Trying out the Lounge

Posted on Mon Dec 7th, 2009 @ 8:13am by Commodore Samantha York
Edited on on Tue Aug 24th, 2010 @ 10:51am

675 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: The Devils Snare
Location: Ten Forward
Timeline: Just before lunch rush

Ted was getting ready for the lunch crowd. He was washing everything he possibly could and trying to straighten everything out after the breakfast bunch. He was taking a bucket of dishes in to be cleaned when he saw work coming in in the shape of a woman in sciences teal. If she had been any more unremarkable, it would have been a miracle. He took the dishes in to Toras and came back out to find the woman sitting in front of the bar. He walked up to the bar and spread his hands on the bar, ready to pick up anything on either side of him.

"What can I get you, Ensign?"

"Could I have an orange juice in a shot glass, please?" Suzette asked quietly.

Ted frowned at her. An odd request, but he picked up a shot glass and poured some fresh made orange juice into it and set it in front of her. He decided to try to open her up. "I'm Ted, the new Lounge Manager. What's your name?" He looked over the lounge. Nikki and Jamie were working on clearing the tables and doing rather well, but the early lunch crowd was beginning to filter in. He'd need to stop chatting earlier than he wanted.

"Suzette," she replied softly. "I work on the bridge. Gamma shift." She had to fold her hand around the shot class to be able to lift it to her mouth. She slowly sipped the juice, then set the glass down. "Thank you, Ted."

Ted had never seen anyone drink so slowly. "...Can I get you anything else? A sausage biscuit perhaps."

Suzette thought about that for a moment. "Yes, that sounds lovely. Just a small one, please."

Ted nodded and went in the back. Toras kept a supply of biscuits on standby so all she had to doo was cook the sausage. Returning to Suzette he said, "It'll be right now, ma'am. You look a little..." He was about to say boring but said instead, "Bored. Why don't ya fix that? Go do something. Maybe horse riding?"

Suzette looked at him, alarmed. "I can't do that. I don't go outdoors much. It's too dangerous."

Ted nodded. "Okay." She turned to the side and saw that she was in fact two dimensional...like a paper doll. He had never seen someone so...different in his life. "So. Would you like something else? Maybe you could...experiment with learning to cook." He was having trouble coming up with ideas for someone who was two dimensional. It was hard to imagine being that way, being three dimensional himself.

"Nothing else. That was more than I normally eat, but it was quite good. Thank you," she said. She considered his suggestion for a moment. "I am probably better off sticking with a replicator. However, I'm very good with computers and getting into places other people can't." She gave him an impish grin, having noted is unease at her flatness. "I do have my uses."

Ted nodded. "I'm sure." The waitresses were snaeking looks at her through the corners of their eyes, causing Ted to scowl. "So how long you been in Starfleet?"

"Three years, plus the Academy," Suzette replied. She looked at the waitresses, a feat that made her neck twist in a very odd manner. "I'm used to it. That's why I prefer to work gamma shift."

Ted nodded. "That's not long. What do you do in Science? Are you the archeologist?"

"No. I'm a theoretical physicist. I deal in abstracts," Suzette said, smiling.

Fitting, Ted thought. Then he said "Must be exciting." More like boring, he thought. The lunch crowd started coming in and for once Ted was grateful for the distraction. "I hate to do this, but I gotta go. Work just walked in."

He left her at the bar, taking orders and calling orders to Toras. God help me if she ever comes in here again, he thought.

OFF:

Ted Turner
Lounge Manager
USS Orion

Suzette de Fresa (NPC)
Science Officer
USS Orion

 

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