Green With Envy, Red in the Face, Blue All Over
Posted on Sun Jan 10th, 2021 @ 2:43pm by Chief Petty Officer Sapphire & Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell
Mission:
Healing of Minds
Location: Sapphire's Cabin
After leaving the medbay, Bonnie felt she should at least stop by and inform Sapphire of the doctor's findings. Perhaps knowing there was nothing wrong would give her some peace of mind and perhaps some understanding as to the individual she was dealing with. On the other hand, it could make Sapphire look at her like she was just a nutter who didn't deserve to be a Lieutenant in Starfleet. Either way she pressed the chime on Sapphire's door and waited.
“Come in!” Sapphire called. She had by now finished decorating her quarters with some artwork depicting pre-electronics era life, mostly fortifications and weapons, but mixed in with some characters wielding magic as well. This was in tune with her hobby of playing fantasy novels on the holodeck. The room was nice and cool, and there was a bottle of whisky on the table next to Sapphire. She was lounging on the sofa, a book in hand, but she looked up towards the door.
The doors parted, Bonnie stepped in, the doors closed unknowingly catching her hair. She stood rigid yet soft. "I don't mean to intrude on your person, however I just wanted to inform you of my medical results and to once again apologize for shooting you." She didn't move but rather kept her eyes set on Sapphire, out of respect for her personal space.
“I’m told you’re fine now”, Sapphire said, laying the book face-down on the table and getting up. “So am I. It just took a bit longer for the symptoms to manifest in me.” She smiled and gestured towards a chair. “With the somewhat lower Andorian body temperature, the gut infection took longer to develop, and by that time the cure was already on its way. I got lucky.”
Confused, Bonnie ran through her mind what she may have missed and came up blank. Thinking Sapphire was talking about being uncoordinated and unlucky like she was, Bonnie was now intrigued by the idea there was a cure. Somehow, she was oblivious to the stomach bug that had swept through the ship. "You, you had what I have?" Bonnie asked innocently as she began to shiver. Her skin was already beginning to itch in the cold dry air. "And you've been c...cured?"
“The doc came along with a hypospray earlier”, Sapphire said. “But I’ve been feeling down all afternoon, so I’m resting now.” She pointed to the replicator. “Would you like something? Have you ever tried Andorian ale?”
Absentminded, Bonnie just nodded and tried to move towards the offered seat only to have her stuck hair yank her back towards the door. “Ow, ow. Shit.” She tried to turn towards the control panel, but her hair being trapped did not allow her to move without great pain. After a moment she felt defeated and so asked simply, “Would you mind, please?” As she pointed to her hair stuck in the door, which for some stupid reason wasn’t opening at her presence, typical.
Sapphire approached and saw what had happened, she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ve got the weirdest luck.” She keyed the door open, which released Bonnie’s hair and let in some warm air. “Would you like me to cut your hair so it’s short and practical?” Sapphire was sure Bonnie would decline. Everyone she had offered this to had so far declined.
“No, no thanks, but I will have a sip of that ale if you don’t mind. Maybe you can tell me more about this miracle cure.” She straightened up and adjusted her hair to the side so that it wouldn’t get caught so easily in anything. Judging by the cold atmosphere of the room she figured it would not take long before her ends would get brittle and begin to split. As she sat, the cool touch of the chair sent shivers up her spine. “And may...be tell… me a bit more… about your symp...toms?” She asked through chattering teeth.
Sapphire came back with her signature snuggly blanket as well as two glasses of Andorian ale. She figured the strong beverage and the warming blanket would help Bonnie get comfortable quickly. “Here you are. Just put your arms through here and wrap this around you. You’ll be warm in a minute.” She put both glasses down on the table, next to the book, before sitting down again. “Well, my symptoms were mild. Some nausea, diarrhoea, no vomiting though, unlike most people. Not comfortable, but it’s not bad enough to warrant complaining about.”
Bonnie slipped into the snuggie, which immediately helped her upper layer by trapping her body heat with a thermal layer, despite her backside still being chilly. It was like an old fashioned patient’s gown but made out of scratchy wool. She took a sip of the ale and felt the effects straight away, warming her insides. As she was a light weight she knew not to over do it with real alcohol. “So, no tripping, no stumbling, no accidentally shooting someone? Just expelling your bowels?” She was still trying to associate the illness Sapphire had experienced with her normal way of being accident prone despite the two not overlapping in the slightest on a Venn diagram.
Sapphire shook her head, taking a sip of the drink she so enjoyed. “No shooting anyone, mostly because I didn’t shoot at all. But I’m sure my aim would have been off by a lot. You know, it’s all good. It happened, and now we can forget about it. You’ll get another chance to certify tomorrow, and I’ve got just the game for you.”
