Dekas

@Kettick's writing is always a pleasure to read. Always contains such gems like this 🤣 But also this from the same sim Puttin' the bird on blast there about the flirting. And it's not even wrong because it is part of his approach. 😉

It's been roughly five minutes since @Sera sent out the sim with this in it, but I was having a weird moment, and then read this and it made me laugh and instantly brightened my day. The dry Vulcan humor is good every time.

And also one I meant to put here the other day that I just remembered, written by @Oddas Aria writing for Gwen Kingsley. Still deserves a mention. She's not wrong. 🤣

@Tomas Falt So first of all, I love Hesan in general. The sarcastic inner narrative is always good. Second of all, I like that you just had one of your characters low-key roast your other one for talking too much. Excellent.

@Vitor S. Silveira I hope you will be thrilled to know that your boy Silveira left something of an impression on Dekas despite not interacting as much as they could have over time, because the narrative right before that was So I can tell you right now, he learned it from Silveira 🤣

@Tomas Falt Did... did she just make a quiet little, "Call an ambulance... but not for me." type joke? Because I love that for her. 😆

@Aratta The use of "Dude" in his vocabulary/thoughts. The being a little afraid of the Captain. I'm deceased. 🤣

Also add-in runner up for the humor. I love him so much. @Aratta These are way too relatable thought processes lol!

@Aratta "In fact I do, Ms. Vulcan!" absolutely sent me. 🤣

@Sera 🤣 Disappointment is always worse than anger.

@Sera has the Vibes of a good number of things I've heard about how Engineers think in one paragraph and I love it. Also it's just really funny. 😆

It surprises absolutely no one that @Kettick is hilarious right out of the gate of a new mission. Personally I'm on team "Calling this mysterious artifact Fred" Fred seems a good name. 🤣

Okay, I know I just put quotes from this in the littler appreciations forum, but I keep re-reading this because it makes me laugh and wanting to think there were many pieces of gold I could have also put. So I might as well put the whole sim here, haha! @Kettick has a sense of humor that just speaks to me. There's not a single time where Kettick's humor hasn't hit me at least a little. It's excellent. --- ((Main Engineering, Deck 15, USS Juneau)) Dekas: ::to Sera:: Alright I’m starting to think it’s better we go see nurse Pelley or whoever’s working in the sickbay sooner than later. Nothing permanently unfixable aside from maybe that specific replicator. I don’t fully understand how the acid didn’t burn right through it, to begin with, but I’m not going to follow that line of thinking yet. The more important thing is we don’t end up like the replicator, no? Sera: Yes, Ensign Dekas. I would prefer not to be disassembled after producing a corrosive vegetable. A very sensible goal in life, and one with which Kettick entirely agreed. Dekas: ::to Kettick now:: Hopefully you figure out if this is the error of a person or some sort of terrible malfunction of technology. If not, we’ll likely be back to help sort it out in a short enough amount of time. I can help write the report about the, ah, pickle and its effects once we’re back. As can Sera. And if it is a person’s mistake? I know some good words to use to really bring the point home that this was not great and someone needs a talking to if they’re going to try this type of thing. Kettick nodded in silent assent at the departing duo. Words were not his forte, and apparently, reaching an acceptable level of tongue-lashing involved him being stripped of his body and thrown into a telepathy-run alien simulation. Better leave this kind of task to someone more at ease with flamboyance. Now, the maintenance logs... :: Some time after. :: The rubber duck had been retrieved from the industrial accident of a replicator, and placed on a nearby workbench. From time to time, a spindly, chitinous finger prodded it, making it wobble and eliciting a somewhat indignant "quack". The logs were... illuminating. Apparently whoever had worked on this replicator last, one crewman 3rd class Lee R. Jenkins, had encountered an issue with corrupted software, and decided to rewrite the missing parts of the code instead of resetting it to factory parameters and going through all the necessary patches from the ground up. The resulting logs reminded Kettick of some fiction he had read, presented as the journal of someone who had discovered a tome of eldritch knowledge and narrated its study, the writing reflecting their slow descent towards madness. Kettick had managed to listen to the logs past the point where the crewman started singing nursery rhymes ("One hundred little errors in the code, one hundred little errors... Take one down, patch it around, One hundred seventeen errors in the code."), but had not made it further than the part where the poor soul started giggling. And, Queens preserve him, he had looked into the fruit of the poor crewman's work. Which had looked like the digital love-child of a one-night stand between Escher and Dali after a three-day absinthe bender at Lovecraft's. Being himself, he had not blanched or screamed, but he had very deliberately shut down the interface, formatted the replicator, and put an electromagnet to the remains before decontaminating the lot with plasma. And as far as he was considered, it was not overkill, but *mercy*. Shuddering a little, he decided to call it a night, closed the sessions on the various consoles, waved absently to the next shift, and made his way back to his quarters. Only there did he realize that he had put the duck in his pocket for whatever reason. END -- Ensign Kettick Engineering Officer USS Juneau G239107LR0

