There it was again. Another person staring at her in the span of a minute or two. Avelyn was used to odd stares from the war, few soldiers could comprehend the sight of a kid on a base or ship, let alone one in special forces getup, and those who didn’t care have been through such hell during the war they wouldn’t have batted an eye if a purple elephant in a frilly dress served them at the chow line. She could say that with absolute certainty, she did try it several times. But why here? Did she forget to wipe sauce off her face when she finished her lunch or something? Avelyn ran the back of her hand over her mouth and looked - no sauce. She gave Amy the same confused [i]’What?’[/i] expression Phi got earlier, emphasis on the [i]confused[/i] part.

She hung back when Amy asked for a few seconds, figuring too much information never hurt anyone. [color=#FF2E00]“Hope you’ve got a big notebook.”[/color] She couldn’t help noting with a chuckle when Amy mentioned talking about things weighing on them. With the plan decided, the briefing seemed to break up, folks peeling off to wander around or call dibs on quarters. Good idea, lest she be left with some utility closet underneath a staircase. Helping herself to a few of the offered biscuits and uttering a word of thanks, Avelyn left with a friendly salute in Natasha’s direction, turning into the first vacant cabin, delighted to see it was a single occupant room - Bed, table, chair, storage space, infotainment panel. In other words: Heaven. Not that she disliked company during the day, but sleeping too close to other people was hard when you could hear them thinking and dreaming. With that in mind, she backed out of the cabin and went as far down the hallway as the rooms went, throwing her bag on the bed of a vacant room and dropped her mental guards…

...nothing. Blissful silence. [color=#FF2E00]“Fucking finally.”[/color] The words escaped her mouth with a relieved sigh, even if the relief was only temporary, as she started examining the cabin, trying to figure out where to put all her stuff… before deciding it could stay in the bag, at least it was all in one place. She planted herself on the bed, not even caring to take her boots off. Maybe later.  For now, she just lay there, enjoying the silence and listening for stray thoughts, once again breaking her private little oath not to do so in friendly company. At least she had a reason here - as soon as she’d spy someone’s thoughts in a room nearby, she’d get up and go let them know they shouldn’t think private thoughts in the evening. Maybe they’d work in shifts. She’d gladly take shitty hours if it meant the occupants of surrounding cabins would be up and about when she turned in.

But that could wait. First and foremost, there was a ship’s layout to be learned and its daily routine to be figured out. Sleeping in on the first day when the boss expects you to be up at 0600 made for a poor impression. Get up, get out there, memorize everything. Maybe meet the rest of the crew. And figure out why some people were eyeing her, before she’d have to resort to invasions of privacy.