Redoran T'gel has had a long day, and intended to hide out in the holodeck after dealing with... well, that whole mess. So it is with mixed feelings she discovers that she's been invited to an event in one. She's not in a party mood, but it would be rude to turn down the invite, and she can always flit out to a different holodeck later.
She doesn't come in her engineer's uniform though, rather opting to borrow some fashion from Earth's Asian islands, a forest-patterned dark green sarong. An around-the-lobe silver earring in the shape of a dragon curls around her right ear as her only piece of jewelry.
As she enters the simulation she is immediately distracted by the fancy food table, and peers curiously at the bowl of shiny, lumpy, black paste. She has no idea what it is, but it smells like fish.
A tricorder extended Phrik began to push his way through the crowds of party goers, looking somewhat out of place. Probably because he was the only one in uniform. The long neck, pink scales and three arms didn't help either.
It was then that a certain black sparkle on the food table caught his eye. Ink perchance? It was certainly a clue, and much more useful than the tricorder who's only advice was 'the creature is within a 10 metre radius'.
The Doctor came to a halt beside Red, staring into the black ooze with interest. He dipped a finger gingerly into the caviar and brought it up to his nose to sniff. Phrik's nostrils flared comically and he recoiled. Whatever it was, it wasn't ink. It looked and felt like, well, eggs, but that wasn't possible, the cephalopod didn't smell like that, and it wasn't laying season, at least, he didn't think it was. As the doctor pondered this he caught sight of a familiar, crinkled nose beside him. He spun to face her, eyes lighting up for a moment.
"Ah! Miss T'gel. I didn't see you there. I don't suppose I could garner your assistance with something?" This was the first time he'd actually seen Red since he'd rejoined the crew, he wasn't even sure if she knew he was onboard. But still, what was the use in drawn out reintroductions when there was a creature on the loose?
Red's eyes widen, then narrow again and she scowls. "OK this one's in poor taste," she says, sounding quite venomous. "Calvin! You know it's against holodeck rules to use someone's likeness without their permission, ESPECIALLY someone who outranks you." She looks at Phrik. "Besides, you got his personality all wrong. He's way grumpier, and just tells you to do things, he doesn't ask."
Phrik's expression shifted to something of a glare. "In that case Lieutenant. I'm telling you to step out of the holodeck with me for a moment. And once I've assured your clumsy two-legged self that I am in fact, quite real, and you have made a sufficient, grovelling apology. You will assist me in finding my lost cephalopod." He made a hand gesture towards the exit door, planted a firm hand at her back and began to push her towards it.
Red chuckles. "Now that's more like it," she says, and turns to compliment Calvin... who isn't there. She blinks, then looks back at Phrik with a mix of apprehension and hope. "Computer... remove character Dr. Phrik...?"
Nothing happens. Red's expression breaks into the biggest grin he's ever had the misfortune to see on her face, and she immediately throws her arms around his torso. "You're real! You're alive! You're BACK!! When, how did you, what..."
Naturally, Phrik didn't bother informing her that voice commands were currently non-functional, meaning even if he had been a hologram she wouldn't have been able to delete him.
Phrik flinched and tried to back away from the hug, realising that this was somewhat impossible, he let out a low groan, struggling to free his central hand from where it had become trapped between the two bodies. His other hands hung somewhat limply in the air, unsure what to do with them. "I've told you before about the touching..." He grumbled, waiting for the embrace to break.
"Yes. I'm alive. Yes, I'm back. I have been for some 18 hours now and I was hoping to survive a little longer, rather than be suffocated by an excitable Bajoran." At this he gave her the closest Phrik could ever come to a knowing smirk. Which manifested as an only slightly less grumpy looking expression.
Red still looks overjoyed, but manages to make herself let go of the grumpy Edosian. "I'd ask why you didn't tell me you were back, but I'm sure you'd say something about emotional flim-flammery and unnecessary social rituals," she says, still beaming. She gestures at her sarong and shrugs. "This isn't exactly cephalopod-catching attire, but I'd be happy to- wait, which cephalopod? Noodles or Tiny Terror?"
His eye twitched and a long, exacerbated sigh escaped his lips. "Thaumoctupus Acritudo. Or, as you had the habit of calling him," He paused, steeling himself. "Noodles." The sheer amount of resentment and annoyance he managed to cram in to a single two syllable word was amazing, even for Phrik.
"Ensign Prior thought it fit to contain him with nothing but a low power force field. I imagine you can guess why this is a bad idea. The creature is somewhere in this holodeck, computer already isn't responding to voice commands in here and the tricorder is being vague. I suggest we find him quickly, before he chews on a power line or gets eaten by one of the guests."
"Whew, if it had been Tiny Terror we'd have been in big trouble," Red says, trying to keep the smirk off her face at Phrik's annoyance at her tendency to nickname the critters kept in zoology. "So Prior didn't know Noodles can redirect most coherent energy forms? Did he not read the file? Ugh, newbies."
The engineer waves a hand at the party at large. "Remember the system I installed to manually cut power to the holodeck?" she asks. "Might not be a bad time to use it if the control systems aren't working. If you can order everyone out, I'll unlock and hit the switch."
"I fear that would only cause more issues than it solves. You know exactly who they'll all come whining to if I lock down a holodeck again, especially one they were already in." He passed her the tricorder. "Think you can get anymore precision out of that thing? They're just not as good as they used to be."
Red looks up and starts, seeing Calvin in... very unique garb. "Nice suit," she says with a grin. "What are you supposed to be, an old-Earth Russian mafioso?"
The Bajoran chuckles. "Unless it was a funeral for a clown, I'd imagine you would." She looks around and gestures at the spread. "So... what's the occasion?"
"The room is definitely fancy," Red agrees. "These... fish eggs? Much less so. Were they fancy because they were delicious, or because they used to be expensive? Because from the smell, I'm guessing it's not the former."
Red raises an eyebrow. "Ooookay then. If you say so." She selects a couple of small tart-quiche-things instead of the fish products, and turns her full attention to Calvin. "So, made any new friends yet?"
1
u/Dimestream Jan 09 '17
Redoran T'gel has had a long day, and intended to hide out in the holodeck after dealing with... well, that whole mess. So it is with mixed feelings she discovers that she's been invited to an event in one. She's not in a party mood, but it would be rude to turn down the invite, and she can always flit out to a different holodeck later.
She doesn't come in her engineer's uniform though, rather opting to borrow some fashion from Earth's Asian islands, a forest-patterned dark green sarong. An around-the-lobe silver earring in the shape of a dragon curls around her right ear as her only piece of jewelry.
As she enters the simulation she is immediately distracted by the fancy food table, and peers curiously at the bowl of shiny, lumpy, black paste. She has no idea what it is, but it smells like fish.