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OMAP Party: Evelyn's Brewing House Grand Opening - Lily and Duncan

Posted March 4, 2019, 1:21 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Teller (XO) (Kate O'Neill)

Posted by Lieutenant Duncan Rhodes (Chief Science Officer) in OMAP Party: Evelyn’s Brewing House Grand Opening - Lily and Duncan

Posted by Lieutenant Duncan Rhodes (Chief Science Officer) in OMAP Party: Evelyn’s Brewing House Grand Opening - Lily and Duncan

Posted by Lieutenant Duncan Rhodes (Chief Science Officer) in OMAP Party: Evelyn’s Brewing House Grand Opening - Lily and Duncan
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip

Duncan watched her disappear, pushing clothes and things out of the way so the door would close. Then, in the silence that followed he looked over at Billy. “So, you two been, uh, roommates, long?”

“We’ve been roommates about a month. A loooooooooooooong month,” Billy dragged out the word. “A very very very long month.” It was then Billy abruptly decided to change the topic. There was no way he was letting this one go. Lily and he had no romantic connection but she also had no desire to move out. Billy, however, had a strong desire to move Lily on to ‘greener pastures’ as she referred to it. This Duncan was the first solid lead he had to achieve that purpose.

” So you’re the science chief. Must be a fun job,” he tried to strike up a conversation. It was the only conversation he wanted to have with Duncan but he had to play it smoothly. There was no way he was letting Duncan get out of this room without thinking Lily was the greatest things since sliced bread.

“Fun?” Duncan said, although rhetorically. “It’s more rewarding that fun,” he told Billy. “There are a lot of new things to find out there, now that we have access to old Romulan space.”

“So you gonna show and Lily your lab,” Billy asked trying to work the conversation into the one he was prepping Duncan for. “She’s a great girl. Super curious. Loves adventure and smart as a whip. She so needs something better than that coffee shop. Does…Starfleet....hire,” Billy asked slowly. He had a pretty good idea they did not just pop an opening into the want ads but odds were if she was home she was fired. Better to start an earworm now.

“Well, we do hire civilian consultants and help when needed, yes.” He said, then abruptly stopped talking as his mind ticked over. Oh god he thought to himself. I can NOT let Lily in my lab, not with my exploding green goo that reacts to noise. He blinked once or twice to clear his thoughts and make sure he understood the probable* end result of that course of action, then realized Billy was still talking.

“In fact, at one time I think she said she worked in a lab. It was a photo lab And she was amazing at it.” Billy knew this was pretty much stretching the truth but hopefully Lily had shared that much of her past with Duncan yet. There was still time to salvage this and Billy was going to make sure Lily was presented in the best light possible.

“A photo lab? They still have those?” Duncan asked…

------------------A short time later--------------

Duncan and Lily arrived outside his quarters only minutes after leaving Lily’s shared cupboard. As a Starfleet officer, his quarters were nothing amazing. They were standard assignment for Department Heads on the station and had very little by way of anything fancy going for them despite Duncan’s means. “Trico is probably awake,” Duncan told her, “but I think she will like you. Come inside and make yourself comfortable, I’ll give Trico her dinner and change a little before we head out. Lily is a nice name, too, by the way.”

“You named your kid Trico,” Lily looked at Duncan. She was a bit surprised that the “are you single” question she asked earlier was not followed up with ‘no but I have a kid with a weird name’ but she had only known the guy for a short period of time. “I had a best friend named Leah Mon Gil’low but it was spelled Lemon Jello so to each their own I guess,” Lily shrugged it off.

“My kid?” Duncan asked, confused slightly as he pressed the button that opened his room.

The doors slid aside to reveal Duncan’s room. It wasn’t a huge space, but notably it was very tidy and organized and the furniture inside was visibly better than standard, although not too much so. Despite how clean and organized it was, it looked cozy and comfortable. As they walked through the door the layout became clear. On the left wall was a large fireplace with holographic fire, a view screen above it, faced by a large and comfortable couch and coffee table. On either side of the fireplace were bookshelves with real books, and a large plush reading chair sat in the corner on the door wall with a small table beside it. Next to that table, right beside the door, a large liquor cabinet sat.

Ahead of them was a four place dining table made of wood, it seemed and between the table and the door a large Persian style rug. On the other side of the table was a floor to ceiling window almost the size of the wall, and dark red curtains covered each end and could be pulled across to cover the window. In the corner opposite the reading chair sat a display unit with various pieces of art and memorabilia on the shelves and inside cases.

On the right wall, were the doors to the bedroom and bathroom as well as the small replicator. Around these were more cabinets that held collectibles of sorts, and in the corner joining the wall that held the door was a table and console workstation for messages and personal use. The wall between that and the door they were standing in was filled with pictures and paintings. Images of Duncan and two women were in many of the pictures, with many seemingly around an old looking manor, almost a castle, that was obviously on Earth. Another was of Duncan amongst a collection of antique aeroplanes, wearing very old fashioned looking flying gear and a leather flight helmet in his gloved hands. Many of the paintings seemed old, and were from many different species depicting many different things.

