Brunch
Posted on Fri Apr 25th, 2025 @ 7:41am by Ensign Millicent Ambrose & Petty Officer 3rd Class Emiko Marley
Edited on on Wed May 7th, 2025 @ 2:05am
2,551 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Main Mess Hall - Deck 2 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD008 0700 hrs
If one did not know better, the petite woman with Asian features sitting by the window of Ten Forward was nothing more than a pretty doll. However, in her hands was a PADD and every once in awhile, her lips moved, as if reciting an incantation. They would stop and resume again only after a short while.
There was a chair opposite of her but nobody came to take it. In front of the PADD, there was a glass. It must have contained some liquid as the doll-like figure demurely took the glass, put it to her lips, and then set it down again.
This was none other than Emiko Marley, a woman determined to do something. Yet, she had nobody but her own company to detail that determination.
Milile came wandering in. She was hungry and it was time for a meal break. Getting a sandwich, some fries, and a drink, Millie looked around to find a place to sit, and perhaps someone to talk to. Her dark brown eyes scanned the messhall landing upon a rather petite Japanese girl. Millie gazed at her for a few long moments, chewing the inside of her lower lip. Being how she was in days gone by before she met that person, Millie decided she'd see if the girl wanted to have some company at her table. If not, Millie would go find another place to sit. Besides, she needed to satisfy her curiosity to see who the person was.
Millie walked over to the Japanese girl, "Hi there, my name's Millie would you like some company? I'm basically new to this ship, how about you? Have you been with the ship long?" She held her tray carefully.
Emiko tilted her head at Millie, as if her head was controlled by a puppeteer. She uttered a question in Romulan which the universal translator immediately translated, "Who are you? If you would like to join me, you may."
The woman then cursed quietly in a high pitched voiced, "Damn Universal Translator!" She paused and then shrugged. "I am Emiko Marley and I too am newer to the ship. I was working on my Romulan. Its conjugations have been giving me fits."
Millie gave a shrug, placed her tray upon the table and took a seat. "I've not tried to learn Romulan, is it difficult to learn? I plan on learning Klingon."
"Klingon is an easy language. Just remember that almost everything centers around Honor or fighting and you have half of the vocabulary," Emiko replied simply. "If you are really that interested, I could teach you. I also could teach English, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Andorian, or Ferengi." Emiko shrugged as if it was as simple as spelling "cake."
"Sure, thank you, and I am interested in learning. Was there a language that you found the hardest to learn?" Millie picking up her sandwich to begin eating it.
"Romulan is rather perturbing right now. Most languages come to me naturally. Once you understand the culture somewhat, it is not too difficult. Most Terran languages unless they come from the East, have Latin roots. So again, just a matter of finding the commonalities."
"I need to correct something that I said earlier, I did take a language course, it was French. I thought it would be romantic to learn it. Plus, when in school it was a requirement to learn another language other than the native language I speak which is, English." taking a bite of her sandwich.
Dead panned, Emiko asked, "Veux-tu coucher avec moi?"
"Non, je ne veux pas dormir avec toi" Millie spoke around her bite of sandwich. Picking up her drink she washed her bite down. "Fascinating, that is quite the question you asked."
"Not really. It is basic and almost every guy learns an improper version of it." She then switched back to French, "C'est bon. J'ai quelqu'un d'autre en vue. Je testais juste ton français."
"Hmn interesting, who are you practicing French for? " Milie picking up a French fry and taking a bite of it. "Sounds like you are on a serious hunt if you lead with the first statement. Whomever the person is, do they know of your interest?"
"I fear that he is oblivious to it,' Emiko answered. "I cannot understand why. Am I not pretty enough? I mean, I showed up on his doorstep in skintight clothing and he simply took me into a d&d adventure. I thought it was a great cosplay of a rogue-thief. I have to do something to make him see that he's for me." She exhaled a heavy sigh.
"Well, have you told him directly? At times a person needs to be told point blank, of your interest. Maybe that will work. Who knows, you never know what will happen, butt you gotta try right?" Millie ate another fry.
