Caught

Posted on Fri Dec 20th, 2024 @ 2:28am by Lieutenant Commander Victoria Cross & Lieutenant Xex Wang
Edited on on Fri Dec 20th, 2024 @ 2:30am

Mission: Mean Green Queen
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: Mission Day 4 at 0830

[Arboretum]
[0830]

The arboretum was quiet this time of morning; the botanist's daily rounds had already been completed, and most people coming off the mid shift simply wanted their beds, not a plant-immersed walk.

Xex, however, wasn't most people. Although he was coming off the midnight shift, he didn't rest like most humans. Although Timmoz was solidly on the mend, Xex needed the mental peace the arboretum brought him more than he needed his bed. He was still in his duty uniform, although the collar was unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up, exposing more silvery skin on his forearm and collarbones. He was crouched in front of a bushy plant covered with intricate blooms in a particularly deep purple color. He held a pair of shears in his hand and was very carefully snipping one of the blooms from the plant when the door hissed opened.

Like a guilty child, he straightened abruptly, hissing slightly as the sharp end of the shear jabbed into the side of his palm. He ignored it, turning swiftly and tucking his hands, shears, flower, and all, behind his back even as he took a half-step forward to disguise the small pile of blooms he'd collected at his feet. He was already speaking as he turned. “I have permission, the botany team said it was fine in fact this Lysian thistle needed pruning anyway and--” Xex cut off this flow of excuses as the tall figure of the Sojourner's new Ops Chief stepped through. “Oh,” he said in a small voice, his defensive posture giving way to a cringe, “Good Morning, Victoria.” With Cross as the entrant, he decided brevity was the better part of valor, and fell silent.

Victoria was somewhat surprised to see Xex in the arboretum, she herself in one of her rare mornings off that she didn't use as an opportunity to get in some overtime work or extra sleep. No, today, a copy of a book in hand, Victoria was taking some self-assigned 'me-time', a usually alien concept to the junior officer when aboard a star ship. Dressed in a knee-length black skirt and a white short-sleeve shirt, Victoria instinctively straightened herself- almost on a reflex of her new position - and took quick stock of what was happening. "Lieutenant, I can't beleaf this. I'm going to need to see this permission stamped in septuplicate." She gave him a smile.

It was the pun, more than the smile, that put Xex at ease. At least, it made his expression go blank briefly, and then the very corner of his lips curved in a smirk, like he was trying to hold back a smile. His gray eyes sparkled as he asked with an upraised eyebrow, "Beleaf?" He emphasized the word to bring the 'leaf' to the for, amusement wreathed around his tone. Snapping an ironic salute, he added, "I'll root it out posthaste, Commander."

By the time of this terrible pun, Xex had relaxed enough that his hands had come from behind his back, and he brought his bleeding thumb to his mouth to be sucked in a most un-doctor-like way, the hand bearing the blooms hanging at his side. He didn't even seem to notice the blossoms were in view until Victoria mentioned them again.

"For Timmoz, then? It's an outrage we were in that situation, jumped by criminals. They have an enslavement racket going on at that bloody station and we were almost the victims of it. Frame for some crime, work it off until God knows when, right mate? But there's not much I can do about it now. I - still haven't been to see him. I'm not the most physically dangerous person in a fight, but I feel like I should have done more. If only I had my phaser."

Xex brought the flowers in question up into their eye line, hunching his shoulders again slightly. Rather than admitting that they were not, in fact, for the injured party but for his own mental health, he canted his head to the side and met Victoria's direct gaze. "From what I understand-- and was able to treat-- you were physically dangerous enough that Timmoz is still with us, rather than in whatever passed for a morgue on that station. And anyway," he batted the thought away like an errant insect, "hand-to-hand combat is surely not in the Operations Chief's job description? Congratulations, by the way. We're lucky to have you."

"Oh, thank you. I'll do my best." She let out a flustered chuckle, "..and Dangerous, no. I'm hardly dangerous. I just know when the going gets rough, you have to fight dirty. My mum wouldn't have me get jumped in some hole a quadrant away from home, I've got too much stubborn Aussie blood coursing through my veins. Timmoz is the tough one. Those bastards had a shiv."

Xex canted his head to the side like a curious bird. "Your mum--" the word, mimicked from Victoria's own accent, sounded odd in his clipped tones "--taught you self-defense? Is she a martial artist herself?" Carefully dwelling on Victoria rather than Timmoz allowed his inquisititiveness, rather than his melancholy, to reign. The ops chief, however, had other conversational plans.

"So. Gardening. Do you keep bonsai? I've been thinking about tending to one while I've been posted, but I'm terrified of being a plant mom. See these hands? Not a green finger among these."

