Bedazzled Braids

Posted on Sat Jun 26th, 2021 @ 10:19am by Lieutenant Percival Bálor Ph.D & Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara

2,553 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Out of Time
Location: USS Ontario | Deck 02 | Lt Mizuhara's quarters

Wanting to show how multifaceted he could be, Percy contemplated what he would wear to his dinner date. More than what to wear, he had fussed around with his hair for what seemed like eternity. Doing it by himself did not seem like an option. At least it did not seem like a viable one. The ship's barber pried way too much for Percy's liking. He was running out of options until that last resort option entered his mind. I can't believe it has come to this he thought to himself, but surely enough, Percy grabbed the kit from underneath his bed. It contained jewels, gems, and beads.

He was soon out the door, down the corridor, and taking a deep breath before he did it. He arrived at the Chief Engineer's quarters with his hair kit in hand. Percy nervously trembled as he reached out to press the door chime. You can do this. You can go through with this. It is okay to ask for help.

The doors opened to reveal Haruna stood there. She had a pair of what seemed like welding glasses on her forehead, pushing up her fringe. She was dressed in baggy three quarterength jeans held up by a tool belt where several tools hung off and a black tank crop top.

The room behind her was lit dimly, it wasn't exactly tidy and several pieces of equipment could be seen laid around. A few models of different vehicles were sat on a side bench from old planes to trains to starships.

Haruna looked up at the Science officer. "Haruna engineering lab?" She grinned.

"Mizuharachan," Percy said softly. "May I come in? I could use your help with something a bit personal. You kind are my only hope at this point" he added with a shrug. He offered a small awkward smile at the Chief Engineer.

Haruna raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You actually used a honorific..." she replied back. She stepped to one side. "Sorry its messy in here. If it looks hot, it probably is..." she explained simply allowing him to enter.

"That's okay," Percy said. He was definitely a lot more organized than she was, but he could relate to having the projects all about. "That reminds me of my own place and my labs. If it looks like it could bite, it probably does," he added with a smile. Percy entered the woman's quarters. "Do you know how to braid hair and put beads into hair?"

The door closed behind the petite engineer. "Erm... yeah. But its been a while..." she replied. "I don't do the whole hair thing. Unless it's something... special" a mischievous grin spread across her face. "So who is it?"

Percy swallowed hard. She is more perceptive than I thought Percival though to himself. Heet out a bit of a sigh. "Yeah, it is someone special. I have a date...well, it might be a date. It has not been given the official label yet. It is with Lieutenant Ra-Gruvloveii, the Chief Intelligence Officer" explained Percy.

Haruna smirked. "Called it" she trotted over to him and indicated for him to sit somewhere with a wave of her hand. "So, why all the effort? I wasn't aware that Efrosians could be...erm..." she paused for a second as she hesitated before blushing a bright shade of magenta. "Dōseiai-sha..." (translated:'homosexual') she added slipping into her native tongue.

"Why all the effort? Because he's worth it, Mizuharachan. He's knows me as a bit of a bad boy, but someone else is interested in him too I think, but she's pretty. She's sweet. I want to show him all sides of me, that there is more to me than just this bad boy persona." Percy trotted carefully with the sexuality thing. "I think it may be more of a zenseiai thing...I hope. I don't really know."

"Bad boy huh..." Haruna said still smirking. "Want me to add sound proofing to jeffries tube thirteen, section 119B?" She asked in a slightly sarcastic tone as if playing with him. "It does run behind your bedroom, those walls can be a bit thin." She grinned. "Did you know the Captain talks in his sleep?"

She felt like she was getting off track. "Sorry, I've been told I get off topic... This girl genius can handle hair no problem! Let's get you looking brighter than a freshly cleaned plasma conduit"

"If the Captain talks in his sleep then I would wager a bet he's saying Commander Vetur 's name often, hers any just about any other woman aboard the ship," Percy replied rolling his eyes. He thought about mentioning his little artistic adventure on the Captain's door, but thought better of it. "That's okay. I wouldn't mind if you did some sound proofing, but we are a long way from needing it. He doesn't know I have feelings for him yet. It's just pizza...between friends."

