Girls Just Wanna Shop Part I
Posted on Sat Feb 22nd, 2025 @ 8:08am by Lieutenant Vura & Ensign Millicent Ambrose & Ensign Astrid Renfield
Edited on on Sun Feb 23rd, 2025 @ 8:07pm
2,140 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: The Quarter of Millicent Ambrose & Astrid Renfield - Deck 3 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 1700 hrs
Stepping off the turbo-lift onto Deck 3 with Vura, Millie was feeling butterflies fluttering in her stomach. "I hope that Astrid is awake by now. Or she is just relaxing in the quarters. Gosh I hadn't thought about the possibility of her being asleep!" walking down the corridor to her quarters.
"Is she on a different shift than you? Should we be going to your quarters if she is asleep?"
"Well she is on Beta Shift but with us being on Shoreleave, there is a skeleton crew right now. And maybe she's not at work and not asleep. We'll find out when we quietly step inside my quarters." Millie giving a hopeful smile.
Astrid sat comfortably on the couch, a PADD in hand, her eyes scanning the latest quantum slipstream specifications. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, keeping it out of her face. She wore skintight leggings paired with a loose short-sleeve shirt, giving her an effortlessly athletic and comfortable look. Whether she had just finished a workout or was simply relaxing, she seemed perfectly at ease in her casual attire.
The door opened and Millie stepped inside. She smiled seeing Astrid awake. "Hi there, I brought a friend with me. I don't know if you've met her yet but this is Vura." She moved forward to let Vura inside the quarters.
The Deltan moved into the room and Astrid could almost feel the atmosphere change as even the air seemed to want to look at Vura. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Aren't you the cute thing, Astrid? Millie has been telling me about you on our way here." Then with a devilish, delicious tone, Vura exclaimed, "We're going shopping. Want to come? Millie has a man and we need to spruce her up."
Astrid looked up from the couch as Millie and Vura stepped inside, setting her PADD down before rising to her feet. She hadn’t expected the ship’s counselor to show up in their quarters, but it was clear that Vura and Millie were friends. The moment Vura entered, Astrid became keenly aware that she was staring a little too hard. She had never met a Deltan before but had heard about their natural presence and the strong allure that came with their species.
With a smirk, Astrid met Vura's gaze. “Cute thing, huh? That’s not something I hear every day."
Hearing that they were going shopping and that Millie had a man Astrid immediately turned to her roommate. "A man? And here I thought we were roommates. You’ve been holding out on me!"
"And surprisingly, it is not Ensign Connor Turner. She won't tell me who, either. Can you believe?" Vura looked over at Millie with a mischievous smile and playful glare. It was an odd combination but somehow the Deltan made it work.
Astrid glanced between Vura and Millie. Ensign Turner? Why would it be him? Why wouldn't it be him? Did something happen between Millie and Turner? she wondered. Clearly, Millie had been holding out on her. “Well, I guess that settles it. I have no choice but to join you on this shopping trip. I need to hear all about this mystery man.”
The Deltan smiled at her partner in crime. She liked Astrid already. The two of them were going to get all the dirt during this shopping trip, if it was the last thing that they did. "Wonderful!" Vura announced. "First we have to check out Millie's wardrobe and see if it is as bad as she claims it to be."
Astrid looked at Vura. “While Millie shows you where her closet is, I’m going to freshen up myself.” She shot Millie a pointed you’re in trouble look before glancing at Vura once more. With a quick grab of her PADD from the couch, she disappeared into her room, leaving Millie to face the inevitable.
Stifling a small giggle, Vura knew she had a kindred spirit in Astrid. "Come on, Millie. Show me what you've got."
Millie's eyes went rather wide hearing the exchange between Astrid and Vura. She gulped, then gave a shy smile. "Uh well... I uh... can't say I have a boyfriend right now." She felt her cheeks warm up and knew her face was turning a bright scarlet. As she headed to her area, Millie paused for a moment to look at the box of tea she had placed on a shelf. It was Telaran Bloom Tea, something that Narin Valen had given to her, to help her calm down. Beside the box of tea were the moccasins she had shown to Astrid earlier. Millie touched the box of tea, feeling herself gain some calmness just by mere contact, and making her smile softly. She drew in a deep breath Millie turned to face Vura.
"Okay here goes nothing." She moved from the shelf to where her clothing was kept. She pulled out black pants, long sleeved tee shirts which were dark and drab looking. The coloration to not be noticed. Also there were a few hoodies as well for her to cover her head. There was the pajamas she wore, which was the same color of Magenta streak that she had in her hair. That was about the only bright color she had in her clothing besides the goldenrod coior of her uniform for engineering.
Noticing that she touched the tea, Vura asked in a knowing, "So, who gave you that? Hmmm? Was it from our prospective paramour?" Her eyes then caught the moccasins, "And those? What are those?"
The moment that Vura saw Millie's wardrobe, she gasped in horror and asked Millie, "You really have been hiding yourself, haven't you? Well, this will not do.... This is completely unacceptable for the Millie that I met today. I promise, by the time that Astrid and I are done with you, you will be a whole new woman. When we're done, you might even want to recycle most of this." Vura wrinkled up her nose involuntarily in disgust.
