| Books And Drinks |
| Summary: | Two people happen upon each other in the library; book suggestions are made and drinks offered. |
| Date: | 10 Jan 2042 |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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| Ship's Library |
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| Racks of books extend deep into this room, nearly darkening the overhead lights towards the back. The shelves are neatly labeled to each category with nearly everything represented here. Fiction, Sci-Fi, Romance, and everything down to comic books has been loaded up onto the shelves. A smaller research area at the back has a large table for maps to be opened-up. Nearer the door is a small library of movies that covers some of the most recent blockbusters and flows through some of the more campy movies from about two decades before. Next to the door, a Petty Officer can usually be found at a desk to help someone checkout their selections. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #318 |
It's not very often that civilians are to be found on the Cerb since the retrofit and christening of the Elips, those who are to be found either visiting Medical or similar facilities or those who managed to get hooked up with work on the Battlestar. For the young woman who enters the library, with escort following behind and visitor's pass clipped to her shirt, she's one of the former. Not having been here before, it takes her a while to find the section she's wanting to look through but once she does Callie ducks into that particular aisle, murmuring to herself as she looks over the titles that have been stamped or printed on the spine. "Where is it…"
"If you're looking for the latest copy of 'Toodles the Tank Engine's book then I'm very sorry. I already checked it out. And no you can't have it." Mark peers at her through the stack, obviously grinning on the other side before he looks down at his own find - obscured by the hundreds of other books.
There is a pause and then she peers at the man, her expression one part amused, three parts shocked over how he actually spoke to her. "Actually, am looking to see if I can find a particular tome on engineering to try and familiarize myself on how things work on a ship…" Looking again, she shakes her head, not really finding what she needs. Sure, there are books on the subject but they are all above her level of knowledge, making her over-look them after the first glance. "Guess student-level books aren't to be expected here."
"Yeah?" Mark asks, still looking down. "Most of the engineering crap is on this side. We've got some student level things here, but not a lot. Unless you've got a base understanding of engineering, its hard to pick apart. The jerk who stocked this place put in plenty of entry level and mid-grade, but there's almost nothing transitory." He lifts the book in his hand and replaces it, taking another beside it and glances to her eyes and back to his topic.
Callie blushes. "Oh…thanks." Coming around from the side of the shelf she happened in, she gives Mark a look before turning her attention to the new selection, her brow knitting. "As for knowing about engineering, I was studying civil engineering at the university in Caprica City before…" A few fingers are waggled on her good hand, a gesture meant to say 'you know'. "Well…I wasn't there when it happened. Was actually on Aerilon." Not used to talking so much about herself, she falls silent, feigning interest in a book that is most definitely not what she needs.
Mark looks her up and down quickly before looking back to his book as he turns pages. "Yeah. 'That'. Shame the C-Bucs lost that championship. I lost two hundred cubits on it. Shame you had to lose school because of it." He ventures her a smile and shuts the book. The red cover on it reads in gold lettering 'Electromagnetics Used As Explosives: Directed Energy Weapons'. He stuffs it back into the shelf and reaches for another: 'Wavelength Disruptions in EM Signatures'. Whoever he is, he's into is some serious stuff. "What brought someone from C-City to Aerilon? Didn't think many people from the golden city bothered with someplace like that." He's still flipping pages.
"I never really got into Pyramid but am sorry you lost that money," Callie apologizes sincerely, his own getting her to sober after. "Oh. It's okay. I can still learn, right? Will just take a little longer." Shaking her head, she glances at the books Mark is picking out curiously but it's one of those subjects she doesn't think she needs to be in the know about so they're left uncommented upon despite her curiosity. What she does say is in regards to his commentary on Aerilon that she does so, her smile fading a bit when she does. "We were there for a work study program. A group of us got to take a semester off to go and experience stuff like well digging and dam designing first hand." In other words, they were used for cheap labor but it was an experience she wouldn't trade for anything.
"Best way to learn is to do, in my experience. Get a teacher and a few books and try to get a running start." He flips through the pages and settles on a chapter that she can't quite read from her angle. "Work study? Sounds like you've already got a decent base to your education. The kicker to Engineering is the ability to think along certain lines. Most people wonder if the doorknob turns left or right. You probably wonder why it goes that particular way." He smirks in spite of himself. "What's got you interested with ships? Anything in particular?" He flips to a different chapter.
