A robot, a AI, and a rabbit walk into a...

Posted on 01 Jan 2022 @ 6:26pm by Lieutenant Madalene Sabine & Lieutenant Callisi Veera

2,439 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Home
Location: Science Labs/Holodeck

It was weird being back, more so from how they were asked to leave the ship, and asked to help those cadets. What was worse was she didn't get a chance to decompress, decompress and study all of the data they collected from their time in the other universe.

....and what they found, two very unique people, err not exactly people, but lenient beings, yes, yeah. Kat and Odin, two of the most unique beings she has come across. Well, there was the rabbit, the rabbit, the rabbit. The one-eyed rabbit, if this wasn't a Starfleet crew, she didn't know what was. Chuckling a little as she got settled behind her desk which also felt strange.

And this strangeness came more from just not having a chance to be behind it, before...either way it didn't matter, what mattered was they were allowed back onto the ship. Looking over the roster, and realized that several projects were now way behind because of of, well whatever that was. Looking over the number of PaDDs that were on her desk, that went unanswered while she was on Earth running around with cadets.

Rubbing her eyes she felt like she needed something, it wasn't food or even drink, maybe it was just doing this outside of the labs. So, with that thought she grabbed a few of the PaDDs and headed out of her office, where she ran into the rabbit, "oh, Callisi, hello, it is good to see you again," Madalene said with a smile.

Callisi was walking along the halls, a PaDD of her own in her grasp. System checks, standard things really. The kind of thing that could easily have been done from her office, but she felt the need to walk. Stretch those legs as the saying goes. Sciences wasn't on her checklist this morning, but it was on the way, so when the doors to the primary laboratories opened and Madalene walked out, the cyclopean rabbitess paused to give her the right of way.

A smile given, a smile returned, "It's good to be seen." she replied with a soft smile, "It's good to see you as well. I trust things are going well enough?" she offered, It was just as odd as people said, and seeing it in person even moreso. One eye, colorful and vivid, but lacking any form of reflection whatsoever. No shine, no gloss, just a flat image of an eye, really. A matte canvas, with a jewel of an eye that one could get lost in. The other covered by a black eyepatch that almost wouldn't look out of place on a pirate of the high seas. Above and below, carving through her eye brow and her cheek there was a scar that told the story of what lay beneath.

Though, peeking through the black fabric there was the slightest glow. A dim, dim, dim blue light of sorts that followed the motion of her living eye. Her eye wasn't missing, it was replaced. Whichever was worse, though, was anyone's guess.

"I'm going to miss the cadets. I will not miss Kenya," she stated with a nod. A solid fact. "Beautiful, but the weather didn't suit me much."

Madalene was not a great teacher, that was her struggle, she knew how to teach herself, but when it came to teaching someone else, that energy just wasn't there. "I don't miss either, yes the landscape was beautiful, but yes the weather was hellish, so where the cadets," she said with a chuckle, "sorry, I am just not a good teacher," she added with another chuckle.

Callisi gave a chuckle of her own, "We do what we can to make sure the next in line has it easier. Even if that means sending them to a more prepared teacher." she offered, a tactful save. "I'm not very good with teaching either. I used to think of myself as a role model for my sister, but perhaps more along the lines of what not to do." she chuckled, despite the grim feel of the comment. "Sometimes the best teacher we can be is a warning."

"But, that's behind us now. A new horizon lay before us, or something along those lines." she offered as a change of topic.

"Yes, onto new horizons," she said with a smirk and wink, "as for your other question, mostly just signing off on reports, and things like that, things that would've been done before we were ushered off the ship," she added.

"Any development on that front?" The rabbitess asked, now at the heart of one matter. "I understand that the Federation has a curiosity when it comes to any undiscovered technology and people. While pride demands I consider myself, in truth what I am is nothing compared to the true curiosities: Odin, and Kat."

"None that I know of, unfortunately, something like that is way above my paygrade, lieutenants are a dime a dozen in Starfleet, we are just here to keep the cogs moving," she said chuckling as she remembered how she was taught that.

Callisi gave a nod. They probably had a similar saying among her people. "Though Starfleet has more personal freedom than serving in the Imperial Navy, sometimes they're downright identical." she chuckled. "Though that being the case, how are you? Not the job, or the cadets... you."

"Tired." Madalene said, "...and lost, I don't know I have felt lost ever since getting back here like something is off, but you just don't know what exactly is off," she added.

"Like trying to breath fog." Callisi offered. "There's no harm in it, there's no danger, but it's just... off." she confirmed. "As for Tired, I can offer a solution. I have a program on the holodeck of a hot spring bath I was fond of back home. A piece of Ts'usu if you would. The ministry of defense and strategy demands that all simulations that are of Ts'usu or her worlds have the stars scrubbed from the night sky, to keep the Imperial presence secret." she explained, "So I repopulated the sky with the stars from a few popular Starfleet downtime locations. Consider it an offer to help, from one c... one lieutenant to another." she avoided the 'cog in the machine' reference deliberately.

"Yes, just like trying to breathe fog," Madalene muttered kinda understanding, but that was the funny thing, trying to understand that wasn't possible as it was a non-understandable thing. "That sounds lovely, care to join me sometime?"

Callisi gave a nod, "Bath houses are public forums. To go alone to a public bath and expect to stay alone would defeat the point. Of course I'd be joining you." she stated, "And perhaps together we can clear the proverbial air. Or at the very least, enjoy the time until we're sent on another mission. Hopefully not another training mission."

Her glance slid down to the PaDDs that Madalene was carrying, "I've distracted you too much from your tasks, though. We can continue this later when our respective work loads are dealt with?"

