Star Trek: Theurgy

[ Lieutenant Enyd Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 3 | Holosuite 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Every step sounded with the bright tinkling of her golden anklets as Enyd passed through the corridor toward the Below Decks Lounge. Dressed in a heavy silken green lehenga (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/52/a1/1052a119f500ad4a556a41e73d416614.jpg) with a matching gold embroidered choli, pinned together in the front with a silver belled pendant (https://i.redd.it/pyepqfa8ezb31.jpg), Enyd knew she struck quite a sight, and sound. The gold-beaded headdress pinned into her combed hair only punctuated further the reality that Enyd was neither on duty nor interested in being on duty just yet. Choosing to spend at least an hour or so in a holosuite performing the various renditions of the courtesan dances of Rigel VII before joining the others on their excursion to Klingon opera, Enyd had dressed for the occasion.

Enyd’s life had been a quick succession of near-death experiences and fights piled upon fights in recent days. She prided herself on keeping up with all necessary, and some unnecessary, training for hand-to-hand combat and phaser qualifications, and if there was ever a posting that required such vigilance, it would be this one. At the same time, Enyd craved the feeling of joyous freedom that came with dancing. The expression of emotion through the controlled movements of muscle to the rhythmic beats of music: there was nothing quite like it. And it was something she hadn’t done in quite some time. She didn’t count the dancing with Victor, as that was partnered dancing, and that brought an entirely different euphoria. No, this was the kind of dancing one did alone. The kind of dancing that splayed open the heart and projected onto the dance floor all of one’s hopes, dreams, fears, and longings.

Already hearing the music in her mind, Enyd stopped just outside her reserved holosuite, finger just above the button to release the door. She noticed the previous program was still active. All programs were coded in some fashion or another, typically to suit the program builder, but there was enough about this program title that Enyd recognized that instead of ending it—figuring the previous user had merely forgotten to end it before leaving—Enyd curiously cued the door and stepped inside.

Nothing could have prepared Enyd for the absolute delight she walked into, and within seconds of the door closing on her struck-mute form, Enyd was grinning like a madwoman, completely immersed in the joy of this moment, shared clandestinely with the previous occupant, an Andorian woman standing proudly at the front of the scene.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01 | USS Theurgy]

@Ellen Fitz

As soon as the holosuite arch appeared in the simulation and the brunette vision of Enyd Madsen walked in, Zark knew it was totally her fault (I really didn't mean to, but....).  At the same time, she knew she wasn't about to get into a whole lot of trouble, she was smiling a heck of a lot.  If she had one major fault that she could say with an absolute straight face in an interview, it was that she would lose track of time when she entered the holodeck and decided to play the pipes. There were of course safe guards for this, usually someone walking in on her or the alarm she set on her wrist watch, but today hadn't quite worked out that way.  With all the damage the ship had taken, she'd had to review the program file when it had hitched during a performance.  That had necessitated some reconstruction work to to get it operating the way she wanted.  That had been gruelling, tedious work that she hadn't counted on, so now she was running over time.  It didn't help that she'd elected to change inside the holosuite as well. C'est la vie  she'd thought to herself at the time before belting out a selection of bagpipe favourites.

The last two songs in the truncated set she'd been playing were her absolute favourites, so she wouldn't stop them for anyone; unless there was going to be a fist fight. (I really didn't mean to beat the stuffing out of those three nice tellarites, but the argument they were making was taking longer than the five minutes it would have taken to finish playing!  I'm really really sorry!).  So, she had to adjust for that as well.  It was a nice temperate fall day in the city of Maastricht in the Netherlands on Earth, and the crowd was merrily drinking and swaying away the gaily lit Vrijthof to a Highland Scottish Music Exposition in conjunction with an orchestra led by an elder gentlemen wearing a kilt and orange sash for the evening. 

The adjustment came in the form of white shirted waiter with an apron who greeted the newcomer.  As he handed her a drinks menu, he also gently placed a hand on her back to guide her through the seated or dancing throng to the picnic table front row centre of the stage.  It had as many empty spaces as there were newcomers, so there was one empty seat just waiting for Enyd.  She was totally expected. Enyd reached the seat  just as the strings ended and the blue skinned highland piper began playing the welcoming intro.  Now that she had an actual live audience, even if just one, Zark's A game came out, and she poured her heart into the coming together of two former enemies coming together in peace and love.  Her heart briefly remembered playing the exact same song at the memorial service a few days ago and the loud bittersweet goodbye caused her eyes to become shiny once more as the orchestra crescendo'd.  The combined pipes and drums soon added their voice to the blazing glory of the moment.  Somewhere in the simulation, Thea decided that Zark was giving a particularly heartfelt rendition of the highland classic and a woman sitting next to Enyd began wiping tears of her own as the man next to her cupped his hands over his mouth.

As the journey of the piece came to an end, Zark noted the waiter dropped off Enyd's drink order, then whispered in her ear that the final piece was going to start.  Zark took a moment to wipe her eyes as she waited for the applause to die down, then looked at the holographic representation of the conductor and nodded.   The conductor smiled and pointed to the drums who began putting out a beat as hologram screens of the stage began to descend.  Smiling brilliantly, the conductor pointed at the crowd and began clapping over his head.  Everyone around Enyd stood up and began gently dancing on spot while clapping and the woman who had been crying earlier smiled and waved her hands for Enyd to join.  A raven haired woman in a sky blue dress entered the stage and soon joined Zark on stage.  As the the conductor signalled for the diminuendo, Zark blew into her mouth piece and manipulated the chanter, rousing the finale as an impossible number of pipers and drummers began joining her on stage.  The lyrics began scrolling on the hologram and the raven haired woman began leading the whole square in singing When the Pipers Play.  Despite the large number of voices singing, the platinum haired piper's rousing spirit could clearly be heard across the entire square, and nothing could hold back the tidal wave of beats and skirl when all the other pipers and drummers joined her as they blared their intent to send their music into deepest reaches of a person's soul.

But, it all had to come to an end, and as the singer finished, the Andorian piper began marching in place, marking time as she continued to play.  When the final piper had exited her view, she turned with a swirl of her kilt and marched off the stage.  Back stage now, Zark took a moment to catch her breath, and waited for the conductor to end the piece.  When it was over, it was time to face the music once more.  "Thea, end program but leave Lieutenant  Madsen's drink and her table." The computer beeped obediently and the entire program vanished as Zark marched out in full highland regalia with a crooked smile on her face.  "Lieutenant Madsen, I do apologize for cutting into your holosuite time, but I do hope you enjoyed the performance.  I usually keep better track of time I don't really perform in public unless it's a Highland Event, so this is unusual."  If at all possible, the Andorian's smile became more crooked.

Lt. Zark paused momentarily her eyes flickered over Madsen's costume for her holosuite time.  An eyebrow arched in a very quizzical  Vulcan manner, but in a voice definitley not from that planet at all. "If ya don't mind meh askin, what are y'all coming here fohr?"

---

Zark's outfit for the performance:
[Show/Hide]
Lyrics to When the Pipers Play
[Show/Hide]
OOC: The parentheses are the gist of the arguments that Zark used in the past.  She was younger then

[ Lt. Enyd Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Completely enthralled with the scene, Enyd was happy to be led to a table by one of the holograms. She ordered a warm mulled wine, finding the temperature wonderful, albeit a bit chilly for her state of attire. She remembered Zark from the concert, though they’d not been given much opportunity to talk given so many others had also joined the holoprogram that evening. She never would’ve guessed that this lovely Andorian female was a talented bagpiper, and she likewise never would’ve known Chief MicKayla was an accomplished swordswoman either if it hadn’t been for a similar holosuite mixup only a few days before.

Enyd smiled. She’d never been around holoprograms much, even when stationed in places that had them. Prior to Theurgy, she’d always been on a planet or a large starbase, and so had no need to use the holodeck for recreational stress relief. On a starship, Enyd had assumed the usage necessary to maintain sanity. And yet instead of it offering her mere elements of joy to maintain her sanity, holosuite usage had thus far offered her keen insight into crewmembers that she might never have known otherwise.

The program audience responded aptly to Zark’s playing, as did Enyd. Though she felt no tears touch her eyes with the music as it had the audience and Zark herself. It was a moving piece, and Enyd had sensed the depth of emotion behind it, but she’d been so preoccupied in the atmosphere and reality of this moment to allow herself the luxury of giving herself over to the emotions behind the music. In the following song, however, Enyd participated alongside the audience members. After taking a long sip of her mulled wine, she stood and began clapping with the beat, the bells on her anklets chiming with her swaying. Enyd had never heard the song before but delighted in singing along to it, reading through the lyrics on the screen as the holosuite was filled with the combined voices of the audience and the spectacular playing of Zark and the band.

Enyd’s heart was still pounding along to the beat when the song ended, and the band began to march off stage, leaving to the last Zark and her pipes. It was a little wobbly to her senses when the program abruptly ended soon after Zark exited the stage, though the table with her drink remained. Enyd was just picking it up to take another sip when Zark approached with a lopsided smile on her beautiful features.

“No apologies necessary. And do call me Enyd, and forgive me if I call you Zark. I find damning propriety is appropriate, considering your attire and the nature of your performance.” Enyd shot a wink in the Andorians direction before taking another sip of her now tepid wine. She always loved the rebellious nature of the Scots and was pleased to find so many Scottish-influenced crewmembers on board. It meant they had a greater fighting chance against the Infested, in her opinion at least.

At Zark’s question and quizzical study, Enyd laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a quick head flick. “I was planning on getting a few courtesan dances from Rigel VII in before joining a few friends in a venture into Klingon opera on the planet later this evening.” Enyd glanced between Zark’s clothing and her own before giving another amused smile. “While they can be lively and rousing in their own way, they are assuredly not of the same ilk as piping. Where did you learn to play the pipes, if you don’t mind my asking? You are really quite talented.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) |  Deck 28 | Vector 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy]

Attn: @Ellen Fitz

A complex flood of emotions rolled through the Andorian Piper as she wondered how to best answer the question Enyd had just put to her.  As her mouth helped her mentally chew over the question, she realized she'd been quiet just a bit too long.  Settling on another lop sided smile, but this one tinged with a bit of sadness, Zark took a breath before beginning.  "Since you're Enyd and I'm Zark anyway, we'll work with it.  Let's see, I think it was the summer of 2374, you remember the lowest point in the war with the Dominion? I think the news of the fall of Betazed was still recent and 2^nd fleet had been repulsed from it's first attempt to take back the system, so there was a pall the Academy at the time.  Anyway, the next break had rolled around and since I had chosen to be a Combat Medic after visiting my Zhavey the previous year."  Zark shuddered briefly as she remembered that visit. "Sorry, nasty memories from that one.  Anyway, where was I? Right.  So I was applying myself to be a combat medic and putting in too many hours according to the academic advisors.  They said I needed more interaction with others or just get away for a bit. So, when a bunch of Academy friends; the two Schmidts, and Leopold; asked that I join them at the Highland Games being held in Germany that summer, I thought it was a good time to apply the advisor's advice." A single bittersweet laugh followed.   "Oh Shelat! I forgot how much they sounded like a German comedy troupe."

Taking the opportunity to place her pipes on the table, Zark undid her Piper’s Plaid and Glengarry hat, she laid them on the pipes before shaking a hand through her platinum locks. Her smile morphed into a fond one as her eyes looked into Enyd's emeralds, but the stare seemed to go straight through the human instead. "When you go to the Highland Games, it's always opened by a truly ludicrous number of pipers and drummers from all over the world.  There were bands from Pakistan, Canada, even the colony world of Caldos that year.  I think there were over a fifteen hundred pipers and drummers when all was said and done. You'd think it was impossible to coordinate that many people as an orchestra, but they did it, and it resonated deep in here." A cobalt fist pumped her heart.   "It's hard to find that kind of warrior's spirit, that sense of defiance.  They were determined to make it work."  Zark's Iced Jade eyes turned dreamy for a moment before she shook her head once more. "After that, I spent the rest of the summer in Scotland learning how to play and performing.  I didn't think I was any good, but the Highland Historical of Scotland Pipe and Drum Band tried to make me Pipe Major, go figure.  I obviously had to demure due to being at the Academy."

Bringing her focus back to Enyd, Zark's eyebrows jumped as if to shrug.  "When the summer ended, I took the pipes with me back to the Academy and on my deployment to the Kalandra sector.  Almost got into a few fist fights because of them and nearly shot once too, but I wouldn't have given them up at all."  Shrugging her shoulders this time as she took on a Shakespearean accent "And that is the story of how XamotZark zh’Ptrell, medico and piper extraordinaire appeared." The Andorian made small theatrical bow to her audience.

A toothy grin appeared on the medicos face as she leaned on the pile of fabric on the table while reverting to normal speech. "My turn, how do you know Rigellian courtesan dances, and did you have to use them in a diplomatic event? Heck, what is a Rigellian courtesan dance?"

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd continued to sip at her drink while Zark shared her backstory of how she’d become the accomplished piper that she was today. The manner in which Zark spoke, her vocal intonations, and facial expressions pointed to a passionate woman who felt keenly and lived with little hesitation. Enyd smiled at the appropriate times to smile, sharing a chuckle here and there, and nodded affirmingly as Zark continued to share. The only time she took her eyes from the Andorian’s face was to briefly inspect the pipes as they were laid upon the table, curious over their form and function. Though she’d heard pipes many times before, Enyd had never been this close to the instrument and found it fascinating that such a contraption could make such powerful music.

Enyd looked back up when Zark thumped her chest, speaking of the magnificent piper and drum ensemble assembled at the Highland Games. She’d attended a smaller Highland Games hosted near the farm back home for those of Scottish descent living in Montana. Though it was not nearly to the magnitude of what Zark described, because of that exposure, Enyd could picture the scene as Zark described, nodding in agreement on how powerful such a sight would be. At the mention of violence in connection with her pipes, Enyd couldn’t help but laugh.

“Were you serving as a distraction with your piping, and someone took potshots at you, or how did you nearly get shot?”

Finished with her drink now, Enyd set the empty cup still with dregs on the table, though not in danger of tipping into Zark’s precious pipes. Zark’s question had Enyd’s lips turning upward into a mischievous smile.

“Diplomacy is not based on words alone, dear Zark, but also upon action. You’re probably more likely to sit down and have an amicable conversation with someone who knows at least a little about your culture, if not a lot, and who seems keen on learning more through knowing you. The same rings true for nearly every species in the Federation library, with a few exceptions, of course. While not every diplomat makes such efforts to assimilate a portion of a target culture into their own diplomatic repertoire, I’ve found it useful.” Enyd’s smile shifted ever so subtly to hold a more devious quality. “It isn’t just dancing, though, that can be used as an ‘in’ for a target group. Food, art, clothing, weapons. I must admit, I prefer dances and weapons to food, art, and clothing. I find it more difficult to stare at what looks to be a pile of discarded food items and be serious about its worth as an art form than I do learning how to wield a new weapon or contort my body into a new dance. And food can always be a touchy thing since some cultures ingest things that are toxic to my system.”

Enyd tipped her head to the side, pausing in her own sharing long enough to order the computer to load her intended program. The table holding Zark’s pipes remained as Enyd instructed, but everything else around them changed. A purple sky could be glimpsed through latticework windows that lay at shoulder level around the large stuccoed room the scene had shifted to instantaneously. Ornately woven tapestries hung intermittently between the windows, matched in regalness by the carpets that layered the floor and cushioned their feet. Near where Zark’s stage had been, at the far end of the room, was a carpet-covered raised platform with musicians sitting at every corner. The musicians held instruments similar to the Arabic riqq and davul drums, a tar and oud, and a ney. The room was filled with the spiced incense candles the Rigelians preferred to burn as such ceremonies, the only interior lighting that of the lamps hanging overhead.

A few seconds after the scene changed, others appeared as part of the scene, partygoers dressed in their finest silks of a myriad of colors unseen to most outside of the Rigel system. Everyone sat upon cushions on the floor, reclining against one another as they listened to the music, chatted, or ate the delicacies only offered on such special occasions. Through this scene, Enyd led Zark closer to the platform, her voice easily heard over the din of the background music.

“Some time ago, it looked like I was going to be sent on a mission to Rigel VII during the Festival of the Courtesan. While some find the festival to be nothing more than an excuse to host orgies and become a glutton,” Enyd winked at Zark, “it is a beautiful time for a unique echelon of society that many other cultures vilify or abuse. It is culturally accepted for married men and women to take on concubines, with wealthier rulers boasting of harems numbering in the hundreds. And the Festival of the Courtesan is, in a fashion, how they shop for new concubines. Or assist those concubines who wish to move from their household to another. Through these dance exhibitions, a courtesan, male or female, may display their strength, agility, and allure. And it is during this weeklong festival, the courtesans may also showcase their hospitality and diligence in looking after their hosts.”

Coming to stand just beside the platform, Enyd gestured toward an especially fluffy cushion next to the wall. She signaled one of the serving courtesans to bring Zark a tray filled with an assortment of savory and sweet delicacies. Another courtesan brought a pitcher of spiced wine and a glass, also left for Zark to pick from as she wished.

“While I never did make it to Rigel VII for that mission, my posting to Cardassia taking precedence, I enjoyed the dances so much that I decided to keep them in my diplomatic handbag, so to speak. They help stay limber and are also a delightful way of expressing aspects of my soul that I sometimes find hard to articulate.” Enyd felt her cheeks warm. That was as close to confessing to her inability to talk sex as she was willing to go with a near stranger. “I’ll show you the Dance of the Night Lily, and if you haven’t fallen asleep, I’ll show you the Dance of the Fire Asp.”

Her feet bare now as she raised herself onto the platform, Enyd shifted her attention fully onto the beat of the drum as it built in volume and rhythm. Taking her first tentative steps into the song, Enyd felt herself transform into the night lily itself as her arms raised overhead, and they swayed in rhythm with her hips. The chimes of her anklets added another sensual layer to the music as she undulated her torso, her shoulders rolling as if swimming through water. As the dance continued, Enyd lost all sense of audience as she gave herself over to the music, allowing it to express its own insistent passion through her body movements. Through fluid dips and turns, her hips moving in opposition to one another on a vertical plane, all her movements mimicked both the water and the lily caught in the night breeze.

Only when the music began its slow descent into silence did Enyd remember time and place. Her cheeks aflame from the exertion of dance, and the reality that she’d just danced for a crewmate, Enyd looked back to Zark with eyes bright with a mixture of reticence and joy.

“It’s no Highland Game song, nor something you’d find in the fields of Scotland,” Enyd breathed out on a laugh, “but there you have a Rigellian courtesan dance. What do you think of it?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) |  Deck 28 | Vector 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy]

@Ellen Fitz  

Enyd's question about being shot at with her pipes was a pretty uncommon one, but it had stuck in Zark's mind ever since the war and she let out a derisive snort. "The honest truth is that I was being young and really really dumb.  The field hospital I was posted to was being hit by a Jem'Hadar attack and it looked like we were going to get overrun, so instead of shooting more, I climbed up an observation tower and started piping.  My favourite theory is the music got the security folks and medical staff to fight that much harder, and the noise angered the Jem'Hadar no end since they colandered the tower soon after I started.  Anyway, it gave the security forces some time to regroup and counter attack.  Wiped them out to man."  The Andorian shrugged as she looked down at her pipes and rubbed the polished mahogany of the pipe drones.  It was one of those things that happened when you fought the fanatical, and there wasn't much to be done about it now.

With her little tale ended, the Andorian began to take in the subtleties of diplomatic tradecraft as Enyd explained the various methods of finding common ground.  Zark blinked when the diplomat mentioned weapons as one of her choice methods of engagement since most of the diplomatic types she'd knows had eschewed the use of weapons, which usually resulted in Lt. Zark providing a personal protective detail when they were at functions, while nodding in silent agreement on the dangers of ingesting substances that didn't agree, not to mention poisons.

As Enyd called up the dance program, Zark became momentarily disoriented with the purple sky hanging above her and the palace she was in.  Holograms began to populate the chamber and musicians holding instruments that looked vaguely Arabic settled into their seats.  Soon, the Andorian felt she was the one out of place as she was still in most of her Highland Attire and quickly discarded her jacket on top of the growing pile of cloth on the table.  Following her local guide, Zark was shown a spot close to the platform and the history of this particular skill was most certainly fascinating.    Sounds kinda like Risa, but much more formal for a special day. The medico thought to herself.  Sitting on the fluffy cushion, the Andorian grabbed a proffered glass of wine and a delicacy, and held them for a moment as she listened to the reasons for the Festival of the Courtesan, it sounded remarkably kind as no one was discarded and the people who had chosen this life were looked after while being able to follow their chosen profession to its fullest potential.  Better than some other places in the galaxy. the medico thought to herself.

