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ORIGINS: USS Hood June 2010: Difference between revisions
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==[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: Chocolate Temptations - JP== | |||
===by David Kiel and Brian V. Mansur | |||
SD 2261.167 | |||
MD Pre-Mission | |||
<NRPG: Continued from Dave & Brian's "Every Ship Needs a Trill Girl" before the current First Federation Mission> | |||
Scene: Commissary, USS HOOD | |||
Sean watched with quiet delight as Cedria took a long, satisfied draft from her fruit juice through a standard duty federation bendy straw. She noticed his stare and brushed a few wayward strands of shimmering brown hair to the side. He seemed to have forgotten about poor Mister Tamura entirely and was paying closer attention to her drinking habits than was normal for a first officer. | |||
"Gluco Heaven," she gave him a smile and a distracting flutter of her lashes. It had been three lifetimes since she'd had the kind of lashes that worked well for that sort of thing. | |||
Sean grinned, "Girl with a sweet tooth huh? I should introduce you to some chocolates I know from Earth." | |||
Cedria's emerald eyes focused with interest, of all of the Earthlings technological developments chocolate was probably their best one. "Oh? Do tell." | |||
"They come from a little known, lavishly delicious Chocolateria called Stam's. The ones with pistachio filling will melt and flow over your tongue. Absolutely exquisite." | |||
Cedria wrinkled her nose, doubting any chocolate could lift pistachio up to the level of exquisite. "You're a tease, Commander." | |||
Sean guffawed. "You're one to talk, Lieutenant." | |||
"True," she admitted, tapping her bottom lip with a long red nail as she considered her playful behavior. She leaned over her drink as though she'd already forgotten it and beamed, "So when do I get to meet one of these bon bons?" | |||
"Ha! Why do I get the feeling you aren't going to let up short of a diamond necklace?" | |||
Cedria winked, "Well talk about that later, but these chocolates you speak of, where might they be hidden? You do have some aboard with you right?" | |||
Sean shook his head in open amusement at this outrageous young woman. "All right then, Lieutenant. You may try one of the Sacred Candies of Earthly Bliss. But there is a ritual to be observed." | |||
"As long as it doesn't involve weird alien insects," Cedria cautioned hurriedly. "Or venomous rabbits." | |||
Sean put up a reassuring hand. "Fear not. Your sensibilities will always be respected. The ritual is simple. You must answer truthfully any four questions I ask of you. Then you may try one chocolate of your choosing." | |||
"Four questions for one chocolate?" Cedria remarked incredulously, "I am a joined trill with over eighteen lifetimes of wisdom ... well," she reconsidered, "fifteen lifetimes of wisdom and three more that were not so wise. Still, that's a lot of wisdom, more than you mere humans. My price would have to be eight chocolates per answer." | |||
"I could not go more than one chocolate for three answers." | |||
"Five per answer! Otherwise it's robbery and I should report it to the Captain." | |||
"Talk about robbery," Sean replied in mock horror. "I should demand six answers given how hard those divine dainties are to come by." | |||
Cedria leaned back and put a hand on her hip. Brushing her hair back again and pouting ever so slightly she did her best approximation of a stricken and put-upon orphan child. Sean forced himself to look away and said, "Very well. Seeing how you are a lovely woman," he turned back to her, "and have served your Federation well, I suppose an exception can be made. Two questions only then." | |||
Cedria glared incredulously, "And how do I *know* they are really worth two questions apiece? Make it three for each answer and it's a deal." | |||
Sean shook his head and chuckled a little. "I couldn't let the master work of such venerable chocolate artisans go for less than a one to one exchange. It would be an insult to their craftsmanship otherwise." | |||
Cedria leaned back over her drink and pressed her advantage, pursing her lips. "Two for one." | |||
Sean seemed to think it over, then but held firm. "One for one is more than fair. After all, there should be at least a couple left for me." | |||
