The Important Things

Posted on Fri Dec 3rd, 2010 @ 8:24pm by

Mission: Ten Little Diplomats
Location: Allein's Quarters
Timeline: Current 0123h

Mara narrowed her eyes as she carefully studied herself in the mirror. She didn't often find the time or inclination to examine her appearance and when she did she was about as patient with it as she was with everything else in her life. The engineer might have been a lot of things, but she didn't discriminate.

The curtain of mist from the shower descended slowly over the glass and, using a corner of the towel that was fastened around her, she wiped it clean and offered herself a frown. She had never been overly pleased with her appearance, eyes slightly too wide, hair the shade of red too often described as 'carrot' and those ever distinct nose-ridges. She raised an eyebrow at herself. Really, as genetic markings went, the Bajorans had gotten the short end of the stick. At least she hadn't gone and made it worse by adding an earring. Asthough the superstitious worship of a group of aliens was anything to be proud of.

The fog was closing in again, advancing accross the glass towards her wet hair and as she reached to clear it again, the destinct tweet of an incoming transmission made her jump. There were only three people in the universe who ever called her, her parents or her brother and without hesitation Allein trotted into the main room of her quarters, leaving a trail of water droplets in her wake.

She dropped herself into the chair, towel in place, and activated the view screen but the face that appeared there did not belong to her family. She stopped, placing the man immediately as she felt the blood rise to her very exposed upper-chest.

"Have I caught you at a bad time?" His voice was strangely jarring and the lieutenant found herself struggling for a response.

"No," was the best she could do before throwing him on hold, but she didn't move from her seat. The desire to 'accidentally' drop the call and save herself the embarassment fought the desire to talk to him in the sort of epic struggle that would not have been out of place in a poem from Ovid. After a rather disturbing moment of self-exploration, she jumped to her feet and made for her uniform.

They had only met a couple of weeks before ... no, it had only been a few days now, since they had met on Earth in one of her rare moments freedom. They had met climbing and although he actually seemed to be able to stand her presence, she had, at the time, had no intention of ever seeing him again. A part of her that made her very nervous was glad that she had.

After straightening her uniform and doing her best to straighten her hair she took a breath and activated the link, bringing Lt Granit Alvarez into striking clarity on the screen. "Hello." It only occurred to her later that she should have apologised for making him wait. Then again, if he hadn't wanted to do so, she reasoned, he wouldn't have.

The smile that he offered seemed to come easily and the engineer felt a flair of suspicion. It just wasn't natural for anyone that charming to want anything to do with someone like her. She wasn't being modest - Allein didn't do modest - she was simply being realistic. She realised with a jolt that he was speaking and she forced herself to pay attention. "...sure you got back alright."

She raised an eyebrow at the rather inane remark. "I think you would have heard if there was an accident."

He laughed then, slightly tanned skin glowing in the low light of his own quarters as Mara tried to sort out what she had said that was so funny. It wasn't important, she reasoned, and forced her eyebrow to return to it's natural position as she groped for something to say. "You made your assignment then, as well?"

Granit nodded, but his laughter died. "Yes...three hours late to rendezvous but I'm here."

The ire in his voice drew a small smile of her own from Mara and his disposition turned quizical.

"What is it?"

She forced the smile away and he jumped in. "I ... like it when you smile. It's even nicer when we're not in a cave and I can see it properly." He gave her one of his own and she allowed her lips to turn upwards.

"I like that you appreciate punctuality." She explained, working to resist her usually neutral fascade. It felt...unnatural and he hadn't objected to her appearance in either the cave or over lunch and she gradually allowed her lips to return to normal. Maybe if she moved slowly enough he wouldn't notice but now he was speaking again and she had forgotten to listen.

"...rudeness," was the only word that she picked up and instead of trying to piece together whatever he was talking about she nodded. There was a moment of quiet in which she absently began to run her fingers through her wet hair. "I hear there's been some excitement over there." He offered by way of a conversation starter but Allein frowned as she tried to sort out what exactly he was talking about.

At last she slowly shook her head. "No...I don't think so."

"Oh, I'd heard there had been some diplomats murdered-"

"Oh that!" She felt herself begin to colour again. "Yes, I guess that has been going on."

He was smiling again but this time, at least, he clarified. "My mistake. I suppose nothing outside engineering really does qualify as exciting." Sarcasm Allein could have recognised in her sleep and in response she felt herself smiling again. The cynic informed her of just what an idiot she was being but somehow it didn't really matter. On him the nose ridges really didn't seem so ridiculous and right now nothing else seemed particularly important.