Cascade – Strange Bedfellows
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian
Post Details
::ON::
'This can't end well,' Arrienye thought as she adjusted her jacket in a way she'd forever deny was nervous. The last person she'd thought she'd hear from after their last encounter was erie'Riov t'Khellian. Part of her (a small one, mind you) was nervous that maybe she'd crossed a line last time and she was getting a reprimand. Or worse, a transfer order. With so many things that had gotten her attention her, the last thing she wanted was to leave.
Taking a deep breath and making sure she looked presentable, from her polished boots to her tightly laced hair, Arrienye finally requested access to t'Khellian's office.
"Oh come in already!" Rianni groaned from the other side of the door, she was buried in all manner of paperwork that she'd normally slough off on her XO, but couldn't because he had demanded a transfer and received it. For the first time in her existence she could say she was happy to see Arrienye t'Merek, "You didn't get here a second too soon, Arrain."
"That's what I was going for," was out of Arrienye's mouth before she could stop herself. "I apologize," she added. "What may I help you with, erie'Riov?"
"Well, I've got a ton of security clearance requests for the Dhelan." Rianni sighed, "Everything from new crew coming on to veteran crew looking for promotions or transfers and every kind of thing you can think of, all of which require security checks and investigations, and I've got no XO now. So, how about a skilled hand?" She didn't like Arrienye t'Merek much, but she would've been blind not to see how skilled she was at her job, "I'll of course put in a good word for you with my Aunt for your assistance."
Arrienye looked down at the mound of paDDs in front of the sub-Commander, then up to her rather undignified, bordering on desperate expression. The Arrain glanced at the chronometer. If they began now, she doubted they'd finish before her shift ended. It'd be a long night. But, considering she and the erie'Riov's relationship was rocky at best, it probably wouldn't hurt to do some damage control on the issue.
"Alright. First we need to categorize them by priority," she said, picking up the top paDD. "Not date," she observed before sitting down opposite Rianni.
"Okay, whatever works best." Rianni sighed, truth being told paperwork was always something she had been bad at, even when she was running the wing, "I know you're good a this, so let's do it your way."
Arrienye nodded, stretching her neck lightly before settling more comfortably in her chair. "Alright, transfers go last. Promotions first," she told her, quickly skimming through the paDDs to gather up the five promotions. "Look through these and decide which one deserves a promotions the most. And demote the one who deserves it least."
Rianni sorted through the paDDs, there were a lot who deserved promotions, and none she could really think of the deserved demotions, "I've got a pretty good crew here actually." Rianni smiled, "Now that that ass of an XO is gone." She looked over the crew again, starting with the officers, "Okay, let's promote erie'Arrain tr'Halai to Arrain, and Arrain t'Vuris to Centurion, as for my enlisted men, give these five the boot up, put the others on a list for review in six months."
"Demotions tend to make people work harder," was all Arrienye commented with. "But it's your choice, erie'Riov," she added, picking through the security checks and reading through them quietly.
"Well, I don't want to use demotion as a motivational tool." Rianni explained, "Only for a punitive action, and only when I must. Wow, you guys are really severe, you know that?" She looked over a couple more enlisted personnel: one seeking promotion, one who needed to be promoted or separated from service, "But, we're making headway, that's good."
Arrienye nodded in understanding as she handed Rianni another paDD.
After that the hours seemed to drag on as they two women went through paDD after paDD, most of the reports seeming to blur together. Luckily, Arrienye'd spent years learning how to search for simple key words to somehow weed out the ones where reading was unnecessary. Half way through, Arrienye'd felt loose enough to open her jacket after Rianni had done the same, needing to feel a bit less tightly wound.
Only a quarter of the paDDs were left nearly three hours later and Arrienye couldn't stiffle the yawn that escaped her.
"Oh boy, now you've done it." Rianni giggled, then yawned herself, "That's contagious, you know?" Shaking it off, she lifted another paDD and began to look it over, "So, anyway, we've got a lot of stuff to do yet, so get comfortable. I appreciate your help."
"It's not a problem," Arrienye assured her, leaning back in her chair to relax her back before entangling her fingers together to stretch her arms above her head. "I think we'll finish just in time for breakfast." she explained.
