DS9/P0 - Promenade

[Jennifer Braggins]

==

[Eun Ju Han]

Infirmaries never spelled like anything other than strong antiseptic and cleaning agents. Even though modern medicine had clearly made massive advances the smell seemed to never change. When she had grown up in Korea it was a universal scent. As the doors to the infirmary opened while Ju supported as much of Tera’s weight as possible since the drunken girl was in and out of consciousness the entire way from the bar, the wave of clean hit her nostrils with a slight burn. Quickly, a nurse came to help Ju with the weight of the young Science officer. Damian had offered to help but Ju figured that she could get her in here alone there was no reason to drag his name through the mud with the middies. She wondered if he was the reason that she had met the Captain on such horrible terms or if it was the resounding thud of Tera’s head on the table.

“What happened to her?” the nurse asked as she and Ju helped get her to a waiting bio bed.

“She had one drink,” Ju said with a bit of a sigh rolling her shoulders to get rid of the cramp which had developed.

“Just one?” the nurse said looking up as the biobed began it’s scan.

“Yes.”

“The doctor will be here soon, we will get her sorted out. Unfortunately, we don’t have room for you to wait around, we can notify you when she’s all set,” the nurse responded taking Ju’s information. Tera was currently passed out and snoring heavily on the table. Such a small body with such loud noises.

Ju gave Tera’s a hand a squeeze, but the girl didn’t seem to notice or feel it before Ju turned away and headed back for the main doors. At least I didn’t get puked on. Outside, once the doors cut off the horrible stench of Infirmary, the fresh air felt nice. It wasn’t really fresh but in her head it felt fresh and that was just as good. Sometimes she missed Earth, the way that a good breeze could brush across your face on a hot day and make you feel so much more refreshed.

Dark eyes shifted at the passing crowds in front of her she noticed the silhouette of Commander McDreamy standing just off to the side. A bit of a smirk toyed on the left side of her lip as she walked over to him, putting her hands in the pockets of her joggers, still splotched with paint. I must be such a sight, she thought as she walked over to him. But, it wasn’t anything different than he had seen in the craft shop where he had run into them for starters.

“They’re going to take care of her. No room for us to hang in there though, so the nurse said she would contact my PADD when she was ready to go.” Ju shrugged her shoulders looking over at Damian for a moment, wondering if he was regretting getting caught drinking with two middies. Ju’s hand shifted in her pocket looking for the sweets she usually kept there only to remember, “Shoot I left the gummy bears back at Quarks.”

“Oh well,” her eyes returned to Damian. “Sorry you got embroiled in our drinking game. Also, that you got caught where it looked like she had way more booze than she did. I’m going to have to make sure they add that to her information because.. that’s kinda scary. I’ve never met such a light weight in my whole life. But, back home, drinking is like a rite of passage and it’s frowned upon to be horrible at it, so.. you get alcohol tolerance pretty young.”

Ju smirked and looked over at Damian. “Heading out?” she asked, curious what his next plans were for the evening. “I’ll probably walk around a bit until I get the all clear about Tera. I don’t want her to feel abandoned, she doesn’t know anyone else.”

<<Quark's Bar<<
==Tag Damian. Tera used with writer's permission.==

[Damien Coleman]

<< Quark’s <<

Never had Coleman ever seen anything of the like when it came to the alcoholic deficiencies of one Amaterasu Ichika. As they moved the Princess of Glitter through the Promenade, Damian could only wonder if the sparkly stuff she had consumed impacted her ability to hold her liquor. When they had started to close in on the Infirmary, Damian had offered to help Tera inside, but Ju had been particularly adamant that she take Tera alone. He had easily relented. Not because he didn’t want to be involved, but because he trusted that Ju had things well in hand.

There was a quiet sigh that escaped him once he saw the pair actually enter the Infirmary. Knowing himself, there would be a point in the future where the events of the day would be funny, but in that moment he was only concerned for Tera. Which was an unfortunate but welcomed distraction from Coleman’s other thoughts. Everything that had happened in his previous mission weighed heavily in his day-to-day. With every statement, reply, or report, the gravity of it all only seemed to increase. Command was not easy. Nor did he ever expect that it would be. As a department head, he’d seen just how deep things got. Though whatever Damian had thought he’d seen was just the continental shelf. Things dropped off even more when thrust into the big seat. Even with Silran’s mentorship during and after the mission, Coleman still found himself questioning if he’d done things right. Damian knew the answer to that already; what was done was done, and deliberating whether it was right or wrong in the moment would do nothing to help. He just had to accept the decisions he had made by looking at them dispassionately to see if they worked or didn’t. Only then could he better himself for the next time.

“They’re going to take care of her…” the sweet, gentle voice carried in the air, and snatched Damian’s attention back into the moment.

Nodding as he listened, Damian couldn’t help but catch the shrug from Ju's shoulders. Part of him wished he could hear her thoughts for a moment, but mentally shook that feeling off. Instead he focused on her body language and expressions, getting a vibe from her that she was worried or concerned. Though he had to laugh when she mentioned the gummy bears were left behind. It wouldn’t be a night he’d quickly forget.

