Round 20 Ensign R'raika Voss: Making a Home

[Sedrin Belasi]

((USS Garuda, R'raika Voss quarters))

:: Voss considered her quarters- Starfleet had years to perfect the sterile environment they expected their crews to live in, and in Voss's estimation they had done a brilliant job. It was cold, harsh- 'neutral'- and almost certainly maddening. She had succeeded at getting them to set the gravity of her quarters to something much closer to that of Vulcan. She had only ever set foot on Vulcan once, as a small child- and with luck she would never need get close to her home world again. Still, the higher gravity was comfortable, like a soft blanket- and it left her feeling more at ease. She'd even shifted the environmental controls so that the very air in the room was like Vulcan- thin and reedy when compared to the rest of the ship. If this was to be her sanctuary- she should make the most of it. ::

Voss:: Computer, set the temperature to forty-three degrees Celsius.

:: Voss paced through the room, as the computer adjusted the temperature she looked over the piles of rugs she had purchased from the Ferengi Mjort, he had been a very bad tongo player- but his selections of cloth, tapestries, and other creature comforts had been “Second to none!” in his own words- he had been more than glad to end his debts to the Vulcan with a selection from his storerooms, a small dose of oo-mox had gotten her a good deal on the rest- the sheets of Andorian silk for her bed were one of the better prizes. ::

Voss: Computer, lower the humidity in this room- no more than ten percent at any time.

:: Voss counted out the rugs, six were fairly large and would served to cover up the functional if ugly carpet they had installed- she rolled each one out and set to work, making sure each overlapped in the best way- after a short moment her floor was covered, and cushier. She gave a little bounce and felt the soft fibers nuzzle the soles of her bare feet. This was perfect, soft, wonderful, perfection. True- the rugs clashed with each other- and if you looked at the floor too long you might suffer from a sudden onset of vertigo, or seizures. Thankfully, Voss found the disharmony charming- she quickly unrolled the seventh rug, it was the smallest of the bunch, but the most import- traditionally it would go outside her front door, but exceptions had to be made. She set the mat in front of her door, the Terran words, “WELCOME” challenging anyone who entered. ::

:: The curtains were an easy affair to set up, she only had a few windows in this room of hers, but it was nice to be able to block out the void of space when she wanted to. She stretched and took a time out, sitting down on her bed and letting her fingers run across the new sheets- for a moment her thoughts went back to that last fight, the person she fought- she blushed slightly and stood up, running her fingers through her hair and crossing over to her desk. There sat a dozen or more crumpled bits of paper- each baring her scrawled handwriting. They were supposed to be apologies, but each had come out sounding more like a love letter than the last. She thought of destroying them, better no evidence existed, but each crumpled paper was a thought, and it gave her desk a used, messy feel. The desire for a cluttered existence won out and she let them lie where they were. ::

Voss: Computer, dim lights to seventy percent.

:: The rest of the setup went fairly easily- Voss had a preference for floor cushions over chairs and now she had quite a few piles of them- not that she actually expected any guests. The largest were more suitable for lounging full body in, the smaller were scattered around the small table she'd found. It's edging was Terran oak, but the center piece was an inlay of various hard woods from around the galaxy- it's very disorder was order. She set her kal-toh board on one corner, wondering if she could get speed kal-toh to do better on this ship than she had at the academy. The final moments of decoration were placing her weapons in the most practical spots- not so much for display but functional and rapid defense. The wall hangings were the last things to go up- almost all of them were oil based paintings, the largest was a cityscape of the First City- that she paced on the wall beside her bed- so that when ever she woke up, she could look out and see her home. ::

:: Voss looked the room over, the heat had finally seemed to hit the desired peak and she felt more alive in it. Part of her considered working on a set of mok'bara movements- but in the end, even on shore-leave she couldn't forget there was work to do. Instead of moving, she grabbed her PADD and accessed the crew files, deciding to commit each name and face to memory. ::

Ensign R'raika voss

Intelligence Officer

USS Garuda