Engineering for Dummies

[Nina Eaton]

As a newly appointed cadet, Nina was often given the grunt jobs that no one wanted. It wasn't just her though, it was all the other cadets that had graduated with her. Mostly everyone had, with the exception of a few people. But Nina hadn't been making a ton of friends during classes. She had been training and studying, wanting to become a member of the guard. At first it had been something she fought against. She never wanted to be a part of the guard, especially since her father was of a higher rank. She didn't want him to constantly be hovering over her shoulder, yelling at her because he could. But a talk from her mother had straightened her out and she went forward with the training. Her mother had pointed out that Nina was a good person and she knew all she wanted to do was keep people safe and help them. Nina and her mother knew that the system was flawed. People had more privileges over others and sometimes people got more food than others, depending on their importance on the Ark. It was kept on the down low but everyone knew it happened. That's how Nina found herself looking away when she knew someone was stealing a small amount of food. Every time she caught someone, it was a parent stealing to help their child. Nina didn't have the heart to float a parent for trying to take care of their child. It was, after all, how she lost her own mother.

Nina's mother had been floated two months ago for stealing rations. The guards had done a routine inspection in their apartment and found the food. Her mother claimed it was hers and that she had stolen it for the children that she taught at school. She believed they weren't receiving enough food and she wanted to change that. Nina's father hadn't even blinked. He didn't even try to save his wife and the mother of his child. The whole thing had broken Nina, especially because it had all been her fault. Her mother hadn't stolen the food but she was such a kind woman that the guards believed her without question. Nina had been the one to steal the food and it wasn't the first time. At one point she had caught Bellamy Blake stealing medicine and after doing some research, she stole some rations to help him. The whole thing had been a huge fight between the two, but eventually things had settled between them. Nina stole food for him from time to time and she always knew that he was likely to deny it. But she kept doing about it because she cared and she didn't want him getting sick.

She blamed herself for her mother's death. She had relied on Bellamy during this whole disaster, insisting that it wasn't his fault and she didn't blame him. She had been the one to steal the food, not him. All she had asked for in return was for him to be there for her. It didn't matter that two months had passed, Nina still felt guilt over her mother's death. She still felt utterly saddened by it. Her relationship with her father had continued to deteriorate, not that it had been great in the first place. Nina saw less and less of him and she was eventually allowed to apply to get her own apartment. After that, she only saw him through work and even that was a rarity given his higher status.

Glancing down at her boots, she began to count her steps as she walked through the hallways to get to her destination. Three. Four. Five. She looked up and nodded at someone passing her by. The only positive about having to do this job was that she knew the person she was supposed to escort. They weren't the best of friends but they ran in the same social circles, being fairly close in age. Nina found him to be funny and enjoyed his humor. She hadn't seen him since the death of her mother, never really feeling like going to hang out with her friends. All of her free time was spent training, doing whatever she could to stay occupied. 

Nina walked into one of the rooms the engineers used and glanced around. "Wick!" Nina called out. She leaned against the wall, looking down at her fingernails. She began to push the cuticles back, waiting for the engineer to appear. Due to the restricted area, Nina had been assigned to escort him and make sure everything went smoothly. She didn't know what he was supposed to do and she didn't really care. Sighing, she grew impatient and walked further into the room, turning a corner and spotting Kyle. "Let's go, Princess." She glanced around at the room, looking at the boards filled with writing and numbers she didn't understand. There were other supplies lying around as well that she observed for a moment before returning her attention to the engineer.


Kyle Wick

[Kyle Wick]

Kyle Wick was one of the best and brightest in his field, and he knew it. He was young, arrogant, and as everyone said 'going places'. Which was ironic because there was no where to go on the Ark. No one was going anywhere. He chuckled to himself at that, before spinning in his chair and looking for his measuring tape. Tossing it in the air, he caught it with one hand, and did it idly for a little bit. He enjoyed being who he was, and everything he'd earned. Wick was born to a solidly middle class family, had a good education, got into a field he excelled at, and now was breaking into doing well enough that one day he could even be among the upper class. Even head engineer one day! EVERYONE said so! And that was how he liked it.

However, as arrogant as his thoughts were, he didn't over express them. Wick was the funny guy, and let his work do the bragging for him. UNLESS he was talking to an mechanic. Then he was very annoying about it.

