Housewarming (Part 1)

Posted on 03 Jan 2013 @ 7:08pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho

3,896 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 3, Cho's Quarters
Timeline: MD14, 1930 hours

[ON]

I hope she likes it, Maenad thought to herself as she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled on a thin pair of tights. She knew that she would; it wasn't hard to make Kiri happy. It seemed that just a smile could brighten her day, so Maenad doubted very little that Kiri wouldn't like her present. She had promised her the day at the beach, which had now been several days ago, that she would come to see her new quarters and bring her a housewarming gift. But then Kiri had had her accident and, well, things had gone up in the air.

Maenad stood, pulling up her white skirt with black polka dots, standing sideways in the mirror to make sure it looked right. When it did, she pulled on a simple form-fitting long-sleeved black shirt. Checking herself over again and noticing the severity on her face, she thought pleasantly that she looked like a fashion model. Maybe in another life. She went into the bathroom, then, to do her hair. After that she did her makeup of whitening her face, lightly blushing her cheeks, reddening her lips and lining her eyes with black, all very subtly. She pressed her lips, smacked them together, and wiped away the excess with a tissue. She then glared at herself from several different angles, entertaining the idea that she was posing on a runway in Paris. Then, once she realised how foolish she was acting, she laughed at herself and left the bathroom.

She picked up Kiri's gift which she had set on the floor against the wall, a 16x20 squared shape which was wrapped in red paper, and held it under her arm. On her way out the door, she slipped on a pair of black flats and headed for Kiri's quarters. There, she pressed the chime on her door.

Despite it all Kiri was dressed in her uniform. Sat at her desk in the back of the room where she worked. Her hair was loose and hung about her shoulders in a shear drop. The redness of her eyes had faded as had the bags and her face had settled back into its normal slightly happy mask. Dressed as she was Kiri wore no makeup, her lips a natural dry pink, eyes green and slightly small and her face framed by little black dots, half hidden under her hair. With duty in mind she was finalising the automated settings for the new sensor systems. Not hard work but one that required lots of testing, it stopped her feeling quite so bored.

The room was almost empty. The desk was at the back, under the windows that showed the night sky above them. A few pads were neatly stacked on it. That was it in the room as far as her belongings went. The shelves were empty, the small grey sofa, the floor were all empty. No sign that the room was even lived in. The bedroom was the same other than a few pictures and her model from Sellen. Everything she had brought from home was on display there, just for her. Next to a double bed that she hated to sleep in.

When the door chimed at once Kiri stood up, closing her work station, "Enter." She wasn't quite sure who it would be, but she suspected.

Maenad stepped into the room with the gift still under arm. She stopped in front of the closed doors far enough away so that they wouldn't open again, and she brought her heels together, standing almost like a parade guard. "Good evening, Miss Cho," she said flatly, seeing Kiri sitting behind the lonely desk. "Am I disturbing you?" she asked while slowly moving her head to absorb the room around her, or the lack of anything in it.

"No you aren't," She shouldn't be doing anything work related so even if she was interrupted she wouldn't say so. Smiling she came from behind the desk but beyond that she didn't really know what to do. Just a smile, shaking hands, a hug, "Good evening." Just a smile, her hands placed in her lap even as she stood. Then etiquette took over, "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please," Maenad's stark expression lit up somewhat. "How have you been feeling?" she asked, still standing where she had entered. The sight of Kiri fully-clad in her uniform this late, and when she was under orders to relax and remain off-duty, bothered her - but she hid it well.

"Better," Kiri smiled and headed towards the replicator. Replicating some green tea she turned as it worked, "How have you been feeling?" It seemed pointless to change out of her uniform when she was just sitting in her room, it didn't matter if no one was going to see her and what if something happened on the ship? It saved her getting changed again.

"Fine, thank you," she replied from where she was still standing by the door.

Turning to take the tea Kiri bit on her lip, "Would you like to sit down?" Standing by the door seemed like a polite thing to do without investigation, she had forgotten. Not that she had much in the way of guests visit her before. The lights were slightly dimmed as well, just the right level for Kiri to work at a screen but maybe not have a conversation.

