Picnics Are Nice Though

Posted on Tue Jun 4th, 2019 @ 7:24am by

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Arboretum
3177 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

The arboretum was fairly quiet, mostly because the majority of the crew were working on search and rescue operations, and only those who didn’t have a role in those proceedings got a lot of free time to spend. “How about that grassy spot over there. Spread a blanket, it’s perfect.”

“Really is.” Milla agreed, this was her first time in the Elysium’s arboretum and it was every bit as beautiful as she’d heard from her sister. Spreading the blanket out she took a seat on it, patting the spot next to her for Jessica to join her, “You’ve really picked a perfect spot.”

Jessica sat down. “Only for blanket users.” Where there were ducks, there were droppings. “It’s true what they say, always use protection.”

Milla giggled hard at that; Jessica most likely didn’t realize the context that had Milla laughing, but her delivery was hysterical, “That’s good advice.” She said once she was able to get ahold of herself, “And the arboretum was the best idea, I feel better already.”

“Just make sure the ducks don’t get a hold of the chips”, Jessica said. “They love them, but they’re too salty.” She threw a few oat flakes into the grass next to the blanket, and sure enough, the ducks came rushing to feed on them. Those birds had an eye for those things, and were accustomed to being fed.

“Right, no chips for the ducks.” Milla nodded, taking some oat flakes and throwing some on the other side of their blanket, attracting another group of hungry ducks, “So you do this a lot?”

“I grew up on a farm”, Jessica said. “Not an advanced one like the Federation uses, but still, I have many good memories. Feeding the ducks reminds me of home, the good parts.”

“Spent most of my life on ships or starbases, didn’t get to see a lot of this kind of thing.” Milla said sadly, “But I understand why you love it.”

“With ships like these, it’s not so hard to make that choice”, Jessica smiled. She dipped a chip in the potato salad and munched on it. She figured she’d rather eat them while they were still hot.

“It is really great here, isn’t it?” Milla replied, taking a couple of chips and eating them, “I mean, my worst fear was that I would go somewhere far from my family where I was all alone. Here I’ve got friends, my sister is here, you’re here. I guess if the worst thing I have to deal with is Anje’s girlfriend then I still have it pretty good.”

“Yes, you do”, Jessica agreed. She was glad Milla realised it. She’d met several people in recent weeks who didn’t even understand how good their lives were. “And I did think of one thing on our way here. Maybe this is a sign of Anje getting over Cheline?” Always look on the bright side, no?

“Could be.” Milla nodded, Jessica made an excellent point, “I just hate how it happened you know? It’s like she keeps falling for the same type of woman all over again, when what she needs is a woman who’ll be up front and honest with her. Someone she doesn’t have to look over her shoulder for signs of deceit. I mean, I know it’s none of my business, but still, she’s my sister.”

“Who in this world is always completely honest?” Jessica asked. “I mean, don’t even Betazoids keep secrets?”

“True.” Milla conceded that point, “But, when you meet someone and tell them you’re someone else, how can that be anything but bad for the future of the relationship? I mean, that’s a pretty big lie.”

“But maybe, when you meet someone, you don’t yet know where it leads”, Jessica offered. “Maybe you’re just having fun pretending to be your sister to see what her crew are like around her, and then it leads somewhere exciting and you don’t want to ruin that, and… I don’t know, I’m not even making any sense, am I?”

“Actually, you’re making a lot of sense, Jessica.” Milla responded thoughtfully, maybe she was being too hard on Merella, or on Anje. Maybe, since Cheline, Milla didn’t think Anje could make a good decision when it came to love, and maybe she was wrong for that, “That’s actually a lot to think about, I mean, maybe it did just sort of happen.”

“And if it does turn bad, we’re here to offer support”, Jessica added. “She’s not alone, and nobody’s going to do anything to her.” She figured that anguish over a bad break-up couldn’t possibly be that bad.

“That’s good to know.” Milla smiled, genuinely comforted by that knowledge. When Cheline dumped Anje she had been alone on a world far from home, with nobody there and too proud, distraught, or both to call for anyone to help her, but this time was different, ~Maybe if this goes bad she’ll make better choices next time. Just hope it won’t be as destructive as the last one.~

“Now what about you?” Jessica asked. “Have you found a ‘study partner’? I hear there’s a crewman your age who wants to make it into the academy.”

“Oh, you mean Justice!” Milla said, “Yeah, but I understand she wants to go to Frisco for the Academy. Don’t really know her. And, no, nobody yet, got my eye on someone though.”

Jessica smiled. “Best of luck. Just don’t get too distracted. I’ll be left alone to rescue two lovebirds then.”

“No, you won’t have to clean this mess up.” Milla smiled, wondering if Jessica had any idea that she was the one Milla had her eyes on, “And I’ve got my eyes on the snake, so it’s okay.”

“The snake?!” Jessica looked around. “I hope that’s a figure of speech…”

“Yeah, it’s something my aunt says all the time, learned it from an old friend.” Milla laughed, “Means to stay focused, like super focused.”

“Yes, very apt”, Jessica said, visibly relaxing. “I hate snakes.”

