Multiple Assets

Posted on 29 Nov 2014 @ 2:03am by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson & Petty Officer 3rd Class Melinda Clare

3,019 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Quarters 04-1007 EN
Timeline: MD-09: 2200hrs

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Ellsworth was stuffed into his bunk, unhappily reviewing the latest fashion magazine from Andoria on his personal PADD and sulking about Oren rejecting him. Not that he'd rejected him on purpose; he had to keep up appearances with T'Vanna for their dumb project thing they were doing that Ellsworth had grown to resent in just the past day. But it still felt a little like rejection, and he was allowed to pout. He got a promise for a couple of dances, but that only part-way made up for the El Aurian just disappearing for seventeen days and then going to the ball with someone else.

Plus, all the latest clothes from Andoria were hideous and not inspiring him about his costume one bit. Disgusted with looking at them, he shut off the PADD, forcefully shoved it to the end of his bunk and flopped over on his side with a huff to stare at Melinda.

"Are you going to the masquerade, Mels?" he asked. His voice sounded incredibly loud in his own ears, the way a voice did when it first broke the silence in a small room occupied by only two people.

Melinda looked up from the PaDD she had been looking at. She was leaning against the headboard of her single bed, pillows propped up behind her and knees bent. The PaDD contained tech manuals, which was odd for her on her off-duty time but she wanted to learn more and there was nothing ever wrong with that. "I wouldn't miss it," she said and flashed her roommate a smile. "It's not everyday we get dress so elegant."

Ellsworth's eyes widened. Clothes! "Have you picked out a dress, yet? I bet you're gonna look so amazing. I don't know what I'm gonna wear, yet. I can't decide. I don't have a date, either. I wanted to go with Oren, but he's going with T'Vanna." The young Betazoid grumbled to himself and kicked at the PADD at the end of his bed, folding his arms like a pouting child. "You'd like nice in something green. Or, like, a ball gown. You'd probably look nice in anything! I bet you're gonna be the...uh... What's that thing humans say? The prettiest woman at the dance? I saw it on a holovid once...."

"I suppose I haven't decided what to where yet," Melinda said as she dropped her own PaDD down next to her. "Oh and it's prettiest girl at the ball," she corrected, though Ells wasn't that far off. "I'd really like to wear a ball gown, do my hair up in ringlets. I have to wear it up so much for work, it will be nice to actually get a chance to dress up and be pretty." She swung her feet over the bed and stood up and walked to the deck, she picked up a Padd full of dress ideas and moving back to where Ells was, handed it to him. "I know I'm not a man, but I'll be your date."

Ellsworth took the device from her and scooted over to allow room for her on his bunk, patting the space next to him. He cut his eyes at her and gave her a sly look. "Why, Mels, are you asking me to the dance?" Outwardly he was all cool and collected; inwardly, he was giddy. 'The dance' was an adolescent ritual he'd never gotten to experience - being the rebellious youth that he was had landed him in and out of so many foster homes and secondary schools that he'd missed most of the traditional hallmarks of one's teenage years. "I think whether or not I accept all depends on how good of a dancer you are..."

Melinda nodded and then leaned in close, her lips against his ear, she then whispered, "I'm a great dancer." She then pulled away and smiled a bread smile. "So, I think you should accept."

Ellsworth first looked a little shocked and then a smile spread across his lips, finally turning into a grin. He gave her a playful little shove before opening up the dress ideas for them to look at together. "I think I'd better accept! Otherwise someone else is gonna snatch you up immediately, and I want to go with the prettiest girl on the ship. I hope there are dance awards. We'll totally win. You can't beat a telepath when it comes to dancing cuz we always know your next move."

Chuckling, Melinda looked over at the PaDD as Ells brought up the dress options. "Good to know," she said. "I am thinking something with color, we wear black and gray day in and day out and it's just sooooo boooooring."

"I know!" Ellsworth squeaked, excited someone else shared his opinion about the drag Starfleet uniform. Why did everyone need to be in the same thing, anyway? "What's your favorite color? I like blue. I always look good in blue. And brown, too, but that's not a very lively color. I bet you look good in green and purple. And maybe white!"

Melinda reached over and tapped a button on the PaDD to advance the pages. On the screen popped up a white gown with a pale green lace overlay. At the waist was the same pale green, but as a silk sash. "I think I have the figure to pull that off."

"I think I've got the figure to pull it off, too," Ellsworth said, holding his head high and little haughty while cutting his eyes to her. He grinned. "Well. Maybe not in the bust area. You outclass me a little bit there... I want to wear something black. I look sexy in black. Something with spikes! So I look dangerous, too. Sexy and dangerous. That'll go great with you in a pretty dress... Like, I could spike my hair and stuff! You can be classy, and I can be edgy."