Something about Mark's easy going demeanor puts Callie at ease, making her feel less of an intruder and more like a welcomed visitor. "That's exactly how I feel. About the best method of learning. And the thinking." Laughing, she puts her left hand upon her hip, not even bothering to remember to keep it out of sight like she normally does when talking to people for the first time. "I want to learn about ships so I can help, really. It's a lot different than figuring out how to make a high rise quake proof but…well, yeah. I want to give back to the people who saved me and the others." Pausing, she looks at Mark, curious before adding sheepishly, "It's a little more difficult to do the work than it was before," the confession added to with a lifting of her ruined hand.
Mark chuckles, nodding. "Figured. We're all the same animal." He slaps the book closed and shoves it back into the stack. "I know the feeling." The man crosses one arm on his chest and the other hand lifts, tapping fingers to his chin as he examines titles. "I hadn't worn a uniform for nearly twenty years until last June. Plucked my ass off Leonis. Only difference is, I could care less about giving back. I'm just petty enough to want revenge." He squints his eyes with the words, smiling barely. But he glances over to her hand and then up to her face. "Hon, I've got a Senior Chief Petty Officer that can't use her legs. At all. You might think that could stop you but trust me, that ain't bad at all. Don't look nary a scratch, either." He gives her a reassuring nod and looks back to the stack, still tapping away.
"I wish I was able to say that. That I want to do it for revenge. Maybe I can stop being so angry if I could." For someone who claims to be angry she's sure nice. Sweet, even, if someone's inclined to use such a descriptor for another person. But there is a intensity when she says that so either Callie is a good liar about how she feels or she's just that good of an actor. Turning slightly, she rests a hip against the shelf while looking at him, managing to hold his eyes with her own for as long as he lets her. "Wait. You have a disabled woman on a Battlestar? How does that work, logistically speaking?" Not that she's trying to be rude or harsh, nor is she trying to ignore the commentary Mark makes about her hand. She's genuinely curious.
"Anger is a powerful tool. Learning to focus it towards a task has produced some pretty heroic things in our past. Just look at how we've managed to keep pushing ourselves since it all went to hell. Not a lot of quitters in this group." The man honestly believes what he is saying. Its all over the way his shoulders shift as he speaks; the way his voice lifts. That's pride. Subtle, but unmistakable. "How? She takes freight elevators and such. Supervises crews. Does what she can from her chair. I think the Cerb picked her up on Saggitaron or something. Not sure how she made it that far but there you have it."
Callie nods. "Anger is a very good motivation but it's dangerous if it is allowed to get out of control. It's something best tempered with intelligence and drive." Looking at him a bit more intently after that, she opens her mouth only to then close it again, looking as if she is mentally back-tracking before daring to go on. "Quit is a word that leaves a lot of people's vocabularies when the push comes to shove. Those who did didn't survive." She has seen evidence to that fact, the memory of which has her face growing pale and taut. His explanation is mulled over then and she nods. It makes sense to her. "She sounds like a very brave woman."
"Exactly. Thus the focus. Without the focus anger as a motivation is a bit like using a rollerbrush to solve your problems when what you really need is a ballpoint pen. Might solve your problem but it creates a slew of new ones." Mark finally takes a book off the stack: 'Source Tuning Broadwave Applications in Directed Energy Weapons'. He seems satisfied with it, looking inside at the table of contents. "Quit is a word that you don't hear a lot anymore for that reason. Its being aggressively eliminated out of our language because the users aren't sticking around." He flips through a few pages. "She's not brave. She's a Snipe. We do or the battlegroup stops running. We have an expectation of duty, Miss." He finally looks back towards her and flashes an easy smile.
The conversation is a salve, it touching upon subjects Callie hasn't dared to try to bring up with the civilians out of fear that she might come across as being too aggressive or hate-filled, it helping to get many months of pent-up feelings off of her shoulders. "It's like trying to run when you're not even ready to walk. You really won't get to where you need or want to go because you're too busy tripping over your own feet." Reaching over, she tries to close the book enough to read the cover without actually shutting it on Mark, too curious not to look any longer. "She is brave. She could have curled up and let herself waste away, you know. But she didn't. That's bravery in my book. Oh. Don't need to call me Miss. I'm Callidora Doukas but you can call me Callie."