"No, these can wait, my mind is not the right place to deal with these, allowing myself to clear my head is more important, along with continuing to fix this, to fix or really to build our relationship," she added walking back to her office to drop the PaDDs.

The rabbitess gave a nod and followed her the few steps they had made away from the labs, tucking her own PaDD under an arm as the decision was made. Once she returned, the pair of them made off towards the simulation room or as Starfleet so affectionately put it: The Holodeck. Once the pair arrived, Callisi loaded up a program and when the doors opened, the holodeck's usual barren interior was gone. Replacing it was a snowy mountain locale, far from the prying eyes of society. Sitting pretty by its lonesome there was a wooden structure with a slanted roof, paper curtains, and a welcoming feel that made it look less like a real thing, and more something lifted from a fairy tale. Though it was snowy on the outside, the stone path to the structure was warm enough to keep the snow and ice from forming. "I didn't know how comfortable you'd be with a full crowd, so I set it to just us." Callisi explained as she entered. She gave a smile at the familiar feelings, the feel of the path under her paws, the feel of the warmth of the spring. It was close enough to home to fool the senses, but not the heart.

She guided Madalene in, showing her the bath proper. A small lake set into a stone indentation full of water that chased the chill of the mountain away. There were wash areas off to the sides, and behind closed linens there were fresh towels and some plain bathing suits. "I had the system fabricate you an outfit to wear. Traditionally, you're not supposed to but I figured a bathing suit would help keep a friendship alive more than tradition." she held up one of her own from a closet.

A quick change later and the pair were already heading to the bath. That first toe in felt just as good as the rest of the foot, then the leg, until the pair were sitting down, up to their neck in water just shy of being 'too hot' for comfort. The rabbitess, true to her word, wore a plain white bating suit to preserve her modesty, and had even swapped out her regular black eyepatch for a white one. One that looked more like a medical patch on thin strings rather than a pirate accessory.

It was amazing, the mountains, the sky, even the simplicity of seeing one's breath in the cold air. "Thi this is amazing!" Madalene said almost forgetting what she said about the bathing suits, "....oh yes that is a good idea, but for I guess future bathing activities I do not mind being nude or having other people being nude, obviously of the same sex," Madalene said as she picked up a simple forest green one-piece suit, which had a large circle on the right-side cut out.

"I'm humbled that you appreciate it. Little out of the way places like this on the home moons are getting harder and harder to find, because once someone finds one everyone wants to see it." Callisi mentioned as she wiggled a bit in place to get comfy. Once she was finished, she gave Madalene a smirk, "Good to know for next time." she teased. "Modern bath houses have screens that can show news, sports, or other programming. I prefer this, though. Simple and elegant. It's hard to relax when you're watching the news or the latest match."

"So, you mentioned something earlier about relationships?"

"Oh, yes um...," Madalene started but blushed slightly, "I just, I don't know, I just can't let go of this guilt for what I did, when we weren't ourselves," she said knowing that this must be exhausting this again, "...but also want to keep both a professional seeing as i was the former chief and keep it personal were we can do this kind of thing, I mean this kind of thing is very new to me, up until now I never strive to have this kind of relationship," she finally stammered out.

Callisi listened close, this was clearly important to her. A soft smile crossed her face at the end. "The sky looked to the ground, and said it was sorry for all the rain it poured down upon it. The ground forgave the sky, for it knew that while the rain was cold and wet, it would lead to something so beautiful in the spring." a pause, "The wind once apologized to the trees. I'm sorry, it said, for blowing away all your leaves. The trees simply forgave the wind, for while it was barren without its leaves, it knew in the spring there'd be beauty to come."

She waved the moment away, "It's an old proverb. Older than me by, two... three hundred years. Let's try something more modern. If I had to guess, you're worried that I'm still secretly holding a grudge, and you're concerned about the balance of being section chiefs as well as the previous chief to assistant balance, and..." she paused, "So, it sounds like you're asking me... are we cool?"

"And the answer is yes. We are. I forgave you the moment I knew it was not you in control. I'm going to have nightmares about that moment for a while but... trust me..." she reached up and removed the white eyepatch covering her destroyed orbit, and hiding her prosthetic. Her greatest shame. Her flaw. Her damage.

It sparkled in the light, free to view the world. Such a contrast to the flesh and blood around it, and to the eye it replaced. An anodized blue shine, a bright blue point of light to indicate its focus, an elegant sphere set in a series of rings allowing it the same fluid, instant motion demanded of it.

"You're not the worst nightmare I have."

"Yes, that is exactly that, just much more elegant," she laughed looking at her, but it was a nervous laugh, as her worst nightmare was that she enjoyed holding that power, that power has knowing where her prey was, and sending the hunters after the prey.

"...and well your eye, it has an odd beauty to it, almost a celestial beauty," she added.

"They say a Ts'usugi is taught what a word means before they learn how to speak it." she offered, "We're good with politics, or at least, most of us are." she smirked. Then the smirk faded slightly. "It's... Dalacari by design. They have an art in everything they do. Everything is a rounded curve, a soft and safe border." she let the moment linger before replacing her white eyepatch. "I hate it, but replacing it now does more harm than good, and I'd rather keep the obvious fake than get a cadaver's eye or even a fabrication." she shook her head and took a deeeeeeeeeep breath.

"But yes. We're cool."

Madalene just gave her a smile, "thank you again," and with that Madalene sank under the water just for a second before coming back up.

When she came back up, Callisi was watching with a smirk, "You're a fascinating person, Madalene. I'm glad we met."

Madalene smiled, "same here, on both accounts," before going back to just letting this magical place heal her.

 

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