"Very well." Cedria seemed mollified. She shook his hand with a light, gentle grasp. | |||
"I reserved the port side observation lounge on deck 5," Sean said. "I'll pick my secret stash up from my quarters and meet you there." | |||
"What?" Cedria said with a teasing tilt of her head, "You don't trust me with you in your cabin?" | |||
"Hardly a concern," Sean laughed. "But if I'd asked you to join me there, you'd have just told me to go fetch them for you anyway. Besides which, the lounge has a panoramic viewport. And if we hurry, we'll see the Shinkai nebula as we pass by." | |||
"Why Commander," Cedria said placing a palm below her neckline, "you *do* know something of how to treat a lady." | |||
And in reply, it was Sean's turn to wink. | |||
*** | |||
Scene: Port Lounge, Deck 5, USS HOOD | |||
Sean walked into the port observation deck and immediately caught his breath. There Cedria stood at the window, backlit by the shimmering colors of the nebula. Mezmerized, he watched her flowing hair and skirt ripple seductively in the breeze of the room's fan unit. | |||
As he contemplated her long legs and their curious pattern of leopard spotting, he realized he felt uncertain about moving forward so quickly. Then Sean considered the encouragement he'd received by the alternate Jeri and the knowledge that his own Jeri wouldn't have wanted him to continue the path he'd been walking since Vulcan. But for a moment, he just stood there, taking in Cedria's lovely figure. | |||
Cedria, for her part, was a clever girl despite her solitary nature. She knew exactly what men liked and how to frame it. She had profiled herself along the backdrop of the picturesque nebula, carefully turning the directional duct flaps to take advantage of the ventilation system. For all her teasing, she recognized that the Commander was treating her and this was a fun way to repay the favor. With her arms crossed in front of her, she waited for him to make his move. | |||
Silently, she considered his reflection in the plasteel. He was, tall with short brown hair, just long enough to affect that wavy lilt that made her want to reach out a mess it up with her hand. Tall dark and alien had always been her weakness, she mused; though that had usually been women. Sometimes being a Trill was weird. | |||
Presently, Sean caught Cedria's gaze in the reflective surface of the viewport. Having been sighted, he put on a warm smile, stepped forward, and crossed the distance with his package of chocolates. | |||
"Gorgeous." Cedria said as he strolled up to her side. | |||
"I'll say," Sean agreed, mistaking her to mean the nebula. They had both seen umpteen thousand nebulas in their jobs: treacherous little things that made navigation a tricky hazard each in different ways. Though she had to admit this one was pretty up close and made for quite the romantic backdrop. | |||
"We should make holo of you standing in front of that scenery," he suggested. | |||
Cedria turned to him and smiled coyly. "A holographic pin up calendar this time? Might sell even better." | |||
Sean thought he detected a hint of bitterness. "Are you sure that thing isn't really bothering you?" | |||
Now Cedria's mood definitely changed. "Not at all, no. I don't mind the calendar because that's at least me," she admitted with a sigh. She paused, and for a moment Sean thought that was all she was going to say on the matter. | |||
Then she said, "Alright, what I hate is whole crowds of people staring at me evaluating every little thing so they can find something to denigrate, to make themselves feel better by comparison." She looked back into the star field and huffed in frustration. "I'm the Prime Minister who brought Trill into the Federation. I'm the Prime Minister who got shot. I'm the musician who couldn't control any facet of his life. I'm the champion of two Trion meets." She absently pushed back a strand that had blown across her cheek. "Everyone on Trill knows me and whenever I return home I get stared at until I leave. All of the expectations are hard to take: living up to other people's imaginary constructs of me. A picture in a calendar on the other hand is something I can live up to pretty easily." | |||
Sean stood there silently absorbing what she had told him for a moment. "I can certainly see how it couldn't be easy if folks are unfairly expecting you to be all the things of lives past." | |||
