<snip>

Whitfield took a final breath before entering the room. Of course, she wasn’t expecting to have to fight for her life or anything, but she had some anxieties about unintentionally making her first report on this ship her last. Nonetheless, as she entered she took a brief moment to examine the surroundings. Everything seemed to make sense, though the strange orb on the desk caught her eye - its place in a room such as this one was interesting to her.

Maybe it was less that it was in this room and more the fact that she had no clue what it actually was. She thought about asking, but discarded that thought, realising that taking the conversation into a tangent about mysterious orbs is not a fast-track to productivity. Supposedly, at least.

“Yes, sir,” she spoke in response, a small smile still lingering from her as she took a seat as instructed. “Well… I wanted to be a scientist when I was younger, but I don’t think that’s something I’m interested in pursuing anymore.” She placed her hands on her knees as she sat, her eyes momentarily drifting to the floor before she spoke up again, nodding assuredly. “Since I enrolled, it’s the only thing I’ve really been interested in, sir.”

-Cadet Olive Whitfield, Engineer

OOC: You’re doing great so far, and hey learning is what the Academy is for and be sure to let me know if you have anything you need help with. I’m going to throw a quick lesson in right now, if you look up you’ll see I added “<snip>” to the post and deleted some of the old posts. We do that so with each reply threads don’t get such a slog to scroll through if you’re reading the latest one, it keeps the length down. Just go back two or three posts is my general rule, unless there’s critical info, if the length of everything seems to start burning your mouse wheel, and delete them. Then add the snip tag like I did to let people know that’s what happened. Easy peasy

IC:
Dael listened to the new cadet as he felt the typical thought patterns of anxiety fill his head. He wondered what he would’ve felt like to any telepath on his first day. Probably much worse, he still wasn’t the best at keeping his turbulent thoughts in check, but since his taking over the department he had made it a point to improve. But acknowledging that and knowing what always helped him keep his focus worked in helping him assuage new cadets’ nerves. And with the problems coming from his PADD he felt it was perfect timing.

“What made that change for you Cadet? What was it about Engineering that made you switch over to our side?” he asked as he tapped at his PADD trying to get it to pull up her personnel file. But instead the device didn’t seem to respond to any of his entries. Perfect timing, a little problem to solve always helped take my nerves away, let’s see if it holds true for her he thought with a slight grin. Not what was generally expected when checking in, maybe, but it’d be a good way to see her in action as well.

“Could you take a look at this PADD here as well while we’re talking, it doesn’t seem to want to respond to any key entries. There’s some tool kits if you need on the wall over there.”

-Lt. jg Dael Stadi, Chief Engineer

OOC: Thanks! One thing I’ve been having some trouble with trying to work out how to speak all techy. I’m not very well versed on specific tools and their uses, so I’m probably not going to be great at dealing with engineering problems, at least, not in my current state :p
Also, I’m still trying to figure out exactly how much to write (and how to split it up), so I’m sorry if I over/underdo it, I realise that either way could be pretty inconvenient…

IC:
“Er, yes, of course!” She smiled, taking the PADD from the DH and nodding singularly, hoping to work out the problem. She was already a little apprehensive as she replayed her hasty response in her mind, realising that maybe she shouldn’t have been so sure to begin with. After all, she’s admittedly far from genius. Still, she managed a more confident smile, having a chance to prove herself here, if only slightly.

“Right,” she began, preparing to answer the question asked of her with a persisting smile, which she failed to maintain as she began studying the PADD in her hands. It’d always been hard for her to tell if she loved engineering or if she hated science. Once upon a time, she wanted nothing more but to be stationed somewhere to explore a whole facet of some other planet, far from home. Now though, that idea frustrated her. It felt futile, for some reason unknown to even herself.

She shook her head quickly, dismissing those thoughts as she continued her analysis. Those particular ones seemed to crop up quite a bit in her mind, to the point where it became just noise to her - something she tuned out. She never could understand why she had such an irrational aversion towards science or when it formed but that’s never been something she’s had to confront, nor has she ever vocalised it before. She wasn’t quite sure where to start with the PADD, but maybe there was something stopping the information from travelling, like a bad connection with the chips inside the device.

“I don’t really know exactly why I like engineering so much. Starship engines are just… great, I suppose. Everything about how they function, how all the pieces fit together - understanding how people put these systems together is like looking into those people’s minds.” She poured her mind out verbally as she tried to figure out what exactly she was going to do about the PADD. “Also, I like having a problem to solve sometimes, though, uh, I suppose maybe less so in a starship, now that I’m actually here.”

“Thank you,” she plainly said, distracting herself from the situation at hand and looking up to the department head with a friendly expression, wondering what sort of response she was getting. Of course, she hoped it was a good one, though nonetheless she was quick to stifle her chumminess somewhat, hoping not to overstep any rules or regulations, or anything like that. She wasn’t sure how casual would be too casual, but an actual starship does not seem like a good place to test your boundaries. At least, to her.

-Cadet Olive Whitfield, Engineer