Zark raised an eyebrow and her antennae pointed towards the brunette as she explained how she managed to acquire the skill in dance, and the Andorian could understand there was passion hidden underneath the professional shell.  Cobalt eyelids narrowed slightly as Enyd sported the faintest trace of a blush suddenly and the Security Officer tilted her head for second to exercise an occupational hazard, speculation of something out of place.  Sure, dancing was a great way to keep in shape, Zark herself did so after a fashion through gymnastics, but what could cause the diplomat to turn rosy all of a sudden?  Deciding to file the conundrum away for later, Zark mentally shrugged as she adjusted her kilt and undid the top button of her blouse to get more comfortable.

Seeing the dance was about to start, the Andorian could only nod in agreement with Enyd's choice of what was being demonstrated as she took in all the deatils.  Having never been to Rigel VII, it was a treat to experience something new, even in a simulation, and her local guide had obviously gone to great lengths to get the details right.  Taking a quick look around to see how she was supposed to drink and eat, Zark found all different sorts of manners from the various 'guests.'  Some were indeed glutton, others were delicately eating their wares, so the Andorian settled on the middle ground and ate casually.  Whatever it was, it was delicious. As the drums began to beat, the ethereal brunette vision that looked immensely like Enyd Madsen blossomed into the dance.  Zark's eyes widened as she watched a poet's soul go into motion, flowing and undulating to the rythm as the Lily travelled across the water in search of a final destination, yet still making the journey a greater part of it's existence. 

As the dance came to an end. Zark let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.  It was very easy for Zark to appreciate the life and joy that Enyd demonstrated through dance and part of her suddenly found the diplomat very attractive for there was an intensity and joie de vivre that radiated off the diplomat.  The Zhen also knew that she didn't know enough about the woman to say whether that sort of affection would be returned, so until there were indications otherwise, friend in the making it would be. 

As the bright eyed human breathlessly finished her dance, Zark could see why General Shran all those years ago had christened this species Pink Skin, for it truly suited them.  The Andorian smiled brightly at the wonderful dance and clapped in the manner that the rest of guests used, she understood that sometimes humans tossed flowers to the performers, but alas, she didn't have one.  Oh Well again.  As Enyd approached, Zark smiled brilliantly and held her hands in front of her as if to contain the joy. Enyd, I have seen dances done with more precision, but I can't recall one done with the amount of life you demonstrated today. Don't take this the wrong way, but if you were actually a courtesean, I would take you into my household in a heartbeat! Zark's mouth snapped shut at what she'd just said and she looked down, hoping to hide the dark blush that she felt suffusing her cheeks.   She felt like a truant school girl admitting something she shouldn't have to the principal.  The Andorian's head came up suddenly with a determined look on her face. "SorryIdidn'trealizethatwouldcomeout.Itwasabeautifuldance,andseeingtheFireAspwouldbegreat!" The Andorian vomited out at high speed in a poor attempt to cover up her gaff.  Well, if we're going to be friends, I might as well learn to mess up in front of her.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd’s laugh bounced off the holographic walls. “Precision dancing…sounds Vulcan.” She gave a playful wink before reaching for a glass of rose water off the serving platter of a passing courtesan. Her laughter increased in volume and passion at Zark’s confession, nearly snorting the rose water through her nose in the process. “I am honored, dear Zark. That is high praise from an Andorian, indeed. None of my Andorian friends made such an offer, even the ones who saw my dances.”

Enyd knocked back the rest of the rose water in a very unladylike fashion, drawing the back of her hand over her lips with a playful smirk playing upon her flushed features. She could tell from Zark’s antennae that the woman was being honest in her praise and the added blush on her cheeks only furthered Enyd’s assessment that this particular Andorian couldn’t lie convincingly with a gun to her head. At least not in this sort of context.

Zark’s gushed comment had Enyd leaning closer, almost not catching the words. But after another moment of deciphering Zark’s word-vomit speech, Enyd nodded with a playful smile.

“Not to worry. Just relax and try not to let the asp bite you.”

With a wink, Enyd clapped her hands, and as the lights dimmed, she moved behind the curtain that demarcated a small alcove just behind the raised stage. This was the sort of song that required a delayed entrance, building up the audience’s tension and desire before the dancer revealed herself. Enyd grinned. This was her favorite kind of dance, as it required athleticism, flexibility, a good sense of rhythm, sensuality, and even a sense of humor. Depending on the dancer, they could either pull audience members into the dance, twisting and twirling around them, wrapping them up in veils, or even tying the hapless audience member in literal knots as they wove the veil through arms and legs and around their torso. For Zark, Enyd would have pity. Since this was the Andorian woman’s first time in such a context, Enyd would dance without requiring audience participation. But, if the woman even extended interest in a return and a repeat performance, all bets were off.

The music sufficiently built in rhythm and volume, the audience clapping along with it, and with the added palpable feeling of positive tension in the dimly lit room, Enyd took a bouncing chaise entrance to the stage, with her opposite arm raising overhead as the opposite leg tapped forward. The lights brightened as soon as she was in the middle of the stage, and the audience let loose a volley of cheers and whistles. Enyd laughed in response, sending a wink to Zark, before she gave herself over to the music and the moves its rhythm demanded of her.

There would be no pausing to this dance, not when the theme was both of fire and snake. She would visit every corner of the stage with her ever shifting, hopping, and twirling movements. This upbeat dance required a variety of figure-eight moves with her hips, cycling downward, forward, upward, backward, and, to keep her body from looking too poised as she adjusted for one move per rapid beat, Enyd was quick to keep consistent arm flutters and snake-like shoulders circles. This dance was just as passionate as the first but more rambunctious, mischievous even, as the deep bouncing hip circles led into shoulder shimmies and then to hip drops before shifting into fluid undulations and hip shimmies.

At the cued times where she might otherwise pull an audience member onto the stage with her, Enyd employed more acrobatic leaps and twists that were borderline non-traditional. But none of the audience members programmed for this context seemed to mind, finding the change invigorating if she had to go by their cheering. Her heart was ramming against her ribs as her lungs stretched for more breath by the time the dance came to an end. Enyd raised her arms to the ceiling, gave a panting bow, then attempted a twirl off the stage, a traditional move for when a courtesan signaled the end of their set.

Only it had been far too long since Enyd had attempted these dances or that particular twirl, and instead of the graceful exit she’d hoped for, Enyd instead launched herself into the empty space just adjacent to the stage. Closing her eyes, Enyd braced herself, thankful that the floor was padded with pillows and carpets.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Deck 28 | Vector 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy]

@Ellen Fitz

Zark felt relieved after being told to relax.  Except for the one little question she reminded to ask herself later. What is an asp and why would it bite? The question was lost as the Andorian sat back down and signalled for one of what Enyd had gulped down and a delicious smelling vegetable kabob looking items and that was always welcome.  The rosewater was very refreshing as the Andorian munched her way through the skewer to help stave off hunger since it was sort of around lunch time, and she'd just finished when the music began again.  Zark tensed in anticipation of Enyd starting her dance, then got more tense as she didn't show right away. Did I just get ditched here?  Zark thought to herself as the tension began to engender more confusion, she was lost until the crowd began clapping, causing her to start. When on Rigel..... Zark mentally shrugged as she listened to the general beat before clapping along.

The asp appeared, a green and cream apparition that writhed and danced with energy and abandon.  The Andorian was surprised when the crowd let loose with cheers and whistles.  The noise added to the psychic experience of the event and the medico felt herself leaning forward with that wink as it drew her further into the rapid wiggling movements.  Zark was falling into it so much that she began giving herself a subtle core exercise trying to duplicate the movements.  It was no where near as exuberant, but as her head and shoulders began to undulate, the Andorian began to get a feel for the rhythm.  Smiling as she was shaking and clapping, Zark got the feeling that this was a lot more work than it appeared to be and would be a different way instead of having to do planks, stomach crunches, and various other contortions to her core. I need Enyd to show me how to do this the medico thought to herself. And the arm movements are very elegant, but I don't really get those ones.  Must ask what an Asp is, though she did mention biting.....and the movements are very fluid, so a snake?  Definitely never heard of an asp.

As the ethereal brunette danced to and fro, twirling, and undulating for the crowd, Zark laughed out loud then stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled in appreciation. Zark whooped in delight as the costume covering Enyd flowed through aerial cartwheels that instantly screamed 'Another Gymnast!' to the Andorian's mind and she appreciated the aesthetics of the flying form.  A particularly well done mid air jump seemed to slow down time as the billowing material seemed to carry the lithe diplomat on a green cloud before she landed and the medico's whistle seemed to double in volume before she sat back and sighed at the joyful sensuality Enyd was able to convey through her graceful movements.   Patience XamotZark, these things will resolve themselves in time. The Zhen thought to herself as the dance came to an end, and whatever elegant grace Enyd had processed was clearly spent as the hard breathing woman unceremoniously back flopped off stage into a pile of cushions.

Zark wasn't sure if this was part of the performance, so she sat there for a moment for a cue from the rest of the crowd who promptly toned down the previous cheering to a polite round of applause.  Uh Oh, I don't think that's how it was supposed to end.  The medico effectively bolted out of her cushion to where Enyd lay breathing heavily, a light sheen of sweat covering her flushed skin.  Any question as to the human's state was answered by the smile plastered on her face.  Zark could only offer a toothy smile in reply as she shook her head in disbelief at the joy radiating off the woman.  The Andorian's head turned towards a server and waved him over.  When he arrived and bent over to lend his ear, Zark asked for a basin, some towels and glass of rose water with ice.  The server raised a professional glance and his hands shot out ending in a quick theatrical double clap, and two more servers arrived with the requested items and laid them on the ground next her kilt.   Zark nodded her thanks before picking up and gently running a towel through the cool water and firmly wringing it out.  Damp towel in hand, Zark began gently dabbing the sweat from Enyd's forehead and cheeks before folding the towel and going for the pale jaw line and neck.  The Andorian took great care to not upset the cosmetics and brunette arrangement before dipping the towel back into the water and folding it into a compress that she placed on the dancer's forehead. 

"That was a most ummmmmm......anticlimactic landing My Lady Madsen.  I was pretty sure the grace you were showing was going to carry you through to the end."  The Andorian giggled for second. "I'm quite sure if you were ballerina, the teacher would have dragged you off to do that exercise where they have to stand on their toes as punishment."  Sighing out the last of her laugh, the Andorian, picked up the rose water and a dry towel and put it between herself and the gleefully prone diplomat before lying on her side next and propping her head up on an arm.  Still smiling, the Zhen did take a moment to admire the human before testing out whether she was still awake in case she'd overdone the comforting.  "Soooooo, I'm not sure the acrobatics were intended to be a huge part of the dance, but you move with the grace of a ballerina and the form of a gymnast, so I'm going to go with.......both.  How and where'd you learn to do all that?"

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

From her cocoon of pillows, Enyd was still panting in euphoria when the blue head of Zark popped into view. Only moments later, as her heart rate returned to a steady pace, leaving Enyd in a blissful post-cardio state, Zark returned with towel and basin in tow. Enyd was touched by the woman’s care and dutifully kept still as the Andorian administered the aid. Enyd couldn’t remember the last time someone had dabbed at her skin so gently and with such care; perhaps her grandmother many years before, in another age and life on Earth? Though the thought brought a tinge of melancholy to the moment, at the same time, it brought an added sweetness. While Zark was a far cry from her prim and traditional grandmother, at least she had a streak in her that matched her grandmother’s no-nonsense yet tender forms of care.

Zark’s comment about her landing had Enyd giggling, “Yes, well, the dance calls for a flourished twirl off stage. Only my flourishing twirl hasn’t been practiced in ages and, well, you saw the result.” Enyd’s eyes briefly traveled back to the stage where the musicians were resuming the places to be the main form of entertainment now that her dance was over. Only as the music resumed as a steady, lulling background din, did Enyd return her gaze to Zark, a smile on her lips. “And you’re not wrong about the ballet teacher. Had Madame Blanchet seen this spectacle, she would have made me do fouetté turns and grand adage lifts until my toes were bloody and my body collapsing.”

Enyd was grateful for the rose water and reached for it almost as soon as Zark had it perched between them. She refrained from guzzling, though it tempted her, and instead took a long sip before forcing herself to set the glass back down. Enyd felt Zark’s gaze and when she looked back to her new friend, Zark was commenting on the more acrobatic portion of the dance, correctly surmising Enyd’s diverse past with kinesthetics.

“I’m not sure how much you know about Montana, on Earth, but it has a reputation among humans as being rather isolated and backward. Even in this century. However, though, yes, we still have large swathes of land undisturbed for centuries that are filled with all sorts of wild creatures who would probably take a bite out of you first and ask questions later, we also have large cities, and convenient transportation. My family has owned Yew Valley Farms ranch for centuries and is quite established in the region; so much so that other ranchers and farmers would get together with my grandmother to arrange for special lessons to be hosted at our ranch instead of the folks in our region having to spend hours traveling to the big city. So for months at a time, they could collectively hire a coach of this or that variety, and we would host the lessons on our ranch.” Enyd allowed herself another sip, this time a shorter one, followed by another short one, before continuing. “If it weren’t for the convenience of having these coaches living with me for long winter months, and sometimes summer months too, I doubt my scatter-brained self would’ve had the notion to learn much of anything outside of ranching skills. But there was also the fact that my grandmother insisted I know how to comport myself with poise, to make up for my lack of verbal grace, as she said.”

Enyd laughed as she remembered some of the barbs her grandmother shot her way. They were always spoken from a place of love, and even at the time, Enyd had known that. No need for truthful revelations from a time distance. Enyd had never doubted her grandmother’s love and affection. That had just been the way her grandmother spoke and acted, and everyone accepted it because she was the matriarch of the Madsen clan.

Bringing her memory-filled far-off gaze back to Zark, Enyd gave a half shrug. “Ballet and gymnastics were always a favorite. Eventually. And then later, after my parents both died, my grandmother almost encouraged me to take up martial arts. That started a whole new love of kinesthetics, that eventually brought in affection for bladed martial arts. But what about you? Granted, I haven’t seen your dancing skills yet, but from what I gather, you know how to hold your own in a fight.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy] Attn: @Ellen Fitz

Enyd's question was probably meant as a compliment, most likely a straight up question, but Zark's face turned expressionless the second it was asked.  If she'd had any conflicting emotions at any point during the exchange, they boiled to the surface and the medico sat up for a second before tucking her legs under her chin before closing her eyes and pressing her forehead to her knees.  Her mind replayed a flash of light, a loud bang, her hand moved unconsciously to her abdomen.  Looking up into space, there the Andorian rubbed her nose. I'm still alive aren't I? Zark asked herself, though a doubt still plagued her.  Looking at her abdomen one more time, Zark stood up and stripped out of her blouse as she made her way her pile of belongings, her mind was focused on one question only as she reached the pile of personal belongings before she pulled off her kilt and dumped it on the pile leaving her in nothing but her bra, panties, and boots.  Turning around, frozen blue green eyes looked back and saw Enyd sitting, watching her.  "Lieutenant Madsen, I'm sorry you have to watch this." Zark apologized, her voice flat and bereft of any earlier joy.  "Computer, activate training program zh’Ptrell 10 at previous completed difficulty level."  Frozen jade watched as the simulation dissolved and was replaced by a caged hexagon with a ring in the middle.  Zark stopped by a table that contained a virtual complete fight set of clothing to put them all on.  A pair of fight gloves, a mouth guard, a pair of shorts, swapping out her duty boots for boxing boots, and finally to tie her hair into a pony tail, Zark jumped into the ring as another similarly attired Vulcan female entered the ring from the other side.

When the two reached the separated lines on the mat, there was brief bow before both adopted ready stances.  Lt. Zark's mind tried to still as she worked to focus on her opponent, yet there was a flaw in the stillness from the doubts.  The Vulcan suddenly lunged forward at high speed jabbing at the Andorian's head.  Blue arms and legs moved quickly to block the combination of punches and kicks that were sent her way with the sound of skin and leather colliding reverberating through the ring.  The slight flaw in Zark's focus caused her to miss several subtle available counters, wasting time and energy, Yet she still spotted one as as the Vulcan just slightly over committed on a jab that Zark sidestepped and grabbed.  The opponent grunted as a blindingly fast cobalt leg collided with her midriff before an uppercut smashed into the tanned chin.  The Vulcan reeled back but got her arms up in time to block a shot at her head before launching a quick counter at Zark's head.  The medico dodged the strike and drove a punch straight at her opponents face, smashing her nose in a mess of green blood.  Zark features became more fierce as she grunted in exertion grabbing the back of her opponents head and began kneeing her in the abdomen as fast as she could. 

Zark oofed in surprise as very strong arms suddenly grabbed her leg and the air wooshed out of her as she was thrown onto her back and landed hard, barely rolling out of the way and a strong foot slammed into the ground she was just occupying.  As Zark rolled back up to her feet, a round house slipped passed her distracted guard and the blue medico grunted as the kick slammed into mid section sending her stumbling back into the cage with a loud ring.   The Vulcan moved quickly and was on Zark with punches flying.  Zark got her arms up in time to block several strikes high and low, but missed an elbow that slammed into her face and the opposing punch that snapped her head the other way, eliciting a grunt while splitting her lip and sending blood and spittle flying.  Zark next felt the air involuntarily rush out of her as the Vulcan repaid the earlier kneeing by slamming her gloves into the poorly defended blue midsection.  Zark felt herself slammed back into the cage as she grunted and cried out after four or five hits.  What would normally have been debilitating only served to enrage the medico and Zark screamed as she used the kinetic energy from the last hit to bounce off the cage and attempt tackle her opponent to the ground, but instead found herself airborne again.  This time though, she was ready and rolled on her landing coming straight back to her feet and facing her opponent who was also up again.

Zark settled back into her ready stance and felt her mind become actually still.  There had been small flaw in her calm that had caused her to misjudge the random opponent she was assigned and her body now ached in several places as a result of the flaw.  Quickly working to bring her focus back, she switched strategies and waited as the two opponents circled each other.  The battered Vulcan danced a bit as if to figure out what to do next before charging forward.  Zark ignored the protests of her body as she dodged or blocked each blow, feeling the wind as she came within milometers of being hit several times, or having to flip out of the way; always looking for the right move from the opponent.  Her mind finally spotted the over extension of a punch as it flew, Zark shifted her momentum in an instant as she grabbed the arm and pulled the other woman before vaulting up the Vulcan's back then grabbing her neck in a scissor hold.  Twisting into a back flip as hard as she could, her opponent was slammed into the ground by Zark's mass induced cartwheel while the Andorian landed on her feet and brought an axe blow down on the Vulcan's neck that stopped suddenly as the blue gloved hand landed on skin, but stopped just short of actually breaking anything.

This was enough and a bell sounded indicating a lethal strike.  The prone Vulcan vanished and Zark collapsed on to her butt as she leaned her head on one raised knee.  Sucking in air, the Andorian smiled a bloody smile as he body began to remind her of the various aches that had been inflicted on it.  I still got it. Rubbing her nose and mouth, the combat medic noticed they were wet and she summoned a towel to staunch the blood flow, then grimaced as her free hand moved to hold the areas of her abdomen that the opponent had tried to turn into mush.  Owww, that's gonna bruise.  At least there's no hole in it. Still smiling, the Andorian looked around and spotted Enyd and blinked before flushing at her state of undress and the impromptu bloody demonstration. "Uhhhhh.....Sorry Enyd, I ummmm didn't realize how errrrrr energetic the answer to the question was going to be." came Zark's towel muffled apology.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd’s eyes widened, and immediately she sat up alongside Zark when her question prompted nearly the opposite reaction than when she’d intended. Where she thought Zark would have done much as she had in sharing laughter with memories, Zark had closed off, then turned formal after an impromptu stripping down to her underclothes. The pillows and comfort were gone in an instant after Zark’s command, and instead, she sat on an uncomfortable chair facing a ring where Zark joined a Vulcan female, both dressed in boxing attire.

The Vulcan was calculating in her attacks, relentless in her logic applied through movement, and it took Zark a few moments to recover and then take advantage of an over-commitment made by the Vulcan in a jab. From there, it looked like Zark had the upper hand, or rather, upper knee, until the Vulcan swept Zark onto her back, and even once she regained her footing, she received a set of brutal attacks that kept Zark on the defensive all the way to the ring’s edge. The fight continued to abruptly shift from being in the Vulcan’s favor to Zark’s, with barely a time between attacks for Enyd to catch her own breath. The final seconds of the fight had Enyd literally on the edge of her seat, and she very nearly fell out of it in thankful surprise when Zark dealt the final blow and won the brutal round.