He picked up his tablet and reviewed his jobs for the day, knowing that he was keeping some young cadet out there waiting and not caring at all. Right! He was going down to the restricted area to check to make sure the leak that had sprung up a few years back wasn't leaking. If the patch looked like it was weakening he was too design a new one. Pushing from the desk he walked out there, the little girl was snippy, calling him a princess but Wick only put his hand over his heart and rolled his eyes. Ouch. Yeah he'd never heard that one before. "Someone got up on the wrong side of the bunk this cycle." He winked at her before walking out of the hall.

Made by Riley at THQ

[Nina Eaton]

Nina rolled her eyes at his comment. "Hardy, har, har," she deadpanned. Under any other circumstance, Nina would have welcomed the snarky comments from him and even returned them. On the rare occasion she had a one-on-one conversation with him, it had always been fun. It had always made her laugh and while right now that's what she needed, it wasn't really working. "I forgot how delightful you were," Nina joked. She followed him out into the hall and thought about the last time she had seen Wick. It had obviously been before her mom had died, but for some reason that was all she could remember. She supposed it didn't really matter. It didn't make much of a difference. She was still here to bring him to the restricted area so he could do whatever it was he needed to do. Nina knew he had been debriefed about what needed to be done and while she would never say it out loud, she knew how smart Wick was.

"Come on. Grab your gear, and we can leave," Nina said. Stuffing her hand in her pocket, she grabbed the key card that would grant them access to whatever he needed to look at. She began to walk down the halls, taking the proper turns that she needed to take. Swiping the key card, Nina finally brought them into the restricted area and looked around. She wasn't sure what needed to be looked at so she leaned up against the wall, arms crossed in front of her.

Kyle Wick

[Kyle Wick]

Kyle watched her stalk off ahead, before he picked up his bag and looped it over his shoulders and walked behind her. He made it a few dozen feet before the silence became unbearable (Wick never did well with silence) and he began talking to fill it. It made him feel better to have the silence between him and anyone. Maybe it was a flaw, as he didn't often shut up, but it was who he was and he like who he was--so he didn't try to change it!

"Clearly they are trying to punish you. Not only do they assign you the boring as hell jobs, but you're clearly so thrilled to be here. What did you do to piss them off? Did you sleep with someone's daughter? Did you spill coffee on the chancellor?! Wait! . . . did you shock baton your boss?" He teased, filling the silence as they entered the area.

He sat his bag down, and sat in the floor as he pulled out the reader that measured all the O2 in the air and he began hooking it to the power source before sitting it beside him and turning it on. He then pulled out his measuring tape and tossed it in the air, before looking up at her. "Don't look at my ass," he joked before turning to climb under a row of pipes until only his knees and below were visible.

Made by Riley at THQ

Nina Eaton

[Nina Eaton]

She listened to him speak and while she considered tuning him out, she figured she had nothing else to do. Nina listened to his rant about her being punished and she had half a mind to agree with him, but she kept her mouth shut. She wasn't being punished for doing something wrong. She was just being given the shit job because she was a new Cadet. Her favorite suggestion had been whether or not she had shocked her boss with the baton she carried. At that, she was unable to suppress a laugh. "Oh I wish," she confessed. It was maybe one of the first times she had really laughed since her mom had been floated. Why hadn't she sought company from Wick before? He had always been able to make her laugh when they hung out in their groups of friends. The two had never hung out one on one but that didn't make much of a difference to her. She still thought he was funny, even if she wanted to keep that opinion to herself.

Wick started working on the problem and Nina looked down at her boots. She had no idea what was wrong or how long it would take to fix it, but she was well aware that Wick could easily fix it. She would never tell him out loud, but he was a great engineer. Nina wouldn't be surprised if he was able to save the Ark from some life threatening issue one day. Hell, for all she knew he could have already done that. She looked up as he spoke and she rolled her eyes, suppressing a smirk at his comment. Since he told her not to, she obviously did. She knew he couldn't see her, but she made a show of tilting her head to the side and staring at his ass. "I dunno man," she spoke. "Not much to stare at." Nina was poking fun at him but knew he would take it in stride. He would likely turn around and throw a far sassier comment at her.


Kyle Wick