Refresh, Reinvent, Restart

Posted on Mon Jun 20, 2016 @ 6:50pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Civilian Aleczandra Naqiis-Ryan

1,989 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Ryan Quarters
Timeline: MD17/1700

::ON::

Caleb had let Aleczandra know they would have a guest staying with them, but he hadn’t gone into much detail. It was his “cop face,” as she called it, acknowledgement without giving any real information. She understood it was needed sometimes, with press and others, to maintain confidentiality. She just hated it when it was used on her. Zandra hadn’t met the person yet. She’d spent all evening asleep, it seemed, when Aleczandra was home from school, and was still asleep when she left in the morning.

Zandra entered her quarters and went to her room, tossing her bag on her bed. She peeled off the blue minidress that was her school uniform and grabbed a change of clothes as she kicked off the tall knee boots. Then she went to the bathroom and jumped in the shower. She cursed herself after the shower when she realized she’d left the clothes on her bed, so she wrapped a towel around herself and headed out of the bathroom, her rainbow hair hanging in wet ribbons down her face, highlighting the Trill spots on her neck.

It was then the door to the quarters she shared with her father opened and a short green-skinned woman entered. She was wearing plain practical overalls and her head was shaved, though a thin halo of red-orange stubble was coming through. She stopped dead when she saw Aleczandra. "Er. Hi. I'm Klia. Commander Ryan said I could stay here?"

Aleczandra froze in the living room, towel clutched around her, staring at the stranger that had just walked in. “Ehm…right. Klia,” the half-Trill teen with the rainbow hair said. “Dad mentioned you were staying with us.” She gave an awkward smile and extended a hand, the other holding the towel. “Ehm, nice to meet you. Sorry you caught me like this,” she said with embarrassment. “Um…can you step clear of the sensor so the door will close?” she asked as crewmen walked by and stared at the nearly naked teen through the open door.

"Sorry." Klia stepped forward another pace and the door whispered shut behind them. She stayed standing there, waiting for more instructions.

“So…uh, sleep okay last night?” Aleczandra asked. “I suppose I should put some clothes on.” She gave the Orion woman an embarrassed smile. She headed toward her room, but left the door open if Klia wanted to follow.

"It was fine, thank you. I didn't know Caleb had a daughter. I think I must have been asleep when you came in." Klia crossed to the door so she didn't have to shout, but didn't enter. "I didn't realize Caleb had a daughter."

Zandra tossed Klia a smile. “Yeah, I came in late,” she admitted. At least she thought she had. It had been one of those blackouts again, where she couldn’t really remember what she did. Her consternation crossed her face a bit before she pushed it away.

“And I take after my mother, so you can be forgiven for not knowing,” she said with a smile, pushing back her freshly colored rainbow hair and pulling on a pair of panties under the towel. The bra would be more difficult, so she was forced to discard the towel, turning a bit to put her back to the new woman.as she slipped it on. It was probably a bit more “sexy” than her father would approve of, black lace and a lot of lift for her modest teenage breasts. She didn’t remember buying it, but she really liked it. Was that Kinony?

“So…what about you?” she asked Klia over her shoulder as she went digging for some pants. “Dad didn’t say why you were crashing with us.”

"It's a long story," Klia admitted. "There was...I was... it's complicated. Your dad said I could stay with him. It's safe here. I don't want to go back to where I was before. Bad memories."

Klia looked at the girl’s long rainbow hair and brushed her hand unconsciously through the soft stubble of her own. "Was it fun last night?" she asked. Fun was something that seemed so far away and happened to other people.

“Fun?” Aleczandra turned to look at Klia. Well, if Kinony was out, there was guaranteed to be fun. She had vague flashes of strobe lights, music, dancing, beautiful men and women… At least she hadn’t woken up in a stranger’s bed. She didn’t feel like she’d had sex, so that was a plus. “Yeah, it was. Just don’t tell my dad,” she said with a wink.

Zandra pulled on her pants and her eyes caught Klia’s gesture. “You know, we could totally do something with your hair, if you wanted,” she offered. “I have a colorizer. Maybe we could replicate a wig, style it up. You want to borrow my makeup or clothes?” she offered, looking her over to size her up. “I mean, not that the overalls are…bad. I bet they’re comfortable. But I can totally hook you up with some fashion. Could be an excuse to blow my allowance and beg daddy for more,” she grinned. “Maybe you could come out with me next time.” Might as well make the girl feel at home.

"It’s okay. I kind of want to be covered up for a bit. I'm not ready for...fun.”

A bit of a haunted look passed over Aleczandra’s eyes, but she shook it off. “Okay, yeah, that’s totally cool,” the teen said, wondering what the woman’s story was. “We could always do my dad’s version of fun. You know, game night at home.” She pushed her finger into her throat and simulated gagging.

"But the hair might be nice," Klia offered. She could handle a wig. She'd refused the follicle stimulator, not wanting to have anything more done to her, like her body was a toy. But a wig she took on and off might be manageable.

