Awaken The Monster

Posted on Thu Nov 5th, 2020 @ 12:36am by Lieutenant JG C'Tirr K'Ruuras & Lieutenant Alexis Aenera
Edited on on Sat Dec 5th, 2020 @ 3:30pm

Mission: Enforced Intermission
Location: Alexis's Quarters

The monster awoke. It wasn't really aware of the process of rousing from its slumber, but one look at it would be obvious of what it was. The hair was by no means in any order whatsoever, a dried spot of drool crusted over on the lip and the look in it's eyes wasn't the bright and shiny that was desirous on the ship. Shuddering from the semi-chill of the room, which was set to seventy-two degrees, the monster grabbed a robe that had been discarded to the end of the bed and wrapped itself in it as it half oozed, half walked towards the bathroom. Stumbled, that was the right word.

There was one way to salvage the early morning, a remedy that would turn the monster into something resembling a Betazoid vaguely, to start with. It shed the robe and reached for the knob. Usually quarters were provided with just a sonic shower, but rank hath its privilege's and the monster had a water shower installed and unlike many places, it didn't even need time to heat up. It began a sigh of relief as it turned on the water...

A shriek that would have curdled the claws of many a predator resounded throughout the quarters, the sound deadening material of the bulkheads of the quarters preventing the warcry of the monster from being heard outside them, though some mote outside the ship might have heard it through the window even with the curtains closed.

It was a couple minutes later that the monster, Lieutenant Alexis Aenera, commed engineering and waited until a face showed on her screen, a Caitian face, but that didn't matter. Her hair was damp, but slightly straighter just due to the water, herself re-wrapped in the fluffy robe, and she didn't wait for the customary greeting, "It's morning, Lieutenant, I know, but no good is coming from it." She was trying to be civil, but she hadn't even had a morning spot of caffeine, "I've got a problem in my quarters and I really could use some help with it, if you've got a few minutes?"

"Sure, what's the problem and I'll see if I can fix it." The Caitian said, his ears perking forward. "I'm C'Tirr K'Ruuras Ma'am." C'Tirr said with a toothy grin and a slight purring. He knew most humanoids used this as a way to appear friendly. They called it a smile he thought. Caitian read the body language of each other, their tails being the main indicator of one's mood.

"The water in my shower is Cold." Her voice gave the capital letter to the temperature, "I've already tried to adjust it with the pad, I've tried voice command, I've tried everything I can think of." Tears began to well up in her eyes, mood shifting again in that handful of heartbeats, "I really need a good hot shower in the morning, C'Tirr, can you help me? Please?"

C'Tirr felt himself chuckle which came out like stuttering hiss. "Of course, I shall be there shortly. I'm due off duty soon so I can deal with the issue and make sure it stays fixed and isn't a temporary one." He turned and started to gather the equipment he might need before he turned back to the screen. "No need to cry, we'll get it sorted out swiftly. You have the second best engineer on the job." He said with another grin and a wink.

"Thank you, I'll see you soon." Lexi gave a brave smile as she ended the call and slumped her away towards the door, then made a detour to get a coffee: No one needed a true monster in the morning and she knew she could be one, peer reviews and all. Still, she was waiting by the door with the cup cradled in her hands and opened the door before the chime could be pressed. She managed another smile, one slightly more genuine this time, as she beckoned him in, "Thanks for coming so quickly, if it weren't such an important matter, I'd be far more... Patient, perhaps?"

"No worries Ma'am." C'Tirr said then he sniffed. "What is that tantalizing aroma I smell?" He said as he stepped into her quarters.

"It's a Madagascar vanilla coffee with some mint." She smiled, "I can replicate you a cup if you'd like? And please, no ma'ams in here, I'm Alexis, or Lexi, or Hey You if you find yourself at a loss for a name."

C'tirr smiled and nodded. "That would be great Alexis, I enjoy trying new things." He said, her name came out ending in a hiss. "I assume the offending equipment is in there?" He asked, pointing towards her private room and the bathroom off of that.

"Yesssssss...." Alexis hissed as she glared in the direction of the rooms, knowing that it was nice and neat, nothing embarassing out in the open and well, in the shower, there was only bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and soaps, brushes, scrubbies, hopefully not too cluttered. She turned her back on the offending location and made her way back to the replicator, "I'm hoping it's just the programming that's being a problem, it would be waaay simpler."

C'Tirr nodded and agreed with that hope as he walked through her room. He made it a point not to look around as he passed through but could notice that she was a tidy person. He entered the bathroom and accessed the panel with his engineering commands and began running the diagnostic. ""Where are you from?" He called out as he watched the progress bar slowly rising. Every system seems to have been getting slower since he came on and more systems have been affected as well. The issues had started to cascade into the more primary systems but nothing to bad yet.

"Betazed!" Alexis called out in return, grabbing a napkin and the coffee with one hand, her own still in hand, "But don't worry about me reading your thoughts or anything, as they say, 'The Force is weak in this one.'" She chuckled from around the corner, rounding it, "I've never been all that strong with my empathic sense, no matter how hard I try, it's all really just fuzzy to me." She almost instantly went red after that, realizing that C'tirr was well... Fuzzy.