"Wow." Rianni sighed, she hadn't thought it would take that long, "Kinda makes me wish me being human didn't make my XO so mad that he left."
"Oh, he was always a dick. I went to War College with him." Arrienye said without thinking.
"Oh my God!" Rianni giggled, "Did we just find something we agree about?"
Arrienye gave back a half smile. "I guess we did," she said with a small shrug. "When do you need to hand these over to Maiell tr'Tahn?"
"I see you two are still mad at each other." Rianni sighed, "I was hoping you would be over that by now, so was Amalia." It was then that she caught something she had missed a second ago, "And why would I have to hand these over to tr'Tahn?"
"Because he needs to clear all of these after you," Arrienye replied, "It's procedure. Except for the promotions, he can't change anything there, just like the transfers. But the security system reports have to be cleared by him," she explained. "And Amelia has nothing to get over. Maiell is a catch."
"Oh, okay, that actually makes sense." Rianni nodded happily, it might have been the first time she'd gotten to say that, "And I meant Amalia was hoping you and Maiell had gotten over your problems. She loves him, and, she's very, very fond of you. Sometimes I can even understand why."
Arrienye smirked. "I'll try to take that as a compliment."
"You should." Rianni nodded, ~Why are the pretty ones always a pain in the ass?~
"Then I will,"Arrienye gave a small nod back. "And for the record, I have nothing against Amalia personally. I'm just a realist. Unless they plan to never go back to Romulus and for Maiell to never advance, then it's fine. But Maiell is ambitions and he isn't going to advance if they get serious. He's Tal'Shiar now. Having a Starfleet consort will only hurt him," she explained calmly, looking down at the paDD in her hand the entire time.
"But he also has the backing of an extremely powerful admiral." Rianni said, a realistic counterpoint to offer, "To be honest, I'm a lot more worried about Amalia's career than his. If there's one thing I know from experience it's that there's nothing but hate for anything in any way, shape, or form Romulan or associated with Romulan in Starfleet."
"Good point. So, the best thing to do is to part before they get any more serious with one another," Arrienye told her with a shrug. "Then again, what do I know? I'm hardly a relationship expert."
"She says to the woman with three divorces, one girlfriend who left her here in a coma, and another who dumped her for a Klingon." Rianni laughed, "Trust me, you're many light years ahead of me on the road to relationship expert status."
Arrienye actually gave a rare laugh. "Fine, you win," she allowed with a nod. "I don't think I could ever married," she added after a while.
"I don't know about all that." Rianni smiled, "You're quite a catch yourself. I mean, your personality could use a little work, but you're not awful to be around... most of the time, you're definitely intelligent, and you're very beautiful. You'd make someone a great catch."
"Stop, you're going to make me blush," Arrienye said, though there was no evidence she was even close to blushing. "And yes, all of that is true," she said as a matter of fact. "But that still doesn't mean I want to get married."
"Well, I've had enough marriages to keep up the average for both of us if you really do want to sit this one out." Rianni laughed, it was weird, she was starting to feel close to the ice princess, "Though, if you don't mind me asking, why not? Don't you want to find a man and have babies?"
"Maybe one day, if I meet the right person. Doesn't have to strictly be a man," Arrienye explained. "I just can't imagine myself in a mothering role right now."
"Well, whoever he or she is will be very lucky." Rianni smiled, "Especially if you loosen up."
"Hey, I am plenty loose!" Arrienye half-exclaimed, then stopped. "Wait, that came out wrong. I think."
Rianni snickered at that, the ice princess really was melting, "Cute."
"Right," Arrienye said. "Where were we?" she asked, pulling her chair closer to the desk. "What's that?" she asked, motioning to the paDD in Rianni's hands.
"Oh, this is a supply request." Rianni said after taking another look, she'd been so enrapt in her conversation with Arri that she had forgotten what she was doing, "It seems my Gaishan commander wants more training weapons. That seems easy enough."
"Let me look at that, please?" Arrienye said, already reaching to take the paDD out of Rianni's hand.
"Sure." Rianni shrugged and handed the paDD to Arri, accidentally brushing her hand.
