Joxe studies their joined hands for a moment. "Thank you, Brent. I think we have a good thing, too." She looks up at him. "My family has, had, a custom. Do you know anything about couples bundling together?"

"Yes," Veronica replies. "I'll be down there. Call me if you need anything."

Brent smiled, seemed to be pleased as Joxe didn't pull away.  "Bundling?  I've not heard of that custom."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Fri 01 Dec 2017.

"Bundling is where two people share a bed without sexual contact," Joxe explains. "Done right, it allows them to share some intimate time without going too far, too soon."

Brent kept his eyes locked on Joxe.  "I can see that as a powerful way to build intimacy.  Is that something you are willing to do with me?"

"Okay."  Niamh lets out an almost sigh after she speaks, her usual internal monologue already starting to fire up.  Man...I feel like I'm turning in an "okay-robot"!  Very eloquent, Ms. Parker...

It takes a surprisingly short amount of time for the "robot" in question to tame her inevitable and scarlet-hued bedhead, get herself cleaned up, and get changed into her set of starship coveralls.  "Thank the All-Mind for decent clothing fabrication units," she murmurs quietly to herself as she checks her appearance one last time in the mirror.  Finally, a few moments later, Niamh is heading out of her cabin, and down to her breakfast.

"Good morning, everybody...", says the doctor with a polite grin as soon as she gets there, choosing a seat for herself next to Veronica.

"Yes." Joxe holds his gaze. "Are you?"

The lift door opens, and Veronica steps out. "Ah, you're here." She takes in their clasped hands. "Oh. Sorry." She turns to face the lift.

"It's okay," Joxe says quickly. "Secrets don't last long aboard ship." She squeezes Brent's hand for emphasis as the lift door opens again to admit Naimh.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:12, Fri 01 Dec 2017.

"Good morning," Veronica says with a smile. "Want some funnel cakes?"

"Hello, Niamh," Joxe says. "Did you sleep well?"

Brent thought for only a moment before nodding.  "Yes, absolutely."  He jerked back a bit as the door opened but did not release Joxe's hand.  He smiled and nodded; "Yea, it's for the better."

"SO, good morning then.  We've got hot coffee and funnel cake."

"Let me get you a plate," Joxe says as she starts to stand.

"No, you eat your breakfast," Veronica says with a wink at Brent. "You still have the dish programmed in, and I can hit a couple of buttons." The petty officer taps the air in front of the machine, using the holographic display to control the commissary unit. The unit beeps once, and Veronica withdraws the plate of steaming funnel cakes.

Turning to Naimh, she points to a chair at the table. "Here, sit down. What do you want to drink? The best stuff is the fruit juices, and the coffee's pretty good, too."

"Where are the guys?" Joxe looks up as is her habit when addressing the ship. "Computer, please awaken Gareth and Malcolm."

Gareth and Malcolm both hear the sleep alarm sound in their quarters.

Brent returns the wink from Veronica.  "I can definitely vouch for the coffee."

Gareth deigns to awaken, and heads to the mess hall for the nutrients his body requires.

"Tonight, then," Joxe tells Brent with a smile.

Veronica smirks at Brent from behind Joxe with gentle amusement in her eyes. When Gareth comes in, she addresses him. "Gareth, good morning. Sit and I'll serve your breakfast."

The blonde soon brings a plate of funnel cakes and sets it before him.

(I'm assuming that Malcolm makes his way down to breakfast, as well...)

~*~

After everyone has eaten and the dishes are cleared away, Joxe looks at Brent. "We will cover the whole planet in another day and a half. Of course, since the planet's surface is 80% water, we've covered nearly all of the land masses. We will mostly be searching the oceans and a few islands."

Brent greets Malcom and Gareth as they come into the room.  "I'm not sure that it's worth covering the little scraps of land.  Has the scan brought up anything of interest yet?"

"No," Joxe shakes her head. "Our orbital path has taken us close enough to many of the islands, and our transmitter can be picked up anywhere in the same hemisphere. I think that, if there were any other survivors, we'd have triggered their beacons by now."

Brent sighs. "Well, we can't stay here forever nor search every nook and cranny of the place.  I think we move on to the next system."

Malcolm come is to eat and chat with the rest of the crew.

"morning. This looks really good.  Thank you."

Malcolm begins to eat in a hurry as im sure he has work that must be conducted.

"Ah, there you are!" Veronica smiles at Malcolm and makes him a plate.

OOG: This happens before the discussion about what to do next.

"This is a dead world. It is indeed time to leave."

Brent nodded in reluctant agreement.  "With apologies to Niamh I'd agree that the likelihood of finding anyone else alive is almost zero."

"The best sleep I've had in centuries!"  She looks down for just a moment, as if she embarrassed herself a little.  "Sorry...that joke was probably a bit lame,
 huh?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:19, Thu 07 Dec 2017.

"It's...not really about finding anyone else alive at this point for me, Brent."  Niamh's gaze sinks down towards her plate as her the look on her face grows sad.  "It's more like proving to myself that everything is actually gone..."  The doctor's wrings her pale hands a bit as she looks at the other crewmen.  "If possible, I'd still like to take a look at my home town.  I-I don't think we'll even need to touch down really...provided it's close enough for me to actually see the ruins."

"If thats what it takes to get moving. Then Fine. There is no more need for debate let us be off."

Gareth heads to the bridge,and begins making any needed preparations for the jorney to Niamh's hometown.

Brent nodded and smiled a bit at Niamh's joke and then grew more serious. "I understand how you feel Niamh.  I would want some kind of closure in your shoes."  he drained the last of his coffee and rose to carry his dishes to the disposal.  "Everyone grab breakfast and I'll plot a course to do a flyover of your hometown Niamh.  We'll need at least a half hour or more to deorbit in the right place so there is time to get something to eat.  Once we're through here we'll boost out to where we can freely Jump to our next destination."

Gareth pulls up the destroyed town's location, and plots a change to their orbital inclination so they will pass over the site.

Brent arrives on the bridge, and the pair pilot Wanderer though a descent into the atmosphere. Forty minutes later, they are within fifty kilometers of the town of Keane. Joxe brings up a large holodisplay in the crew area, where Naimh can sit on the couch and steer the display around. The image can be zoomed in, or turned in any direction as multi spectral information is fed in from the ship's sensors.

They descend and slow down to pass over the location, riding on the ship's grav lifters. The nav system marks where the town was - but there is no trace of human habitation, save for a single road that leads into one of a pair of circular lakes about a half kilometer each in diameter. The area around the lakes is mostly scrub grass and sand; the surrounding forest hasn't encroached too closely.