Same Elephant, Different Room...

Posted on Tue Aug 11th, 2020 @ 7:06am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC]

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Anje's Quarters
Timeline: whenever we get to it
1547 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Anje had been in her room, getting dressed and doing her hair, though she didn't understand just why. Quinn was gone. She looked at herself in the mirror, running a hand through her hair and forcing herself to smile, ~Maybe she'll be back someday. Or maybe I'll find someone else after time to recover.~ She stopped and looked at herself again, so different than the whipped puppy the cosmically beautiful Q found and loved, ~Yes, she loved me. I loved her. We loved each other. Sometimes it's just not enough to bridge the gaps.~ She wondered for a moment after all that was lost, the tears she'd shed when Quinn had to go back to the Continuum, the scorn so many of her shipmates, alleged friends, had heaped on her for daring to love the enchantress, the nights spent fighting with her sister, the fact she now had two fellow officers she would never be able to have a decent working relationship with again, was any of it worth it? "Yes." She said, a smile on her face and a mist of tears in her eyes, "Worth it all." A ringing of her door chime broke her reverie, snapping her hard back into reality, "Milla, could you get that?"

"Yeah, sure." Milla grumbled, "Not like I wasn't in the middle of something or nothing." She complained, looking at her half trimmed head, looking much akin to a wheat field midway through a harvest, before throwing a towel over it to keep anyone from seeing her blonde on one side and black on the other, ~Look like a freaking Batman villain, but, yeah, I'll get the freaking door, Anje!~ She stepped to the door and opened it, seeing Merella, or Liselle, or who the hell ever, and dropped her head to the ground so quickly the towel fell off, not that she would have noticed, "For fuck's sake." She complained, "So, before we go any further, which one are you?"

Without a starfleet uniform, it very likely could have been Merella. Then again, her sister Liselle was often known to take off the uniform almost immediately after her duty shift in flight control ended. Whoever it was, they raised a questioning brow. "Is Anje here?"

"Computer, identify everyone in this room." Milla ordered, standing between this woman, whoever she was, and their room.

=Current occupants of the room are Cdr. Anje Brett, Cadet First Grade Ludmilla Brett, and Cdr. Liselle Qwynn.=

"Okay, I guess you can come in." Milla shrugged, wrapping the towel back over her head; had it been Merella she would've never gotten in, "Be nice to my sister, she's going through a lot. And a lot of it's your bitch of a twin's fault."

Liselle's eyes widened at the warning. Despite her many lifetimes of experience, she still found herself able to be surprised at the boldness of youth. "I'll keep that in mind," she said carefully. She followed Milla into the cabin, her hands awkwardly folded in front of her. Once again she lamented the lack of pockets in the standard uniform.

"Yo, Anje, it's the evil twin's sister." Milla yelled, bringing her sister out of her room into the living area, "Who incidentally is way hotter than Mozzarella or whatever her name is."

"Her name is Merella." Anje replied in Russian, "And how can you say one identical twin is hotter than the other? They're duplicates, that is literally what identical means."

"Because I hate the other one." Milla answered in standard, "Now, I've got to go finish my hair that you were supposed to be helping me with before you got lost in fantasy land about Mozzarella or the Q or who the hell knows..."

"Oh, damn, Milla, I am so sorry..." Anje began, but she didn't get to finish because Milla had already left. Turning back to Cdr. Qwynn she simply sighed, "Sisters, huh?"

Qwyyn gave an uncertain laugh. "Believe me, I know," she said. "Actually that's sort of why I'm here. I wanted to apologize to you. For Merella..."

"What do you need to apologize for?" Anje asked, genuinely confused, "Okay, yeah, she left me and went back to that overgrown juvenile delinquent, but that didn't mean it wasn't good. I mean, I'll always love Merella, it just didn't work out was all. No fault of yours."

"You're too kind," Qwyyn said with relief. "It's just that when I had heard she was coming onboard to perform her evaluations, I had never dreamed that she would start inflicting her -- tornado, nonsense, whirlwind, life style upon the rest of you. And there's something else..." Qwyyn hesitated. "I've come to learn from...certain people...that rumors have been spreading about us. You and me."

"Well, that's to be expected I guess." Anje shrugged, "I mean, everyone thought they saw us leave together. Hell, I thought us was me and you until I was finally told otherwise. Sorry about the kiss at the reception, by the way."

The Trill found her fingers absently moving to her lips before they broke into an embarrassed smile. "That's alright," she said quietly. Her hand fell away. "Anje, can I ask you a personal question? A...very personal question?"

"Well, sure, I mean, I can't hide anything from you now." Anje replied, joking, "I know what you look like naked now."

Qwyyn rolled her eyes, despite herself, even as she broke into her laughter. "Gods, I assure you that Merella has me beat there. Growing up, she was always the pretty one. There's something about the way she carries herself that I've always admired about her."

"I noticed." Anje laughed, "Not at first, but once I realized she wasn't you. She's not any prettier than you, merely different." She took a seat at Liselle's side, "Anyway, what's your question?"

"Right. Sorry. Well, this may sound very odd -- and feel free not to answer -- but..." She took a breath. "Are you currently seeing anyone?"

"I... was, I guess is the best answer." Anje replied, "She had to go back, she couldn't stay, I knew this. I... I got the most I could get out of the time I had." ~Jesus, that's like my catch phrase anymore...~

"I probably shouldn't be prying, and honestly I am terrible at girl talk, so I'm just going to come out and ask: is there anyone aboard that you think you might be interested in?"

"If you mean are there people here I find attractive and think that maybe I could, sure." Anje replied, "If you're asking if I've got my eye on someone, not right now. I... I need to heal. I just lost two dream women back to back. And I really hope that me referring to your sister as a dream woman isn't awkward for you. Or the fact I started dating her thinking I was dating you..." She jumped from her seat, "How's about a drink?" ~Anything to make this moment less cringey.~

Liselle found herself fixated on Anje's response, so much so that the question of a drink had her snapping back to reality. "Yes! Please. That would be wonderful." As she waited on Anje, she continued her tentative explorations. "How is Merella, by the way? I haven't really *talked* with her since we were kids..."

"You're not going to believe this, but it's true. Your sister loves you, very much. Like possibly to the extent Milla and I do. She just can't express it the way we do, I don't know if that's just with you or if that's everybody." Anje relayed as she filled their glasses with a new Cranberry Vodka her Uncle Ivan had begun making recently, "When she thought you had been killed, she was distraught, I could tell she regretted the miles of bad road between you both. Maybe she regretted a lot of things, might be why she decided to try and patch things up with Magnum P.U. I guess."

It was a lot to process, and frankly Qwyyn wasn't sure how much of it she could believe. She wanted to believe that Merella had found a way to bury their past, but it had been so long since their relationship had deteriorated. For the moment, she knew exactly how she wanted to deal with the news that Anje was delivering to her: she drank. The liquor burned her throat down into her belly, a pleasing sensation cut with the sharp taste of cranberry. "At times like these, it's easy to see why she's had a crush on you for so long," she said absently.

"Wait, you and Merella discussed me?" Anje raised an eyebrow, for some reason that didn't seem as likely is she would have liked it to have been, "That's a surprise, but sweet."

"Actually, I've been in touch with her ex-husband. Taam." Just saying the man's name was enough to burn Liselle's cheeks red. "He may have let it slip that Merella has had a bit of struggle getting over you." She looked down at the liquor in her hand. "I probably shouldn't have mentioned that."

"It's okay." Anje shrugged, "Kinda been having the same struggle. Then to find, and lose, Quinn so quickly after, not been easy."

OOC: post this? Hey post this!?