"Yeah... he says her name a lot. Sometimes in different ways... I spend a lot of time in that tube" she explained, clearly not putting two and two together. She flexed her fingers ready to get to work. "So, how do you want it? Bear in mind I'm an engineer, not a hairdresser"

"Oh, and while you're here. You see that plane over there? Could you do your sciencey thing with it. I'm trying to get the fuel ratio right and it ain't playing. Probably because I installed the micro-phaser cannons in the wings..." she asked.

"I'm pretty good at mathematics," he said with a nod. "I can take a look at it after. I don't need anything too extraordinary, just a few strands or so braided with some beads? I brought everything with me. You probably should wear some sort of earplugs when you are in those tubes. I don't know if you want to be listening to everything from the Captain's room" he added, knowing what he had burned in the man's door.

"Earplugs will block out all the good sounds though. Like plasma running hot through the conduits, or the gentle hum of the electricity flowing through the heavy duty optroniv wiring... oh yeah. I can hear that sort of stuff. I've been told I have very acute hearing. Do you have any idea how loud finger tapping is on the bridge?" She asked as she passed him the plane. "Conduits are soothing, its like you're in the womb again. All dulled out as ambient noise, I often sleep in there" she smiled before passing him a cushion to sit on.

"I'm kinda short, you might have to sit Nippon style. Sorry, they still won't let me install tatami mats..."

"An odd place to sleep, but my Human ancestry is Irish and I've been known to be a wee bit piss faced in the morning if I've had some shore leave. I've woken up in far stranger places than that," he replied as he sat Nippon style. Slowly but surely his opinion of her was shifting. She was not at all what he had expected and yet cracks of it shone through, but there was a complexity to her that he had not accounted for.

As he sat there, he thought about himself. "I know that I am kind of cold and abrasive. I think you could say I'm a bit tsundere," he said to her. "Thank you for doing this for me. This meal with Yiv means a lot to me."

Haruna giggled. "If anyone here is Tsundere here it's yours truly" she told him. "I've been known to get annoyed, people often treat me like a child, they usually think I'm crazy, annoying or just downright childish. Truth is, I don't often talk to people" she told him her voice dropping to a softer tone. "I am the way I am. Whether there's a few neurons loose in my brain, or I was just born to break the mold, I don't know" she sighed. "I probably won't be on this ship long though, I've not had a captain yet that let's me show them what I can really do" she grinned.

Gently she took his hair and ran her fingers through it, softly working out the strands. "Silky, although you could use some conditioner to bring out some of the shininess" she muttered as her tiny fingers began to matte the hairs together. "You know what's great for hair in the shower? If you mix one per cent impulse coolant with ninety-seven percent soap and the other two percent perfume it makes your hair really smooth" she stopped suddenly. "Not that I do that every day or anything..."

"Don't worry, you aren't going anywhere. I cause way more problems, if anyone is going to not be here long it will be me, but I actually want to be here." Percy sighed. "I wouldn't be too worried about not being able to show your full ability. Between you and me? I think you have more ability than the Captain," noted Percy. "He comes off a bit Kirkish to me. If you want to send me your hair treatment recommendations, feel free to."

"So don't go putting things on people's doors" Haruna told him. "Thats a really boring job you know, replacing doors" she sighed as she began to interior the beads he had brought. "You do realise that I'm sorting these beads into a symmetrical pattern don't you?" She asked. "They're also going in size order to match hair length and thickness" she added with a grin. "Oh, and I'm keeping this little odd blue one that doesn't have a matching partner. I want to... try something... on... well... me..."

"Go for it," he replied. "My beads are your beads. Now, what's this about putting things on peoples' doors? Are you talking about that fertility symbol someone put on the Captain's door? Do you think I'm responsible for that?"

