*Slaps disclaimer on top of story*
I do not own Arknights, Arknights is intellectual property of Yostar.
Real events/people described are coincidence or not to be taken as fact, even when fact is true.
As always, enjoy.
Time seemed to move slowly as Evan sat in the office. In front of him was a cat woman with green tinted blonde hair, and a pair of cat ears that sort of reminded him of a lynx. The moment Kal'tsit had opened the door, Angelina got in trouble for not notifying her through the front desk, and the folder along with the two extra files were swiped out of the vulpo's hands. First impressions, Kal'tsit was very strict and hard to read. Yet, that poker cracked at points as she read the LGD's files on him. Giving occasional glances with dilated pupils and only mildly wider eyes as any indication she was interested.
"I hope I never end up playing poker with her."
The folder was closed, and Kal'tsit took out a pen along with a clip-board where she clipped on a blank piece of paper, and the application she had sent with Angelina.
"Alright, so your name is Evan, M, Carthey…" she said, writing down something on both pieces of paper. "Possibly from another world. Unknown race. No knowledge of originium, and self proclaimed university graduate despite being illiterate."
"Ouch, you could stand to be a little less blunt lady."
"But," Kal'tsit continued. "All evidence seems to point there. Untraceable history, and first known appearance is on the news of Lungmen along with footage of what would only be impossible for Originium Arts. Large amounts of text not matching any language, and machinery containing zero originium dependent parts. According to this, your world does not have originium, yet appears to produce power through a number of means."
She looked at him for a good long while. She noticed his gaze turned to her right shoulder where surface crystals were growing. She didn't care, and it wasn't that surprising if what was stated in the file is true. Likely to be true since multiple parties, not easily fooled in Kal'tsit's opinion, said so.
"First time seeing Oripathy?" she asked when his gaze continued to eye her crystals.
"Yeah, I heard only a little bit about it. This is my first time seeing symptoms of it."
"Angelina has Oripathy. Her lesions are located on her right thigh. Some people also don't know they have Oripathy for years until crystals start developing on the surface or the internal tissues are affected greatly by metastasis of originite crystals," she pulled a cup of coffee up and brought it to her lips. "Today, we can only control its growth, but the end result is the same. Oripathy is fatal without fail."
"Sounds awful," Evan sympathized with clear emotion in his voice. Kal'tsit took note of this. No disdain to Oripathy, and sympathy despite coming from a world without it. Did he have similar diseases in his world?
"I have a lot to do today, and now getting this person into the database is one of them. I should probably contact The Doctor and Amiya after I do some proper testing," Kal'tsit thought to herself. She stood up and beckoned Evan to follow her. All the while, she asked a few questions so she could fill out more parts of the application and her impromptu medical sheet. "Age?"
"Twenty four"
"Birthday?"
"October sixteen, 19-"
"Just the day and month, I can already tell the year will make no sense. How's your diet?"
"Where I came from, you could say the diet mainly consists of cheap food without much nutritional value, but I try to eat well when I can and I supplement my diet when needed."
Kal'tsit paused for a little bit before the next question. "Blood type?"
"O negative."
"Universal donor, interesting…" she remarked. "How's your physical activity?"
"Poor."
Kal'tsit approached one of the rooms and flipped a red tab out which had 'Do not Disturb' on it. She scanned her ID in front of the lock and it opened. Both of them walked inside to a room with various kinds of equipment. Immediately, Kal'tsit began shuffling through the supplies in different drawers and pulled out a needle and some glass vials.
"In order to properly test you, we'll need to take blood samples."
As a donor in his last world, and one who would give two units of red cells at that, he just plopped his arm on the nearby table. A small rubber strip was tied around the left arm and alcohol wipes were applied. Silently, the blood was drawn and Kal'tsit eyed the vials briefly then proceeded to speak again.
"That should be enough for now. I'll have someone else do a more general exam later. I'll also place you on the list for an Oripathy scan. I'll take these samples to be processed."
With the exchange done, Evan calmly retraced his steps back to the waiting area where the owl girl was still sleeping. He looked around the reception for others, but it was empty save for this one girl who was still sleeping.
"Hey, excuse me," Evan said with restraint. No reaction, she just continued breathing quietly as she slept. One of the weird feather ear things wiggled upon hearing his voice though. "Cute," he thought before gently reaching for her shoulder. Almost as soon as he did so, her eyes shot open and the strangest sentences spoken by a living person was said.
"Physical stimulus received...exiting sleep mode...rebooting system…" she said while pausing. Then, a yawn escaped her and she stretched her shoulders a little while moaning like she had been asleep for a while. "Accessing archives...restoring previous session." She finally looked at him, and Evan could immediately see her bright orange, shockingly wide eyes staring at him seemingly emotionless. "Operator Ptilopsis is online, how may I be of assistance?"
