this is the part where prison is more or less dave and busters

[saklas]

Passengers: Everyone who wants to come see what the weird vending machine is about for the first time it is open to them! This is an open mingle/party style log.
Location: "a corner," the location of the Commissary
Date: February 1 - 7 on year one of our cool and sexy journey
Summary: 14 space idiots squint at the ATM that can supposedly make elk meat and clown shoes for them
Warnings: Will add as needed! I'm 90% sure someone's going to ask for drugs or blades, just as a weather forecast

Comments

[nineteenfortyfive]

"You're so sweet. I can't imagine anyone being unkind to you unless they were wrong in the head." She says it easily. "The inmates can be rough, but none I've met are... abhorrent, I suppose."

She's had a worse time with fellow wardens, really.

[expectaspectre]

Aw jeez. Grace can feel herself starting to blush, which never looks great on her-- an obvious wash of color on her unusually pale face. People here really are too nice. This can't be something Grace lets herself get used to.

"That's a good sign. The ones I've met in person, you can at least have a conversation with. No homicidal maniacs." Yet. Probably.

[nineteenfortyfive]

Claire would beg to differ. Some color does her good.

She's kind enough not to comment on that, however.

"Right. I'd still be cautious, at least for now. But I'm sure you'll be a good match for someone."

[expectaspectre]

Warning Grace to be cautious is like reminding the ocean to be wet, so she does what she does best, and agrees.

"Hope so. If there wasn't good I could do, I wouldn't be here at all, right?" At least that's what she tells herself.

[nineteenfortyfive]

"That's the way to look at it," Claire agrees. "A lot of the inmates might argue with you on that, but I'm hoping a lot of them will relax in the coming weeks."

And maybe get something from the vending machine? Who knows.

[expectaspectre]

Grace's gaze swivels back to the screen of the machine. For the record, she has not blinked once during this entire conversation.

"Thinking of getting anything? There's not much that's really... practical."

[nineteenfortyfive]

Not creepy at all. Claire might take note, in the back of her mind, but maybe she hasn't been paying enough attention.

"I don't know... I might just hold off for a while. Some of these have me curious, but... how about you, Grace?"

[expectaspectre]

Grace gives a little, helpless shrug. "No tickets. Next time, maybe, if they have a sleeping bag? I need one."

She leaves that one mysterious.

[nineteenfortyfive]

She can try. Claire frowns, crossing her arms over her middle as she regards Grace.

"A sleeping bag? Whatever for?"

[expectaspectre]

"Normal blankets don't really work for me." Another noncommittal shrug. "It's a sleep thing I have. Everything else is fine, I don't need much."

She finally blinks, contemplative. "Maybe my photo album from home."

[nineteenfortyfive]

Claire rubs at her own arm, still regarding Grace with that curious frown.

"A sleep thing? Difficult to keep warm?" And then, because maybe it's strange to ask-- "I am the resident doctor on board, as you know. It's in my nature to ask about this."

[expectaspectre]

"I move around a lot." Not a lie! But she doesn't mention that the movement in question is vertically, about a foot above the mattress. "Since I got here it's been, um. Fitful?"

She's been waking up several times every night. Probably part of it is being cold from the blankets not covering her underneath, but most of it's probably anxiety. Grace doesn't think she needs to mention that part.

[nineteenfortyfive]

"That's natural, I think. It's a strange place. Space... living, really, isn't a thing in my world. Time." Whatever. She feels like she fell into a television show.

[expectaspectre]

"Mine either. It's colder, did you notice?" Grace hugs her arms, like talking about it has made her subconsciously shiver. "Without the sun."

She's not saying anything about Vitamin D deficiency, because she's honestly not sure if that was a known thing back when Claire was studying medicine, but she's thinking it.

[nineteenfortyfive]

"It's not natural to be inside all the time," Claire says. "There are much worse conditions, but I do miss being... outside, under the sun, sitting in the grass."

But she won't be able to enjoy any of that if dead, so here she is.

[expectaspectre]

"I miss the sky."

Grace used to fly. Mainly as a way to mitigate the problems caused by her shitty spine and avoid having to be in cars as much as possible, but also just because it's fun. She hadn't realized how like freedom it felt, until she'd got here, and couldn't.

"Natural things, you know? Fish. I miss fish. Is that weird?"

It's kind of weird.

[nineteenfortyfive]

There's an agreement in the way Claire smiles, but she can't help but tease:

"Baked or fried?"

The joke is that she misses all manner of fish. Alive and swimming in nature, or deliciously on a plate.

[expectaspectre]

"Grilled salmon with garlic butter."

That was... remarkably automatic. There's a fond, faraway glaze to her eyes that can only come from talking of a far-distant paramour, or a favorite meal. Let's hope this one's about the meal.

[nineteenfortyfive]

The response makes Claire laugh warmly.

"Well, looks like we'll have to keep an eye out for the opportunity to get some grilled salmon with garlic butter." Surely it has to exist somewhere in space? Or... the machine?