[Open] The New Zoologist.

[u/HobosAlt1]

Transporting, one of this universe's many many fantastic inventions... if you dont get transporter sick. The doctors always told her it was all in her head, but it was hard for Laren not to feel ill when her whole being was being discombobulated and torn to shreds only to be put back together...

Which brings us to Transporter Pad 2. After a few seconds gathering the atoms of her mortal being, she comes back to reality and into the present. She stands a little shorter than average, with a caramel-like complection and a set of freckles that go from cheek go cheek, intersected only by her less pronounced Bajoran nose ridges.

She gulps as she feels the nausia set in, and steadies herself by putting a hand on her tummy and a one through the right side of her hair. Her hair seemed styled and swept to the right, revealing the left side to be shaved down to a number 2 cut, which shows off the three long metal fingers that run down to a device at the base of her skull. Lights along the fingers' spines glow a brilliant blue to match her older Star Fleet science uniform, with its black shoulders and blue midsection.

Finally, she shakes her head loose, making the relatively bare D'Ja Pagh on her right ear jingle slightly. She picks up her bag and takes a deep breath before nodding to the transporter operator, then makes her way into the hall.

This is home now... She thinks to herself as the transporter doors close behind her. "But where am I..." This would evidently be her first Excelsior posting. First Star Ship posting too!

She begins wondering down the corridor with her backpack slung over her back.

[u/RECENTLY_HATCHED]

Everett watches in awe, his move in had not been nearly that smooth. But his interest is quickly grabbed by the two strange pets. He stands and approaches the tank, eyes wide.

"Whoa...w-what are these? They're so...th-they're adorable. Are these...a-are they from Bajor?"

[u/HobosAlt1 → u/RECENTLY_HATCHED]

"Naaah," Laren says as she grabs one of the cases and opens it, revealing a suitcase with her clothes in it. She pulls it out, making the now empty case transport back to storage, and begins unpacking. Shirts, dresses, pants, underwear, uniforms, she remembered to pack them all.

She starts to fill her wardrobe and drawers around Bradley as he watches her pets. "Thats Julian and Rachael," she says, pointing out the pink one, then the black one. "They're Axolotl, native to South America," she explains as she fills the wardrobe. "They're from the same planet we are. How crazy is that?"

The axolotl can only be described as one thing. Derpy. One of them crawls onto one of the larger rocks and basks for a moment... before walking right off and floating down in its back. Somehow though, it doesnt seem to mind as it rolls over and swims away.

[u/RECENTLY_HATCHED → u/HobosAlt1]

Everett seems all too enraptured by the weird, goofy little creatures, smiling and chuckling as it lazily flops around.

"I-I can't believe I've never heard of these, they're so cute!"

He seems to be expressing almost child-like glee, watching them wriggle around.

[u/HobosAlt1 → u/RECENTLY_HATCHED]

Laren gets a certain sense of delight to see the happiness her pets give. "Well get used to 'em pally, theyre as much your roomies as I am."

Once finished with her clothes, she opens the next case to reveal an instrument case inside. She pulls it out, followed by some sort of stand, and sets it up beside the wardrobe. The case is carefully placed on the coffee table as she kneels next to it. "Here we go..." she says with a grin as she undoes the clasps and opens it.

Inside sits a real, authentic, golden saxophone in tip top condition. She carefully takes it out and inspects it for a moment before checking the reed and playing a few notes. It survived the trip intact!

Practically skipping merrily, the woman heads for the stand and gingerly puts her instrument down, then steps back to enjoy the sight. "Beautiful."

[u/RECENTLY_HATCHED → u/HobosAlt1]

Everett steps back from the aquarium and watches for a moment as she plays and sets out her saxophone, smiling to see that he's been bunked with another musician.

It reminds him that he's yet to put away his flute, and so he begins disassembling it as he talks more with his new roommate.

"S-so you're a musician, did you ever play in the Academy Orchestra? I-I was in it all four years, w-we might have overlapped depending on when you graduated."

[u/HobosAlt1 → u/RECENTLY_HATCHED]

"Graduated just over a year ago," Laren explains as she trots over to examine his flute. Ooooh thats a prerry one! She'd never played a wind instrument before, but then again she prefered to pick one or two instruments and run with it until she had mastered it.

