Level 35 Mess Hall was a little bit of a misnomer. Unlike mess halls that he seemed to vaguely remember featured in different media in his original universe, the location that he stood in front of left him speechless.
It seemed that the location itself was called "Mess Hall" as shown by the giant lit-up sign a couple of metres above his head that flickered seemingly from an unstable electrical connection.
The Mess Hall was almost embedded in the whole 'southern' side of level 35 of the Maxo's Lightbringer. It was strange to Jaff to see a whole quadrant of the level dedicated to one thing. And that thing resembled less like a high-school mess hall the name Jaff imagined, and more of an adult club.
A club that was currently inundated with a loud, somewhat joyous group of staff members. A few of whom Jaff recognised from his own orientation process.
The Mess Hall was massive. Jaff couldn't even see the other end of the location, its depth was so inconceivably big. He currently stood at entrance 5 of the Mess Hall, and two muscled men dressed in a dark-coloured uniform stood guard and ensured that the staff members entered the Mess Hall in a somewhat orderly manner.
It was then that Jaff noticed the steady, almost unending stream of people entering the Mess Hall, only briefly stopping by entrance 5 to be scanned by a handheld device one of the guards held in his hand. When the handheld scanner beeped, the guards allowed the staff member to enter.
Luckily for Jaff, it seemed that the process was quick and simple, and there was barely a queue to get in, so he joined the short line and soon found himself in front of the guards by the entrance.
Before he could say anything, the guard with the handheld device scanned Jaff and the handheld device beeped and he was ushered into the Mess Hall with a soft shove to move the line along.
Even though there was no physical wall to block the inside to the outside, as soon as he stepped through the entrance, music from the Mess Hall sound system blasted into his ears and almost overwhelmed him with its volume.
Spaceship life was not a silent one. There were always constant metal creaking and machinery sounds, but the high volume of the music in the Mess Hall seemed to be designed to drown out the usual soundscape of life in a spaceship.
In the upper left corner of his vision, he noticed a CaSTE System notification.
Makes sense, this seems like it would be where an establishing shot for a new location would go, Jaff thought.
Jaff managed to step aside to avoid blocking the entrance as he quickly got used to the loud stimuli from the music and flicked up the communication system on his N-HUD.
He shot a quick message to Dexta to let him know that he had made his way to the Mess Hall and where to head to next. While he waited for a reply, he looked past the N-HUD display at the interior of the Mess Hall.
The inside of the Mess Hall was dark in a different way than the normal spaceship corridor lighting. It seemed darker and was more of the stereotypical nightclub interior back on Earth.
From what he could see, there were a large number of booths filled with people as well as a large number of bars manned by what he assumed were bartenders. Bar stools surrounded some of these bars while others remained bare so that customers had to stay standing while they waited to order.
Deeper in the Mess Hall he could slightly see mobs of people dancing. Jaff seemed to remember not clubbing often before he was transferred to this universe, but the Mess Hall seemed to be everything he assumed would be in a nightclub. Only mega-sized.
Dexta replied to his message and asked which entrance he came from. Jaff quickly replied. Not long after, Dexta permitted Jaff to find Dexta's location using the CSALTS.
So, you can use CSALTS like this too? Jaff mused as he followed the new CSALTS line, it really is like a GPS.
Jaff had to squeeze past a lot of people as he made his way further into the Mess Hall. It brought back the sense of anxiety and cautiousness that he felt in the elevator earlier. The sensation was still odd for Jaff. So much of his identity on Earth was still unremembered and he wished his full memories returned quicker.
Soon enough, he could see the end of the CSALTS line he was following and Dexta's wide smile and bright orange hair were visible as the young man waved at him over the throngs of strangers.
But surprisingly, as Jaff got closer, he saw that Dexta was not alone. Reeanen Molwerk sat on the other side of Dexta's booth with a nursed drink while she smiled at Jaff.
"My frein! I was thinkin' you mighta got lost!" Dexta's voice resounded through Jaff's head, and he noticed that the N-HUD's communication program was still active, and instead of text messages, he was now able to vocally communicate with Dexta.
