Not so smooth sailing [Open]

[morphitudinous]

After putting in two long days of work to compensate for the time he missed during the darksoul's assault, Billy was finally ready to deal with work of a more delicate matter. Emotion and the heart. And unlike most damaged objects that Billy encountered, he couldn't fix hearts and relationships with a welding torch and some elbow grease. He needed to take a more subtle approach.

While he'd slept during that time protecting Kaylee, his dreams had recalled the past. He remembered lazy afternoons in Angel Grove with his best friends, talking about anything and everything over a refreshing smoothie from the juice bar. They were some of his favorite conversations.

And with that, the beginnings of an idea started to form in his mind.

The steps were simple. Take some slop to the Sensoriums, form it into one of those beverages he remembered so fondly, and then find a nice place to serve them and talk. The juice bar was right out---too bright, too full of memories, and who was he to attempt to replace Ernie? A quiet park was a better choice. He imagined gentle green hills, the lake sparkling just beyond, and a round garden table with comfortable chairs. For a musical touch, there was a distant wind chime blowing in the breeze. Finally, the strawberry smoothie pitcher was set out, his friends were contacted, and he waited.

Billy hoped that a simple strawberry delight would be enough to bring a bit of cheer to the gloom settling around.

((ooc: The main thread's between Billy, Jamie, and Kaylee, but test subjects guests are also welcome to taste test this beverage! Taste tests will take place first chronologically, if any.))

Comments

[bonnypiperlad]

It's not too long after Jamie receives the message that he arrives in the Sensoriums. He's not overly surprised at the setting - and after everything that's happened lately, he can appreciate it as well. He takes a moment to close his eyes, tilting his face upward in order to feel the breeze. It's been too long since he's felt something like that, and a small smile appears as he takes a moment to simply enjoy the feeling.

If he takes too long to get there, however, Billy might start to worry. So, a little reluctantly, he continues through the park and over to where the table and his friend is.

"Hello, Billy," he says, a little more quietly than normal. "It's good to see ye."

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

If Billy, of all people, is taking time off of work to put something like this together, Kaylee isn't going to miss it for all the catalyzers in the 'verse. It means actually facing Jamie, though, and while they have sort of worked things out over the omnicoms, it's not quite the same as talking things over in person.

The mechanic pauses just outside the appropriate room and takes a deep breath before entering the scene. Fresh air hits her face as she does so, and once her eyes adjust she is rewarded with what is quite possibly one of the most naturally beautiful sights she's ever seen. Well, as natural as you could be in the Sensoriums.

She's caught up enough with taking it all in that it takes her an extra minute to finally spot Billy and Jamie. Kaylee gives them an uneasy smile and a wave, and walks on over to the table.

"Never seen anythin' quite like it..."

[morphitudinous]

"To be honest, neither have I," Billy admits, gesturing for them to sit. "The park in my hometown looked somewhat like this, but I enhanced the visuals. I wanted to show you something beyond reality."

Not too far beyond, but...this was his comfort zone and he liked it. He hoped they would too.

"I thought I'd offer you both something more mundane to drink. Do you remember me mentioning smoothies to you?"

[bonnypiperlad]

And there's Kaylee. Jamie takes a deep breath as he sees her arrive. Even with that conversation over the Omnicomms, he was worried that she wouldn't show. Now that she's here, he finds himself with mixed feelings. He's glad to see her, of course, but...it's still a little awkward. He does give her a small smile as he takes a seat, though.

Billy's question provides something nice and neutral to talk about, and he latches onto it. "Smoothies? Aye, you mentioned them." He's still not entirely sure what they are, but if that's what's in the pitcher... Jamie leans towards the table, peering curiously at the contents. "Is that what ye have, then?"

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

"It's somethin' else alright." Reminds her of all the places Jamie keeps showing her, how exotic and different they all are... Not likely to happen again for a while, those little trips. She wouldn't want to be alone with her either.

Kaylee slides neatly into the closest chair, careful focus on Billy so it isn't too painfully obvious that she's avoiding eye contact with Jamie. She'll get there eventually, of course she will because that's why they're here, but it's going to take a few minutes of settling in.

Smoothies, though... "As in the kind with fruit?" Fruit smoothies sound like a shiny idea right now, actually.

[morphitudinous]

"In this case it's strawberry," Billy tells her with a faint smile on his face. He thought she might like that. "On my world, my friends and I always had a smoothie when we needed to think and talk about things. I don't think there was any particular property inherent to the smoothie that helped us, but we always felt better afterward."

That said, he pours one for each of them. "Mine aren't as good as the genuine article, but I hope you like them."

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie accepts the glass, although not without a glance over to Kaylee. "Aye, maybe so."

He's doubtful that there's anything in the smoothie itself that would help either, but surely it wouldn't hurt to at least try it. It'll give him something to do, as well, because he has absolutely no idea what to say to Kaylee that he hasn't already said.

While he thinks about what to do, he absently takes a sip from the glass, then looks at the concoction in pleasant surprise. "Hey, that's not bad!"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara had been wandering about for the last few days, if only because she was happy that the possession thing had finally gone away. She walked into the Sensorium, and was immediately reminded of the place they went to near that Earth Nation where they made those ice drinks. She did know, however, that this was far more modern and looked to see who was responsible.

So of course she was happy to finally see Billy here amidst the greenery and the lake. It was so pretty, Katara had to marvel it a moment.

"Billy?! Is this your creation?"

[morphitudinous]

"Katara!" He greeted her with a small smile, waving her over to the table if she wished to sit down.