As guilelessly as a child, Xex leaned forward to look at the proferred hands which were, as she had indicated, not at all green. "I'm sure a tattoo..." he began, looking up, and finding her expression one that meant he'd once again not quite understood an earther phrase, he cleared his throat and straightened. "Er, that is, no. I don't keep living plants myself. I just find it soothing to arrange the clipped ones," he proffered his little bouquet in illustration, "in pleasing shapes. I find it's quite enough keeping crewmembers alive, without adding needy flora to the mix... which I believe bonsai are? Needy, that is. But I believe Captain Kodak tends bonsais. Perhaps he could give you some tips!" This last was exclaimed with such enthusiasm it lit the silvery man's features, smoothing some of the deep-cut lines.

"Hoo boy. Taking to the Cap'n about plants. When he gave me my promotion, he had this alien plant that seemed very interested in his fingers. Not anything I've ever seen before. I think he's at a level of gardening I'm not quite ready for. I just -" She exhaled through her nose, and planted her hands on her hips. "Never mind, just have something on my mind. Tell me, Xex, you find floral artwork soothing? Arranging clipped plants, that is? Do you have anything you can show me?"

Lifting a brow, Xex mouthed, 'interested in his fingers,' as though navigating his mouth around the words would help wrap his brain around them. Judging by his perplexed expression, it didn't work. Fortunately, Cross had moved on, and to a subject about which Xex was particularly passionate. "Oh yes," he enthused, "there is something about the play of texture and color that both stimulates the mind, utilizes the motor functions, and soothes the soul. Plants are good for that, soothing the soul. What's making laps in your brain? Depending what it is, we'll find some clippings to suit."

"Stressed about work, honestly. This is my first solo posting and I had a lot of "future planning" talk before I left, so I'm stressing that maybe this posting was a bad decision. I'm happy to be here, but that nagging thought keeps coming back. I don't mean to over share, Xex," She ran her hand through her hair and laughed quietly, clearly some level of anxious.

Xex canted his head to the side, considering her as a curious corvid might. "Future planning talk with your family back home? They're usually on ship with you?" he prompted, waving away her concerns about oversharing with a careless hand.

"I served on a five year Alpha Quadrant mission on the Rendlesham with her acting as a teacher aboard. It was a bigger ship with more room, but I should be focusing on the right here, right now, yeh? No need moping about. So maybe, maybe flower clippings of that feeling, I guess?"

"Well, I'm no counselor, but I would say keeping your loved ones in your thoughts isn't exactly moping. I don't see why we can't combine the here-and-now with the what-we're-missing. Hmm," he said, turning and taking a step back so that he stood side-by-side with Cross, surveying the arboretum. "Ops Chief of the USS Sojourner," he murmured, more to himself than her. Tucking his half-finished arrangement into his belt, he stepped forward, cupping her elbow to propel her forward with him. "Obviously we're going to need some reds-- what with your new promotion on to the command track-- and some yellow for cheer, but probably something to soothe it down as well. What do you usually do to relax?"

"A little bit of everything. Surfing, reading, um, studying history of Australia and it's indigenous folk? I'm kinda open to anything. Life's an obligation to try everything, we only get one shot at it, right?" Her hands on her hips, she smiled. "Ooh, you know what? I've been wanting to get into model making. There's a miniature model of the USS Thunder Child I've had my eye on. She's got genuine shield arrays!"

Xex nodded thoughtfully along with her list, and stopped them in front of a climbing vine with blue-veined leaves and delicate sprays of pale blue flowers. Victoria earned herself a bright grin from the silvery man, who agreed wholeheartedly, "I couldn't have said it better myself. Something blue then--" he began, but cut off as she moved on to the models. Her enthusiasm was infectious and his grin only widened as he reached out, snipping a few stems of flowers. "Have you made any such models before?" he asked as he moved them further down the path, "between all the surfing and history studying, that is," he added with a light tease to his tone.

"I haven't, but that's no excuse to not give it a try." She stepped over to the plants, kneeling over a particularly spiny cactus, and trailed her fingers just past the tips of the quills. "Anyway. I'm not normally as scatterbrained, forgive me. Something blue, you were saying?" She said softly, trying to right the conversation back onto the tracks.

