A warmer welcome

Posted on Tue Dec 12, 2017 @ 2:07am by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Alanna Wells

1,905 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: The Box of Delights
Timeline: MD09 2000

::ON::

By 2000 The Box of Delights was crowded, but a long way from standing room only. People were just starting their evenings, and the orders were flowing thick and fast. Ridiculously good looking wait staff weaved expertly through the groups of people gathered round the long wave shaped bar, or clustered near the gaming tables. Upstairs had been partitioned into four smaller mini venues, for the poetry slam, the bowling night, the comedy open mike, and the station Amateur Dramatics Society had squeezed into the smallest section for its birthday party, celebrating ten years of Shakespeare in Klingon, Andorian melodramas, Bolian farces and the myriad of other plays they had put on.

The drinkers were a mixed bunch. No one block or species dominated. Klingons drank with Andorians, Humans with Cardassians, Vulcans with Ferengi. There were even a few Romulans.

Guarding the entry to this arena was a huge gorn, nearly 8 feet tall and probably easily two or three hundred kilos of muscle in a neatly tailored suit, or as much as a suit could be neatly tailored to a sentient dinosaur. A group of young women in short sparkly dresses walked past him, all calling out coquettishly, "Hello Harry."

"Ladies," He turned from watching them enter to see Alanna approaching the yawning entry, he spotted her and gave her the only smile he could, a toothy one. "I've not seen you before."

Alanna, who had changed into a simple black dress, smiled back. "I haven't been here before. I'm new to the station. Everybody tells me I should check this place out."

"Everybody tells you right." He grinned, forked tongue flicking snake like around his fangs. "Head on in, if you look for the tall lady at the bar, first drink is on the house. If in doubt, she's purple. Probably."

Alanna raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Probably? Purple I can find, but as long as she's at the bar, I should be able to find her. Thanks!" She gave the Gorn another smile and headed in to find the bar.

At the bar, several barstaff were taking orders, a young bajoran man at one end and a pixie looking girl with pointed ears at the other. In between was a very tall woman, easily six foot four, with skin the colour of lilac and hair a rich violet. She was carefully laying a series of liquers into four tall glasses, running the alcohol along the length of a twist-handled spoon so it would settle in the right place. She finished the last one, added a slice of orange and kiwi to each one and called out "Order up!" A dark haired risian girl, all legs, sashayed into collect it, and moved off again.

As Alanna moved into the vacated space, the purple bar tender looked to her. Her eyes were completely white, not a hint of iris or pupil, but she was definitely looking. "What'll it be?"

"What are your specialties?" Alanna asked, settling onto the bar stool.

"We've got multiple Kanars." the tall woman replied. "And I mix a mean martini. But we can do pretty much anything you like. But its all real alcohol. You can't shrug it off, so choose your poison with care."

Alanna couldn't help grinning. "I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. How about your best virgin drink?"

"That's no fun at all." the woman replied, reaching for a hurricane glass. "But I'd recommend the Nada Colada." She began pouring multiple juices into a cocktail shaker. "Four different juices blended with coconut water and cream." She reached under the bar, produced a coconut and lobbed it over her shoulder, caught it behind her back with the other hand and then turned to a cutting board on the counter behind the bar, where she drove and ice spike into it with a sharp stab, then emptied the contents of the coconut into the shaker.

Alanna chuckled. Nope, when it came to drinking, she was no fun. Wine was about as strong as she ever got, if she chose to drink. She had to admit, the bartender was entertaining.

The tall alien turned for a moment to crack the coconut open, and scrape some of the coconut meat out, then she put the top on the shaker, and tossed it into the air. It span fast, dropping down, she bounced off one elbow and into the other hand, where she popped the top off with a finger and poured the drink out over the ice packed into the hurricane glass. "Are you a pink umbrella girl? " the bar tender held up a small cocktail umbrella in one hand, and a wooded pick spearing three glace cherries in the other.

"Afraid not. I'm very boring. I like my drinks simple." She nodded to the coconut. "You're very good."

The lilac tones of the woman's skin lightened to a pale blue, her hair from purple to azure, and she smiled. "Thank you. I don't think I've seen you in here before. Passing through?"

"No. I've just been transferred here. Science," Alanna said.

"Ah, another one hears the siren call." The woman held out a hand. "Yolanthe Ibalin. Welcome to The Box of Delights." Something under the bar went ping, and she started to load another tray with glassware. "If I say it myself, we're the best bar on the station. You'll not get a warmer welcome anywhere else."

"So far, I'm very impressed, "Alanna said cheerfully. "Alanna Wells, nice to meet you."