Arrienye just gave a small half-smile before looking over the paDD. "They shouldn't really need new training weapons ordered. We're well stocked at the base. I'll see what I can do."
"Okay, that solves a problem right off the bat." Rianni smiled, she'd noticed that Arri had brought her chair closer to her own, it was surprising, but definitely pleasant, ~Oh, God, don't be stupid, Rianni, remember what happened last time!~
The conversation lulled as they continued to work. "I swear, I think I'm going to die doing paDD work," Arrienye declared after another half hour had passed. Even to her eyes, the pages seemed to blur together.
"Maybe we should pick this up later?" Rianni offered, "Everything else is pretty unimportant stuff, so it's nothing that can't be better handled with fresh eyes."
Arrienye nodded hesitantly. She hated leaving things half finished. "I suppose you're right. It's been a long night," she admitted, massaging her scalp for a moment before finally deciding to just pull the clips from her bun and let her hair loose. She sighed in relief as the tension released.
At that second everything seemed to be going in slo-mo for Rianni as Arrienye's silky locks cascaded down out of that tight bun and hung loose in the atmosphere around her, leaving her speechless. She'd know Arri was attractive, but now, breathtaking was the word. When she finally managed to speak again she said, "You've got really beautiful hair, you should wear it down more often."
"I can't wear it down on duty. It gets in the way. I let it down off duty all the time," Arrienye shrugged, starting to pick up the paDD and pile them up, oblivious to Rianni's troubles.
"Yeah, I guess not." Rianni replied, her facade of cool now back on, "Still though, very nice. Kind of jealous here."
"I know," Arrienye said, raising her gaze up to meet Rianni's momentarily, giving her a small smirk, letting her know that maybe she wasn't so oblivious after all. But before Rianni could respond, Arrineye looked down at the paDD again.
Rianni just snickered, sometimes Arrienye t'Merek could be downright tolerable. Sure, the instances were few and far between, but they did happen.
-OFF
by (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian
Post Details
| Title | Strange Bedfellows | |
| Mission | Cascade | |
| Author(s) | (G) Arrain - Lieutenant Arrienye t'Merek & (G) erie'Riov - Sub Commander Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian | |
| Posted | Tue Dec 18, 2012 @ 1:29am | |
| Location | Rianni's Office |
'This can't end well,' Arrienye thought as she adjusted her jacket in a way she'd forever deny was nervous. The last person she'd thought she'd hear from after their last encounter was erie'Riov t'Khellian. Part of her (a small one, mind you) was nervous that maybe she'd crossed a line last time and she was getting a reprimand. Or worse, a transfer order. With so many things that had gotten her attention her, the last thing she wanted was to leave.
Taking a deep breath and making sure she looked presentable, from her polished boots to her tightly laced hair, Arrienye finally requested access to t'Khellian's office.
"Oh come in already!" Rianni groaned from the other side of the door, she was buried in all manner of paperwork that she'd normally slough off on her XO, but couldn't because he had demanded a transfer and received it. For the first time in her existence she could say she was happy to see Arrienye t'Merek, "You didn't get here a second too soon, Arrain."
"That's what I was going for," was out of Arrienye's mouth before she could stop herself. "I apologize," she added. "What may I help you with, erie'Riov?"
"Well, I've got a ton of security clearance requests for the Dhelan." Rianni sighed, "Everything from new crew coming on to veteran crew looking for promotions or transfers and every kind of thing you can think of, all of which require security checks and investigations, and I've got no XO now. So, how about a skilled hand?" She didn't like Arrienye t'Merek much, but she would've been blind not to see how skilled she was at her job, "I'll of course put in a good word for you with my Aunt for your assistance."
Arrienye looked down at the mound of paDDs in front of the sub-Commander, then up to her rather undignified, bordering on desperate expression. The Arrain glanced at the chronometer. If they began now, she doubted they'd finish before her shift ended. It'd be a long night. But, considering she and the erie'Riov's relationship was rocky at best, it probably wouldn't hurt to do some damage control on the issue.
"Alright. First we need to categorize them by priority," she said, picking up the top paDD. "Not date," she observed before sitting down opposite Rianni.
