[Ten Forward]: Rooming Assignments + Holiday Open House!

[trial_never_ends]

Hmmm, something seems a little different about the Chief of Security today. His beautifully ridged countenance hasn't been seen for quite some time at the head of one of these little initiations, but now that Dr. Crusher's medical team has cleared a sizable number of new cattle for ship-wide access, and they've been carted around by Chief O'Brien on a tour of the ship, along with some background to the situation they now find themselves in, they've been mooooved right along to Lieutenant Worf in Ten Forward.

He looks at his data PADD, with all of his boring instructions and tedious details meticulously written out, and rolls his eyes. Rules, really? What harm could these people really do?

"The computer will instruct you on where all cleared-for-access decks are. You only have to ask where the area you are trying to get to is located, and it will give you clear directions. Do not visit any restricted areas. The bridge, engine rooms, transporter rooms, command centers, blah, blah-blah, blah blah, are all off-limits.

"Before you're assigned a room, there are a few rules you must obey, though I honestly don't know what could be done to stop you. One, do not discharge any weapon while on the Enterprise. Two, do not assault any other passenger aboard in any way; that includes injury, death, or violating their personal rights. Three, do not tamper with the operational procedures of the ship. Four, do not steal items or technology from the ship. Five, do not interrupt any official areas of the ship without proper authorization, and do not invade the privacy of other guest or crew quarters, good grief, this list just goes on forever, doesn't it?

"They want you to read the Prime Directive?! Boring. If you care to see that drivel you can look it up on your own personal PADDs, which will be available in every room. Now, how about something more interesting?"

With a flick of his wrist, the PADD disappears. Cracking his knuckles, "Worf" proceeds to snap his fingers and a flurry of snow whooshes through the room. When the proverbial dust settles, Ten Forward has been decked out in an array of holiday cheer. The windows are frosted, the bar is dusted in snow, a model train choo-choos its way around people's ankles out one door and back in the other. There is a traditional Earth tree in one corner with an endless pile of gifts stacked under it, but other worlds, cultures, and religions have not been left out. Everywhere one looks, there's a different kind of festive decoration.

"La, dee dum, dum," Worf hums, snapping his fingers again and causing a spread of food and drinks to appear on each and every table and surface: candies, cakes, mulled wines, chocolates, pheasants, yams, bol'ghba, and an abundance of other unpronounceable delicacies. "There. Now isn't that better? Never say I didn't do anything for you.

"Oh! That's right, the rooms," he recalls, clapping his hands. He pulls the PADD back out of the ether, reading off the list of quarters, their location, and the guests who will be sharing them.

Deck 07, Section 4
Room # 0713 - Kristen Kringle and Kuvira
Room # 0731 - Olan'atar and Sophia Inks
Room # 0737 - Bonnie Barstow and KITT (hologram)
Room # 0746 - Sterling Archer and Kira

Deck 8
Room # 0147 - T'Pol and Katniss Everdeen

Deck 9
Room # 0919 - Henry Mills and Matt Murdock
Room # 0921 - Pete Lattimer and Clara Oswald

"Now, won't that be fun?" Worf concludes, with a large, toothy grin. "Remember, it's only fun until Captain Picard has a heart attack, and then your actions are all on your own heads. Oh! Speaking of heads ... "

With one last snap, the Lieutenant in full dress before them morphs into what appears to be a Caucasian human male. No vestiges of the Klingon remain, and as such the man now lets out a long, grateful sigh. "It's good to be home."

For the foreseeable future, Ten Forward will remain in this state, and the doors to the guest quarters will stay open so each new arrival along with the old faithful can experience the full joy and beauty of the holiday season with each other. The corridors are all covered in frost, a pleasant nip in the air, and over the internal comms a song begins to play. The list of new assignments is also displayed on a PADD in Ten Forward, where people can refer to it if they need to.




[ooc: Happy Holidays, at least for the next few days! This log is both a party post for holiday shenanigans and an open log for new roomies (or old ones!) to build CR and meet their neighbors. We'll have a few special holiday top levels for gifts, but otherwise you can tag directly into the post with your character, their room number, and who they're looking for (or leave it OTA)!

Rooms are aligned the way they would be in a typical hotel: odd numbers on the left, even numbers on the right (so 0711 and 0713 will be next door neighbors, while 0712 is directly across the hall). There's a post in the OOC comm for OOC questions and comments! If you need to ask security questions, or need them to swing by another thread, just put "Security officer, please!" in the subject line of your tag, and the mods will send someone to you ASAP. The tour given by Chief O'Brien is not open for tagging; you can assume your character had any basic questions answered. ]

Comments

[tpol]

It was rare to catch a Vulcan off guard, rare still for a clearly emotional reaction to it. T'Pol leaned back and her eyes went wide, searching her memory for a face she had never seen before.

She recovered quickly and raised her water to mask her uncertainty. "I do not recognize you, were you at the signing of the Charter to form the Federation?" She paused and sipped her water, noting that her hand held a tremor she hadn't seen since her recovery from Trellium-d.

[whistles_loudly]

He'd never seen any Vulcan react to being recognized quite like that, but he was going to try to keep everything as calm as possible.

"I would have loved to be, but no. I'm from about...one hundred or so years after that."

This was really the first time he'd met someone from the Federation's past. Every other officer he'd met was from his time, or long afterward.

[tpol]

Well then, that explained it didn't it? It put her at ease and she nodded then to him. "So you are from a future temporal date that I am by a century." She'd been witness to enough events of temporal disruptions to find this easy to take in stride.

What changes had occurred in a century? She was still alive if his greeting meant anything.

"I would assume then that Star Fleet flourished, if our surroundings are accurate then it continues to do so." But he still had her at a disadvantage. "You know me but I do not, as yet, know you."

