[OPEN] The Hungry Hungry Kobrapillar

[goodluckkobra]

Who: Kobra and OPEN
When: Any time in October (feel free to back- or forward-date)
Where: Mess hall and galley area
What: Some open prompts for anyone who might want to interact with the head of Galley and Mess in his entirely unnatural habitat. (New CR, please feel free to handwave a brief intro in the past.)
Warnings: n/a

ONE

Kobra never really had a job before he got here and he's not really the kind of guy to take work all that seriously unless something real is on the line. Before he'd had this job, he'd taken helping Trish out at the radio more seriously than his real job and this is no exception to that standard, but he does try to do it well, if a bit informally. He keeps track of their inventory and helps keep everything running, because he knows more than most of the people here just how important food and water are, but his approach to the whole thing is relaxed. He just doesn't mind people slacking off or joking around and he gives his share of both.

He likes to hang around with the people who are assigned mess duty and help them out, because he likes people, and about the only thing he micromanages are the portions.

"They can always come back for more. Don't load up plates too much. Just encourages waste." He shakes his head, voice low.

It's something he harps on about pretty often if anyone bothers to listen. He things the people on the Moira are wasteful and unappreciative of all the resources they have and he's not in the business of making anyone go without, but he'd like to see everyone be more thoughtful and economical with their food and water usage.

TWO

It's late at night and Kobra's in the Galley freezer with the door open and a clipboard balanced on his knee. The freezer is cold and dry and it reminds him of the colder nights in the desert, crawling closer to his friends for warmth when a fire had been too much of a risk. For a moment, he loses track of the inventory, lost in his thoughts until he hears footsteps outside the door and jumps, dropping the clipboard and cursing.

"'Lo?" He scrunches his face and moves to the door, clipboard forgotten as he slips right into his mental defense mode.

THREE

Sometimes foods come along that other people recognize and he doesn't and sometimes no one can figure out what something is. Kobra doesn't mind being the one to test some of the weirder things. Smells rarely put him off after years of eating canned dog food and worse, so when he's faced with an unknown jar, sometimes he'll take a little taste test and leave a note on it with a description to help others out. There are already a few contains with labels like spicy armpit and salty banana. Of course, Kobra's never actually had a real banana, so he's going off of stale banana candy in the first place. His labels are often only about sixty-five percent accurate.

"This one is like that weird fruit we had last month, but worse." He coughs and puts the jar down, cringing through a smile. "Kinda gross. Think I've been poisoned. We sure this is food?"

FOUR

(Do you have a specific thing you want? I can write up a prompt for you or feel free to hit me with something else!)

Comments

Two

[kidjoy]

"Sorry," she says quickly, freezing immediately. She'd been trying to be loud on her way down here, to avoid causing a fright. She'd been jumpy enough the past month or so, since the island. The Girl could imagine Kobra was much the same. She peeks out from around the corner slowly, wiggling her fingers toward herself as if to say it was just her. No need to panic.

"Went knockin' 'round your door and you weren't 'round," she offers as explanation. "Just thought I'd come lookin' for ya."

[goodluckkobra]

His tense shoulders drop and his body relaxes as it registers that it's a false alarm. He hasn't been in any more danger here than back home. If anything, the ship is a little safer, but he can't outgrow a lifetime of being hyper-aware.

"Countin' stuff. Makin' sure no one's takin' anything without saying so."

With a smile, he turns around and goes back for his clip board.

[kidjoy]

"People been doin' that?" She wouldn't be surprised, its not like anyone had been vetted before being allowed on the ship. Of course a few thieves would find a way in.

"Want help? I ain't doin' nothin' tonight." Mostly because she lacked Kobra's dedication to her job. Nihlus and Tex's lessons had helped a little, but any power problems on the ship are still met with her confusion. She'd rather call in someone else to deal with it than poke around live wires.

[goodluckkobra]

"Yeah. You wanna check things off with me? Don't think anything's missin' but it's kinda relaxing." Mostly, he likes the reminder that all the food's still there for them. Neither of them are going to go hungry any time soon and no one else they're growing close to will, either.

He reaches out his hands for hers.

[kidjoy]

"Can do, KK. Could probably even get the 'bots brought back to help ya out. There's always tryin' to do stuff for me." Despite her attempts to teach them otherwise. A few days wasn't long enough to undo any conditioning and she wasn't exactly the calmest teacher around.

The Girl takes his hand, leaning around him to stare into the freezer and sigh at the blast of cool air. "Everybody woulda went nuts for somethin' like this back home.

