Tribbles and Titilations

Posted on Thu Jan 8th, 2015 @ 1:33am by Lieutenant Ventarus Nosplet & Staff Warrant Officer Nexi & Petty Officer 2nd Class Amelia Takethen & Aewia Larani

Mission: Devotion of Time
Location: Nexi/Aewia's Quarters
Timeline: Right after Tribbles and Tempers

Nexi had just been released from the brig and was on her way back to her quarters to check on her sister. She could not believe she had been about ready to shock Amelia last night. She must have had more to drink than she realized. Being called a tribble fucker had hardly been the worst thing she had ever been called, she didn't know why she had let that get to her. Nexi sighed. It had to be this stress, the pressure of taking care of her sister; that had been the reason she decided to pick a fight and blow off some steam in the first place!

Ven was more busy then normal. Hera was infested with tribbles of all things. Someone's idea of a practical joke gone wrong or something. He had been rushing about the ship all morning trying to round up the little fur balls. He came flying around the corner of the hall and ran right into Nexi, Ven fell back on the floor looking up at the ceiling wondering what he had just hit.

Nexi stared up at the ceiling. 'Fuck my life...' Here she was, hung over and on her way to take care of her sister which abso-fucking-lutely no idea what the hell she was doing... What the hell was she doing with her life?! She was a free woman, why the fuck was she tethering herself down?! She should be out there, living it up, but instead here she was, covered in tribbles and wondering what she was doing with her life. Why did it feel like things couldn't get any worse than this?

"Ohhh..." Ven groaned and sat up to see Nexi laid out on the floor in front of him staring up at the ceiling with a disgruntled look on her face. "Uh hey Nexi...sorry about that."

"I know, Ven," Nexi said in a defeated tone. Before Aewia, she would have killed him for sure, no questions asked. What the hell was wrong with her?! She sat up and looked at the tribbles piled around them. "If these little varmints shit on my jacket, you're cleaning it."

Ven rolled his eyes and started picking up the tribbles. "What ever Nexi..." he said with a defeated voice. He had tried, he really had. But after last night he was done trying.

Nexi didn't need to be a telepath to read that attitude all over his face. "You know what Ven, I don't need that kind of attitude from you," Nexi barked out as she stood and checked her nice leather duster for tribble shit. "You were having fun watching last night, so don't you fucking complain!"

"What ever Nexi..." he said again grabbing up the last of the tribbles. "And if you think I enjoyed your ridiculous display last night it only shows how little you actually know me."

"You sat there drinking my drink instead of doing something about it!" Nexi barked back. "You know you-" Nexi stopped cold as she sensed her sister's presence. They were just around the corner from Nexi's quarters, so she was close enough to feel her sister finally waking. "Oh no, don't wake up, no no no no no no...." Nexi immediately took off down the hall.

Well that was an odd reaction. Mad at her or not, and maybe not willing to admit it right this second but Ven still thought of Nexi as a friend, one of his very few. So he charged after her, dropping most of the tribbles along the way. He was hoping she was racing off to a fight...bit if so he could at least call for backup.

Nexi made it to her door and went in, not bothering to secure the door after her. Aewia was awake and looking around for Nexi, so confused. Shit... "Hey, kiddo, sorry I didn't pick you up from your therapy last night, something came up," Nexi said to her sister.

Aewia ran to Nexi and hugged her tightly, still in her pajamas. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry."

"Fuck, Aewia, you didn't do anything bad, you're a good girl," Nexi said, hugging her sister tightly, uncomfortable with the contact. "I was the bad girl, I did very bad things last night..."

Ven was just standing there with a tribble in each hand watching this. He didn't enter Nexi's room, but stood just on the other side watching the exchange with a confused look.

Aewia just clung to her sister for a moment, relieved she was ok. "I thought the yellow cake had gotten you." Then she noticed the trilling balls of fur. Grabbing one, she sniffed it and tried to put it in her mouth to see if it was tasty or edible.

"No no, out of your mouth," Nexi said, taking the tribble away from Aewia. "You pet them, don't eat them," she explained, showing her sister how to pet the tribble. It was then that Nexi noticed her door was still open and Ven was looking at them. Fuck! "Oh, hey Ven..." Nexi said uneasily. "Um... I uh... shit!" Now she needed another drink!

Aewia noticed Ven as well and waved at him happily. "Hello new person. Are you here for breakfast and drinks?" She wasn't sure why or how she realized her sister needed a drink, but she paid it no mind. It was natural to know things like that, wasn't it?

