Joint Personal Log - LtCmdr Waterhouse & Lt Atarah - "Knock Me Off My Feet"

Posted on Mon Aug 18th, 2014 @ 6:08am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Danielle Atarah

1,350 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

The hallway lurched, dangerously, from side to side, its horizon spreading as far as the eye could see and then farther and farther until it seemed like it would go back over and onto itself. Dani blinked, leaned at the wall and looked at it with fascination for a moment before continuing to stumble down it.

She was aiming towards her room, but her room seemed to have gotten lost somewhere between the turbolift and the carpet. The carpet, too, was pretty fascinating. She never noticed it before; it was gray, but had this oomph to it, a presence she thought suited the mostly grey interior of the ship.

She stopped at the door and thought for a moment. That wasn't her door, she was pretty sure of that. It was someone else's door. Pond's door. Yes. That's what it was. It was Pond's door. Somehow, Pond's door replaced her quarters door and stood, idle, in the middle of her way to ... somewhere.

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the cold metal, her hand tapping the side of the wall multiple times until it finally hit the chimes. And then again. "Open sesame," she muttered, hitting the chimes several times in succession. Something was completely wrong with the ship.

Amelia started awake, dropping her plush turtle to the floor as she set her comic book aside and stood up at the sound of the door chimes. She glanced at the Chronometer on the computer terminal, checking what time it was as she walked past the table and stepped back into her heels. She pressed the button to open her door expecting the enigma of a commander, and instead found a drunk engineer.

Dani leaned forward and caught herself at the last moment, stumbling. "Pond," she stated, blinking at the taller woman. "There's something wrong with the ship. And I need to submit a complaint. You're all," she waved her hand as if trying to find the word, "security. And commandery. Congratulations, and, you know, whatever." She shook her head and looked at the viewport, her gaze stuck for a moment at the stars as she tried to clear her mind.

Amelia slid an arm around Dani, and guided her into her quarters after a quick glance into the hall. She had never seen her friend drunk before, so the disappointment of it not being Vlimar outside her door was quickly replaced with concern for her friend.

"I'm not security anymore, I'm intel," Amelia corrected, trying to guide Dani towards a chair at the table. "Well, okay, so my boss is now running security, but that's beside the point. Security isn't my domain anymore." Amelia frowned at Dani. "Why are you drunk?"

"I'm not drunk," Dani glared. Or rather, she tried to glare. Her eyes weren't focusing right. "I can't be drunk, I didn't drink. You can only be drunk when you drink. Someone," she scolded, grabbing for Pond's collar, "did this to me," she shook lightly. "To me! I don't know why."

"Did you have the punch?" Amelia asked, seeing the signs of drunkness in her friend, but not seeing Dani to be one who'd lie to her about drinking. She caught her friend by the wrists and firmly, though gently, guided her to sit down in one of the dining table's chairs.

"I don't know," Dani muttered, "it was liquid. And fruity, near the fruit juice, only it was in a bowl." She felt like someone punched her. "It was next to the juice," she muttered, offended, "the juice was not alcoholic. Someone poisoned me. Look!" she pointed at the view port. "It's all... moving... wrong."

"Okay, okay," Amelia said with a sigh, patting Dani on the shoulder. "Let's get you some water, or something... Stay in the chair." Amelia moved to the replicator, keeping an eye on the tipsy engineer, her fingers moving out a well memorized pattern. A large glass of water materialized in a shimmer, and the willowy red-head collected it.

"I can't be drunk, Pond." Dani huffed depressively, "I don't DRINK. I never drink. It's bad for you. It makes you act all weird and stupid." She looked at Pond sideways. "You look weird. Are you sleeping? Did I wake you? You were sleeping weren't you? I woke you. I'm sorry. You should go to sleep," she pulled herself out of the chair. "I should find security and file a complaint. Someone should know about this... this... that."

Amelia closed the space between them quickly, pressing the glass of water into Dani's hand and pushing her back down into the chair. "I had been asleep, yes... but I'd been sitting on the couch. You saved me from regretting it in the morning," she assured her friend, sitting in the chair next to her. "I'll help you back to your quarters, and you can file the report in the morning..." Sadly, Amelia doubted anyone would do anything but laugh at Dani for not realizing the punch had champaign mixed in. Nothing else had happened to her, thankfully.

"Oh," Dani blinked, "Good. You shouldn't sit sleep, it's bad for your back," she gestured again, spilling some water on herself, then stared at the stain for a moment, "aw, now my suit is all wet. THIS," she looked at Pond again, "THIS is why alcohol IS BAD FOR YOU."

"It's just water," Amelia said softly with a head shake, taking the glass out of Dani's hand, and tucking her fingers into the small pocket on the hip of her dress. Out of it she produced a handkerchief, which she offered to Dani to mop up the water. "Take off the jacket, and the shirt should dry on its own."

Dani complied. She tilted herself forward taking off her jacket, dangerously close to tipping over, "this sucks," she complained with a whiny voice. "I don't like this."

"It's no fun," Amelia agreed, a hand on Dani's shoulder to help keep her steady. When the jacket came off, she draped it on the back of the chair. "Look, you can crash here tonight, and I'll help you through tomorrow if you're hung over. Hopefully you'll be fine with enough water... I'll find you something that won't spill."

"That sounds good," Dani muttered, not thinking about tomorrow. She leaned forward and reached towards the sofa as if she can pull into it by force of will. "Eh. The ship is twisting. That can't be good to all the tubes and eps stuff... and wires. That's bad for the wires." She took a step out of the chair and onto the sofa, collapsing into it. "Uh. Why do people drink, Pond. This is stupid," she muttered, her face pressed to the sofa, muffling her voice.

Amelia swooped in ahead of the collapsing engineer to save her comic book from doom, and patted Dani on the head as she deposited the comic on the coffee table. "Some people do it because they're stupid... others are more careful about how much they drink." She headed back to the replicator, her fingers moving over the controls slower this time and she had to actually look at the controls. "My parents let me get shit faced once, so I'd learn why I needed to moderate myself," she explained when a sport water bottle materialized in the replicator. She picked it up as she turned back towards Dani.

"How can you be careful how much you drink if you don't know you're drinking?" Dani complained and then chuckled, her body rocking on the sofa, "hah, shit faced. That's funny."

"That is a problem, and I'm sorry you're dealing with it tonight," Amelia insisted, handing the water bottle over. "Sleep well, and yell if you need anything," Amelia said, pulling a folded blanket off the back of the couch to spread over Dani. She bent over to collect her plush turtle from the floor as she headed to the bedroom.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Lt Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Infiltration Specialist
USS Vindicator

Lieutenant Danielle Atarah
Engineering Officer
USS Vindicator

 

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