“Oh well,” she spoke again before he could respond.

As she apologized, Damian shook his head and held up his hand in a manner meant to assuage Ju of her guilt. Though he did agree that Medical definitely needed to add information to Tera’s official records. Perhaps there could be tests that could be run to see if it was genetic. Or if it was a reaction with the glitter. Either way, neither Ju nor Damian could have known she’d react in such a way.

“We did the right thing by getting her here, as quickly as we did,” he interrupted for a moment, “we couldn’t have known she’d react like that.”

As Ju continued, Damian’s eyebrow rose up along with the corner of his mouth, upon hearing about her alcohol tolerance. Then he caught her smirk, and knew immediately what her intention had been back at the bar.

I absolutely was about to get sharked, he smickered at her, and then let out an inaudible snort of air through his nose.

For someone that looked as innocent as Ju did, with her happy tone, fast smile, and inviting warm eyes, she certainly had a more devious side to her. That was something Damian could appreciate. He had some thought about being wary though, as he wasn’t a junior officer anymore. And there’d be plenty of talk on both the Philly and Arty after the night they’d already had. Though there was nothing that said he couldn’t be friendly. And while the rumor mill would probably take off, it’d likely focus on Tera and her inability to suffer any amount of alcohol.

Or so I hope...

“Heading out?” she asked, before stating her intention to wait around for Tera.

“Nah, figure I’ll keep you company while you wait. I appreciate that you are looking after Tera the way you are. Plus anyone that was planning to shark me at a drinking game is someone I’ve gotta get to know better,” his grin was still spread broadly across his features.

Gesturing with his head to move on from their spot, he started walking with her along the Promenade. They didn’t need to go too far, but he wanted to spend more time just chatting with Ju. There was a curiosity, and something else, that stirred within his brain. And the only way he would sate those thoughts would be to get to know Ju better.

“So, back home. Korea right? Or do I assume too much by the order of soju?”

He looked over to her, catching her eyes for a moment, before he got distracted by some glitter on her joggers. Quickly though, he returned his eyes back up to hers, while still keeping wary about where they were walking,

“I ain’t ever been, that I can recall. Didn’t realize that drinking was so entrenched in the culture there. I mean, there is plenty of that at the Academy anyway. You must have been pretty popular at parties for your ability to drink others under the table?” his brows raised up, while his tone remained playful; the question a teasing conviction of her prior intentions.

“Nah, I get the feeling you were pretty popular regardless of your drinking abilities,” there was a gentle sigh after his statement, as though affirming it as truth.

Ju seemed the type to him, to make easy friendships with her disposition and demeanor. The proof had already been delivered; accepting of a total stranger on a space station, guiding him to the bar, and then proceeding to drink with him. Warm and inviting, she gave off an air of being a capable host and friend.

“Don’t suppose you’d trade me two truths and a lie? Give my inner security officer something to chew on as we walk?” his brows waggled and he chuckled.

== tag! ==

[Mara Calleja]

Bajor had been fun, but Mara had also been genuinely excited by the prospect of a night in her own comfortable bed on board Artemis. Suitably rested, the Amazonian Security officer had eventually conceded to herself that she should at least have a look around what Deep Space 9 had to offer. Whatever she thought of Cardassians - and right now that really wasn’t much at all - this was still a legendary station.

I’d regret it if I jus’ sat on board Artemis an’ looked at it. It’s DS9! I’m not sure there’s a bigger ‘f*ck you’ to Cardassia out there.

A combination of the groundwork laid by Aeryn Miller and Calleja’s own epiphanies on Mount Kola had resulted in the shirt dress that Mara was wearing now. She had decided that she wanted to move past tying her identity to being an ex gang rat and this was how she was going to start.

The dress itself was in a pastel olive green colour that complemented her bronzed skin tone, with a wide v-neck and demi-sleeves. It hung low on the right side, skimming the top of her hazelnut leather boots, and was slit to mid-thigh on the left. A belt in the same brown as her boots brought it all together and helped it flare across her hips. The outfit didn’t hide her powerful physique - there was no disguising that much muscle - but it did make her look much more feminine than she was used to.

Mara’s first stop had been a hair stylist. After some thought and a few holographic projections, she’d had the left side of her head shaved back to stubble and left the rest long. The stylist had worked her hair into clever flowing layers that the Security officer was never going to be able to replicate on board ship, but she had been given a PADD with a few options on.

Word of mouth had led Calleja to a tattooist with a glowing reputation and after a long chat, she’d left with a few designs to look over. She’d long loved dia de los muertos artwork and the artist had given her plenty of ideas.

Never thought I’d be the makeover kind o’ girl Mara thought. But here I am, I guess. Never thought I’d wind up a Lieutenant in Star Fleet either. Don’t think I’ve ever felt this far from Bandar City. Although I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing.

She’d found a coffee stand that did proper authentic raktajino, and with a steaming mug in hand had settled herself down on a bench to look through potential tattoos on the PADD.

