How'd'you Do? (Owen)

[Evangeline Irvine]

Today wasn't a skipping day for Ciara. She'd woken up feeling somewhat subdued, and decided it was probably just her realization that she'd not be seeing earth again for a while. It was just like after she'd left Donegal, and had had to accept that she wouldn't be seeing Mark again for a time, or her parents, or even her annoying sister Lily.

But that didn't mean she got to sit in her room and sulk while the rest of the crew worked--no sir. She was going to go about her day as she always did and hope for the best. Maybe she'd run into someone she hadn't met before, like she had the other day (though she didn't particularly want to literally run into someone again, as she had with Lizzy), or discover a part of the ship where she'd never been.

Instead of her customary--and, according to Katy, trademark--heels, she opted for flats today, which made her feel small and insignificant as she meandered idly through the halls. However, they also made it easier for her to step out of peoples' way, and for some reason there was a lot of traffic today.

Usually Ciara thrived to be a part of these swarms, chattering and actively participating in whatever was going on. But today, she just wanted some quiet. She ended up finding her way down to a hall near engineering, and traipsed along at a casual pace. Without thinking about it, she began whistling, and a little of her usual bounce picked up in her step.

A small smile was just starting to creep onto her features as she turned the corner, and it was then that with a shriek she stumbled backwards and landed flat on her butt. What was it with her and corners? A little sheepishly she looked up at the man standing before her, feeling the red flush crawl up her neck and glow in her cheeks.

"Sorry! I was just wandering, I didn't realize anyone would be here! I really should just stick to the parts of the ship I know, shouldn't I? But that's never really any fun. I've been wandering the same continuous loop for at least a week now. Not that it matters. Sorry for walking in on you while you were... say, what are you doing, anyway?"

She clamped her mouth shut--both because she was rambling and only embarrassing herself further, and also because she didn't know if she was putting herself on the man's nerves or not. Maybe introducing herself would help? "I'm Ciara Gallagher, communications officer. And you are?"

[izludemagnus]

Owen was spending his break relaxing in his quarters when he got a message telling him there had been a nontoxic chemical leakage in engineering that needed to be cleaned up as soon as possible. With a sigh he stood and stretched looking around his room for his dirty jumpsuit. He found it discarded next to his shower remembering having something gross spill onto him while he was cleaning something worse. ‘No point in dirtying another one,’ he thought as he quickly got dressed.

When he got to engineering, Owen sighed. He wanted to examine all the equipment, make sure it was in good shape and properly calibrated. Unfortunately he could do none of that instead he had to take his mop and clean what looked like antifreeze from the floor. As he wiped up the liquid he noticed some looks of disgust from the engineers near him. He conceded it was probably more his stench than anything else but he didn’t really care it just meant people were going to talk to him less.

With the mess cleaned up, Owen had no reason to remain in engineering and decided to take a stroll for what was left of his break. After a few minutes of walking he was in an unfamiliar part of the ship. He stopped for a moment and looked around trying to gain his bearings. A minute or so after he had stopped someone suddenly bumped into him, shaking him a little.

Owen turned around, his cybernetic eye glowing a little, and noticed the girl had been knocked onto her butt. Before he could say anything, she started a long apology and ended slightly accusatory. She had caught her mistake and stopped talking for a second before introducing herself. “Don’t worry about it,” Owen said as he stretched his hand out to help her up, “Um I’m Owen Brody… maintenance.”

[Evangeline Irvine]

The man had to be at least six feet tall, towering above Ciara in her position on the floor. It would take her three-inch heels to prop her up closer to his height if she were standing, she estimated roughly, and even then she'd still be a little under his height. Contemplating altitudes while sitting on the floor at the feet of someone you didn't know was a strange thing.

He took her clumsiness with good grace, however his short comment suggested he didn't know what to do with all the words that had spewed out of her mouth. So he was a quieter person. Offering her a hand up, he introduced himself as Owen Brody, and told her he worked maintenance. Her expression lighting up, Ciara gladly took his hand and bounced to her feet.

"Maintenance, huh? That's awesome! Have you taken much time to look around the ship? I've mostly been exploring the halls around the mess hall, and I've only been down here once or twice before--which is why I apologize for interrupting you. You're probably working, hey? I would be, but unless a cruiser carrying a bushel of foreign aliens who can't speak English but need to tell us something life-altering crashes into us, I've really got nothing to do."

Ciara fell into silence for a moment then, studying what he was doing. There was a mop in his hands, so he was probably cleaning something up--though he was likely close to being finished, if he wasn't finished already, as she wasn't able to tell what he might've been cleaning. Or maybe he'd just been on his way to where the mess was?

