Meeting new friends

Posted on Mon Oct 26th, 2020 @ 10:02pm by Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale

Mission: Survival of the fittest
Location: Office of Ensign Jane Doe

Jane had set about the somber task of cleaning her ruined office. The dead Tribble her beloved Plort was gone. Taken for evidence then disposal. Her face hurt where she'd been struck. The doctor had offered her something for the pain but she'd declined. She had appointments today. She needed a clear head she'd thought. But her head wasn't clear at all. She picked up some of the destroyed poster peices. Momentos from friends long ago. Then her eyes went back to the coffee table still stained with blood and she felt herself sob then crumble to the floor her hands covering her face as if it could block out the nightmare that had occured here only hours ago. 'no.. you can't do this. Pull yourself together. This room can't look like this when mrs. Rhodes comes she'd lose it.' so still crying softly she began to pick up the pieces of her shattered home.

It was around then that the door chime to an office that had an open door policy actually chimed. The door, not knowing any better, swished open to allow the guest entrance into the counselor's office. Two forms padded their way into the office, identical in every regard. Hair, fur, swishy tail, everything about one of them was a mirror image of the woman next to her. "Oh, Dia's knees!" one exclaimed, apparently some parallel for a minor request for divine intervention. "Are you alright?" before the pair of them came closer to try to offer help. "Was there a fight? I can help you get to medical" a pause, "Once I find it myself that is."

Her silent twin offered a hand in assistance. Though, once the focus was on her, she was silent no longer, "Let me help you." the previously chatty twin surveyed the surroundings, always close, never venturing too far.

Jane had been on her knees trying to gather up as much cushion fluff and dirt and paper as possible and deposit them into a box she'd found turned over that had once been filled with packages of happily wrapped cookies. The room was thrashed. Dark shimmering blue wall drapes had been torn down and shredded. Dirt from a planter was everywhere, The sofa that was pressed against the desk was sliced open in several places and the colorful pillows that had decorated it were ripped apart the cotton stuffing like the dirt and poster pieces was simply everywhere. Jane was startled at first but recovered quickly, sniffling back her tears she took the offered hand up.

"It's okay.. I just." Jane started to say something about she just trying to tidy up a bit. But stopped at the ludicrousness of that massive understatement. "My apologies. Someone well.. they did this and..I don't.. I... Yes I could use some help please. I'm sorry you had to see this. I am Jane. " She said to the both of them wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She still wore her t shirt and shorts she'd slept in the night before and her slippers of the white fluffy rabbits with their googley eyes. Her hair was a tangled mess. She knew she looked awful with the dark bruises on her temple and cheek that had also left her with a dark blackened eye. She tried for a smile but failed opting to try and just not cry anymore.

"I'm Vespa." the form that was helping her stand spoke up. "Vespa Kale. Oooo, now I wish I brought Cappa Seven." she mused aloud, helping Jane stand to her feet. "Well, let's start with the big stuff, or should we just set the room to defabricate the damage and..." and like that, she was done. The conversation was over.

Her sister, her twin, her double however would pick the conversation up flawlessly. "... have it restore everything to match footage from internal observation from a time prior? You know what, let's worry about that in a bit. You look like you need..." and it happened again. The conversation was handed off like a parcel effortlessly between the two of them.

"... something to drink, a snack, and a chat. I read a primer on Single Instance Life before I transferred over, and in the primer it said that the best way to start..."

"... helping a potential friend is to start with the question, Do you want to talk about it?"

"I wish I could." Jane said a bit early. "Unfortunately it's very confidential information. Not this so much." Jane said motioning to the chaos around them. "But the deeper meaning. All I know is that it's my fault. I want to tell security. I want to tell the captain. But in doing so I would be in breach of confidentiality. It could even put people in danger if it hasn't already. I don't know what to do. I thought I had left it all behind to begin with." Jane motioned to the sofa then stopped and seemed to search the room with her eyes. "I'd offer you a place to sit but I'm afraid there isn't really any place." She glanced to the door to her office and then to her room. "It may be a tad unconventional but I can entertain you better in my quarters for now. The rest of this can wait. Let me lock my office first." Jane moved to the door and accessing the main set it for a standard lock. Then turning to her guests. " Shall we?" She motioned to the other door.

The pair gave a nod, "You know, that's something of a relief to hear you say." a smile graced each form. "We have a similar policy back home, so the fact that caring for someone else's privacy is..."