Enyd stood as Zark recovered herself, pressing a towel to her nose and gingerly pressing a hand to her stomach to assess the damage. When Zark’s eyes once more rested on Enyd, it was not lost on the diplomat Zark’s surprise. It seemed the Andorian had completely forgotten that this had been a sort of answer to a question, a demonstration of sorts, and not just an exercise regime played out in private.

“I’m not certain I caught the context of the answer,” Enyd moved closer until she could loop her arms through the ring’s barriers and stare up at her new Andorian friend, “I mean, I can see that you know how to box; however, watching you fight didn’t exactly explain where or how you learned to fight. Do you need some ice?” Enyd pointed to Zark’s face, parts of it already starting to swell. “Some water, perhaps?”

Enyd moved away from the edge of the ring and ordered a pitcher of water and two glasses. They appeared on the floor of the ring just in front of her. Enyd had to reach through the barrier but was quick to pour Zark some water as she waited for her friend to either offer up the context or leave her with a mystery.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz

As soon as Enyd had clarified what she was looking for, Zark knew she'd less overstepped, and more overreacted. She knew the signs and the causes.  The combat medic also knew who she should eventually talk to about it, but she felt much better now and she'd resolved quite a few issues in the ring.  Just at the price of worried friend and bunch of bruises she maybe didn't need to have.  She was much better now. Really!

The battered Andorian winced as she made her way over to Enyd hanging on the cage and removed the towel to inspect it for a moment before dabbing her nose and mouth again separately.  She involuntarily winced at the gentle prodding of cut on the lip, but relaxed as the endorphins soon took the edge off. "Well, at least I don't have to jam anything up my nose this time." Zark tried to joke with Enyd.  "Thanks." Gratefully taking the proffered glass, the medico removed her mouth mouth piece and dumped it on the ring before taking a few experimental sips, sighing in satisfaction as the ice water cooled her core.

The medico felt worried she was going to give Enyd holo and emotional whipsaw the way simulations were changing for their chat as her free had made a shooing motion so the diplomat didn't drop the water she was holding. "uhmmm, Enyd, close your eyes for a second.......Thea, zh’Ptrell Relax Program, Cabin 2 please."  The fight ring dissolved and large and cozy wooden cottage materialized around the two women.  "You can open your eyes now."  Zark told Enyd as she made her way to a  square couch that surrounded a raised granite fire pit in the middle of an expansive living room.  A fond smile fell across the blue woman's face at good memories.  "Welcome to Banff."  Motioning Enyd over, Zark gently sprawled herself down on a spot that gave a good view of the fireplace and the lake mountain outside. Huh. It's snowing. the medico thought to herself as she she stared at the white covered evergreens. Pretty as it was, the Andorian was procrastinating and she knew it.

When she was sure Enyd had grabbed her seat, the security officer trudged down memory lane to answer the diplomat's question. "Don't worry about the bruising, I've been through worse, plus my role gives me virtually unfettered access to medical equipment. I'll dermal the bruises later." giving the diplomat a wan smile before taking a breath and shifting gears. "I think it's in my genetic somewhere, but there were martial arts classes where I went to school on Andor, then there were the practitioners on the USS Renegade where my Zhavey was the XO. They very much got me into practicing hand to hand to hand. It feels like it never really stopped, when I got to the academy, there was so much variety! It was like a martial arts buffet! I mean my blade work was always top notch from my time on Andor, but the unarmed stuff. Whew!" A big grin split the blue face completely ignoring the still broken lip. "I think the person who really got me going in unarmed combat though was Commander Lin, he was a supposedly dour man who was the security chief on the Renegade. Anyway, he was a total expert in his field from investigation to general fighting, but he let me in on some really strange notions of how to fight."

Zark swung her legs off the couch gently but so she could face Enyd properly as her antennae pointed directly the human as her hands became animated. "You see, he mixed styles shamelessly, borrowing and throwing in random stuff where he thought best. In my case, he saw that I took gymnastics and he also had a love of motion pictures, so he thought that some of the more strange moves he'd seen in 'movies' could be applied to someone more flexible than he was in a practical combat application!  I was the experiment to put it nicely and it worked, mostly I think, hence the scissor hold cartwheel you saw at the end."

Zark scartched the back of her neck for a moment as another memory popped in that she hadn't thought about in a very long time and she surprised herself with a single laugh that got cut off with an understandable "Owwww" Zark groaned as she held her mid section for a moment before relaxing while taking a chug of water. "Sorry, I just remember at one point Commander Lin was teaching me in his own weird way."  Straightening herself up and sitting cross legged like some ancient master, the blue alien began stroking an imaginary long wise beard on a very mock serious face before beginning in a very deep and mock wise serious voice. "Cadet Zark, I am your mentor and I tell you to do these things for it may one day save your life.  A woman of your stature does not always have the strength in your arms to batter an opponent into submission, but your legs and body will more than likely have the mass and centrifugal momentum to force an opponent to the ground where you can deliver the winning blow.  Besides, it looks damn cool and will always look impressive before you smash the consciousness out of your enemies.  Pity the fool who ends up between your legs!"

Zark thought it was hilarious and burst out laughing again before it was again cut off by the thoroughly expected "Uhnnnnnnn."

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

“I’ve had to have a few things jammed up my nose before too after training,” Enyd grimaced as she shared in Zark’s relief that the damage was not so bad this time to merit that.

When Zark asked her to close her eyes, Enyd did so but only marginally. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the Andorian, but she was curious why Zark would suddenly ask her to shield her vision. When she heard Zark order the holoprogram to change again, Enyd smirked. Likely the woman was afraid Enyd would get a headache from all the scenes changing. Enyd squeezed her eyes firmly closed then blinked them open when Zark bid her, smiling her thanks at Zark.

The scene was drastically different from all its predecessors, but Enyd felt especially connected to it. Though Montana did not have such large mountains and was not known for its glacier lakes, Enyd had grown up exploring lakes, rivers, canyons, and mountains not so much different from the snowy scene unveiling itself through the massive window that made up the entire wall adjacent to the fireplace and the sofa where Zark sprawled herself. Enyd followed more leisurely, her eyes traveling over both the outdoor scene and the indoor setup. She would have to see if it was possible to copy this program or have access to it, as she could easily see herself wanting to return, either solo or with company.

Enyd opened and closed her mouth against that very question when Zark began explaining her training history. Moving to take a spot on the sofa so she could face the Andorian as she spoke, Enyd settled herself comfortably and drew the throw blanket tossed across the back of it over her lap. The sofa was comfortable, which was a welcome change to how these sorts of sofas tended to be, often just looking comfortable but acting like cloth-covered boards. Enyd leaned against the cushioned back, watching Zark’s antennae move as she told her story. She was curious if Zark had ever considered becoming a professional storyteller for her vocal intonations mixed with both her facial expressions and antennae movements, and the Andorian struck quite the mesmerizing image.

Laughing as Zark recalled her mentor’s words, Endy shook her head. “The move does indeed look cool, and I think the pity is contextual, of course.” Enyd wasn’t trying to change the topic to hinge on whether or not Zark’s bed partners should indeed be pitied, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from offering at least that reassurance.

“Hey,” Enyd leaned forward, her eyes filled with concern as she looked towards Zark’s abdomen, “would an ice pack help with that?” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. “A swim in a glacier lake while it's snowing?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz

The contextual answer relating to the Andorian's legs and her sex life flew right over her blue head.  Unfortunately the suggestion to take a dip in the lake did not and Zark couldn't help it as a mental image flashed of Enyd standing in the glacier lake dropping her choli while flashing that mischievous smile over her shoulder.  The Zhen blushed and grabbed a convenient pillow to covered her face till her eyes peaked over as she pouted and her antennae began to twist slowly.  Too far! Behave XamotZark! she commanded to herself as she felt conflicting emotion began to jostle for control of her mind.  Control wasn't easy and it took several deep steadying breath for sense of control to re-assert itself, finding her centre once again.

Zark dropped the pillow and gave the human an intense looksie and figured she was most likely being messed with, but it was touching that Enyd was concerned about her health.  It had been a long time since she'd taken the dip into a properly cold body of water.  That's it, she just wants to take dip in the pool, it is a really pretty piece of scenery after all. Still, there were other ways to figure this stuff out and sometimes the best way was the direct method as the Zhen gave a matching smile right back. "It's been a while since I've had a dip.  I think we can do with a short swim before lunch.  Did you have any plans?  If not, there's a bathroom over there for you to choose and change into something appropriate.  I'll meet you at the door."  A cobalt arm waved at sliding barn door somewhere behind Enyd.

Zark smiled brightly as she not so gently got up to go to the kitchen pantry without looking back, excited at the prospect of jumping in some cold water and playing in the snow. Closing the pantry door behind her, Zark leaned back against some racks of various food items before deciding on what was appropriate pool lake wear.  There had been a temptation to jump in naked if for nothing else than see how shockable the diplomat was, but she discarded that idea remembering her earlier admonition.  Settling on just replacing her clothing with a grey sports bra and bicycle shorts, she also made sure to create a set of wool lined boots and a few towels.  Opening the pantry door, Zark saw she was done first and headed to the door before remembering on more thing as she passed by the kitchen island. "Thea, hot chocolate in two-cup thermos please."  The requested item shimmered into existence at her hand, and Zark smiled as she unscrewed the top and gave the aromas a good whiff.  Interesting, definitely European, must be Belgian or French. The blue alien resealed the thermos and headed over to the door outside to wait.  As her body reminded her why she was going into the ice water, Zark grimaced in embarrassment and decided to wrap her towel around her like a full body sarong before heading out.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd raised an eyebrow as she watched Zark’s response to her playful teasing. The way the woman moved, if Enyd didn’t know any better, she might think Zark found her attractive and was fighting against said attraction. Enyd filed that away for later analysis, figuring now was not the time or the place to dance around such topics. If Zark found her attractive, then in some ways, it would make their friendship easier to form and maintain, as in all friendships, there was an element of attraction, be it mental, emotional, or physical. If Zark didn’t find her attractive, then Enyd needed to brush up on her Andorian body language reading skills. It had been some time since she’d studied on Andoria and an equally long time since she’d spent significant time with an Andorian. It was entirely possible she was misreading the body signals.

As Zark agreed to the suggestion, Enyd smiled and shook her head, “I had no lunch plans. Aside from leaving to attend an opera later today with some of the other officers, my afternoon is blissfully free. I try to relish these peaceful moments, as I have a habit of attracting chaos.” She gave a half shrug, looking as innocent as she felt towards that truth. Enyd truly didn’t understand why things always went wobbly-wooply around her; almost as if she were a walking spatial anomaly.

Following Zark’s suggestion, Enyd darted to the bathroom where she worked as quickly, and quietly as possible to change. Likely it sounded like she was wrestling a bell choir to Zark, but soon enough, Enyd had changed from her traditional dancing garb into a simple one-piece white swimsuit in a vintage style she preferred. Over the top, she wore a white faux-fur calf-length parka and tucked her feet into white faux-fur-lined boots. She knew she looked like a fluffy white rabbit with only her pink face and bright eyes peeking through all the fur, but she was warm and eager to jump into the chill of the water.

Enyd passed through the door and stopped just on the other side, looking over her shoulder at Zark through the waving fur.

“Race you!”

Enyd took off down the path, gleeful laughter falling in her wake, as she raced toward the lake. She was almost certain Zark would overtake her but enyd happy for the time being up front on their spontaneous wintry adventure.

---

Swimsuit: https://i.postimg.cc/Df9F66D4/enyd.jpg
Parka: https://i.postimg.cc/x17PNkqQ/enyd.jpg

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz

When the mountain of white cloth came out of the bathroom, Zark's hand came up to her mouth in an attempt to cover her amusement.  The snigger that escaped was turned into a somewhat convincing coughing fit though the attempt to completely hide her amusement was rendered moot as her eyes danced. I know it's cold, but it can't be that... "Hey!" The medico exclaimed as green eyed white rabbit bolted out the door leaving a plume of snow in her path.

Zark couldn't help but laugh as she ran after Enyd. It was so freeing and absolutely great to be running without having to worry about a battlefield situation, or super strength other dimensional being trying to rip her apart.  The only thing to worry about was the cold, but it wasn't terrible compared to jumping into snow drifts back on Andoria, so with a big toothy smile on her face, Zark ran behind Enyd, catching up very quickly.  Zark was very unencumbered pretty much wearing next to nothing, the main impediments being a couple of towels and heavy thermos when a very silly idea struck. 

What followed was immensely juvenile and Zark knew it, but as she just caught up to Enyd, she lunged forward and grabbed the diplomat around the waist.  Getting as good a hand lock while juggling a thermos, the combat medic leaned back on the hill and dragged the human down.  This in retrospect was not a good idea as her torso complained about sudden addition of a similar amount of weight so suddenly.  Zark had been expecting this and had mentally steeled herself, letting out not much more than an "oof" as she brought both bodies to a sliding stop.  The Andorian flipped the human over with an arm and legs, making sure the pink skin ended up face first in the snow.  Smiling maniacally,  Zark bounced up and blew a raspberry as she took off towards the lake at full speed.

Reaching the lake edge, Zark placed the thermos and towels on a flat boulder but thought better before taking off her boots.  It wasn't often she got to play in the snow since she usually came to this simulation to read or play her pipes.  Why not let the frivolity continue? Ducking behind another boulder, Zark gathered up a relatively clean pile of snow in to a sphere.  Not too many bits in it the medico thought to herself as she rounded the boulder and unleashed a baseball throw, hurling the snowball at Enyd before taking off passed her at high speed to secure the high ground.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

The snow-crunching footsteps rushing toward her was the only warning before Enyd let out a whoosh of air and a yelp of surprise. Zark’s arms wrapped around her waist and flipped her into the snow-covered ground with her own grunting “oof.” The Andorian rapidly recovered and took off back down the path to the lake, making a childish noise in her wake. Enyd was just raising her head and pushing the snow-crusted parka out of face when Zark deposited the thermos she’d been carrying alongside the towels on a flat boulder.

It was when the woman disappeared from view, Enyd pushing herself to a crouched position in the snow—her movements sluggish from the weight of the snow in the faux-fur of her parka—that Enyd quirked an eyebrow and fought a smile. Either Zark had suddenly been struck with a sense of shyness and wanted to get into the water out-of-sight, she was building a snowman, or she was up to some sort of mischief. Enyd finally stumbled her way back onto the path and gingerly picked her way closer to the lake’s edge, nerves on high alert for whatever it was Zark had in store of her next.

Zark remained true to Enyd’s guess and pelted her with a snowball before moving to zoom by her in a blue streak back to the high ground. Zark’s snowball caught Enyd directly in the neck, dripping snow down both the inside and outside her parka. Enya shivered as she laughed. It hadn’t hurt, especially not since she’d rather expected nothing less from the Andorian. Enyd knew she should try to chase Zark down and repay her in kind but dressed like the abominable snowman, there was no way she’d be able to catch up to Zark before the woman let loose another volley of snowy ammunition. Or, Enyd could try another tactic...

Since Zark hadn’t stopped to see where she’d hit Enyd with the snowball or to see if it had caused damage, Enyd decided on the low-blow cheating tactic. Feigning a grunt, Enyd dropped directly on her back and lay as still as death with her arms and legs splayed out at her sides. She was curious if Zark would fall for it or if the woman, an experienced combat medic and savvy fighter, would see through Enyd’s ploy and end up pelting her with more snow as punishment. Either way, it was damned difficult to hide her elated smile as she lay waiting for the Andorian’s response.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy] Attn: @Ellen Fitz

Zark really didn't know how the snowball throw went.  It went in the general direction of Enyd and there was a high probability of a hit.  When she'd run passed, her own feet crunching through the snow provided too much cover for any other sounds for her own ears to parse out.  The combat medic made it to the a low rising set of stones and vaulted over before crouching down, fully expecting a pile of fluffy cold return fire to pelt her position.  Zark quickly gathered another snowy sphere in her hands and waited for any indications as to what was going on, and her sense of confusion grew when there was............nothing.  That couldn't be right.  There should have been laughter, indignation, snow flying everywhere, rapidly crunching snow from running............unless.................. Maybe she's being sneaky.  That has to be it.. The medico crouch crawled to the side of the boulder and placed a hand on the smooth stone striped Portsoy Limestone before peaking out.  A blue head quickly ducked back in anticipation of an incoming snow ball, and once again, nothing.  Leaning out, Zark mentally hmphed as she found a lot of trees in her way and had to move to get a better view of the path Switching the snow ball to the other hand, the medic crawled to the other side of the boulder, making sure to stay low.  Upon reaching the other side, she looked down the path and saw an abominable cloth covered figure lying in the snow. 

Zark's first instinct was to drop whatever she was doing and dash out to see if Enyd was okay.  However, the combat medic's training kicked in and she began to survey the area around the prone human.  Her initial impression of the area was that there was nothing remarkable.  Her security training picked out the bits of the impact that had survived intact and she the Andorian didn't see any dark bits indicating rocks, jagged clear parts for ice, or more importantly, blood.  She did see the bits of leaves and twigs, and they appeared to be blowing away.  This meant that the snow ball was a good clean fun one.  Zark did know what to look out for since she'd had ice and stones thrown at her and by her in the past, always with lots of apologizing, and some fist induced bruises that followed. From an amateur crime scene investigators standpoint, it looked like there was nothing dangerous, so Enyd was either enjoying her time quietly or laying a trap.  Most likely the latter knowing them slick diplomat types. Zark thought to herself humorously.

The Andorian had a decision to make, all of which were great fun for her, but potentially not so fun for Enyd if done incorrectly.  The most obvious was to simply pelt the prone human with snow balls till she decided to get up and do battle.  Next was to investigate and risk whatever Enyd had planned, hopefully being able to dodge quickly.  Zark decided on the first one and quickly raised her head over the boulder to lob her now melting snowball at the pile of cloth.  Zark ducked down to an eyes up position on the boulder and watched as the snowball smacked and fountained a good foot passed Enyd's head without appearing to elicit any reaction.  Maybe she fell asleep, or... "Enyd!  You okay there?" Zark wanted to cross off all the T's and dot the I's before she moved to the next step as she surveyed the area.  Still nothing.

The combat medic's mouth changed from one of contemplation to one of delight.  You see, Zark didn't know that Enyd was a mayhem magnet, and it was about to become doubly, nay, exponentially worse for the diplomat as Zark's job was to go out and deliver mayhem.  Thus, when the combat medic  put her mind to the tactical problem in front of her, she saw a ridiculous over the top opportunity.  One thing that Enyd was probably used to doing was playing by a certain set of rules, where as Zark, being more intimately concerned with life and death, usually did whatever it took win within certain Starfleet protocols. Or in some cases, go too far in what she was doing.  This usually meant a greater awareness of her surroundings and the implications.  In this case, Zark knew she was on a holodeck that was her program, and she could mess with it as she saw fit. Ducking back behind the boulder and making sure her voice wouldn't travel too far, the combat medic enacted her plan with the ludicrous,  "Thea, one tactical winterized hydrocarbon powered leaf blower XamotZark mark 1 please."  The requested white painted device appeared and Zark quickly grabbed it before bounding out of her boulder cover and began making her way to the prone human before stopping a good 20 feet away from the pile of frozen snow angel.  This will do nicely, oooooh, this is too good to pass up. 

Clearing her throat, Zark brought up the leaf blower and braced herself  as she dropped her voice an octave while taking on accent from Germany/Austria. "Hey Enyd, get ready for a snow storm" was all the warning the medico gave before she pulled the activation trigger and the laws of physics were conveniently ignored as the leaf blower loudly and throatily spun up to several thousand RPM and blew a 30 mile per hour wall of packing snow at the human.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

It was damned difficult. Lying still while filled with anticipation. Hearing Zark moving around and fighting the urge to respond when the Andorian called out to her. But if she hoped for the ploy to work, Enyd knew she would need to play dead for a while longer. Hoping that Zark would set aside her training just long enough for Enyd to shove snow in her face before taking off for the “protection” of the freezing cold lake. Inwardly sighed, not for the first time, Enyd noted that Zark had many advantages in this particular scenario. Native to an ice planet, the woman was unlikely to feel the bite of the cold as readily as Enyd.

But then, it happened. On the tail end of a well-accented threat, Enyd heard the roar of a machine being activated. Enyd had very little warning before a tidal wave of snow buried her further in the snowbank. She at least had enough response time to cover her face and curl onto her side before she was hit with the first of it. Laughing at the proof of her assumption that Zark wasn’t one to easily fall for such ploys, Enyd weathered the snowstorm with as much dignity as one could when on the receiving end of a total trouncing.