"I don't want to do that. He SHOULD know! Besides, if he really desires me then he should be asking ME!" Emiko replied with more emotion than she had in this entire conversation.
"Emiko, you know if someone is oblivious, they need to be told straight out. Nothing will happen if you don't say anything. That is something that really frustrates me at times is- if a man or woman is interested in someone, they don't say anything and sit on the sideline and just sigh thinking that the person will notice. I found this out on my own, I didn't tell a person that I liked them, and they went with someone else. So, sighing on the sideline like a leaky tire, it's not good. You are supposed to be a bold woman, right? Tell him." Millie bit into the sandwich, enjoying the flavor.
"Who didn't you tell that you liked?" Emiko answered. "And do you think that person is happier without you?"
"It really doesn't matter, and well- that was two years ago during academy. His name was Matthew, and I think that I am actually better off that I didn't end up telling him." Millie picked up a fry.
'Why's that?" Emiko asked curiously.
"Well, he showed his true colors, was rather rude and he got a whole bowl of spaghetti dumped all over him. He wasn't happy but he deserved it, the girl he was with then added some vinegar on him and walked off. That was an epic break up." Millie waving her hand which held the fry around. Part of her fry broke off and went flying. "Whoops!" moving to retrieve it.
'It sounds to me that it was better not to say anything. So, I won't," Emiko concluded. "So, do you have someone now? What do you do on the ship?"
Millie came back with the errant piece of fry setting it down beside her plate. "Well, if you choose to not tell him, that is your choice. As for me? I am in engineering. I've got friends that I am making on the ship. So maybe you can say I've got more than one someone." She smiled. "What do you do on the ship?"
"Intelligence," Emiko answered simply. "They need people like me in case all of the universal translators die or on deep cover missions. I've never been deployed yet, but I hope that someday I may."
"I get that. Maybe sometime I will get to go on an away mission." as Millie ate another fry, it drifted to her mind, "Wait, you said someone was teaching you about D&D. What did you think about it?"
"Yes, he was. We went through some holoprogram that must have been something like it. I always thought that D&D was something like rolling dice and such." She clucked her tongue before continuing. "Well, personally, I enjoy cosplaying, so that part was a lot of fun. I just wish that he kept his eyes more on me. I even bent over in his plain view...."
"Skintight catsuit dressed as a rogue, blatantly showing your wares, so to speak. And he didn't even pay attention. Maybe he is a gentleman and who knows he may prefer, older women? It depends on his age. I know there are men who prefer ladies our age. Then there are those who don't. Any idea what his age is?" Another bite of sandwich as she waited for Emiko's answer.
"He's probably a decade or so older, I'd guess," Emiko answered with an apologetic shrug. "Age is just a number." She then looked pointedly at Millie and asked, "I'm not ugly, am I?"
Millie paused as she thoroughly regarded Emiko after a few moments. Millie shook her head. "You are not ugly at all. And just because someone may not pay attention to you, that doesn't mean you are ugly. Maybe you're not the person's type. You might be more of someone else's type. Has there been anyone who was showing signs of being interested in you?"
"I wouldn't know," Emiko answered honestly. "There's got to be something wrong with me. I'll fix it."
"Heck, I feel that way at times wondering if something is wrong. Want to know what I do when things get me down? I uh.." Millie leaned forward, crooking a finger for Emiko to draw close. "I like to do cosplay, on the holodeck. It's actually a lot of fun."
Distracted from the topic of Edmund by a topic that Emiko truly enjoyed, Emiko leaned forward and asked, "Really? You're into it, too? What have you done?"
"Indiana Jones, A lady knight going out to fight a dragon. Westerns, for some. What about you?" Millie replied, finding this interesting.
"Did you gender bend Indiana Jones?" Emiko asked interested. "I've done a bunch. Sailor Mars and Sailor Saturn. Hatsune Miku. The hair was a killer. I nearly tripped on it at least three times for every five steps. Megumin. Kitty Pryde. Jinx from League of Legends...."
