Keeping Occupied

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

Cale stood in the media library in one of the pod-rooms, the broken pod-room, to be exact. His brow was creased and his nose scrunched up as he concentrated on the bizarre-looking terminal on the wall. He pressed one of the buttons and got a low ‘beep’ in reply, but the screen remained blank. He tried another. Another beep, still blank. He frowned but he wasn’t giving up. With practically nothing to do on this ship—what with the medbay taken over by the crabby green guy and this being the only other area left on the ship (the sensoriums were almost in constant use by other crew members) with any kind of identifiable technological aspect to it, Cale was determined to at least keep himself busy. And busy meant trying to TURN THAT DAMN SONG OFF!

Over and over the thing had repeated. Never stopping. Never giving even a moment’s break, and with the door wide open and it playing full volume, it was impossible to concentrate anywhere else in the media library—which is what he’d been trying to do earlier. Now, he was determined to fix what was broken…or at least drive himself crazy trying.

Beep. Beep-beep. Beep. Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep. Beep.

There! Right there! He’d had it. It went away but he’d still had it, if only for an instant. The screen flashed for just a moment and then went black again. He was making progress, getting closer. It was just a matter of time before that painstakingly awful song was gone for good.

“Yeah, and you thought I couldn’t do it, didn’t you,” Cale said aloud, apparently speaking to the troublesome terminal. “Well, I’ve got news for you buddy, I am about to own you.”

Comments

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Obvious about...uh...um...you know...stuufff."

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah that narrows it down sooo much. Obvious about stuff. Yeah big help is you, seriously."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

He scowled at her. He's good at that!

"You're a jerk," he said bluntly, and there might even been a little bit of a pout in there.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate smirked, and leaned closer to murmur into his ear.

"Not so much fun from this side, is it?"

She then leaned back away from him.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"It don't bother me," Cale replied dismissively.

LIES!! ALL LIES!!

"I'm not overly sensitive like everyone else on this ship seems to be."

More LIES!

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, you seem all well bothered and something right now." Still more smirking from her.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Yeah? Well, I'm not," Cale postured.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"So not believing you right now," She actually laughed a little at him this time.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

Look! More scowling!

"What?...Why?" Cale asked, becoming visibly uncomfortable with his thinly veiled fronting was so easily punctured.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate got more into his face, peering at him. She's just one of those people can be a) persuasive, and b) good at figuring things out. And Kate will tell you about it if she realizes and thinks she's right.

"Because looks like you do give a crap, you just don't want to get hurt again. Right? Or it's easier to push people away."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

And that was when Cale shoved past Kate, moving back to focus on the broken terminal and trying to turn off that damn music. "I don't know what you're talking about," he dismissed.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Ok, you didn't have to be that literal about it," She shot back, and walked over to him again.

"You know? You make a pretty bad liar."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

Cale rolled his eyes and turned to face her again. "Look, lady, I get that it. Ok? You think I'm cute, so you want to talk to me and get to know me or whatever, but you're not my type and I'm not interested. Get it?"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate snorted at that, "Oh god you need to kill that ego quick because I don't think you're that cute." Yes she does.

She then gestured with her hands, and snarked at him, "I'm talking to you because I'm concerned, and you're a shipmate. And hey maybe thought you could use a friend or two since you're new. But no, Mr Ego wants to play with his toys some more."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

He quirked an eyebrow at her, staring at her with a bit of suspicion. "You want to be my friend?" he asked. "Why?"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"I just said why. We're shipmates, and we all need to work together. And since it's close quarters, being nice to each other is a lot better than biting each other's heads off."

Kate sighed, "Plus you're not the only one here who feels isolated from their world. Some people got their friends or enemies here. A lot of us don't and I'm one of them. Gets really lonely around here if you don't start trusting some of us at least. Especially when we could get attacked again at any time."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"You're lonely and so you just figured that, since I don't know anyone here, that I had to be, too?" Cale asked as he looked her up and down. After a moment of what appeared to be deep thought, he nodded.

"All right, fine. Sure. We're friends."

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Ok cool," Kate replied to that, and walked around the room. Looking for something to watch again.

She then added, "Anyway I sort of have or had a boyfriend...it's complicated."

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

Cale was just a little taken aback by Kate's sudden confession. It wasn't the fact that she had a boyfriend that surprised him--she was kind of pretty, after all--but rather the fact that she felt the need to tell him that caught him off-guard.

"Um...ok. Huge leap!" he said. "Why are you telling me this?"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate shrugged, "So you don't have to worry about me trying to hit on you? Which I totally wasn't."

Mostly.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Right...uh...thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Cale went back to working on the damaged control panel. He was determined to get this thing working again so he could shut the damn music off once and for all. Too bad he was doomed to fail.

"So. What's his name?"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Paco." She just said, checking for movies again.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"Paco? Paco, Paco, Paco... You mean that guy who's on the ship with us? That Paco?"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Yeah we met here a while back. Sort of hooked up." And dating, least till the Yeerks started up sneaking in to cause problems.

[mapquest-titan.livejournal.com]

"What happened?" Cale asked. Whoa? Is he actually interested in someone else? "His mom didn't like you?" Ok...maybe not.