[whistles_loudly]

Pike nodded in agreement. At least it wasn't strange that something like this happened, but they were both Starfleet. Strange was relative.

"It did, we're still exploring the Alpha Quadrant. This ship's from about one hundred years from my point in time. We're a lot further out."

He was never really able to find out just how far Vulcans explored before they met humans, but this could be even further than she'd been.

"That was really rude of me wasn't it, Christopher Pike." He was leaving the rank off, it didn't seem right to him to outrank T'Pol.

[tpol]

"I have been told this ship is also The Enterprise.</> The vessel I first served along with humans on was as well. It seems there may be a legacy to the name." If only she knew.

He should know better than to tr for politeness around her, she is only going to ask eventually.

"Rude? I do not think so. I had not introduced myself and you had no way to know I would approach you. So it was only an efficient means of making conversation. I am not, as Captain Archer has told me, good at small talk."

[whistles_loudly]

Pike laughed at that, "You get better at it, I think."

Though he supposed all that time spent on Earth forced her to get better at it. He hadn't checked if she'd gone back to New Vulcan full time, but it wouldn't have surprised him if she had.

[tpol]

She found that hard to believe, but that had been the case with many things for her. T'Pol inclined her head to acknowledge his point.

"A point I am sure is not seen as entirely positive by my people, but perhaps necessary for working with yours."

[whistles_loudly]

"Some of us find it needless but not many. For me it depends on the situation. I think I know more about Jon Archer's Beagles than I'd ever really want to know."

He had a feeling T'Pol could sympathize with that.

"He brings pictures...."

[tpol]

She could indeed, and it was as much mirth as such a contained personality might display.

"I feel fortunate that he has only Porthos now. In my time. He has a strange fascination with the animal."

[whistles_loudly]

"It gets worse, and I think they're all named Porthos now."

Pike lost count of how many beagles Jon had by this point and he thought most of the other Admirals did too. He didn't particularly want to let on about the other differences between T'Pol's current time and his own. That's not something anyone should find out about prematurely.

[tpol]

"That sounds like one of hi favorite sayings. 'You don't mess with a classic.' " She thought of that with fondness, as it was the reason he had given for retaining her under his command.

[whistles_loudly]

"He's usually right about things like that."

There was a reason, though Archer was long retired, that he still had an office in Command. Every so often that kind of advice was needed and Jon was usually the best person to hand it out.

[tpol]

It would do T'Pol's often distant heart good to know Archer was still so well thought of, in their time together they had grown close. He was her best and closest friend and the one person who could pull her back together after Trip died.

"He was correct about more than I would have thought in the beginning."

[whistles_loudly]

"Now you sound like my former XO."

Number One would always say that Pike was always prone to break the rules, and she had to keep him in line and at first it caused a lot of friction between the two of them. As time went on though they respected the balance each of them brought to the relationship.

[tpol]

"Do I? I commend their sensibility."

There was a Vulcan trait to be a bit self congratulatory about things, T'Pol is not immune to that trait. This might also illustrate how she has grown to understand the strange and erratic nature of humans. There were, at times, methods to their madness that defied the logical mind.

[whistles_loudly]

"I think she'd be honored to hear that."

Number One's method of dealing with him was to be as Vulcan-like as possible. He knew there was more to her the first time he noticed the blue nail polish she loved.

"I know she thinks very highly of you."

[tpol]

"I am surprised to be known at all, are Vulcan-human relations so much advanced in your time? I had hoped one day our two species could over come the suspicious and judgement we each held for each other. But I admit I was not entirely optimistic." She had changes but only because of the time she'd spent directly with them and been welcomed into the crew and the family they all created.

[whistles_loudly]

Pike nodded a little, "There are a number of Vulcans enrolled at the Academy and since the founding of the Federation, we've worked closely with them. My science former officer Spock's father, Sarek, is a well respected diplomat."

The rest of it he wasn't sure he was even supposed to mention but he did anyway, "Spock's half human."

So he'd say, yeah they get along really well.

[tpol]

She nodded with his clarification. It was indeed encouraging to know that the future of their species interaction would be positive.

Then he mentioned something that made her react in a very unexpected way. T'Pol gasped, eyes first widened in surprise and then suddenly cast away from him. Her breath hitched and she felt her heart race. "Humans and Vulcans have successfully paired for healthy offspring?"

[whistles_loudly]

He must have touched on a sore spot. He didn't know all of the details of T'Pol's history, just the big points.

Pike nodded, "They did, at least once." Pike hadn't kept up on the human/vulcan cross breeding statistics, but Spock was an example that it could be done.

[tpol]

"I had no idea such pairings were successful or even allowed." Her hands closed tightly and she willed herself to return to the placid calm of her people. "There were extreme beliefs about nonhumans when I had first come to Earth and during our missions. At the time the idea of such children was considered abhorrent and any such offspring that resulted an abomination." And she hardly allowed any inflection in the recitation of the past to him, she could have been reading a text book rather than retelling her own experience.

[whistles_loudly]

"Commander Spock had a successful career so far." Pike assumed that he had a great deal more to come as well. It also helped that he did some poking around on this Enterprise's computers as well. "Turns out, he's still an ambassador."

He hoped that would make T'Pol the slightest bit happier.

"Some of those attitudes still exist when I'm from. Though they're getting less and less popular."

[tpol]

"An Ambassador." After what was, she took him to mean, a long and distinguished career with Starfleet. That was encouraging, if not everything she could have hoped for.

"People rarely change completely or quickly. Mine of still feel humanity has not evolved enough past their barbaric ways to be considered equals. Though I am hoping my time with the crew of the Enterprise, my Enterprise, that I can offer more insight for them. Humans have a surprising capacity to adapt." And sacrifice, and rise beyond all expectation.