"Thank you," Maenad slipped off her shoes and walked over to the sofa under Kiri's window and sat down. Her legs were drawn together and she set her hands in her lap and the gift by her feet so that it leant against the couch. "How was your day?" she asked.

"Um," Well she could either lie or tell the truth and risk getting into trouble, it was Maenad though. Taking a seat on the far side of the sofa Kiri handed her a handle-less cup of tea, "Productive, I finished most of the work I needed to do." That might inspire the wrong reaction, "I made sure to rest though."

Maenad took the tea in her hands. She raised the cup to her lips and gently blew on it, then looked to Kiri with pursed lips. "You aren't supposed to be working," she said disapprovingly before taking a small sip of tea.

"I need to," Kiri frowned herself, she needed to work. The only thing she had in her life was her work, the only stable thing outside of her family. There were caveats though, "I haven't been pushing myself."

"What were you working on?" Maenad asked after several long seconds of thought. It was the first time in possibly since she had known the young woman that she didn't look exhausted. She decided that she believed her. Still, she would have preferred it if Kiri hadn't been working at all.

"Final settings for the sensor systems, ready for our launch." Kiri warmed her hands on the cup, it would take a while before it was cool enough for her to drink. At least Maenad didn't seem angry with her, there was more as well, "I have also completed the department inventory."

"Yes, Mister Petrov was working on that earlier. I went down to the cargo bay an hour or two ago to make sure it had been done properly," she sighed quietly, then took another sip from her tea. "Oh," Maenad leaned forward and set her tea on the coffee table. "I brought you this," she lifted up the wrapped present by her legs and passed it to Kiri. It was a framed print of one of Maenad's favourite paintings by Kazimir Malevich, Sportsmen.

"Thank you," Maenad had said that she would bring a gift, Kiri hadn't managed to come up with her own yet though. It was very hard for her to think of a gift, it didn't feel as if she knew anyone well enough to give them gifts. Placing her tea on the floor Kiri took the package and defy unpicked the wrapping no not to tear the paper. Sliding out the canvas frame she looked that the picture. As a gift it was lovely, that made her very happy to accept it. However it was very far from her own taste in art, "Thank you very much," A smile spread across her face, "Where do you think it should go?"

"Do you like it?" she asked her. "I didn't know that you would," Maenad explained.

"Yes," A half lie but a good one for once, "It is very colourful," It also managed to be quite scary. A technicolor version of the aliens the Enterprise had encountered at Cheron. Kiri liked Realism in her art, to be very clear in what the picture was. Cities and landscapes were what she liked best, it was also the style her mother tended to work in.

Maenad smiled. "I'm glad." She reached for her tea and took another sip, then held it in her lap. She looked around the room, noting the similarities and differences with her quarters.

Standing up and giving a wide berth to the tea that was standing on the floor Kiri held up the painting on the far wall, currently a gap between two empty bookcases, "Do you think I should put it here?" The only decorating she had ever done before was putting up two posters in her bedroom, one being a periodic table and the other a star-map.

"It looks good there," she said. "But I think you should put it wherever you want." She sipped at her tea, thinking that she had many paintings and things that she loved but didn't display. "You don't even have to put it up," she thought aloud.

Well if it was good there. Did she realise that she didn't really like the picture? Now she was starting to worry, "It's a gift from you, of course I have to put it up." Kiri wanted to explain her standpoint but once she said it she realised how childish she sounded. Maenad made it very clear that it was up to her either way though, "I'll replicate some fixtures for it later." For now she placed the picture on the floor, leant against the book case.

Maenad sighed. Of course she had to put it up? What was that supposed to mean? Was it a complaint? Maenad stood up and walked over to the bookshelf to see what titles she had. "I didn't know you read," she said curiously. "I didn't think you ever made time for yourself."

The shelves were almost completely empty other than a few old books of mathematical formula and log books. A mass of printed numbers they didn't make for much in the way of reading but they had their uses. "I don't normally have time to read." Kiri pressed her lips together in a small pout, "I do like books though."

"Anything in particular?" Maenad asked, pulling off a book of formulas. She opened the covers and started flipping through the pages, feeling her brain spin. She had been good at math as a child, but advanced mathematics were far from her comfort zone.