Bonnie stared at her drink. “I wish I could forget about it. The Doctor said there was nothing wrong with me. There is nothing to cure, yet here you are with what I imagine are real symptoms and she has an injection for you to make them just go away. I mean, maybe it’s the fact that you’re Andorian, I don’t know.” She thought about Anna for a moment and remembered the other reason she had come.
“By the way, before I get certified, Anna and I are going to attempt some practice together. She says she is as bad at shooting as I am, so maybe between the two of us we will be better? Maybe. What do you think? And also, what is this game you mention?” She took another sip and felt the burn as it made its way down her esophagus. It was already making her senses tingle.
“It’s called velocity. Apparently it is assigned to people who aren’t good at shooting, for practice”, Sapphire said. “A holodeck sport, which I have never heard of before today. But it’s fun, challenging at every level. And yes, it’s best played with a partner who is at the same level as yourself. And the best thing? Those virtual phasers can’t accidentally damage anything... or anyone.”
“I did say I was sorry, but that sounds good. So how is it played, what are the rules?” Even as she showed interest, she absentmindedly sipped the ale some more, not noticing the burn so much anymore. Not noticing the cold of the chair either. What she did notice was the battle scene displayed upon the wall, similar to something she had spotted in her father’s museum once before.
“So there’s this disc, hovering, bouncing off the walls, making for the players in turn. You have to evade it, or shoot it to make it change direction. The player who gets hit by it first loses the round.” Those were all the rules she knew, whether there was any more finesse to it, she had no idea. Sports had never been an interest of hers, and this one was only fascinating as far as it was fun to play, or useful for training. “It might give you what you were looking for when you asked me to hit you.”
“I… I did say I was sorry about that. Probably would have regretted it anyway.” She said while looking at Sapphire’s rather toned arms. “Frustration, you mean. Or determination. Anna thinks I simply lack confidence, but I can be confident when I need to be, I know I can. Just sometimes I struggle and sometimes my sheets hate me.” She lifted her empty glass and pointed at the painting, “Um… That looks familiar, where did that battle take place? If… if you don’t mind my asking?”
Confidence? Sheets? Sapphire was confused, but thought it might be better not to press the issue. “That’s the siege of Minas Tirith. It’s a visualisation from an old book from Earth, one I grew up with. It’s fictional. I think. Or mythological, at any rate. Maybe humans believed in it at some point, but I don’t think they do now. Still, it’s a great book.”
Minas Tirith. Minas Tirith. That name stuck a chord. “That explains the Grond at the gates.” As she squinted at the detail in the visualization her mind began to recognize more and more of the scene, one that had played out in her mind more than in her own eyes. “Definitely a piece of fiction. My papa read it to me when I was young, and then as I got older I read it for myself. Tolkien was a talented
“Anyway, are you a fan of Earth historical works like this? I know a number of good stories written by a number of great authors throughout the ages, if you’re interested.”
“I love them”, Sapphire said as she refilled their glasses. “I’ve read a number of them, played some stories on the holodeck. I’m very good with a sword and shield, or a battleaxe in heavy armour.” She grinned. There was some pride in these accomplishments, and it had done her some good while serving with the Klingons, who had been especially impressed by these feats.
“I bet you are. You’ve got that buff girl look about you. Me personally, I don’t think I could lift a battleaxe myself. I do love a good story though, fictional or otherwise. I think everyone has a good story to tell and I’m always in the mood to listen.” She smiled and drank half her glass in one gulp, not aware of the effects it was already having on her system. “Do you… do you have a favorite? Story I mean, not battleaxe, though that would be funny too.”
“Uh, I don’t know”, Sapphire shrugged. “I mean, I’ve done some things people think were brave during the war. But they weren’t, I was just trying to stay alive. It’s different when it’s not real. Then it’s fun.” Sapphire didn’t understand Bonnie meant a fictional story, rather than a real one. And while she knew how to use her exploits to her advantage when talking to warriors, especially Klingons, she also understood most people in the Federation were rather put off by them.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been in combat, of any kind really. Besides training, which I always found a way to … um cir… cum… um… vent… whoo. Is it warm in here? Um… circumvent the opposition. So, tell me a story about your time in the war, if you want. I promise I'll listen. Which war were you in, that’s a good place to start right? Yes, which war were you in?” She was starting to not only slur her words but talk to herself as well.
“Well, the last one”, Sapphire said. “Not the Cardassian wars before. They didn’t send Andorians to Cardassian worlds if they could help it. Other species are better suited to fighting in hot weather.” She smirked. “But I don’t want to bore you with the gory details. I didn’t collect any trophies, except for some Jem’Hadar weapons because I wanted to understand them better. I was serving on a Klingon ship for several months, ground assault and boarding operations. Lots of Klingons took vials of white, or body parts.”