"Well duh" Haruna grinned. "Of course I didn't tell security, but make sure no one is around next time..." she smiled. "As good as a prank it was, remember that walls have ears. Usually mine, the view from the ceiling was good though. Would have made a great prank TV show clip"

Percy blushed. "Okay, how about next time you don't spy on me and come lend a hand? At the very least, thank you for not ratting me out. Do you like tea? I have some plants started in one of the labs. I could get you leaves for fresh tea!, a token of my appreciation."

"Tea is good" Haruna replied. "I am Japanese after all" she said with a smile. "Although, I do tend to drink a lot of water or cranberry juice. It freaks out the medical staff on Halloween" she giggled. "How's this look?" She asked removing her fingers and passing him a tiny mirror with the corps of engineers logo engraved into the silver backside.

For a moment Percy felt as though he could fall into the mirror, staring at his reflection probably a moment or two too long. "Marvelous," he said as if he had been looking at a statue. "I really like it. I may just have to come to you for all my dates," he teased. "Now, you wanted me to look at your plane?"

"I just need to balance the fuel ratio" she said with a smile as she twirled the little blue bead from before around in her fingers. "If it's too rich, it runs out far too quickly. If too weak it doesn't get enough power... plus, I'm going to try something with this bead... but I need a type of glue from over there" she said nodding to the the side dresser.

Percy walked over to the dresser and found the glue, tossing it toward the Chief Engineer. "Incoming," he said with a chuckle. He eased his way over to the plane. "If you have a tricorder and PADD...I'm going to run some equations based on the weight from your micro phaser canon additions."

"Drawer under the counter" Haruna said after catching the glue and turned away from him. She seemed to be crouching over as if fiddling with something around her waist area. "Should be one of each type and design, careful though the one from the 2260's still runs on duotronics, it's cool but not entirely accurate" she explained. "And before you ask, I built them all, bone of them are stolen from the fleet museum...".

"Five finger discount, very nice," he replied with a chuckle. He grabbed a set that were the most modern. He wanted close accuracy with what he was doing. After a few moments of scanning for specs, dimensions and such, he began to crunch some numbers. "I think I can get this running decently for you, but I may be able to make some improvements if you give me a week or two? How do you feel about biomass-derived fuels? I think I can come up with a home brew....a little fuelshine."

"That would....work... done!" She said. She turned around her arms outstretched. "Ta da! Look! I don't like any sort of needles, and I barely stand hyposprays. So I could never do this!" She said. The bead had been very experienced glued into the roof of her belly button like a piercing. "The glue only lasts twenty four hours, but... I can be cute too... right?"

"Careful," Percy said with a smirk. "You walk around like that and the Captain may start looking for your bottle."

Haruna simply smirked back at him. "Nah. I don't go near command officers if I can help it. They're too loud. And I'm pretty sure no one is interested in little me" she told him her smirk turning into a slightly nervous smile.

Percy waved dismissively. "There are way too many guys aboard this starship for you nit to find at least one interested in you. If you want, you can comm me any time you want to go to the lounge. Maybe karaoke nights? We can see about finding you a nice boy, and if anyone bothers you...well you are the Chief Engineer and I am the Chief Science Officer. If we cannot make someone vanish without a trace, then we have to learn more."

Haruna blushed a little. "Thanks. I don't really have many friends. I struggle with interpersonal relationships and such. But I might try yet.... but! This is about you!" Her entire demeanour changing to more upbeat and cheerful. "We've put beads into your hair and my belly button to make us both look cute! So go out there and get him onii-chan!"

"One way or another," Percy replied smiling. He gathered his belongings and thanked her. "Arigato Gozaimasu," he added with a slight bowing of his head. He then proceeded to the doorway.

Haruna allowed him to pass, the doors shut behind him as he left. She played a little with the bead she had glued in and smiled to herself. "Seems I'm becoming more like the girl my mother always wanted..." she muttered to herself. "Oh well, back to work!"

Now Percy would be prepared for his pizza night with Yiv.

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