Dexta noticed Jaff's reaction and laughed, "kella weirn, right? You get used to it quick. Mean we don't have to yell to each other!"
"Hey," Reeanen's still bright, but tired voice appeared in his head as well and he glanced over at her and saw that she was still smiling at him.
He was slightly blushing and he hoped that in the poor lighting of the Mess Hall, she couldn't see it as he tried to answer in a cool and collected manner.
"Hey."
Dexta was oblivious to Jaff's blushing and asked, "so whayouthink? Mess Hall be cool as, ya?"
"It really is! I wasn't expecting it to be this big though!" Jaff answered, genuinely amazed by the sheer size of the Mess Hall. He looked around as he answered and then he heard a soft laugh from Reeanen.
"Eh, why laugh?" Dexta frowned as he was also excited and amazed by the Mess Hall.
"Every new batcher has the same reaction to the Mess Hall," Reeanen smiled, "It's cute."
Reeanen had glanced at Jaff when she answered, and he could feel his face blushing even more. Luckily, Dexta unknowingly helped him by moving on loudly.
"Time for a drink, ya? Whayouwan' frein?" Dexta excitedly said.
"Well," Jaff looked at both Dexta and Reeanen for guidance, "How does it all work? I don't have any money to buy a drink."
"Ah, glad to say new frein here will help!" Dexta grinned knowingly as he motioned towards Reeanen, "She been teaching how everything works here in ship!"
Jaff gave Reeanen a confused look and she smiled and giggled as she answered, "Don't worry about it tonight, I'll pay for you two since you're both new batchers and don't have any turrens yet."
Before Jaff could ask her what 'turrens' were, she excused herself and approached the bar closest to their booth to order for the two men.
"What are 'turrens'?" Jaff asked out loud.
"Moneys, frein. CSA official moneys." Dexta answered matter-of-factly, "Defrost musta scrambled your head a bit if you not know turrens! Maybe Ree did bad job checkin' you!"
"I-I knew that! I just didn't remember for a second!" Jaff quickly covered his mistake up.
He didn't know what would happen if he accidentally revealed he was not from this universe in a scripted scene, but he didn't think it would be good. A notification in the top-left corner confirmed his guess.
<65% —> 60% (-5%)>
My character synergy goes down. Sounds about right, Jafferson would have known what turrens were since he came from this universe, Jaff grumbled internally.
5% was a pretty substantial amount lost from a fleeting and quick mistake.
Reeanen had managed to make her way back to the booth. In her hands were massive metallic mugs filled almost to the brim with alcohol. She placed one in front of both Dexta and Jaff and both men thanked her as she sat back down on the other side of the booth across from them.
Jaff took a quick sniff at the liquid inside the mug and noted that it had a similar smell to what he remembered beer to have back in his life on Earth.
He couldn't exactly remember if he liked beer back on Earth, but he decided to take a sip to give it a try. He thought it would have been a bit rude not to even drink it since it was free.
The liquid had a surprisingly pleasant taste and was quite easy to drink. Jaff managed to down around half of the mug in one go and when he placed the mug down, he breathed out a sigh of contentment.
Both Dexta and Reeanen watched him while smiling.
"I guess you can handle your alcohol well," Reeanen grinned, "Good to know."
"Why the hurry frein? Night-cycle is long." Dexta teased him.
Jaff scratched the back of his head as he blushed in embarrassment, "Sorry, it- it's been a while since I was able to drink like this."
Both nodded understandingly.
"Well, according to the system, both of you have been in the frost for at least two thousand years," Reeanen casually mentioned as she took a sip from her mug.
Jaff could feel the colour drain from his face, "two thousand?"
"Pretty standard," Reeanen shrugged, "My batch was in the frost for just under two thousand years. It just depends on the turnover rate."
"Anyway, since you started on your lonesome, I couldn't throw a toast," Reeanen raised her mug and Dexta quickly followed her example while Jaff took a bit longer to realise what she was doing.
"To batch…whatever you guys were!" Reeanen laughed at her blunder.
"To our batch!" Dexta exclaimed.
"To our batch!" Jaff followed.