| Dip |
| Summary: | Sawyer finally tracks down a member of Engineering to do some digging. Poor Merrell. |
| Date: | 19 FEB 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None. |
| Players: |
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Poolside
The pool area of the ship hasn't seen much use yet. Some people are still just finding the Athletics Area. Thus, its still a fairly quiet room despite some of the echoes associated with it. And this is where we find Merrell. She's sitting on the edge of the pool in her swimsuit, a towel wrapped around her neck. The woman has a form that some men might say is regrettably hidden beneath baggy coveralls most of the time. Her hair hangs wet and dripping down her shoulders as she stares absently into the water, a hand fingering a small amulet around her neck.
There's a pad of bare feet on the damp floor surrounding the pool, serendipity placing the Reporter in the same venue as Merrell, or maybe it was just a well planned situation that included stalking members of the Engineering until she can single one out from the pack. Ahem. As it stands, Sawyer has even donned the appropriate swim gear for the situation, so she looks less the be-suited reporter and more like the average crew member of the Cerberus. Credentials are left on a folded towel on a bench, well out of eye shot as she approaches the edge of the pool. "Is it warm? I never know quite what to expect. I guess the only way is to get your feet wet, right?" Her tone entirely conversational as she comes up behind Merrell and takes a seat a few paces down to slip her tootsies into the water.
The Chief doesn't even seem to hear the footfalls until there is a voice. She startles a little with a squeak and looks up with a smile. Her hand freezes on the amulet, a small symbol of her faith and the God Artemis. Merrell's eyes are on the woman, though. "Oh. Sorry! Hi," she stammers and looks back to the water. "Its not bad. All water seems cold to me when I jump in, though. Just gotta get used to it. I'm just trying to get some use in before the rest of the crew decides to make itself known down here, you know?"
"Some peace before it becomes like Beach Blanket Bingo down here? I couldn't agree more." Sawyer settles down, her hands gripping the edge of the pool as she drops her feet in, the water swallowing her legs up to just below her knee. "It's rather quiet down here compared to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the ship. With all the fires and security issues…piled on top of the general hub bub of the launch." Her feet swish in the tepid water, changing the reflection of the overhead lights on its wavering surface.
Merrell takes the remark at ease, smiling warmly. "Exactly. I work down in Engineering and the noise doesn't really afford anyone the opportunity to think. The peace and quiet gives a nice change for me." To the last, she nods and flashes her eyes. "No joke." Her hand drops from the medallion back to the rim of the pool. "I've had to deal with both lately. Trying to wrap my head around all of it." The bright mood fades a bit back to what it was earlier. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors. I don't know if you're the religious but I am and its got me sorta rattled. Know what I mean?" There's a bit of a hopeful tinge to her voice as she looks back to Sawyer. The Taurian accent is tempered with something off from most. A small lilt that speaks to poverty. More-so than most of the rest of the colony.
Sawyer keeps her attention mostly on her feet in the pool, but when Merrell's hand drops away from her throat, she flicks a glance in that direction and takes that little bit of detail in. "If people weren't religious before, they should be now. The bad omen at the sacrifice has us all on edge. Do you get the squicky feeling that they're related?" When the question is asked, her eyes round and her eyebrows lift, her face a mask of wide-eyed concern.
Merrell gives a deep sigh, the kind of reflective sound that speaks to a lot of thought on the matter. "I…do. Sort of. Combined with what happened with the airlocks down in Frame Thirty-seven? Plus the sacrifice? Its not the best signs. It scared me at first to be honest. But after talking with a few people about it I think that its a mixed blessing. On one hand the Gods are telling us something bad is on the way. But then again? I really can't say that it is something bad for us with any certainty. There's too much going on with it. Its why I can't stop thinking about it. Been losing a lot of sleep. What about you? Think its giving us some bad omens?" There's some underlying concern to her voice the expression she wears curious but still holding the emotion of her voice.
Deflect, reflect. It's all a game of language play to turn a conversation back around where you want it to go. Without that ability, a reporter is useless. Sawyer can pick up enough in Merrell's voice to at least think she's on the right track. And it seems Merrell wants someone to religiously commiserate with. "All I can say is that I hope Command will let us properly recognize Anthesteria. We need to be in favor with the gods, not further separate ourselves from them. The airlocks though? I hadn't heard about that!"