"Watch out for those," Xex mentioned of the cactus as he continued forward to clip a few very complex-looking red blooms, their color a splash of bloody crimson against the backdrop of their fairly drab plant, "They're hell to exctract." It sounded like he spoke from experience, and he shot her a rueful grin to reinforce the impression. Holding the red flowers up, he placed the blue near them, canting his head to the side as he eyed the colors together. It was difficult to tell whether he was satisfied, but he held the flowers out to Victoria, "Hold these a moment, will you?" Without waiting for her answer, he relinquished the clippings to her and high-stepped over a couple of low shrubs to crouch down over some kind of ground cover. "If you think you're being scatterbrained," he said, his voice muffled by the foliage, most of his person invisible past the shrubbery, "What must you think of me? Just that blue compliments the red, especially if we can find some violet to tie them together."

Popping up like a silvery jack-in-the-box, he asked, "How big of a model is it? Do you expect it to take your entire deployment out here?" as he high-stepped over the shrubbery and back to her side, holding a trailing vine of delicate little yellow flowers.

She took the clippings from him to hold for a moment, and smiled as she watched him work. "I don't see you as scattered. You're focused! You know what you're doing. I promise you, command staff?" She shook her head, scrunching her face dismissively with a smirk. "Oh, I love the yellow, mate. Look at those! What species is she?"

"Aren't they delightful?" Xex agreed, proffering the fall of tiny blooms, "They're called 'sunmother's tears,' from Barisa Prime-- or so their tag says. I'm sure Jyl-Eel could tell you more, I just know they're charming, and they really do suit those other colors."

She nodded her head to the vine. "Not that I don't appreciate all of these, of course. As for the model, it's about maybe 31 cm? It should take me a few months of off-shift fiddling."

"I will be the first to agree with the necessity of off-shift fiddling," he said. "When your work is as focused as ours, there is something so therapeutic about engaging the mind and hands in a task with so little consequence but your own enjoyment. Here," he held the spray of little flowers toward her face, "it is not just that they're beautiful. Smell this and tell me what you think. I find it absolutely enchanting, but I wouldn't want to make assumptions about your olfactory leanings." A very noticeable scent wafted from the blooms despite their size, reminiscent of botanical citrus.

Victoria took the bouquet from him and gave it a good sniff, pulling back with a smile. "Oh, mercy me, mate. I'm not sure what to say, beyond the fact you're a master at this botany and horticulture. I love this. Smells like .. a bright spring day. Alive and cheery. And maybe a hint of lemon or lime? It's wonderful. Thank you."

Xex's anxiously interested expression melted into one of pure delight as she complimented the blooms. Retrieving them from under her nose, he said, "You are most welcome! I also love those kinds of fresh scents. Here--" he took a moment and shifted the entire bouquet around, fiddling with this flower there, tucking that flower here, tweaking heights and complimenting colors until finally, he was satisfied. Seemingly without looking, he bent down and plucked a strand of some long grass, which he then looped around the entire arrangement and tied neatly with a bow. "I fear it is not as precise as it might be in a vessel, but there is something to be said for spontaneity," he said as he flourished an elaborate bow, holding the entire bundle out to her.

Stepping back and tucking his hands behind his back as though to keep them from fidgeting, he asked, "Honest opinions only. Do you feel soothed?" There was something almost mischievous in his expression, as though he was quite aware of the impossibility of such an honest opinion under the microscope of another's regard.

"I do feel better. I think this is just what I needed, you know? A good chat with a friend and some time to appreciate some fine botanical artwork. Tell me, what would I need to care for this myself in my quarters? I don't have much of a green thumb beyond what they taught me at the Academy, so I'm imagining a healthy potting soil?"

She sniffed deeply of the blooms once more.

Xex's face froze just slightly at the question, a sort of glitch in his expression that he fortunately managed to cover by the time she looked up from the blooms again. "Oh, these, I'm afraid, will not keep forever. I have an excellent food mix we can put into a vase for them though-- they should last some time. Speaking of vases," his face lit with animation as he warmed to his subject. "They are so often overlooked as the canvas on which the flowers are displayed. We need to find just the right one. Come," he said, linking his arm into hers and moving them toward the arboretum's exit without so much as a by-your-leave, "The Sojo has a surprisingly excellent selection in the replicator database. I'm sure we'll find something suitable. Tell me, how do you feel about Angosian nautilus shell?"

"Oh, I love to just pore over the replicator base, honestly! Don't tell anyone, but I've been redecorating my officer quarters ever since I got them." Arm in arm with him, she beamed with joy as she walked down the hall, stride in step with her crewmate. "I know these won't last, but maybe we can grow something that can last a few months if I take care of it? Maybe impress my wife with my green thumb when I get back from the tour."

"Angosian? I don't believe I'm familiar. Care to show me?"

Caught!

=/\= A mission post by =/\=

A story by Heather and Cassidy

Starring:

Lieutenant Commander Victoria Cross
Lieutenant Xex Wang