USS Enterprise, Space, Wednesday FT

[solarhippie]

It had taken some wrangling to make this happen: you couldn't really just up and visit someone on a spaceship whenever you decided you wanted to. Even if that someone happened to be the captain. But, Karolina was persistant! And Jim had leverage!

And so, today, Karolina Dean found herself aboard the Enterprise. There was a backpack filled with Earthside treats over her shoulder, and a look of poorly-concealed wonder on her face as she looked around where she'd been received. Everyone looked so official in their uniforms, it made her feel like she should be introducing herself as 'Counselor Dean' or something. Or at the very least wear something that wasn't a yellow hoodie with some light blue jeans.

She was as much in awe as she was feeling out of place. But, there was someone else on this ship who'd make her feel more at home. So, now she just needed to find Jim! Easy!

... She probably shouldn't go looking for Jim on her own, huh?

[ooc: NFB, and for that guy!]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"Not everything," Jim said, shaking his head. "I want the people to have some independence. If there's something that's gonna affect a lot of people, then I want to know or if they need authorization for some things, I'll know but other than that..."

He trailed and shrugged. "I let them do their thing. Keeps them happy."

[solarhippie]

"Good," Karolina said. And smiled. Funnily enough, leaders who liked to micro-manage weren't anything she favored.

So she was pleased to see he was in the clear. "Means you trust them. That's good."

[pursuedthestars]

"Yeah. Gotta trust them to get them to trust me," Jim said, stopping at another door and holding his hand up to open it for them. Engineering was busy as well with people fixing things, improving things and a few people working on their transporters.

"And here we are," he said, gesturing. "Not much when there aren't any active missions but pretty cool otherwise."

[solarhippie]

Yup, Karolina was going to peer in looking impressed here, too.

"Vic and Chase would love this," she said, quietly, mostly to herself. There was something faintly... not sad, but something more in that direction, about her tone.

Then she seemed to shake it off. Louder, she said, attempting a joke, "I probably shouldn't lean on any buttons here, either, right?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Probably not," Jim said, examining some of the buttons and frowning. "I don't even know what some of these things do. If we were near a planet, I'd let you use the transporter but I don't know where you'd if we sent you somewhere right now."

[solarhippie]

Karolina snorted, and smiled a little wryly. "That's okay, I think being here with you is enough of an adventure. I don't want to test my survival skills somewhere random."

[pursuedthestars]

"Awww, that just makes me feel good," Jim said, leaning against a console and crossing his arms. "But it makes sense. You won't get to see pretty flowers if you take the transporter to parts unknown."

[solarhippie]

"Well, I might," Karolina pointed out, "but then I might, like, die right after. So, no thanks."

She had enough near-death incidents in her life as it was.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim stood there for a few more seconds before he got bored and shook his head.

"Come on, let's go see flowers. It's not fun in here unless something's on fire and Scotty's throwing a tantrum."

[solarhippie]

Karolina couldn't help a snicker.

"Does that happen a lot?" A beat. "And who's Scotty?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Scotty's the chief engineer," Jim said as he led them out of engineering. "It means he's the boss of this section and yes, it happens a lot. He's a bit uppity."

[solarhippie]

"Uppity?"

She wasn't sure why she found that amusing.

But she did.

[pursuedthestars]

"What?" Jim asked a they started walking again. "It's a word!"

[solarhippie]

"Oh, it's totally a word," Karolina agreed with an easy grin, following along. (With the occasional curious glance around.) "It's just not something I've ever heard you say before."

[pursuedthestars]

"That's because I don't tend to surround myself with uppity people before this," Jim told her. "Besides, I like everyone even the uppity ones."

[solarhippie]

"Now you've said 'uppity' like three times and it's weirding me out," she joked, her eyes comically large. "I'm glad you like your people, though."

A beat.

"Even the uppity ones."

[pursuedthestars]

"Why's that word making you feel weird?" Jim asked, snickering. "It's not like I'm saying moist."

[solarhippie]

Okay, Karolina visibly shuddered at that one. And made a noise that was something like 'eugh. It was only a little bit exaggerated.

"There was a time that Molly loved saying that," she said, brushing her hair back from her face. "She couldn't figure out why Nico and I were so grossed out. She thought it was hilarious."

'Moist.' Gah.

[pursuedthestars]

"So, she was doing it on purpose but kind of not?" Jim asked, grinning. "Now, that's my kind of girl. She'd make a good starship captain."

[solarhippie]

"Yeah, she probably would," Karolina replied, a little wistfully.

Sometimes, she missed having Molly around more. (Okay, she kind of missed it all the time. Sometimes, she just missed it more.) "She's living with her grandmother now."

[pursuedthestars]

"Is everything okay there?" Jim asked as they walked, heading down to the botany lab. "Is she okay?"

[solarhippie]

"Yeah," Karolina said. Pushing her hair back even though it hadn't really moved after the last time. "It's her grandma, you know?"

Yeah, okay, so their parents had all been villains, so that 'you know?' was maybe kind of a stretch but still. Molly's grandmother seemed like she was good people.

Her smile was lopsided, and her change of topic a little abrupt: "So, anyway. Plants, right?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Yeah, we're almost there," Jim said, knowing when to leave a topic alone. He nodded and kept walking quietly until they came to another door. Jim swiped them in and they were immediately met with fragrant smells of flowers and plants.

The room wasn't quite a greenhouse but there were plenty of samples protected by glass cages and protective plastic.

[solarhippie]

Karolina was grateful. It was probably something she should talk about, but this wasn't the time or the place. Maybe not even the person.

(Living in Fandom again did mean she was near the therapist from her high school years...)

Getting hit with the smell of plant life did a wonderful job pulling her back into the moment, though. She wasn't really as gleefully expressive as she'd been before, but she still didn't hesitate to step up closer to one of the cases to take a closer look.

"Oh, wow."

[pursuedthestars]

"Pretty cool, right?" Jim asked, pleased with her reaction. "Come on, go inside, check things out."