== Open tag if anyone wants to chat! ==

[Eun Ju Han]

Eun Ju was surprised that he didn’t take the opportunity to head out when he could. Instead, stating that he would hang out with her while she waited to see how Tera fared after they got her sorted out. Telling her that he appreciated her looking after someone like that. Ju gave a smile and a small shrug mostly because she didn’t know what else to say. Tera and she just kind of clicked when they were in the crafting shop and Damian had somehow gotten mixed up with them. Though, she was kind of glad, not only was he a gorgeous specimen but he also seemed like a pretty stand up guy. It shouldn’t come as a surprise since he was a First Officer, and you didn’t generally make those if you were a raging bastard. At least, she hoped not.

He also mentioned how if someone was actually willing to shark him in a drinking game he needed to get to know them better. Ju let out a loud carefree laugh, her entire face lighting up with it for a moment. “Well, you might have still beat me, I don’t know your tolerance,” Ju admitted to him with a playful smirk on her face answering his own.

Commander Yummy motioned for her to lead the way so Ju turned to stand beside him as the pair made their way at a leisurely pace in the forward direction. Ju’s eyes weren’t stuck on the man, hot as he was, instead she was taking in all the surroundings, reflecting back in her dark eyes as they walked together. He brought up Korea, but then wondered if he had only made an assumption due to her order of soju. “You’re right, I was born on a Starship, my mother and father are Fleeters. I was raised on Earth in Korea by my Halmoni, that’s Korean for grandmother, by the way,” she grinned at him. “You’ll learn a few things if you stick with me.” Ju said the last line with a lot more confidence than she felt but the warm and open smile on her face was inviting him to get to know her better regardless.

“You should definitely visit Korea if you ever get the chance, drinking is not the only part of our culture. There are still temples from the Joseon area standing today that are like museums of times past. On holidays we wear Hanbok, it’s like a kimono but .. Korean,” she chuckled. Eun Ju missed Korea, part of that was evident in her voice as she spoke of her homeland and things about it she thought he might like to know. Or perhaps it was just her way with coping with mild homesickness.

He mentioned how she must have been popular at drinking games at the Academy. “You’d think so, but only at first because they see this petite Asian girl and they think, oh I can drink her under the table. Once they figured out that wasn’t easy, they stopped coming for me. I still went from time to time, but my Halmoni drilled into me that my work was more important than anything else. There is plenty of time to have fun later, school first, and I didn’t want to let her down.”

Commander Yummy mentioned that she was probably popular regardless causing a bit of a chuckle to come out of the happy go lucky girl. “Maybe. I don’t know if you ever really know if you’re popular or not. I had friends, I went to parties, but I also studied a lot and am really looking forward to making friends in the future. On my ship, off my ship, I don’t do well alone, I guess. I’ve never had to.. maybe that’s weird,” she shrugged. Am I talking too much? she wondered curiously, but it was too late to take any of it back now she had already spewed it all. “I think I talk too much.” She laughed at herself brushing some of her bangs behind her ear to keep them out of her eyes.

Ju looked up and over at him as he told her that he wanted her to keep his brain busy and give him two truths and one lie to sus out. “Oh a game!” Ju’s eyes lit up again as she clasped her hands in front of her with excitement as she thought about the three things she wanted to say to him. “I shouldn’t have talked so much, this would be much easier.”

They walked for a minute together while she puzzled through what she wanted to say. “I speak three languages fluently. I am an third degree black belt in taekwondo. I have a dog I would like to bring with me on the ship.” With that being said, she was curious how he was going to puzzle it all out and she was excited to see if he would figure out which was the lie.


==Tag Coleman==

[Damien Coleman]

The laugh that had come out of Ju was surprising in how spontaneous it was, but also in its quality too. There hadn’t been much laughing after the last Artemis mission. In fact it had been in turns incredibly somber, and then also the most heated trip back to base that Coleman had had since his time on the Atlanta. So hearing her laugh, and seeing the way it lit up her face with the smile reaching all the way into her eyes, reinvigorated some of Damian’s spirit.

“Well, you might have still beat me, I don’t know your tolerance.”

She was right of course. Without thinking much on it, Coleman really wasn’t sure exactly how much he drank on the regular. Though the Artemis was practically a still with nacelles. A majority aboard her drank with some regularity, and some more than just regularly. A few names immediately came to his mind, though some of them were making strides to curtail their crutch on the stuff.

Focusing on Ju as she spoke, Coleman listened intently about her upbringing. At first, he thought that they would share a common bond; being stuck in space as they grew up. Though it seemed her parents had understood the rigors that would have come with being stuck on a starship. That, or they were on a smaller ship that didn’t cater to families. Either way, it sounded like she spent her more formative years in Korea, with her halmoni. When she smiled at him, he warmly smiled back.

Their back and forth was playful, and many of Ju’s responses sounded humble. Perhaps because she hadn’t been as social as Damian had first considered. Her grandmother, her halmoni, had been pretty strict in terms of instilling a work ethic into Ju. And so, Coleman had to concede that perhaps she hadn’t been as much of a partier as he had thought. That, or she simply ensured that her partying time was quality over quantity.

