A New Beginning

[TumbleUpStairs]

*claps hands together once, rubs them* okay, so lets try this out since I'm obsessive and don't like to jump in threads already started.

I'm reasonably easy, so I'll put forth my intro-thingy and give the setting a kick-start, but the plot's pretty loose. Grab hold of it and twist it whenever you feel the need or desire to. If no one can think of anything, I can.

My idea is this: play with stereotypes. Use the teen-movie transformations, use old, over-worn plot tricks. Go for cheesy. Step out of the bounds of your normal characters and cram them into molds pre-designed by society. You'll catch on pretty fast. No reality, just cheesy goodness.

The first two characters are throw aways on my part, made for introductory purposes. Perrell and Keering are ones I'll be playing with.

As thus I start...

IC:

"It must be done, Tom. We've no other choice." June tapped the manilla folder on the table with a long, red nail and tossed her long golden hair. The folder had a small, typed label on it that read simply Space for Trash in Space. "This report shows that we've used all of our resources here."
"No." Tomas Green, President, argued. "This report says we have enough of them to last twenty years." He was stout and had small, stupid-looking eyes, leaning back in his very offical-looking chair. "It's an election year, June. I risk getting kicked from office if we do this." He flipped open the folder to show the neatly-typed page within that had been stamped over with a bright red "Classified" and scanned the page without actually reading it.
June sighed heavily. "Fine. You'd better sign these then." She slammed a rather thick folder, also plain and manialla, onto his desk with a resounding thud. She crossed her long, slender arms under her breasts as Tom looked in this new folder.
"Death warrents?" he asked, bewildered.
"For just this town. There's over fifty thousand of them there, Tom, and you'd might as well start now if your going to get to the whole rest of the world."
"Why would I do this?"
"It's the same as not signing the Space Plan."
Tom looked at June for a while, then sighed very dramatically. "Give me a pen, then. But make sure they name the thing after you, not me. I don't want the public biting my head off over this." He scribbled an illedgible name on the document stamped Secret and leaned back in his chair again.
****************************************************
Roger Perrell, captain of the Windslice, looked over his broad shoulder at the two young captains-in-training. He was an older man, black hair greying at his temples and steel grey of eye. The black of space was winking by behind him, visible through one of the Windslice's large windows. They were in the Main Control Room of the large ship. Perrell took a step towards the two trainees and loomed over them from his almost seven-foot height. "We are approaching the June Lawcaw Waste Management Facility now," he said in strong tones, "what do you do now? I know you already know, Keering." He addressed this remark at the more senior of the trainees, who straightened even more than he already was, "but does our new friend here?" He turned to look at the other captain-in-training, as did Keering. Keering had small brown eyes, a plain face and no emotion.

 

[poohlive]

Hey Tumble, glad you could be a part of the fun. I love this idea, and would love to come up with a character for it.
I do have a question though... Ummm, what exactly is it? I take it from your post, there's a secret military space ship of some kind, but that's all I know.
Ummm, is it in the present, the future, what reference have we got here? Are we going to be scanning other planets for life and whatnot, exploring the deeps of space, or even time travel?
I just want to know what's going on before I step my foot in the water, thanks so much.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

*shrug* it's up to you. I have a very loose plot idea that didn't work out very well when I tried writing it on my own, but I wanna see what you all come up with. Pick summin fun for you. Hopefully future-time is assumed since it's all...in space-y, but you never know. Like I said, I'm easy.

 

[cats]

OOC:
Okay let me try and make a steroe type for this.

Name: Alex
Gender: Take a guess
Hair: long, strait, Blonde
Eyes: Blue, wears glasses
Age: 23
cupsize: large
BIO: Unimportant. Esentailly, a secretary who's opinions are never heard because she has big breasts and now she is in a situation no one saw coming. "But thats like okay."

IC: I looked a shiney red nail. The polish wasn't chiped and neither was the nail, atleast I have that going for me. Still siting here in a big pile of garbage isn't comfortable. I frowned at the marks from the orange on my glasses. Funny how that oragne isn't here with me. I button the top button of my once white blouse take off my glasses and wipe them clean. I place them back on my head and straiten my hair.