@Kettick gets two in one for quotes here, both from the same sim, which in itself was a masterpiece, honestly. But these specific nuggets of narrative gold. The visuals and thought processes. I am deceased 🤣. &

@Tomas Falt Falt's thought processes are just fantastic. Even when they're mildly exasperated 😉

@Tomas Falt and R'Kala wrote an absolutely lovely JP. It had a lovely touch into coping mechanisms, passion, and a little bit into the experience of friendship and knowing people when you're currently living a life that is frequently moving, and always at risk of people stepping away or transferring before you really get better chances for those things. Their interactions together are very thoughtful and I enjoyed reading this. ---- ((Incomplete Science Lab, Starfleet Research Station, Ring 42)) Falt: There’s a human phrase my mother taught me, “a problem shared is a problem halved.” I need to arrange a visit to the counsellor after my brief imprisonment on Anadasa. Maybe we could share our concerns together instead, like group therapy? R’Kala: Are you sure Falt: Why not? We could go outside, find a rock to sit on? The weather is lovely out there today and I doubt anyone will bother us? R’Kala: Alright, I can do that. I haven't gotten too swamped yet this shore leave with evaluations. Tomas nodded. For a moment he hadn’t been sure if the Klingon would agree to his suggestion. Falt: ::smiling:: Excellent, I’m getting in before the rush then. R'Kala: Shall we continue? Falt: ::nodding:: Absolutely. R'Kala: Great. I was wondering if this lab would be big enough to include an arboretum or if we'd need to include it someplace else. It seems antithetical to have a science station studying the flora of a place like the Ring and not have one. Tomas checked the schematic. Falt: I agree. In the plans both science labs have configurable space set aside. I doubt the research station really needs two configurable areas so we could suggest that the section in this lab becomes an arboretum? It wouldn’t be huge, but it would be bigger than those on most science ships. What do you think? R’Kala: Yes, I agree. Falt: We’d need another internal wall but I think the big change would be external windows, can’t have an arboretum without natural light. R’Kala: It’s a shame we don’t already know those calculations. ::she raised her PADD to see if she could find out:: Falt: Why don’t we go outside and see which area would be most suitable. I’m sure we could swap the science labs around if nothing else, especially if one lab will get more natural light than the other. R’Kala: Sounds like a good idea. I could use the air as well. Lead the way. ((Short time skip, Lake outside Starfleet Research Station, Ring 42)) A few minutes later Tomas stepped out of the half-finished research station and into the bright sunlight of a Ring 42 day. He took a deep breath. Nothing beat a real atmosphere, even one that was subject to artificial weather control like the Ring. The station was located in a city, but as fortune would have it the planners had found an area of what was presumed to have been a large city park. He quickly orientated the station's internal layout with their surroundings. As fortune had it the external wall of science lab two sat in a clearing, about 5 metres from a small ornamental lake. Falt: I think there will be plenty of natural light for an arboretum here, what do you think. R’Kala was looking at her tricorder as Tomas was talking. She looked up from her readings and smiled at him. R’Kala: I think it’s a perfect option. Falt: And as an added bonus the station’s personnel will get a wonderful view of this lake. He realised someone very sensible had understood that station personnel would likely feel much more at ease on the alien structure if they were living in a pleasant spot. He wandered over to the edge of the lake and peered at his reflection in the glassy water. Falt: This looks like it will be a great spot for the station's staff to enjoy some downtime. She nodded in agreement. This space certainly had a sort of serenity to it. R’Kala: Would you care to have some downtime before we continue with our assignment? Falt: ::pointing:: there’s a couple of rocks over, big enough to be seats. Can you think of a nicer spot to have a counseling session? As he said that he became aware that R’Kala, being Klingon, might not share his appreciation for the aesthetic of the place. Then again, maybe she did. She looked at the rocks. She suspected that the counseling suite would be a better place for a counseling session, away from distractions, but that was her own opinion. She could understand though how some might find appreciation of this space. R’Kala: Sure, this will work. The pair wandered to the