"... a universal concept is something of a relief. I don't know any of the details, so, I really can't help you out there. BUT, what I can do is take you up on your hospitality, we can..."

"... move this to your quarters, sit and take the time to at least relax." a giggle between the pair, "Maybe become friends the more reasonable way, rather than..."

"... office redecoration. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with redecoration." she covered with a pair of smirks. "Besides, unconventional can be fun." with that, and the offer extended, the pair padded their way through the aforementioned door.

Jane could not help but smile at the sound of the twin officers laughter. It hurt but felt good at the same time. It was comforting to know that she could still smile all things considered.

The room beyond was opposet as could be from the office. Tidy and organized and decorated in hues of mauve, black, and grey's. The mauve lent a girlish air to it all this illusion was helped by the board of little plushie rabbits scattered here and there. A teddy bear the only one in sight sat on the sofa at the foot of her bed. She and Wulfgar had watched movies there. Jane's throat tightens at the thought of her friend in the brig even now for defending her possibly saving her life. 'no don't cry again. You will fix that you just need to tell someone.' the voice urged. She sniffled back the tears again. 'Be brave.'

"Can I get either of you a drink or anything?" Jane asked as she pointed them to the sofa instead, "Then maybe we can get to know each other better."

The pair surveyed the room, each form scanning a different part, observing a different detail. Watching the pair move and act as one was a departure from the norm. Which, in and of itself, was the norm. "Those are rabbits, right?" she asked, with one form motioning to the plushie rabbits. "Huh, they really do resemble the Ts'usugi." she remarked, and giggled.

"Oh that'd be fantastic, thank you. Until the ship's menu gets updated with a few things I brought over, the best I can ask is 'something fruity'." she paused. "Also, I'm not..."

"... and 'either', don't worry I expected this. I'm a binary instance lifeform. So, when you see two forms here, that's a complete and healthy Dalacari." she motioned to herselves.

"I absolutely take no offense. There's no way you could have known, and it'll take a while to figure it out." Vespa mentioned as the pair moved to sit on the sofa as offered. The forms put a bit of space between the two of them, but just for comfort. Apparently she wasn't keen on being too snuggly with herself, or even risking contact.

Jane listened and finally really looked at her guests. They were completely identical. Jane had seen and been friends with twins before. However this was something else entirely. It amused Jane a little. Watching them move with such scinrinzed grace. Like a dance. And the way they spoke was also so peculiar. It was strangly tantalizing and unnerving at the same time. Or maybe that was just her mind being paranoid now. Oh booger she really hoped not. A life full of secrets had finally started to catch up with her. Jane went to the replicator and retrieved three glasses of Uttaberrie and cherry juice slightly chilled. A recipe from her childhood days. "My nan use to make this for me. I hope you like it." Jane said offering the drinks out for sampling. "So tell me more about yourselves. I gather that you both equal out to one healthy Dalacari. That's new to me. I find you both to be like poetry in motion. It's quite beautiful really like a dance." Jane tried to explain hoping that it came out sounding like the compliment she had nent for it to be.

Each form took one of the offered glasses, and gave a nod. One took a long smell of it, to take in the scent and the aroma while the other took a slow sip during the ritual.

"Ooo, oh I love it. It's ... it's such a melody." the one that took the sip stated, then the pair switched roles. Once this was done, they relaxed in series, and then started to talk in that one-then-the-other fashion.

"I experience the senses of my entirety. The smells, the feels, the tastes, everything experienced in its totality. I enjoy the aroma while enjoying the..."

"... taste. The chill, the color, everything." she explained with a pair of smiles. At her description of a Dalacari in motion, Vespa could only smile. "And I appreciate your words, thank you. As for who Vespa Kale is, well, she's a scientist. Curious about the world and how it works. All Dalacari possesses..."

"... a sense of curiosity, a sense of wonder. We've nurtured it throughout the years by designing servitor drones that handle all of the mundane tasks in our..."

"... lives. Now we can completely focus on our pursuits and drives without being hindered by menial tasks." she explained, "Scholastic pursuits, art, leisure..."

"... are all available, so really you can be whatever you want. And I, wanted to learn about how things worked. Which I will admit landed me in trouble quite a bit." the pair giggled. As one spoke, the other form took the time to enjoy the Uttaberrie juice mix, but their attention was always here on the moment. She never looked around, never detracted or distracted. She could only imagine how mentally straining it could be to talk to a Dalacari from a singular point of view.