“I surrender.” Enyd took one hand away from her face just long enough to wave it in the air above her head. Waiting until the worst of the blast died down, Enyd dared to peek her head up through the newly made wall of snow the size and shape of her body. “What are your set terms?”

Her face bright pink from laughter and exertion, parka askew, and hair an absolute mess, Enyd waited for Zark, uncertain if she was going to have to duck behind the wall for further protection or if they were to finally make their way to the lake.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz

Uh Oh! Did I overdo it? Zark thought as she saw the giant wall of white cover Enyd.  The arm waving and laughter came as a relief.  Damn, I forgot how overpowered this thing is since I programmed it to ignore physics. Zark couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw the snow woman shaped Enyd that the human emerged from.  It just felt too good in this case and not even the lessening pain in her abdomen was going to stop her as she used a thumb to wipe some snow from her eyes.   "Thea, remove the leaf blower." and the device faded out of existence as Zark made her way over to the diplomat and taking the time to commit to memory such an.........unkempt version of Enyd.  Shaking her head in amusement with a smile of her own, Zark began wiping away the piled snow from Enyd.  In some cases, breaking off the really stuck bits.

Terms of surrender? Well......  A series of options flashed through her mind and a bunch had to be quickly discarded for being either wholly inappropriate or just downright silly.  Standing up after wiping off the last bits of snow, medico took a little time straighten the white parka and cover Enyd first before moving off to the lake.  Afterall, that's why they'd come in the first place and the Andorian was sort of starting to feel the bite of cold wind.  Smiling again, blue hands reached out and grabbed the pale ones while leading her down to the water. "I'm sure I'll think of something later for those terms, but I'm getting hungry and there's something you should see first before we find food."

Zark picked up speed as she got closer to the water and at some point, she let go of Enyd before letting her boots go flying off her feet behind her and taking a swan dive into the frigid water.   The water was refreshing, crisp, and cleansing as Zark glided through the water and kicked her way forward leaving her partner to get ready.  She wasn't just swimming to enjoy the water though as she began looking in earnest for something on the bottom of the lake.  It was harder since there was some clouds and snow, but eventually she spotted a series of reflection on the lake bed and smiled as she kicked for the surface.  The Andorian broke the surface in a cascade and gasped for air as she began to float and pushed the excess water out of her hair and face.  Looking back, she saw she'd swum a good 20 meters or so into the lake, about right distance as she waved to the diplomat.  "Enyd, come ere!  I have something to show you!"

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

“Could be ominous, could be fun.”

Enyd’s bright laughter filled the area as Zark managed to promise both more mayhem in the future and a delightful time in the lake with one sentence. She allowed the Andorian to lead her towards the lake, pausing long enough to watch Zark as she divested herself of her boots in a manner that could only be described as haphazard poise before zipping down to the water’s edge. Enyd moved at a slower pace, content to watch her friend enjoy the water and scenery and marginally loathing to get as cold as the alpine lake promised. However, by the time Zark called to her, waving for Enyd to hurry her bum out to see something, Enyd was wading through the frigid waters, arms braced at her sides, air sucked between her teeth.

“One, two, three,” Enyd counted to herself before dunking under the surface.

It was indeed as cold as she’d imagined it would be, and she was immediately curious if Zark would comment on the blueness of her lips because Enyd knew by the time she swam out to join the medico, at least her lips would be blue from the low temperatures. Using a rapid breaststroke, Enyd found the water more tolerable by the time she joined Zark. As she reached the Andorian, Enyd dipped under the surface and began a shark-like circle, reaching out to tickle the woman. But, with bubbles popping out of her mouth and rushing up alongside her, Enyd instead clawed to the surface, eyes wide with awed surprise.

“Did you see the lights down there? It looks like the aurora borealis underwater!” Enyd quickly took another breath and ducked underwater, undulating her limbs in the water to keep herself submerged.

It took a few moments, but there they were again, bright yellow-greenish lights dancing through the aquamarine-colored water above her. Enyd couldn’t help but grin. She ignored the cold and began to ignore the call for air as she watched, fully entranced, as the colorful light show unfolded all around her. Her eyes still bright with joy, Enyd turned to look at Zark when, yet again, a mouthful of air rushed out in a slew of bubbles and she was forced to resurface with a sputtered yelp of surprise.

“Is that…” Enyd waited until Zark was bobbing in the water alongside her, her fingers pointing down, “Nessie?”

It certainly wouldn't surprise the diplomat if Zark, so influenced by the Scottish culture, had programmed the plesiosaurus looking creature to join them in this setting. She just hoped the safeties were on and that this particular Nessie was a vegetarian.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark grinned as the Enyd finally took the dive made her way over as the medico idly kicked her legs to maintain buoyancy.  Zark laughed as Enyd submerged herself into the water, getting herself into the spirit of things, though the silver-platinum brows knotted momentarily as the human made a more circuitous approach than she would have.  When the program 'easter egg' activated, Zark was not surprised to see the spluttering diplomat come back up for oxygen, having lost most of it to surprise.  The Andorian knew she was going to be doing a lot of laughing as she sucked in a lungful of air and forced herself underwater to join in the light show.  The dance of the borealis penetrating the water surface was really quite enchanting and the medico felt everything fall away to calm as she never got tired of how relaxing the whole scene was despite being under water.  Zark smiled softly as she gently turned her head to see how Enyd was doing when she got a face full of bubbles that startled her and automatically caused her own legs and arms to go into over drive to get to the surface.

Zark gasped for air and flipped her wet locks behind her, cold completely forgotten as she looked into very wide and astonished green eyes and her own head followed the finger down to "Nessie." Oh Shelat, I didn't realize it's been that long since, wait, how long has it been since Nessie's been fed????.......   A high pitched otherworldly groan vibrated through the environment and the combat medic's eyes widened as her head shot up and blue arms grabbed Enyd before turning her around and held on tight. "Shelat! Hang on!" Zark yelled as mythical ancient beast swam for the surface at the exact point Zark and Enyd were floating and tossed the Andorian and Human into the air in a massive splash of water.  Zark held on to Enyd as a small part of her screamed for joy at the sudden ride skyward while the rest mentally cursed Nessie left and right.  The medico held on to the human's dear life as the two apexed and gravity took hold again.  Zark had a moment to check beneath her and mentally sighed in relief that Nessie's neck was reaching up and right under her then realized that Enyd was on top of her. This is gonna suck! was the Andorian's last thought as she got sandwiched between human and mythical beast only letting out a loud "Ahh!" as the two slid down the neck at high speed before sliding up the spine and going airborne again.  Zark let go of Enyd and windmilled her arms hard to make some space between the two before crashing into a nice soft fluffy pre-positioned snow bank. 

The medico groaned at the sudden stop to the trip and rolled onto her front.  The snow felt really nice at this point on her aching muscles, but she was upset as she turned a glare on the beast that appeared to be smiling as it thump waddled it's way over to the snow bank.  Getting up and brushing herself off, Zark had enough cold at this point and asked the computer for a long parka and tuque.  Putting on the garments in a huff, the medico marched over the oversized sea beast and planted one fist on her hip and waving her other hand at the beast easily 5 or 6 times taller than her.  "Nessie!!!  What were you thinking??!  How many times have I told you not to send me flying when there are guests!! You have to treat them gently!!......" Zark ranted and raved as the beasts head seem to lower in shame.  Zark was more mad with herself for forgetting about Nessie and sending Enyd flying unexpectedly, and let her anger spend itself.   Huffing. The blue alien turned around and sighed.    "Sorry Nessie, come on over and meet Enyd."  The friendly looking plesiosaurus seemed to perk up and thumped along behind the comparatively diminutive blue woman as she trudged back and noticed the diplomat's skin being more pale as her lips took on a distinct shade of blue.  "Thea, heated parka, hat, and boots for Enyd please.  Enyd!  Meet Nessie, Nessie meet Enyd.  You can feed Miss Greedy Guts here, there should be a shed with some fish in it."

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd’s hands gripped Zark’s forearms. There was no point in trying to swim away; she knew this without Zark explaining the sudden “embrace.” For a few moments, the cold water around them vibrated with the sound waves and bubbles of the approaching behemoth, reminding Enyd of a jacuzzi spa, and despite the precarious nature of their coming encounter, Enyd couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. And then it happened. The pair were sent flying into the air, and while she felt Zark’s arms tightening around her, Enyd also felt her stomach fly into her throat and her eyes widened as they nearly kissed the sky at the peak of their aerial arc. But, instead, of falling all the way back to the water, or even onto Nessie’s back, the breath rushed out between Enyd’s lips as she landed atop Zark on a portion of Nessie’s neck. She heard Zark’s grunt of discomfort as they continued to clutch at one another, their adventure not nearly over as they slid down the creature’s slippery neck. And then they were airborne again, this time separated, and Enyd only had a moment’s grace to brace herself before the snow enveloped her in an icy embrace, a thick snow bank their padded receptor.

It took Enyd a bit longer to dig her way out of the snow, her snow-covered head popping up like a diplomatic daisy just in time to see the last of Zark’s chastisement. Her body already shaking from the cold, Enyd’s was wobbly, and her words punctuated with the chattering of her clattering teeth as she shivered.

“Ppleasseddd ttto meettt yoooou, Nessie.”

Her movements were sluggish and jilting as she pulled on the much-needed snow gear and as Zark had wisely ordered them to be pre-heated, Enyd’s body almost immediately relaxed once she was better prepared for their present circumstances. At Zark’s suggestion, Enyd noted the small shed a few paces away from their position, between the snowbank, a copse of trees, and the water’s edge.

“Let us get food for this wee beastie, then some fer ourselves.” Enyd playfully adjusted her accent to mimic a Highlander’s as she basically frolicked like a snow fox through the embankment to the shed.

The shed was filled with all sorts of fish and eels, though blessedly, the holoprogram kept the smell at a tolerable level as they entered, and Enyd selected an iridescent eel to toss to the creature. Nessie slurped it up like a noodle, slapping the water like a happy puppy doing a food dance, her body quivering as she waited for more.

“I can tell you I do NOT want fish for lunch now.” Enyd joked once they finished time and were on their way back to the cabin. “Maybe a thick stew with crusted bread and a flagon of warm mead. You?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Truth be told, Zark wanted Enyd to feed Nessie mostly because getting sandwiched had actually hurt more than she'd realized, but being as physically tough and as mad as she was at the time, the Andorian had been able to ignore the pain to a certain degree.   However as the adrenaline wore off, the dull, spikey, cramping, throbbing was getting in the way of a good time now and it didn't take long to weigh the scales of life for a solution as she ordered a dermal regenerator transported to her location.  As the diplomat bounded through the snow like white rabbit fish bearing easter rabbit, the medico sat down and let out a silent groan as she took the opportunity presented to open her parka and inspect the damage.  Blue lips pulled into a grimace as her hands tenderly probed telltale dark splotches that marred her toned and smooth belly.  I really need to work on the counter. The combat medic mentally grumped as she grabbed the regenerator, and began running the device over her abused torso and felt relief wash through her as the pain began to subside and her abused muscles unknoted themselves. 

The loud slurping sound caused the Andorian to raise her head and smile as Enyd tossed a Pacifican Light Eel for Nessie to slurp.  Zark felt much better and and it was good enough to stand, Zark got up and flashed a smile at the diplomat as she tossed the medical device a couple of times in the air before depositing it in a pocket.  "Gimme a second to see if I can find something for Nessie." Zark called to Enyd as she proceeded to the shed and held her breath before going in.  Thankfully it didn't take long to find the fish she was looking for and the Andorian unhooked a meter long salmon and carried it out.   Mimicking Enyd, the Andorian modulated her voice to Scottish, "Oy Nessie! Come get yer fishie!" and the plesiosaurus happily thumped it's way over kicking up a storm of snow towards the Andorian and nearly burying the diplomat in snow once more.  With an aleyooop, Zark tossed the fish at the mythical beast and Nessie's head lanced out to catch the fish before tossing it in the air and catching again to chew on it. Looking at her arms, Zark figured it was good thing, the fish was holographic as she didn't want to leave with fish scent all over her.  With Nessie happily munching away, the blue ears perked up when Enyd reminded her that they hadn't had lunch yet.  Zark laughed at herself when her stomach agreed with the sentiment and growled loudly at it's owner.  At this point, she was sure she'd eat just about anything, but a big hunk of protein sounded good too. 

As the two trudged back to the cabin, Zark began to wonder why they hadn't been interrupted again with more visitors. "Computer, when is the next booking for this holosuite?" "The next booking is for 1500" and Zark arched an eyebrow at this.  "Lucky us I guess."  The medico idly commented.  As the two ladies made their way to door, Zark surreptitiously stretched her step to grab the handle and open it for her guest before following her in.  Keen blue-green eyes noted the diplomat's well maintained appearance was a wreck at this point having been snow walled, tossed, and covered in winter weather one way or another.  Zark was pretty sure she wasn't in the best looking shape either with a cut, dried blood, and bruises on her face.  This brought the smile back to the blue face as a silly thought merrily floated through her internal filters and out her mouth. "So, did you want to eat in the cabin, or should we see if the mess people prepared stew and mead for the crew today?"

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd glanced down at the sight of herself then Zark and let out a bark of laughter. Elro had already had to deal with more than a few injuries of her own and would only dub Enyd bad luck if she came in with Zark in tow. And she knew that was exactly where they’d end up if they dared to venture to the mess hall looking like they’d gone toe-to-toe with the abominable snowman.

 “My dear Zark, I think we’d best stick to the cabin for now or else we’ll both be carted first to see the doc and then perhaps to see a shrink.”

She led the way back into the cozy cabin and made quick work about ordering up a toasty fire in the cabin’s massive fireplace before moving off to wrangle out her food from the replicator in the holosuite. Enyd was just settling down, sitting crisscrossed on the rug at the coffee table, when she remembered the yelp of pain elicited from Zark earlier during their Nessie episode.

“Hey Zark, I have field medic training only, but do you want me to help out in any way?” She nodded towards the Andorian’s torso. “I know I’m not the heaviest dame around, but I’m not lightweight either. You took quite a beating even before I landed on you.” Abandoning her food for the time being, though she paused long enough to take a soothing sip of mead, Enyd returned to her friend’s side and waited. “I promise not to tickle. Much.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark appreciated the discretion, even in jest, that Enyd was practicing.  She was pretty sure that once Doctor Hernandez had finished patching her up, he'd start pestering her to visit the counsellor's and have her head checked as well.   Since she'd worked out several of her own frustrations and didn't feel like making a habit of picking up bruises or worse, the medico felt it was under control.  Enyd seemed to feel the same way, so it was better to let sleeping dogs lie at this point the Andorian thought to herself as she went to the cabinets to grab all the accoutrements of a hearty stew lunch.  Setting the bowls, plates, and cutlery on the island, the medico opened a cabinet that housed a drinks fridge, and selected a dark lager as her drink of choice.  Waiting for the requisite bottle to materialize, she precariously balanced the lot and carried it over to the coffee table that Enyd was intent on using as a the venue of consumption.

Whatever the stew was, it smelled delicious and Zark took her time in laying out the bowls, plates, and cutlery out for the two lunching ladies.  Zark waited till Enyd sat down cross legged before joining her and popped the top on her bottle.  The bottle never left the table though when Enyd asked if Zark needed help with her bruised abdomen and the medicos hand automatically moved to the affected area as her eyes began to track the movement of the beautiful if dishevelled brunette.

The Zhen opened and closed her mouth as the emerald eyed woman sat down next to her and Zark had to make conscious effort to move her hand away from her belly.   There was the simple answer; she'd already taken care of most of the damage in the snow, and was in much better shape thank you very much.  And it was the answer that wouldn't come out as her antennae began to swirl as they pointed at human.  Slightly wide blue green eyes stared intently into emerald green searching for an answer to a question that plagued many living beings throughout life.  Questions of the heart were the worst in the medico's mind for they potentially invited so much joy, yet had the high probability of even more pain, and she now found herself at a fork in the road because of her heart wanted to know.  There was the road of passion, and a significant part of her being yearned to simply lean in and taste those burgundy lips that were so tantalizingly close, press her body in and embrace what could possibly be with the ethereal form next to her, damn whatever happened next. Then there was the path of the test, and Zark had been trained to draw on all her resources to determine if what was in front of her was what she thought it really was.

The security officer's instincts reluctantly trundled down the second path as she read the diplomat's facial expression, body language, and interaction; and her mind reached a reluctant conclusion.  It was always in the face, more specifically, the eyes.  They were bright with concern, yet that very indescribable yet known something, the smouldering, or the spark, seemed to be missing.  At the very least, it wasn't there at moment.  Mere seconds had passed when the Andorian took a deep breath and picked up her bottle before taking a healthy swig before smiling graciously once more and pulling the dermal regenerator out of her pocket and handing it over.  "Well Enyd, I think we can do more than the basics, though if you try to tickle me too much, my other hand attached to this here pillow may suffer an inexplicable collision with your head."  Chuckling a bit, Zark's smile became slightly more professional.  "Seriously though, there's more to a dermal regenerator than just waving it over the injured area.  First off..."  the medico continued as cobalt hands enclosed pale ones and guided the device in the act of healing.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd’s background knowledge of antennae interpretation was minimal, though she had fared better at reading the additional body signal whilst on Andoria for training than many of her peers. She recognized that Zark was deep in thought, even beyond the antennae movement, and deduced that the thought process had much to do with her, and potentially her offering to assist. There had been other instances in their brief acquaintance where something she’d said or done had caused the Andorian woman to grow still like this, seemingly both hyper aware and deep in thought, and it brought Enyd to wonder more than a few things. They had not yet brought up the topic of significant others, as really that hadn’t been part of anything they’d said or done so far, but IF Zark was inclined to be attracted to females as well as males, or just females, and she was unattached, then Enyd could understand how their present circumstances could be construed as potentially romantic.

Enyd blushed. She stalled for time as she tucked her hair behind her slightly pointed ears. It was only at that moment that she realized how difficult the situation would be for her right now if she’d been Drauc and Zark had been her. At least Andorians weren’t mind readers or empaths like Drauc was otherwise Enyd was certain Zark would possibly injure herself more in her efforts to beat a hasty retreat from Enyd’s present deductive assumptions. But…there was always the chance that it was entirely unrelated to her and to their sitting in a cozy cabin in a spectacular area, red-faced from exertion, sharing a delicious meal, both barely clothed by more uptight Federation standards.

She laughed at Zark’s threat once the woman responded, handing over the dermal regenerator, “Oh no! Not the pillow!”

Being a quick learner, and with some basic background in the use of the regenerator, Enyd was diligent and thorough as she passed the device over Zark’s injuries and working until it seemed Zark was at greater ease once more.

“Have you ever gotten drunk with a Romulan?” Enyd asked once her task was finished and she handed the device back. “Lieutenant Valyn Amarik, she’s transferred onboard the same day as me, same route too. We didn’t intend on getting drunk, and in reality, we were tipsy more than drunk. Ended up raiding the pantry, so to speak, on our first night aboard Theurgy.” Enyd gave Zark a playful grin as she grabbed her mead and held it aloft for a toast. “To many more adventures such as these with friends, old and new.”

Post-toast, Enyd dug into the first few bites of stew with gusto more befitting a bovine than a human but she was hungry and she had been cold and it was good, so all worthy excuses to do away with etiquette for at least a few first bites. The worst of the hunger abated, and after another healthy swallow of mead, Enyd leaned back to force a pause in her eating. Her eyes moved between the crackling fire and the view outdoors, forcing herself not to stare at Zark. Enyd knew she had a bad habit of staring at people, trying to figure out their thoughts and emotions and connect them to past and present actions while predicting what came next. Rude, is what her grandmother called it. And then there were other adjectives tossed at her other the years more colorful than that, but at least a few of her professors had appreciated it.