lake and took a seat. Falt: So, since you’re the actual counselor I’ll go first. How would you like to begin? R’Kala placed her hands on her knees. She was still new to this counseling role. R’Kala: Well, normally during a session I’d invite the client to tell me how they’ve been doing. ::She looked at him:: So, how have you been? Tomas pondered how to answer this for a moment, should he blurt everything out at her at once, or take it slower and let the new counselor lead? He decided on the latter. Falt: Overall, I think I’m good. R’Kala: That’s good to know. Have things been okay for you on the Juneau? Falt: Again, good. I’ve been aboard for six months now and I really feel like I’ve settled in. It was the typical answer that most people gave when she asked that question. For the most part, the Juneau was a great ship with a fantastic crew. R’Kala: I read in the post-mission briefing that you were imprisoned for a while? Granted he had not been imprisoned for years, which could cause immense psychological issues, the very act itself could still lead to some kind of stress or anxiety. It was only appropriate that she, as ship’s counselor, make sure that that experience hadn’t affected him too much. Falt: I was, and that is one of things I wanted to talk to you about. ::short pause:: Not the imprisonment itself, that was brief and fairly undramatic, but the events leading up to it. R’Kala: Go on, I’m listening. Tomas was glad he’d already cleared the air with the Captain before this meeting. It meant he could be open and honest without feeling like he was going behind the Captain’s back. Falt: I made a decision to provide a distraction for Kendrick and the Captain to safely get away from some soldiers. The Captain and I have disagreed since as to whether it was necessary. I believe it was, but would also acknowledge that I was angry at the time and it might have affected my judgment. R’Kala looked out into the lake as Tomas spoke. Having a disagreement with the captain was an interesting image in her head. Even though Oddas was the commanding officer, it didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be people who had different thoughts on procedures. They were all sentient beings after all. R’Kala: And how did you feel after this? What did you do with these emotions? Falt: I was still agitated when I got back to the ship. I went to the holodeck to unwind with Dekas and a couple of the new Ensigns. During the programme I may have vented some of my frustrations on some holographic vampires, in a somewhat gory fashion. I did enjoy it immensely though; I’m kind of hoping that isn’t a bad thing. She raised an eyebrow. She had not expected to hear him say that he had gone vampire slaying to deal with the anger and agitation. She supposed it was a fairly healthy way to release tension. R’Kala: What’s important is your acknowledgment of these feelings. ::she turned to him:: Away missions can get messy, and in the heat of circumstances, we can easily become divisive from our heightened emotions. Falt: I… think I’m following… R’Kala: What I’m saying is that having the feelings you did—the anger, the agitation—is completely normal. It’s to be expected in fact. You’re human. You were able to transfer these feelings into a hands-on activity, which is not a bad thing. Falt: It wasn’t intentional. Dekas was the one running the programme, I didn’t even know what it was about. My main motivation was to spend time with him and see how he was recovering after his… incident. The holographic vampire killing was part of the programme, although I doubt the designer intended participants to be quiet as enthusiastic about the slaying as I was… R’Kala truly didn’t see anything wrong in the activity, but the situation didn’t end after his holographic program. R’Kala: What we need to understand though, is how you feel after...::an awkward pause:: spending time with holographic vampires? Tomas raised an eyebrow, surprised by R’Kala’s awkward pause. He hadn’t expected a Klingon to react that way when discussing a violent holodeck programme. He was rapidly forming the opinion that R’Kala was no ordinary Klingon - in a good way. Falt: I did feel better. Although how much of that can be attributed to the holodeck programme, I’m not sure. I left the holodeck as I was called in by the Captain, she debriefed me on the mission and we cleared the air. R’Kala: And how do you feel about your relationship with Captain Oddas now? Falt: I like to think I’ve got a good working relationship with her. I’ve been lucky to have spent as much time with her as I have since I joined the ship. ::short pause:: The event has made me realize I’m not that close to many officers on the ship though. When I came back from the away