trans_9 | Free Hugs, anyone~?

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Free Hugs, anyone~?

Too much doom and gloom on the ship? Easily fixed, if you ask this mechanic.

There is a table in the mess hall, carefully set up just inside one of the doors, with a small sign on top reading, "Free Hugs!" Next to the sign, looking as smiley as she possibly can, sits Kaylee, ready to hug anyone and everyone who walks through the door.

Non-huggers beware, even you are in danger of some cheering up today.

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Right, not everybody shook hands. Kaylee just keeps on smiling, pulling her hand back to shove it in her pocket. "Nice to meet you then, Adrastos."

And not everyone could. But at least he didn't have to deal with the issues of being an AI. He remembered what he was supposed to say to that. "It is nice to meet you as well, Kaylee."

Yeah, there's that too. "So are you one of our newest pod-pops, or have I just missed seein' ya around before? I do spend a lot of my time down in Engineerin', so it's possible..."

"I am... newly awakened." Adrastos didn't mention that he hadn't gone through the pod-pop like everyone else. He wasn't nearly as forthcoming with information as he expected everyone else to be. "You are an engineer?"

"Good to be out of the slime, ain't it?" Not that the plant suits are much better. "'M a mechanic more'n an engineer, but yeah."

"I did not go through that." He said it before he could consider what he was saying. "What do you work on?"

"You didn't?" Kaylee cocks her head to one side. "How'd you manage that one?" Some folks are just lucky, maybe.

"Work on space ships, mostly. Engines and the like. Back home I worked with my daddy in his shop, and got hired later on as sole mechanic of a transport ship by the name of Serenity."

"I woke up. I did not go through the pod-pop." Adrastos had simply found himself activated after an unknown period of time dormant. "How long have you been here?

"What is there to work on on this ship?"

"It's hard to say, really. Lose track of time on a boat like this, but it's gotta be nearin' six months, if not past that." A longer time than she thought she'd be here, at least.

"There're plenty of things. Repairs, keepin' Stacy in good condition, fixin' her up after some of the problems we've had in the past. The ships down in the cargo bay need lookin' after, too."

"You awakened normally?" Adrastos knew the answer; everyone went through the pod-pops, it seemed, unless they were an AI like him.

"What problems have there been?"

"Lucky as I am? Sure did." Not her favorite experience on Stacy either.

"Nightmare King was the most recent. Got to the point where the nightmares we were havin' took actual shape on the ship, and that didn't help in keepin' the ship straightened out at all, especially down in the city. There've been others, too, but our main problem starters were the pirates that attacked Stacy 'fore we were awake. Killed her original crew, damaged her up pretty good. Got our work cut out for us, there--we're still tryin' to figure out what's wrong in some places."

"What is it like?" Adrastos would have asked anyway, but since he'd been in the Sensoriums a few times, he actually might understand the answer now.

"How did that work? The Nightmare King, I mean. Why did these pirates attack the ship?"

"Slimy 'n uncomfortable as all get out. You wake up naked with a buncha folks you don't recognize, and go down to get shoved into a nice squirmy plant suit after Stacy blows you down with a sonic shower. There're tentacles involved in there, too." Uncomfortable, to say the very least.

"Dunno really. Some people on the boat got strange little powers that come along with 'em. This one brought out the nightmares, kept 'em growin' til they were real and started hurtin' folks." As for pirates, "Can't say why the pirates attacked, but it was probably for some of the cargo, maybe takin' parts. Killed everybody on the way, though, 'n managed to mangle Stacy somethin' good."

"It sounds..." 'Unpleasant' was the correct word. "...Interesting," was the word Adrastos came up with.

"So was it another person on the ship that caused this nightmare phenomenon?"

"Oh, plenty interestin'. Ain't experienced anythin' like it before or since."

As for the nightmare problems, Kaylee had never really found out exactly what had happened. "Not really sure myself. There're other people it'd be better to ask that...could've been a person, could've been on of Stacy's alters..."

"You did not like the experience?"

"Alters?" Adrastos knew the term and how it applied to humans, but he had no idea how it would apply to a ship, even one like this. "Who would know?"

"Wasn't my favorite thing to wake up to in the mornin', no." Kaylee shrugged. "But, beats not bein' here at all, right?"

She stood up, trying to spot someone in the room who would be of more help. "You'd be lookin' for one of the command staff for that, or somebody on the Magic crew..."

"I suppose so." Which reminded him he'd still only found one of his brothers. "Are there others here from your world?"

He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do when she started looking. Look around as well? He didn't know who he was looking for. Tell her she didn't need to? But he wanted to know.

Kaylee's smile falters a little. "Only one's wokin' up so far. One of my crew mates. Doctor Simon Tam, if you ever run into him."

A scan of the room reveals no one of importance to the conversation. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to put out somethin' over the omnicoms, try and get their attention. A steppin' stone, at least."

"You do not know what happened to the others, then." The question was quieter than the others.

He nodded at her suggestion. A moment later, he added, "Thank you for your suggestion."

"I don't." But her smile said all it needed to. They were down there somewhere, she was positive of that.

"Not a problem in the least. It's a general startin' point for anythin', especially if you're tryin' to get hold of somebody in particular. She's a big boat, after all."

Adrastos wasn't nearly as confident as she was. One of his brothers had awakened at the same time he did, which in his mind made the others' still being dormant far less likely.

"I understand. Thank you again."

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Free Hugs, anyone~?

Late tags are a-okay, half of mine are always late lol

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