Mark just nods to her ideas of running and walking. He agrees, but doesn't say as much. When she reaches out to touch the book, the man glances to her hand, then her. He lifts the cover enough to let her read. "Project research. Chasing my our curiosities. The Areion has a weapons system that has me digging." He then looks back to the book and chuckles. "Well that's the difference. Tell her you think she's brave. I think she'd just stare at you like you had a birdhouse for a head. You want bravery? Callie, is it?" Mark nods. "Mark Makinen. Standing in for the Chief Engineer at the moment." He moves right along. "Bravery is what I saw last week." The man closes the book and leans against the stack to face her fully. "We cut into a destroyer that had crashed on Tauron to salvage parts. Had to walk hallways. We found a lot of bodies. Engineers that refused to leave their station. Tried to save it even when it was crashing through the atmosphere and they knew they were going to die. They still tried to save their ship and never left post. That's bravery I can only hope that I would have if I had been in their position."
There are pluses and minuses to having a good imagination, the down-side being when Mark talks about the corpses, that bringing an immediate image of dead bodies trapped inside a ruined ship into her head. It has the unfortunate side-effect of leaving Callie teary but she keeps it under tight control, those tears unable to fall as she stubbornly refuses to let them. "That is bravery," she echoes, unable to say anything else, her brain too locked in the vision to be able to think of much else to say for a bit. The time spent in silence is spent watching him, the officer and then his uniform taken in. "I don't suppose you could explain the project to me," she asks once she tugs herself free from that, her curiosity now getting the better of her.
"That is bravery," he repeats. Mark keeps his focus directly on the woman next to him. "A single story that only fraction of we will ever know of. The bravery of heroes on Warday will never be something we can calculate. Millions of stories of people who didn't quit in far worse conditions, that now only the Gods know." He taps the book against his heart. By the look in his eyes, he probably saw some of it first hand. Very close. "Sorry. Project is pretty close hold. Most of the people in my department don't know the details. Areion won't even give me full details. Just following my orders blindly."
"All we can do is hold them in memorial in our hearts, nameless faces…" Callie stops herself and she looks away, this being where she has to reach up and rub her hand over her eyes. Dammit. "Sorry." Swallowing hard, she nods, that being in understanding to Mark's apology. "Yeah, wow. Sounds important. But hey, no worries. I understand that a lot has to be done on the lowdown." That's not saying Callie isn't disappointed but the reason is comprehended. Peering up over her hand once the tears are gotten rid of, she adds suddenly, "You don't ever make it over to the Elips, do you," the question asked rather pointedly.
Mark watches Callie, his face that is normally animated is now a slate of stone. Apparently this is a topic he does not take lightly. "Don't worry about it. Just remember it the next time someone starts ragging on the military or complaining about conditions." There is no comment to her understanding about the project, though. Mum is the word of the day. "I have actually never been over there. I used to be on the Praetorian and I was troubleshooting systems over there until the attacks on eighteen December. Then I got transferred over here. Eighteen hour days up until a few days ago. Been wanting to see Pete's but-" He shrugs. "How is the Elpis so far?"
"I will be sure to do that, Mark. I promise." Callie has a habit of trying to fade into the background until needed but she doesn't want to where the memory of the lost goes and if it means standing up to those who complain then so be it. "The ship? Oh, well, there's the typical complainers and such. You know. Those people who wouldn't be happy on a luxury cruiser while having their every needs attended to? But for the most part we're making due. It's a home." A home. It'll be a long time for her to actually be able to call the civilian ship home outright but at least Callie can call the Elips something close to it. "I have yet to spend my vouchers for drinks. Perhaps you can check it out with me. Drinks on me."
"Heh. Got a few lingering around here like that. They aren't very vocal, though. Tends to get them in a lot of heat." Mark looks down to the book in his hand. He keeps his focus there through her asking of him to join her for drinks. There's a wry smile on his face, thumb running over the title of the book absently. "Yeah, why not. I don't have a ton of free time over here but when I can get over there, I'll let you know. That's about the best I can do." He's still looking at the book.