mission I’d hoped to talk to a friend, Doctor Sival, about how I felt. Unfortunately they had just left the ship and I discovered there wasn’t anyone else I could turn to. That is something I hope to rectify. The life of a Starfleet officer could sometimes be very isolating when people came and went. His comment about Dr. Sival made R’Kala think about her former roommate/first friend on the ship, Vitor Silveira, who had left the Juneau before they could really become good friends. It had also been a while since she had seen T’Lea, someone she considered to be a mentor. She let out a sign, wondering what was the point of making friends on a starship when there was always the opportunity of them leaving in the blink of an eye. R’Kala: Well, I wish you luck in that, and it seems to me you have everything worked out or in the process of being worked out. Falt: Well, if you’re happy I’m not showing any Red flags then I’m happy. ::short pause:: How about you, do you still want to talk about what’s bothering you? This would be particularly difficult for her. She wasn’t close with Tomas, but she had to start somewhere. R’Kala: Before I joined Starfleet I was an instructor at the Daystrom Institute—sociology. I was placed on an extended sabbatical and told to enlist in Starfleet to gain ::using air quotes:: “field experience.” Tomas raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t known R’Kala had taught at the Daystrom institute. She must have been one of a few Klingons ever to have done so. There was clearly a lot more to his fellow officer than met the eye. Falt: As you were already an instructor that seems like an odd requirement to have placed on you? She chuckled. R’Kala: My supervisor was very diplomatic in handling the situation as it was actually a sabbatical for me to leave as I had several student and faculty complaints stating that I was too aggressive, too rude, too Klingon. He thought me joining Starfleet and working on a starship might teach me how to work with a team. ::pause:: I received a call from my colleague at the beginning of shore leave, essentially informing me that I had been terminated permanently from my teaching position. Tomas winced, getting that information over subspace must have been painful. Falt: That must have been… difficult. She had gone through several emotions after getting the news, something she might even call the stages of grief. R’Kala: Initially, I was very angry. I broke a lot of equipment and yelled a lot, and then I felt embarrassed. After some reflection, I think my move towards counselor stems from my frustration as a science officer. Now I just feel...indifferent. Tomas nodded, he’d have been angry too. Falt: Your anger seems entirely appropriate, it sounds like you were treated unfairly. You’re… different… from most Klingons I’ve met, but I’d wager you get ::short pause:: as passionate about things as the rest of your species. They must have known that when they took you on as an instructor, Tomas made a good point. R’Kala: Well, I’m no longer interested in what they would have known. Falt: I’m glad you’re moving on. It sounds like they didn’t appreciate your passion, and chances are they never will. R’Kala: Yes, you’re definitely correct about that lieutenant. ::letting out a sigh:: I know you’re not a counselor, but any thoughts? Falt: I’m no good at giving advice but I will ask you to do something, one ship mate to another. Be yourself. Hold onto that passion, that Klingon fire. It has helped make you the clearly formidable woman you are today, and I’m sure the rest of us will only benefit from that. R’Kala: Thank you. I’ll try and remember that. It was good advice, and she would have to work on keeping that passion alive, even if she was no longer in the traditional science role or in the educator role anymore. She would have to apply that passion to her new position now. Falt: ::nodding:: If it helped you in any way then I am glad. Thank you for listening to me as well. R’Kala: ::smiling:: Well, it’s technically my job to listen, but I’m also glad we were able to help each other. He looked around. The nature of the Ring meant there was never a true night, only an artificial one. Regardless of the cause he could see the light levels had reduced since they had first sat by the lake. Falt: We should probably get back to work. I need to send these updated schematics to Commander Vamiz aboard the Grace Hopper for review. Assuming he agrees we can make a start on adding your arboretum tomorrow? R’Kala: Sounds like a plan to me, lieutenant. Falt: Excellent, I love it when a plan comes together. END Ensign R'Kala Ship's Counselor USS Juneau I238808Z10 and Lieutenant JG Tomas Falt Science Officer USS Juneau, NX-99801 J239807TF2