The smarter move. At least in Security, there was far less studying, so partying was easier that way. The downside was the early morning PT drills after a night of heavy drinking…

“I think I talk too much,” she laughed and seemed to make a self-comforting gesture by getting her hair out of her eyes.

“All the better for me,” Damian joked in return, “in my previous department, getting people to talk was part of the job.”

As he asked her for a bit of a game, something that would let them get to know each other better, Ju’s eyes caught the overhead lights and seemed to sparkle. That made Coleman smile, and for a moment, he got a bit self-conscious himself. Kind of like Ju’s worry that she talked too much, he wondered if he was smiling like a big idiot too often? It was only a moment though, as he pushed aside that little hangup. If he wanted to smile freely, he would. It was nice. It was fun.

“I shouldn’t have talked so much, this would be much easier.”

“You haven’t said anything too self-incriminating yet,” his smile formed into more of a smirk now.

There was a bit of silence between them as they walked, with Ju carefully crafting her answers. People often thought that the lie was the hardest thing to craft in such games. In actuality, it was different for everyone. Truths were easy to come up with, but sometimes they were too specific and obvious. That meant, if you were playing the game to win, you had to blur the lines a little. Lies were easy to conjure for some too, but some people made them too outlandish. The best lies, he found, always were variations on the truth. Damian had played the game many times with all sorts of people; good liars, good storytellers, those with incredible poker faces, and some who outright just didn’t have a bone in their body that could tell a fib.

Watching over Ju as she formulated her responses, he guided her gently with his own movements, being sure to stop her from running into anyone or anything. Though as they continued down the Promenade, the amount of other people walking about dwindled. It was then that he could use his attention to window shop some of the stalls and shops. There was a moment though, that he could hear Ju change the way she was breathing, and he focused intently on her then; watching her face as she spoke, listened to how she said the words, and what expressions happened as Ju gave her answers.

Having a dog wasn’t uncommon, but it also wasn’t something people usually lied about. Plus the specificity of Ju wanting to bring the pet aboard the ship made it seem even more true. And finally, there was uncertainty about whether she’d be allowed, something else that most people wouldn’t add to their lies.

“The last part, about your dog, that sounds like a truth,” he said quickly.

The other two were much harder to know for sure. It was easy to see that she could know three languages fluently; almost certainly she knew Korean and English, and so a third one wouldn’t be a stretch. However, it was equally likely that she was a martial artist, particularly in taekwondo.

“I could see you doing martial arts,” he aired his thoughts, letting his mental processes regurgitate the information, “and being good at taekwondo. But I could also understand you knowing three languages as well, as I’m already pretty sure you are fluent in Korean and English.”

He paused his speech for a moment while his legs continued walking with Ju,

“Maybe that’s the lie? It’d be an easy stretch to say you know three languages when I can be certain you already know two. And you differentiated between knowing three languages, and being fluent in three. Plus maybe Halmoni wanted you to be strong both physically, and mentally?”

Damian stopped in his tracks and turned toward her,

“Yeah, that is what I’m going with. You are a third degree black belt in taekwondo, but you aren’t fluent in three languages?”

He wanted to be more certain, but in the end, it was an icebreaker. Though, a competitive side in him hoped that he had nailed it. The want to be easy going collided with the fighter in him, and so he waited with bated breath for the real answers.

== tag Eun ==

[Eun Ju Han]

As Eun Ju spoke about her two truths and a lie she could visibly see the wheels in Coleman’s head spring into action. He was already trying to puzzle out which they were, she enjoyed watching his brain, the way that his eyes were still moving around in their environment but also the way that she could tell his brain was cooking on the inside figuring out which was the lie. Once all three phrases were out she waited, and walked beside him. With the crowd having thinned out now she could actually see the shops and was able to look in the windows which were advertising the best of their wares hoping officers and visitors alike would come and spend their pay in the shops here. Ju hadn’t been paid anything yet, so the small amount of crafts she had bought in the shop earlier with Tera was about all she could spend, but they would keep her busy while she was on the ship with some down time.

Ju wasn’t sure what exactly she would be tasked with as a Middie. During her training at the Academy it seemed that everyone spoke that it was up to the Captain’s discretion. There were some Captains that threw their Middies into the mix quickly and some that preferred to let them ease into their new jobs during the first missions and kept them very low key. Ju wasn’t sure which she would prefer, but she also knew she didn’t have a say in the matter since it would be up to her Captain whom she hadn’t actually met yet.

The Commander said he felt that the dog was one of the truths. She tried to keep her face neutral but she wasn’t sure she had actually managed it. Ju was half-Betazoid so she wasn’t used to keeping her emotions to herself all the time, but she gave a curt nod hoping the rest of her face did not give her away. “All right, carry on.” She said trying to keep the truth hidden while he puzzled out. She really did have a dog, and she hoped that at some point she would get Yeobo on the ship with her so that she could at least have a companion and not feel so lonely. Eventually, she would make friends and create a family for herself on the ship where she was assigned, until that happened, Ju was afraid she would feel a bit lonely.