Callie sighs. "I envy you your lack of flapping gums, Mark. As it stands on our end of things, if people aren't careful there's going to be a revolt on our hands and we can't afford to have that happen along with everything else we have to worry about." With resources already taxed thanks to the Cylon attacks and other various losses, anything else might be enough to tilt the scales over to the side of 'this is shit we'll never be able to recover from' for good. When he accepts her offer she can't help but to beam, surprised that he did. "Great. If you can't find me nosing around here I'll most likely be in engineering there. Have someone give me a shout."
The Engineer quirks a brow at that. "Really? Might be something worth reporting to the Marines. Personally I'm still too pissed at the Cylons for what happened. If people want to hate each other and be obnoxious little shits, that's their rights." He finally looks back up to her. "Let 'em kill each other. People think that they need to revolt while we're on the brink of extinction, drop them off someplace. Let them fight. We can swing by and grab the survivors." A pause. "Oh how easily people forget." Callous? Probably. But he's an Engineer. Practicality over all else. He nods a few times in the end. "Shouldn't be hard. If you're in Engineering, I've got every excuse to be over there."
Callie blushes when she realizes that she misworded and she's quick to raise a hand and wave it dismissively, not wanting Mark to get the idea that something is amiss. At least she doesn't think there is. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that literally. It was meant to be an in-general kind of statement, Mark." Having explained that, she moves on to something quite a bit more pleasant to think about, that being their sharing a drink together sometime later on down the road. "I hope you're not a lightweight. Would hate to have to pour you into a Raptor so you can get home."
Mark lets it go easily enough. He nods a few times and stands off the stack. "I probably am now-a-days. Used to have my share of vices before all this. I haven't had a chance for a good belt since.. Gods. Probably in about eighteen months. Maybe longer." No chance for booze? Uh. He shrugs and looks back to the book. "By the way, what were you looking for in here? I don't imagine it was electromagnetics or energy weapons systems."
Callie grins easily enough when he says that; anyone familiar with facial expressions will be able to notice the mischievous gleam that leaps its way into her eyes at the same time she struggles to keep a straight face. "Is that right? Well, I'll have to keep that in mind, Mark." Huffing a soft chuckle, she turns her eye back to the books when he brings them up, her playfulness swapped out with a more business-like attitude. "I was wondering if there was a book that explained the basics of engineering on ships. Right now all I'm good at is tightening bolts and crap. Would like to be able to help more than that, if I'm able to."
"Be gentle." Mark smiles. "If you break me then its very likely Pewter might find and harm you." The man then listens to her description of the search. "Hmm." He looks up and then moves down a few rows. "What's your interst? Basic mechnical design? FTL is probably a little advanced. Fuel delivery would be more hydrodynamics. Uhmm." He taps his chin again. "Most of what we have is focused on ships but is specific to certain areas. What's the training you've got? Any passions?"
Callie touches a book's spine while she thinks for a moment. "I won't break you," she almost purrs. "Can't say you'd come out of the experience totally unscathed but you'll still be functional." Wagging a finger, she chides by gesture after that. Thankfully the conversation is moved to a much safer subject, the topic of engineering so much easier for her to discuss than flirting is. "I was studying civil engineering as well as geology. My interests had fallen to the design and building of large structures. We're talking epic-sized buildings as well as dams and that sort of thing." Yeah, she was going big, that being something she was not going to do by halves at all.
The Lieutenant, for once clean and in blues, looks to Callie with a raised brow. Orly? "As long as I'm functional I think we'll be okay." Flirting is obviously not his strong suit. At all. "So large structures. So you're looking at load-bearing, functional designs of larger systems at the base level. That's actually not far off from ship design, actually. Engineering's M and R department deals largely with that." He looks down the stacks and takes out the first of five volumes: 'Naval Platform Design'. "This is actually the set I had to use for my Masters work, believe it or not. Thankfully updated. Despite where I had to use it, the introduction is fairly good. The authors use a lot of analogies and lay-terms to introduce concepts. The illustrations are pretty helpful, too." He hands it over to her.
Book being offered and explained to her, Callie listens intently before it is taken from him. "Thanks. Well, I guess I should find a place to sit and get to reading," she muses with a shrug, assuming she won't be allowed to check it out since she's not one of the Cerberus' personnel. "I appreciate the advice and conversation, Mark. Look forward to being able to talk with you again."
"Good luck with it, Callie. Shouldn't be too rough on you." He lifts his book and hand to her as she departs. The man then looks to the title he has and heads for the woman running the counter up front. "You guys don't have this in a book on tape do you?"