C'Tirr looked up as she walked in and smiled. "I'm not sure if Betazoids can read Caitians." He glanced down at his PADD when it beeped. His ears laid back a second as his brows furrowed. "Hmmm. The diagnostic says the systems running just fine.
Let me try something." He said as his ears turned forward and he pulled open the computer code to the program.

She had to resist reaching out and scratching behind his ears, but managed to do so, especially with both hands full, "If memory serves, yes, we usually can read Caitians, well, those of us that are stronger than me. I'm remarkably weak for a full-blooded Betazoid, I have to focus just to really get much of an empathic feel from someone, but I've got no real problem with telepathic communications from others of my kind." She half-shrugged, "I've gotten used to it and in my field, I don't really have that much of an issue."

C'Tirr glanced up at her, his nose twitched at the smell of the coffee. "I'm sure that you have just the amount of skill that you would ever really need." His PADD beeped again and he looked down. He started reading the code. "Hmmm, nothing wrong there." His tail twitched in agitation at the problem and the lack of an apparent reason for it to not be working.

She waited rather than bother him by offering the cup to him, he'd grab it when he was ready, "I even tried to restore the programming from the master file and had no luck. Can't even call it a real plumbing issue, since if I heard it right, it's a reservoir filled via replicator."

"It is fed through a reservoir that's produced via replicators. They replicate the hot water in a tank as it's needed." C'Tirr said as he looked back up. He smiled as he took the cup and sniffed it admiringly. "This smells so good." He took a small sip and closed his eyes, enjoying the bitter sweetness of the hot drink. "And it tastes delicious, Thank you Alexis." His tail squished a bit as he took another drink, his tongue clearing the coffee from his fur around his mouth.

"My pleasure..." Alexis wanted to fidget about with the news, it was definitely not a good sign. No hot water? It would be absolutely barbaric! She took another drink of her own coffee and almost snuggled into the warmth of it. The heat- "Wait a second, that one isn't working, but the wall unit is? How does that figure?"

"We have been getting some bugs in the systems lately. Been running all over fixing everything. Just before you called I had reroute Helm back to the bridge from cargo bay 2." C'Tirr laughed his hissing laugh again. "The funniest thing was the holodeck made the scenery of any program ran to be made of candy." He took a large drink of his coffee. He stood up and turned. "I have an idea. You said that the main replicator is working fine. Let me try something."

C'Tirr slid past Alexis and back to the main room. He access the replicators main systems and rerouted the commands to the bathroom replicators emitters to refill the tank. He set up an auto order recycler command to have the order of hot water repeated for 5 cycles. "Try it now!" He called back to Alexis as he started the process.

The sound of water running through the shower head made it around the slight corner and through the doorway, "Still col- Wait." She made a non-committal sound that turned into an excited squeak, "Yessssssss!" She cheered, then turned off the water, "That did it!" She came around the corner and without any warning, and sans her own coffee, threw her arms around C'Tirr and gave him a big hug with a kiss on the cheek, obviously happy, "That did it! You're a genius!"

C'Tirr was startled by the sudden 'attack' that his fur bristled for a sec then the kiss on the cheek happened. Hue eyes went wide before a grin crossed his muzzle. He hesitantly patted her on the back not truly sure of the proper etiquette for this situation. "I'm glad I could be of assistance. I just rerouted the commands so that if you enter hot water reroute command on this replicator, it should allow your shower to be hot." He explained. "It was you who gave me the idea of rerouting it."

She released him, "Nuh uh, you're getting credit for this! Even IF you got the idea from me, you did the work, you actually thought of it, so suck it up, Buttercup!"

C'Tirr looked at Alexis, puzzled. "I am unfamiliar with that term." He would never truly understand humanoids, they had to many variables to them. He offered her a smile though. He might learn something.

"Umm...." Alexis had to think for a moment, then grinned, "It means: 'Get over it!'" She said with a wink, "Either way, it means I really, really appreciate what you've done, C'Tirr, and if you ever need anything, let me know and I'll see what I can do for you!"

C'Tirr let out an almost inaudible purr. "Thank you Alexis. I really appreciate it. Was there anything else you needed fixed while I'm here?" He asked as he looked around closely for the first time.

The bedroom was well appointed, a luxurious bedspread that was obviously slept in with no attempt to make it more presentable. One closet door was partly ajar and the thing was obviously filled with clothes of all varieties. A trio of full sized mirrors and a rack in the corner absolutely packed with shoes, with signs of more being hidden elsewhere in the room. "I think I'm good for now... But I promise, if anything else comes up, you'll be the first I comm!"

C'Tirr smiled a toothy grin, ears forward and relaxed while his tail swayed lazily. "I'll expect another one of these when I do arrive." He said as he drained the rest of the coffee. He smiled once more before he left.