"Ok...that was weird. But I imagine that's the norm now," Evan thought to himself before asking her his question. "Do you know where Angelina went by chance?"
"Searching temporary archives...error, Operator Angelina's whereabouts are unknown to Ptilopsis."
"Ok…" Evan expressed as he thought to himself. He was really hungry, he hadn't eaten for a while and it was starting to get to him. "Is there a cafeteria? I'm pretty hungry."
"Yes, the cafeteria is…hibernation activated, initiating sleep mode…" Ptilopsis started until she initiated the code speak and plopped her head on the desk, quiet breathing immediately following. Evan just stared, bewildered at the sight until she opened her eyes again. "Troubleshooting successful, reloading conversation...reload successful. Apologies, due to Oripathy, Ptilopsis suffers from narcolepsy and enhanced racial traits. Restoring conversation...the cafeteria is located down two floors, perhaps you can find someone to guide you. Ptilopsis may not leave her post per Doctor Silence's orders."
"Alright, well thanks anyways," Evan responded before turning around and walking out.
"Re-initiating hibernation...yawn…" Ptilopsis said to no one in particular as she put her head in a comfortable position and began snoring quietly.
"And I'm lost…" Evan said to himself as he looked at a nearby map he found in a hallway junction. He couldn't tell which room was the cafeteria or not. "I'm hungry though...when will I get to eat."
The faint sound of footsteps was heard, and Evan turned his head to see its source turn a corner. A girl half a foot as short as him with a pair of long grey ears, a pulled up face shield of some kind, and a long pole-arm locked eyes with him. Soon after she gave a beaming smile and gave a very big wave. Evan waved back a little sheepishly. Said girl then proceeded to walk over.
"Hey, there, my name's Grani. I haven't seen you around before, you new around here?" she asked with a small but genuine smile.
"Yeah, I'm trying to find something to eat," Evan explained.
"Oh, I can help with that!" Grani exclaimed. "I notice you don't have an ID yet, so you'd have to pay for the meal. But, I can get you one for free, my treat!"
"Thanks, you're a lifesaver," Evan thanked Grani.
"No problem. Follow me...erm...sorry, what's your name?"
"Evan Carvey."
"Alright Evan, I'll take you to the cafeteria. I'm hungry too, so great timing."
After a short walk and an elevator ride down, Evan and Grani found themselves in the cafeteria. It was a large room with not only the necessities of a cafeteria, but also a collection of lounge rooms. Grani led him over to the counter and they were given food rather swiftly. Soon after, they sat down and without a word, both began the rapid consumption of their respective plates. While Grani did finish faster, it was only by a small margin. Upon both noticing this, they shared a laugh before initiating conversation.
"So what brings you to Rhodes Island?" Grani initiated.
"Employment, and the medical department is interested in something to do with originium in my body."
"Oh…" Grani sounded with a clear indicator of her voice she sounded a little down. "Are you infected?"
"Not that I'm aware, I have yet to get the results of an Oripathy test, but I'd say my chances are statistically insignificant," Evan answered. He noticed a small morsel still left and scooped it up. "Doctor Kal'tsit took my blood for testing not long ago, so I don't know."
While Grani's face didn't look down anymore, she did look rather confused. She tilted her head a little as she looked closer at Evan. "Hey, where are you from?"
"Another world."
Instead of shock, Grani started laughing as though he told a funny joke. All the while, he took a sip of juice that had come with his meal. As she continued, she noticed his general lack of reaction and finally started to calm down. Once she did, they stared at each other for a good while before Grani finally realized.
"Wait, you're serious?" Evan nodded. That's when Grani held a mile long stare for a good while. Once she recovered, she stared at Evan very intently then nodded. "I would've thought that with the lack of any visible racial traits and low chance of getting infected, maybe you were from Ægir."
"Where is this...Ægir?" Evan asked with some difficulty.
"The bottom of the ocean."
Evan's eyes widened and he looked at Grani stunned. There were people at the bottom of the ocean? Were they mer-people or something? "Does that mean they can breathe both air and oxygen? And I somehow look the most like them? Wait, maybe they have structures to circumvent this, this world has some crazy infrastructure engineering after all."
"Though, if I think about it, Andreana keeps some of her tentacles out."
"Tentacles?!"
"Yeah...how do these people look anything like me in the first place?" Evan asked, genuinely curious. How the heck did he get associated with things that lived in the abyss known as the ocean? "I know for certain I look nothing like a fish person. Unless it's like that one weird HP Lovecraft story with fish puberty."
Grani just shrugged then calmly replied, "I don't know, they disguise themselves or change their bodies. That's what I've heard anyway."
"Huh…" Evan expressed with interest. "Well, I'm definitely not from the bottom of the ocean. I'd probably have my rib cage squeeze my organs out the nearest opening if I tried."