Merrell nods, looking away again. "Aye. That'll be a relief. I'm looking forward to it. I don't drink but I could use the comfort of the crew. Getting lost in those rites is kinda like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket." She smiles a bit, then offers a quick laugh at the last. "Yeah. Sorry. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is in Engineering. We, uh. We had this woman? A contractor?" Her gaze lifts back to Sawyer. "A petty officer and I found her wandering around. A bunch of really shady answers came up when I started asking her questions. So I had her arrested. Turns out she had been futzing with an airlock down there. Found..and did some things I can't even -explain-. Its just.." She shakes her head, voice fading away.
"Well that's…entirely creepy." Sawyer says on a whooosh of air, as if she had been holding her breath during that entire story. "I mean, messing with an airlock, that's…potentially very bad." Her sentences draw out as if she can't quite find the terms she wants to use. "What was her name? I mean, what happened to the girl?" Sawyer turns slightly, drawing a knee up to lay on the side of the pool and leave her foot dangling off the edge. Residual water drips off her toes to plunk back into basin while for all intents and purposes, the reporter sits her like Merrell's new best friend and this is just everyday gossip.
"Yeah. Well she didn't really mess with the airlock, though." Merrell is obviously conflicted about this. "She saved us. I mean, not for sure. But..Its just- I don't even know what to think about what it means anymore." She sighs, hand reflexively lifting to the amulet around her neck. Her eyes look absently to the water. "Miss Tuata. I can still see her face." Merrell is quiet after that, not saying what happened to the girl.
Sawyer reaches out to lay a hand gently on Merrell's shoulder. "If she truly did save us? As you say, the lords will keep her safe. If not in this world, then the next. So Tuata found a problem and decided to fix it on her own? Surely once that was all sorted out she was released, right?" The question is lightly posed, as if Sawyer's just concerned more then just merely curious.
"Heh. Yeah. Probably more than you realize," she sighs. There's an edge of sorrow to her voice, though. Merrell doesn't shy away from the touch, though, but it seems to take her a little by surprise. She looks back to Sawyer and shakes her head. "I, ah. I'm sorry. I can't talk about it. On-going investigation and all. Barclay would probably kill me. And I'm little so that isn't hard." She tries to lighten the mood a bit but the issue is still bothering her and the smile doesn't quite reach past her lips.
Sawyer doesn't let the hand linger and become awkward, but she does give a quick warm squeeze before going back to holding onto the edge of the pool as if she's still debating jumping in or not. Merrell's smile gets echoed on Sawyer's face, "Oh, no. Don't worry about it. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble just for gossiping with me. Seems a little weird though, that if she /was/ helping us. Well. She should be applauded. Was it just a systems malfunction? There seems to be a fair share of those going around too. Just the bugs of a new ship? Say, do you think the fire in the galley is related in that sense?"
"Yeah, thanks. Its just that all this has my head swimming." She kicks a bit at the water as if to bring the point home, a little of the lighter mood reaching her face. Robin looks back to the ripples as they cross the pool. "Yeah. I know what you mean. I already stopped by the chapel and set up a devotion to Aphrodite. Its really all I can do." She shrugs with the rest. "Still working at the galley fire. I don't do a lot of systems. Mainly structural work. We've got a lot to take care of with a new ship, though. Why do you ask?" The smaller woman looks back to the reporter with a quirked brow.
Sawyer gives a small shrug. "Just trying to sort it all out, much like you. When everything makes sense again, or at least is some logical pattern. Well, then we'll all sleep better at night. You've an advantage though, you're right there in the thick of things. Besides. Fire in space? That's the scariest damn thing I can think of." A pause. "I should stop by myself, light some incense."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Its hard to talk about it, though because so many people have conflicted viewpoints on all of it. I mean, you know how people can get with religion and what signs tell us. So often we get them wrong. But this, like, has the hands of the Gods all over it. I just don't understand it." She doesn't comment on the fire in space but moves to slowly rise from the poolside, instead. "I gotta get some rack, though. Or at least try. Thanks for the talk. Maybe run into you sometime down here again." Merrell's so distracted she probably doesn't even realize there were never introductions. Just a simple nod and a smile before she heads off towards the locker rooms. Or maybe that's just life on a Battlestar.
Sawyer smiles after the woman, but doesn't get up when she does. "Well, if you ever want to just tell your view on it all, I make a great listener." She turns her head so her voice carries back towards the Engineer. It's not until Merrell has disappeared into the locker room that Sawyer hoists herself to her feet with a muttered cuss word. Shortly after, she retrieves her towel and pads out, her features dark.