Just Like Old Times

Posted on Mon Dec 14th, 2020 @ 1:29am by Lieutenant JG Ovrora Sh'rholok & Ensign Sturnack

Mission: 28 Days
Location: Junior Officer Residence 4-Aft (Deck 4)
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 0000

[Junior Office Residence]
[Predating Mission Day 1]
[1630 Hours]

To call the junior officer residence cozy might be a kindness. Snug seemed more accurate. Tight, perhaps?

Ovrora paced the small room, smoothing the pillow on the vacant bed in the cubicle to the right side of the doorway and resituating the set of blankets at a slight angle. Brushing an invisible speck of dust from the blankets she stood back with her hands on her hips, inspecting her work. Not that there was much work to be done. The junior residences were spare and although she had a small trunk at the end of her cublicle there wasn't a significant amount of space in which to 'decorate'--not that the Vulcan whose arrival she was so meticulously preparing for would mind that part.

Deciding that there was no point in adjusting the blanket one more time she settled onto her bunk to wait.

It had been a few years since she had seen Sturnack in person. She had kept in touch with her friend over the years, trading communications to share milestones and check in on each other. Their last opportunity to catch up in person had taken place during a fortunately overlapping shoreleave when she had the opportunity to take a detour on her way to a meeting of astrophysicists being held on Rigel. With a serendipitous few days planetside Ovrora had suggsted they partake of some of the local culture convincing Sturnack to join her despite several well reasoned and completely logical protestations.

She smiled as she thought back on the encounter--picturing her friend's face when, after enjoying a bit too much Rigellian wine and insisting that the pink skins acknowledge the beauty of their blue skinned brethren, he had calmly suggested they make their way out of the bar before ...the pink skins realize that you've just insulted them.

The sound of the door chime jolted her from her reverie.

Seeing no need to wait for a response to the chime -- which, in and of itself, had been a courtesy to alert Sh'rholok to his presence -- a young Vulcan slipped through the cabin's doors as they hissed open. "Lieutenant," Sturnack nodded in an impassive hello, his eyes immediately roving the space. Finding a crisply made bed and a storage chest awaiting him, the Vulcan moved to lower the large duffel slung over his shoulder. He placed the bag neatly on the bed, aligning its angle to be perpendicular to the pillows. A nonchalant hand then shifted to reorient the pile of blankets, ensuring they were no longer askance to the other neat lines of his bunk as well.

"I see your favoring of chaos continues," Sturnack spoke again, in reference to the stack of blankets' previous angle. Turning back to regard his long time friend, the Vulcan arched a customary eyebrow. "Neatness 'with a personality' may have suited our Academy days," he referenced Ovrora's penchant for tidiness up to a point, "but I prefer less calamity in my personal bedding these days." Shifting his arms to clasp his hands behind his back, the Vulcan regarded the Andorian with a passive gaze. "Has your service aboard this vessel been eventful so far?"

"Aw..." the small Andorian said, levering herself off of her bunk and wrapping her arms around the much taller Vulcan's torso. "I knew you'd like it."

"Like it? Lieutenant," Sturnack allowed the hug but did not return it -- a hallmark of his past closeness with Ovrora -- before replying with, "I believe you have misinterpreted my remarks. As usual," he murmured, his body as rigid as Rigellian steel.

Ovrora's eyes twinkled at Sturnack as she released him, amused by how stifly he held himself. "In fairness, it was my bunk first. Blankets at a 45 degree angle is hardly chaos. Think of it as... ambiance." She winked at him, then hopped back onto her bunk, leaning against the wall behind her as the Vulcan moved to unpack his duffel. "And really, Sturny, has my service 'been eventful'? That's the best you've got?"

Not deigning to look over his shoulder at Ovrora, the Vulcan continued to remove items from the bag as he replied. "Perhaps you'd prefer I ask if you've gotten into any physical altercations lately?" Sturnack asked, revealing perhaps the secret crux of his initial question to begin with. Attention still focused on unpacking, the young engineer gathered a stack of crisply folded undergarments and moved to store them in the closet on his side of the room. Opening the cabinet's doors, the Vulcan selected the most logical drawer in which to stow the garments, side-eyeing Ovrora's closet, which seemed to almost have clothing jutting out of its seams.

The small Andorian's lower lip jutted out in a pout that she knew her friend wouldn't bother to turn around and see. It felt appropriate all the same. "Sadly, no. And I could so go for a good... altercation..." she said letting the pout creep into her voice. "Gets the blood pumping." She watched the Vulcan quietly for a moment as he finished meticulously placing his clothes into the closet, leaving behind more space than should have been physically possible.

After a moment, Ovrora let out a sigh. "Oh, I have missed this Sturny. I'm glad you're here."

Turning from his duffel -- where Sturnack had begun unpacking toiletry items -- the Vulcan regarded Ovrora with a look that was something akin to perplexity. "You have missed our...penchant for being at odds? Curious," the young engineer considered, "I would have thought our lack of shared space would illicit feelings of relief rather than longing." Toiletries in tow, Sturnack made his way into the small bathroom he would now share with the Andorian. From inside and around the corner, his voice was muffled as he said, "Perhaps you simply missed having someone to badger?"

Ovrora laughed out loud at that. "You've got an over inflated sense of your importance to my daily badgering quota if you think you're my only target." she shot back, laughter echoing in her voice. Even as she said it, though, the Andorian had to acknowledge an inkling of truth in the Vulcan's words. She may give others a hard time, but none of her crew mates had crossed the line from colleague to family the way Sturn had. And as a result he was, indeed, the most natural person for her to target.

She shrugged off a moment of nostalgia mixed with uncertainty. Perhaps her friend hadn't maintained the same affection for her that she had since their Academy days.

"Anyway. You like it. Whether you'll admit it or not." she quipped to him, uncertainty passing as quickly as it arrived. A small alarm began to go off from the console at the end of her bunk and she crawled down to the end to silence it. Jumping off her bunk, so reached for her uniform boots.

"Duty calls." she said. "Meet you for dinner?"

It was as if they'd never left the Academy. The natural rhythm of their dynamic had re-established itself in just moments, Sturnack mused to himself. When Ovrora pushed, he would pull. When she zigged, Sturnack zagged. But somehow, the two immovable forces dragged each other to the middle ground. "Dinner would be acceptable. I hope your duty shift is uneventful, Ovrora," the Vulcan used her personal name. "I will meet you after my own shift concludes," came his nod. "Please at least try to be punctual?"

Ovrora was halfway to the door at that point. She paused, her antennae swiveling and then glanced back over her shoulder, shooting her friend a mischevious grin. "Oh Sturny. I am never late, only on my own timeline."

She threw a wink at her friend and then turned to walk out the door. The residence doors swished open before her. Without looking back she called "Welcome to the Ulysses Sturnack!" just before the doors swished closed behind her.

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

Lieutenant Junior Grade Ovrora Sh'rholok
Science Officer - Astrophysics
USS Ulysses

Ensign Sturnack
Engineering Officer
USS Ulysses