"Like who knew Mr. Big was so evil." I gaze out the thick glass, and watch my impending doom. The waste facility was growing bigger. A part of my mind said why not make yourself comfortable, and the other said why would you possibly leen back into garbage. I looked out a window to my right and spoted a space ship, with some luck they might be able to save me!

"Oh who am I kidding I'm going to die!" I pulled back a tear. "But thats like Okay."

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

(OOC: This looked like an All-welcome type deal, but if I'm, wrong (or if you don't like the characters), I'll just edit the post to say nothing and find something else to do.)

"It figures..." She said again. I could have timed that phrase out by now, how often she said it and the fact that she never (and I mean, never) seemed to come up with any other phrases to toss out there but that one. I should have known an hour ago I'd hear it four times since then, and the fact that I hadn't, that I somehow didnot see her continuing to say it, over and over until I would hear the phrase whether she actually spoke it or not, just served to irritate me more.
"You need to start taking this less personally," I suggested, the irritation clear in my tone of voice. She looked at me, surprised. Nikki was one of those women who had no happy mode, just irritated and disappointed, negative all the way.
"Why's that, Matt?"
I hated being called Matt.
"WHy not take this personally?"
I had no real answer, that she would listen to anyway. THe idea that perhaps the people involved in making this choice had never even met her, and hadn't considered any of those involved when making said choice, and only made said choice in the name of... shall we say "monetary idealism"?
"They were losing money, and the research was coming along slowly." I explained. "We knew if we didn't show them more results, they'd eventually shut us down."
"But they didn't have to, Matt. They could have shut down any number of other projects and left us to continue on. We've shown some results."
This was true. The project had gone fairly well. We'd proven it was possible through both research on Earth, and actual practice here on Mars, but the plants we'd grown unprotected fialed to create the atmosphere we'd needed before the heat had destroyed them. Oxygen levels rose at first, then slowed as the heat overtook the plants, then fell again, just as atmospheric layers were beginning to form. Under the canopy we'd made here, at Colony III (Colonies I and II having already failed), the plants were still flourishing. We could live here for years if not forever with the production capacity of these plants, but how could we cover the entire planet with such canopies?
She shook her head.
"Not enough though, and we've reached a standstill," I added, "And, frankly, we'd falsified some of those results. We planted more than we reported and we continued to plant new types of fern without approval from our superiors. That might have affected the decision as well."
She grew quiet then, having no response for a few moments, then opened her mouth to speak when the screen infront of her went from containing the pure pblack of space to giving way to a large vessel, trailing behind it a long barge, enclosed but not seeming to be designed to support any kind of life.
"What's that?" SHe asked.
"Well," I began, not knowing what to expect when I'd finished. "That's where our funding went."
She raised a questioning eyebrow, her mind already preparing a response, I guessed.
"They've run out of room on Earth, so they're moving garbage into space for better disposal."
"We've lost our funding to support life here so on some other planet, they can support proper garbage disposal?"
I nodded. I expected shouting, but got instead what I should have seen coming all along. I simple head shake, then a glance down at her feet.
"It figures..."

(will post more info on Mathias later. Nake it up as I go along, y'know?)

 

[poohlive]

Rex Reed took a step into the small confined office, where one of those little metal fans was whirring around, moving hot air from one end of the place to the other. The secretary, a large sweaty man, handed him a manila folder, and motioned for the door where the captain would be presiding.
"Yeah," He pushed passed the door, letting the folder drop onto the desk. It was another just small room, another small fan, and another large sweaty guy, this one with lots of medals on his shirt, and a cigar hanging from his fishy lips.
"You gonna start any shit?" He gave Rex a look, opening the file.
"No sir. It is not a marine's job to start shit, sir. It is a marine's job to end said shit, sir."
He held up his laser carbine, resting it on his shoulder, and giving a shit smile to his new captain.
"Transfer? Why didn't Barlow want you?"
"Sir, I was too good, sir. I made the other guys look bad."
The captain coughed smoke, half laughing, "You're bullshitting me, right?"
"Sir, I am not allowed to bullshit a fellow officer, sir. My job is to kill, and then peel potatos, whichever comes first... sir."
The captain cocked an eyebrow, wondering if this guy was truly serious, truly an asshole, or just truly crazy. Neither would have surprised him.
"What do you want our of a military career, Reed?"
Rex let his tongue snake out, licking his lips. He could taste mustard and ketchup from his lunch. Yummy.
"Sir, it is my experience that women will let guys fuck their pussy if they are movie stars, rock stars, or have a uniform of some kind. And, since I am terrible at singing, and even worse at acting, I decided to kill for a living."
The captain look surprised, "Does it work?"
"The killing, or the pussy, sir?"
The captain flubbered a nonsense excuse, looking ddeper into the folder.
"... well, it says here. you have a problem with authority. Are we going to have any problems?"
"Are you authority sir?"
"Yes."
"Then we're going to have some problems. I don't need a babysitter, sir. There's shit out there, shit that needs to be blown up. I'm the guy that blows that shit up, whatever it is. Now, I don't do foreign policy, I don't take hostages, and I sure as hell don't make sure to uphold and Guineva conventions. You gave me a gun, sir, not a United Nations Handbook. Let me do my job, and I'll let you do yours..."
He added after a moment's thought, "Sir."
The captain gave this some consideration, rolling his cigar in his mouth, "I think I have the perfect assignment for you."
Rex Reed gave a salute, and left already. More shit politics. He could do without that.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

