A Joker and A Maiden

Posted on Wed Oct 11th, 2017 @ 12:04am by Lieutenant Renee Salchin

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: NCO Quarters: O'Neil/Salchin
Timeline: June 16, 2399 1800

Thomas arrived in his western riding attire...cowboy boots, hat, jeans, and hit the door chime...waited and hit it again.

It took the second chime for a muffled voice to respond through the door, "Hold on a moment!" A few seconds later, the door slid open to reveal a redheaded woman in a bathrobe, wet hair and vivid green eyes that smiled at him along with the grin that slowly came across her face, "You... You must be Lieutenant James, indeed, Renee told me you'd be coming by. Come on in, sir."

"Um...hi Shirley...um is Renee here? We...um have a...um...date?", he said, trying not to stutter

"Oh yeah, she knows, she's just running a bit late at the moment. She was going to leave engineering right after you did, but crewman whats his nuts grabbed her to ask her a question and she got wrangled into helping him." Shirley closed the door behind him and gestured to a chair, "She should be back in a few minutes from the last report she sent to me, so make yourself comfortable. Can I get you a drink?" She tied the sash to her bathrobe in a quick-release knot.

"Um.. Yeah I guess you could. Scotch neat?", he said, studying her. "How long you know Renee?", he akked.

Shirley swayed over to the replicator and got him a drink as well as one for herself, then sashayed back over, "About five years, ever since she arrived on Titan, where I was stationed at the time. I came out here with her because I was at the programmed point where I needed some shipboard service time, so I hitched a ride on her orders, gave her someone she knew to hang out with." She gently placed his drink in his hand, letting her fingers to linger on his as he took it. "She really is a hoot."

By now Thomas was getting a bit uncomfortable and almost yanked his hand away from hers as her fingers brush his...almost spilling it. "Um...ok, and well I can see you two are...I mean...good friends. Oh...and thanks for the help in the cargo bay that day. It worked out fine", he stammered, looking for the right words. 'Damn it Renee, where the hell are you?' he thought.

Shirley swirled her drink and sat down on a chair opposite from him, leaning over and showing a bit of cleavage, obviously intentionally, "You know, while we're waiting... We could have a bit of fun if you'd like?" She raised an eyebrow.

'Fun?', he thought. Thomas was clearly un done by Shirley's comment. "Um...I...don't think it...um...appropriate...ya know...what is taking her sooo long?", he said in desperation.

As if on cue, the door slid open and Renee came rushing in, tossing the uniform jacket off to the side in what appeared to be an effort to start getting ready before Thomas arrived, then she all but skidded to a halt, looking first at Shirley, then to Thomas, "Am I interrupting anything?" She asked. Shirley dissolved into laughter at the look on Renee's face and the blonde almost shoved her palm into her face, "You didn't.." She looked back at Thomas, "She did, didn't she?"

Poor Thomas was almost white by the time she got to looking at him. He just couldn't believe what he just heard from Shirley and now to hear Renee...his face turned hot with the sudden color change to bright red in embarrassment. "Did what Renee?", he said, almost speechless by now.

That just fueled Shirley's laughter even more as she stood up and walked normally over to Thomas and patted him on the shoulder. Renee snorted and covered her face as she couldn't help but giggle as well, "Don't worry 'Nee, he fended me off handily, wouldn't let me 'entertain' him properly." She undid the bathrobe and let it fall to the floor, revealing that she was dressed in a running outfit, "He passed my test."

Renee stuck her tongue out at the redhead and looked apologetically at Thomas, "She's a total bitch sometimes, I have to say... But you know, I give you credit on resisting her advances, I've known some guys to just well... Jump on the opportunity, sometimes literally."

Not sure how to react, he some what pulled his beaten pride from between his legs, "Well...", he started, "I don't think I have ever had a test quite like that one before but...yeah, when I am going out with a woman, I am true blue", he said swallowing hard, glad that Shirley was in fact dressed. Wiping hes sweaty forehead, "Um...can we...either turn on the air conditioning or leave...um...it's getting rather hot in here don't you agree?", he said looking at Renee.

Even as Shirley chuckled and started grabbing a couple more things in obvious preparation to leave the room, Renee very slowly and very, VERY deliberately and in a very precise and prim manner, sat down on the edge of the couch and looked at him, sky blue eyes curious, "Are you saying that because I'm your girlfriend?"