~Note to self, no dates to the reptile house.~ Milla thought, “I understand. I feel the same way about rats, especially those Cardassian ones, Voles.” She recounted, “So naturally Morgan, one of my twin brothers, had one that he would constantly bring around to freak me out. Such an ass he was…”

“Yes, brothers do like to toughen up their siblings for the wider world”, Jessica agreed.

“Toughen me up? He was giving me nightmares.” Milla laughed, “But Anje took care of it for me.” She broke into laughter so hard it brought her to tears, “Didn’t think Morg was ever going to forgive her for it.”

“I’d have fried and eaten it, I think”, Jessica said, figuring the story would go in that general direction.

“That’s not Anje’s style, besides, it wasn’t Tuvok the Vole’s fault.” Milla began, “So Morg was in love with this particular body wash, used it all the time. On his body, face, hair, everything. Smelled like a cheap hooker with so much perfume in it. Anyway, Anje put a little something special in it after I woke her up for the fifth night in a row having a nightmare about Tuvok eating all my plushies.”

“Skunk aroma?” Jessica laughed.

"No, no. Though Morg would’ve probably preferred that.” Milla laughed, “He had just threatened to let Tuvok eat my dolls when he went into the shower, right? Well, his bottle of that stinking body wash was empty, so he asked Anje to bring him a fresh one. Well, as it turned out Anje had dumped the rest of the first bottle and half of the second bottle, refilled it with a depilatory…”

“I heard a Caitian use that word in a curse”, Jessica said. “So that can’t be good.”

“Every hair on his head, his eyebrows, even… other hair.” Milla laughed, “All gone.”

“That explains the Caitian’s displeasure”, Jessica said dead-pan.

“And Morgan’s.” Milla guffawed, tears streaming down her face, “So there he is desperately searching for the follicular regenerator, can’t find it anywhere, and he’s panicking because his girlfriend is coming over. So Anje steps out of her bedroom, holding it, says ‘Looking for this?’ He runs over to grab it from her, she holds it over her head; she wouldn’t be able to do that for much longer, this was the last year when she was the tallest of the kids. She finally made him promise to leave me alone when he could see his girlfriend walking up the block so she would give it to him. He managed to get just enough hair on his head to face her…”

“He had a girlfriend at age three?” Jessica wondered. That was the only way she could figure Anje being taller than him.

“No, he was ten.” Milla corrected with a smile, “But he would pass her in the next few months after that, Bo, too. Then me at about twelve… Poor Anje.”

“That’s… still early, isn’t it?” Jessica asked. “I mean, I’m not exactly the most experienced in that area, but where I’m from it usually started around fifteen or sixteen.”

“She wasn’t a serious girlfriend or anything.” Milla explained, “Nothing adult. I think ‘relationships’ at that age are more a status symbol, you know? Like a way of saying ‘Look at me, I fit in’ so kids can avoid the outcast label.”

“So, you’ve had boyfriends, girlfriends, right?” Milla asked, knowing that a woman as lovely as Jessica had not spent her life alone...

Jessica shook her head. “No, it was dangerous going out. And what attentions I received… they weren’t welcome.” She made a face that said she’d rather not talk about it.

“Okay, I understand.” Milla smiled, moving closer and putting her arm around Jessica’s shoulder comfortingly, “But things are better now.”

Jessica nodded. “Yes. You have no idea how great it is living under a stable government. I’ve heard people gripe and growl about how the administration is interfering in their lives. But if they didn’t, we’d be back to anarchy. Things are much better now.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.” Milla said, “So don’t shut yourself off, someone around here might like you a lot.” ~Yeah, me! Over here! Look at ME!~

“Maybe in a little while”, Jessica said. “I’m not feeling it. But then, I only see people when they’re at the bar. That’s not the best place to get to know someone, is it?”

“Not really.” Milla nodded in agreement, “You’re not really a picking someone up in the bar type. Maybe someone you spend time with in a nicer setting. This is very nice.”

“True”, Jessica agreed. “You I’ve had a chance to get to know a bit. Though I think I’m still far from understanding, you do many things that I’m perhaps a bit too… provincial for.”

“Like what?” Milla asked, she had to know about this.

“Swindling that Ferengi out of his money, what’s his name again?” Jessica said. “It still doesn’t feel right. And, well, you’re eighteen, so of course you do some things that people over thirty think are weird.”

“Not eighteen for another three days, actually.” Milla corrected, “And, maybe it didn’t feel right, but I didn’t technically swindle him, he sort of did it to himself.”

“I know, and from what you told me he probably deserved it”, Jessica said. “I just.. I wouldn’t have dared, you know?”

“Well, it was mainly because of what he said about you.” Milla admitted, “Otherwise I would’ve told him that I wasn’t this Delphine he was so worried about. But since I knew about the awful things he said to you, I figured he needed to pay.”

“He was probably right”, Jessica said. “Awful as it was, but it was the truth. I needed some fixing up, or dolling up or what was it you called it?”

“Just a little polishing.” Milla reassured her, “The beauty was already there, just had to make you shine again.” She ran her fingers gently through Jessica’s hair, “I absolutely love this look on you, some women are just naturally perfect for short hair. Brings out those big, gorgeous eyes of yours.”