Now that he was speaking he seemed to be puzzling it out loud instead of in his head. He stated he could see her having studied martial arts, many of those in Korea did, even in this day and age. It was part of keeping yourself healthy and a further expansion of the discipline they instilled in their children and people as a whole. He then admitted that she at least knew Korean and English but he was not sure if she knew a third, besides she had said fluent, and many people knew languages but were not entirely fluent in such things. It was interesting, to her, how his brain worked and how he was puzzling through all the things she had said trying to seek out the lie.

Finally, he decided that she was fluent in two languages but was indeed a third degree black belt in taekwondo. Her eyes shifted to him, her brow rose, and she gave a smile. “That was intriguing, to watch,” she smiled. “However, you’re wrong.”

“You’re so close though. I really am fluent in three languages. But, I am only a second degree black belt in taekwondo.” She chuckled looking up at him with a smile on her face. “You were very close though, I was worried you would figure it out because I don’t really look like someone that can throw a full grown man if I have to. But, I got muscles,” she lifted her arm, bent at the elbow, as if she was showing off her guns even though she wasn’t. But, Ju was a very playful person at heart and ended up laughing letting her arm drop to her side again.

“Okay, your turn. Two truths and a lie. I want to see if I can sus you out. And besides, it’s only fair! I don’t know anything about you but you know way too much about me for a first meeting,” she chuckled, knowing it was her fault to have been so verbose from the beginning. She was chatty, that’s just how she was.

==Tag Coleman==

[Damien Coleman]

== time to do a little more backposting for fun! ==

When she looked at him, Coleman matched the gaze and he drank in the warmth from her eyes. Then, when Ju’s brow rose with the delayed smile, he wondered if he’d nailed it. Damian was preparing to celebrate as she spoke.

“That was intriguing, to watch…”

Oh no, that smile is growing… his eyes glued themselves to her lips, reading what was coming off of them before his ears would even hear the words.

“However, you’re wrong.”

“Damn!” Damian’s face scrunched up, and he playfully closed both his hands into fists before shaking them.

Returning back to his previous stance, he got the truths that he was looking for. As he always knew the best lies were based off, or laced with, the truth. Ju was only a second degree blackbelt, which was such a minor correction in the grand scheme of it all. And as he had reasoned before, her knowing a third language was probably well within her reach. Damian had realized it all too late. When he heard Ju chuckle, and say that he was close, it assuaged his inner competitive spirit some. Not completely, but some.

“I was worried you would figure it out because I don’t really look like someone that can throw a full grown man if I have to. But, I got muscles.”

When she raised her arm up, displaying the goods, Damian couldn’t help but laugh with her at the gun show. Even though Ju had been playing, be believed her when she said she could toss a man. People with raw strength could do it, but it was easier to do so by redirecting energy, not expanding it. Judo had its place, as did a mix of other martial arts that security officers were given a sampling of. Though Coleman admitted to himself long ago that he just preferred to throw a good punch instead most times.

“Okay, your turn. Two truths and a lie. I want to see if I can sus you out. And besides, it’s only fair! I don’t know anything about you but you know way too much about me for a first meeting.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” he said while she chuckled.

“I’ll even it up some though. Gotta make it a level playing field and all,” he winked at her, before drawing in a deep breath.

“I had gotten excited when you said you were born on a starship. I thought that maybe we’d shared a similar background growing up. Except your parents were smart, and knew that having a kid aboard a starship wasn’t exactly the best way to grow up,” there was a hint of resentment in Damian’s voice that leaked out as he remembered his youth.

“I grew up on a starbase not far from Earth, but enough to feel like it was light years away sometimes. When you are stuck on a station your whole life, you kinda get cabin fever. Both my parents liked to stay busy, holding down day jobs and doing musical stuff in the evenings. Which meant that parental supervision was incredibly low.”

“I wasn’t a bad kid or anything, but I got into a little bit of trouble here and there. Put my older sister through plenty of hell though. But it was just energy and frustration that I had that needed redirecting. Thankfully I discovered something that would help me do just that.”

Coleman paused for a moment, then decided to continue with the game.

“Aight, no more freebies,” he joked, “for the moment at least.”

Rubbing his hands together, he tried to decide what would be his two truths, and what would be his lie.

“In order to focus my mind, body, and spirit as a young man, I took up boxing. I’ve been to Risa at least twice, and even sorta co-own a little pad there. And I got some of my parent’s musical genes; I can play the bass guitar.”

With his answers given, Damian stopped walking and had turned in to face Ju. There was a moment, though, where he almost reached out for her hand. It would’ve been just to bring her to a stop too and turn her his way. But he had managed to stop himself without making a face. Or so he thought. The original reason he stopped was to give Ju a good chance to read his expression after his answers. Plus, he needed to see how she crunched the information. There was something about Ju that made him think her incredibly intuitive, and it was his experience that someone with a good gut instinct on things could sus the truth out.