"Well sort of, I do a legacy of a sort as Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood did have a child and then there were other children which kept the legacy going on, which is what my character is based upon. Well, that is the story I created." Millie segued to what Emiko had said. "Oh, you like Kitty Pryde? I like her too, and I am familiar with the Sailor Moon characters. I do like Saturn and Mars."
"Sailor Mars' hair matches mine better." She then stood up, put her right hand palm outward and open next to her face and her left fist angled up to her face and proclaimed, “I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for Love and Passion. I am Sailor Mars. In the name of Mars, I'll chastise you!”
"Oh, that was great!" Millie giving a quiet clap of her hands grinning ear to ear. "I love that! Okay we need to plan on doing some holo adventures. Any favorite foods you like to eat?"
"I rather enjoy sushi," Emiko answered, pleased to have someone that understood her somewhat. "What were you thinking in terms of a holo adventure?"
"Oh I love sushi." Millie felt her mouth start to water. "As for the holo adventure, it depends. I've not really included anyone in my holo adventures. The last one I had participated in well was an Indiana Jayne episode. I was recreating the first one old time movie. Swinging over a chasm with a special whip. Did you know that a regular whip isn't able to hold the weight of a stuntman to swing over a chasm. They had to use a steel cable wrapped with leather to create that effect. "
"I have not done a lot of joint holos either. I don't have many friends," Emiko admitted. "Though, it makes sense about the whip. I just never thought about it."
"Weird things I tend to do research on." Millie remembered to take a bit of her sandwich, and took a drink, she was getting involved with her conversation with Emiko. "We could figure out a scenario and it depends on how exciting you want it to be."
"The more exciting, the better," Emiko responded with a nearly manic grin.
"Like walking on the wings of an airplane when it is in flight? Or swinging over a pit that has sharp metal rods, one false move you can fall to your death? There is also being a tomb raider..." Millie offered up possibilities.
"Those all sound exciting, though the plane seems a bit unrealistic."
"Actually, back in 1918 there were a group of people who did stunts with the old style airplanes. Some had played tennis, some just walked. These pilots were fresh from WWI and still needing the adrenaline rush. They also had the nickname of barnstormers as some of them flew through the open doors of a barn and out the other side. Pretty cool I will say." Millie giving a huge grin.
"Before my time, though if this was done in the past, we can certainly do it," Emiko replied confidently. "History actually is a good way to learn languages by the way. So much of languages are dependent on the way that the species or a section of people viewed the universe."
"Well, I'd like to make time for us to get together for an adventure. For now, though, I've got to head on out and get something done. I think sleep or something engineering." Millie yawned slightly. Her eyes were starting to drift downward. Having had something to eat, Millie was getting sleepier.
"I hope that it is not work, because it looks like you're falling asleep standing up and if you can't devote yourself properly to work, then you won't be an asset to the ship."
"You are absolutely correct. I am looking forward us planning on an adventure but for now- to sleep, perchance to dream. Oh no, never mind, I don't want to dream. No, don't want nightmares." Millie's eyes went rather wide.
"Nightmares?" Emiko asked. "Is it something you should get checked out by the doctors? Maybe get a sedative?"
"I will probably do such or just fall into a food coma." She laughed slightly. Millie stretched. She looked at Emiko. She didn't know why it popped in her head but it did. "Say Emiko, are you a person who accepts hugs?"
Emiko looked at Millie like she had two heads. Perhaps it was Millie's exhaustion talking that Millie asked such an odd question. "I suppose that it depends from whom and when."
"Heh, true true, I wanted to ask and not just give you one, a hug of goodnight. Anyway, before I sprout another head and argue with myself. I'm heading off to slumber land. Goodnight Emiko." Millie turned to leave.
Emiko gave Millie a polite wave. "Good night. Take care of yourself. We can talk more when you are well." Millie seemed a tad askew but another cosplayer was always welcome. Maybe they could become friends, regardless of her being an officer.
A Joint Post By
Petty Officer Third Class Emiko Marley
Intelligence Communications Specialist, USS Pioneer
Ensign Millicent Ambrose
Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
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