"Okay, whatever works best." Rianni sighed, truth being told paperwork was always something she had been bad at, even when she was running the wing, "I know you're good a this, so let's do it your way."
Arrienye nodded, stretching her neck lightly before settling more comfortably in her chair. "Alright, transfers go last. Promotions first," she told her, quickly skimming through the paDDs to gather up the five promotions. "Look through these and decide which one deserves a promotions the most. And demote the one who deserves it least."
Rianni sorted through the paDDs, there were a lot who deserved promotions, and none she could really think of the deserved demotions, "I've got a pretty good crew here actually." Rianni smiled, "Now that that ass of an XO is gone." She looked over the crew again, starting with the officers, "Okay, let's promote erie'Arrain tr'Halai to Arrain, and Arrain t'Vuris to Centurion, as for my enlisted men, give these five the boot up, put the others on a list for review in six months."
"Demotions tend to make people work harder," was all Arrienye commented with. "But it's your choice, erie'Riov," she added, picking through the security checks and reading through them quietly.
"Well, I don't want to use demotion as a motivational tool." Rianni explained, "Only for a punitive action, and only when I must. Wow, you guys are really severe, you know that?" She looked over a couple more enlisted personnel: one seeking promotion, one who needed to be promoted or separated from service, "But, we're making headway, that's good."
Arrienye nodded in understanding as she handed Rianni another paDD.
After that the hours seemed to drag on as they two women went through paDD after paDD, most of the reports seeming to blur together. Luckily, Arrienye'd spent years learning how to search for simple key words to somehow weed out the ones where reading was unnecessary. Half way through, Arrienye'd felt loose enough to open her jacket after Rianni had done the same, needing to feel a bit less tightly wound.
Only a quarter of the paDDs were left nearly three hours later and Arrienye couldn't stiffle the yawn that escaped her.
"Oh boy, now you've done it." Rianni giggled, then yawned herself, "That's contagious, you know?" Shaking it off, she lifted another paDD and began to look it over, "So, anyway, we've got a lot of stuff to do yet, so get comfortable. I appreciate your help."
"It's not a problem," Arrienye assured her, leaning back in her chair to relax her back before entangling her fingers together to stretch her arms above her head. "I think we'll finish just in time for breakfast." she explained.
"Wow." Rianni sighed, she hadn't thought it would take that long, "Kinda makes me wish me being human didn't make my XO so mad that he left."
"Oh, he was always a dick. I went to War College with him." Arrienye said without thinking.
"Oh my God!" Rianni giggled, "Did we just find something we agree about?"
Arrienye gave back a half smile. "I guess we did," she said with a small shrug. "When do you need to hand these over to Maiell tr'Tahn?"
"I see you two are still mad at each other." Rianni sighed, "I was hoping you would be over that by now, so was Amalia." It was then that she caught something she had missed a second ago, "And why would I have to hand these over to tr'Tahn?"
"Because he needs to clear all of these after you," Arrienye replied, "It's procedure. Except for the promotions, he can't change anything there, just like the transfers. But the security system reports have to be cleared by him," she explained. "And Amelia has nothing to get over. Maiell is a catch."
"Oh, okay, that actually makes sense." Rianni nodded happily, it might have been the first time she'd gotten to say that, "And I meant Amalia was hoping you and Maiell had gotten over your problems. She loves him, and, she's very, very fond of you. Sometimes I can even understand why."
Arrienye smirked. "I'll try to take that as a compliment."
"You should." Rianni nodded, ~Why are the pretty ones always a pain in the ass?~
"Then I will,"Arrienye gave a small nod back. "And for the record, I have nothing against Amalia personally. I'm just a realist. Unless they plan to never go back to Romulus and for Maiell to never advance, then it's fine. But Maiell is ambitions and he isn't going to advance if they get serious. He's Tal'Shiar now. Having a Starfleet consort will only hurt him," she explained calmly, looking down at the paDD in her hand the entire time.
"But he also has the backing of an extremely powerful admiral." Rianni said, a realistic counterpoint to offer, "To be honest, I'm a lot more worried about Amalia's career than his. If there's one thing I know from experience it's that there's nothing but hate for anything in any way, shape, or form Romulan or associated with Romulan in Starfleet."