"Are you feeling okay? I'm not sure who was all affected by the darksoul."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara took the table gladly, happy to see that Billy would take the initiative on something like this. It looked very involving and friendly.

"I'm all right. I didn't get affected by the darksoul, a friend of mine did, and I had to immobilize them. I got yelled at for it though, because I froze them. I guess I sort of frayed a relationship there though. It wasn't my best hour."

She looked sheepish, but not apologetic. She did what she had to for Eva, after all.

[morphitudinous]

Billy looked concerned for her, reaching over to pour something from the pitcher.

"I was following my prescription and sleeping. That's why you didn't see me around. I can't believe I was oblivious to the whole ordeal," he grumbled a little, passing a glass to her side of the table.

"What were you expected to do instead?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad that you weren't," Katara admitted. "I didn't want you to suffer from all of this, to be honest. I mean, I know you wouldn't want to be out of it, but some of the things that dark soul said, it was pretty brutal."

She shook her head. "Not freeze them I guess, I don't know. It was Eva, and she had a history of things invading her mind. When I realized that Darksoul was dominating, I wanted to stop it immediately. I had to stop her quickly. But her son is here, and he's protective."

[morphitudinous]

Billy nodded. "I'm glad she's alright. I can understand what he must've felt, but I think that should have been better than wrestling her."

He finished with the smoothies and set them out if they were wanted. "It was probably as bad as I was when the Nightmare King had control of me," Billy sighed.

[bio-boosted.livejournal.com]

Sho had gone to the sensoriums to do some testing and to play around. There was something he had in mind, but he needed to know what exactly he could do.

Instead though, he finds himself in a nice quiet park. Sho sees Billy at the table with the pitcher and walks over, waving to him.

"Hello. I'm sorry if I'm intruding or anything."

[morphitudinous]

Billy waves back, glad for the company for once. It would be good to get the opinions of some others before Jamie and Kaylee get here, and getting to know the others is almost always a good thing.

"Not at all! I was actually hoping someone would come by."

He didn't get to meet new faces too often, so this was an opportunity. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you working with anyone?"

[bio-boosted.livejournal.com]

"Ah, no, not exactly." Sho answers. "I'm actually new around here. My name's Sho Fukamachi. I help out at the Atori Tea House where I live, if that counts."

Sho takes a look at the strawberry smoothie pitcher. "So, what are you doing? Just relaxing?"

[morphitudinous]

Billy considered that. A tea house sounded nice. "If we could get the ingredients, you could probably open a tea house here if you wanted to. I think we'd really appreciate it."

After a beat, he remembered to introduce himself. "I'm Billy Cranston, and I head up the Engineering department. This is one of my few days off."

He sat, gesturing for Sho to join him if he wanted to. "I'm actually waiting for friends to meet me here, but they're going to be a while. In the meantime, I'm experimenting with the Sensoriums' ability to replicate the taste of smoothies. Would you like a glass?"

Extra taste tests were always useful.

[bio-boosted.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that's cool." Sho says with a smile. "I was in engineering. I met a girl named Ronnae. You probably know her."

Sho takes a seat opposite Billy. "Sure. I haven't had a smoothie in a long time."

[morphitudinous]

"Affirmative," Billy confirmed. "It's difficult to forget her." How could he possibly forget Ronnae bouncing in and out of the rooms with that grin?

He poured a glass for Sho and passed it over. "It's strawberry right now, but feel free to change it to a flavor you like better. I haven't had a smoothie for over a year, so my memory might not be the strongest."

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Ronnae peeks into the sensorium. In the short while she's been aboard this ship she had noticed that there was no 'occupied' signs when they were in use, which made it a bit awkward when she walked into some of them.

When she noticed the calm serene scenery she smiled. Scanning the area she noticed Billy. Not wanting to intrude she waved at him from the door with a smile.

[morphitudinous]

Billy wished he was allowed to install an occupied sign. It would be wonderful, but alas, the interruptions would continue. This time, though, he didn't mind at all.

"Ronnae," he smiled, waving her inside. "How are you settling in?"

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Ronnae timidly accepted, moving in slowly.

"I'm doing my best sir. It's... well vastly different than what I was accustomed to, but I'm managing. And some of the denizens have been really kind to me, so that's good." She smiled as she reached the table and bowed respectfully.

[morphitudinous]

Billy had to hide a smile behind his hand. Now he knew what Kang felt when being addressed as 'sir'.

"Just calling me Billy is fine," he assured her, pulling out a chair if she wanted to sit. "I'm glad it's going well for you."

Then he picked up the pitcher, turning it in his hand. "Would you like a drink? I would've loved to make a real smoothie, but I've had to settle for using my memory to transform our amorphous food substance into one. I'm not sure if the flavor's completely on target, and I might not be the best judge of my own work."

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Ronnae smiled warmly, she had become happy that she had found people on board that had acknowledged her. Specially grateful she had been allowed to be part of engineering. And here was her senior offering a relaxing moment. She was at ease.

She nodded, taking a seat with a smile. "I'd love one! Tho it's taking a bit longer to get used to the food thing slime whatsits." She laughed lightly.

"It's hard going from large haunches of meat, bundles of fruits and nice fresh bread to ummm something that looks like yesterdays opponent in the Slime Fields." She laughed.

"Besides I'm sure you did a great job with it!" She nodded playfully.

[morphitudinous]

Billy poured her a drink and pushed it over, still smiling. "You won't be able to taste the slime at all," he promised her. "It's nothing but a strawberry smoothie while you're in here."

He poured one for himself and tasted carefully, still not sure what he thought of the drink.