"Renee, after that night at the Karaoke thing...and the night we spent together, I thought...", he let it die.

"Except, I haven't said I would be your girlfriend." Renee said softly. Shirley stopped in the background and watched, "I also never said I wouldn't be your girlfriend either." She reached out and placed her hands on his knees, "As far as I was aware right now, we're just friends with a lot of benefits." She got a confused look on her face, which cleared up a bit after a moment, "Don't panic, I just haven't been asked if you wanted me to be your girlfriend in name and not just de facto."

"In that case, I am asking you to be my official girlfriend then", he said, as a smile came across his face.

"It's a trap!" Shirley chimed in from the background. Renee grabbed and threw a throw pillow from the couch at the other woman, eliciting a yelp. "Assault on an unarmed woman, ma'am!" She dramatically fell over as if wounded.

"And the peanut gallery can stay down." Renee snarled, then turned back to face Thomas and grabbed his hands rather than his knees, "Of course I'll be your girlfriend, as long as you think you can handle me. I've been gentle so far, you can ask that one over there, I can get to be... Interesting at times."

Much relieved, " I'll bet", he said taking their hands to his face, he gently took her face in his hand and guided her to his lips and thus sealed their union with a kiss. "Now my love", he said looking over at Shirley, "Let's go and some serious horseback riding", he said.

She placed one finger over his lips, "Don't be too hasty with that 'my love' crap right away, or I'll expect one helluva lot of spoiling from you all the time!" She grinned at him, "But, I need a shower before we head out, not to mention something a bit better-wearing than this filthy uniform. By the way, Nishimaru needs to be shot." She glanced at Shirley, "But while I get freshened up, I could leave you with Shirls if you'd like... She can tell you bawdy jokes or tell embarrassing stories about me while you wait some more."

Not knowing if Renee was serious about her last remark, he sat there with a blank expression on his face. He hoped she wouldn't take too long cause in this case, he felt a bit uncomfortable sitting here with Shirley there as well.

"Don't worry." Renee whispered into Thomas's ear, "She's harmless." She gave his earlobe a quick kiss, "Be back in just a couple minutes."

As she vanished back into her bedroom, Shirley finished tossing a couple things into a small duffel bag, "Don't worry, all's good, sir, I just don't get to do that much at all! I'm going to head out for a run and a workout, so don't do anything I would do while you're here, sir." She smiled at him, "See you later... Or not."

As he watched her leave, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Renee...love...Shirley is a cool kid but...well for a few moments I got real uncomfortable. I know she is harmless but...well...you know...it just wouldn't be right you know?", he shouted to her. Finally relaxing, he saw he had forgotten to give Renee a gift for her that he picked up. It wasn't an engagement ring...but to him it did sumbolize that he had a girlfriend. He wore the matching ring to it...gold band with three blue stones surrounded by white diamonds...something one would call a friendship ring...only to him it meant more.

Renee poked her head around the doorframe, flipping a towel over her shoulder, "If you want to come in here while I shower to talk, be my guest." She smiled at him, "And I get it, unfortunately, with the rank cometh the room plans. At least I'm not roomed with three others and it's just Shirley." She went back around the corner and the sounds of a shower starting came from around it, "I'll have a chat with her and give her explicit instructions to leave off,all right?"

He smiled when she said that and got up and went into her room. "I meant...well...don't spoil her fun on my part. Have you thought about a mount for our ride", he said fussing with the ring. He intended to surprise her with it when she wasn't looking.

"Cinderella's Dance, she was my girl from back in high school." Renee called through the falling water, "Paint mare, honestly the program I have of her was when she was five. If we make it back to Earth, you can meet the real her, she"s um... about 20 now and from what I last heard, doing just fine. You?"

"Depends on the program and terrain. I love my paints but I have few back home that I alternate with. I have a black stallion quarter horse, an Arabian, red roan gelding, and a golden palomino I use for showing and jumping. Most of the time I use my all around pinto work horse, Tiger, for doing the herding and such. Like I said it depends on what we do. Anyhow just what are we going to do?", he asked, still fidgeting with the ring.

"I wasn't thinking anything major, trail? Beach? Stream?" Her voice sounded like she shrugged, "I didn't actually think about what we should do! Do you have any preferences?" She asked, the shower dying off into a few drips.

Looking around the room..as if he hadn't ever been there before...saw a box or something that looked like it and moved over to where it was. "Renee what's this?", he asked.

