Group activity

Dustin grimaced at the tablet in front of him. “I was hoping they’d lose in the semis. This is going to be a pain in the ass of a final day.” Bleu shrugged. “Always expect the worst case scenario, captain. Regardless of our opponents, we should do our best.” He sighed and nodded. “As you say, doctor. They’ve just got a better setup for this than the alternative team had, which is irritating. Guess we’d better review tactics in light of the opposition.” The other two ladies glanced up from their own tablets. “Roger that Dusty. So, we on the same basic plan or?” Rye asked, leaving the question hanging.

“Same basic plan, I think. You and I go in and get the targets out, Bleu and Emely treat them. Thoughts, everyone?” Emely frowned. “The group challenge in the final round is the same as the earlier ones, right? Rescue injured people from a simulated disaster zone - but it’s at the main arena, so it’ll be a much larger area.” Dustin nodded. “Have you spotted something?” he asked, turning to face the Feliax. “Just… last time there were a bunch of smaller gaps you struggled to fit through, and finding everyone took time. What if I go in with you to start off, help scout out where the victims are so you can just focus on freeing them and getting them out? I’m the most flexible one here besides Bleu, and we all agreed that the doctor’s better off handling the healing because…”

At that point the doctor waved six hands and interrupted “…because I can handle more patients than anyone else here.” Dustin blinked. Emely giggled. Rye… put on an overly shocked face. “Was that a joke? From the doctor? An actual joke? Ya starting to come out of your shell finally?” the Rabyth said in so serious a tone Dustin was for a moment unsure if she was being sarcastic or not - until a wink and a chuckle from the bunny girl gave the game away. Six hands merged into one over-sized one, which then proceeded to flip the bunny girl off. “I am capable of joking. I just usually choose not to.” The doctor huffed - but she was smiling at the same time. Clearly, being stuck in close proximity to the others for the past week had done a lot to help Bleu feel like she could relax around them; Dustin was really glad of the fact - he had definitely made the right call by asking the doctor to come with them on this mission.

Bleu left the others discussing their strategy for covering the arena grounds to optimize finding their targets. She didn’t have anything to contribute after all - her job was to apply fake “healing” to the people they brought out of the area, via the means of a set of customized medical scanners and faked medsprays. Giving the excuse that she wanted to review the manuals for said scanners, she’d managed to duck out without any further social incidents. Honestly, what had she been thinking, joking like that? Shutting the door to her chamber, she pushed the offending part of herself out to the surface. “What was that about?” She asked, glaring at the face that had formed on the back of one of her hands.

The cluster blinked a couple of times as it reorganized to handle the sudden addition of optics and a second mouth and then gave the facial equivalent of a shrug. “Socially things have been going well, and joking with the others will let them view us as more than just a co-worker. It’s a low risk strategy.” Bleu sighed and shook her head. “Low risk or not, it isn’t cohesive to just make decisions like that. Decompositing in conversations is problematic at best. And now we’re talking to ourself. Do you really think that will help us get closer to their grouping?” Her hand contrived to frown before it replied. “It’s not decompositing; we just acted impulsively like any other sapient until you subdivided us. And actually, yes, I do think being weird will get us closer to them; they like misfits. Unless you propose we just proposition one of them, acting in a way that makes them want to spend time around us and maybe think of us as a potential partner is the best option we currently have available.”

Bleu didn’t have any answer to that - the part of her currently talking through her hand was probably right, she just didn’t want to admit it. Forcing the parts of her that formed the face to dissolve back into general circulation, she was pretty sure she saw it smirk before the features melted back into a regular hand. Stomping over to her bed, she more or less threw herself into it in a huff. “Stupid situation. Stupid syndrome. Stupid aliens with their fixed forms and their accepting attitudes.” She sagged, her form half-melting and draping over the edge of the bed. “When the science officer gets back I’ll talk to her. She’ll approach things logically at least, and then I’ll know if I should approach the captain or not without the risk of causing a breakdown in working relationships.”

Sola slid smoothly through the weave, closing the distance back to the tournament grounds and the rest of the senior crew. Meli paced up and down in front of the ambassadorial table, clasping and unclasping her hands. “You should relax’k. The mission was a success, and the captain’k will be excited to see you.” Yril’k said, looking up from where she was picking at the remnants of a meal. “This is quite a pleasant dish’k. I do not know if the others will appreciate it however’k. Vex’ess cuisine is quite different’k from other species I think.” Naera shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter if they like it, it’s a starting point for you and Trea’k. I’ve got a plan for our last meal before Earth, and knowing I’ve got the basics right really helps.”

The green-skinned woman then glanced over at the still-pacing Velca. “And Yril’k’s right, Meli’a. The captain’s missed you massively.” That caused the other woman to stop her pacing. “And how exactly do you know that, Naera?” The Caenii woman winced. She’d spoken without thinking again - clumsy - but there was nothing for it. Forcing her face to relax she gave Meli a weak smile “I… err.. I may have been exchanging messages with Emely?” To her immense relief, the chief science officer just nodded “I see. Well, I’m glad you’re making friends.” Then the Velca sighed, ears drooping once more. “I hear what you’re both saying, it’s just - I worry. What if he thinks I’ve done something wrong?”

Naera gave a irritated snort at that. “Then you’ll kiss and make up. It’s obvious the captain loves you! And it’s not like he’ll kick you off the ship even if you did screw up - which as far as I can see you didn’t. Sit down before you wear a hole in flooring, and I’ll make you something to eat. There’s another kitchen through that wall, right? Open the door up for me, and I’ll get right to it.” Meli sighed and sank into her chair, waving vaguely at the wall as she did so. “Open up the ambassadorial suite, Sola. Let Naera through to the kitchens.” As the Caenii woman walked past her however, Meli’s hand suddenly shot out to grab one green wrist.

“Before you go, Naera - I just wanted to say that I intend to recommend the captain approves you staying on board after Earth. You’ve been a real help this past week, food aside.” Then, the Velca’s ears moved into what Naera was fast recognizing as a joking position “I didn’t want you thinking you’d bought my vote with baked goods by telling you later on.” The Caenii nodded, and darted off to the kitchen before the flush of delight could tint her cheeks a dark olive. Punching in an order from the automat for ingredients, she paused to pull up the message app on her tablet and send a quick memo to Emely. “Don’t believe my luck. Meli’a just said she wants me to stay. We agreed her support would make the thing pretty much guaranteed! Baking and trying not to get overexcited. This should arrive when we drop out of the weave, so see you soon!”

Back in the ready room, Meli smiled to herself. Yril’k looked sideways at her. “You are scheming’k, chief science officer’k. The chef doesn’t notice it’k, but I do. What are you plotting’k?” Meli walked to the hole in the wall and glanced through towards the kitchen to make sure Naera couldn’t overhear, then turned back to the security chief. “I’m not scheming anything, Yril’k. I’m just offering a helping hand here and there when people deserve it. Do you disagree with the chef continuing to cook for us?” Yril’k shrugged. “I certainly’k will not complain about eating her cooking’k. However, I do note that it was the doctor’k and counsellor’k who the captain was looking for reports from regarding’k Naera.” Meli smiled at that and returned to her seat. “I know. I also happen to know what Trea’k is going to say. I doubt we will have to return to automat meals any time soon unless the good doctor has any issues. Any Naera related ones, at any rate.”