“Wow are you some kind of antique dealer,” Lily asked letting out a low whistle. “This place is gorgeous and so full of little knick knack things,” she said running her finger over one of the aeroplanes propellers shocked that it turned so easily.

“No,” he said as he walked further in, “just a collector of some things. I tend to be very picky, everything here has a story behind it, a history from the people it came from. Most is one of a kind.”

In the corner opposite the workstation was another set of couches with large cushions, these ones arranged at right angles along wall and window with a low table in the middle and end tables at either end. Another liquor cabinet, much smaller, sat in the very corner of them and candles that produced holographic light were placed on the tables. It was clearly an area for more quiet socializing, conversation or drinking. Also on one of the couches, and raising her head as they walked in was a small creature. It let out a series of bird like whistles and sounds as she jumped down from the couches revealing a four legged creature. It’s body appeared to be covered with feathers and it had a dog like head and body, but on that head were two very small horns. The creatures legs were like those of birds, but much thicker. Her tail was long and had fur, not feathers and the most obvious part were the large wings that unfolded on each side of her as she stretched out. Trico had grown in the years that Duncan been on the station, she had gone from cat size to now the size of a medium dog. Seeing her person, Trico stretched happily, then stood and looked in curiosity as he brought a new person into her home.

“Oh my god, what an adorable bird, cat, dog, dragon-like thing,” she said in a sweet tone but obviously bewildered by the creature in front of her. Lily might not have known what it was but it did not stop her from dropping to the couch.

“Its not a kid,” she said almost relieved. Once seated Lily spun on the cushions so Trico could approach her. “What…what is it?” she looked at the pet curiously.

“Lily, meet Trico.” Duncan introduced them, “Trico, Lily and I are going to head out for a little while. We just dropped home to get your supper and so I can change my shirt. Say hello would you?” At Duncan’s words, Trico came forwards and tilted her head at Lily, as if judging this new person and her relationship to her person. She made an odd woof like chirp and then sat down in front of them, folding her wings in close with her tongue hanging out slightly. She looked intelligent as if she understood perfectly what Duncan had been saying.

Lilly smiled and reached out to pet the small creature. Trico complied quickly and let the woman scratch her head. “Duncan she is amazing. Where did you get her? I’ve never seen anything like her,” Lily marveled at the small animal. “I can take care of her while you go do your thing,” Lily offered with a smile still petting Trico.

Smiling at how easily Lily took to Trico, Duncan remembered how Jessica had done the same. Trico had that effect on people he had to admit, when Duncan had taken her for walks it had been almost like Duncan was a solo father taking his child out to the park. “We rescued her from two Ferengi smugglers on Gamma Tiltium when she was a baby. Unfortunately, she seems to be intelligent and also to make a deep bond with those she cares for. I doubt, scientifically, that she would survive by herself if we just dumped her back into a random place in the GT jungle. We have no idea what part of the planet she came from, the Ferengi wouldn’t say and destroyed their records.”

“Looks like you came from one of those Knights of the Necklace books,” Lily said in a low tone scrutinizing the creature.

Loosening his collar and cuffs, Duncan moved into the room further and looked around, then smiled at Lily. “As I said, make yourself at home. These shirts and ties can get a little uncomfortable, let me go change and we can head out. If you like, Trico’s dinner is steamed broccoli, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts. Just go easy on the cabbage and sprouts, she loves them, but you’re not the one that has to sleep in the same room as her later.” Duncan grinned and gave Trico a pat as he walked past, in return, Trico gave him a dirty look and a very grumpy sounding chirp.

Lt Rhodes, CSO

“Cabbage and Brussels sprouts,” lily said in a low tone looking at the critter and then casting a side glance towards Duncan’s room. “Is he trying to kill you or study you,” she said swinging her back pack around.

Trico made a small sound that could have been agreement. In fact it was almost certainly agreement. She would have rather have had bacon, but her person only gave her that once a week. Tilting her head, she looked at the new female person her person had brought home. He didn’t normally bring people home, sometimes Trico had to sleep on the couch when he did, and Trico always worried her person wasn’t getting a good sleep when she wasn’t sleeping on the end of the bed. She looked at the pack that the female person was looking in, maybe she had bacon? Trico might just be ok with her staying the night if she had bacon.

After rooting around in it for a second she pulled out a plastic wrapped package. In it was a long brown meat looking stick. Biting one of the ends, lily opened it with her teeth while she spoke to Trico. “You look like a dog and a hawk had a wild night,” she let out a small laugh as she peeled back the now opened package. “Both animals are definitely not vegan so how about a bite of this.” Lily broke off a small piece of the soft meat stick and held it out in her hand.

Trico sniffed it once and then used her beak to gobble it down. The taste of it was not like anything she had had before yet it was absolutely delicious. Taking another step towards lily she placed her feet on Lilly’s crossed legs giving her a little more height and closer to the brown thing in the plastic bag this woman was holding.