“It seems to me that we both have a habit of working through things through physicality.” Enyd broke her gaze with the fire long enough to nod towards Zark abdomen. “When I was on Vulcan post-Cardassia fiasco that got my fiance murdered in my arms, I was in a very dark place. Nearly got kicked out of Starfleet actually, for drunken disorderliness. It seems my colleague did like my Orion dance on his desk. He was such an uptight prat, no regrets. It wasn’t until Admiral Anderson manipulated me through some distant relatives that I got my act together.” Enyd took another deep sip of her mead, settling against the pillows at her back as she continued. “Granted, it was the positive kind of manipulation in the end. He knew me well enough, having worked with both my parents, to know that I needed to get my arse kicked physically in order to get my head space right. I ended up going on the traditional Vulcan pilgrimage through the Forge, as if I was going to perform the Kolinahr ritual, and while I made it to the platform on Mount Selaya, I passed out and woke up again at the hospital where Anderson explained what he’d done and why. That was the butt kick I needed to get my act together. Granted, I obviously still imbibe, but there’s no risk of my going off the deep end. At least not with drink. I still feel a pull towards needed to work out the mental kinks through painful physical experiences though. Not always fighting. Sometimes just hard treks in the mountains.” Enyd gave a half shrug as she leaned forward to put her glass back on the table, her eyes traveling over her friend’s form. “What about you?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark had done her level best to be as professional in her impromptu medical class with Enyd, and it had worked. Mostly.  The steady guidance of the pale hands in her blue ones acted much like a masseuse on her aches and pains, and there was a certain sensuality to the movements that couldn't be avoided.   If the movements were too quick, the regenerator field wouldn't properly take hold. Too slow and one was wasting energy.  The relief that the Andorian medico was feeling was very welcome and like any good massage, one felt easy and free afterwards.  Zark took a moment as Enyd got the hang of the operating the regenerator to appreciate the sheer good looks of the diplomat, and she caught herself before switching back to watching her guide the device in unknotting and repairing the bruises and contusions with skill that belied her experience.  The scantily clad Andorian was also quite aware of both their states of near undress and she blushed at the thought of someone walking in on them at this moment.  Truth be told, the merciless innuendo she'd use on the interloper would be totally worth it since the medico was sure Enyd would utilize her diplomatic repertoire to increase the witty carnage that would be inflicted on the unfortunate soul.

With the pain effectively gone and her abdomen mostly back to normal, Zark sighed in relief and gratefully took back the medical device as Enyd brought up a non-sequitur and the Security Officer had to plunge into the depths of memory to remember who she was, which was thoroughly interrupted causing a snigger of laughter at the idea of the diplomat and the intelligence 'analyst' stealing consumables after a bout of inebriation. Zark was about to ask how much they got away with and whether she should report their escapade when Enyd used her skills to preempt Zark with a salute, and ploughed into the stew and mead with a gusto.  The hungry Andorian saw no need to turn away the well wishes as she grabbed her bottle and clinked back before joining in inhaling the stew.  Zark generally not being concerned with niceties when she was hungry gave a most unlady like demonstration as she did her best to imitate a black hole and rapidly shovelled down the bowl's contents while her jaw moved at high speed and her cheeks became like those of a terran rodent known as a chipmunk. 

With half the bowl's contents gone, Zark was sufficiently satisfied that she could put the stew down and grabbed a napkin.  As Enyd spun her tale, Zark's cleanup took on completely opposite traits to the one's she used for eating.  Delicate and deliberate as her mind turned towards digesting the new information she was hearing.  It was an emotional story and the Andorian was taken on an emotional roller coaster as her head turned to watch the diplomat spin her tale of despair, struggle, and rebirth.  The description really was quite matter of fact as Enyd plumbed the depths of her experience while using the flame in the middle of the living room as a focus, but the Andorian's imagination supplied all the emotion that helped give life to the summary, and it took an act of sheer will to stop herself from jumping out of her seat to grab the forthright brunette in a comforting embrace.   When Enyd asked her question though, Zark had to give it some thought and her head tilted to one side before staring up at the ceiling to ponder her laundry list of various coping mechanisms.  A cobalt finger began lightly tapping on the medicos chin before she began. "Well, if a mountain trek is available, I'd definitely go on one of those, but since Security has to be around the ship quite a bit, I usually spend most of it on the holodeck.  There are the more peaceful pursuits of meditating, reading with a nice glass of wine, watching a movie, or playing music."  The blue green gaze came back down towards the diplomat and lips became pursed in thought before continuing.  "The thing is, what you saw earlier is probably the most intense of the options for working through whatever is bugging me.  It never really gets that bad since I get I'm working it out in the security centre's gym all the time."  The combat medic suddenly turned sullen as she brought her knees to her head and laid her head on top.  The beer was starting to take hold and it freed various thought paths for contemplation.  "It's just that with everything that makes up this crazy train, sometimes, I'm not sure what to make of it."

The Andorian's voice went distant as soulful blue green eyes turned to emerald ones.  "Do you know, I've almost been killed twice since the ship left Aldea?"  Zark pointed at a spot on her abdomen. "I got shot by something that went through my armour like it was paper the first time.  Turns out the Federation ambassador to Breen was an Infested and determined to blow up something to wipe out the capital."  Pursed blue lips blew out air. "Barely survived that one. Had to operate on myself to get all the fragments out and patch all the holes inside."  Waving a hand to forestall any questions. "Don't worry, the Savi put me back together.  Then there was Qo'nos.  Lor'Vela knows how many hours that was of straight up combat to rescue the crew of the Sabine...... Lost a lot of good people on that jaunt as well.  VanVinter pulled my butt out of that one after I got shot again, and that was after a Klingon flattened my original nose." Sighing more.  "You're right about the physicality of it all.  I was wondering if I lost the edge, but after that bout with the hologram, it doesn't seem like it."

After that admission of vulnerability, Zark wiped away a stray tear that was gathering in her eye.  Still it wasn't quite enough for Zark for she was very alone on the ship and she needed someone to turn to, and like a dam ready to burst its levees, she reached over to grab Enyd in a hug as she buried her head in the human's neck.  "Thank you for listening and being here with me." The Andorian quietly told her friend before eventually letting go and taking a breath.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd finished off her food as she listened to Zark’s reply. Despite the differences in their backgrounds and training, they seemet they had much in common in how they dealt with anxiety or stress. Granted, Enyd couldn’t remember the last time she’d meditated, but she enjoyed quiet moments spent mulling over thoughts while sipping at a warm drink. Perhaps that was a form of meditation. Enyd was finished with her food and back to sipping at her mead by the time Zark shifted to her own confessional. She refrained from reaching out to touch the Andorian woman just yet, but she knew already they would end this with an embrace. There was no way two women could share so much without tears shed and bodies embracing.

She hadn’t thought to ask Zark what sort of mischief she’d been up to during the initial mission on Qo’Nos, but she had her answer anyway. While Enyd had been tossed like confetti across the Great Hall, Zark had been slugging it to rescue their colleagues. The mentioning of Victor had Enyd’s lips upturning for a brief second. She was glad he’d been there as it seemed they’d helped each other out of that mess. Enyd leaned forward to set her glass down as Zark drew to a close. Just in time, it turned out, as Zark’s arms tugged her into a tight hug seconds later.

Enyd remembered how her grandmother would cradle the back of her head with one hand while smoothing the other up and down her back with the other and how calming that had been to Enyd during her crying fests. Mimicking the woman who raised her, Enyd held Zark until her friend’s breathing evened out, and Zark whispered her thanks against her neck. Zark’s lips tickled Enyd’s sensitive flesh, and she couldn’t help the rush of goosebumps that prickled her skin in response.

“Thank YOU for listening to me as well, Zark. It goes both ways.” Enyd kept her hand on Zark’s shoulder even once the Andorian pulled back to recover herself. “I am thankful you have made it this far, for I know already my life is better for knowing you.”

She shifted away long enough to grab the unused napkin on the table and passed it over. Zark’s pain was more recent, more raw, and her tears had not been planned; that much was obvious.

“Oh, fun fact, Van Vinter and I were once engaged.” Enyd grinned at Zark’s response but said nothing more as she stood and resumed the clean-up process.

Enyd continued to dance around the room, cleaning up after their meal, and ordering another glass of mead until finally, she took pity on Zark and explained further.

“We met on Vulcan a lifetime ago. I was a civilian, getting my Masters at the Metternich, and he was on leave. Our innocent first date nearly got us both killed.” Enyd laughed at the memory of facing down the sea monster, among other things. “But, with both of us hopeless romantics and suckers for chaos, we struck up a ridiculous correspondence. I say ridiculous only because we were ridiculous. We were both writing on real paper.” She shook her head at the memory as she sipped generously at the mead. “We met a few times over the years, got engaged, and were set to get married once things settled on Cardassia enough for me to meet him on Bajor. But…” Enyd smile fell to a resigned grimace, and she polished off the last of her mead in one rush, as if it were a shot. “Emotions are complicated; we who are still living are complicated. I didn’t mean to fall in love with Javec, but I did, and I certainly didn’t mean to get caught up in the subterfuge of the Directorate against the pro-Federation fledgling government. But my doing a favor for an old family friend got me caught, my fiance murdered, and my engagement to Victor ended, with our relationship severed for his own protection.”

Enyd realized she was sharing far more than was polite, but she had begun drinking on an empty stomach, and she’d forgotten the strength of mead. She’d also forgotten to ask Zark about the food settings, whether or not the beverages would be rated at expected levels or were altered for safety. It seemed, based on her loose tongue and Zark’s earlier tears, the safeties were little to none for their booze. Shaking herself, Enyd smiled, reaching out to squeeze Zark’s shoulder before the Andorian could potentially fret.

“Neither of us realized we were on the same ship until just after the fireworks died down on the planet. We’ve since reconciled are have plans to meet up again later this week to air out our proverbial closets. But, regardless, Victor is the finest of men, and I am glad he was there for you when you needed him.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Platinum tresses hung over her Zark's blue green eyes as she wiped away a few tears that formed from her embrace of Enyd with her thumb.  If pressed to admit it, the embrace had more comforting than she'd realized, especially when her back was being rubbed and she felt the comforting hand on her head. It was a feeling of warmth and care she hadn't felt in a very very long time long time.  Even her occasional lovers had not held her in such a fashion, and she wasn't sure what to make of it, just that it felt really nice.  Zark reset her hair around her antennae as Enyd thanked her for the company as well and smiled even as she worked to get a couple of sniffles out of the way before clearing her throat.  As she watched Enyd begin to clean up, the much relieved medico spied her beer bottle and tipped it to her lips to finish it off.

Which put her in the exact wrong position when Enyd dropped her little bomb shell about her engagement.  "Pfffbbbbb!" was the only answer the Andorian could give as her shock was total and a spray of beer went flying back into the bottle and out the rim.  The bottle was slammed down as Zark began choking and thumping her chest rapidly as she loudly coughed dark lager out of her airway.  "Hoooooo!!" Hack! "Ughhh!"  "By" Hack! "Lor'vela!" Sucking of air to refill lungs. "Give a girl some warning before you decide to tell someone that!  Ahhhhhhh."  Zark frantically began wiping herself and the surrounding down as Enyd grabbed another mead and the Andorian went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water before joining Enyd again on the couch and taking a healthy slug of water to clear her throat and mouth.  "Now, what's this about an engagement that you're clearly not in any more."  and cobalt hands made a gimme gesture as she leaned forward, eyes bright, to take in the details what could have been Mrs. VanVinter.

Zark really wanted to laugh a the story. The beginning matched her experience with the Warp Fighter Chief, and the mayhem Enyd seemed to attract from their short interaction made it a virtual guarantee that the two would experience something far out of proportion for 'simple' first date.  The truncated version of the romance though quickly took a horrible turn and the Security Officer was shocked at how the diplomat's posting had become romantic and awry so quickly.  That explained the bruises that the Andorian had spotted earlier, but had exercised her discretion in not mentioning them.

The medico felt the shoulder on her hand and smiled that the two would be on their way towards a reconciliation soon.  Still, it seemed that mayhem would exact it's price one way or another. It was many years too late, but Zark couldn't help herself as she hugged the diplomat one more time before leaning in to her ear. "I know it was a long time ago, but still, I'm sorry you had to go through all that pain and loss.  I couldn't be there, but I wish I could have been there for you."  The Andorian held on just a little bit longer, for after Enyd's reaction to her first hug, the Andorian figured at this point, she needed a friend more than anything, and kissing her on their first day of meeting would cause all sorts of problems she didn't want.  "Unfortunately, I wouldn't have been anywhere in the area to help you."  The Andorian started as she leaned back.  "After I graduated from Starfleet medical, I spent three years on the Spector helping to stabilize the border."   Deep sigh. "That was complicated with the holdouts, and various rogue factions trying to carve up little fiefdoms for themselves, or tearing up the ones they were in.  I wasn't on the senior staff, so I only really got called in when a hammer was called for, or on rescue mission."   With that summation, Zark realized she'd fallen down a bit of a potential rabbit hole of her own.  "I think I'm gonna tell you about those ones another time."

Feeling the energy in the room shift, Zark felt there were other problems she was more than happy to bring up instead and she would probably curse the aftermath, but she stood up, waving Enyd to stay seated while she made her way to the food replicator once more. "Just gimme a moment."  Damning the calories, fats, carbs, and everything else.  "Computer, one moose track mountain on warm brownies, two spoons, and a bottle of Michter 21 year old, ice, water, and two glasses."  Silently thanking the fact they were in dry dock once again, the soon to be stuffed Andorian brought the whole heaping pile of white ice cream with various shades of chocolatey brown, and booze to the table.  The fact it needed multiple trips was not lost on the platinum haired woman as she plopped herself down at the coffee table and poured a couple of very generous fingers for the two of them and placed a spoon in the diplomat's hand. "Enyd, the main thing with whiskey is that bourbon is the only one that really has the sweetness to stand up to all the flavours in this sundae.  We're also going to celebrate the sweet fact that we're alive, in my case courtesy of Victor, and friends now in with this ridiculous representation of the good stuff of life."

---

OOC: Moose Track Ice Cream is made up of vanilla ice cream with chocolate peanut butter cups swirled with Moose Tracks® fudge.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

“Now, what kind of a diplomat would I be if I walked around warning everyone whenever I intended to drop a strategic information bomb?” Enyd was kind enough to offer assistance in cleaning her Andorian friend, and the immediate vicinity caught in the crossfire of her spit-take of surprise.

Enyd was grateful for the long hug Zark offered and squeezed her arms around the woman’s svelte waist before letting go. When Zark shared some of her own past, it was Enyd’s turn to reach out and lightly brush her hand over her friend’s arm in comfort and encouragement. It seemed that no one came through the Dominion War and the time just after without a few scars of some kind of another.

“Will those stories require more or less alcohol?” Enyd held up her glass with a mischievous smirk.

Zark shifted from mere drinks to dessert and drinks. Enyd watched and listened with an appreciative smile as the Andorian ordered ice cream and bourbon and made multiple trips to place the extensively sweet and boozy spread in front of them. She was already sitting upright, leaning forward, eager, when Zark placed the spoon in her hand and gave a short speech on why they were justified in eating this many calories in one sitting.

Clinging her spoon against Zark’s, Enyd gave a conspiratory salute before digging into the gooey, melty, creamy goodness before her. She was only three bites and two lingering sips into the sundae when both the accumulated alcohol and the sugar hit her. Hard. Giggling like a five year old, Enyd shoveled more of the sundae into her mouth, not caring that a dollop of chocolate missed her mouth and left a trailing mark down the side of her mouth before plopping onto her collarbone.

“Okay, Zark, I’ve got a conundrum question for you. I’m curious how you would’ve handled it.” Enyd licked at her lips, smearing the top portion of the chocolate trail while completely ignoring the bit of chocolate on her clavicle. “Victor and I were never physically intimate.” Enyd paused, smirk in place, ready to dodge in case bourbon or ice cream came flying her direction. “We kissed, held hands, hugged, but we never consummated our relationship. Ours was a union of souls and minds, not bodies. And he made it clear to me that if I ever wanted to request such from him he’d comply because he loved me or if I wanted to pursue something physical with someone else, he’d respect that as well.” She paused long enough to finish her bourbon and hold out the glass for more, shameless in every way. “Javec and I started off clashing but eventually grew into a mutual respect and admiration for each other, which led to an unexpected physical relationship that was far more passionate and…distracting than what I had had with Victor.” Enyd sipped again at the bourbon, pausing in her ice cream shoveling competition for the time being. “Would you have still pursued Javec?”

Enyd realized she was revealing far more to Zark now than she had to her required counselor years ago when Javec first died. Perhaps it was the booze, the sugar, the fact that she’d been able to “bury the hatchet” a bit with Victor after so many years and had since survived a bout with an Infested…or a glorious combination of all of the above. Regardless, it felt freeing to speak so openly about this part of her life. She’d never been able to share with her grandmother, for the woman had been dead when Enyd was freed from the Directorate. Victor had also gone from her life. And it had surprised Enyd just how small her inner circle was when she’d gotten out of her own arse of grief long enough to look around and take note of her present reality. Sitting here with Zark, it occurred to Enyd that it had be literal years since she’d had a friend like this. To have been reunited with Victor and have met Valyn and Zark in such a short amount of time, on the same ship, made coming against the Infested seem worth it.

As she waited for Zark’s reply, Enyd resumed picking at the sundae, trying not to eat too much though she very much wanted to tip the bowl up and drop the entirety of the sundae directly into her belly. Enyd smiled. Oh yes, she was feeling the alcohol. Her appetite always increased when she was tipsy.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark turned a sly smile on Enyd when asked about stories after the war.  "A lot more before I'm even ready to think about telling anyone about it.  Some are funny, some aren't, but most aren't too bad."  A slender finger tapped the cobalt chin for a moment.  "The easy ones to remember are the nasty ones, and I don't wanna go there."

The clinking of the spoons was a welcome relief as she the two began digging out sweet sugary frozen cream and brownies.  In contrast to Enyd's inner child coming out, Zark leaned her back, closed her eyes, and sighed as the wondrous combination of vanilla and chocolate coated her senses.  Drinking some of the heady Kentucky buttered caramel, the liquid seemed to evaporate into her sinuses and a warmth suffused her throat and chest quickly.  Zark cracked an eye open, then the other very quickly and was startled as Enyd seemed to be picking up the pace of her consumption, even becoming a little sloppy as a bit of chocolate fell on the diplomat's collar.  Zark sat on her maternal instincts to clean the mess up.  Ah, so she's a hungry drunk, wait a minute!  That's my sundae too! "Hey! Leave some for me!." The medico indignantly laughed as she dug in to the gooey and fudgey concoction in an attempt to catch up.

The Andorian had to pause mid bite as Enyd raised her question and the pace at which she was eating slowed down dramatically as she had to think about what was being asked before tossing her drink back and filling both glasses with several generous fingers of amber inebriant.   The Zhen listened, then scooped more dessert into her mouth, before she began chewing, then sucking on the spoon, causing it to waggle side to side as she thought as to how best answer an obviously interesting conundrum.  After making a valiant attempt to draw water from metal,  Zark took the spoon out and covered her mouth as she let out a small burp. 

"Weeellllll" When the Andorian began to drawl, it was a good sign she was getting drunk for sure. "Heeere's the thing.  Uhmmmmm, ya seeee.  By Andorian standards, I'm a married woman."  Zark stuck her tongue out as she fumbled at a silver link chain on her collar for a second before pulling out pulled out a block of clear resin that held 4 locks of white hair arranged in a diamond from between her breasts. "This is ma Shapla!"  Zark held it between herself Enyd as her mind considered her bond mates.  "It's like a wedding ring for you.  Ya see, when the government on Andoria determined that I was gonna be setup with ma bond mates, we all got genetically tested to see how well I would eventually make babies, then we were all designated as each other's bond mates.  The main thing with that was to see how well we'd all get along to make a good family unit in the future."  Intensely salacious smile. "Good home environment in the future for all kiddies we're supposed to produce, which for me is when I turn 30." 

The block of resin continued to spin in the deft cobalt fingers before the index finger shot up to hold off any questions. While taking another sip of booze. "I'm getting to the point.  You seeeee, because there are four of us, we generally have to share anyway, so I don't see a problem with you, Victor, and Javec as long as you all agree to it."  The Andorian's Index fingered waggled back and forth to indicate don't say anything just yet before taking another sip.  "The thing is, what I consider acceptable, may not be for you, so it depends on how badly you wanted one or the other for the rest of your life.  I have to be able to handle at least two men in my life at once, and from their societal upbringing, they can't complain too much unless someone was really possessive, then we'd have problems." Bigger sip and another glass refill. 

Zark's smile turned very fond and soft as she stared at the locks of hair that were locked away and preserved essentially forever. She gave the block one last squeeze before letting it settle on her chest and turning her gaze back on Enyd. "Ya know. hic. When I joined Starfleet, my Zhavey and Shreva, or mom's in your case, made it clear that with me going off to Starfleet, I would be away for loooong periods of time.  Luckily, I'd been with my bond mates for years already and we all love each other.  But Zhavey and Shreva made it clear to Shrav, Ryn, and Ryzit that they had better not expect me to be celibate, since it was easier for them to get some at home, and I wouldn't."  Zark blushed a bit as the topic of conversation haphazardly wandered into the unexpected realm of different species mating practices and she was fast running out of innuendos to dance around the topic.  "Well, Ryn always did have a bit of stick up his ass, and he complained when I told him about then Cadet Wilkins.  I ended up using a bunch of stuff she taught me on him and the other two.  Didn't seem to think it was such a bad idea afterwards for me to explore more afterwards.  I think Ryzit enjoyed it more....... and I'm sinking fast into TMI territory here. Sorry."