((hoo-rah, i was beginning to think no one would post...huggles to you all. So I'll pick up second captain in training then...I know cats' chara is in the trash...all i want to know is where your everyone else's charas are located.))

Ethan Hiller, the second captain in training, smiled. All the female crew around sighed just audibally. He was tall and dashing-looking, with dark, slicked back hair and bright blue eyes that looked quick-witted, but obviously weren't.

The Captain suppressed a sigh and straighted himself, making himself taller. He looked over at Keering, who said in sharp, empty tones, "Slow the ship and prepare the Claw to bring in the Floaters."

"Correct." The Captain said. "We're here to collect the driftaway trash."

Hiller blinked dumbly. "This is a Garbage Ship? Dude, I didn't get assigned to a Garbage Ship, did I?"

The Captain looked again at Keering, who said in the exact same tones as before, "The Windslice is a Waste Product Transporter."

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

She was still whining a half hour after the vessel was gone. She'd studied it, like she'd never seen a space vessel before (though perhaps she'd never seen a garbage vessel), even zoomed in and checked the name on the side.
Windslice.
Yeah, sounded like a garbage vessel to me. Exotic, fantasy in nature, carrying used diapers...
"looks like it's headed this way," she stated, and to my suprise, didn't pan the camera-scope to follow it and be sure.
"Maybe it is.." I said. "We can have them empty the bins and scrub the toilets."
"I know you were just being dumb, but at least then something might have come out of this that was actually godd..."
She sulked.
I almost felt bad, but hey. It wasn't like the situation was my fault. I'd come here, done what I could...
"Um... nikki," an electronic voice stated, seeming to come from nowhere.
"Yes, Bender?" She asked, turning slightly to face the speaker.
"I have news."
"Great..."
"We've been reassigned, at least the three of us have..."
"To where? Astonomical car washing?"
"Um..." He cleared his throat, but I was certain some words were being muffled behind the sound. "...product Transfer..."
"What?"
"I said..." Throat clearing, mumbling, "...aste... dust...sfer..."
"Bender..." She was losing her patience. "just answer me already!"
"we..."
He paused, sighing. "We have to get on board the garbage ship, alright."
Her face melted. The ultimate betrayal.
I shrugged, knowing this wouldn't help any. "At least we're not unemployed."
She looked at me. A familiar look.
"Shit," she spat. "It figures..."

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

The Captain cleared his throat abruptly. "So Hiller, slow the ship and land it. We have a few new recruits to pick up. Keering, watch him." The Captain moved out of the Control Room.

Hiller sighed heavily. "Dude. This sucks hard." He said, flopping lazily into a chair and glancing at the controls, which he didn't understand anyways. He hadn't paid attention durring the classes, why should he? Keering did not relax in the slightest.

"I assume you know how to slow and land?" he asked in unwaiveringly boring-sounding tones.

"Duh." He swivled the chair to look at the conrols again, and smiled at them, teeth glinting white and smoothed back his hair. The female crew members swooned again, but other than this, there was no effect. He looked puzzled.

