Streaking pink and blue

Posted on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 @ 12:54am by

Mission: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: The lounge
Timeline: MD 01 02:30 Hours
1076 words - 2.2 OF Standard Post Measure

It was an early morning and Tarria was cleaning the bar. The smell of delicious bread travelling from the kitchen in to the lounge, making the lounge smell like breakfast. She was getting hungry by all the nice smells. But she had to wait till Paddy was done.

She looked under bar to check on her supplies of special drinks. She took out a bottle of orange looking cocktail. "Very nice," she whispered. "I got it."

Beata came in the room yawning. She'd been up half the night with her brain moving at warp speed despite being already exhausted from her illness. "Morni ..." she started to say before another yawn overtook her. "Please tell me there's coffee or tea or something with caffeine in it?" She sat down on a stool and rested her chin on her hand with a glazed expression on her face.

Tarria grinned as Beata walked in. She took the coffeepot from the stove and walked to her. She put a cup in front of her and poured the black liquid in in it. "Freshly brewed at 4 am every morning." She said. "Sugar? Milk?" She offered as she put the trey with the milk and sugar pot in front of her.

"Yes, thank you. You're a savior." Beata sat down with a rather loud thud. "I am so tired." As if on cue she yawned, showing her teeth in the process. "Maybe I should make an appointment with the counselor, let her sort me out." She wasted no time adding a lot of both milk and sugar to her coffee.

Tarria put the pot back. "Maybe let the coffee do it's work first," said Tarria. "Sometimes that makes all the difference. So are you not sleeping, Ensign? Something keeping you up all night?" She leaned forward and her antennae moved in the same direction.

"I can't believe he had a child. He was gone two days! Five years for him and two days for me. That's insane, I can't even wrap my head around it." Beata just started blurting out without waiting for Tarria to catch up. "He got married. We weren't even going to be intimate because we decided we weren't ready and he comes home with a son."

Tarria just nodded. "Ah, you mean, the crewman. I can only imagine how hard this must be. Have you wondered how it would be for him if the roles were reversed? If you popped up with a kid after 2 days? If it was you who was trapped there 5 years. Would you resist the temptation in all that time? And don't forget, we are talking about a Vulcan., stuck on a planet for 5 years. How it must have been for him all this time. Without you."

"I know, and it makes me horribly guilty for feeling this way. Why couldn't think have stayed the same?" Beata wanted to bang her head on the desk. She wanted all of these feelings to go away. She wanted to be happy for him, that he'd found someone who made him happy, that he had a child of love from the union. But it just wasn't that easy. She knew she was being selfish but she could no more turn off the emotions than she could turn on others.

Tarria nodded. "I can understand. Give yourself some time. I know it's hard now, but time heals all wounds." She held up the pot. "Would you like a hot cup?"

Beata looked at it for a moment. "Actually I think I've decided I'm hungry. I don't suppose there's anything to eat around here?" She bit her lip, hoping she wouldn't have to go to the mess hall at this hour. Certainly Patrick would not be ready to fix breakfast yet.

"I could make you bacon and eggs," Tarria offered as she looked to the kitchen. She didn't know how Patrick would react if she suddenly walked in to his domain and started fixing up eggs. But then again, it never been a problem before.

"Oh that would be lovely!" Beata smiled for the first time since coming in. Just as she settled herself into the seat for a real meal a gust of wind made her hair move and she frowned as she watched what appeared to be a naked man run around the room. "Uh . . . Tarria?"

Tarria turned to go the kitchen when she felt the wind too. She Beata calling. She turned around and saw the naked man. She looked to Beata with widened eyes. She tried to remain calm. "Ehm, hello, can I help you?" She didn't know who the man was. She never seen him before. And she had a lot of patrons in here. And they were dressed all of the time.

The man just flashed them both a smile, at least Beata thought it was a smile. His face was covered with some kind of mask. Beata blushed and averted her eyes. She really didn't know what to do, should she call someone? Would Tarria know who to call? Perhaps security or Doctor Adamson?

Tarria has never been confronted in her life with someone willing to run around naked. She remained calm and said, "Are you alright, do you need help?" She wasn't giving as she pushed a button the bar. It would notify security. He wasn't bothering anyone yet, but he wasn't well either and needed help, she figured.

He laughed and darted off, back the way he'd came leaving the two women standing there alone again. Beata reached for her communicator. "Lauryl to security, we umm just had a naked man run through the Arcana lounge. Someone should probably try to find him and help."

"Yes, we are in the lounge," Tarria added," "He headed to a turbolift, he could be anywhere now."

"Too bad there's not a way to scan for naked human men on the ship. Course that might get a bit awkward if they entered the wrong room." Beata seemed to stand there and think about it. "Anyway, I think my appetite has gone and I'm going to go talk to Stef. Thanks for the ear."

"Anytime," said Tarria as she smiled. She cleared the bar in front of Beata. "and if you come at this hour, you might have more privacy. Though I can't guarantee there won't be any naked men." She giggled at that.

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Ensign Beata Lauryl
Operations Officer

Tarria Shezhinnir
Bartender/Lounge manager