Millie looked towards the mocassins which were dark brown and had the bead work of a thunderbird. "Those are moccasins that I made, and even did the beadwork for them. And as for the tea...." Her eyes went back to the box. "That is a present from a really nice person. It was, um well... The assistant chief science officer Narin Valen." She could feel her cheeks go warm again, at mentioning his name. Especially realizing that she's had in some aspect, one date with Tyr, and today, she had a meal with Narin, could that have been considered a date as well? Nah, not a date, but still could it have been considered as such?
"Narin, eh?" Vura said, completely smugly. "I should have known. You mentioned him before to me." And since Vura saw Narin as a patient, she had some idea of what he might like. It was good to see him moving forward, as well. What a fortuitous set of circumstances! Let's put some kindling under this match and watch it all burn.
As Astrid stepped into Millie’s room, she caught the tail end of their conversation—Narin Valen. It couldn’t be the same Narin Valen… could it? She paused, considering the possibility, but decided to keep quiet for now. She’d look into it later. Her hair remained tied back in a ponytail, and her leggings were unchanged, but she had swapped her short-sleeve shirt for a silver cropped hoodie that subtly showed off her toned abs. To complete the look, she slipped on a pair of sleek, black high-top sneakers. "What did I miss?" Astrid asked as she stepped closer to the other two women.
"Aside from the fact that Narin is probably Millie's boyfriend, or certainly wants to be and the fact that her entire wardrobe is currently geared towards making her as invisible as possible, not a lot," Vura answered. "We have a lot of work to do."
Turning back to Millie, Vura asked, "Please tell me that you remember how to do makeup. We have to properly get your face on, too. Attractive though you may be, we can alway improve things so that...." Vura stopped herself. She was about to say "so every guy on the station would be looking at you," but she doubted that Millie was quite ready to hear that sort of thing yet.
"So that what?" Millie drew in a deep breath giving a slight grimace. She was hoping that she would be able to deal with this. However sometimes a person needs to just rip the bandage off, instead of peeling things off slowly. "Yes, I do remember how to put on makeup, something to enhance natural beauty as some have put it as. I quit wearing makeup, not to attract attention, and when it comes to working on projects and getting down and dirty. I do not wear makeup. "
Astrid nodded as she listened to Millie. "Hey, I totally get the no-makeup-while-working thing. Who wants to deal with mascara running into their eyes while elbow-deep in the engine?" Realizing this conversation might take a while, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun when you’re off-duty. No harm in reminding people that you can clean up pretty damn well."
The Deltan ignored the question that Millie posed and which she wanted to avoid frightening the girl who just recently came back out of her shell. "What Astrid said," Vura replied with a smile. "And wouldn't it be fun to watch Narin's jaw drop?" The Deltan grinned wider.
Millie had to take a few moments to sort through the deluge of words. She honed in on one part. "Now wait, were you saying that Narin is my boyfriend or that he wants to be my boyfriend? Oh oh gosh, um... I don't mind showing that I can dress nicely but-but- D-do you think I am moving things forward too fast for me?" her heart pounding like a cornered rabbit. "I- don't want anyone thinking I am leading them on. Though I remember something my mama had told me, nothing wrong with dressing pretty. It builds a woman's confidence."
"Your momma was a wise woman and yes, as to Narin." Vura then asked Millie, "As to moving too fast, did you not mention just ripping off the bandage?" The Deltan grinned mischievously at Millie.
She gave a deep sigh, Vura had a point. "Well about my mama, she also told me, and I thought I did listen to her, it was that I better shop around, before I get a boyfriend. The last one, I thought I was sure." She gave a shrug, "We'll have to see how things go after my uh...What would you call this, a refresher course of finding me?"
Vura was delighted to hear that Millie was going to shop around and her eyes sparkled, anxious to go shopping. "Oh! This is just wonderful! Dating several men and maybe women, I never did learn your preferences, before choosing. What a marvelous decision! Well, then we definitely need to have many different styles for you to play with. This is going to be so much fun, Millie, and we don't have to call it anything but that: having fun!"
"My preferences are male, you may have forgotten that I had mentioned that I went out with females and nothing came of it. We just went out, had lunch or dinner, and were just friends, nothing more than that. It didn't click. So... shall we go out and have some fun and shop until we drop?" She giggled, even though Millie had some reservations about this, it had been too long since she just went out with some female friends and pampered herself.
"Oh, I remember that nothing came of women, but who knows, maybe you want to try again, since you're the 'New Millie.'" Vura shrugged apologetically. She looked at Millie and realized that was not happening. "No? Well, no matter. We will get you all shopped until you drop!"
She then turned over to her co-conspirator. "Astrid, are we ready?"
"I am." Astrid replied getting up from her seat.
A Joint Post By
Ensign Millicent Ambrose
Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Ensign Astrid Renfield
Quantum Slipstream Specialist
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