Battletech: Planet's Fall

Being promoted from Sergeant to Lieutenant made Catherine eligible for a better room. She had not expected things to progress this fast, but somehow Tessa has already assigned her a new officer's room to move in. The small redhead suspects that her Captain has something to do with that. Better not ask too openly and enjoy the perks. Be thankful. But get things organized first.

Time to move her stuff into her new room, with the help of some friends. Fortunately she is a quick packer, so it just a couple of boxes. And the few bigger things that do not fit into the convenient cardboard containers she herself all too easily fits inside.

Note to self: Make sure to keep some of the boxes for a Halloween costume.

Catherine stuffs the last of her stuff into a box and folds the lid close. Ten boxes is a lot more than she had expected though. How had all of that fit into her bunk?

Leaving the door of her old room open, she takes stock of the now nearly empty bunk. No more readouts of her favourite mechs on the wall. None of her little knickknacks and precious photographs either. Only the faint familiar stains that no amount of scrubbing could remove. Not that she had really kept trying after that one fruitless time, where the only result was two days of sore arm muscles.

Even if she had only lived in it for less than a year, she will kinda miss this little cave. But she has to move forward now.

Butcher walks past with a single box under his arm. He peeks in and sees the boxes and pauses.

"Moving too?" he asks, loud enough to be heard from the hall.

"Want a hand?"

Pulled out of her reverie, Catherine spins around.

"Oh, hey Butcher." She gives him a smile. "Yeah. I'm also moving. I've asked some friends for help, but another hand would nice. I ended up with more boxes than I thought."

"Looks that way," he says with a nod.

"Well, we can wait for the others and I'll follow along," he says. He leans against the doorway, not entering the room right now.

"You don't have to wait out in the hallway." Catherine smiles. "Feel free to come in and sit down. One chair's part of this room. Or you can sit on the bed, if you prefer. Mattress is bare though and you have to share it with Bear, but he won't mind if you don't."

Bear referring most likely to the more than life sized Teddy-Bear dominating a third of the bed.

"That's a big ass bear," he says after she points it out.

Butcher walks in and sits with his box on his lap.

"Shower in the room's gonna be nice."

The little Lieutenant gives him a nod at that. "Bear is big. It's why he is so lovely. And he helps me sleep better."

She shoots John a bright grin at his remark. "Yeah! I can't wait to have my own shower. No more having to rush or finding strange stuff."

"No more turns on cleaning detail for a shared shower. I don't mind a bit of extra work, but that ain't fun."

He looks over the short girl, keeping kind of quiet. He can see her father in her, but he thinks better of bringing it up on a day she is enjoying the move to an upgraded room.

"I am so not gonna miss that!" The tomboy agrees. "Stinky mop. Slippery wet tiles. Showerheads way too high up. Absolutely no fun job."

"If I may ask, how does being a Gunny now feel like for you? It feels so strange for me to be a Lieutenant already. I hope I can do my new rank justice."

"Just a different set of duties. Gotta get familiar with some new stuff, but the extra work will keep me focused and occupied," he says.

"You took the officer route. I think it's a good fit for you."

A faint blush touches her cheeks at the praise. "Thank you. It feels good to hear that." She shuffles some dust around with her foot for a moment.

"You always need something to do, do you?" The redhead finally asks. The only time she remembers ever seeing him relax was during their promotion party. And he had somehow nodded off then, despite all the noise.

"Yeah. Always worked, even as a kid back on the farm. Taking breaks and resting are important, but I don't like being unproductive," John says with a nod.

"And there's always shit that needs doing."

"That is .." Catherine starts, not sure what to say in response. "I've never been on a farm. Not even for a visit, let alone work there. Passing by or over in a mech does not count."

"But yeah ... there is always something to do. The trick is to find the things you love doing and get first dibs on those."

"Eh, I just do what needs done. I wouldn't say I really enjoy any of the chores and additional details I do, but they keep me occupied. If my body wouldn't fall apart from working out constantly, that's probably what I'd do," he admits.

"Hmm..." Catherine muses. "Have you ever had someone tell you to stop or slow down or do something else? That's what happens to me when I try to spend too much time in Dúthracht and do something like signing up to every patrol, or just go stomping around the base at that."

"Nah. Because I tend to do a lot of stuff other people don't want to do. And I don't ever skip sleep for work. But if I can be doing something I prefer to be doing something. I think they probably want other people to get turns on patrols to get practice and cockpit time in," he says.

"I guess that makes sense." The young Mechwarrior replies after some though. "Although me being out there in Dúthracht shouldn't prevent that. I'd just be an extra, not an instead of. I know the limited resources are why I get so few of my Simulator time requests approved. Would be nice if we can nab a couple extra sim pods during this contract. Although ... I have no idea where we would install them. The Angel's Descent is already sorta stuffed as is. Maybe one of the other dropship still has room?"

"Difficult to manage space," he agrees with a nod. "I try not to use too much simulator time, I like to leave more for folks with less experience. I almost lived in a cockpit for five years so it's really just useful for training and fighting other pilots for me."

"I got a lot of Simulator time growing up." Her dad had quite some pull within the Angels after all. "That is why I can pilot Dúthracht the way I can, even though I have been active for less than a year."

The small tomboy gives him a shrug. "I love Battlemechs and for a while they were all I had left to live for. I've gotten a little better since then, but even now I can not imagine living without."

"I know that feeling. Not for battle mechs. For me it's adrenaline, combat, fighting and violence. One of the few things that makes me feel alive," he admits.

"And the feeling ain't gone either. Every once in a while the numbness is overcome by anger. Lucky for me, I punched just about everyone on the ship that's willing to pick a fight with me, so nobody really does it anymore. But other good stuff happens with time. Gotta find the little things that are nice when we're lost in the woods."