“Body… body parts? Like arms and legs, body parts?” Her stomach churned at the thought of removing someone’s body parts from a battlefield as a trophy. “They didn’t like… eat them, did they?” her stomach churned again and she downed the rest of her drink to sooth the wake.
“Bones, to turn into necklaces or the like, to show up the number of kills”, Sapphire said. “It’s... grotesque. But no eating them, no. Klingons are very particular about what they eat, as are Cardassians.”
“And you managed to, um, get along with the Klingons? From what I know of them, they can be bull headed and smell funny.” She started to giggle. “We had this one Klingon, hehe, on the quad at the academy. Got into fights all the time. There was always this, um, smell.” She laughed some more. “Sort of like sex and dirty socks mixed with dried blood and sulpher.” She laughed some more. “I swear one semester three students asked for a transfer because they were getting ill.” She giggled and then let out a loud burp. Eyes wide, she looked at her empty glass, “Oh, I should probably stop drinking.”
Sapphire laughed. “You’re certainly doing a good job demonstrating”, she teased. “And, well, you get used to the smell after a while, if you’re around it all the time. The hard beds, those are annoying. But I had my ways of gaining some respect. It doesn’t hurt to be tall, strong and adept at working a blade. Besides, their food isn’t so bad. Andorians prefer meat dishes just as much as Klingons, though the traditional Andorian diet is richer in fish and other seafood, and usually cooked or fried.” She refilled their glasses, as she didn’t see a reason yet why either of them should stop. She could tell Bonnie was relaxing a bit, and that couldn’t be bad, could it?
Bonnie watched as her glass was refilled and didn’t give two thoughts about it. Her thoughts were more focused on the information she was being told. She promised to listen and she was going to do her best to remain focused, to the best of her ability. “I like meat, seafood too.” She gave a little giggle. “So, do you, uh… um, have any stories from your time in the, uh, war? Something you’ve never shared with another? Maybe?”
Sapphire shook her head. “No. Whatever it is I haven’t shared is something I want to keep to myself. Some things are best buried in the past. Besides, there’s much I’m not proud of, it just had to be done.” She could boast with the Klingons, for effect, but she didn’t want to risk Bonnie thinking she was a monster.
“Oh, okay. I was just, um, trying to, you know, get to know you by finding something out about you that was interest… interest… neat, is all. But I suppose just tolerating Kling-uns is neat I guess. And the battleaxe thing, too. I like that you like Tolkien. Asimov and Jules Verne were some of my favorites. Man this drink is good, what is it again?” She downed her third glass, a clear mistake, but she was trying to be friendly.
“I’m just saying, it’s not necessarily happy memories”, Sapphire said, understanding where Bonnie was coming from. “Maybe that’s why I like the happier worlds in fantasy literature?” She showed Bonnie the bottle with Andorian script on it. “This is ale I got at Starbase 27, not from the replicator. Good stuff, best shared. Which is why I’ve still got some around.” She looked into Bonnie’s eyes. “Do you want to risk another, or better stop now?”
Real alcohol. “Real alcohol? Not synthehol? I… uh… I better not. I’m supposed to go shooting with Anna tomorrow and she promised to help me with my sheets in the morrow like a good lady.” She laughed at herself making a middle age joke, but choked up when she saw Sapphire's red eyes staring back at her. “And then there was a hike in the Bajoran marshes, or whatever, I’m just trying to be friendly but she’s all gettin’ naked and swimming with horses and stuff. I don’t know.” She smacked her lips together, “Where was I again?”
“Oh, and she’s helping you with your sheets, lucky you”, Sapphire grinned. “There’s a Klingon proverb that tells you to savour the fruit of life. You’ve got an opportunity there, better grab it and make the best of it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Fruit? What fruit? You didn’t mention food before. I’d love a nice ripe pear, or maybe a peach. Georgia has some nice navels. Ooh and Florida, Florida grows some good oranges.” She didn’t see any fruit on the table and somehow her glass was empty again, or had it ever gotten filled, she wasn’t sure anymore. “I am hungry though, but you had the vomits so I shouldn’t talk about food with you sick. Or wait, you got a cure didn’t you? Have we had this conversation?”
“Oh yeah, my sheets.” She leaned in and whispered, “They don’t like me very much. I think it’s a conspiracy. Between them and my pants, they will kill me one day, I swear.” She allowed the snuggie blanket to fall off of her. “It’s getting warm in here. Are you warm?”
“I’m always warm”, Sapphire responded. “But with you, I think the ale is doing its job. Don’t rely on it too much, though. You might catch a cold.” That was the primary purpose of the blanket. It allowed Sapphire to dress casually, and still made sure her visitors wouldn’t need to visit sickbay later.