Ven smiled warmly to the woman, but his eyes betrayed his confusion. They darted back and forth between Nexi and the unknown woman. "Ummm..."

Nexi smiled half-heartedly, a certain tiredness lingering in her eyes. "Ven, this is my sister, Aewia Larani," Nexi said as she led her sister to the table. "She was at the Romulan penal colony we raided." Nexi had no intentions of giving Ven the full run-down of what happened, but hearing she came from a Romulan penal colony should be explanation enough. "Now are you staying for breakfast?"

Suddenly so much made sense to Ven. Clearly the Aewia was suffering in some way, and having come from the penal colony it must have been very traumatic. Was Nexi caring for her alone? "Yeah, if I'm not intruding..." his adituide from earlier in the hall was gone. He stepped into the room and over to the table. He handed the other tribble to Aewia. "It's a tribble, you pet it and love it." He explained to her.

Nexi nodded to Ven that it was alright for him to stay for breakfast. Nexi even pulled out a chair for him to sit. "Alright what do you want for breakfast?" she asked her sister once she was settled at the table with what Nexi could only assume was now their new pet tribble.

Aewia sat at the table and pet the tribble as it crawled across the table towards her. "Banana pancakes with jalapeno jelly please. What do tribbles eat?"

As soon as Nexi's turned her back to Aewia, Nexi made a gagging face, then proceeded to order that ridiculous meal from the replicator along with her own breakfast of biscuits and gravy. "I don't know what tribbles eat, but if you wanna keep one I'll find out for you," Nexi said as she set Aewia's breakfast before her. "Ven, whadya want?"

Ven took the seat that had been offered to him. "Thanks Nexi. I'll have the same as Aewia, but instead of the jelly I'll go with plain old fashioned maple syrup and a green salad with no dressing."

"Maple syrup? What's that?" Aewia looked up at Ven curiously as she let the tribble crawl up her arm. "Is it tasty?"

Nexi didn't miss a beat. She replicated Ven's breakfast and set it out for him, then a bottle of maple syrup for Aewia to try. "Here, now don't forget to drink all your sunshine today," she said to Aewia as she set a glass of juice before her, then took a seat to eat her breakfast. She wasn't all that comfortable doing family things in front of Ven, but Aewia had invited him and he accepted, so she would suck it up for one meal. But really, all she wanted to do was to get hammered and then go crash.

"It's very tasty!" Ven said with a grin. "It's sweet so I'm not sure how well it will go with your jelly. I love exotic foods. Trying them is kind of a hobby. When it comes to breakfast foods the best come from Earth." He proclaimed.

Aewia grabbed the bottle and poured a little on her pancakes, forgoing the small bowl of jalapeno jelly. Taking a bite, her eyes widened and she dug in. She'd tell them it was awesome, but she was too busy eating.

Ven grinned. "You should try cinnamon rolls tomorrow morning." He glanced at Nexi.

Pausing in her eating, Aewia glanced at both Nexi and Ven curiously. "Sinny mandrels? I need to remember that."

"If you do your therapy puzzles today, I'll let you try one for your snack," Nexi said in between bites of her biscuits and gravy. Then she shot Ven a look that could kill. Cinnamon rolls?! That was nothing but sugar! She'd never get Aewia to do anything with that much sugar for breakfast!

Aewia nodded happily, the tribble now sitting on her shoulder. "I'll wait until then. I hope today's puzzles are like yesterday's. The memory games are fun and I've learned a lot."

"Good. I'll tell the doctor you like them and maybe he'll give you more of those games," Nexi said with just a hint of an optimistic smile.

Ven sat quietly eating his pancakes while this exchange went on. Clearly he and Nexi were going to need to talk after this, but he would save his questions till later.

"Oh hey, don't forget to get that thing neutered. and you might want to find that other one she had." He said glancing around the room a little.

"Yeah, I'll do that..." Nexi said, taking a glance around the room as well. She couldn't see the critter, but she could feel it, it was definitely nearby. "Hey Ven, about last night..." she started, but then kind of went blank. She felt like she should say something but once she got down to it she didn't know what to say. "Fuck, I got nothing. I know this is one of those moments where I should say something but I ain't gotta clue 'bout what needs to be said..."

"Sorry..." Ven said with his goofy grin. "The word you are looking for is 'sorry'."