Renee's towel-covered head peeked around the corner, "Nothing you need to know about." Her tone was serious and without humor, "It's something I'm playing with that I brought with me from Titan base, but it needs a lot of refinement." She told the absolute truth, at least, everything she'd said WAS true to a degree, "Please don't touch it?"

"Uh huh...some sort of project?", he said, still looking at it. Tempted to take a peek, he stepped away for fear that his curiosity would get the bettet of him. "Well we could do a ride through the forest trail to a river and then to the lake...or in the mountains down to the valley floor...maybe a picnic at the end and...", letting the sentence die as she stepped from the shower.

She'd toweled off, but well.. He'd seen it all before, he'd see it again, she was sure, so modesty wasn't all that necessary, "That works for me!" Her voice was bubbly again as she made her way to her closet, that she opened and stuck her tongue out at, "Can't wait until..." She shook her head, then reached in and pulled out a short-sleeved royal purple shirt and pulled it on, straightening the collar before pulling out a pair of jeans that looked worn in really well. She closed that door, then opened another and pulled out a pair of boots that would correspond more with working, but again looked comfortably worn in. She finished dressing and then grabbed a definitely dusty and dirty cowboy hat that she settled on her head, "Sorry about the delay."

He had moved to a spot just behind her as she was dressing. He was in a great position to grab her arm and put the ring on her hand. His opportunity came suddenly and nearly missed it as he actually did grab her arm and extended it to make her open it...slipped the ring on fourth finger of her left hand, then kissing her and waiting for the slap in the face.

As her arm was grabbed and moved forcibly, adrenaline surged and long-forgotten self defense lessons tried to assert themselves, but even as she TRIED to twist her arm out of his grip, it was released and she felt something new on it and lips pressed to hers. Instinctively, she pushed him away from her, well, pushed herself away from him, some confusion on her face, but no intent to slap him apparent. Her hands clenched, then unclenched, shock warring with anger warring with intrigue on her face. "What the Hell?" She demanded, then splayed her fingers out to him to forestall a response. Then she looked at what had been put onto her finger and anger faded. Very slowly, she twisted the ring, "Well, I'm not going to say this is the first time I've been proposed to, but definitely the first time it's been assumed I'd said yes after just a few days?" She slid the ring off her finger and placed it in her palm and closed the hand around it, "I think it's a bit too soon for this big of a step, Thomas."

"Renee, this is NOT an engagement ring love. This is a tradition in my family. When we become involved with a person and form a relationship, not an engagement for marriage, we give a ring like this to our partner. I guess most people would call it a friendship ring, but in my families circle it is a tradition and one we observe", he said. Taking the ring from her hand, he put the ring back on her fourth finger on her left hand. "See, I have the matching men's ring on left hand as well. It is a reminder to us that we are spoken for", he said, smiling at her, showing her his ring. 'God she is beautiful. How did I get so damned lucky to find her?' he thought, kissing her gently.

Renee sighed slightly, then removed the ring again, but only to put it on one finger further in, "I'm all for tradition," She admitted, "But that one I keep for outright formal engagement or wedding. Besides.." A wicked smile crossed her face as she extended only the middle finger, where the ring resided, "This way I can show them this and tell them to bugger off because I'm taken."

Thomas took his ring off his finger and put it on middle finger as well to show her he meant to stay true to her. "If you are ready, shall we go?", he said taking her hand. For all intents and purposes he wanted to get going because he had something special to show her.

She squeezed his hand and smiled at him, "I'm ready whenever you are."

When they arrived, he entered the program that he had planned and when the doors opened, he watched Renee's expression. The panorama was one of a pristine mountain side with a meadow as you entered. When you went to the edge, the view was breath taking. As far as the eye could see there were mountain ranges of different colors and sizes dotting horizon. The floor was a green valley with herds of roaming bison eating. Down the on the valley floor was a river of blue and turquoise slow moving water. Standing in the upper meadow were two mounts both white with long tails and manes. "I offer you a choice of mounts, both excellent animals, well behaved and intelligent", he said, and pulled her in side.

Nebraska? No, more likely Wyoming... Renee thought to herself, "Cinderella would love this..." She whispered, awestruck. But she also knew that to summon her own mare would be seen as an insult and she wasn't about to do that. Instead, she walked slowly over to the two horses so as not to startle them, reaching the back of her hand out towards them in the best greeting a human could give without seeming aggressive. The one on the left, a mare Renee noticed, stretched her own neck out and nuzzled the hand. "I think she's chosen me." She remarked to Thomas.

