Hasperat for Two - pt1

Posted on 02 Aug 2024 @ 6:34pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Commander Christophe Leblanc

Mission: M4 - Falling Out
Location: OC, Officers quarters
Timeline: Late Evening MD26
1446 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Following the meet-and-greet in the docks as engineers and scientists from all over the Federation poured in for the Engineering Conference, Chris had a late evening meeting with Vaz and The Engineer’s Mate, Quincy, to go over the plan for the next day. It wouldn’t be a particularly early start as the Opening Ceremony wouldn’t start until noon, giving late-comers some time to arrive in the morning. Following that meeting, he declined an invitation to eat some steaks with Cash Quincy, and instead returned to his quarters for a shower and a bit of alone time. It was halfway through his shower that he thought better of it, and by the time he was spritzing on a tasteful scent and putting on a pair of gray slacks, a white-shortsleeve shirt that suited his fit body well, and a pair of polished black shoes, he had a plan of attack.

It was a quick jaunt next door to his newly-returned neighbor’s quarters, but he made it smoothly. Pressing the chime, the man gave the door some space and waited for a response from the woman he’d bet money wasn’t yet in a position to answer the door.

She answered the door in a track suit with neon striping, just zipping it up as the door slid open. “Hey, Chris. Come on in. Unless.. You’re going somewhere.” He looked like he might be going somewhere.

“Good evening.” he said, his blue eyes moving over her suit and wondering if she was preparing for a workout. “I was hoping to go to the Promenade to grab a late supper and was wondering if you wanted to go with me.”

He delivered the invitation smoothly, as if it were nothing that bothered him. It was a sudden, spur of the moment thing, but he liked to cultivate a spirit of spontaneity in his life, so that was nothing new. “I am still a new arrival, and I need someone wise to show me the difference between the good cuisine and the bad.”

“I’m not really going to be much help in the epicurean taste category,” she said. “But I have a couple favorite stops. Food cart? Or you…. probably want a sit down joint. There’s the Supper Club, or Chef KevaQ’s Dynasty.”

“I am less pretentious than my accent suggests, Callie.” he said with a half smile as he leaned slightly on the frame of her door, having only barely come in when invited. “That aside, my meek and playful need for help is merely a pretense to get you to go with me, comprenez-vous?”

“No, yeah, that’s fine. I need to get out anyway. It’s too quiet in here. Can I take a minute? I just got back from swimming my laps.”

“You can take two if you’d like.” he said with a smile, coming into her quarters fully and looking around the room with curious eyes. He was relieved she didn’t intend to go down in the athletic gear, though he wondered why. He certainly didn’t care about the image aspect and didn’t fuss over the aesthetic when it came to other people. Perhaps he just wanted to see her wearing something nice.

It hadn’t changed much since he’d last been there, besides not being packed with party guests. Other than her travel duffles on the floor by the sofa, there were few signs of her having even lived in it much. The sofa cushions were perfectly in place, and there were no books or pads on any of the end tables, no glasses on the counter.

“Take your time. I will just walk around your living room and..nose through your belongings.”

“Thanks,” she said as she quickly raided the wardrobe he’d helped haul into the room when they had first met and grabbed a blouse already matched on a hanger, before disappearing.

As she retreated to her room to dress, Chris did as he promised and cycled through her living room looking at things as they were now. Since the party where she’d given away tons of her belongings, he hadn’t seen the newly cleared and organized space. He found it well-kept and orderly, which he liked. The first thing that caught his eye, however, was a quirky ceramic vase on a center shelf over a holo display of rotating photographs. The vase seemed significant, partially because of its prominent position in the room, and partly because it did not look good. It must mean something more important than design standards.

His eyes drifted down to the programmable photo displays, each of which cycled through pictures of Calliope with people from her past who meant alot to her. The absence of her ex-husband was expected and conspicuous, and he was sure he saw the tell-tale signs of photo editing in some of them. He lingered to admire some of her pictures over the years before picking up a snowglobe with a strange creature inside. Shaking it, it played a pleasant tune. He listened even as he replaced it on the shelf. Then he looked around generally and noticed the stones and shells presented there, all distinct and undoubtedly taken from many different places.

She took the whole of the two minutes and was already out in her casual wear, a pair of flats in hand which she dropped to the floor and slipped on, only reaching down to pull the straps over the back of her heels.

“Returned before I could go through your drawers. What a shame.” Chris said, looking over at her. He pointed to the vase which had a central place and made a wincing face. “I detect a meaningful memory behind this. It must be a very powerful one, yes?”

“What? Oh. It’s the prettier of the original pair. It was this one day pottery workshop my mom took me to. I made the other one and traded it to my mom for hers. If the place was on fire, I might save it, but it would probably be the only thing to survive anyway.”

Chris smiled at that. It was a good justification in his book. He nodded slowly, his brain clearly working.

“It is a …powerful statement of the love between you.” he said, then picked up one of the photo displays that cycled through her academy days. “I’m fairly sure you and I overlapped at the Academy for two years, and this girl you're standing with rings a bell. I believe I may have spilled an entire glass of wine down the back of her dress at a party. She said some…very unkind things in return.”

“Marta Negari? Don’t feel bad. It was probably some karma she had built up. I think she’s in Intel now…”

“Mon Dieu, I hope she doesn’t have it in for me then. She really liked that dress.” he said, stepping closer to her. “Were you much of a partier during your Academy days. I don’t remember ever meeting you, but I wasn’t always…aware back then.”

Wasn’t aware? The question went to her facial expression, uncertain of his meaning. “I went to all the campus functions I could. I had to be careful to keep my grades up though, so I kept the rest of the parties mostly between terms.”

“Well, that’s very responsible of you. Commendable.” he said, his expression friendly and only a bit ironic. “You don’t happen to remember an awkward backyard make-out session with a half-blacked-out French guy, do you? Please say no.”

His hands moved up into a prayer gesture as he smiled more fully, his handsome face lined with worry. He had kissed two green girls in his life, and he only knew the identity of one. The second he mentioned it, he wished he’d just kept it to himself, but it was far too late for that.

“The answers no, good. Just as I thought.” he said, his tone comical, hoping to at least make her laugh.

She shook her head, smiling, although the expression was half sad. “Yeah, no, it couldn’t have been me. I always left before things turned shitfaced.” She motioned towards the door. “So there's this build-your-own hasperat place…”

Taking the clue without any trouble. The sadness in her expression was a mystery to him, but he wasn’t going to probe now. Maybe he had just offended her, Chris gestured toward the door. “That sounds delicious. Hasperat is a favorite of mine. Please, lead the way.”