"I'm also very appreciative that you said watching me is like watching someone dance. Truth be told, I can't dance to save my life." she admitted with a pair of giggles.

The smile came easier now. As Jane sipped her own drink and listened. "I'm not all that great myself. My father is a diplomat though so unfortunately once I got thirteen years old it became unavoidable. Still I remember one of my fondest memories is watching all the men dressed to the nines and all the women looking like princesses seeming to just glide together in perfect harmony on the cloud of ambient music." Jane said lookfrom one then the other careful to shift her gaze as she reminced.

Vespa's smiles seemed to be a permanent fixture at this time. "I've had to dance once, in my life. At graduation, there was a big get together to celebrate, and all the students came dressed up so nice. I'm guessing 'to the..."

"... nines' is an expression about how well they looked, so I'm going to say we were all dressing to nine as well. I must have trampled so many toes, Dia..."

"... preserve their paws, I was all knees that night." she giggled, "Oh it was a disaster. I spent the rest of the night with a group of graduating techs and we discussed..."

"... intercoolant ratios and the latest Thinking Engine firmware." she remembered, with fondness. "Better times then on the dancefloor. Probably should have asked..."

"... Phi Forty Five to dance. Dia, I remember that band. Phi Forty Five knew all the hits, and they updated the list as the night went on."

"Do you have any favorite songs from that time?" Jane found herself asking. The longer the conversation the more normal she felt again. the twins presence and kindness drove out the inner darkness with laughter and warmth. "I was a huge old era junkie myself. Bonjovi's "its my life" and Aerosmiths "Come together" got me through my rebellious teen years. much to my parents contempt."

Vespa's smile continued to beam, "I've got a few favorites I still listen to from then, but mostly now I listen to what's trending. Though if I had to pick from then, my top three would have to be..."

"... Argon's 'Nighttime Carbuncle', then Mela Stell's 'It's only you', and then Kara Vela's 'Stranded'. That last one, oooo, brings chills. She wrote it as a tribute..."

"... when her boyfriend was left Stranded by an accident. All the proceeds went to his care." she paused, her smile faltered a touch, "Being Stranded is, well, when one..."

"... part of a Dalacari dies." she paused, and then shook her head, "Not a conversation topic for the moment, I don't think. But yeah that's easily my top three. Once all..."

"... my stuff gets moved in, I have those three, and a ton more, on my tonebox. I'd love to play you some music from home, it'll put a lot of what I said into context." she offered, her smile returning.

"That would be lovely i think I would really enjoy tha..." There was a chime from her desk. Almost like the ringing of a phone. It was designed to wake her up as it was the chime st for urgent incoming communication. Jane looked apologetic as she went to go see whom it was from. Her shoulders sagged a bit as she saw the transmission code. Inwardly she sighed heavily. This just was not going to be her day. She looked to her guests. "I am going to have to take this im so very sorry. Perhaps we can catch up again later?" Jane invited hoping they wouldn't find her sudden unavailability to be rude. The blinking stopped a moment then the shrill ringing sounded again as if the people who were calling knew she'd silenced them and refused to be ignored if even for a second. Jane hit the silence again.

"No no no problem at all. I came at a bad time, but you took me in anyway. A sign of a good hostess, I'm certain the Ts'usugi would say and believe me, their praise..."

"... isn't given lightly." she already started to stand as she was talking. "That sounds important, or at the least impatient. You take it, we'll certainly catch up, no doubts there." she assured with a pair of smiles, making her way to the wall fabricator to recycle her glasses.

"Thank you again." the pair said, this time oddly in unison. Probably something she felt very strongly about for it to be prevalent. After that, the pair saw themselves out.

Jane felt awful sending them away. The place seemed to grow smaller with them gone. The steady flow of laughter and harmony seeped out of the room in their wake. The ringing began again. Jane turned on the offending noise and openned the channel. "Hello mother. I take it father has sent you to play ambassador now that there has been a crisis." Her voice lost its venom the moment she saw the look on her mother's face. It was one of relief and extreme anxiety. "Mother? What's happened?"


================
Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale
Assistant Science Officer
USS Pennsylvania


Ensign Jane Doe
Acting Chief Counselor
USS Pennsylvania