Today's Special: Tossed Eggplant

Posted on Fri Jun 14th, 2019 @ 6:35pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Tox Chara

Mission: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: Deck 7
Timeline: TBD, Sometime on Gamma Shift
524 words - 1 OF Standard Post Measure

Tox hadn't been able to sleep, so instead of tossing uselessly in bed, she had gotten up, dressed, and spent a few hours in the aeroponics bay tending to her precious veggies. She rather liked working Gamma shift sometimes. It was definitely quieter and there were rarely any interruptions from fellow science officers or arboretum visitors.

She adjusted the nutrient level for the squalish melons and analyzed her progress on the tomato blight issue she'd been battling for the last few weeks. When she was relatively happy that signs of the blight were gone and she was finally getting a little sleepy, so she turned her attention on finishing up by picking some of the ready produce.

She packaged up a small bounty of fruits and vegetables that she'd determined were ripe enough for harvest and stacked them into a small carrying bin. She'd just drop these off in the mess hall kitchen and Paddy would determine what to do with them when he came in later on.

When she exited the arboretum, she turned left and headed for the main turbolift. She hadn’t gotten very far when she heard footfalls behind her, like someone running, and turned to see--- it.

A man, running like a normal person running, except without any clothing at all. And it. A visual assault to the senses, it seemed to be all she really noticed about the man before she recoiled out of surprise and dropped her bin and squeaking out a little scream in surprise.

He waved casually at her as he ran past and she followed him with her eyes. His little taught buns jiggling with each step, she noticed. When she looked up to see his face, it was clear there was some kind of masking over it and she could not make out who it was. Their eyes met for the briefest moment and, while he didn’t seem dangerous, it was nonetheless offensive.

This was clearly some kind of joke, but she wasn’t amused at all. She bent down and picked up a piece of her harvest from the bin and chucked it at the man. The large purple eggplant flew through the air, hitting him square in the back.
This act seemed to cause him to slow, almost to a stop and look back to see what had hit him. He saw the eggplant and gave Tox a casual shrug as he help his hands up mockingly before he picked up his pace again and disappeared around the bend in the hallway.

She was so disturbed by the encounter that she trembled as she picked up her bin. She wavered on whether to call security or to play it off like the joke it probably was (even if not a funny one.) She thought about what kind of message the man’s actions sent and what might happen if a child or even someone more sensitive than herself were to witness such an act.

She tapped her commbadge. “Chara to security. I’ve just been… streaked.”

OFF:

Petty Officer 3rd Class Tox Chara
Botanist
USS Majestic