Zark's head dropped in embarrassment at the realization that she'd opened the curtains of her own bedroom to Enyd without realizing it.  Quickly looking for something distracting to do, the Zhen grabbed a napkin and poured some water on it  before kneeling in front of Enyd and talking while gently cleaning chocolate stains off her.  "I guess the answer to your questions is if I had to choose one, then I'd pick the one I was willing to sacrifice everything for, and if the answer is the same for both, then it sucks to ask, but do you know here." and slender fingers moved to tap the human's heart "Would he do the same and make you feel alive about it?  The questions and permutations are endless, but in the end, this bit here is what will guide you, or I guess it did at any rate."  With a final wipe, Enyd was clean again, and Zark sat back down to take another sip of bourbon as she scooped up the fast melting sundae.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd eagerly nodded as she listened to Zark respond to her question, recalling conversations and experiences she’d had with her colleagues on Andoria. Determining to share those later, perhaps with another bit of liquor, Enyd maintained her focus on Zark as the Andorian shared her insight and personal life. Enyd’s slim fingers wrapped around the shapla and leaned closer to examine the jewelry. She had never exchanged engagement rings with Victor, and aside from public pledges, there had been no jewels traded between her and Javec either. The only thing tangible she had to reflect her relationship was her medal, and that was not something she intended to wear anytime soon. Letting go of the chain and straightening, Enyd smiled.

“I respect and appreciate your feedback, Zark. And I highly respect your ‘moms’ for their looking out for your physical needs like that. Consideration can manifest in many forms and it goes a long way in almost every culture.”

She knew of the population concerns the Andorian culture was facing. Enyd had been privy to quite a few conversations regarding this issue with Ethis and his quad group.

“My partner in my interspecies ethics class during my time on Andoria was an Andorian named Ethis. He introduced me to his quad group and let me tell you, being the “third wheel” to an Andorian quad group as a human diplomat is a dream come true for cultural exchange.” Enyd giggled, hiccuped, blushed, and giggled again.

Enyd couldn’t help the blush intensifying in fascination and interest when Zark veered into “TMI” territory. She’d only ever been intimate with Javec, sharing kisses and hugs with Victor, so the concept of being so openly intimate and actively gleaning sexual tactics to use on one’s partner was a foreign concept altogether. Not unpleasant. Just…different. Enyd couldn’t put a finger on if she would be as keen on doing the same thing if Javec was still alive, moving between him and Victor, applying physical insights from one on the other. Bajoran and Cardassian customs were so drastically different from Andorian, and even then, from human. And even among humans, it was dependent upon your place of origin. Her grandmother had been fairly conservative on such matters and Enyd knew her own outlook on such things were heavily influenced by the matron of the family.

“Zark, you don’t need to apologize for sharing things like that. If you are belligerent to me, intentionally hurt me, or open a door in my face, I can understand an apology. But something like this,” Enyd gave an exaggerated wave to the area around them, “It is wasted breath. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to know you more.” To help break the ice further, Enyd quipped, “I’ve slept with one man in all my life, and he was a Cardassian, so pointers from you could prove useful considering I am quite unattached and it looks like this posting will keep me isolated from other options outside the ship for a good while yet.” She gave a playful wink over her glass, finishing it off and setting the empty glass near the bottle, a subtle sign that she’d like yet another refill.
Enyd was momentarily startled when Zark leaned forward and began to clean her. It was only then that Enyd realized how messy she’d been while eating the sundae. Giving a snorting laugh, Enyd sat diligently like a child while Zark continued her ministrations until it satisfied the Andorian woman that Enyd was yet again presentable. Enyd gave her own response to Zark’s rhetorical as the Andorian tucked back into the sundae.

“Javec died for me. He killed for me too.” Enyd shook her head, the heartfelt sigh sinking her further against the pillows she’d propped herself against. “I believe Victor would have died for me, but I don’t think he would have killed for me. Not to say that means he loves, or loved, me any less. But he comes from a different background and culture and assuredly does not problem-solve like a Cardassian.” Enyd snorted at the last, for a second trying to picture Victor approaching life like Javec and failing to see something that far-fetched.

Choosing to steer the conversation back to lighter territory, Enyd leaned forward and pointed to various areas on her face as she spoke. “I had to have skin grafts here after a training exercise on Andoria. Can you tell?” Enyd waited for Zark to study her before she gave a light smile and added, “I had to have respiratory therapy too after I formed ice crystals in my sinuses and lungs. The storm my partner, a Vulcan, and I faced was off the charts even by Andorian standards. We were on our own for the exercise and Sonik startled a young makra. Got terribly clawed and with our comms down because of the storm, and no way of getting help given our locale, I used an old Earth trick. Didn’t think it would work, but thankfully it did. Sonik had weakened the makra enough that by the time he turned his sights on me, I was able to finish it off with the ushann-tor I’d been issued for the exercise. With Sonik in a meditative healing trance, I cut open the makra, cleaned out its guts, cut out its trachea, and then stripped down to my skivvies, Sonik too, and put our clothes in a dry bag that I tied to one of the makra’s legs. I pushed Sonik in first, then I crawled in, using the trachea as a breathing tube, and holding the seam shut as much as I could. The next thing I knew I was in the hospital getting skin grafts and my Andorian partner, Ethis, was congratulating me on finally becoming an Andorian adult. The cheeky bastard.”

Enyd shrugged, answering the question she assumed Zark would ask, “My officer training program was longer than some, given my lack of Starfleet training beforehand. It started on Psi Upsilon III, then I spent half a year on Tella, a full year on Andora, and then I finished on Earth. I really enjoyed Andoria and hope to go back again.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark smiled at the thought of Enyd observing how bond mates interacted with each other on a regular basis.  She knew that Andorians were regarded as a passionate species, and when disagreements erupted, they could be quite spectacular to watch to any outsider.  Anyone who mistook that passion for discord though, tended to regret it soon afterwards.  The bond mates were family and except in rare cases, inseparable.  At Enyd's declaration that she wouldn't really get a chance to find companionship on this ship, Zark lips twisted in doubt.  A beautiful, compassionate, intelligent, and funny woman was not something most people would pass by soon, and the Andorian figured it was only a matter of time before she caught someone's interest and reciprocated it.  She kept these thoughts to herself though as she nodded in acceptance that she didn't need to apologize for airing the more licentious aspects of her life.

Less than steady blue fingers poured more amber alcohol into Enyd's glass, spilling a few drops onto the table which unthinking blue fingers swiped and deposited in her mouth before sucking them clean as she listened to having to choose between Victor and Javec.  Even with the opinion she'd given the diplomat, Zark had to admit that under those circumstances, she also wasn't sure who she would have chosen.  There were just too many strings to take into account and she only knew Victor at the barest surface level.  She liked him, but not enough for a romantic relationship as well.  She knew nothing of Javec, but he must have been quite the man for him for the diplomat to bare herself that one time.  Too many permutations, big sigh. the Zhen thought to herself as she sipped more bourbon and listened as Enyd executed a less than delicate topic shift. 

Still, it was a very good change as seafoam eyes narrowed in close examination at the admission that the diplomat had gotten skin grafts due to her mildly termed cold weather training on Andoria. It must have been a long time ago and those surgeons had done a very good job since Zark leaned forward and her medically trained eyes couldn't locate the telltales of a skin graft operation.  The narrowed eyes widened and danced as she let out a whoop of delight at the sheer tritanium nerved response Enyd had in taking on a makra in the middle of one of the worst snow storms in living memory, and that was saying something for Andoria.  Bringing the storm up also brought up memories about how bad it was at the time of the storm.  Leaning forward, Zark pointed at Enyd and her bourbon sloshed inside the glass.  "Enyd, you were damn smart and verrrrrry, verrrrrry lucky.  I got letters from home about that snow storm and my thavan told me if I was out there, he wouldn't even know where to start to dig me out from a snow bank. I probably would have had to make a shelter under the snow and wait it out."  Zark snorted at the thought of that having to be dug out since there was one caveat. "Me and the siblings were a terror for the community, but I think I was the worst." Hic "Being the youngest, I had to show off the most get attention, so I used to run outside naked all the time.  The cold didn't bother me, but it scared the parents silly. Soon the brothers and sisters as well.  I think I only stopped after one time I got sick and everyone else got it to."   Zark smiled nostalgically at the memory of the whole family being miserable together for several days.  "Luckily, Shreva, egg producing mom, was isolated since she was on a ship in orbit nearby and managed to take care of all of us when she could come down.  When she found out how it started though, I'm pretty sure she wanted to throw me back into the snow bank!"

I've never had to kill a makra since I was too busy being off planet or doing something with snow.  A sudden peel of laughter rang out as the Andorian's glass threatened to slosh and spill before she slowed down and waved a blue hand in face to clear the air. "I was just remembering the closest I got to something like that was when I used to play hockey back home.  I'll say this for humans, the idea of pushing a rubber brick around with a stick on ice was brilliant!  Anyway, I used to play at home, and eventually made it to Under 20 Federation level competition.  It was a good thing that most of the teams that would play were nearby, but it was mainly humans and Andorians since we had lots of ice and liked the sport.  I only played a Tellaraite team once, but they got thrown out for arguing with the referees and taking up too much time."  Zark leaned back as she settled into story mode once more. "There were a few Klingon teams, and what was their name?" The Andorian's brows knotted for a moment before her free fingers snapped and eyebrows shot up. "Right!  The Gut Goring Targs.........It sounded better in Klingon I think.  Not the point, they were a pretty brutal team and my team faced them in an exhibition match."  Serious sea foam eyes were suddenly levelled on Enyd's jade ones.  "I think that team had anger issues.  It was supposed to be a friendly game, but it nearly touched off a diplomatic incident since they saw it more like a battlefield on ice.  A quarter of my team ended up with concussions and two more spent some time in the hospital with fractured bones."  A soft shudder. "I remember one Klingon, Okigho was his name I think.  He hit me so hard, I cartwheeled in mid air." Zark smiled at that one as she took another sip.  "That hit cost them the game since I think the referee's had enough and so did most of the spectators.  The Klingon ambassador and the provincial magistrate had to step in to cool tempers. I scored a penalty shot that broke the tie we were in and we barely held on for the win.  They claimed we hadn't won honourably afterwards.  The ambassador shut them up afterwards really loudly.  I think he used the term barbarians at one point.  Our teams haven't liked each other since that day and we've both sent each other's players to the hospital more than once."  Slender blue fingers tapped her chin for a moment.  "I don't know if Okigho had a hard on for me or something, but he promised I wouldn't enjoy the games between our teams that followed."

Zark shook her head in disbelief at how crazy her childhood actually was now that she thought about it.  "So yeah, no wild animals trying to eat me, but lots of ice and angry warrior wannabes."  The story did touch of a bit of curiosity as her smile remained plastered to her face.  "How about you?  Any over the top sports adventures?"

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd giggled at the mental image of a young naked Zark, smooth blue skin darting amongst the snowdrifts of Andoria. Sometimes, when friends shared stories from their youth, Endy had a difficult time piecing together the adult sharing the story and the child the story depicted in her mind’s eye. In this particular case, however, it was not at all difficult to see the images as Zark described them. The hockey matches especially, and the tenacious competitiveness the eked between Zark’s storytelling was still apparent in her behavior—the earlier snow machine incident a telling bit of evidence.

“As you share the story,” Enyd smirked, tipping her glass forward to receive more liquid from the bottle, “it sounds like Okigho was flirting with you. I am no Klingon cultural expert but from my own encounters and studies, it truly sounds like he was competing so fiercely with you in order to conquer you. To woo you, Klingon style.” She saluted Zark as she pictured the Klingon-Andorian wedding that could have resulted from such an encounter, had Okigho been successful in his wooing. “That is one of the areas of cultural competency most struggle in: expressions of romantic interest. So much about love, sex, and intimacy is culturally ingrained that we, within our own cultural framework, don’t take much notice of it. And so, we are not always aware of how our expressions of interest may be interpreted as offensive or confusing by others. When I was on Tellar, one of my Tellarite classmates told me that while I was acceptable in looks to a certain group of xenophiles on the planet, my mannerisms were off-putting and almost offensive. Come to find out, while my grandmother would’ve boxed my ears for some of the things I said and did to mimic their cultural standards of decorum, I was not nearly ‘mean’ enough to be considered seriously for dating.” Enyd shrugged. She didn’t find Tellarites very attractive in any regard, so did not feel sad for that fact. More amused than anything.

Rotating the glass in her hands, Enyd tipped her head to the side in thought, “Sports? I mean, gymnastics, ballet, hunting, fishing, and martial arts, they all have your run-of-the-mill adventures attached to them. And none of my ballet stories top cutting open a makra and shimmying inside with a naked Vulcan.” A sudden thought had Enyd grinning, like the cat that got the cream, her gaze moving to settle on her Andorian friend. “There are two activities that you are required to try when you visit Montana. Well, more than two, but these two are famous. One is snipe hunting, and the other is cow tipping.” Enyd could barely hold in her laughter at the imagined scenario of Zark marching around a field at night with a butterfly net and a flashlight for the snipes. “Have you ever heard of them? Tried them? Sadly, even if we created a holoprogram for the scenario it just wouldn’t be the same. You have to actually be THERE for it to be genuine.”

Enyd adjusted her gaze to the glass, and her eyes widened. They’d killed almost the whole bottle. No wonder she felt the combined effects of extreme relaxation, with her hunger slightly abated with the sundae, and an increasing desire to lay down and pool into a puddle of goo. It was delightful how this holoprogram time had turned out. Unexpected, but absolutely necessary for her health. Well, perhaps the ample calories and alcohol weren’t so good for her health, but the time spent with a new friend was indeed a blessing.

“Zark, I must say, this has been a most unexpected but absolutely wonderful encounter. Granted, I’m not trying to cut it short. Though,” she looked around needlessly, curious about how much time they had left before the next scheduled use, “in any case, I just wanted to be clear about how much I’ve enjoyed getting to know you and share this time with you. Same with romantic gestures missing the mark because of cultural differences, sometimes friendship gestures can as well, so I’ve learned both require courageous forthrightness of intention and reflection. I would like to continue meeting with you regularly, as our schedules allow, so we can continue to grow closer. Being with you today,” Enyd blushed, “it has felt like a breath of home in a way. A much-welcomed breath.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark was good and drunk and she knew it.  The main good point about being this sort of inebriated was that the replicator system had defaulted to synthehol, so the deleterious effects would be kept to a minimum.  Still, her head was starting to swim, not unpleasantly, but it added an almost dream like quality to the whole encounter, so she was wondering if she'd fallen asleep or something equally odd when her face transfigured into an incredulous goggle eyed stare at Enyd for suggesting Okigho had been trying to romance her.  That is ridiculous in the extreme! the Andorian's mind rebelled at the thought and her mouth hung open in protest till Enyd explained the confusions cultural expectations caused and how it had affected her interaction with the Tellarites, and her mood switched back to amused.  As long as one wasn't directly involved in an argument with a Tellarite, it was generally funny to watch others have the experience.  Zark did feel dealing with a Tellarite was a karmic issue since the universe could decide the witness could also use the experience and sent a Tellarite their way. "Hic.  I don't think you missed out too much on dating a Tellarite.  The only other people from other species that I found could date a Tellarite just looooved to argue."

The Andorian did find the idea of cow tipping and snipe hunting intriguing even though she had no idea what they were.  Zark's eyesbrows furrowed and became quite mobile as she tried to parse what the names meant.  She had no idea how one wrestled a bovine to the ground, and given they were quite heavy, the Andorian thought that maybe there was  large concentration of doctors living where Enyd was from since all the humans in the area must be crazy enough to try lifting something way beyond their muscle capacity.  Snipe hunting sounded much more manageable. No idea what the quarry would be, but if you could hit it with a scoped rifle, than that sounded like a good adventure and lots of fun.  It took a little longer than was usual, but the thought wormed it's way into Zark's head that maybe not knowing what Enyd was talking about needed clarification instead of just making assumptions.

Being inebriated made the Andorian slower off the mark on asking Enyd what cow tipping and snipe hunting were when Zark felt her cheeks start to heat up at the appreciation of the time shared.  Zark's hand came up on it's own accord and made a waving motion as if to minimize the impact the words were having on her, thought it was to no avail and the Andorian pushed herself off the back of the couch a little wobbily as she leaned towards Enyd and a lazy index finger pointed itself at her friend.   "Wellll.  I'm not sure how much time we have left before the next people, but goin to, what was it? Montana?  Thas a great idea."  A burp threatened to erupt, but the Andorian managed to swallow it down before a bright toothy smile split her blue face. "However! First off, I should be the one thanking you.  Ah got so caught up in the work that I haven't had a chance to really get to know anyone, and I'm very glad that I met you and have you in my life now.  I'm sure it's gonna be greaaaat fun!  Next, if you're on Andoria, you are required.  Required! Miss Madsen. To look up my bond mates or parents and stay at their place."  Zark leaned forward hard and planted her hands on the couch as her smile became just teensy bit hard. "If ya don't and they find out about it, I guarantee you, you'll have all the Andorian cultural experience of Ushaan one could wish for, and then some."  Blue green eyes held the jade ones for a second or two before the Zhen cracked up and started laughing at her own uproarious silliness before waving the air in front of her to stifle the laughing fit. "Nah, it won't be that bad, but they will drag you out of wherever you were thinking of staying instead of their place, though they might fight over who gets to host you."

Zark still had the smile  on her face and residual laughing fits shook her body as she wiped a joyous tear from each eye. "The only thing is if you stay with my bond mates, you're gonna have to be careful.  On second thought, maybe you should wait till I'm there with you. Actually, I don't think that'll matter either, I might make it worse."  The Andorian began to ramble at Enyd. "They're going to be so happy to see me that YOU'RE going to get a proposition that'll be shocking at the very least.  You'll really have to watch out for Ryzit, the over energetic minx.  She's too much fun to be a planetary peacekeeper and having to be serious all the time at work causes her to build up too much energy.  Last letter I got from her said she was handling Ryn and Shrav just fine, but she wouldn't mind having something different squishy to play with."  As soon as it fell out of her mouth, Zark's mouth snapped shut and her hands covered her face as her body began to burn synthehol at a furious rate from her face as it darkened to the colour of slate.

This one took longer for Zark to bring under control as the roiling hot lava of embarrassment coursed through her veins.  The Andorian cracked her fingers open and peaked at Enyd across the couch before dropping her hands "I like you a lot and you're a good friend." was all she could get out in the voice of small school girl and stuck her tongue out at her own silliness.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd laughed at Zark’s obvious inebriation only seconds before she hiccuped. Drawing a hand to her mouth, Enyd’s eyes widened. Perhaps Zark wasn’t the only one feeling the effects. Though it seemed they showcased their intoxication a bit differently. Enyd rolled her shoulders back and dropped her hand back to her lap, doing her best to track Zark’s enthusiastic invitation, no, demanding to stay with her bond mates or parents next she was on Andoria. While Enyd didn’t suppose they would be veering by the ice planet any time soon, at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel excitement for the potential visit.

“No threats necessary, Zark.” Enyd smiled as she waved away Zark’s feigned threat. “I won’t make them battle with ushaans to see who wins the right of my presence.”

Enyd’s widened again when Zark’s conversation piece took another turn. Not so much out of prudish shock but more at the concept that only by her association with Zark alone would she be potentially propositioned should she stay with the bond mates.

“Would your bond mates assume we were intimate if I stayed with them?” Enyd couldn’t help but ask, her curiosity getting the best of her. “Is that why they’d proposition me? Or is it because of something else?” She pretended to fluff her hair in a self-preening gesture. “My amazing good looks, perchance?”

Enyd snorted her laughter in a very unladylike manner when Zark confessed to a “different squishy.” The Andorian punctuated her adorable factor by covering her hands and peeking at Enyd between her fingers. While Enyd did not consider herself bisexual, she was not threatened by admitting that Zark had a type of charm and attraction that was magnetic and warming. Acting on said magnetism, Enyd crawled forward once Zark dropped her hands and placed a quick kiss on the woman’s forehead, sitting back on her heels with a grin.