Cedria considered his observation. "Yes," she agreed. Then she laughed, "On the strange side, it's usually all good attention on Trill, and the calendar, well that's not so good attention. Yet, I'm completely okay with the calendar and the attention on Trill makes me want to vanish into the woodwork. Or, you know, go 100 light years across Federation space to get away." | |||
Sean nodded empathetically. "Well, what you do with any picture I take for you is up to you. I won't be sharing it with anyone else. But opportunities to make beautiful memories are rare enough in this life." | |||
Cedria laughed and looked at him, eyes wide and sparkling. "You already took one didn't you?" | |||
"Of course not!" Sean looked genuinely shocked at the suggestion. "That would be completely inappropriate." | |||
Cedria waited expectantly for him to break into a sheepish grin and admit that he'd shot her without her knowing. When he remained steadfast, she exclaimed, "You're serious? You really didn't? Why Commander, that's so unnecessarily sweet of you. Go ahead then," she shook her hair and turned in profile to the Nebula, "there ought to be a picture given it took me an hour to get my hair like this." | |||
"Really?" | |||
"No. Eight minutes tops." | |||
He snapped the holo through his communicator and set it so she could see it as well. "Just let me know and I will delete it ..." | |||
She cut him off. "Stop it, it's great. I'll put it in my next calendar. Now then, it's my turn for one of you. Here face this way." She pulled him in front of the window and stepped back. Lifting her communicator, she fiddled with the visual settings. "Oh, and take off your shirt." | |||
"HA!" He crossed his arms and smirked at her tawdry suggestion, which was exactly the pose she was looking for. SNAP. | |||
Sean rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I know *that* won't appear on any pin ups. So," he said changed subjects, "What do you love about Trill? I've only heard of it." | |||
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, her playful smile returning. "That counts as a question you know." | |||
"Of course," Sean replied with a light chuckle. | |||
"It's green, the air is cool and crisp. There's fog most mornings and the hills take a couple hours to wake after dawn. We followed a similar path to Earth though and almost wiped out our biosphere before we learned our lesson. The difference is that we nearly killed off a sentient lifeform. It was a long road back to green hills and clean air, and I was there for all of it. It's like the little town you grew up in, except that I grew up there nineteen times. Where's my chocholate?" | |||
Suppressing a guffaw, Sean dutifully presented Cedria with a pretty maroon box, stamped with the golden Stam's oak tree logo. He opened the lid and let her see the candies inside. | |||
Cedria was genuinely impressed. "Oh my gosh, they're adorable! That looks like one of those old fashioned windmills. And that heart with the branch on it!" She picked one up gingerly. "I don't want to eat them they are so cute." | |||
Sean swelled with pleasure at her reaction. "I can empathize. But then again, some beautiful things were made to be ravished." | |||
Cedria looked up from her close examination of the chocolate and gave him a playful, measuring look. She seemed about to say something about his choice of words, but then decided against it. Instead she asked, "So, Commander, what is the next question?" | |||
Sean waited a beat, then said, "I want to know about what is important to you. What are your dreams Cedria?" | |||
NRPG: From Brian: Nice to know good quality Dutch chocolates can still be found in the 23rd Century. Makoto Shinkai, btw, is an anime producer who is well known for his breathtakingly romantic space scenery. Thanks so much again to Dave for taking the quality of this post up way beyond what I could have managed on my own. You're a pleasure to collaborate with Dave. | |||
From Dave: This was fun, and boy was it ever a load of tinkering. There's one version where they fight off the Borg, but then we remembered they hadn't been invented yet. So we just had chocolates instead. It fun to be invited to the joint posting(s). :p | |||
Respectfully Submitted Jointly, | |||
David Kiel | |||
LT Cedria Zade | |||
NAV, USS HOOD NCC-1703 | |||
ASR ORIGINS | |||
& | |||
Brian V. Mansur | |||
LCDR Sean Merrick | |||
FO, USS HOOD, NCC-1703 | |||
ASR ORIGINS | |||