"That's pretty gross, do you think about that stuff normally?" Grani asked as she put her silverware down. That didn't go unnoticed by Evan.
"Oh, sorry."
"No, it's fine, I mean, we were done anyways," Grani replied with a mild smile. "But, where do you plan to go after this? You don't have an ID, so you can't enter a room without one."
"I don't know, Angelina took me to Doctor Kal'tsit, but she wasn't there when I came out."
"You called?" a voice cheerfully responded directly behind Evan. It was close enough for him to briefly panic as he turned around.
"Holy shi-"
Bonk
"Language!" Angelina chastised after bonking Evan on the top of his head with her staff. Boy did she hit hard, Evan rubbed his head and felt a small bump already forming. "I thought I would be done with lunch by the time Kal'tsit let you go. Also, hello Grani."
"Hi Angelina!" Grani cheerfully declared.
Angelina gave a smile at the kuranta's cheerfulness before looking at Evan who was rubbing his head still. "Oh, sorry...did I hit too hard?" Evan shook his head, and Angelina gave a small sigh. "Oh, ok. Still, sorry for hurting you, I didn't mean for it to last. Anyways, how was your visit with Doctor Kal'tsit?"
"She took some blood then sent me back to the waiting room. I asked Ptilopsis about where the cafeteria was, got lost, then met Grani," Evan explained. "God that bonk hurt though."
"Ah…" Angelina expressed with a rather nervous look. "I have a feeling she's going to come looking for you at some point." A small chuckle escaped Angelina. "I might be in trouble…"
"Did Kal'tsit tell you where I should go next? Because she didn't tell me," Evan responded. To that, Angelina's face darkened and she looked around the cafeteria rapidly.
"I-I just remembered I have some errands to run, bye~" the teen messenger hastily said before swiftly walking for an exit to the cafeteria. Evan and Grani watched with some fascination as Angelina walked to the door, but it opened before she could reach it and the Medical Department Head herself walked up to Angelina and began laying into her. Evan couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could tell Grani did by her humored snickering.
Once the young messenger was laid into, Kal'tsit dragged her over to Evan and looked at him with the same scary expression she always seemed to wear.
"Apologies for Angelina's conduct, and sorry for not telling you what to do. Clearly," Kal'tsit said before staring at Angelina with a harsh look in her eyes, "I have overestimated Angelina's capability."
The subject's vulpine ears bent inwards as she looked down with a rather guilty look on her face, like a child who had been caught doing something they shouldn't. Evan felt Angelina looked rather cute, but he also felt some pity for her as she truly did just make a bad call by mistake. Kal'tsit continued speaking once her gaze returned to Evan.
"Now then, I've sent a message to Human Resources. I've let them know which department I want you assigned to, and I've sent all the basic information needed to make your ID. Grani, could you take Evan there?" Kal'tsit turned her head to Angelina whose ears shrunk again at her gaze. "I think I need to have a conversation with Angelina."
"Roger~!" Grani affirmed with a salute. She got up and led Evan to where the trays were disposed of. Once the trays were disposed of, Grani guided Evan to the cafeteria door, all the while Angelina gave a sad look to him before giving a small wave with the tiniest of smiles. The door shut and they began their trek to HR. Grani took the time to explain to him some of the layout. Mostly it was things about what the map he was looking at didn't tell him, so it was rather informative despite being short. After that, Grani asked some rather regular questions, well regular for him by now. Much like Angelina and Croissant, she responded with enthusiasm and fascination to some of his answers. It was fairly interesting how she didn't seem skeptical at all.
The two made their way down a floor to a large office space where three people at the desk were in a conversation of some sorts. One was behind the desk, a very sharply dressed woman with white hair and two feathers pointing at different angles. The other two were in front of the desk. One had a couple of long ears poking out of a head of blonde hair, and the other had some oddly styled orange hair.
"How many times do we have to go over this?" the receptionist asked with a rather annoyed tone. "Please, do not re-submit your applications or retake the entrance exams."
"Yes, yes~" the blonde girl sang in a very laid back voice that clearly stated she probably didn't care much.
"I-I'm sorry Miss Orchid, I didn't do very well on my entrance exam...so I thought I could do better, again. It's just that to take it, I need to submit my application…" the other girl nervously explained while looking down a little.
Orchid gave a heavy sigh and let them go, seemingly resigning herself to the fact she would have to deal with this again. She began pulling out a magazine when she noticed Grani and Evan. "Welcome to Human Resources, what is it you're here for?" she said in the best professional voice she could seemingly muster.
"Hi, Doctor Kal'tsit said she sent some information to make my ID and assign me to a department."