“You like that,” lily said scratching under her chin. “Well what if I get you another....oh god,” she ducked to the side as Trico let out a small hiccup after eating the meat. This would not be a write home event except for the fact a small flame shot out of the bird. “Oh my God,” Lily said shocked. Not sure what to do. Trico looked at Lily with a blank expression and then hiccuped again. Another small burst of flame erupted from Trico but this time it caught the edges of one of Duncan’s throw pillows. Instantly Lily reacted by hitting the pillow to the back of the couch to extinguish the flames. This would have been fine except that Trico turned watching Lily and let out a last hiccup setting fire to a small circle in the back of the couch where she had put the pillow out. Lily looked at Trico and then at Duncan’s bedroom door. “Are you quite finished” she asked the small animal. Seeing the the round of hiccups had stopped Lily went to work. Beating out the flames with the pillow Lily then dropped it next to the couch but behind the large set of heavy red curtains. She grabbed a throw blanket from the chair and draped it over the burn mark on the couch. Duncan had so many things in the room he would never remember where the blanket belonged. *Now if you don’t say anything about me giving you a beef jerky I wont tell your daddy you tried to burn his quarters down,” she said in a low tone.

Lily

Trico looked at Lily for a moment, and gave one last tiny hiccup. A small flash of flame and a puff of smoke came out of the corner of her mouth and drifted up, thinning and disappearing as it went. Duncan had been just as surprised as this person when she had developed that ‘special skill’ not long after reaching her ‘teen’ year and had spent some time working out how exactly she did it. She wasn’t normally allowed to do it here in his quarters, but when they went for weekends to the planet she was allowed to light the camp fire, and cook marshmallows. She liked marshmallows almost as much as bacon, and the brown meat sticks this person gave her she liked too, but they were spicy.

The door to Duncan’s quarters opened and he walked out. His trousers and shoes were the same but now he wore a casual and loose, but very smart button up shirt that sat open along the collar with sleeves folded and pinned back along his forearms. It seemed to be some kind of dark red-grape kind of color that almost shifted in the light as he walked. “Okey, I am about ready to go.” He said as he walked by the pair on the couch, then paused and raised his head from his cuffs. He seemed to sniff for a moment, as if he could smell something.

“Yep, so I am,” Lily said flopping in a lounging position on the couch that was far different than the one she was in before Duncan arrived. He had said make herself comfortable but this was a pose of I live here and have been for the past three years with one leg slung over the end of the couch.

Shrugging slightly, Duncan carried on to his liquor cabinet and looked over the bottles on display. “What kind of drink to you like if you’re relaxing somewhere Lily?” he asked her, “just asking for a friend.” He said and glanced up at her, grinning.

“Tequila,” she said and then after pondering the thought added, “beer.”

Taking a bottle from the shelf he stood again and made his way to the replicator, placing a few things into a small basket that had been sitting beside the cabinet. “So how did you two go? Get to know each other a little did you?”

“That’s an understatement. Don’t look around at the couch. Act natural ,” she said and replied almost simultaneously in her head.

Duncan looked over at them and noticed… Trico had no food in front of her and no bowl. “Did you two get so busy getting acquainted that you forgot to feed her?” He laughed, “or did Trico give you the sad eyes and try to convince you to give her bacon? She loves bacon but it reacts with her,” he made a hand motion around his mouth “hydrogen glands inside her throat. They are a really neat little creation of nature that lets her breathe fire for a short time, as well as helping her fly as she gets bigger and older.”

“Your bird doubles as a mini dragon and you decide to mention that now,” Lily said giving him a quizzical look. “She doesn’t get....hurt....breathing bouts of flame....right? I mean if she were to start roasting things like…her veggies?”

Turning to the replicator he produced a bowl of Trico’s normal food and walked over to her, placing it down on the ground beside the creature, giving her head a pat and holding out his hand to Lily. “Shall we go?”

“Yes,” Lily jumped up quickily and made her way over to Duncan taking his arm in the classical couple stroll. She tried to not pull him from the residence but her gait might be considered by some to be at a spritely pace.

Reaching the door a moment later, Duncan stood aside and let Lily walk out first. That Trico liked her was a very good thing, he had always known the small animal to be an excellent judge of character and there weren’t many people on the station that Trico had met that she didn’t like. Looking back at Trico and waving goodbye, Duncan paused again and tilted his head in wonder. A cushion was missing from the couch, and a throw over had been moved from his chair to that same couch. He didn’t have time to wonder where the cushion was as he looked back to Lily and smiled. He had told her to make herself at home after all.

Lt Duncan Rhodes, CSO

“Are you sure we are okay to leave her alone in there? I mean have you ever had something…oh…spontaneously…combust? You know due to her condition and all,” Lily glanced around everywhere but where she would actually look at Duncan. If he saw her face right now…he might have questions and she did not want to say she almost killed his pet and burned down his quarters in the span of ten minutes. Even for her that would be something new.

Lily


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