“What’s next? Pillow fight?” Enyd picked up a pillow but did not move to smack Zark with it, not yet at least.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

A couple of deep breaths had to follow as Zark tried to calm herself.  She'd dug herself into a bit a hole now, and didn't see a nice way of backing out.  On the other hand, a part of her confessed, she didn't want to back out.  She missed her family and talking about it did make that longing stronger, but it also made her feel closer to them at the same time.  It was all she had since all of her letters and videos from home had been lost with the Cayuga.  Zark's head wobbled out and affirmative when the diplomat asked her if there was an assumption that Enyd and Zark were sleeping together.  Mentally the Andorian sighed as it was her fault since Wilkins had stopped by those few days near the end of the summer break and well, that was a series of days everyone remembered. Dang loveable hedonists always pestering me for another 'participant.' Zark thought to herself.   Still, Enyd's self aggrandizing preening was enough to cause more problems as she was pretty sure if Enyd did that at home, Ryzit would make a move on her. Oh Lor'vela, Maybe I should have Enyd travel under an assumed alias, and maybe stay somewhere remote.  Maybe the weather station on the northern pole.  That should keep her 'safe' Zark thought to herself. 

The Zhen had just managed to bring her embarrassment under control and packed her tongue back in when the beautiful brunette leaned forward and her vision was suddenly filled with smooth pale skin and wonderous green material.  Seafoam eyes widened as she felt the soft brush and heard gentle sounding pop coming from her forehead.  If the Zhen had not made a choice earlier, she likely would have happily swooned right there.  The temptation to just that poked at her, and she inadvertently gave the diplomat a rather suggestive display as she lowered her head and white teeth bit down on her lower blue lip.

This ended abruplty when Enyd suggested they have a pillow fight.  The issue was that one did not drink half a bottle of hard liquor, even in synthehol format and not have consequences.  Zark never forgot that she intended to keep an eye on Enyd from space when she was going to head to the planet for the opera performance, but that meant she needed some actual rest before she began her night watch.  The look of utter mischief in those green eyes were hard to resist though and Zark decided she had enough for one last round of silliness.  But she would need to exercise a bit of tactical deception if she was going to get the first strike in and she shook her head in remorse and stretched.  "Nawww. I'm pretty beat as is.  I think I need a nap."  and as her arms fell behind her, the combat medic found her weapon and tensed her arm to take a swing at the diplomat and cover the cottage in a cloud in a cloud of stuffing.  Except a real, mouth stretching, lung emptying yawn poured forth from the Andorian's mouth and her free hand came up to cover her gaping maw.  Her eyes were wide in surprise and watered momentarily as she blinked several times before quickly rubbing them. "By Lor'vela, I think I actually do need a nap after all."

The Andorian felt sad in a way that this thoroughly enjoyable time was coming to an end, and with her internal battery depleting quickly, she had to make sure Enyd was looked after.  Dragging her blue body towards the human on the couch in manner that would have generated a respectable amount of carpet rash, Zark didn't bother to explain, but simply grabbed one the pale human's feet and jammed one of her own feet so their soles were touching.  The security officer looked over the feet quickly from several angles causing her platinum locks to swing in multiple directions quickly and almost giving herself vertigo before nodding in approval.  Getting up proved much harder than she thought as the blue woman's vision swam and she had to grab Enyd's shoulder to stabilize herself or risk face planting into the coffee table.  When Zark was somewhat sure she was stable, she gave the room a stony drunken once over.  Looking around she spotted her pile of clothing from her bagpipe performance that felt like a lifetime ago and stumbled her way towards it, using various bits of furniture to keep herself somewhat even keeled as her vision insisted on being out of alignment with her movement.  A marginally more steady set of hands wrapped themselves around her and propelled them to the pile of clothes before the two woman fell to their knees with a loud thud the collapsed onto the ground looking like a couple of puddles trying to do imitations of people. "Oooooooohhhhhhhhh." was all the Andorian could get out from their effort.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd readied herself for deviousness. She remembered Zark’s earlier display of duplicity and had no doubt that the Andorian would again seek to lull Enyd into a false sense of safety before launching her attack. But then, surprisingly, Zark’s movements grew more sluggish, and even her expression reflected the surprise that perhaps she was far more tired than expected. Now that the words had been said aloud, Enyd felt the slithering alcohol-induced fatigue working to squeeze off her motor capabilities.

“You’re not wrong,” Enyd lowered the pillow, half tempted to drop it on Zark’s stomach and plop herself on top, ready for a nap right there.

But Zark’s abrupt couch crawl jostled Enyd back, and she surveyed with mute fascination as the zhen compared their feet briefly before giving herself a nod of approval.

“Do I get to know the why for the foot touching?” Enyd asked, observing as Zark wrestled gravity to stand and barely won.

Feeling confident that since she’d had more water to drink, she was less drunk, Enyd jumped to her feet and snaked an arm around Zark’s waist just as the Andorian planted a wobbly hand on her shoulder. Enyd let Zark lead the way for their wibble wabble journey across the room to the pile of discarded clothing. For the time being, she indeed felt more capable of standing on her own two feet than Zark appeared to be, but Enyd knew her drunk self enough to recognize the signs. She was a ticking drunk bomb just waiting to go off. Enyd gave herself less than a minute before the debilitating spins hit her.

Enyd underestimated the amount she’d had to drink and overestimated her ability to tell time while inebriated. The pair of them were just shy of the clothing when they collectively collapsed to the ground. Letting go of Zark in order to plant both her hands on the ground, an effort to ground herself against the spins, Enyd gave a humorless laugh.

“Should we call for a med evac?” While she spoke in jest, a part of her, the very drunk part, was dead serious.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

"I am the medevac." the plastered Andorian groaned into the ground from her comfortable and uncomfortably hard position on the floor.  Zark turned her head towards the source of her friends voice and grimaced as the simple act of turning was not pleasant. "Besides, there's drunk and drunk and disorderly which we're both look at the moment."  The only nice thing about synthehol was that it didn't encourage one to throw up, just be really drunk Zark thought to herself as she managed with muscles that protested in unison to push herself into all fours and crawled her way over to Enyd.  Gently pushing several strands of brunette hair out of the way, the medic tried to take stock of how her friend was doing, and she seemed as fine as one could expect under the circumstances though a small part complained that any diagnoses was suspect since her faculties were quite impaired at this point.  As a deep resonant voice from a long dead actor known as Morgan Freeman told her she'd fucked up and if she was proud of herself, Zark snorted. "Shuddup Morgan Freeman." She told her internal monologue.

Yes, Zark was drunk. Yes, she was exhausted. And Yes, she knew she'd gone overboard. All those were factors to quit and just take the advice of the diplomat and have someone come get them, but that was not a graduate of the Combat Harsh Terrain Survival Course acted, also unofficially known as the Commando Course operated, especially when their Commando Comrade was in trouble.  Zark dug deep as she hadn't done in a long time and wobbily got on her knees as she wrapped her arms under Enyd's chest and groaned hard while pulling her back.  Landing on her butt was almost as bad as the two almost tipped over, and somehow a quick hand lanced and managed to keep the two up.  Zark's wobbily trip towards the pile of clothes translated itself to her rocking the brunette side to side pulling towards a wall which elicited more groans of struggle as she had to manoeuvre the diplomat onto the wall and make sure she was stable. "I hope you're not prone to puking.  I'll be back."

Being drunk fortified the dread armies that were battering away at her mental gates in an attempt to get her to call it quits.  It weakened her resolve in these situations and a part of her just wanted to lie down and agree with Enyd's suggestion.  Just let it go, and have someone beam you out to sleep it off.  THAT would have been embarrassing not only Zark, but also for Enyd, thus a major event that Zark was determined to not see occur.  So she started to crawl and a seductive soft gently voice in her head said that it would be so much easier to to just lie there and have a nice nap.  Sleep it off and let life take care of itself.  The Commando Course graduate's will ignored the voice as unworthy and crawled, and crawled till she made it to the replicator. The edge of the device looked like an insurmountable cliff from below, but she had her knees, and protesting, she forced them to to work till she could get at the control panel.  It took a moment for the Andorian to remember what she was looking for and she punched in the code, only to see an error message of 'no such item in database.'  The medico stared stupidly at the screen for a moment and felt irritation that she'd become fumble fingered, and punched in the code one more time.  By habit, she read the description of the item and hit the accept button, but then had to cover her eyes as the bright light of the replicator created a hypospray in its alcove.  Seafoam eyes stared at the hypospray like the saviour coming over the mountain, snatched it before injecting herself.  In her current state, she over injected somewhat, but it was close enough and the blue woman punched in one more code, this time, getting it right on the first try that delivered a pair of tablets.  Zark snagged one and chewed it before dry swallowing it, and began coughing as there hadn't been enough saliva to totally wash away all the particulate matter going down her throat.

With her world view stabilizing and energy level coming back up, Zark shakily got to her feet and grabbed a spare bottle of water and made her way back to where she'd propped up Enyd and collapsed again on her knees with a loud thud that did hurt.  Quickly sticking the hypo into the pale diplomat's neck, the medic had much better control, and injected more or less the required into the human's neck before opening the bottle of water and placing the tablet in her friend's hand.  "I just injected you with a combat stimulant and sleep neutralizer.  The tablet is an alcohol and synthehol scavenger and anti-intoxicant.  Drink." With her energy levels coming back up and innards starting to settle, Zark settled herself against the wall and leaned on Enyd while placing an arm around her should to keep her from falling over while she self medicated.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd laughed, hiccuped, then laughed again. Zark was the medevac. What a hoot. Especially since in her effort to dislodge hair from Enyd’s face, Zark’s fingers more than once nearly crept up her nostrils. The zhen’s efforts made Enyd giggle, especially when her friend started talking to someone named Morgan Freeman.

“What did Morgan do to you?” Enyd laughed again, reaching up with both hands and squishing Zark’s cheeks. “You were the one who ordered the bottle, thinking we would be mature about it.”

Zark didn’t say much else, at least not while she worked to drag both of their arses somewhere. At this point, Enyd couldn’t figure out where they were going. It would make more sense to just ask for the holoarch and be done with it. But Zark seemed dead set on…something. Enyd shrugged, more giggles bubbling from her throat when Zark nearly tossed Enyd into a wall, obviously out of concern for her safety.

“Is that a threat or a promise, dearie?” Enyd chortled at Zark’s departing back as the woman very nearly crawled away, deciding that staying put would probably save her more life-saving efforts from Zark that may result in more bodily harm.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I went drinking with my Tellarite roommate?” Enyd watched Zark’s efforts at the replicator, half-expecting the Andorian to order more booze as a way of solving their dilemma. And getting passed out drunk was indeed A WAY of handling this conundrum, though probably not the healthiest. “Between the two of us, we managed to kill off a few bottles of Vulcan brandy and were working on a vintage bottle of genuine Sakarin merlot when one of our instructors came into the bar.” Enyd paused as Zark injected a hypospray then began coughing after she chewed a tablet. “It just so happened my roommate had a crush on this particular instructor but was too shy to properly debate him so I attempted to wing-woman her into success.”

By the time Zark was on her feet and weaving her way back to Enyd, already looking more stable and with-it than Enyd had felt for quite some time. Tipping her head back Enyd smiled at Zark as she felt the hypo press against her neck.

“It was not a success.”

Blinking at the pill as she felt the effects of the injection work, Enyd frowned. That is until she noticed the water. Nodding her thanks, Enyd quickly chewed the tablet and then downed half the water in a long guzzle. Wiping the back of her hand over her mouth, Enyd handed the half-full bottle back to Zark.

“You are a far more successful medevac, even drunk, than I was at being a Tellarite’s wing-woman.” Sighing, Enyd dropped her head against the wall and closed her eyes, content to let the medication take stronger effect before attempting to move from her spot. “By the way, you smell nice.” Eyes closed, Enyd tapped the tip of her own nose as she quirked a half-smile. “I’ve always had a sensitive sense of smell and yeah. You have a pleasant natural scent. Not just drunk speech here.”

A few moments passed before Enyd pried her eyes open and noted their discarded clothing and the other signs of revelry they’d left strewn across the room. She chuckled.

“If this is just us being casual, can you imagine what it will be like if either one of us really put our minds to hosting a party?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Enyd's drunken rambling was something Zark was too tired to process, but she found the gist funny and smiled appreciatively.  Truth be told, getting passed all the alcohol induced haze had taken more out of her than the combat medic thought and it had taken all her concentration to keep going.  This was the reason why inebriants were not acceptable on the front line. She was definitely going to have to take a downer when she got back to her quarters for some rest, preferably on her nice soft bed.  At the moment though, as she leaned on Enyd, she found the soft warmth too inviting, but sleep would not form so all she could do was just lean.  As she filed away another escapade in the life story of the fascinating could have been girlfriend in another life.  Zark let her mind recall a familiar saying when it wanted to play what if.  Oh well, coulda, woulda, shoulda as the humans say and damn straight I do a good medevac. Got the idiot medals to prove it too.  Still, the woman can pack away a ridiculous amount of booze!  Two bottles of brandy and one of wine?  Maybe the diplomatic corp lined her stomach with tritanium.  The medic snorted at the thought of the work that would be needed for an operation like that.  At least Enyd would be immune to many poisons.

The Andorian was going to mirror Enyd and close her eyes against the wall as the medications kicked in when she heard a strange comment from Enyd and cracked an eye open to look over at the brunette leaning on the wall and smiled.  "Thank you Enyd.  That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a while." Zark pulled the brunette in closer and planted a warm gentle kiss on her hair before leaning her platinum locks on the chocolate ones and revelled in the silky softness of their combined touch. The Zhen smiled to herself as she contemplated what it would be like to have telepathy or even ESP empathy at this point in sharing their emotions.  She didn't really need it though as she could feel the bond deepen between the two. 

A few blessed moments of companionable silence settled between the two women before Enyd made her next observation and Zark opened her eyes once more to look in the general direction that had elicited the comment and sighed.  "I'm not really sure what sort of party people would be thinking we had in here.  It looks like you had your way with me and I was powerless to resist.  You even took the time to remove almost every article of clothing I had on." Zark giggled once more at the thought of some poor soul walking in on the two of them in their current state.  "On the other hand, they could think I didn't even try to resist.  The grape vine would have the salacious rumour all over the ship by the end of the day.  No end of strange looks for us after that."  A goofy grin formed itself on the blue face at the fun she could have with that one tying people in knots of embarrassment if they tried to bring it up. 

Still, the question was a nice mental exercise and the medico pursed her lips in thought.  "Well, for a party, we could change the weather outside to something more mild.   Line the walls with garlands of flowers, maybe made of eth'la and challorn.  Personally I like hydrangeas and lily's too.  Maybe make the party a spring themed party so we could wear them in our hair."  Zark stretched as the medication took further hold and cleared out more of the intoxicants as she drank some water before reaching to take her friend's hand in her own.   "How about a bon fire outside?  We could have one after roasting an alneesh or maybe just a big ass bon fire? I think you'd win the booze guzzling contest for that one.  Always seem to have tons of it at a bon fire. Never know how it all turns up."  Zark giggled one more time before pausing to let Enyd have her turn at the imaginary planning session.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Melting into the embrace, a lover of affection in any form, Enyd smiled at Zark’s words spoken against her hair. Zark’s next comments, after a peace-filled silence shared, had Enyd laughing, knocking her head against the wall behind her as she reared back in amusement. Ths only doubled her amusement as she rubbed at the offended spot on her scalp.

“I had my way with you? Powerless to resist? You, who replicated a snowblower and buried me in a snowdrift, were powerless to fight back as I piece-by-piece removed your clothing?” Enyd reached out and poked Zark’s thigh, more muscular than Enyd’s, and poked again, this time Zark’s shoulder, also more defined than Enyd’s. “These muscles are clearly only for show then. And perhaps I’m in the wrong department. I should in fact be in Security or Intelligence because of my powers for diversion and disguise of my superior abilities.”

Enyd shook her head at Zark’s follow-up comment and shrugged, “I’ve had my share of salacious gossip and it no longer bothers me. In truth, at the time, I wasn’t acting very honorably or of ‘Starfleet’ caliber, but I also wasn’t doing quite all the things that were said about me.” Smirking, Enyd gave Zark a sideways glance before casually dropping, “I mean, talk about strange looks, have you ever mimicked an Orion slave girl dance on your most hated colleague’s desk?”

Her eyes tracking over the room as Zark explained the setting, Enyd smiled, accepting Zark’s hand and allowing herself to be drawn to stand by her friend’s side.

“Fire is always welcome at parties, a must-have in my Montanan opinion, in fact.” Chuckling at Zark’s commendation on Enyd’s drinking abilities, Enyd shook her head. “You think I can drink? You should’ve met my grandmother. Oh yes, she was all prim and proper and your stereotypical sassy grandmother, but she had an iron stomach and a titanium backbone, with the devious mind of a Romulan and the patient tenacity of a glacier.”

Running her hands over the top of her head, Enyd did a slow turn as she observed her surroundings with an eye for party decorations.

“It would be a completely different sort of party if it was hosted on a warm afternoon versus a wintry night. So that would influence much of how we’d decorate. What you’ve described could be a fall evening, at least in my opinion. If it was a mid-morning spring brunch, maybe pastel colors for napkins and table clothes and could move a long table outside on the deck to enjoy the cool air? With lots of fresh-cut flowers and pitchers of tea and lemonade and steaming coffee.” Enyd laughed, putting a hand over her mouth and glancing at Zark sheepishly. “I almost started down the menu hardcore. I like cooking well enough, and I’m good at it thanks to my grandmother, but I much prefer eating it than making it. What about you?"

As she spoke, Enyd began the process of casually retrieving her clothing and accessories, making their immediate surroundings look less like a mugging gone wrong.

---

Terribly sorry for how long it took me to reply!

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark had to smile as she held on to Enyd's hand after the two got up.  There was an implication that the brunette had over powered her to commit an act of gross indecency though seeing how physically speaking, it did look extremely unlikely.  Still there was one point to me made that was at least a fun way to point out that Madsen was indeed in the right department. "Before we begin hardcore party planning, powerless to resist means submitting willingly to your charms and everyone knows that diplomats are suave and charming spies with untouchable covers."  Zark tapped the human on the tip of her nose. "So, you have legitimate reason to go out and weave and tangled web to ensnare your prey and very few can do anything about it."  Zark let go of Enyd's hand as she reached for her kilt and began putting it back on. "Considering you know how to do an Orion slave girl dance gives credit to your wide and varied skill set Enyd.  Though if you do end up using that power of seduction and diversion it won't be under such ummmmmm spiteful circumstances next time."

With that, Zark snagged her shirt and began putting her arms through the sleeves and buttoning up, though she didn't bother tucking it into her kilt.  She had to smile during this process at the thought of granny Madsen drinking everyone under the table.  If she was even half as formidable as she was described, it was no wonder Enyd had managed to hold her liquor so well.  Even sloshed out drunk as she'd been, Zark had to admit that Enyd had held out somewhat better than she did.  On the other hand, she was also far more sensible in wanting to call it quits and have someone take care of them.  Zark had a reputation to uphold though and no mere act of drunkenness was going to stop her from protecting her friends.  Cobalt hands ran through platinum locks to loosen and straighten them out.

Zark's brain had been multi tasking giving the two a moment of peace and as the blue woman sat down to put on her stockings, the Celtic Andorian stopped for a moment and began nodding at what Enyd was proposing, even if it was just a fun mind exercise.   "Definitely have to consider the colours of the flowers.  Can't be too solid and intense with all that pastel.  Those would clash with the napkins and table cloths.  Hmmmmmmmm."  Hands continued pulling up the stocking, but stopped after the first one, giving her the impression of a school girl who'd lost a bunch of her uniform, especially with the loose shirt.  "I do prefer to cook myself. It's relaxing.  Never got the hang of baking though.  I can sort of make bread, but it usually comes out like a brick.  Food wise, on the one hand, I kinda feel like a braised alneesh on a mashed tuber bed with a light salad would be nice.  On the other hand, a poached salmon in hollandaise sauce with potatoes and sea asparagus sounds good too.  Maybe a good bottle of Bajoran Spring Wine or a nice Chablis would work with it as well.  Ooooooh. We could make pink lemonade!" The Andorian's head tilted side to side like a scale as she tried to decide which one would be better as pulled on her other stocking.

"Any of the options could be good really good Enyd, simple yet elegant.   What do you think?  And what would you choose for appetizers, and we can't forget dessert!"  The Andorian brightly effused as she fell into the rabbit hole of a planning session that her friend had just tried to apologize for.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

“I haven’t felt that much bitter ire in my gut since I went through the pilgrimage through the Forge on Vulcan.” Enyd confessed, thinking back on her dark days after losing Javec and nearly getting herself kicked out of Starfleet altogether because of her period of incompetence and drunkenness. “Having a strong constitution and a thick skull can lend itself to surviving crises, but when turned sideways, they also do a splendid job of screwing you over if you aren’t careful. I’m thankful Anderson knew me well enough to organize my little trip through Vulcan hell to help me get my head screwed on straight again.” She sighed, giving Zark a contented smile. “Some of us need more than a few kicks in the pants before we shape up.”