"Oh, so you're the one that has the Medical Department so worked up," Orchid replied with an observation. She then started typing on the desk's computer. "Ok, Evan Carvey...unknown race, place of birth is...classified, that's interesting. It looks like your oripathy tests are negative, but the access to the actual data seems to be restricted for now. It seems Kal'tsit wants to assign you to Engineering as an intern under...Miss Closure? I didn't think she would take interns under her wing. Do you have a history with her?"
"No, I don't know anybody here," Evan responded flatly. Orchid gave him a curious look before continuing.
"The only things left to fill out are combat experience and prior experience or qualifications."
"Is this seriously a pharmaceutical company? Why are they so focused on combat experience?" Evan thought to himself before answering. "I don't have any combat experience, and I'm a University Graduate who majored in a scientific discipline, so I'm familiar with important concepts of engineering. I'm also pretty good at mathematics."
"Very well," Orchid finished. "Doctor Kal'tsit already gave a green light, so I won't bother giving you an exam or anything like that. The only thing left to do is assign you a room, and then I can get your ID made. Would you like a shared room or a single?"
The soon to be intern looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, "Anything I should know?"
"Shared rooming's only differences is that the responsibilities are shared among the roommates. Ups and downs depend only on the synergy of the roommates. To get a shared room though, you'll have to submit a request to the current occupants."
"Oh, could he stay with me?" Grani asked excitedly.
"Grani, I believe you already know the answer to that. Unless two people are in a relationship, we can't assign two people of a different sex to the same dorm."
"Aw~" Grani whined with her ears folding to the side slightly.
"Sorry, rules are rules. You can visit each other though. If you'd like, I can make you neighbors."
Grani perked back up. "Really? You mean it?! Yay! Yeah, do that!"
Orchid turned to Evan with a small smile then repeated, "I'll ask again, shared or single?"
"Single sounds fine, I enjoy having space to myself," Evan replied.
"Very well, Grani lives in section C3, which isn't all that far away from Miss Closure's current office. You won't have a long way to walk to work. Now then, I'll send a request for your ID to be made, it won't take long. Feel free to have a seat. Also, welcome to Rhodes Island."
Once the ID was, literally, tubed into the HR office, Grani led now intern Evan to his room which was labeled C3051. At least they did once they took a detour to the Penguin Logistics jeep to get Evan's stuff out. Looking at the door to the room, there was an empty nameplate on the wall by the door and above a scanner. Evan placed his ID to a scanner and a click sound was heard after a beep. The door opened, and he looked into an empty room with a bed built into the wall, a door to a small bathroom of sorts, and dressers built into the wall near the bed along with some shelves on the other side of the wall bed. Another thing to notice was that there was dust that got kicked up once it was opened.
"Looks like it could use some dusting," Grani commented. "I'll go get my duster."
With great speed, Grani sprinted out of the room and Evan was left to his own devices. He shrugged and opened the dresser, putting his clothes into a specific order he was used to. There was also a closet by the dresser with coat hangers too. The door opened, and Evan turned around expecting to see Grani, but he was met with a very different sight.
"So you're my new intern…" a girl with long black hair, red eyes, and pointed ears said. She wore a black jacket with lazily slumped over her shoulders with the ID hanging off of it. A white shirt with a weird devil looking design showed, and she had a tool belt loosely strapped on her waist. This girl looked him up and down, then said, "You don't look that impressive, but I'd rather not piss of Kal'tsit. Just remember your shift starts at 8 o'clock sharp tomorrow."
The door opened again.
"Evan, I found-. Oh, hi Miss Closure," Grani greeted with a big smile.
"Heyo Grani," Closure returned with a two fingered salute. She then turned back to Evan and said, "Well, see you tomorrow."
With that, Closure left and Grani started dusting while humming softly. At Evan's request, she did the shelves first so he could place his astonishing number of academic texts on them. He did have novels, but not a lot when compared to his non-fiction and textbooks. Thanks to the help, the room was in good shape in under an hour, but it was still rather empty on account of having no furniture.
"Well, I'll leave you to get comfortable. I get up at six and go train before starting my patrols, so if you want to get some exercise in, I'm in the training room towards the end of the ship before eight. See you around," Grani said before giving a joyous wave.
"What a nice girl," Evan thought to himself after the door closed. "I want to take a nap, it's been quite a day. Oh, this bed's real comfy."
Once he shifted around, he laid down and slept. For once, he was optimistic about tomorrow. Maybe life here would be good.
Author's Note:
Yeah, I'm still having fun with this. Chapter 6 is like, halfway done. That day will start off with a neat freak and the renowned slob that is Closure. Yes, comedy will ensue.
I do have a rough timeline in my head about what will happen for the near future and then some more once I feel like getting some real plot going will work. I honestly don't have much to say today, so I'll just thank all you readers for the support. It's honestly amazing how this project I started for fun is so well received.
Hopefully I'll be more free to write once finals week ends.