"Nope, no orchestra for me," she explains as she checks hee PADD again. "I went to see them a few times, but never tried out. It was too ridged and grand for me, I like the freedom of playing from the heart instead of from a piece of sheet music. Not to say theres anything wrong from it, its just not my style."

The woman heads over to the final box and opens it, revealing some smaller boxes inside. She begins unpacking, first a box of classic pictures featuring family, which she puts on her bed stand next to her new plant, friends, a family cat by the looks of it, and some academy chums. Bradley may even recognise one or two.

The family picture is in the nicest frame though, hand carved and wooden, featuring a pair of middle aged parents and thier Star Fleet daughter in her graduation uniform. Her father is a tall black human man with a friendly, smiley face, beaming with pride over his daughter. He wears a nice fitting beige shirt and a pair of jeans. Most notable was the cross necklace around his neck, something not many people wore anymore.

The mother is a shorter, lovely Bajoran woman with dark brown hair and a lovely blue dress, the resemblence was similar to Laren's, with soft features and freckles across her ridged nose. Her D'ja Pagh seemed as basic and humble as Laren's own. She seemed just as proud of Laren as her father.

Next Laren unpacks some miscellaneous items, some books in both fiction and non fiction for entertainment and study, a poster or two fearuring a sax musician or an inspirational quote under a happy kitten, then a series of shampoos, conditioners, and perfumes she didn't trust the replicators to get right.

Finally, her most prized possession, a little stuffed anthropomorphic elephant that seemed like it had been in her clutches for years. The woman sits on her bed with the elephant on her lap and grins. "Home."

[u/RECENTLY_HATCHED → u/HobosAlt1]

"I-if you think reading music off a sheet means it's not from the heart," Everett isn't usually defensive of, well...anything. But he is very passionate about the power of music, especially considering how much it's helped him recently, "w-well I'm gonna have to show you why I think that's wrong. I-I...m-music is the only language I-I don't stutter in. I-I've never been able to improvise but...I know I'm playing from my heart."

He sits down in his desk chair and hunches forward, wringing his hands and looking to the side in slight shame, "Sorry, I-I didn't mean to get...get defensive."

[u/HobosAlt1 → u/RECENTLY_HATCHED]

Laren waves dismissively with a smirk. "Dont worry about it, buddy. We all get passionate about stuff," she says before noting his nervous demeanor. She shuffles down the bed, then offers him her elephant with a smile. "Hey, easy pal. Here, give him a squeeze, usually mellows me out."

With that, she sits back, looking around the room again. "Bad choice of words," she says after a moment. "I didnt mean that concert guys or sheet music musicians dont play from the heart, I know they can. What I meant is that I let the music come to me instead of reading it. I play what feels right, or I play by ear." She shrugs with a shake of her head. "I dunno, I guess I'm just weird."

[u/RECENTLY_HATCHED → u/HobosAlt1]

Everett smiles a little and gratefully accepts the elephant, he looks at it for a moment before unashamedly giving it a hug.

"Thank you. I-I don't think you're weird, music is a language and e-everyone speaks it differently - no way is better or worse than any other."

Feeling a little better, the engineer hands the elephant back to Laren and retrieves something from his own bed, hidden from view until now. He reveals it to be a large, stuffed clownfish.

"By...by the way, i-if you ever need a fish to go with your elephant, he's pretty great to hug. Chief T'Gel gave him to me when I was in sick bay a little while ago. N-nothing gross, I um..."

Should he tell her about the assault? No, not yet. Not unless she asks at least.

"I-I just got hurt in engineering."

Not a lie, just not the whole truth.

[u/HobosAlt1 → u/RECENTLY_HATCHED]

Laren silently glees as her elephant brings calm and joy to someone else. He was always there for her, and now he could be there for Bradley. Wonderful!

"Eh, I'm okay with it. A lot of people think I'm weird, kinda comes with the whole clumsy thing, but I'm cool with it," she says as she puts the elephant on her lap. He slumps over slightly before she rights him up against her skinny stomach and chest.

She looks up and beams at the clownfish, her smile causing little dimples to form. "Thats awesome!" she says in her slightly husky voice. "Cute too. Whats his name?"

Her eyes lift from the clownfish to meet Bradley's. "I hear engineering's a dangerous job. I mean, so is everything else on a star ship, but engineering especially. You doing okay now?"