"Perfect characters," Mels said. "But, let's not forget we need masks as well, so that might even add to your edginess."

Ellsworth's eyes lit up. "Oh, I forgot! Do you think mine could be on fire? Is there a kind of fire that's fire but doesn't burn stuff like fire? I don't want to burn down the starbase. Or worse, set my hair on fire." He pursed his lips in thought. "I guess maybe I could use a tiny holoemitter embedded into the mask so it just looks like it's on fire. Brilliant! What kinda mask are you gonna wear? Something elegant, something refined..." He grinned at her and held his chin up high, mocking the sophistication of it.

"Elegant and refined all the way," Melinda responded then giggled at her friend. "I want the mask to match my dress, maybe a cream colored base with specs of a pale green." She got lost in thought for a moment. "This is going to be a lot of fun."

The young Betazoid grinned and grabbed her arm in excitement, shaking her a little bit. "I know, I know! I'm so excited! It's going to be perfect." He let go of her and looked off in the distance with unfocused eyes. "I'm going to walk in, face on fire, and melt the hearts of so many beautiful men. And one of them is going to rise above the rest, dance me 'round and 'round, sweep me off my feet, carry me home in his big strong arms and..." He cleared his throat, looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and grinned a little. "You know the rest, happily ever after and all that."

Melinda smiled at her friend and placed a hand on his thigh and tapped. "I think you may watch and read too many romantic holo novels luv." She chuckled lightly, "But you never know. These things do tend to be magical, or so the story goes. Just don't lose your glass slipper at midnight." She gave Ells a wink.

He did read and watch too many romantic holonovels. And holovids and holonovels and holodeck programs, too. "I want a magical roman-...wait, what? Don't lose my glass slipper? I don't get it. I don't think glass slippers would go well with my costume..."

"The glass slipper is from a fairytale called Cinderella," Melinda said. "See, Cinderella lived with her step mother and two ugly step sisters and believe me they were total uggos right. Anyway, Cinderella did all the housework for the three and they treated her poorly. Blah blah blah, the Prince, who would be Prince Charming was back in the kingdom so his parents threw him a ball to try to get him hooked up with a pretty girl. You know, probably needed an heir to throne or something. Anyway, the step mother said Cinderella could go to the ball if she did all her chores so in the meantime, Cinderella is excited and makes a dress for herself."

Melinda took a breath then continued. "The step sisters, who are jealous of Cinderella's beauty, rip her dress to shreds. She cries and runs out and then her fairy godmother shows up and conjures up some magic and turns her tattered dress into a beautiful gown and a pumpkin into a coach and mice into horses and on Cinderella's feet were glass slippers. The only stipulation to the magic was that Cinderella had to be back by midnight cause then the magic wears off. So, she goes to the ball and meets Prince Charming and falls in love. They dance the night away and she ignores the time. Just before the magic wears off she runs away leaving behind one glass slipper. The Prince is determined to find the woman who fits the shoe.

"So, he searches far and wide and then comes to Cinderella's house. The step mother, knowing that Cinderella was at the ball, tries to keep her from the Prince. Some stuff happens, Cinderella breaks free and see the Prince. The glass slipper fits, she has the other glass slipper still and it's a perfect match. The Prince marries Cinderella and the two live happily ever after." She groans in almost disgust. "Can you believe that crap! That is what they fed little girls in the day," she shook her head and tsk'd. "And now, I just fed it to you. The circle is complete."

Ellsworth tsk'd, too, at least for show. He'd listened enraptured throughout the entire story and thought it was heart-breakingly romantic, but seeing Melinda have such a low opinion of it made him reluctant to be too enthusiastic. It was a little sappy and definitely chauvinistic, but there was something soul-stirring about a man named Prince Charming searching an entire kingdom for a woman whose foot fit a lone shoe.

"Okay, so no glass slippers for me. Cuz I'm sure I'd lose it and then the guy who finds it would be like a dog, buzzing my quarters in the middle of the night trying to hop into my bunk. Nope, not gonna do that," Ellsworth shook his head. "I'm gonna leave with a dreamy guy, like Oren. Or maybe I should just leave by myself. I'm independent. Have you ever had a real boyfriend, Mels? Like a real-real one? For a long time?"