"Good point. So, the best thing to do is to part before they get any more serious with one another," Arrienye told her with a shrug. "Then again, what do I know? I'm hardly a relationship expert."
"She says to the woman with three divorces, one girlfriend who left her here in a coma, and another who dumped her for a Klingon." Rianni laughed, "Trust me, you're many light years ahead of me on the road to relationship expert status."
Arrienye actually gave a rare laugh. "Fine, you win," she allowed with a nod. "I don't think I could ever married," she added after a while.
"I don't know about all that." Rianni smiled, "You're quite a catch yourself. I mean, your personality could use a little work, but you're not awful to be around... most of the time, you're definitely intelligent, and you're very beautiful. You'd make someone a great catch."
"Stop, you're going to make me blush," Arrienye said, though there was no evidence she was even close to blushing. "And yes, all of that is true," she said as a matter of fact. "But that still doesn't mean I want to get married."
"Well, I've had enough marriages to keep up the average for both of us if you really do want to sit this one out." Rianni laughed, it was weird, she was starting to feel close to the ice princess, "Though, if you don't mind me asking, why not? Don't you want to find a man and have babies?"
"Maybe one day, if I meet the right person. Doesn't have to strictly be a man," Arrienye explained. "I just can't imagine myself in a mothering role right now."
"Well, whoever he or she is will be very lucky." Rianni smiled, "Especially if you loosen up."
"Hey, I am plenty loose!" Arrienye half-exclaimed, then stopped. "Wait, that came out wrong. I think."
Rianni snickered at that, the ice princess really was melting, "Cute."
"Right," Arrienye said. "Where were we?" she asked, pulling her chair closer to the desk. "What's that?" she asked, motioning to the paDD in Rianni's hands.
"Oh, this is a supply request." Rianni said after taking another look, she'd been so enrapt in her conversation with Arri that she had forgotten what she was doing, "It seems my Gaishan commander wants more training weapons. That seems easy enough."
"Let me look at that, please?" Arrienye said, already reaching to take the paDD out of Rianni's hand.
"Sure." Rianni shrugged and handed the paDD to Arri, accidentally brushing her hand.
Arrienye just gave a small half-smile before looking over the paDD. "They shouldn't really need new training weapons ordered. We're well stocked at the base. I'll see what I can do."
"Okay, that solves a problem right off the bat." Rianni smiled, she'd noticed that Arri had brought her chair closer to her own, it was surprising, but definitely pleasant, ~Oh, God, don't be stupid, Rianni, remember what happened last time!~
The conversation lulled as they continued to work. "I swear, I think I'm going to die doing paDD work," Arrienye declared after another half hour had passed. Even to her eyes, the pages seemed to blur together.
"Maybe we should pick this up later?" Rianni offered, "Everything else is pretty unimportant stuff, so it's nothing that can't be better handled with fresh eyes."
Arrienye nodded hesitantly. She hated leaving things half finished. "I suppose you're right. It's been a long night," she admitted, massaging her scalp for a moment before finally deciding to just pull the clips from her bun and let her hair loose. She sighed in relief as the tension released.
At that second everything seemed to be going in slo-mo for Rianni as Arrienye's silky locks cascaded down out of that tight bun and hung loose in the atmosphere around her, leaving her speechless. She'd know Arri was attractive, but now, breathtaking was the word. When she finally managed to speak again she said, "You've got really beautiful hair, you should wear it down more often."
"I can't wear it down on duty. It gets in the way. I let it down off duty all the time," Arrienye shrugged, starting to pick up the paDD and pile them up, oblivious to Rianni's troubles.
"Yeah, I guess not." Rianni replied, her facade of cool now back on, "Still though, very nice. Kind of jealous here."
"I know," Arrienye said, raising her gaze up to meet Rianni's momentarily, giving her a small smirk, letting her know that maybe she wasn't so oblivious after all. But before Rianni could respond, Arrineye looked down at the paDD again.
Rianni just snickered, sometimes Arrienye t'Merek could be downright tolerable. Sure, the instances were few and far between, but they did happen.
-OFF