“And Estelle will make me a new ear”, Jessica said. “I’ll look normal again. I mean, now that all the press photos are taken, I might as well, no?”

“You totally should.” Milla agreed, “And we’ll celebrate with a nice pair of earrings, really set off that face.”

“I don’t want to poke holes in my ears so soon after getting them”, Jessica laughed. “That’s like scratching the paint on your starship right out of spacedock.”

“Okay, we can hold off on the earrings then.” Milla giggled, ~Jessica has no idea how cute she is.~

“I think it’ll take a while before I’m fully used to this”, Jessica said. “I keep waking up at night at the slightest noise, and earlier today I spilled a drink because someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind and I jumped.”

“It does take some getting used to.” Milla sympathized, she knew this life well. Not only did the initial ship take some getting used to, every ship thereafter had to be adjusted to all over again, just like you’d never been shipboard in your life, “But, you know, I’m always around if you need company, right?”

“And this place is nice to withdraw to”, Jessica said, letting two ducks feed out of her hand. “Maybe I can return the favour some day, help you study or something.”

“Yeah, or something.” Milla said, “I mean, I can use all the help I can get. The schedule is a little rough.”

“What are they making you do, for the search and rescue efforts?” Jessica asked. “I heard they were getting all the cadets busy but I don’t know any specifics.”

“We’re covering a lot of the procedural stuff, maintenance and so forth, while the senior crew are conducting the search.” Milla answered, “We were doing diagnostics in the warp nacelles earlier and our section leader was a second year.”

“And you’re sure we’re still flying straight?” Jessica wondered. “I mean, one nacelle has more power than the other, we might go in circles.” Warp physics didn’t work that way, but what did Jessica know?

“We’re flying just fine.” Milla promised, “Equal outputs, so we won’t be making warp donuts.”

“Have you made sure, though?” Jessica asked. She didn’t seriously believe there’d be a problem but she could still tease.

“As sure as a first year can be.” Milla snickered, playing along with Jessica.

“Looks like it’s about time I start my engineering training in earnest”, Jessica said. “I mean, how different can these things really be, from farming machinery and garden-shed subspace transceivers?”

“I think you’ll be great at it!” Milla encouraged, “And I’m sure Chief Liorga would be happy to instruct you, she’d be impressed as Hell with that subspace transceiver you made.”

“It wasn’t that great, couldn’t even send voice messages”, Jessica said. “All I could send was morse code, anything weaker than that and it would just get broken up by interference.”

“Yeah, but look what you made it out of.” Milla countered, “And under those conditions! Seriously, that’s great field engineering.”

“Please don’t tell her. She’ll have expectations I can’t meet”, Jessica asked.

“Jessica, sweety, when you’re in training they expect you to screw up.” Milla laughed, though it was the first thing Liorga had said to her, ‘We expect you all to screw up… a lot.’ “That’s why they call it training, trust me, there is literally no other expectation.”

“I can do that, no problem”, Jessica laughed.

“There we go.” Milla smiled, stroking Jessica’s hair again, in her mind pulling the lovely brunette in for a deep, passionate kiss, though she didn’t have the nerve to do it in real life. She’d have to play this one very cool, “Jess, you should come over soon, let me work on your hair a bit. Little trim up, another treatment, keep you looking good.” It was as legit an excuse as she could think of to have Jessica come over for an extended period, it would work.

“Estelle said my hair would have to come off, at least on the side that gets the ear replaced”, Jessica said. “Are you any good with a follicle stimulator?”

“I am.” Milla nodded, “How long do you have to let it heal for before you can put it back on?”

“I don’t know”, Jessica said. “I didn’t ask. She just said it would have to come off. I assumed it was just to make the operation itself easier.”

“Okay, so you can rock the Milla look for a couple days.” Milla shrugged, “Then we’ll put it back on with your new ear.”

Jessica looked at Milla’s hair and put on a thoughtful expression. “I suppose you’ll live. It’s not like I’ll be usurping your style permanently.”

“Well, it’s not like I invented it.” She laughed, “So I have no claim if you wanted to, how you say, usurp my style.” ~I wonder if she knows I’m not naturally blonde? Would she even care?~ “Tell you what, I’ll do it with you so you don’t feel weird.”

“That’s very sweet of you”, Jessica smiled, now returning the gesture of ruffling Milla’s hair. “But, it’s okay, I’ll be fine. I’ve never felt this good before. Going topless for a few days won’t be a problem.” She indicated her head just to emphasise what she meant by topless.

“Nah, it’ll be fun.” Milla replied, “Real bonding experience and all that.”

“I didn’t think you’d be into that sort of thing”, Jessica wondered.

“You have no idea what sort of stuff I can be into for the right reasons.” Milla said, sending a slightly naughty message to the other woman.

“But don’t you think a bondage experience goes a bit far?” Jessica asked.

“Not quite the same thing.” Milla laughed and shook her head, Jessica was so funny at times like these.

“See? It’s about time I get my ear fixed”, Jessica said. “I must be mishearing things.”

“Right.” Milla laughed, pulling Jessica into a hug, “Totally are.”