"So, Science. You're here to visit our new planet?" The drink finished draining, and the bartender dropped the spear of cherries into the drink and passed it over, before turning back to the new order. "There's a lot of people waiting up here to get a chance to go down. The new frontier."

"That's part of it. I have a lot to do here on the starbase as well," Alanna said. "I want to go see the planet, but I'm not sure what paperwork I need to do that."

"Well, I can't help with that." Yolanthe looked around, and indicated a motley crew lined up along the sinuous wave that the bar was shaped into. "Most of my current crop of bar flies are all trying to get their butts down there too. You may have to find a hobby until the powers that be decide people can get on down there."

Alanna looked at the line of people at the bar. "What do they want down there? Land?"

The tall woman shrugged, the blue shades in her skin and hair fading back to the original violet. "Land. But apparently the scans say that the crust is thick with Dilithium and other useful things. And I suspect what ever's in those caves will be drawing more than a few. There's always someone who wants to put their hands in fire just to see whether or not they burn."

"True. They don't care for preserving resources, either." Alanna shook her head. She'd read enough about the type. Run in, grab what they could, then get out when things went bad. But there would be a few who wanted to put down roots and build a future for themselves and their offspring. Those where the ones she respected. "So what else is there of interest around here?" she asked.

"Everything you could possibly want." Yolanthe said with an arch smile. "Jut in here we have domjot, tongo and dabo. We have music and open mikes and comedy." She put another glass under one of the draught taps and pulled. "But if that's not your thing, I have over two hundred thousand holosuite titles, and if none of them take your fancy, my business partner can do you a custom job. She's very good. And I don't have morality filters. What consenting adults want to do to with digital partners is no concern of mine. But I charge by the half-hour."

"I'll remember that. Thanks," Alanna said, sipping her drink.

The bar owner laughed. "I'm guessing you're not a dedicated self-explorer? The station has its other charms. the Am Dram Society is fairly busy. There's a pareses squares league, and if you like taking classes, there's all manner of stuff in the Square Mile. Pottery workshops, wood working, there's a guy down there who make Benzite drums and he does a drum making session now and again. Cookery classes, art groups. Anything you like."

"Those workshops and classes sound interesting. I work with enough dirt that I should try pottery. And drums could be fun." She grinned. "As long as no one has to hear me practice. I'll definitely check those out."

"If there is one thing this station is good at, is sound proofing." She looked up, out of the yawning cavern of a main entrance and across the promenade, to the front of a bar on the floor below. "No-one hears anything."

"So it's no surprise I haven't either," Alanna said. She smiled. "What brought you to DS5?"

The woman kept a smile on her face, and her voice was light and breezy, but her colouring desaturated until she was a smoky violet, almost grey. "I needed to be as far as I can get in the galaxy from my mother."

Alanna noted her color change and emotions. "I'm sorry you had to get away, but I hope you've found a new home here where you feel safe."

"Oh its a home," A painfully good looking human male, barely twenty one walked past, a tray of drinks balanced on his hands, and Yolanthe turned shades of pale blue and then rose pink and her empty eyes followed the boy's backside with a bit of a leer. "And this place is far too interesting to ever be truly safe. But it has its compensations."

Alanna shook her head. "I'll take that at face value and move on." She grinned. "I think it's going to take me quite a while to get familiar with this place."

"I've been here two years give or take, I still don't know where everything is." Yolanthe allowed, "But it means it can still surprise you."

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get familiar with everything here. I'm glad I'm not the only one." She grinned. "But as long as I know my way around science, I'll be good."

"Ah, but being bad is more fun," Yolanthe replied, filling up another glass. "Speaking or which..." she gestured at the wall of bottles dividing the bar from the quieter booth area. "Sure you don't want me to pop that cherry?" she pointed at the drink with a violet finger.

"No thanks," Alanna said. "Maybe another time, but for tonight, I'm good."

"Well, normally, the first ones's on the House, but I feel bad just letting you have the fruit juice. You'll have to come back for another when you feel like letting your hair down. Bring a friend, I'll throw theirs in too."

Alanna grinned. "Deal. Thanks." She raised her glass to the woman and finished the contents. "It was very nice meeting you. I'll be back."

"I'll hold you to that," the woman said, placing the final drink on the tray. "I'm open eleven AM till late, seven days a week, and everyone's welcome."

Alanna nodded. "Thanks. See you later."

>>tag

OFF:

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
DS5

Yolanthe Ibalin
Propriator
DS5
[PNPC Soran]

 

RSS Feed