Garden Stroll

Posted on Sun Dec 27th, 2020 @ 9:35pm by Lieutenant Commander Chire & Lieutenant Dylan Blake

1,692 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Cheese
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: 2430-08-29, 19:10

"I feel rather privileged with have this amazing space onboard," Dylan explained as they entered the arboretum and drew deeply in the clean air. "Most Starships simply don't have the space or personnel to support such a vast space and wide varieties of specimens." He glanced toward Commander Chire his superior office and friend: "I guess you enjoy this space to exercise."

"Yes, it's not often there's a place on a starship other than a holodeck that I can stretch my wings. Speaking of, do you mind if I release them? I won't take off." Chire asked, as she always did when walking close to someone. She didn't want to startle or intimidate them.

"By all means," he agreed. "If the urge to fly takes hold feel free to oblige I won't mind."

"No, I'll stay here with you. It just feels good to stretch." And with that she let them untuck themselves from where she usually kept them close to her back. Letting Dylan take a step in front of her, they came out to their full span and could have enveloped him if she had wanted to. Instead the tips of her feathers brushed his arm lightly, an attempt at mildly teasing him again. "So, a giant flower hmm?"

A shiver rippled down Dylan's back as her feathered wings brushed his bare arm having preferred to roll his sleeves back. "Yeah, Ensign Dalton was talking about it at breakfast yesterday," he rubbed the goose-bumps on his arm as they walked glancing sideways at her. "She said it been bought aboard a few rotations ago as a seedling from Rhymus Major. I say seedling with as a joke, the plant was already huge and needed an anti-gav sled to move it in here."

"And they're sure it won't eat the ship?" Joking aside she was excited to see it. "Have I ever told you about Bairl? The planet my people are from?" Chire asked as she quickened her pace in the direction Dylan indicated. "We have a canopy of giant trees. They're actually mostly from a few small trees but they're connected so it's generations of offspring from the same plant. As nestlings who just learned to fly we explored every inch of it. I'd like to show you someday."

"I bet, sounds fun scrambling about in the canopy." Blake agreed. "Do your people spend most of their time in the trees?" he asked curious to hear more about her species. "You nest up there or on ground level?"

"Neither, we make our homes in caves on the side of a great cliff." She knew he was imagining giant bird nests but really they were quite civil, they had comfortable homes. "I will make a holographic representation of it to show you when we're done here."

"That would be nice," he glanced over his shoulder toward her. "I'm sorry I keep comparing the Creoli to Earth wild bird life, that's rather presumptuous and naïve of me."

She shook her head. "I am not offended. You are using what you know as a frame of reference. Many species do that. Regardless, I would like to show you my world and that's easiest to do by holodeck rather than several days travel." Her wings lifted themselves off the ground where they had been dragging along behind her and flapped a few times, messing up his hair unintentionally. "Oh, sorry."

"If you didn't like my hair style you should have said," Dylan teased brushing it back flat.

"I neither like nor dislike it." She smiled. "It does confuse me though that Humans spend so much time getting their hair perfect when all I have to do is clean my feathers every few days and they lay back down the way nature intended. One of those differences between us. I could try to pull my feathers back and do styles with them but I imagine it would be painful and messy putting all that product on them."

"A nightmare to wash out I bet," Dylan chuckled now imagining Chire with strange feathery tufts protruding from her head shaped like additional beaks. "We use hairstyles as was of expressing our personalities. Since we're required to wear a uniform we can't use fashion or clothing to help portray our creative sides. There's still regulations we need to follow to ensure we remain a respectable face of the Federation." He explained. "Personally after singeing most of my hair in the academy by mistake I don't let it grow very long any more."

"Ah, I see." Chire nodded. "How did you singe your hair?" She asked curiously.

Turning suddenly bashful Dylan kicked a stone from his path: "Their was a birthday party in my second year, had the works, you know, cake, candles, balloons, loud music, proper beer. Anyway, they bought out the cake with its candles but before I could blow them out my classmates lifted the cake and smashed into my face." He explained. "I had a feeling they'd do something like that, they enjoy pulling pranks so I turned my head to avoid the worst of it. My long hair wasn't so lucky however, the candles were these hard to blow out sort another prank I assumed. Only it wasn't very funny when my hair was on fire."

