A Woman Scorned... Times Two.

Posted on Sat Jan 13th, 2018 @ 12:49am by Lieutenant Temperance Zachary & Lieutenant Renee Salchin

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: The Lounge
Timeline: Sometime

Temperance stood inside the doors of the lounge, looking around, suddenly feeling incredibly foolish for thinking that this was even remotely a good idea. To start with the entire lounge was a hive of activity with people everywhere, but almost all the tables were occupied. Finally, spotting a blonde sitting alone at a table in one of the furthermost corners, Temp took a deep breath and decided to at the very least strike up a conversation with someone new.

Grabbing herself a chai latte, she walked across to Renee and smiled. "Is this seat taken?" she asked, motioning to the other chair at the table.

"Nope." Renee grit out, not because of who it was, but because of what was on her mind. She spun the cup of coffee in front of her on the saucer, around and around, no steam coming off of the nearly full cup, as if it had been there for several minutes. "Sorry, lots on my mind." She said absently.

Sinking into the seat, Temp cast a glance over the other woman and wrapped her hands around her mug. "I'm Temperance, but most people call me Temp..." she replied, leaning back into the seat, watching Renee for a long moment in silence before speaking again. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Renee." She introduced herself, still spinning the cup, "Men fucking suck." She said, explaining it all in those three words.

Temp waited a moment to see if there would be any follow through on the rather obvious statement, using the time to take a sip of her chai. “I was going to agree with you and say ‘yes, they do’... but you know what, if they sucked they would be useful!” She replied easily. “So, what particular type of upset have you had to endure?”

Renee sighed deeply, relenting, "I was fucking used by a fellow engineer. Thomas James, yeah, I used him once, just for a quick shag, but he stuck around and I fell for him. He pretended, HAD to be pretending, to be in love with me, really smothered me too much, but I thought he was mostly clueless. So he used me and used me and proposed to me, I wasn't ready, so I said no to him and he left a few days later. Bastard didn't even say goodbye, but he had been trying to apologize since I'd said no." She pushed the coffee away, "This isn't the right thing to drink, but it's only noon."

With a shrug, Temp replied easily "The universe is a very big place, I'm sure it's 5 o'clock somewhere, besides, do you think anyone else in here is going to care what you're drinking?" Setting her mug back on the table, Temp watched Renee for a moment. "What part are you angriest about? That he used you or that he left without saying goodbye?"

"Honestly? Both. First off, he screwed up with using me. Usually, you go for a one-and-done, like my plan. But there are long-cons, you get tired of them then throw 'em away, but I don't do that." Renee traced a finger along the table, "And they don't end up in proposals usually, so..." She shook her head defiantly, "But if he truly felt that way about me, he would have left me a message or SOMETHING! So yeah, he's screwed now."

Sipping at her chai again, Temperance nodded, her mouth quirking in a slight smile. "So, after all that, was he at least good in bed?" she asked with a grin.

Renee laughed, "Not that bad, he did try his best..." She glanced around conspiratorially, "At least he didn't need batteries!"

Temp laughed outright, setting her chai down again from fear of spilling it. "Oh Gods," she finally exclaimed. "Is there something in the replicators here that makes men into complete and utter asses?"

"Oh?' Renee's eyes arched in interest, "You having guy problems as well? Do tell!"

She shrugged slightly. "He came, he saw, he got what he wanted... differences of opinion over relationship boundaries, he left, not even so much as a thanks or a see you later." Temperance shook her head. "No where near as long and drawn out as yours though," she finished.

"Still." Renee rapped the holotable, "Two coke and rums." The drinks materialized on the table, and Renee slid one over to Temperance, "To single women!" She lifted her glass.

Taking the glass and raising it up with a smile, Temp replied with "To single women," and took a sip. "Thank the Gods for holodeck programs huh?"

With that, Renee thought for a few seconds, "You know, I think I know what this calls for... Don't you?"

Raising one eyebrow slightly, Temp sipped at her rum and coke. "What's that?"

"The one thing, well... Two things women get to do when something like this happens." A wide smile crossed Renee's face, "First, shopping. Then the beach!"

"Sounds like a perfect idea to me," Temp replied with a smile.

"And none of this holo-bullshit!" Renee announced, "There's a perfectly good set of malls down there and a beach with a real sun." She stood, "Are you ready?"

"Oh.. Now?" A fleeting look of surprise crossed Temp's face as she finished her drink and set the glass down. "Sure, I've not got anything else I need to do right now." She smiled at Renee. "Shall we?"