That was something embarrassing, Kiri looked uncomfortable as she answered, "I like fantasy books," She started to turn a pale shade of red, "Knights, princesses and samurai, things like that. My favourite is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

"Oh really?" Maenad asked, her face lighting up. "Romance? I had a feeling there was more to you than work," she smirked.

"What?" Kiri turned a brighter shade of red, "No it's not really a romance, that's just the translated name. But it does have romance, I mean, but its not about it." Her words were running together as she tried to explain, "I don't like books that are too, graphic."

"Too graphic?" Maenad looked puzzled, but she was still smiling. "You mean with sex? Or with violence?" She noticed Kiri's blush even in the dim lighting of her quarters, but she thought that it was good for Kiri to blush.

That wasn't a word that Kiri really felt comfortable using, "Well, both." Less so with the violence, as long as there was context she could cope with reading about horrible wounds. People being intimate with each other made her very uncomfortable though. It wasn't something she really understood that well and she didn't feel that she should read about it. It was meant to be something private and that went for characters in books as well. She said as much, "It's meant to be something private, I don't really. It's just awkward." The sex talk wasn't one Kiri had ever had before, from her parents or her friends. Barely had there even been anything related to sex talked about so it wasn't a topic she really knew what to do with.

Maenad looked at Kiri with disbelief. "Sex is the best part of everything," she said with a suggestive smile. "Books, especially," she said. Come to think of it, she realised, Kiri's reservedness made sense; Kiri had never been with anyone, which hit her not so much with surprise as much as a confirmation of an unspoken thought. She eyed the younger woman with playfully suspicious eyes. "We'll have to find some way to change that," she said. "Is there anybody you're particularly fond of?" Again, Maenad probably shouldn't have asked that, but when her curiosity got the best of her she thought out loud and without much reservation.

Kiri could feel herself turning redder, it started to hurt her skin. A thick stammer settled into her voice, "N, no, I don't, no." There had been boys that she had considered being friendly with because of attractiveness, not that she ever spoke to any of them. Sex wasn't something really associated with a relationship though, it was something disconnected. Her grandmother always said that it was something best left until after marriage. Her grandmother had also told her not to join Starfleet though. She couldn't turn any more red as tried to give the topic thought. Kohl was attractive, he was nice to her but was gone now. Brayden was old enough to be her father but he was nice and, too old. No there wasn't anyone on the ship that she could even consider, "There isn't."

"Hm," Maenad sipped her tea, watching her. "Well," she said after swallowing, "You're very pretty." The observation was made in a confident tone that didn't allow for subjectivity. Maenad shrugged, thinking of what she was doing with her own body at Kiri's age. Did she regret it, she wondered with a strange frown. Probably not. "I think it might be good for you. It's perfectly natural," Maenad added.

Natural it might be but she wasn't an animal. Still very flustered Kiri moved to pick up her own tea so her hands would have something to do. These weren't words she heard from anyone other than her mother now. To be told she was attractive, she tended to assume otherwise. That way it wasn't entirely her fault that people hadn't shown an interest in her. What did her looks have to do with it though, what did any of it for that matter? Was doing something like that going to change her at all? That was something Kiri doubted, "Thank you, but I don't think I can." If she didn't even have anyone she liked how could she even think about doing something like that with someone.

Maenad frowned as she walked back to the couch and sat down. She looked into her tea, thinking about what Kiri had just said. She didn't think she could? That was a depressing thought. "Kiri," she said, still looking into her cup, "I don't know what you mean by you don't think you can, but it's not really something you prepare for, and everybody is capable of it," she looked up at her. "It just happens." Maenad smiled sort of nervously, "That's not very scientific, but it's the truth." She took a drink of tea and replaced the cup in her lap before going on. "It will happen when it happens, and for everyone it's different," she stared across the room at the door, as if remembering from her distant past.

"I know that," Kiri was still very uncomfortable, "For me. I find it hard to, talk to people," She knew it wasn't exactly news, "Something like that would be, even harder. I've never had a boyfriend or anything so I can't do things like that." Kiri didn't like admitting to her social failings like this, on this topic more than others.

Maenad only grinned, sipping her tea some more. It was quite good, actually. She drank Earl Grey, herself, but this herbal green tea that Kiri had replicated wasn't at all bad, either. She raised her eyebrows when Kiri had said that she had never had a boyfriend, but somehow it made sense to her. And why did she find it so difficult to talk to people? Maenad tried to remember a time in her life when she found it difficult to talk to people, so Kiri could find herself a little more relatable to her.