Keering touched a glowing blue button on the Control Panel labled "Slow and Land" without a word, his expression flat and unchanging. The ship began running through the landing procedures.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

As the vessel slowed its descent and settled against the landing pad, nikki stared at the viewing screen and sighed.
"I don't wanna go," she whined.
"We don't have any choice," Bender responded, hoding the cases of lab equipment he'd packed up ready to transfer it to the Windslice. I wasn't sure why he was taking such things to a garbage planet, but Bender eas a scientist to the end. Maybe he'd find some sort of new species of fly or something that desperately needed studied.
"Bender..." she spat, not wanting to hear it.
"We've been reassigned, Nikki," he returned.
"C'mon," I said, as the ship's entrance ramp lowered and we moved toward the vessel. I wondered if the captain would greet us, or if we'd be shoved to the back of the ship by servants or something.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

Three men and a woman rushed out of the ship, moving to it's outer controls and manuvering the fork that would collect the dumpster nearby. ((unless you have other ideas, that's yer cue cats ))

Always efficent, Keering was the one to greet the newcomers. He moved down and stood at the end of the ramp, his hands clasped behind his back. Everything about him was straight lines and scrubbed-looking. As usual, his face plain face was kept in a perfect mask of indifferent attention. He waited for them to approach him.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

Silence for a moment, then I glanced at Bender. "Get the feeling he isn't going to say anything?"
No response. I turned to the man.
"Hi," I said, trying to sound pleased to see him. "Looking for a few tagalongs?"
"I don't think he'll laugh," Bender whispered, scrunching his nose back and forth in an attempt to shift his bottlecap glasses further up his nose.
"Heard you guys were stopping by to pick up the garbage and figured we'd catch a ride to this intergalactic dump of yours..."
I grinned, but wasn't sure if I'd get a positive response out of the guy.

((I've decided the Mathias will be somewhat of a smartalec, Chandler type character, with Bender being the egg-head smart guy who can make radios out of old soda cans, and Nikki... well, Nikki whines a lot. If that's not what you'd like, Tumble, just let me know. I'm not one for stereotypical characters, IMHO))

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

OOC: Anything is kosher with me...I'm just here to give the occasional creative push. This is like, a free for all kind thing, with some regulation.

IC:

Keering nodded crisply, and spoke in his normal, flat tones. "You, I assume, are the men and woman who are being transfered to the Windslice. I am Ian Keering. Come with me." He moved quickly up the ramp.

The people on the outside of the ship had put the prongs of the fork into the appropriate slots on the dumpster, and begun to lit the dumpster up off the ground.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

I watched as the man moved up the ramp into the vessel, then looked to Nikki and Bender, hearing the tell-tale, though still fairly undisruptive sound of the dumpster being raised from the ground.
"That was short and..." I glanced behind the man as he walked up the ramp. "Did I mention short?"
"Let's just go," Nikki whined, "There's nothing for us to do here now anyway."
She sighed, overdramatically, par for the course I suppose.
Bender adjusted his glasses and squinted at the man's back as he neared the top of the ramp.
"S'pose he's the Captain?" He asked.
"Nope," I replied, "But he said follow him..."
I started up the ramp behind him, Bender following closely, and Nikki bringing up the rear, trailing us by a few steps.
"Wonder if they have Interstellar bionet Capabilities..." Bender mused, almost hopefully.
"Yeah, they need that for all those old toilet paper rolls," I replied.
He shrugged, then shook his head in disappointment. Once we were inside, we stopped and waited for further instruction from the man who'd led us up the ramp. I was beginning to wonder if Nikki's disappointment wasn't all that overdramatic afterall...

 

[cats]

Alex

IC: The dumpster reached the destination and with a sudden burst of rockets stopped. "Like Okay, this is good." I waited for the door to open so I could get out. "Okay, so it's not like that easy."

Great now I get to wait here, and either eat trash or starve. "Wait a second, I'm such an idiot. I'd die of thirst before I starved. So I like don't have to do either one." I could here a sound off in the distance, almost like talking. "Maybe I should pound on the door or like something else."

The dumpster lifted into the air and garbage pressed me against the door. I dare not speak, at the risk of trash entering my mouth. My hand pressed against something and emergency sirens flashed, and sounded. Then the door lifted open and I flew out fallowed by a mound of trash.

