Succulent or Succubus?

Posted on Fri Mar 1st, 2024 @ 4:04pm by Lieutenant Percival Bálor Ph.D & Lieutenant Amanda Rose

1,256 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Standing By
Location: Counselor's Office

Everything was right and all things returned to normal once Grace was rescued, Haruna and Amada were back, and everyone was returning to their duties with their normal lives as the crew carried onward. At least that was the idealistic fantasy being fed by things not thought about nor mentioned with so much as a hushed utterance, but everything was not fine. The restless nights and waves of woe that hit though affected could be felt in the awkward silence and short glares and prolonged corner of the eye gazes. Percy was exhausted because he was hardly getting even close to the recommended amount of sleep and was too damn rebellious to concede to medical treatment. He didn't want a physician to prescribe him anything to aid him. This was something he felt that he needed to tackle himself. Everyone had said something to Haruna or to Amanda about their safe return, but no amount of pleasantries or gelatin dessert was going to cut it.

He could try his best to ham it up and be lively, but that ran contradictory to how he felt. Haruna was one person. She took things differently, abnormally. To her being abducted and kept on a pirate's starship was probably in the same vein as a field trip. That was certainly the case the Ontario had crossed paths with a starship displaced from time. Percy would handle Haruna another time when he had the patience and will power to handle her. If the lack of sleeping properly was exhausting, time with Haruna would be his death as much as he cared about her.

Amanda Rose on the other hand was different and Percy's relationship with the Ship's Counselor was not remotely on the level it was with Haruna or even Commander Vetur. The two had history and that history was rarely pleasant. A lot of that came from personality clashes and the Efrosian they both were once interested in; Percy was still very much in love with Yiv, but he didn't know if Amanda was over Yiv or not. It was a topic that he wanted to avoid bringing up, but knew that was damn near impossible.

He proceeded down the corridor with a small pot of succulents in hand as he approached the counselor's office and gently nudged the chime. The tiny pot of yellow sedum adolphi was a gift for her office, something that she wouldn't be able to kill easily. He pressed the chime of the door with his elbow and took a few steps back. He was not a scheduled appointment but to the best of Percy's knowledge, she was available and just doing paperwork.

Amanda was tired. Haruna had interrupted her sleep and getting back to sleep had proved to be difficult. Part of her knew that it was being interrupted but she had been alone with Haruna for God knows how long and the immature engineer probably had driven her slightly insane. That might be a bit of an overreaction, Amanda. Nobody would blame you for taking a day off. You were kidnapped after all. Maybe you could contact a counselor of your own.

However, the counselor was determined to return to work. Even if she got paperwork done today, it was something, and that meant less work later, which probably was a good thing.

The chime on her door rang. She looked up curiously, her eyes weary. Putting on a happy tone for whomever it might be, she called out, "Come in."

The Ontario's chimes were always pleasant and made Percy wish he were lying on a porch with a summer breeze listening to wind chimes. That was not the case though and a good shoreleave was a stretch aways. With Amanda's polite response granting his entry, Percy knew that she was evidently not planning on it being him. There wasn't one drop of sarcasm or bitterness. He entered potted plant first as if waving a white flag of surrender. "Hey," he said looking at Amanda and waited to see if her tone or posture changed. "I thought your office could use a plant" he added with a small smile.

"I know," he said placing the small plant on a shelf that was mostly barren. "You've probably seen more than enough people. Everyone coming to check on you and ask you how you are. I'm not going to bother with that" he said calmly.

He just looked around a moment, it was just the two of them. "I am glad that you're home safe. I know that may not seem genuine, but straight from my piggly heart, I wanted you and Haruna back more than anything."

Amanda leaned back as she searched the pig's demeanor for meaning. The PADD that she was utilizing thunked hard on her desk as he continued to talk and her eyes narrowed. She blew a lock of hair from her face and then composed herself before saying anything. "I believe the last part," she finally told Percy. "At some level I believe that you wanted your Federation crewmates back to safety, but you will pardon me if I do not believe anything else."

She stood up to her five feet in height, showing that her top was much thinner than her bottom half. "Do you know what I think? I think that you're just trying to assuage your guilt for all the things that you have done to me with this gift. However, if you want some sort of absolution from me, you are snorting up the wrong troff."

Percy snorted "Oh nonsense," he replied with a dismissive wave. He was greeted with the usual Amanda Rose that he was accustomed to which was refreshing. "Glad to hear you are still bitter, Counselor. I was getting bored not having you here" explained the science officer.

"Consider yourself pardoned" added Percy. "But absolution from you? Nah," snorted Lieutenant Bálor. "I haven't done anything to warrant needing nor wanting that. I opened up to someone and followed my heart. I can't help that you got hurt along the way."

"No, Lieutenant, you actively did everything in your power to sabotage my credibility and potential relationship. Own your poor behavior. I could care less about your amusement, 'or being bored.' Unless there is a need for us to interact, I would ask that you just let me be."

Percy grunted and shook his head. "One of these days you'll come around and see me as a friend and not an enemy, but sure. I can leave you alone though I did nothing to sabotage your credibility. You had to have some to begin with."

The Chief Science Officer looked at the succulent he had brought. "You should be able to keep that alive. If you don't want it, just regift it. I'm sure Haruna would like it. As for us? I'll let you be but there will be times that we need to interact and work together. For the sake of the crew, let's not do this."

"Just leave," Amanda insisted. The crew loved me until you started doing things around the ship and blaming me, you sociopath.


"Right... I can see why people love counseling sessions" quipped Percy. "I'll see myself out" he added, turning and trotting along towards the doorway he entered from. I'm trying hard but she never makes this easy thought Percy.

OFF

Lieutenant Percival Bálor
Chief Science Officer
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Amanda Rose
Ship's Counselor
USS Ontario

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