"is it?" Nexi asked, thinking about it for a moment. "No.... No, that's not it..."

Finishing her pancakes, Aewia thought about what they were talking about as strange and confusing things started to pop into her head for some reason. "Maybe it has something to do with being hungry? Ven, is your wife hungry after last night? She should eat pancakes too."

Nexi looked at Aewia, stunned by what just came out of her mouth. "Aewia, Ven ain't married... and how did you know he was with anyone anyway? Are you starting to hear stuff in your head again?" Nexi asked. If Aewia's telepathy was starting to return, then that had to be a good sign!

"Telepathy?" Aewia thought about that for a moment. "I've been hearing voices not here with us now and then this morning." Glancing around the room nervously, she leaned in towards Nexi and whispered a question. "Does that mean I'm crazy?"

Nexi leaned in and whispered back, "No, that means you're a telepath. You're a Betazoid, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Aewia whispered back before sitting back up and smiling at Ven secretively.

Ven just ate and watched the two interact. He grinned to Aewia when she smiled to him.

"So anyway..." Nexi said as she finished off the last of her breakfast. She leaned back in her chair, balancing on the back legs of the chair in deep thought. "About last night... I don't really see where I gotta apologize, especially not to you, so all you're getting is a 'my bad'," she said bluntly. "If you wanna know more, ask Amelia. I told her why I did it before Security stunned me."

Ven looked between the two women again then shrugged. "You're right. I'm not the one who needs the apology. I asked Ameilea, she has no idea what you were doing or why and she's very confused and hurt. She considers you a friend, like the only one other then I." Ven shrugged again. "I don't understand what that was but I think Amelia deserves an explanation at the lest."

"Is she the pretty blue lady?" Aewia asked as she pulled the tribble off her shoulder and petting it. "I think you should kiss and make up." Nodding as if nothing could be more logical, Aewia smiled at her little tribble.

"I'll kiss Amelia if it'll make her feel better, but I don't think that'll be necessary," Nexi said, standing to take hers and Aewia's dishes back to the replicator. "Drink your juice, kiddo," Nexi reminded Aewia. "From what I could sense in the brief moment before I got knocked out last night, Amelia didn't seem all that confused and hurt. I said what I needed to say to her last night."

Ven shrugged again and took the last bite of his food and then brought to over the the replicator. "It's your friendship to ruin as you see fit. I can only tell you what she told me." Once he was done recycling his dishes he turned back and looked at Nexi. "We are all the out casts on this ship though, none of us have very many people we can call friends." Ven just left it at that and started searching the room for the rogue tribble.

FInishing her juice, Aewia got up to get her PaDDs with her puzzles. "I think these tribbles are hungry. Do you think they'd like some cake?"

"I think they'll eat just about anything, but I'll see if they have a preferred diet," Nexi said, moving over to the computer terminal at the desk, but she cast Ven one last glance before turning the computer on. "Ven, I wasn't trying to ruin a friendship, I was actually trying to help. Now, if that hurt her feelings, then I'll apologize, but she can come tell me herself."

"Computer, we need Amelia. Please bring her here." Aewia demanded of the computer. Receiving a confirmation beep, she smiled satisfactorily as she looked down at her PaDD.

"You little brat!" Nexi barked out, but there was a smile on her face. Now way could she actually get made at Aewia, and she had to admit that it was even a little bit funny. "I cannot believe you just did that!"

Ven could not help but laugh at what Aewia had just done.

It wasn't long before Amelia was at the door, toolkit in hand and ringing the door chime. "Come in!" Aewia called, the blue woman peering in, now even more suspicious now that she'd seen who was in the room. "The computer just told me there was an emergency in here..." Amelia said, stepping in far enough for the door to close.

"Yeah, that wasn't my idea..." Nexi said from the desk terminal. "Apparently Ven and Aewia have teamed up against me and think you and I need to chat."

"Do we?" Amelia asked, looking around suspiciously.

"I tried to tell 'em we were cool, well except for the part where you called me a tribble fucker, but really, that ain't even close to the worst thing I've been called," Nexi said with a lopsided grin. "Oh, and sorry for nearly frying your antennae off right at the end."

Amelia grinned lopsidedly at Nexi. "Thanks. And sorry for egging you on like that. It was unprofessional of me."

Aewia hummed a little, working on her puzzles. "Ok now kiss her." She said, surprising Amelia a bit.

