InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "The turtle moves!"

Annie (anniessong) wrote in toboldlyrpg,
@ 2017-07-09 13:57:00

Entry tags:

- deck five lounge, ^ log, annie zhao | star trek, clarke griffin | the 100

Open Thread

Annie Zhao and Clarke Griffin

226407.09

Deck Five Lounge

Low

Complete Log

Annie was off duty this afternoon and for some reason was feeling restless. She had pulled up a journal on her PADD and was trying to read but her mind kept wandering. Maybe she should try something a little less heavy, she thought, and scrolled through the listings until she found a novel she hadn’t had time to read yet. Being on board ship and not spending much time with her research was proving to be more challenging than she had expected. While Annie loved working with patients, it had been a couple of years since she had done it on a full time basis, It was simply taking a little getting used to, that was all.

After a bit, she sighed and stood up. Maybe she’d go to the lounge and read. At least she wouldn’t feel cooped up in her quarters and there might be someone there to talk to. She ran a comb through her hair, picked up her PADD and left, headed for Deck Five. There were a few people scattered around the room when she walked in and she smiled and nodded at the ones that she knew. There was a couch in the corner and it looked quite comfortable so that’s where she headed. If someone came over to talk, that would be fine but otherwise, she’d just enjoy not being completely alone and reading her book.

Clarke made her way to the lounge after her shift, deciding it would be nice to relax among company rather than going back to her room. Her roommate was a little unusual, for one thing, but she also enjoyed the lounge. It wasn’t every day you found a bar being managed by the actual devil.

Spotting Annie as she came in, she picked up a couple of drinks at the bar before making her way over and sitting down. “Is that for work of pleasure?” she asked as she offered one of the glasses to her colleague and mentor. She’d enjoyed getting to know Annie the last several weeks, both as one of her superiors in medical and as, she hoped, a friend.

She smiled and took the drink from Clarke. “I’m afraid it’s a little of both. Technically it’s work but I’m also a big enough nerd that I actually enjoy reading journals in my free time. Go figure.” Annie laughed and took a sip of her drink. “Thank you by the way for the drink. I was just thinking about getting up and going to the bar but you read my mind.” She was enjoying working with Clarke, she was a bright young woman and Annie had always enjoyed teaching. It was something that she was seriously considering doing in the future when she wasn’t up to long space missions.

Clarke laughed at that. It sounded like something she would do. “You looked like you could use one, she explained. She hadn’t minded at all.

“How was your shift? Anything interesting come in?” Thankfully there hadn’t been any major problems since Annie had joined the staff but one never knew. With the mix of people on board, there could be just about anything pop up in the way of diseases or injuries.

Shrugging, Clarke sipped her drink for a moment as she thought back. “Pretty uneventful, actually,” she said, “but it’s not a normal intake day. I think we’re busier when we get an influx of people or maybe it’s just that it’s more likely one of the doctors is going to get punched.”

“I haven’t been punched yet thankfully,” Annie said. “I’m sure my time will come. I’ve been called a few names but I can handle that. The patients in the hospital used to get very creative. I had one call me a whore-bellied bitch once. I have no idea what that means.”

“What?” Clarke laughed, almost an outright giggled. “How can you have a- nevermind, I’m not really sure I want to know.” Truthfully, most of the arrivals were pretty cool, considering the situation. There were just some that weren’t so calm when they woke up on a spaceship.

“I have no idea either,” Annie laughed. “Of all the things I have been called by an angry patient, that one is my favorite because it’s so ridiculous!” She paused for a moment and looked over at Clarke. “Is it just me or do we seem to be getting more people lately? There seems to have been an increase in arrivals.”

“It’s not just you. I’ve noticed it, too. Are we going to have to worry about running out of space to put them, do you know?” Clarke didn’t know how much empty space was left in the general quarters, but it did seem like they had a lot of people and she hoped the Enterprise had the resources to support them all.

“I think we’ll be okay. The ship is pretty big and there are some spaces that could be expanded into living quarters if we had to,” she frowned. “The thing I worry about is contagion. So far no one has come on board ill but there is always that chance and it would be hard to isolate something if we should have an outbreak.”

Clarke nodded, relaxing a little at Annie’s reassurance. “On the space station I grew up on we didn't encounter a lot of sickness, but we were running low on resources. That was a part of why they sent us to the surface. Less people meant more oxygen for everyone else and we were all expendable.” She paused, looking at her drink and taking a long drink. “Afterwards, there still wasn't enough air, so they sealed off a section of the ship. They called it the culling. 320 were killed to buy everyone else a little more time.” The idea that too many people could show up and resources could be stretched that thing here- that was something she didn't especially want to think about.

“My god, I can’t even begin to imagine,” Annie said. Clarke had never talked a lot about where she came from and it was hard to believe that people could do that to each other. “If things got serious here, Starfleet would find places for everyone. If anyone had wanted to stay when we were on Earth, I’m sure they would have allowed them to.”

“I think a couple of people asked about staying,” Clarke said, shaking her head. “I believe they were told it was better for all of us to stay in one place, at least for now, but I’m not sure how they’d handle it if we started to really outgrow the ship.” It was hard not to worry about it. Clarke knew it was easy to say now that they’d find another way, but she knew firsthand that sometimes there just wasn’t an alternative. Sometimes, you had to make the hard choices to save as much of your people as possible. She understood that a lot better now than she had then.

Annie hadn’t been aware that anyone had asked about staying but then again, she had been brought on board because the ship needed more medical staff. “Well hopefully they can figure out what’s going on so those that want to can go home. I’d miss you if you let though.”

Clarke shook her head. “Oh, not me,” she said. “There’s no way I’d pass up the chance to stay on this ship. There might be others who wouldn’t mind being somewhere else, but I’m happier here than I can remember being in a long time. I think you’re going to be stuck with me, at least until that nebula decides to send me home again.”

“I’m glad you like it here. I’ve never done a long mission before, only short ones so I’m having to get used to things but I’m glad I decided to come.” Annie had needed to get away and this was the perfect opportunity. “I enjoy working with you, I like teaching people so I hope that I can teach you something useful.”

“Oh, you already have,” Clarke assured her with a smile. I’m really lucky to have this chance to work with you. You and the rest of the medical team here.” Grinning, she lifted her glass to toast with Annie. “To many more shifts together,” she said before they lapsed into a companionable silence for a while.