*Buzz! Vrrrrrrrrrr...*
The digital watch on Isas wrist, vibrated slightly. Looking at the time, she shut the robot she was working at, down.
~Almost time to help Kole in the kitchen again, or the crew might have late lunch today~ A check of the Washing-Maxun in the adjacent room, told her that the next batch of laundry will not be ready until after lunch, so she was all ready to set out.
An accidental look into the small mirror, hanging next to the door of her quite spacy workroom, let her furrow her brows slightly. A pair of silvery-grey eyes looked at her, a little surprised , and strands of cammommille Hair with a touch of silver, framed her slightly thin, but well shaped face. It had slipped past the simple leatherbands, holding her waist-long braid together. The surprise-effect of her appearance, though, were the black smudges of oil and dirt across her face. An especially dark, horizontal line across her straight nose, made her look a little bit like a jungle fighter in camouflage.
~ I dont think its a good idea to let Kole see me like that. I wont get even a step past him in the kitchen without a good spank. Phew. Good that I noticed it just in time.~ A wry smile in the reflection showed some dimples on her cheeks, as she sped past the mirror, and looked again at the time.
Then she pressed some buttons to set another buzz alarm in ten minutes.
~That should be enough time.~Functioning for the deaf Isa as a substitute for the earpiece system, it kept her busy, reminding her of her - self set - scedule.
The watch had a function to send simple messages as well. However, It would require for the counterpart to have the same watch and the understanding of the morse code via vibrations. Maybe Ragna would be able to do this ordeal, but usually it was simpler just to come over and ask the people what help was needed.
So, for Isa, knowing the other peoples whereabouts was essential.
With a whiff Isa stripped off the burlap bag with holes for arms she had put on over her overall, to not get it oily, and threw it into one of the boxes for very dirty laundry. Those wooden boxes and woven baskets took up a good part of her workroom, sorting laundry from washed clothes and trash from useful items.
Seeing no other stains on her, she nodded contently, and moved on to wash her face and comb her hair quickly.
~Ragna does have a point with dressing in the Valoons' overalls. They almost never get dirty, dont rip, and are quite comfortable to wear.~ Isa caught herself liking the practical approach of them not hindering her movements more and more. Still, with the peaceful atmosphere on the ship, she did put on a simple linen dress over her overall, and fixed it with a leather belt decorated with wood ornaments and some feathers. A knife pouch and some little pouches were hanging from the belt as well, but Isa put her treasured knife in her bag, to not accidentaly lose the memento.
The combination of fashion did not look too strange, since the suits of the Valoons could be used for disguise as well, adapting to colors in surroundings. And Isa disliked to wear flashy clothes, so she took note to pick a Valoonian suit with camouflage ability for herself, when she was able to. With another check of her hands and face, she was contented, and, after taking her usual bag with random necessities with her, and tying it on her back, she finally departed towards kitchen.
She paced swiftly, but slow enough to check the statuses of each room, crew member and robot she passed, reminding herself to fix some of them later. The robots, not the people.
~ I wish I could fix Johans bad habits with some screws here and there though..~ thought Isa, as she passed a robot dealing with some obvious footprints. Her light smile faded into a slight frown thinking about where to put in a screw to deal with that problem...
Unconsciously she took detours, to keep a bit of watch on the crewmembers from the sidelines. Passing by the Capitains, Vice-Capitains, Ragnas , Fiskes, Ber's and Kole's Rooms it was obvious that the most members were not in, so she merely took a peek to assure that everything was clean and orderly. Not standing on ceremony to knock, since she would not be able to her an answer anyway.
If somebody was in, so be it. She would just shrug it off and close the door again.
Not many of the crew members even noticed, and those who did had time to get used to it in the last half a year after Isa joined them. Not that there was much privacy on the ship anyway. Besides the Capitain and the Vice-Capitain only a few had a single room. Isa did not count herself, since her room was too small to fit in another bed. Well, strictly speaking she did not
use her bed as well ...but that was another story.
Feeling the vibrations from the Hrid, but not hearing anything, made her still a little bit uncomfortable, so the daily surveillance reassured her of everything being okay. It had no set time, but if she had something to think about, she would take a walk to check up on the members. Passing by the patiens ward, she peeked in and scanned everything with a look, but it seemed peaceful and nicely empty. They had no major fights for a while so the patients were just some minor injured people here and there, nothing serious enough to stay at the ward.
With a content nod she closed the door again.
*Buzz! Vrrrrrrrrrr...*
Her little time-and-life-saver stated to vibrate again, stating that she had just some minutes to be in the kitchen earlier than Kri, and something was rummaging in her bag as well. Opening it , and pressing a button to stop her little ex-cleaning robot Tinky from blinking and shaking, Isa focussed her gaze, as she accelerated her pace, this time without detour, in the direction of the kitchen, victoriously slipping past Kri, and nodding at Kole, as she started to clean and set up the tables.
Some dishes from late breakfast seemed in need of another round of scrubbing, so she cleaned those as well. After some minuscule preparation work like heating water for the warm drinks, and pouring it into some isolating containers, Isa caught Koles gaze and shot an intent look at him, showing her empty hands, itching for work.
***
Looking around and assuring there was nothing to do anymore that she could help with, as the majority of people were already settled at the table with their food and drink, she finally grabbed her own portion, and settled down on a free table, to appease the growing vibrations from her stomach. A cup of warm grape juice accompanied her to her seat as well.
Trying to control her greed, she forced herself to eat and chew very slowly, but still , her slowest speed whilst enjoying her food at the maximum, was even faster than chugging down a cup of ale. It did take only some minutes before she was back for a second portion, with sparkling eyes (to appease the cook of course!) and a graceful, heartfelt smile. What betrayed that smile was the underlining growling noises of her stomach, desperately calling for
more food...
After enjoying her second portion, at a pace that was a little slower, but not much slower than eating the first one, she settled down for a little bit, and decided to shamelessly scrounge another portion from Kole if she could. The line of people had thinned, just some late comers were there, so she ended up right behind the Capitain, with a neutral and innocent, but determined expression
to get that third portion on her face, patiently waiting in line until the capitain would get her portion.
*gurururururrrrrrrr*~ *grurrrr*~
No, this was not her watch, and realizing what kind of vibration it was, she felt a little blush settling on her cheeks, as the vibrations in her stomach - probably- gave her out, and her stealthy appearance behind the capitain, was not so stealthy anymore. She sighed voicelessly, and hoped that the vibrations just
felt loud, and werent that loud at all. Judging from the surrounding, teasingly smiling gazes of the crew though, she could see that hope flying in a dirty laundry basket...