== tag Ju ==

[Eun Ju Han]

==Woohoo backstory fun time==

He seemed that he was going to be game for continuing on their little game. Eun Ju loved the fact that he was having a good time with her even though he was a Commander. It would be easy for him to be stuffy or to have dropped her at the infirmary while she waited on Tera to come to her senses with something bigger to do. Instead, he was hanging around with her and actually giving her the time of day. Ju had to admit she was having a good time, as nervous as she was about the next leg of her life-long journey it was nice for her to feel like she was accepted by someone so quickly which made things a little less scary. It would have been even less scary had she been assigned to his ship, but instead, she still held hope for what her own would be like even with the higher ranking officers because of his influence.

Commander Darkness told her that he thought, for a moment, they had grown up with similar backgrounds due to the fact they were both born on a ship. However, her parents had been ‘smart’ by sending her home to Korea to live with her Halmoni realizing that she could not have been properly raised on board a ship. There was pain and some resentment she could feel both mentally and tell through the tone his voice took as he spoke.

“I don’t know if my parents were smart or not. They were never present, really, so there was some abandonment there as well,” Ju would have carried a lot more baggage from the situation with it because of therapy she had gone to as a child. Her Halmoni was her mother, and once she realized that she had someone so amazing taking care of her she shifted her mindset and decided to move forward with her life rather than hang on to people who had not been interested in being parents. Only occasionally, as in sometimes years would pass before a video call or actual visit. It was often cold or awkward.

He explained that his parents had been busy, working by day and doing music by night. He seemed to be often left in the care of his older sister. He ran rampant around the station and gave his sister some gray hairs it seemed. “I bet you did, you seem like the type. Dang! I wish we had gotten to get through at least one round of the drinking game…” Ju shook her head and sighed. “We’ll have to raincheck.” She admitted with a bit of a mischievous grin playing on her lips as she made eye contact with Coleman again.

McDreamy decided to get on with the game, and Ju found herself crossing her arms over her chest as she listened to the options he put forward. Firstly, there was the fact that he took up boxing. Secondly, he admitted to having been to Risa twice and owning a small pad there, and thirdly, he could play the bass guitar.

Truthfully, Ju was very interested in music. It made her heart happy when the right song came on and she could often be found humming melodies and mouthing lyrics while listening to the music in her mind from memory. So, she hoped that the latter was true but only for a selfish reason more than anything else. Then the fact was, he was a Security officer; so taking up boxing was likely possible and he had given her a bit of a hint earlier when he said he just needed his energy redirected. Not to mention that his musculature and build leaned towards the fact that he had a fair amount of muscle mass and probably was very well versed in his job. Boxing would come in handy frequently, she imagined.

That left Risa. He admitted to going twice, and co-owning a pad there. That was a specific detail, she wondered if he was trying to pull something like she had done where there was a lace of truth running through the lie. All the while she thought, the fingertips of her right hand drummed quietly on her left arm. A little habit and her eyes had stared off almost unseeingly but being half-Betazoid she expertly avoided collisions with anyone around her.

“All right, lets see if I would have made an astute detective.” She stated with a smile coming out of her thoughts. “Firstly, I really hope you play music, and you play the bass guitar. I can play the piano, not enough to win awards, but enough to have taken lessons,” she admitted. “Then, there’s the boxing, I definitely think that’s what you meant when you said you redirected your extra energy when you were young, so I think that’s true too.”

“So for the lie, I do think you’ve been to Risa, but maybe once, not twice?” she offered looking up at him hoping that she was right, but at least he could see how her mind worked.

==Tag Coleman==

[Arwen Qi]

The promenade was alive with the hum of aliens speaking all manner of languages. Qi loved places like this. He would turn off his universal translator and let the sounds wash over him. This Klingon was selling blood pie, that Bolian was selling hats.

Better still, he could hear how language evolved in a place like this. Borrowed words from Federation Standard and Bajoran crept into everyday speech, and he even noticed some speech patterns that were characteristic of the Gamma Quadrant. In another version of his life, Qi would have taken a posting aboard the station, immersed himself in the kaleidoscope of linguistics, and never held a phaser again.

A large, blond Trill broke through the crowd. He was carrying a syrupy jumja stick in either hand. Qi smiled as Lumis drew near. Since reconnecting prior to Qi’s last mission aboard the Geronimo, the two had grown quite close. Qi knew millions of words in dozens of languages, but none seemed to describe their relationship without flattening it.

“They had moba fruit and uttaberry. Which do you want?” Lumis offered. His deep voice was easily discernible beneath the roar of the crowd. Qi took the uttaberry stick, a Betazoid fruit that paired surprisingly well with the Bajoran dessert. The two found a small bench off to the side of the main path and sat together, watching various humanoids go by.

“So, I’ve been here for two days and we haven’t talked about your visit to Trill. Now, my shuttle leaves in an hour. Are we going to talk about it?” Lumis asked, raising an eyebrow.

Qi lowered his head. “I told my mom’s family about the symbiont. Alena said that I should try to have it extracted.”

“Your grandmother said that? She’s been obsessed with getting you joined since the day you were born! She practically cut you off when you left to join Starfleet!” Lumis stammered. A few passersby turned to look at the sudden outburst. Qi shrank into himself.