She was about to make some pointless little comment when she noticed one of his eyes seemed to be glowing. Unintentionally, she leaned in a little to get a closer look, completely forgetting how rude it was to stare at someone. At least she wasn't trying to make him uncomfortable--she was simply fascinated. "Is that a cybernetic eye? How'd you get it?"

[izludemagnus]

Owen couldn’t help but smile at Ciara, as much as he didn’t like talking he got a kick out of how bouncy she was. She started telling him how awesome his job was and where she had usually walked around the mess hall. She obviously had a lot of free time considering there haven’t been any encounters with aliens since Owen had been on board. He noticed her looking at his mop or at least thought she did because she quickly changed the subject to his eye.

“Um my job isn’t as cool as it sounds… I’m actually a janitor with a nicer name… ,” Owen explained pausing for a minute to get his thoughts about his eye right before speaking. He thought about how it is pretty much the bane of his existence. “I hate this eye…,” he started, “I uh use to be an engineer… a uh really good one… good enough to work in restricted areas… computers in those places like to blow up if you tamper with them… BOOM! Shrapnel in my eye and no job in sight… the kind jerks at UGAP got me the job as janitor and this hunk of junk basically so I wouldn’t give away secrets…” He was annoyed at his crappy life thus far and tightened his grip upon his mop.

[Evangeline Irvine]

Owen seemed relatively entertained by Ciara's constant upkeep of chatter, and she found herself also amused, in turn. She wasn't a hedonist, per se, but she liked so be happy, and she liked those around her to be happy as well, so the fact that she was humoring him brightened her day considerably.

"I'm pretty sure my great-grandfather was a janitor," she thought aloud. "Only instead of working on a ship, like you are, he was stationed in a school or something like that." She bit her tongue then, both literally and figuratively, and listened while he spoke. He spoke with such bitterness, such loathing, for what had happened, and Ciara frowned.

"It can't have all been bad," she chided, folding her hands behind her back. "You know, the silver-lining to every cloud? So you used to be a great engineer. You lost your eye. But, clearly, if you're still on a ship, working maintenance, then you're good with your hands. Maybe you should take up sculpting? I mean, Beethoven was deaf, right? And you've still got some sight, so maybe this is God's calling for you to step up and become an artist."

[izludemagnus]

Owen’s head started to pound as he thought about how UGAP easily discarded him. He took a deep breath hoping he calm his nerves so his eye wouldn’t short out. Ciara told him that maybe he could be an artist since he’s good with his hands. “I never really thought about becoming an artist… I’ve never been good at drawing but I’ve never tried sculpting… just gave up at art way back when I was a kid… and I’m still a good engineer I’ve just been blackballed from it,” he quipped sticking his tongue out a little.

Owen’s headache faded into a light throb as he calmed down about his situation. “I guess I could try sculpting but I don’t really know where to start… not like I have free time on my hands due to the high demand of cleaning around here. I’m just hoping they ease up on messes soon… Maybe I should hunt them down and bring them their messes,” he said with a chuckle.

[Evangeline Irvine]

It made Ciara grin to realize that Owen actually seemed to be considering her suggestion, even if it was only because it was a bizarre concept. He obviously didn't think himself an artist, but in a way, what he did already was art. It took skill to clean things up as quickly as someone who was trained was able to. She knew--she'd tried, as part of a community service assignment back in high-school.

"That's a healthy attitude," she chimed when he claimed he was still an engineer, even if the government said he wasn't. "Just because they say something is true doesn't mean it actually is. Although, I suppose that can be said about most things. My friend Marina's really good at mind-tricks--this one time, she almost had me convinced that my hair was blue, but then I glanced up into the mirror and realized it was still red."

He said in passing that he might consider sculpting, but he wouldn't have a clue where to start. "Oh, I could probably help you there, if you're really interesting. As for free time, there's got to be a break in the messes around here sometime. Maybe during a shore-leave or something."

Owen's next words encompassed his wish to bring people's messes back to them, and Ciara laughed. "If you have that in mind, then maybe you ought to be talking to Benjamin Braun or Hollie Sampson. They're the pranksters around here, from what I can gather. Or maybe John Neill. He's pretty good at sneaking things passed people as well."

[izludemagnus]

Owen laughed when Ciara told him about how her friend almost convinced her into thinking her hair was blue. “I’m sure it’d look good blue,“ he said with a chuckle, “But she must have been really good to make you think that.”

Owen smiled when Ciara said she could help him find a way to learn sculpting. “Yeah shore-leave is probably one of the best times to do it if I’m going to,” he said with a smile, “I’ll look into it more when I have free time and I can get in touch with you later about it.”

Owen checked his watch and noticed his break had been over for a few minutes and sighed. “Looks like my break is over… See you around the ship… and don’t leave any messes or they may just find their way back to you,” he said with a laugh, “If you need anything repaired give me a shout.” With that he turned to walk away heading for his room to get a new jumpsuit.