Renee laughed and grabbed Temp's arm with herbown, "What type of swimsuit do you like? I'm a bikini type myself, but some people think that's too much skin. But I do like my tan being even if possible."

Ughhhh..." Temp groaned as she headed out of the lounge. "Have you seen my hips? I'm straight up one piece, with a sarong overtop!" She shook her head. "Most definitely the more coverage the better!"

"I think you look lovely!" Renee protested, "But if you're going that route, I'll join you in it. We gotta stick together, right? And if we knew a guy that would keep their mouths shut, we'd bring them along to carry the bags we're going to be bringing back!"

Raising one eyebrow slightly, Temperance stifled a laugh. "So, I take it you like to shop?" she asked. "I never know what to buy so I usually get sick of looking and end up opting for chocolate instead."

"Does that mean you don't have that much in the way of non-work clothes?" Renee's eyes seemed to brighten a bit.

Shaking her head, Temp laughed. "I have a few things, but I don't need much... and for anything else, well, there's always the replicator isn't there?" she queried innocently.

Renee stopped and the look she gave Temp accused her of being a barbarian, "No!" She exclaimed, "Replicators are good and all for uniforms, but not for FUN stuff!"

"Is there a difference?" Temperance asked, genuinely clueless. "Clothes are clothes, so long as they fit properly and cover your bit, does it matter where they come from?"

"Duh!" There had to be hope for this one, there just HAD to be. "Damn uniforms..." Renee considered for a minute, then grabbed Temp's hand and shoved it under her jacket, "Feel the shirt, it's replicated silk, okay?" She waited a moment, then shoved the hand down the back of her pants, in the middle of the corridor, "My panties are real silk, feel the difference?"

The shock on Temperance's face was very real as her hand collided neatly against Renee's bottom. "I... I... but... I..." she stammered, her face going a rather alarming shade of scarlet as she pulled her hand away quickly. "I'll take your word for it," she finally replied, once she was able to regain her composure enough to speak.

Renee's look was pleading, "You can't though...Sure, replicates silk feels good, but it's just a hair scratchier than the real thing and real silk wears better. After about three, four weeks of wear, if you don't keep recycling and replicating, but use a refresh cycler, replicated material gets.... sticky. It's a combination of friction, heat, material.. Take my word for it, it's why we don't replicate starship pieces, the major ones that is."

Temp drew a deep breath. "Have you ever felt hand woven cotton made from hand milled cotton?" She asked in reply. "Trust me, after wearing clothing made from that, even a replicated sack feels like the finest of silks!"

"Poor, poor thing..." Renee wrapped Temp in a gentle, caring hug, "I am so sorry that you had to deal with that, but I'll show you the really good clothes. And a swimsuit that will feel like you're not wearing a thing, but keeps you warm in the water and keep modesty intact, too."

Allowing herself to be hugged, Temperance found herself silently wondering what on earth this woman's boggle was. She had never in her life met anyone who was quite so liberal with physical contact. She hugged back briefly and forced a smile on her face. "Let me guess, we're going to take transporters down to the surface?" she asked, just the slightest hint of distaste in her voice.

"Yup, but don't worry, they're all fixed up and everything." Renee grinned, "If you really want to, we could probably cadge a shuttle. It wouldn't take all too much if you want to do that."

With a shake of her head, Temp smiled. "It's good... come on, let's get going before I change my mind," she said with a laugh.

=/\= New Earth... Somewhere. =/\=

Looking around, Temp exhaled and shook her head. "Wow," she breathed quietly. "It really does look a lot like Earth doesn't it?" she queried.

"Pretty close, just have to get used to some of the brighter colors around." Renee sniffed delicately, "Even smells similar. But." Her eyes spotted the right shop within moments, 'Scilent's Swimwear', then grabbed Temp's hand, "Over here!"

Allowing herself to be pulled toward the first store, Temp found herself staring at a vast array of swimsuits, more than she had ever seen in her life. So many colours, styles, patterns. In all honesty, it was somewhat overwhelming to see them all, especially the knowledge that she would have to make something resembling a choice. Reaching out, she plucked the first plain black one piece suit that approximated her size and held it out. "This should be fine," she said simply.

"No." Renee reached over and plucked it out of Temp's hand and put it back on the rack, then steered Temp towards a rack of garishly colored suits, one pieces, and judged Temp's figure and pulled a bright blue one out, that had an integral swim skirt attached, "Go try this one on?"

"But it's so bright!" Temperance protested weakly. "I'd be visible from the station!" Her protests may as well have been silent as she felt Renee propelling her toward a change room. With a sigh she stepped in and closed the door, staring once more at the iridescent swim suit before changing.