"It would seem that Star Light agrees with you. She is a good and quick mount. She comes from good stock and I think there is some Arabian in , judging by her head and legs", he said. Cloud stomped his foot impatiently and nickered for Thomas' attention. " Hey there Cloud, I didn't forget about you", he said, producing several cubes of sugar, which was hungrily chomped on the horse making Thomas laugh. Looking at Renee, "Well shall we tack up?", he said.

Renee put actions to the question and in a couple minutes had the saddle on Star Light with the initial girth tightening, then replaced the halter with bridle and bit before going back and tightening the girth again after the mare had let out a long sigh to give her more space. A brief baleful look from the mare was accompanied by an annoyed swish of the tail, then with a murmur, Renee brought out half an apple from her pocket and the mare happily crunched away at it. "I'm about ready over here." She pronounced, going over the saddle and bridle again, just to be sure. She hooked one toe into the stirrup, hopped twice, then swung herself over onto Star Light's back and settled her other foot in.

Thomas smiled at her watching mount Star Light. Renee was a stunning woman by any right and had the most gorgeous graceful moves as she mounted. Catching finger in the cinch strap as he tightened the girth, he cursed himself for not watching what he was doing. "Ouch! Shit!", he exclaimed, as he stuck it into his mouth.

Renee heard the curse and kneed the mare towards him as she was arranging her reins into her left hand, thankfully, Star had responded in the right way, which brought a smile to Renee's face, "You all right?" She grinned from above him, "Need me to kiss it better?"

Shaking his head negatively, he finished saddling Cloud, put on noose hackamore, and easily swung up into the saddle. Cloud doesn't use the standard bit, corners of his mouth are to soft for metal. Reining him around, he kicked him a gallop.

With a chuckle, Renee nudged Star into pursuit, barely using the reins. Despite the fact that she had a rather good turn of speed, it was apparent after about thirty seconds that Star Light was slower than the stallion, which surprised Renee not at all. So, rather than chase at full speed, she ever so gently reined in Star to a lope, following Cloud's tracks as he vanished from view. The lope was so smooth, she almost forgot she was on a mare other than her own.

Thomas was enjoying his ride on Cloud so much, he didn't see what was coming towards him. Cloud sat on his haunches, skidding to a stop, stood there, grasshoping to the side fighting Thomas' tight rein hold. "What the f...! Cloud what's the prob...", never finished it. "Holy jeezz...", giving Cloud his head, turned on one leg and flew back the same way, skidding to an abrupt halt in front of Renee. "Stampede!", he hollered as the roar of the bison heard drew closer. "We got to move...", he said, giving Cloud his head once again.

The rumble made Renee's heart drop for a moment until her head kicked in and she exhaled, "Outside of the fact we're in a holodeck and could just dismiss the herd..." She shook her head with a grin, glancing around for some particular land features, a dust cloud approaching from the way Thomas had come, with a heel and a deft turn of the reins, she turned Star towards the downhill stream about a quarter mile away that it appeared would be just past the edge of the herd, but of course, that could change heading at any moment, "Across the stream, then bend left." She snapped the order, digging herls once inyo Star's flanks to get her instantly towards full speed down the hill.

Thomas laughed and smiled, his plan was working, as he sent Cloud behind her. Crossing the stream, he urged Cloud faster and passed Renee, motioning for her to stop.

The blonde reached one leg back and Star changed leads on the slower lope she'd resumed after exiting the stream, then swerved around the stallion, "Not yet.. If the herd turns, it could cross the stream," She pointed up the hill that had been bisected by the stream, "Up there and we'll even have a better view."

Thomas was not to happy with the idea but he went along with it. Racing up the hill, he stopped and dismounted and spread a blanket on the ground. As Star Light came over the ridge he grabbed her bridle, making her stop short. Renee almost landed on the ground, but Thomas was there to catch her.

Renee's brief flight off Star into Thomas's arms came as a shock, but his arms around her made her feel comfortable and safe, "Well then..." She settled her feet onto the ground, a flush on her face, "I do hope you brought a picnic basket for us..." Her eyes glanced around, "Because I think I know what we can do for dessert."

OOC:

Lieutenant (JG) Thomas James
Engineering Officer

Chief Petty Officer Renee Salchin
Engineering NCO