"When I was little," Maenad said slowly, looking at her knees, "When I was twelve, my parents sent me to a boarding school in Canada. I grew up in France. In fact, I'd never left - not without my parents, anyway. We were very close," she explained, now looking at Kiri, "And I suppose we still are. But, when they sent me to that boarding school in Montreal, I was devastated. I used to cry every single night. I had no friends, I couldn't speak any English, and my French was different from everybody else's because I spoke it with a French accent," she quietly sighed. "So, like you, in the absence of friends and a social life, I devoted myself to my studies. I learned English fluently in less than two years. I can now speak it, I think, as well as any native can. I don't think I have much of an accent anymore at all, and people might not know I'm French without seeing my written name. At the same time I was learning English, I became learned in science, math, and history. By the time I was in my late teens and beginning university, I was the most awkward person you might have ever met." She looked at Kiri with severe eyes and a squared jaw. "I didn't have the discipline that you have, Kiri. Because I was lonely and depressed, I made thin friendships because of my own blindness and ignorance. I did a lot of drugs, started smoking, started drinking, just to fit in. I had a lot of sex, and a lot of the time it meant nothing, and I couldn't remember who I'd done it with," she made a faint smile. "I don't regret it, because it usually felt good and most of the time it was fun," she said after several seconds. "But I'm not particularly proud of it, either." Maenad stared off into space for a long moment. "By the time I started my graduate studies, I got my act together. I stopped doing all of those things, well most of them anyway, and returned to my life of being dedicated to my work. I became a professor because I put my mind to it, and only by chance did I wind up in Starfleet." Maenad pursed her lips, then paused to take a long sip of tea. "If you want to overcome your insecurities, you must take risks. Otherwise, you'll live with regret until you do, and you'll never learn if there's more to yourself than you know."

That was a lot of take in. Kiri didn't associate anything like that with Maenad so it was rather a shock to hear it now. To have someone talking so frankly about their life, it was very useful and scary. To her Maenad wasn't the same person any more, at least she wasn't back then. Kiri wouldn't wanted to even go near the Maenad that did drugs and had lots of sex. What was the moral of the story though? That if she wasn't careful she could pick the wrong friends and that could mess up her aspiration? After along pause she spoke up, "I don't understand. I mean I like to think I am careful with my friends, I won't change myself so much to please them. Can't I overcome my problems steadily? I'd liked to just forget my problems and move past them but I tried that, it doesn't really work." Kiri wanted to learn how to live but live in the world she wanted to exist.

"Yes, of course you can," Maenad said back to her. She wondered whether maybe she had said too much about herself. Would she have told that to anyone else in her department? Certainly not. "I am sorry. I told you that because I thought it was important. If I hadn't been the person I told you about, I never would have known that I could be the person I am now. For me, looking back, I had to be that person before I could be me. I'm not suggesting that you do any of the things that I did," Maenad laughed a little, "But if you're having difficulty talking to people because you're insecure about what they will think of you, I recommend you just close your eyes and do it anyway, until you don't have to close your eyes anymore in order to do it. It's easier said than done, but until you make that change, it will never change on its own."

"I do try," Kiri smiled and took her own seat again, "Thank you for sharing with me, I won't tell anyone." Taking a breath Kiri tried to explain, "I mean, I do try to talk to people. I just find it hard to, think of things to talk about." There were still a lot of things Kiri didn't know about Maenad but she was closer now than before. To be trusted with something like that meant a lot to her. That and the gift meant she was starting to feel closer.

Maenad smiled too. "Well, do what I do," she almost laughed quietly. "I never have anything to talk about, either, so I just talk about whatever I want to talk about. If I'm thinking about a book, I'll ask if they've read it. If they haven't, I'll tell them what I think about it. If I'm curious about their clothes or why they're dressed a certain way, I'll ask. I have very little reservation about that sort of thing. And I will only do it if that person interests me in some way," she half-shrugged. "I don't know if it works for me or not, honestly. But I don't feel like I have trouble talking to people, and that's what I do."

[TBC]

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Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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