"Oh the ale is doing something alright." She batted her eyes in an attempt to focus. "If I don't go home soon I may have to sleep here and then, oh and then can you imagine?" Her voice rose an octave and she sat upright. "Can you imagine, this just in Bon-Bon was found frozen to death in Sapphire's room last night." She mocked like a news reporter. "Speculation is still underway as to why she was holding an Orc cleaver and wearing only war paint." She laughed out loud briefly then stopped suddenly. "Oh, I made need help getting home."
“I’d love to see you in war paint!” Sapphire said, excited at the prospect. “I’m sure you’d look amazing. Green and brown? Or something more exotic?”
Bonnie blinked as she thought hard about the question. "I don't like green much except trees and grass. And of course if it's brown it has to be dark so it doesn't clash with my light brown complexion. Exotic sounds nice unless you want me to dance which I warn you, I can't." She stood, and began swaying her hips out of time to the music in her head before the sudden blood rush struck her.
Sapphire laughed. “Oh, but if you can’t it’s even better!” She stood up and joined Bonnie in the dancing, partly to join in the fun, and partly to catch her should she trip and fall. “And you don’t like green, but you’re going on a date with the doc?”
Bonnie gasped, “She told you it was a date! It’s not a date, not really. And I do like some green. Anna is a pretty color of green. I guess just certain greens, like, the wearable greens. I like blue too. Blue waters, rain… oooh I really like the rain.” She began sloppily leaning on Sapphire for support. “Sometimes when it rains I like to imagine I am the mighty Boudica,” She struck a pose as though she was holding a sword aloft. “Marching my army across Britannia to drive the Romans from my land.”
She leaned in closer as she finished, “Not, fiction, by the way.” She looked deep into Sapphires red eyes, “Ooh, I think I may be…”
“You think you may...” Sapphire started, making sure to catch Bonnie so she wouldn’t fall and get hurt. “Careful there, Boudica.” Sapphire giggled. She picked her up and held her in her arms, one arm under her back, the other under her legs. “There, now you’re good.”
“Oof.” Bonnie let out a noise. “I was gonna say drunk, but I was also gonna throw up. Now I’m just going to float here, I think.” She was hanging onto Sapphire for dear life while also wiggling about by kicking her feet. “Unless you have plans for my drunken body, in which case I should take a site-to-site to my bed maybe.”
“I’d rather have plans with your sober body, this is true”, Sapphire winked. “Too drunk is no fun.” She smirked. She didn’t usually like drunk people, but that was because most drunk people she dealt with were the disorderly kind. The happy ones, like Bonnie, Sapphire totally didn’t mind. “But before you head to bed, you should eat something. Don’t want you to be sick again in the morning.”
"Ooh you're strong. And are these sensitive?" She asked as she stroked Sapphire's antenna. "Yeah you got any of that fruit you were talking about earlier?" Bonnie gave a hiccup, paused momentarily as her body shifted then carried on like a drunken school girl who would not remember much about her wild night in the morning.
“D.. don’t do that”, Sapphire said in a low voice as Bonnie stroked her antennae. It took all her self control not to drop her. “They’re... *very* sensitive.” In fact, the light touch alone had sent a shiver down her spine and made her knees wobbly. “Never touch them unless you mean it, and are prepared for the consequences.” She didn’t even register the question about food at this point.
“Don’t do what?” She asked innocently as though she hadn’t done anything in the first place. “Do you mean this?” And she stroked the antennae again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. It’s just neat the way it twitches and stiffens when I touch it.” She stroked it again. “Reminds me of this mistake of a boyfriend I had my freshmen year. He didn’t have fruit either.” She stroked it again, then flopped her head backward, “I wanna dance some more… oop, I think I need more to drink, my glass where did I put my glass?”
“I think you might need to go get some sleep”, Sapphire said, and considering how to do this, she figured the best way was to just have Bonnie spend the night here. So she carried her to her bed, and placed her down on it. She wouldn’t be able to hold out getting her antennae stroked for much longer. No Andorian could. She grabbed a blanket, saying, “Here you go, wrap yourself in tight.” She didn’t want Bonnie to be cold overnight. Then, with her hands free, Sapphire used them to put her antennae back in order, to relieve the lingering feeling Bonnie’s finger had left.
Bonnie took the blanket and cocooned herself within, immediately feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Her cares about life were gone for now, set aside by the drink. She opened one eye and watched Sapphire through blurred vision, her mind saying thank you but her mouth whispering, “Awe you’re no fun.” She could have sworn she saw the toned body of the Andorian strip before lying down in bed next to her, and as she closed her eyes once more all she could think about was those red eyes staring back at her as sleep took her for the day.
Sapphire was curious what the morning would bring. But for now, sleep was a good idea. Her book could wait, and the thought of Anna coming to help Bonnie with her sheets could wait as well. Besides, she was quietly looking forward to Bonnie’s reaction, waking up beside her in the morning.