She frowned. "That wasn't a very nice thing to do at all and I'm sorry about your hair, even if I didn't know you then. I do like to tease people I like, but I never do anything that could potentially harm someone. I just mess up their hair, it can be brushed back."

"It's fine, that was years ago." Dylan shrugged returning to his bubbly self again. "We we're only messing around, I wasn't hurt, though I do tend to give birthday cakes and candles a wide berth as a result. Surely you did some stupid stuff as an adultescent?"

Chire thought about it for a second. "Not really. I was always very responsible. And I didn't really have friends per say."

"Oh," Dylan could have kicked himself. He should have remembered her saying previously Chire had felt like an outcast due to her plumage for most of her younger life, her unique species in Starfleet had continued her level of isolation. "Well," he continued hoping they could move onwards quickly. "We'll have to work on that. It's never too late to discover a mischievous streak."

"You're trying to convince a senior officer to break the rules? I have been known to tease those I like but I don't see myself getting into too much trouble. You'll have your work cut out for you I'm afraid."

"I'll happily be your test dummy, just lay off the fire please."

"No fire, I promise. I would not put you in danger. Now show me this flower . . . " But her voice trailed off as she saw it. It was nearly as big as she was. A dark green around the outside of the bloom, the inside was a mauve with black freckles. Chire stopped walking, Dylan nearly ran into her wings but she was completely mesmerized. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "Are there smaller versions of this plant capable of surviving in quarters?"

Blake eyed the trumpet shaped bloom slightly aghast at Chire's adoring reaction. The towering bloom though appealing to the eye wasn't so pleasant on the nose. His crinkled in displeasure and putrid smell that hung in the air around them. "You want that stench in your quarters?"

Chire frowned slightly. "No, I suppose not. But it's so pretty." It was almost a pout, for a large bird. "I should find a plant though, don't you agree? Something that blooms perhaps."

"Get one of those and no one would want to visit," the human nodded. "I'm sure Ensign Dalton can recommend something more suitable." His nose crinkled further until: "Achoo! Ugh that thing should come with a warning," Dylan wiped his eyes before another sneeze took hold.

"Perhaps you are allergic to it. Shall we take a few steps back?" Chire asked as one wing moved to go between the plant and Dylan. She might get sneezed on but she considered that less of an issue than his discomfort.

"Please," he sniffed allowing her soft feathers to steer him away from the offending object.

"Better?" Chire asked as they had moved a good two meters away from the plant. She dropped her wing but left it in front of him just in case. "Dylan? I've been thinking about something. Do you . . . . would you have dinner with me?"

"A-Achoo!" Dylan sneezed again pressing his face into the crook of his arm. "Ugh that thing, I, I can't stop sn-sn - achoo, achoo!" The string of sneezes continued forcing him further back from exotic flower Chire's question lost in his discomfort as he retreated.

A considerable distance away the body quaking sneezes had finally subsided leaving the Lieutenant weary and breathless, his eyes damp, his nose as red as Rudolph's. His face, hands and exposed arms however were covered his angry red hives. "Yeah," he turned over his blotchy hands to show her. "I think you're right about being allergic to it."

Chire looked confused and then blushed, dropping the subject. "Yes, well, we can move on and look at other things. In fact I might take flight and perch up on that high platform. "

"You go ahead," Dylan shook his head. "I think I'd better go to sickbay, get this checked out just in case." He studied her through his watery eye: "I'm sorry to cut our stroll short."

"It's fine," she said without her usual warmth. "I should probably shower anyway," Chire said, remembering how she had used her wing to shield his sneeze. "A nice cold shower . . ." And without another word she wandered off without even saying goodbye.

"Chire..." Dylan started after her but stopped himself. He shook his head wondering what he may have said or did to upset her and earn a cold shoulder. Whatever it was he wasn't about to find answers here with that dam stinky flower.

END

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