I looked in front of me me and there was a group of men. I pushed off the trash and bounced to my feet and began to jump up and down with joy knowing I would live. I then suddenly realized that that was now way to act. I stopped placed my hands bellow my chest and felt my face become slightly red. "Sorry about... like the bounce and stuff."

"So do you like, have showers or baths?"

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

The three men stared, mouths slightly agape, at the person who had just fallen from the dumpster. The woman sighed heavily, and hit one of them on the back of the head with a loud smack. "What?!" he asked indignantly. "Answer the question."

The woman sighed again. "Come with me." she told the newcomer from the dumpster. "We'll take you to the captain or one of the other two." She led the way to a back door of the ship as the men went back to work.




Keering led the three recruits through the maze of the ship to a small, sleek office with a large desk and three pictures on the walls, all of the man sitting at the desk. Keering ushered the recruits into the office space and left the room quietly, closng the door behind himself.

"Sit." The man at the desk said without looking up from the file he was holding. A golden nameplate placed at the edge of the desk announced him as Captain Roger Perrell. There were no chairs in the office except the one that Captain Perrell was sitting in.

 

[cats]

I walked up the metal ramp lined with black and yellow. The shiop was simple metal hallways, lined with pipes going in radom directions and it even had those nifffty doors that opened by sliding to the sides.

I stepped into an aporpriatly decorated room that had pictures displaying the rooms good side. The young lady left and a cpatian stood reading a fiel on something important enough to require a file for itself. The door shut with a sliding sound jsut as it always does and I said the odvious thing in my mind. "It like taotally reaks in here."

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

Yeah, this was good. Sit on the chairs tha don't exist.
"you think it might be alright if we just sort of... y'know... hunker down?"
I chuckled some, expecting some reaction from each person, most likely laughter.
The man didn't look up from his horribly important file. Nikki sighed again, looking down at her feet. Bender adjusted his glasses again.
I felt the blood flushing into my face then. "Tough room..." I muttered.
Then the door opened and the bimbo entered, led by a woman who exited fairly quickly.
"It like totally reeks in here..." she stated.
"Yeah, and what cologne are you wearing, miss? Smells like you just bathed in used drinking water..."
She didn't respond. I looked to Nikki; still looking down. Then to Bender; wiggling his nose. At least he changed meaningless gestures.
I sighed in my own right. It would take a while for the new girl to wash off.. well, whatever stench it was she was soaked in, but then, it might not make a difference. She was right. Everything did smell at least a little like garbage.
"All right cheif," I said, giving up for the moment. "What now? What do you want us to do?"

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

The captain closed the folder at last and thunked it down onto the table. A large white label over the front of it read simply: Mathias Haber in block letters. The Captain looked at Mathias, Nikki, Bender each in turn, his gaze piercing as he measured them up somewhere in his mind. He still didn't speak.

The door opened and Hiller strutted in, giving his hair a final smoothing. He smiled, his teeth glinting white, and said, "Hey." He spied Nikki and winked winningly at her. He looked over at the woman covered in garbage, and his smile faltered. He looked at the Captain, who nodded to him. Hiller smiled fully again at the assmembled group. "This-a way, dudes and dudettes."

He led them towards the living spaces, saying as he did, "I guess he'll tell you what you're supposed to do later or something." He winked at Nikki again. "I'm Ethan. I'm the Captain of the ship."

((for the record, Hiller is the brainless, perpetually horny, pretty-boy))

 

[cats]

Alex

IC: "Smells like you bathed in used drinking water." the man set down the file shot the others an intense look. not even a curious glance came my way.

A man came in looked at the girl smiled, looked at me stopped smiling, looked at the captain, and started smileing again. "okay..." why would drinking water smell I don't get it. I mean isn't it like odorless? I fallowed the others out the door. We came to a point and he anounced these where our quaters.

oh it's time to shower. I walked into a room and found the small square restroom. I slid the simple rectanglar door shut, and stood in the large box that was the shower and striped seting my clothing into the adjacent washer. I then set the machine to clean, and then turned to the shower and put it into the sam setting.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

elsewhere in the ship...

((Let's mix this martini up a bit, shall we?))