“Not explicitly, but she implied it. She said that a symbiont without past lives needs to be reared on the home world. She said it was practically abuse to take it back into space.”

“Reared on the home world? Did you explain to her that you found it in a cargo crate aboard a Ferengi pirate ship? That symbiont probably hasn’t spent a day on Trill. Or else it was kidnapped shortly after it was born.”

Qi nodded glumly, forgetting his jumja stick for a moment. “She won’t say it, but her real problem is that I’m half human. I think I’m just realizing that I was never going to be good enough for her.”

“I’m sorry, Arwen. You probably regret going back there.” Lumis put a comforting hand on Qi’s shoulder.

“Actually, I don’t,” Qi replied, a hard edge in his voice. “I think I needed to realize that. I spent my childhood trying to be more Trill to placate Alena, then I ran off to Starfleet to spite her. Getting this symbiont has made me realize that I need to start living my life, or else my next host isn’t going to have anything worth remembering.”

Lumis turned to regard Qi, truly studying him, like he’d never seen him before. A hint of a smile tugged at his cheek. He let the moment hang in the air for some time before standing up.

“Come on, we should start making our way toward the docking port. Your new crew should be arriving soon, too.” Lumis offered a hand to Qi, helping him to his feet. The two walked together in comfortable silence. As they approached the station’s outer pylons, Qi thought about his new posting and the many changes that lie ahead. He said goodbye to Lumis and watched the heavy airlock door roll closed behind him. Whatever happened next, this life would be worth remembering.

== Tag anybody who feels like wandering by ==

[Theresa Black]

The Promenade on DS9 was busy 26/7. Or so it always seemed. Peoples from so many different cultures milled around stalls, kiosks, shops and restaurants lined the main drag as well as side corridors and some locations on the upper balcony.

Papaver had already booked the spa session for the pair of them days ago when she'd heard the Philadelphia was bring brought back. Regardless, the science officer knew that no matter how the mission had gone. And the scuttle was bad. That though a minor frivolous thing that it was, was probably going to be just what the doctor ordered for her friend and brief DH. So to speak.

Black had on their way across from the habitat ring tried to turn back at least once, feeling self conscious about getting pampered given that she felt like crap and didn't deserve it, and was not worth the effort, and she deserved whatever Starfleet was going to throw at them for what she couldn't actually tell Papaver about just yet. But the younger woman wouldn't take a no for an answer and eventually managed to get her friend into the salon.

Almost immediately, it had been worth it. The hot rock treatment that the Risian masseuse had started with elicited the response that was expected. From there it was a couple of hours of pure relaxation and styling before the pair emerged looking far more relaxed and glowing than they had on entry, and Papaver herself. Quite a few more credits lighter.

Black had, finally accepted that Papaver was going to get her way. When she'd entered, she was sporting her now normal everyday blond bob hairstyle that she had adopted almost a decade ago. When she'd first enlisted all those years ago, she'd still been something of a flamboyant individual. She'd sported long bunches, often accented with bright woollen dreadfalls, but after her 'incident'. She'd tried dying her hair, and changing her style to disappear. To try to become someone else. A brunette nobody with a normal look that faded into the background. It had worked for a while. But she'd returned to being a blond after a couple of years, but kept up with the shorter hair and generic appearance.

She put down her champaign glass and looked at herself in the mirror. She'd opted for a couple of shades lighter than she'd been, adding a small amount of ashen silver to her colouring along with extensions that brought her hair back to the almost the same length it had been years ago. Brought back into a long ponytail and topped with a simple braid that helped frame the overall look and make her look far more dignified that she had hours before.

“New look, new you.” Said Papaver from the next seat over. She hadn't had such an extreme change, opting to keep her current look the same as it was, just electing for a trim. “So, where do you want to go next? And don't say home.”

Black pondered for a minute. She knew that she still had at least one more unofficial shift to pull at Quark's to pay off her outstanding tab.

She turned as smiled. “Quark's. Most of the crew will gravitate there. Everyone always does. New me. New bar tab.”

They both were now giggling like school girls as they left and headed out. Quark's was on the opposite side of the promenade ring to the salon. And there were plenty more shopping and browsing opportunities between to two.


== Tag to anyone encountering the pair ==

[Arwen Qi]

Qi loved accents. Most people could distinguish the sounds of their own home planet’s various regions (you say mugato, I say mugutu), but to Qi they were as unique as human fingerprints. With his Universal Translator turned off, the promenade’s chatter lost its literal meaning and he was able to focus on the sounds instead.

If you really want to know a person, don’t listen to what they say. Listen to how they say it. The lessons of Qi’s linguistics professor echoed in his mind.

Qi never quite agreed with that adage, but he understood the meaning. To the right ears, an accent was a map of where a person spent time, who they listened to, and how they wanted to present themselves.

As he lost himself in the sounds of the busy promenade, one particular voice seemed to break through the chatter. It was human, unmistakably terran. Qi hadn’t spent much time on Earth before the academy or since, but the so-called “country twang” was easy to spot.