Enyd giggled at Zark’s brick comment, “I suppose if necessary, we can bake bricks to gift to our enemies.”

As Zark finished getting dressed and continuing down the line of hypothetical party-hosting, Enyd also returned her wearied body to its original outfit, though looking far more bedraggled than when she’d first arrived. Though ready for a nap, Enyd was happy.

“Appetizers, for something like this, should be light. Maybe lettuce wraps? Or tacos? I know most folks think tacos are an entrée but no, they are not. They are but a snack. And for dessert…hmm…something steaming and fragrant? Maybe a hot pudding or a liquor-infused cake?” Enyd called for the holoarch once they were both fully dressed. “Now am I escorting you to your quarters, or are you escorting me to mine?” Enyd giggled. “I know that injection helped, but I’m not certain which one of us is recovering fastest or if either of us still needs an escort.”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark had to snort at the thought of giving her bread to their enemies.  "Don't know if we'd want that.  Hard it may be, but it's nutritionally dense.  They would be long lived enemies and we can't have that.  Unless their health improves so much they want to be our friends. Hah!"  A hearty sharp laugh was fired off at the absurdity of the premise, though it did generally underscore the premise of destroying your enemy by making them your friend.

Zark listened as Enyd offered her suggestions on the starter and dessert, and she nodded her head.  A good light starter, and a decadent, yet elegant dessert to finish things off.   Theoretically speaking, this had the makings of a very nice brunch party and the medico filed those bits away for another time.  "If we have the alneesh, maybe a liquor infused dessert.  The hot pudding with a custard would be nice with the salmon.  Heavy with heavy or topping with topping sounds delightful."  Blue hands reached for all her personal belongings as Enyd called for the holo arch.  "Computer, end program."  and the cottage disappeared leaving the two dishevelled looking woman and all their belongings.  Zark took a quick look around and found nothing missing from their piles before addressing the diplomats question.  "Well, I know that the injection is supposed to do, so I'll be ready for any side effects and can compensate.  So I'll escort you to your quarters." and Zark led her friend out the arch back into the ship.

Zark chatted about other topics of mutual interest, while several crewman gave the woman appreciative or curious glances along the way.  It certainly looked like the two had a ridiculous party, but it had ended well enough.  As the two arrived at the diplomat's quarters and they were about to say their farewells for the day.  Zark remembered what she'd been trying to do before inebriation had taken its toll and forced another curve on their collective adventure.  The security officer looked left and right before joining Enyd in her quarters.  Zark took a quick look around and was impressed by how well appointed and organized it was.  Each cultural artifact seemed to have a place of significance that she couldn't divine without more information.  Shaking her head, the security officer dumped all her belongings on the ground near the door and locked it.  "Computer, privacy mode, authorization zh’Ptrell Sierra-Marshall-Car-Six-Five-Two-Zero. Execute." The computer beeped obediently and the combat medic took a deep breath before guiding the human diplomat to a couch.  "Enyd, I don't like doing things this way, but what I'm about to give you is a secret.  You and I have been to Qo'nos and they're still recovering from this round of fighting.  I was in the thick of it, and I don't think this is totally over yet.  Now I'm not going to stop you from going to the opera tonight.  That area generally has an increased security presence, so hopefully, I'm just being paranoid."  The Andorian got up and removed a boot as she explained what was going on.  "There's an open secret amongst the Marines.  It's never admitted to, but every Marine has one.  There is always a weapon of last resort.  I get away with one of these since being Andorian means I'm expected to participate in Ushaan-Tor at any time and need a knife of some kind, and I've had mine ever since the Dominion War.  I don't know what you're going to run into on the planet surface or in any future case.  I know that diplomat's can carry around ceremonial blades, so this can fall under that category, but it's really a weapon of last resort.  Luckily, you and I are the same boot size, wonders of galactic genetics." 

Zark drew the green eyed attention to the boot in her hands and blue hands made a simple yet subtle manipulation ejecting a small bar out of the boot.  The Andorian removed the bar and turned it around, bringing it up between herself and Enyd.  Pressing a section where fingers naturally fell caused a blade to spring forth.  Grabbing it caused a whine to emit as the blade began to vibrate.  Zark spotted a coffee cup on the table that had been left behind and she ran the blade through the metal cup quickly.  Nothing seemed to happen to the cup, then a clean break appeared before the separated metal slid down and rattled on the table.  "Enyd, you're my closest and only friend on the ship and I don't want anything happening to you.  The galaxy has gotten a lot more dangerous than we thought. Please take these to look after yourself."  Zark released the pressure on the blade causing the whine to cease and she closed the blade before slipping the handle back into it's slot before holding the boot up for Enyd to take as serious seafoam eyes stared deep into green ones.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | D. 28 | V. 3 | Holosuite 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd was happy to listen to Zark share her stories as they made their way back to her quarters. On occasion, Enyd would prompt another story by way of a clarifying question, ever delighted when Zark humored her curiosity with more stories. By the time they’d arrived at Enyd’s quarters, the diplomat felt she’d found yet another kindred spirit in the Andorian woman.

While Zark’s hasty entrance and the unceremonious dump of personal articles was surprising, Enyd’s surprise was quickly pushed aside to curiosity when Zark called for privacy mode. A single eyebrow rose as Enyd braced herself for whatever it was Zark was about to say or do. Not worried or alarmed, but curious and…ready for whatever it was the Andorian was about to dish out.

“A secret?” she couldn’t help but parrot back when Zark first began her justification for the clandestine methods. As her friend danced her way through the explanation, Enyd’s eyes went wide with a mixture of fascination and delight. “Wonder of wonders indeed.” Enyd demurred as she watched Zark maneuver open a secret compartment in her boot.

She moved as one with Zark as the security officer shifted to “attack” an innocent coffee mug Enyd had failed to put away earlier. Enyd gasped, hands flying to her mouth, as she watched the cup fall apart, and after very little effort from Zark with the blade. Hands still covering her mouth, her fingers itching to seize the blade from Zark’s fingers to have a go at it, Enyd shifted on her feet to listen to Zark’s final explanation for the unexpected gift.

Grabbing the boot as if it were a precious stone of highest value, Enyd beamed at her friend. “I’m honored, Zark. Thank you so much for this!” She held the boot to the side with one arm while she used her other arm to haul Zark in for a hug. Enyd pressed a warm kiss to Zark’s cheek before pulling back. “I don’t intentionally get myself into trouble, but I have to admit that trouble tends to mind me, so this will definitely come in handy!” A sudden thought had Enyd frowning, eyes darting between boot and friend, “But won’t you need boots for your duties? And what about another blade? I doubt your superior officer would take kindly to you showing up barefooted."

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Lieutenant Madsen's Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

"Oh!" the Andorian exclaimed as she was grabbed into a hug. A gentle and happy smile formed as her arms remained in the air.  Zark was a touchy feely intimate sort at the end of the day, and she revelled in the warmth though she comically held her hands in the air as the boot disappeared from her grip as she melted into the human's embrace. 

Time did seem to slow a bit as she revelled in the feel, even a complete mess, Enyd just felt wonderful. When her friend detached herself,  Zark didn't let the disappointment show. It wasn't that hard to hide it, but she did want to give the full doe eyed, lush bottom lip pout.  And that kiss on the cheek took a not small amount of willpower to not chase and make it lip to lip. Instead, the medic smiled as she took another look into those glorious emerald eyes that sparkled with delight at having discovered a new treasure that suited her for whatever reason. Most diplomats I've met aren't this delighted to receive something like this, even in private. They usually look like they're having their having an ID photo taken of them. I wonder what happens to her that makes her so, well happy about it? I guess I'll find out at some point.

Enyd's next question about running around on duty barefoot elicited a hefty snort. "A girl's gotta have her wardrobe, even if it's locked away in the replicator. I had my boot thoroughly scanned when we were at Aldea and uploaded into my personal footwear preferences, so I'll just hop over to personal replicators after my nap and get another set. Security will log the knife that goes with it, but that's pretty much SOP."  Zark shrugged with acceptance at the price necessary to keep the blade on her. "As for yours, I'll log it as a gift and answer any questions about it if they come up." the smile really turned toothy. "So, unless you become a raging psycho intent on cutting off heads and critical bits of the ship, you having the knife shouldn't be a problem. It's a request from me for a ceremonial blade to be used on diplomatic events. Can't offend those species who do go around with that sort of accessory after all." Zark's smile took on a conspiratorial bent as she quickly dropped a long platinum lash in a wink. 

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Personal Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd’s eyes continued to rove over the boots, bouncing between them and Zark as she listened to her friend explain her next actions, or justifications, for wandering the halls without shoes.

“Questions for a diplomat to have a concealed weapon like this?” Enyd raised the boot with the hidden compartment, gaze playful as she returned it to Zark. “Never.” Turning, Enyd set the boots aside long enough to hold up a finger in the universal signal of “wait.” She disappeared into her sleeping area for a few moments before returning with the gifted tik’leth in hand. Holding it out for Zark’s inspection, Enyd’s impish grin grew. “I had this beauty strapped to my person when I beamed aboard and first met the captain. It was temporarily gifted to me by a friend on the Klingon ship that served as shuttle for me and a few other recent transfers. The engineer who lent it to me told me to give it back to her on Qo’Nos after I’d gotten in nice and bloody from my enemies.”

Enyd gave a dramatic shrug, accompanied by a girlish giggle.

“If I take this with me on the coming missions while wearing these delightful boots, I’ll be fairly dripping with bladed ceremonial respect.” She kept her comments light though any reference to coming missions held an element of uncertainty. There was so much going on in the shadows around them that there was little doubt that they knew far less than they should to prepare for what was coming next. “What about you? Do you go on missions in the kilted get-up, strapping a dirk to your belt, or do you go SOP? I must admit I rather like the image of you in the kilt, phaser in hand, shielding a wounded crewmate as you retreat to safety. Rather over-the-top romantic actually. And very fitting.” Enyd winked, playfully reaching out and lightly swatting Zark's shoulder.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Lieutenant Madsen's Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

Zark was about to get up and gather her discarded items when Madsen told her to wait.  Ooooookay, what is she heading off to oooohhhhhh by Lor'Vela! Zark thought to herself as her eyes widened and her antennae stood up straight at the sight of long, sinuous, lethal form of the tik’leth came into view.  The Andorian nodded along as Enyd explained how the blade came into her procession and she raised a shapely eyebrow an a smirk at the condition for it's return to the owner.  Ahh, it's a loaner.  Zark took the proffered scabbard and unsheathed the lethal metal and listened to the alloy sing as it came out of hiding.  If Zark had been a Caitan instead of an Andorian, she was pretty sure her tail would have been lashing about in excitement as such, her antennae simply pointed at the blade and followed the owner's head as she examined the craftsmanship.  It was certainly finely wrought and hefty as she lifted the blade a bit further out.

And stopped as she turned to regard her friend in a speculative manner regarding her uncertainty before closing the blade with a clack and giving Enyd a baleful look that generations of teachers would recognize for receiving a much less than delightful answer that the student thought was witty.   Run around a combat zone in a kilt like it was a thousand years in the past?   The Andorian realized her friend was just having fun and blue eyes squinted hard before sticking her tongue out and assuming a haughty demeanour. "I will have you know Miss Madsen that I am a professional and as such, I make sure to be clad in the finest armour the fleet has to offer.  The protective potential of a Security Exosuit, or just a regular tactical vest, is far superior to the wonderfully coloured and airy kilt in a combat situation."  Zark turned her nose up at the diplomat before trying her Highland Burrs on the kilt smitten diplomat.  "Besides, if I'm going into a fight in a kilt, the situations gone daft and we're screwed anyway, so I'm going big and bringing a claymore and a rifle with me!  Not just the puny dirk and the pistol!"

Zark tried to hold the haughty pose, but it was too ridiculous and she began giggling before returning to her regular accent.  "Enyd, if you catch me fighting in a kilt, I'm either in the holodeck, massacring waves of photons, or we're on some sort of diplomatic mission that requires some sort of formal dress."  A thoughtful pose struck the Andorian as she laid the sword back on the coffee table as a delicate finger tapped the blue chin.  "Ya know, if you're going to spill the blood of your enemies on the sword, you're going to need practice and since you also seem to like the idea of fighting in a kilt," and the seafoam eyes lit up as the Andorian vaulted forward and planted both hands on Enyd's thighs as a wave of excitement took over "We need to get you fitted out for one!"

---

Burrs = Scottish Accent

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Personal Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd giggled at Zark’s brief look of incredulity. “I have a tendency to end up naked when on missions. Either because the cultural norms require it or something goes terribly wrong, and my uniform is the first thing sacrificed to the goddess of mayhem. And it is a goddess, not GOD, because only a female can be so vindictive.” Enyd laughed because it was either laugh or cry at just how far from joking she was, though she’d spoken in a mirthful manner. She nodded along with Zark’s declaration of being armed with more than a mere dirk. “My wits and experiential learning and training are my main weapons, but I’m opportunistic enough to utilize forks, rocks, or cleverly hidden blades if the mission goes south and physical means are necessary to get out alive.”

The concept of fighting in a kilt had Enyd’s eyes dancing, and without realizing it, she began to tap her feet as if doing a makeshift happy dance. Zark’s lunge forward, followed by her latch onto Enyd’s thighs, had the diplomat shrieking with laughter as she tried to dance out of reach. She tripped on discarded items on the ground and bounced against the table, eyes still alight with mischief.

“I’ve trained a bit with the Chief with the sword, and I’ve got a holoprogram saved from her to keep up with the training but if I could do that in a kilt, why, that would be bloody amazing!” Her body hummed with joy as she imagined L’Nari’s expression should Enyd ever show up to the council chamber with the tik’leth and kilt combination. The poor Caitian would probably jump out of an airlock. “When would you be free to help with the fitting?”

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Lieutenant Madsen's Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

"Enyd!"  Zark exclaimed, more accurately squealed before dissolving into laughter. Some diety of Chaos had come to grips with her friend once more causing her to somehow almost disarrange her sitting area in front of her very eyes.  The Andorian laughed at the absurdity of her friend managing to slip out of what amounted to an anchor grip that was supposed to hold her in place.  Platinum tresses shook as Zark shook her head in disbelief before extending her hand and getting Enyd back on the couch.  "I swear, we need to run a spectral analysis on you.  There's some malign influence coming after you."

Managing to get here mirth under control to actually think, Zark pondered on the diplomat's question for a moment before nodding to herself.  "I should be free over the next few days and as far I know till we leave space dock to help with the fitting  It's just..."  and a blue index finger tapped the delicate chin for a moment.  "Well, there's two, maybe three options when it comes to getting you fitted for a kilt."  The Andorian straightened as she sat before raising her hand to count her points.

"We'll need the holodeck again for measuring.  We can do it with a Tricorder, but we can make this an experience!" Zark's mind already began putting together the environment, maybe a Highland castle as a venue with a team of kiltmakers. "So, one, we just get you measured and make you a kilt, easy and done."  The second finger shot up. "The second option requires more work, and maybe some library time, but we'd have to go through your ancestral history, even in the broadest sense to figure out which clan you or your area is descendant from in Scotland, then we make a kilt from there." A third finger joined the first two and the blue face became a cross of delighted and devilish at the same time.  "Option numero trois is that we go all out for you.  After tracking down where any Scottish ancestors you have came from, we're not just going to make a kilt.  It's going to be full Highland Dress, hat, jacket, sash, badges; and since you love it so much, we'll even see about a dirk as well."

The fingers dropped and Zark leaned forward in anticipation. "So my lady, what say you on the choices available?"

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Personal Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] attn: @RyeTanker

“I know, right? I swear chaos finds me no matter what I’m doing!” She rubbed at the sore spot on her side as she continued. “All my life, no matter how careful I am, things just seem to go topsy-turvy around me. Usually, I get the brunt of whatever goes wrong, but there have been a few times when it was the person I was with.” Enyd’s lips quirked into a playful smile as she remembered her first outing with Victor. It had been a near-death experience that had led to a life-changing relationship. “As far as I know, I never angered anyone enough to get a hex put upon me. But maybe someone in my past? A family curse?”

Shrugging, Enyd pulled her hand away from her side and crossed her arms as she listened to Zark lay out the options. She found it amusing that Zark would assume Enyd would go for anything but “all out.” Their friendship was still young, but Enyd had assumed that by this point in time, Zark would have realized at least that much.

“Of course, the third option, dearest. Anything but that would be a complete waste of our time, energy, and resources. My grandmother always insisted that if you were going to do a thing, do it right and well the first time, so you had no reason to bitch and moan about regrets later. Granted, the term ‘bitch and moan’ never crossed her lips, but it was her own uppity rendition of that sentiment."

Her eyes dancing, Enyd leaned close, licking her lips, “Can I get the dirk first? And can we get it engraved?” Certainly, her Andorian friend recognized that this particular diplomat had a thing for sharp pointy things.

[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Lieutenant Madsen's Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]   Attn: @Ellen Fitz‍

"I think I can arrange that."  Zark told the pointy object obsessed diplomat as she smirked and considered just what sort of dirk would be appropriate for the woman. "and you're right, if we're going to get you a dirk, it has to have a full outfit to go with it.  Just having a dirk and kilt would just look silly." Zark smiled in memory of a different time at the Academy when research could be done just for learning to do the research without any other requirements or galaxy breaking implications.  Of course, in her chosen career path, that only lasted the first year, but they were still good times nonetheless and it would be good to use those skills for the fun of it.

Zark took a moment to sit back and regard her new friend as her antennae focused in on those delighted majestic emerald eyes.  Enyd licking her lips still aroused traces of lust in the Zhen, but at the end of the day, there were too many other aspects to love about her that made a deeper friendship more than possible and something the Andorian looked forward to.  Zark had shared a musical pleasure with her.  Lost control and found it again with her.  Been healed, then shared food, festivities with her.  She had done everything memorable and enriching all in one go, a life time in an afternoon, and there were no regrets from it at all.  Oh yes.  It was definitely the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

That twinkle in the blue-green Andorian eyes soon transformed into condensation as Zark's jaw tried to detach and began sucking in a large quantity of oxygen before exhaling a mass of carbon dioxide.  A blue hand quickly went up and covered the gaping maw as the eyes blinked away the tears.  A toll had been taken on the body, and now the bill had come due.  The Andorian gave her human friend a smile.  "I think that's my body telling me that I'd better head back and get some sleep.  I'm anticipating a long night, and when duty calls, the maxim of sleep when you can holds." The statuesque Andorian paused for a moment and shrugged before crawling the short distance between the two and paused next to Enyd's ear. "I'd regret if I didn't at least leave this way." she whispered before planting tender, soft, and slow kiss on the delicate cheekbone.

Wanting to do more, but deciding that was a decision for another time, Zark slipped off the couch and onto her feet. Padding over to the door to collect her items off the floor before turning her brilliant smile on Enyd.  "I'll be in touch in a few days and I think I should have something for us to work with." Standing like a she meant to step out into the corridor without a care what others thought, a blue hand worked the door and allowed the corridor lighting to spill in framing the dishevelled mess she was. "Thank you Enyd.  That was the most amazing afternoon I've had in a long time and I'm glad we met today.  Just knowing you're here makes everything better." Stepping barefoot into the corridor and ignoring the gawking crewman who was standing outside, Zark made her way back to her quarters.

[ Lt Enyd Isolde Madsen | Personal Quarters | Deck 10 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] attn: @RyeTanker

Enyd clapped her hands together like a child, “Goody! I can’t wait to wear this outfit to work sometime. While I don’t try to annoy certain colleagues, my presence seems to irk them, so I can’t help but give in to the temptation to aggravate them further. If they insist upon being so wholly unpleasant toward me, I might as well get some pleasure from the experience.”

Zark’s yawn only prompted a heart one from Enyd, and it was then that her body remembered more rapidly than her mind just all that they’d managed to live through in a short span of time. It seemed she would need to nap and recover from her holodeck time to prepare for the evening. Laughing at Zark’s comments, Enyd nodded after patting her cheeks and rubbing away the yawn tears that had bordered her eyes. She was still blinking away the sleepies when Zark leaned forward and kissed Enyd’s cheek, both startling the diplomat and earning the Andorian a human giggle.

She nodded to her friend once the Andorian pulled away and made for the door, “I look forward to it.” Enyd made to wave away Zark’s gratitude playfully. “It was my pleasure, Zark. After so many years spent on Vulcan with only a few other aliens besides myself to ‘play’ with, I’m exceedingly grateful to have you and the others I’ve met here. I, too, had a splendid time, and I’m already scheming other mischiefs to make with you. Though we’re up against absolute chaos, I’m glad to face it with you at my side.”

She waved again at her departing friend and heaved a sigh of contentment. Now for showers, snacks, and sleeps.