A sort of sad smile crossed her lips. "I did," she replied simply at first. "I had really known him my whole life, one of those stories were the two next door neighbors grew up as friends and fell in love. That was Bradley and I. We were inseparable really and were together all throughout high school and even when I enlisted. He moved to San Francisco with me and everything, he didn't want to join Starfleet but started his college career at UCLA." She paused as the memories of Bradley resurfaced, not that she buried them it was just she didn't much think about it these days. "About a year into my program he decided that Starfleet couldn't be apart of our relationship. He made me choose and no one makes Melinda Clare choose let me tell you." She stabbed a finger in the air as if to drive home the point. "Though, it was a tough decision, I chose a career. I loved him for a long time after, it was heart-breaking but I wanted to enlist. I wanted to be here to be apart of something bigger then myself and he just couldn't understand that."

Ellsworth listened attentively and began constructing his own mental image of Bradley, taking quite a bit of creative license with it. He was tall with a solid frame but not too much muscle. Chestnut hair cut close but just messy enough to make him look young. Blue eyes, a perfect smile, and always dressed a little bit disheveled like college boys sometimes looked... He got so caught up in the daydreaming that there was an awkward silence after Melinda's story finished.

"Oh!" he said, turning to her, brow creased in worry in concern as he pulled himself out of his own mind and felt the emotions swirling around the room. "I'm so sorry, Mels, that's... Really tough." Quietly, he wondered if K'os had made a similar decision and just neglected to tell him. "Do you know what happened to him? Do you still talk to him?"

"He is in medical school, still at UCLA though. I guess he really loves Los Angeles," she paused looking thoughtful a moment as all the feelings she had for him came back. "I don't really talk to him, last I heard he was engaged but that was a while ago. He had I just had two different paths in mind, not to mention he is not a fan of Starfleet." She shook her head at that. She knew Starfleet had it's faults, but to have such a dislike for it was beyond her. "I'm better off being with someone, marrying someone, who is in the fleet. At least they know what it's like to serve."

Los Angeles sounded vaguely familiar to him, one of the many cities in the megaregion running from San Francisco to San Diego, but he couldn't be sure he had ever visited. He looked Melinda up and down and lifted an eyebrow; it must have been one hell of a city to insist on staying there, he thought.

"People don't like Starfleet?" Ellsworth asked, looking truly baffled. His world was a small one, and it was often difficult for him to see beyond its boundaries. "Everyone on Risa loved Starfleet. They were really good customers. And they liberated Betazed! I mean, they kinda lost it in the first place, but at least they helped get it back."

"Of course there are people who don't like, care for, or want to join Starfleet," Melinda said and shrugged. "Some won't join on principle, some don't like the organization due to the actions of the Dominon War and some feel that because of Starfleet we have invited danger and destruction to our door step." Again she shrugged. "With Bradley, he didn't like the idea of being told to say yes sir and no sir."

Ellsworth remained quiet, thinking. He didn't like to be told to say yes sir and no sir, either, but it hardly seemed like grounds to reject Starfleet. But then again, he wasn't studying to become a doctor. That wasn't even an option. Starfleet had pretty much been his only option, and he wondered briefly to what extent that had influenced his opinion of the organization.

"How come you joined, Mels?"

"Mostly because I wanted to be apart of something bigger then myself," Melinda said. "I didn't want to stay on Earth and I knew this was the best way to get off the planet. I even bypassed the Academy so I could start serving right away. I know Starfleet has it's faults but it's still a very good organization with high morals and good principles. You can't go wrong with that."

"That sounds like a good reason," Ellsworth said, smiling. It certainly sounded better than 'so I didn't have to be a sex worker anymore.' He filed away the answer somewhere in his mind to reproduce should the question ever be asked of him. "Starbase 84 is really big - I looked it up! You don't get to meet many people on the Galileo cuz it's so small and a lot of people are already in relationships, but I bet there are a lot of Starfleet guys on the starbase. And you can turn heads." Ellsworth grinned at her, but hastened to add something more so he didn't sound so shallow. "Not that there isn't more to it. I mean, you're smart, too. But you can't go around shouting, 'I'm smart!' in a starbase to attract people. You gotta work the goods." He lifted his hands up to his chest as if he were adjusting imaginary breasts, pouted his lips out, batted his eyelashes and smoothed his hands down his sides, as if to highlight his form, before degenerating into a giggling fit.

"Oh Ells," Melinda shook her head and started to laugh. "My assets are pretty good, I could probably attract anyone I want." She had to admit, at least to herself, it would be nice to meet someone again. Friendships were fine, she loved her friends and she especially loved Ells, but she did want more. "Who knows, maybe I will find someone on eighty-four."

"Oh, psh, maybe," Ellsworth said, leaning over to bump into her. He made a face like it was a foregone conclusion. "Just wear the right bra and everything will work out fine." Hearing the words repeat in his head, he decided that sounded too shallow even for him. "Uh, and say smart things, too. Of course."

All Melinda could do was laugh and shake her head.

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PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

&

PO3 Melinda Clare
Operations
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Williams, IV ]

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