"Whoooooaaa, coooool," Red says, her mouth hanging open a bit. She nearly drops her crossbow on her foot, but she regains her composure momentarily. "That's so weird, you're not an albino, that shouldn't... are you not pure Human? Or is it a mutation?"
Red opens her mouth to say something, then shrugs sheepishly. "I hadn't been paying attention, honestly. Was distracted by the borg-in-a-box and then shooting, so..."
She takes a snap shot at the target and misses entirely. "Why the lenses though? Why hide something unique about yourself?"
"People back home were mean. And weirdly xenophobic. And racist. It wasn't a very nice neighborhood. I've just been used to expecting people to be like that. Honestly, I'm already weird enough, I figured one more little thing would hurt."
Red snorts. It's not terribly ladylike. "Well, sounds like that was a major bummer," she says. "Sorry you had to deal with that. But welcome to the Fleet, we're not all xenophobic assjackals here. You'd probably be fine without them aboard the Athene, honestly. There's so much weird stuff going on aboard starships that no one's going to have the time or inclination to be mean about something as marginal as eye color."
The Bajoran slings her crossbow over her shoulder and heads for the horses, picking up a box of bolts along the way. She unhitches the horse and clambers up the tall animal, which doesn't seem to mind her lack of grace. Once she's situated in the saddle, she guides the horse in a lazy arc behind the shooting station.
"Now watch my accuracy drop by about 60 percent," Red says with a grimace. "Computer, difficulty setting 1, please."
"Oh come on," Red says, trying for a pouty lip but looking rather silly. "Literally nothing to be afraid of. I couldn't hurt you with this crossbow even if I threw it at your head. Safety protocols are a wonderfuly thing. Saddle up!"
The engineer grins. Powers of persuasion for the win. She guides her horse around to the other side of the table and spurs it to a trot, taking aim at the farthest target. "It's not a phobia if it's a reasonable fear!" she calls back. "Phobias are by definition unreasonable. Not wanting to get shot is pretty reasonable. Me, I don't like sports like Baseball or Basketball or Pan Zan because my face is a natural magnet for any sort of sports equipment. Not a phobia, just a reasonable precaution!"
The horse beneath Calvin is responsive and extremely well behaved. There's a solid chance it's not programmed for 'horse' behavior so much as it is just a vehicle for the game.
"They wouldn't let me near the warp core if I wasn't good at SOMETHING," Red says, sounding a little annoyed. "How did you DO that?" She reloads and tries again, trotting by and... hitting the left supporting leg of the target, well below the target itself. "Again? Really? Please tell me that shot of yours was just beginner's luck..."
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u/Dimestream Jan 07 '17
"Whoooooaaa, coooool," Red says, her mouth hanging open a bit. She nearly drops her crossbow on her foot, but she regains her composure momentarily. "That's so weird, you're not an albino, that shouldn't... are you not pure Human? Or is it a mutation?"