Qi looked up at the voice’s owner. He had skimmed the Philadelphia’s crew manifest, but this woman didn’t seem familiar. Still, a terran accent this far from Earth was most likely Starfleet. Chances were high that she would know something about the ship that was docked on the upper pylons.

“Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to be from the Philadelphia, would you?” Qi asked, tapping the woman on the shoulder. He looked particularly casual in a crocheted Bajoran vest and a pair of loose-fitting cargo pants. “I’m supposed to transfer there soon, but something seemed to be happening at the docking bay. I hope everybody’s alright.”

== Tag Black ==

[Theresa Black]

As the pair moved through the crowd browsing as they went, they chatted and looked at several of the stalls along their path. They were just looking at a stall that sold pendants and other costume jewellery.

“... And this is a pair of flawless Andorian Blood Agates.” The Bajoran proprietor was saying about a pair of blue and red stones made into earrings, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to be from the Philadelphia, would you?” Asked a man about the same height as her.

From his dress, Maz quickly assessed Bajoran. But changed her mind as her brain caught up and saw the Trill markings running down his temples and neck.

Glancing sideways at Papaver, she listened to the young man as he continued to speak.

“I’m supposed to transfer there soon, but something seemed to be happening at the docking bay. I hope everybody’s alright.”

“Umm, yes.” She said taking a subtle defensive stance. “I'm from the Philadelphia, but...” She wasn't quite sure what to say. Surely command weren't actually still assigning new officers to a ship they knew was toast. And this guy wasn't exactly dressed like a Starfleet officer. But  neither were the pair of them either. How had he identified her as coming from that ship?

“I'm sorry.” She said her years of combined tactical and security making her suspicious. “Who are you please?”


== Tag back ==

[Arwen Qi]

Qi followed the woman’s gaze down to his attire, realizing that he resembled a tourist much more than he did a Starfleet officer. She exchanged a glance with her companion, seeming to regard him with caution.

“Umm, yes.” She said, shifting slightly. “I'm from the Philadelphia, but… I'm sorry. Who are you please?”

Qi laughed sheepishly. It was good practice to be suspicious of strangers aboard a space station. Although (and he might have imagined it), she seemed a bit tense. Was there something else going on?

“Apologies, that was rude of me,” Qi said. He straightened up, trying to look more official despite his appearance. He pulled a combadge from one of his many pockets.

“I’m Lieutenant Commander Arwen Qi. I was supposed to join the Philadelphia as Chief Science Officer, but I haven’t heard much since I arrived on the station.” He hated invoking his rank, but it seemed necessary under the circumstances. He needed to earn some trust in order to get more information.

== Tag Black ==

[Theresa Black]

“I’m Lieutenant Commander Arwen Qi.”  Said the man displaying a comm badge. “I was supposed to join the Philadelphia as Chief Science Officer, but I haven’t heard much since I arrived on the station.”

Again Black and Papaver looked at each other. “Lieutenant Theresa Black.” Black said after a moment offering her hand. “An this is Lieutenant Papaver.”

“Hi.” Said Papaver.

Given that they were stood in the middle of the promenade Black thought it a good idea if they moved over to the far wall where there was a gap in the people moving around them so they could talk easier.

“I'm afraid, Sir.” She began. “There were a few, issues, during our last mission. I do know that some of the former Philadelphia crew have already been reassigned elsewhere, but most of us have been ordered to remain either here on station or at best Bajor itself to await either reassignment or, repercussions.”

She could feel her face flushing with embarrassment as she said the words. She didn't offer the information that she had been the serving CSO herself when the mission began either.

“I don't really know what else I can tell you, Sir.” She added before something caught her eye.

The entrance to Quark's bar was visible from where they stood. And Black had just spotted what looked like the back of Commander Jensen disappearing inside.

“But I think I just saw Commander Jensen over there.” She pointed toward Quark's. “We were heading there ourselves. Would you care to join us and maybe the Commander will have more information for you?”

She gave her best keep calm and keep your existential crisis inside, smile as she gestured for them to move on.


== Tag – And off to Quark's? ==

[Arwen Qi]

“I don't really know what else I can tell you, Sir.” Lieutenant Black said.

Qi shifted uncomfortably. He hated being deferred to based on his rank. He would rather be respected for his ideas. His old crew knew that about him.

The situation for the Philadelphia’s crew seemed to be even more fraught than Qi had anticipated. Something had gone very wrong, potentially too sensitive and damaging to be discussed in public.

He heard the familiar name of Commander Jensen, the ship’s first officer. He would know more about Qi's pending transfer. More importantly, he seemed to be heading into a nearby bar. The idea of a drink was starting to sound pretty good.

“Nice to meet you both. Whatever happened on your last mission, I’m glad I ran into you,” Qi said, accompanying the pair toward Quark’s. “I’ll get the first round.”

>>>> Quark’s Bar >>>>

[Theresa Black]

“Nice to meet you both. Whatever happened on your last mission, I’m glad I ran into you,” Qi said, accompanying the pair toward Quark’s. “I’ll get the first round.”

Papaver took him by the arm. “oh, I'm keeping you.” She said with a smile.


>> Quark's >>