So much of Ikarus has been refurbished, and in some places expanded, since Dr. Sailas Montgomery brought it back to operational status. However, due to the sheer pace of development, new construction was prioritized on an "as-needed" basis. Usually new labs, storage and testing facilities are what gets set up first, then the requisite accommodations for the personnel who'll be using them. Aspen Harlow, lucky as they were, arrived aboard the station in the midst of new facilities expansion - personnel accommodations were thus languishing at the bottom of the queue. This lead to many fun nights of sleeping in the hangar aboard their Spatial.
It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, though. Aspen slept decently in their ship on the regular at most of the other docks they'd visited around the sector, well-equipped for modest comfort during long voyages. They didn't sleep as well here, though, and it was leaving them crankier than usual. Maybe having to walk and take elevators the whole length of the station to get to residential for breakfast and back wasn't so great. Or, maybe they felt like they didn't truly belong on-board, this place for grizzled veteran physicists, engineers and scientific pioneers. --Would my own office change that?--, they had wondered.
They had occasion to find out. Aspen's little coffee request on the side turned massive Sunbucks brand expansion, embarrassing for them, at least got their name around the base crew. Falling in with some of the various Zoners and House expats there to work as technicians, assistants and other staff, a little circle of acquaintances was built up around them. And when it comes to refurbishing a set of quarters ahead of the maintenance schedule, many hands make for light work.
It'd take a while to pay off in terms of favors to their new crewmates, but after a whole four days of tough remodeling with them to soup up one of the untouched habs, Aspen had carved out a little space on-board. It couldn't be called "home", not quite yet. No nameplate outside the door, nowhere to hang their degree, no furniture at all and their personal effects were still on the ship. --But every good change starts small--, they thought, surveilling the empty space.