[goodluckkobra]

He closes his eyes and thinks about what she's really saying. It's weird sometimes because he remembers things that he knows she doesn't. There are luxuries that had been normal when he'd been really small and he'd been young enough that he'd adapted when he had to, but he still remembers what they lost and what they gave up to be themselves. One day, she'll be old enough to realize that they made a choice and that some of it still exists in Battery City, but he wonders how much she gets that now.

"Coulda slept in here together, all bundled up together." He grins. "Woulda gone for the food over the cold, though. Bein' well-fed ups my tolerance for everything."

[kidjoy]

There's a lot of it she doesn't understand, not now, not yet. But she's young enough that it doesn't bother her to think about what she doesn't have. She just watches him and smiles, unaware of what's going through his head.

"We coulda slept in there with the food. Eat and sleep and ice over all at once," she says seriously. "No choosing."

[goodluckkobra]

"Now you're just showin' off that you're smarter 'n me." He laughs, because it's probably true. She's so small and she's already smarter than plenty of grown ass adults he's known. When she's his age, she'll probably be ruling the Zones.

"How's that fair? Least you could do is let me pretend to be the smart one."

[kidjoy]

She breaks out a grin, kicking at his feet. "I can't help bein' the smart one. You just oughta try harder to catch up. Read or somethin'. Not gonna pretend to be dumb for nobody."

The halfhearted kicks turn into her leaning into his side. She nudges at him, keeping her eyes on the freezer in front of them. "Ain't like you ain't smart anyway. Who's the tech-brain outta all of us, huh? No one else was gonna hack nothin'."

[goodluckkobra]

Okay, he hadn't actually expected that. Sure, he gets some things that the others don't, but those things just make sense to him. It doesn't mean that he's all that smart. His brain is just better wired for it or something.

"Skills an' smarts ain't the same thing." He wraps an arm around her to hold her there. "But they're both important, y'know? That's why we're all stronger together."

As far as Kobra's concerned, he knows full well that he's more firmly in the skills side of things. Party might not know a computer chip from a potato chip, but he gets how to plan things and can see a bigger picture that Kobra's just happy to be a part of.

1

[wallride]

Lúcio nods in agreement at Kobra's statement then cocks his head.

"I checked the crew rota -- you're Kobra, right?"

He folds his arms, frowning for a moment.

"Trish told me about you."

[goodluckkobra]

Kobra smiles a little sadly at the mention, but nods. Between lost friends, fallen friends and friends left behind, he's missing a lot of people lately.

"Did she? Trish is great." She's not dead, so he's not going to talk about her in the past tense like she isn't out there somewhere hopefully living a good life.

[wallride]

"She sure is, man. Super inspiring to work with."

He picks up on the tense and continues it.

"You helped her with the music, right?"

(sorry for the delay!)

[goodluckkobra]

"Fuck yeah." He grins, his whole face lighting up like he's just been promised the hot new Christmas toy. "Nothing's better than music, you know? There's so much of it here, too."

NO PROB BOB

[wallride]

"You know it!" Lúcio replies with a laugh. "Music is my whole life, man!"

Good stuff, but he can't help his tone growing a little somber.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you about it. I'm the only one who's gonna be on the radio station now, so I just wanted you to know if you still want to give me a hand with DJing... I can show you some professional tricks as well, man."

[goodluckkobra]

Kobra nods quickly. "Yeah! I got more responsibilities than I used to, but I can make time for it. Music was big back where I come from, too."

Now, it's one of the things that still makes him think of his brother, which is bittersweet, but he doesn't want to forget anything about home, even if he misses it desperately.

"Been tryin' to learn the stuff we didn't have anymore."

[wallride]

"I'm glad to hear it. It has a real way of lifting people's spirits, you know?"

Even if for a short time. Where Lúcio came from, forgetting their troubles and making people happy - even if just for a few minutes at a time - was the best he could do.

"--but I am sorry to hear you lost stuff. Mind if I ask what?"

[goodluckkobra]

Kobra shakes his head. "Easier to say what isn't lost. Don't think there's any record of most of the music and art that used to be around. There were a lot of disasters and wars and now all that's left is what can be scrounged. We got a real good DJ who's managed to collect a lot and he plays it on the radio, but he can't be goin' all day and it's just a fraction of everything we'll never hear again, y'know?"

[wallride]

"That breaks my heart, man. You know if you or your friends want anything at all I'll do what I can to provide."

Said by pressing his hand to his chest. He really is upset about that.