trans_9 | The Answer is 42 [open]

"Mind if I join you?" There was a voice from behind, just as equally tired from working on the Calnus, since she;d volunteered to scrub down certain sides of the ship that even she was loath to scrub.

"Sure." Reimi shuffled over a bit to let Nura get in. "Sorry it took so long to maintain the ship today."

"Oh, it's fine." She put one foot into the water before she sunk in, resting her head against the side. "I just have to wonder what you and your crew hit in the past to get that much gunk on the belly of the ship."

"I'm wondering that myself," remarked Reimi thoughtfully. "Maybe I should bring some of it down to engineering to get it analyzed. I've never seen anything like it. It does look like we were in one serious battle."

She stretched out, yawning loudly. "How are things with you and Querl?"

"Well I think I clean it all off the underbelly of the Calnus, but you're welcome to take the ruined rags down for analysis." That reminded her of something. She needed to go ask Rein for more fabric to turn into rags, since she doubted she would ever get that strange gunk off the rags...

SHe turned her head to her teacher with a smile when she mentioned Querl. "Oh. You know. Exactly what I told you about him. Total grindwump." She laughed softly. "But lovable."

They hadn't been the only one who wanted to relax today: in fact, the last thing Katara wanted to do was think about anything but relaxing in the bathhouse, reminding herself that she owed Billy a debt of thank for the idea of the bathhouse to begin with. When she arrived, she saw there were two other girls: one she didn't know too well, the other was Nura, who she gave a small smile to.

"Um, would you guys minded if I joined you?" She asked. "It's been kind of a long day."

Reimi chuckled a little as she turned to look over at Nura. "Seems like it's just a handful to keep up these days. But I'm glad you've got him here."

No brain, it wasn't time to become mopey, but she was still kind of missing her own friends. She looked over at Katara and nodded. "Sure, grab a seat."

"He's a handful in so many ways." She nudged Reimi with a wink and a laugh. "Mhmm. I'm glad he's here, too. I feel bad for the crew, though."

She turned her head to greet Katara, smiling and nodding her head, scooting over a bit to make some more room. "Come right on in, Katara. Have you met my teacher, Reimi?"

Because they were n the co-ed side, Katara had made sure to have the towel cover her chest and bottom half. She had only caught snatches of conversation, but she didn't want to interrupt.

She scooted in, happy to at least be around someone she knew, and should have caught up with anyway...like that information.

"Teacher? What do you teach, Reimi?"

Wait, should she have called her sensei, or master? What did one call a teacher from another place?"

"Ah science mostly," replied Reimi. "I'm teaching Nura how to work on the Calnus, the ship we have down in the hangar. And helpful stuff from the science of my time. We're getting it back into order."

Reimi paused. "Come to think about it, that gunk could be alien remains from the auto-defense system it had active during that mission down to the mining colony."

"You think so?" Nura turned her head to Reimi. "I hope it doesn't regenerate or anything..."

Thanks to Billy, Katara could actually follow the conversation, not to mention appreciate that Reimi had been giving Nura a crash course in sciences she knew had to be farther advanced than what she knew.

"Wait, which mission was this? I think I may have missed that one. Was that the one where that boy Hiccup has that chest burster thing happen to him?"

Reimi winced at that memory of the news. "Yes, that one. Poor Hiccup."

She thought about that for a moment. "I don't think it could. If it hasn't regenerated by now, I doubt it would."

"... we should just burn the rags when we can, huh?"

"I missed that one as well." But then, she'd been busy making sure Devlin and Ben were all right and that she attended Maydril's training sessions. "Poor kid. Wasn't he in the Med Bay for some time?"

She made a face at the mention. "I think so. We don't want to risk anything, right?"

Katara nodded. "Yes, recovering. I was one of the people attending to him then, but the ship's doctor did the rest, I think." She made a face, remembering the outright rudeness that doctor showed. "I'm glad he's recovered from it."

She looked at the others. "So what's been new with you two?" Considering the last few days, Katara was eager for girl talk-anything that didn't involve her brother or that possession.

Reimi leaned back, stretching her arms over her head. "I've been working on the Calnus mostly, but lately I've been using a beach simulation on the sensoriums. Swimming mostly because I haven't really done much in terms of working out."

Nura crossed one leg over the other beneath the water, letting out a content sigh. "I've been working on the Calnus, as well. Mostly checking the engine and making sure the controls are in working order. But I've also been spending some quality time with Ben, and..." she then made a mischievous smile. "...some special time with Querl."

"I've found that swimming is actually one of the easiest ways to work out besides walking all over the City," Katara said. "Obviously you can't walk it now, but swimming we can at least do here: I'd only thought out hotel was the only other place."

Katara laughed, clapping her hands. "I had no idea he was on board, Nura! No wonder you seem so happy! Of course I'm happy you're watching over Ben, but your husband is on board, that's great! I've just been training, meditating, you know...and when I have the time, I do actually visit my boyfriend too."

She smiled a little secretly here. She didn't think she'd told Nura about him yet.

Reimi chuckled at that. "It's gotten to the point that I moved out. I mean, I like staying with Nura but y'know, I can't sleep through that."

She was blushing a little. "At least you two lock the door."

"And swimming is awesome. I never really got to do it at home. The amount of pools are limited in our underground cities."

"Oh gods, did you hear us?" While Querl would be mortified, Nura found it humorous. "I feel bad, though." She made a slightly serious look. "I know the Calnus has comfortable quarters, but it's pretty tight spaced and not exactly healthy to be alone in there a lot of the time."

She thought for a moment. "Same here. The pools were mostly used for exercise in the training regime instead of for relaxation."

Oh. So she guessed now wasn't the time for her own girl talk? Well, she could see that: after all, they WERE sort of living together for a little while. It made sense. She sort of wished she knew more about this Calnus place now.

"The pools in the outsider's plaza were more built for recreation I think," Katara tried to supply helpfully. "The place used to be a hotel, so I think that was what guests who were in those rooms would use them for. They took awhile to clean, but they're up and running now!"

Lame, she knew, but at least it helped the conversation, right?

"That would be nice to come and visit then," said Reimi, helpfully steering the conversation towards Katara. "I'd love to come and see the pool there."

"So how about you Katara? Have you met a nice boy yet?" She politely refrained from assuming that the girl might have a girlfriend. One could never know.

"Katara is now seeing the handsome Matt, right?" She turned a coy look to Katara. "Gorgeous, lanky thin, and rock star body and looks and all, right?" She nudged Katara playfully. "So you two are now official?"

"Oh, we'd love to have you of course!" Katara said, brightening a little. "We're still trying to get everybody together, the Outsiders have been shuffled around a lot, but with a little luck, we can get a permanent status. In the meantime, we've never turned guests away either."

She did duck her a little here, but looked pleased with herself. "Well, he is sort of a rock star to begin with, but yes, we're official. We've sort of just talked and laughed with each other, and I lived on the W.I.T.C.H. bus look to look after Negi a little bit. After awhile we just clicked."

She reddened, happy to at least talk about one of the happiest things going on for her despite how strained they made things with her and her brother.

"Really? You must be really happy about that," gushed Reimi as she leaned over. "I heard he's cute. So he does music? What kind of songs? Does he create his own?"

"What do you do about dates? Do you use the sensoriums as well?"

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