Once she had changed, Temp stood in the dressing room, staring blankly at the mirror, trying to tug the swim suit in various places to cover more. It was cut a little higher than she was used to, something the swim skirt did very little to hide, and it plunged a little lower than anything she had worn previously. The problem she had was every time she tugged in one direction, it had the opposite effect on the other. "I really think the other one was probably a better option..." she called over the closed door to Renee, grimacing again at her reflection.

"That one would have made you look like an old maid!" Renee reached over the door and held out two others, one a red that might be hard to miss and one a bright orange that would make a gay blind man go 'Oh My God!'. "You might like the cut on these better!"

Taking the two, she looked at them and shook her head. The red was bold, but not entirely terrible, but the orange on the other hand... very nearly luminescent enough to cause permanent eye damage. Setting the orange aside and disregarding it completely, she tried on the red one, taking a moment to glance at herself in the mirror. The cut was a little better, and the colour did look good against her skin, but still, it was very bold. "If I agree to take the red one, can we just be done with swimsuits?" Temp asked, feeling hopeful. "I still want a sarong though..." she added.

Renee reached up on her tippy-toes and perked over, "That's not that great..." she reached another blue one, navy blue, over, one that she thought would be positively dowdy for her, but still would work, "just try this one first?" She also passed a sarong over, same color but with an aqua blue set of flowers that would end up just below the left hip. "It's made up of a wonderful material that sheds water once you get out of it!"

With a sigh, Temp took the next swim suit and changed, again. It fit well and the cut was much more modest, thankfully, and with the sarong it did look alright. "It fits fine, can we go now?" she pleaded.

The door opened and Renee looked over her approvingly, "All right." She was wearing something in the same exact style, just in a butter yellow color and she grinned, "I figure we should at least match in style, right?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Temp grabbed her belongings and walked out of the change room. "It looks good, the colour suits you," she replied lightly, feeling much friendlier now that she had escaped the confines of the small change room. "So... now the beach?"

"Now, the beach!" Renee agreed, grabbing the tag and tugging it off of both hers and Temp's suits and handing them to the cashier and imprinting her thumb, then they left, "A spot where the guys can watch us, too, then eventually realize they don't stand a chance."

As they walked toward the beach, Temp looked around at the scenery around them. "If I had any idea all of this was down here I would have spent much more of my leave on the planet instead of on the ship. Probably would have been a lot more enjoyable," she said with a wry smile.

"If, if, if." Renee grumbled, "And these are going to make odd shaped tans... Damn. Shoulda gone shoulderless." She shrugged and smiled, "It is rather nice and we do intend to,come back here from time to time, you know?"

The beach seemed to stretch on for an eternity in front of them and there was a constant stream of people milling about. "It's very... well... busy... isn't it?" Temperance asked. "Do you want sun or shade?"

"Shade, methinks." Renee pondered for a moment, "No unsightly tan shapes, and it's rather warm out right now. Over... There." She pointed towards a well-traveled spot, "I see a volleyball match going on, some good looking guys, too!"

The fact that it was such a well-traveled spot is exactly why Temperance would have preferred to go elsewhere, especially given the fact that there was a lot of people around watching the (admittedly rather good looking) guys playing volleyball, but this was Renee's show so she nodded slightly and started walking across, watching the game as she walked. "Do you think they're put there specifically to attract women?" she asked, looking at the gathered crowd, predominantly female.

"Actually, I think we can blow them away." Renee grinned, then that fell as she took in their outfits again, "Hmm... Maybe not... But no, I think they're just gathering a crowd anyways.. Maybe you're right, maybe we shouldn't go over there..." She stopped and glanced over, "Where do you think?"

Temp smirked slightly. "How about back to the store to buy you a swimsuit you're happy with?" she countered lightly.

"I'm fine with this, I just want us to match! I mean, we're here with each other, to forget about the bastards who left and I want everyone to know we're here with each other." Renee gave a smile, "Friends gotta stick together."

Tucking her arm through Renee's, Temp smiled with a new feeling of resolve. "I think those two loungers over there, will be perfect," she said, pointing to two sun loungers close enough to the volleyball game to afford them a rather fine view, close enough to the nearest bar to ensure easy wait service, and still shaded enough that they wouldn't have to worry about Renee's feared uneven tan lines. "Come on, drinks are on me, I think we need something tall and tropical..."

"And little umbrellas!"

=/\=

Lieutenant Renee Salchin
Engineering Officer
USS Wellington


Lieutenant Temperance Zachary
Strategic Operations
USS Wellington