Six

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Elle awoke later that day and decided to sneak out and explore a little, mainly because it would piss off Commander Ren when he came to check her status. The thought alone made her smirk. She changed her clothes and bandages before slipping out of her room and walking down a random corridor. 

Everything looked exactly the same no matter where she went. Her bright idea was starting to backfire as she realized how utterly lost she was. 

Fuck...why is this ship so damn big?

After an hour of walking through corridors and doorways, Elle stopped walking and sat on the floor against a wall. She had forgotten to take some pain medication before leaving and now her hands were throbbing unbearably. 

"Are you lost?" came a male voice from her left.

She quickly looked towards where the sound originated from. It was a uniformed worker, not much older than Elle, with olive skin and jet black hair. He stared at her in confusion, waiting for a response. 

"You aren't wearing a uniform and I've never seen you in this engineering section before." he continued. 

"Yeah, I have no idea where I am or how I got here." she finally responded. 

He chuckled slightly, "I've been here for about a year now and i still get lost. I can help you find where you need to go if you want; I just finished my shift." 

Normally, Elle would reject any kind of help. She had become so used to surviving on her own that accepting help made her feel weak. However, she knew that she would never make it back to her room without help and it was better him than the Commander. 

She gave him her room and section number. 

"Okay so you're in the guest quarters...should be easy." he concluded. 

"Thanks um...." 

He gave her a small smile, "Call me TJ."

"Elle."

They continued most of their walk in silence. She'd never noticed how unnervingly quiet the ship could be, especially in the long corridors. The colors were all identical no matter where they went; Elle questioned how anyone could find their way through this maze. 

"Are you hungry?" TJ asked after a little while of silence. 

"Excuse me?" Elle responded, startled by the sudden voice.

"We'll pass by the mess hall on the way to your room. I asked if you were hungry since it's on the way." 

"Yeah I should probably eat something." Elle couldn't remember when she last ate. She was used to eating very little as there wasn't an abundance of food on Batuu; It didn't bother her much. 

"Oh thank the Gods, I'm fucking starving." he replied eagerly. 

TJ was right; they soon reached the mess hall. It was mostly empty because the meal rush had already passed. Elle agreed to find a table to sit at while TJ went to get food for the both of them. She chose a table in the corner and plopped down in one of the three seats. The mess hall was pretty massive, especially now that it was empty. 

TJ walked over to Elle with two trays, "No promises that it tastes good but it's what was being served today." 

"Food is just sustenance; it doesn't need to taste good." 

"Well maybe to you but my taste buds would strongly disagree." 

Elle shrugged and started eating. He was right, it tasted pretty bad but it was something at least. She started spacing out and barely heard TJ when he spoke. 

"Sorry, what?" she asked. 

"Your hands, what's up with them?" 

"I, uh, got into a fight." 

"Damn...with who?"

Elle paused as she thought about how to answer. "A wall." she said bluntly. 

TJ broke out in laughter, unable to respond to Elle's answer. She couldn't help but smirk and chuckle along with him. It had been a long time since Elle laughed; she isolated herself so deeply to remain undetected that contact with other people was rare. It actually felt nice for her to laugh. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself." TJ said through finishing chuckles.

She just smiled and went back to eating. Her ability to socialize normally with people was sub par so TJ was initiating most of the conversation. It's not that she didn't want to talk to him, she just wasn't used to casual chat. 

"Are you finished?" he asked her. 

"Yeah, I don't think i can force any more down my throat." 

"I told you it was bad." 

"I've eaten rotting animals that tasted better than that." Elle joked. 

"That's...disgusting." he laughed. "Come on, let's get you back to your room."

It didn't take much longer to reach the guest quarters where Elle was staying. It seemed to take a much shorter amount of time to get back than it did to end up in the engineering section. 

"Thank you TJ." 

"Anytime. See you around Elle." he said as he walked away towards the direction of his room. 

Elle breathed a sigh of relief and entered her room. She was ready to sleep away the discomfort of having to accept help from someone else; she was glad she did but it still left her feeling uneasy, like her independence took a hit. She noticed a dark figure move in the corner of her eye. She spun around anticipating to see the dark fog from her dream but was unfortunately met by Commander Ren. He did not look happy. 


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