"A breech in protocol so severe, Captain, might-"
"I know what the implications are, Keering."
The captain-in-training fell silent.
"The Plan will be carried out as originally planned. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Good. Set them all to Watching. And make sure it's one of the women, the blonde one who came in at the last minute would be best, who sees it first. Do whatever you have to do."
"Yes, Captain." Keering nodded stiffly and left the Captain's office, heading for the main controls.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

"I guess he'll tell you what you're supposed to do later or something." He winked at Nikki again. "I'm Ethan. I'm the Captain of the ship."
Captain? I thought. Then, why would the other guy be telling us what to do? And why exactly did this Ethan character look to the other man for permission to take us to the quarters...?
The guy was clearly bullshitting.
When we got the word that we were "home," I stepped inside the nearest room, and announced. "Oh, cool! Cubicles... Do we each get our own 2 1/2 foot square room?"
I turned to the man, who looked as though he were itching to start combing his hair again, with a look of exaggerated enthusiasm.
I looked to nikki and Bender for responses.
Nikki, avoiding the man's looks, inhaled deeply again and exhaled in a sudden gust that seemed to make her chest sink. Bender adjusted his glasses.
I looked to the "captain" for his response. Half expecting him to be confused or take me seriously.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

Hiller paused, "Errmmm..." he poked his head into an empty room, and looked around. "I think it's more like six feet by two feet. So even better!" He smiled with a glint of white teeth at flashed a double thumbs-up at the man who had asked. "Anyways, make yourself comfortable, dudes and dudette." He gave Nikki yet another broad, white-toothed smile. "And if you need anything...extra blankets, pillows...company...just tell me." he winked at her yet again, scanning her breifly with his eyes before moving away.



The next morning they were all awoken by Keering's monotones over a small speaker under their pillows. There was only the speaker there, embedded into the mattress, and no way to control the volume, which was loud.
"Attention crew of the Windslice. The time is five a.m. Please report to the dining hall by five forty-five to recieve morning rations. All new recruits and transfers are to report to me in Recieving by six-thirty. That is all." The smell of slightly burnt food perfumed the hall.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

((by the by...if you guys are at all curious or want to know, there's the layout of the topmost floor of the ship. I'm working on the living space layout thingy...just so we all know what we're talking about ))

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Mathias Haber

That was what I'd needed, an honest answer from an idiot. I still wasn't quite certain whether or not he was serious, but I let it slide.
When he winked at Nikki, she looked at me, wanting to roll her eyes. Then she sighed again. He was gone in a few seconds, leaving the three of us alone.
Nikki dropped her bags on the floor and Bender set his carefully on the small bed and looked from one of us to the other.
"Well, I guess we might as well get comfortable..." I suggested.
The room actually contained five cubicles, but two of them seemed unused at the moment.
"Maybe we'll get two more roommates soon enough, eh?"
Nikki had nearly enough. "I'm going to sleep..." She whined, disapppearing behind the partition, then coming back, pouty eyes shining, to get the bags she'd dropped.
"I forgot these..."
Then she was gone again.
Bender went around the partition on the other side without speaking.
I sat for a moment, then decided to get a cubicle further away from the door. The one opposite it was still empty, so I carried my things over there and got ready to sleep.

But not for long.
The toughest way to sit up is while you're still sleeping. you fly forward, find you can't stop yourself, then fall to one side and land, fairly hard in my case, on the cold plastic/metal floor. At that moment, it could have been anything ut liquid and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.
"Attention crew of the Windslice. The time is five a.m. Please report to the dining hall by five forty-five to recieve morning rations. All new recruits and transfers are to report to me in Recieving by six-thirty. That is all."
Had that voice just come from under my head?!!
I tried to get up, but my body, half-asleep and half-stunned from the fall, wasn't responding just yet. For that moment, I'd have to lay there, naked on the floor, half covered by the sheet that'd fallen down with me, and wait for my body to decide to wake up more. I could manage that, I guessed, or else probably get myself hurt again.
Oh, well, at least no one saw.
"Good morning, Matt," Nikki said, from behind me.
"Did you see me fall?" I asked.
"Yes, Matt."
"Gee, I hope my ass isn't hanging out..."
"are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Good," she replied. "Did ou hear the announcement?"
"Yes, I did."
"Okay. I'll be going to take a shower, if I can find it."
"Good idea."
"And by the way, Matt," she said, starting away.
"yes, Nikki...?"
"You're ass is hanging out."