non-humans, as few as there appeared to be) on board.

Unlike the others, though, he was content with this.
“Yes. I have been sleeping here.”

He gestured vaguely at the crisscrossing ledges and indents in the wall.

“No space in particular—I can never find the same one.” ”And in any case I can’t tell if it is the same one or not, seeing as they constrict back to their original size after I get back out.”

“Have you?”

"Well at least you could try to personalize them once in a while? Like put a mark on it so that it shows which one is yours." suggested Matt.

He blinked, as if that were an odd thing to suggest.

“…Why? There are so many…I would not assume that it matters which one I pick.”

"Hmm, you have a point there." grinned Matt. "At least it keeps your sleeping quarters fresh right?"

“True,” Aeneas squinted a smile and shrugged casually, “But where have you been staying? Here?”

Something told him that he would’ve seen Matt around if he’d been sleeping in this particular area; however, he had to remind himself of the sheer size of the place. Seeing anyone on a regular basis in the Sleeping Halls wasn't something that happened on its own.

"Naw, I've got a small place elsewhere. It's not much, but it's near the Sensoriums so I can play some music when I want," replied Matt. "It's just a little hideaway of my own."

He was thoroughly confused now.

“So…there are other halls like this one?”

Not that Aeneas didn’t assume that there were other places to sleep; he just found it odd that Matt managed to find a room all to himself. How many of them were scattered about the ship? Aeneas certainly hadn’t stumbled upon any so far…were they hidden somehow?

Matt nodded. "Just searched around, checked the directories actually. Took me a moment to figure out where I was though."

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