The Engineers on Juneau are perfectly fine, I promise 🤣

I once again need to appreciate @Kettick the commentary. "which is already dense enough that I wonder how light manages to escape from you" The sass in just that part of the sentence alone is fantastic. And then the rest of it follows with the same level of sass. Excellent.

@Kettick has been absolutely killin' it lately with the sense of humor! Technically I think this particular narrative bit showed up a few days back, but seeing it again had it hitting different and truly I love Kettick so much. His thought processes are fantastic.

@Kettick It took me organizing my inbox to get the chance to fully appreciate this one for the absolute gem of a sim that it is. There are a number of specific little narrative quotes I could pinpoint, but when I tried to do that I just found that the ones that came after it were equally funny and added to the humor in the most perfect ways. So I'm going to agree with Sera's assessment that your inner monologue was hysterical. And I think every person deserves a good laugh out of this one. Because I was wheeze laughing. ---- ((Main Engineering, Deck 15, USS Juneau)) Dekas: ::Clearing his throat:: Are, ah, any of you free to help me with a problem I’m having? The Aurelian's voice drew Kettick's attention away from the broken phaser gun he was trying to fix. A good thing too, he was beginning to harbor uncharitable thoughts towards whoever had tried to use it as a space heater during their last camping trip. Dekas: I’m Dekas by the way. The Vulcan engineer with the most traditional fur walked towards the Aurelian, Kettick one step behind her, and extended her hand in the traditional salute of her people. Sera: Greetings Ensign Dekas. What is the problem? The Remmilian nodded briskly, in what he hoped was an appropriate greeting among equals. Careno: Response Dekas: Right. There’s a replicator that is really giving me an issue. It isn’t responding to the normal line of fixes, and I think some extra eyes could help me sort this all out a lot faster. That was an expression that would have caused him no end of trouble, once. But now, he knew that the Aurelian was not suggesting he needed multiple ocular grafts, but the professional opinion of one or several of his peers. Given the fact that the replicator was at present faintly smoking, his professional opinion was somewhere in the vicinity of a pained wince. Careno: Response Sera: Have you attempted to ‘turn it off and turn it back on?’ Dekas: Response Sera: Well, as that usually fixes this type of device, further diagnostic studies should be performed…or we could simply replace the entire unit? Kettick: We should do our utmost to minimize the downtime. Due to widespread caffeine addiction among the Engineering crew, it has been suggested that this replicator be taken off the Master Minimum Equipment List, for fear its absence would compromise Juneau's flight worthiness. Dekas: Response Careno: Response Kettick: I also have a sonic hammer at hand, in case you want to try the illogical but time-honored 'percussive maintenance' technique. Careno: Response Dekas: Response Sera tilted her head in assent. Sera: I will obtain my tricorder and hydrospanner and assist you. The diagnostics I was working on can continue to run in the background without direct supervision for sometime before becoming corrupted. Dekas: Response Kettick tilted his head to the side, in thought. The little green flashes coming from inside the casing were most distressing, if somewhat pretty. Kettick: I will try to look into the access logs, to see if someone has tried to make it replicate a forbidden substance... again. Similarly, reviewing the code for any unauthorized addition might be worthwile. If crewman Jerroh had tried to replicate their infamous "coffin varnish" recipe again, Kettick would put forward a motion for drowning them in the vile stuff. Careno/Dekas/Sera: Response Kettick: The probability that it has become sentient and is currently trying to communicate via smoke signals is low. And my other hypothesis would necessitate jury-rigging a flamethrower, but I am reasonably certain we managed to find and destroy all the eggs last time. TAG/TBC -- Ensign Kettick Engineering Officer USS Juneau G239107LR0

@Tomas Falt I love Varg, I mean Falt so much! 🤣 🤣

@Sera Acting in a Fantasy Holodeck adventure during Shore Leave is the actual best thing I've ever seen. "It tis a plan." Just excellent.

@Kettick I just laughed like a seal. By which I mean it caught me off-guard in the middle of that paragraph and I just barked a laugh and clapped like an idiot. 10/10 description.

@John Kendrick playing Pelley and Dekas over here in an active assimilation crisis, and they really just saw Doctor Vihn sprint in the sickbay and decided, "You know, the Trill on board do be lookin' kinda cute today. Like I don't believe in love at first sight, but I really wouldn't mind if they walked by again anyway." And are they wrong? Absolutely not.

and I think the Juneau's newest ensign, Sera (who doesn't have a forum tag yet, but still deserves the shout out for these little gems of npc banter) might actually be the funniest person alive from literally day one. I just wheeze laughed. I'm thrilled by what she'll bring to the table as she keeps going!