“Great. Take a seat,” Aleczandra said, gesturing to the bed. She grabbed a tight, stretchy top and pulled it on over her bra and picked up a PADD, calling up the replicator menu and programmer. Sitting beside Klia on the bed, she asked, “So what length do you want? If you go longer, we totally have more options to style it,” she said, getting a bit excited now. Zandra had never had a sister, and being raised on starships for most of her life, friends had been rare as well, so doing a makeover wasn’t something she’d had much experience with.

"Longer is fine." Klia was uncertain. She’d always kept her at shoulder length before. Others had made her grow it out, something to hold her by. But maybe if it was her choice it wouldn't be so bad. And wigs came off.

“Okay,” Aleczandra said. “Let’s see what would look good on you.” She flipped through the selections and tagged a few choices of varying lengths and cuts, from shoulder all the way down to the butt, and one that went to the ankles even, if she liked that kind of thing. “Do you want it the color of your natural hair? Or something else? Maybe something daring. I bet something like white platinum would look cool on you,” she said. “I have a colorizer, too, so you can always borrow that.” She curled a finger in her rainbow hair to give an example.

Color sounded good, maybe not as bright and attracting of attention as the teenager’s, but something that would make her look, and maybe feel, different from before. "Let’s try white."

“White it is,” Aleczandra smiled. “You’ll be ravishing!” After everything was programmed in, Zandra sent the request to the replicator. There was a momentary whoosh as the molecules swirled and then the motes of light disappeared and the wig sat on a head stand inside the replicator.

“Let’s try it on,” Zandra said, retrieving the white wig and handing it to Klia. “There’s a mirror there,” she indicated.

There was a moment of silence while they fiddled with it, and then Klia looked at herself. "It doesn't look like me."

“We can try something else,” Aleczandra said.

"No, no, it’s good. I don't want to look like me."

“Okay,” Zandra said sympathetically. She didn’t know the girl’s story, but the Orion seemed…haunted. Aleczandra picked up a hairbrush and started to run it through the long white locks. “It looks good,” she told the older woman. “Anything you want to do with it? Style?” she asked.

Klia looked at the long straight hair. "No. I'm happy with it." It was the opposite of the red shoulder length curls. Cool and defined and distant. "I think I like it. Now I'm someone different."

“That’s always fun,” Aleczandra said. “Just…don’t forget who you are.” Her own voice had grown distant as she considered her own internal struggle with her mother and other former lives. “But changing something up can definitely make us feel better sometimes.”

Zandra finished brushing out the long platinum locks and smiled at Klia in the mirror. “Anything else you want with this makeover?” she offered. “Makeup, clothes? Feel free to borrow anything you need.”

Klia looked at her for a moment. There was something in the forced cheeriness that struck a chord with the petite Orion. "Did...Did you forget? Who you are?"

“What?” Zandra asked, surprised at being caught out. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach, over her symbiote pouch. “I…no,” she said with a forced laugh. “I mean, I’m a teenager. What teenager really knows who she is?” she said with a smile. As an example, she indicated her rainbow hair.

Klia was quiet for a moment. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It’s not my business."

Aleczandra looked away. “There’s nothing to tell,” she said. God, she wished for a friend she could talk to about this. There was Dr. Bennet, but that was like therapy.

So denial it was!

“Say, do you wanna go out? Show off your new look?” Aleczandra asked Klia.

Klia gave Zandra a look. It was a look that told the half-Trill that the Orion woman knew, knew that Zandy had lost control of her body. She may not have guessed the details, or being able to conceive of how it had happened, but she knew, because it had happened to her too. "Sure," she said brightly. She understood denial. "Let’s go."

“Great!” Zandra smiled. “Pick something nice from the closet. I’ll change, too.” The teen went to the closet and grabbed a few outfits and finally settled on a short, tight, backless black dress. She couldn’t wear her wrist sheaths, so instead she hiked up the dress and strapped one of the knives to her inner thigh. She fluffed her rainbow hair and waited for Klia to be ready.

“Any thought where you want to go?” she asked the Orion. “The Box is pretty fun. So is the Lotus Lounge,” she said, a bit wickedly as she slipped on some heels.

"No, not The Box." Too many memories. "What's the Lotus Lounge?"

Aleczandra laughed. She wasn’t supposed to go there. Her father would kill her. But she also knew it was unlikely that Tianys or anyone at the Lounge would tell. She had found herself there a couple times when Kinony got loose.

“It’s hard to explain,” she said. “It’s an…experience. It’s owned and staffed by Rowa’ni,” she said. “A place to forget your troubles and just…be. A feast for your senses.”

"Forgetting sounds good," Klia decided. "Just what we need."

FIN

Aleczandra Ryan
Civilian
NPC Caleb Ryan

Klia N'Shadrah
Civilian
NPC Yolanthe Ibalin

 

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