"Well, my sister has spoken, we must now kiss," Nexi said with a resolved tone, standing and striding over to Amelia.

"Umm, oh my... ok..." Amelia wasn't sure what was going on now, but she didn't retreat.

Well this was turning out to be a interesting visit with Nexi. Ven had been quiet, letting Nexi and Amelia talk themselves. Now he could not help but laugh. But he didn't interrupt either. Just leaned back on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest and watched.

Nexi smiled inwardly, thoroughly amused by Ven's reaction, but she approached Amelia with a serious gaze. She reached up to cup Amelia's face with her hands, offering just the smallest hint of a caress with a thumb, then brought her lips to meet Amelia's, a slow, sensual meeting of their lips that lingered for far longer than should have been appropriate for friends.

Amelia couldn't help but respond in kind, moaning just slightly as she pressed her lips to Nexi's, her antenna waving slightly at the pleasant kiss.

"That is so much more enjoyable to watch then the two of you trying to beat the hell out of each other." Ven said while the girls were kissing each other.

Nexi finally pulled away from Amelia, then looked over at her sister. "Have I done enough to prove I'm sorry or should I slip her the tongue?" she asked Aewia. She still looked serious, but inside she thought this whole situation was hilarious.

Aewia had her tribble to her ear, listening to it coo. "Yep, all good now. Tribble is happy."

"Well, as long as Tribble is happy, then it's all good," Nexi said casually, resisting the urge to laugh at Ven and Amelia as she returned to the desk. "Oh, i almost forgot, Amelia, this is my sister Aewia."

"Ah... a pleasure to meet you." Amelia said, still recovering from the kiss.

Ven just leaned against the wall watching Amelia swoon from the kiss with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Yeah, just laugh it up over there, Ven, I bet you've never gotten that kind of reaction out of her before," Nexi jabbed.

"You are right, I have not tried yet either." Venough said compleatly unfazed by Nexi's jab. "But I'd bet I could."

Turning bright blue, Amelia was blushing bad. "Are we done? I need to get back to work."

Ven walked over to Amelia and took her free hand. "See you after work?" He asked with a little sheepish grin.

Squeezing Ven's hand, Amelia nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you then."

"Have fun and think of me!" Nexi teased, bringing a PaDD over to Aewia and bopping her on the head lightly with it. "Here you go, kiddo, everything you need to know about keeping Tribbles. They're your responsibility now. Okay?" Of course, Nexi would learn how to care for the Tribbles too, she knew Aewia could barely care for herself let alone another creature, but she wanted to encourage her sister to grow beyond that and what better way than with a pet.

Amelia took this chance to give Ven a quick peck on the lips before slipping back out. As soon as the doors closed, she leaned against a wall, her fingers gingerly touching her own lips and blushing brighter.

Aewia waved at the PaDD before taking it and clicking it on. "These 2 need names, don't they? How about Soda and Malpractice? Are those good names?"

"Whatever makes you happy," Nexi said, giving Aewia an approving pat on the head. "Aewia, I'm gonna go walk with my friend for a bit to talk, but I'll be right back. Try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

Aewia nodded happily. "Right. Get into trouble but not too much."

"Sounds good," Nexi said with a chuckle, then headed for the door with a gesture to Ven to follow.

"It was really nice to meet you Aewia. Hope to see you soon!" Ven said following Nexi.

Nexi waited until they had put a bit of distance between them and her quarters before speaking again, helping Ven pick up Tribbles he dropped earlier. "I hope you can understand now why I was drinking alone last night," Nexi said, only once she was certain that Aewia's telepathy wouldn't allow her to pick up on this conversation. "I don't do well with people, so you can prob'ly imagine what it's like for me having to take care of someone else who's as helpless as she is right now."

"Helpless?" Ven questioned, but he quickly continued. "Why don't you ask for help?"

"Yeah, that kinda goes hand in hand with the 'not good with people' detail, I have trouble asking for help," Nexi said. "Anyway, Aewia don't take to just anyone, but she seems to like you so I guess I could ask you to watch her for me from time to time."

"Yeah!" Ven said with an arm full of tribbles. "Why does someone need to watch her?" Aewia seemed pretty normal to Ven.

"They cut out pieces of her brain in that prison camp," Nexi informed Ven sadly. "They took away her telepathy, though she's showing signs that she's getting it back. When we first brought her back, she was a lot worse off, couldn't remember things, could barely feed and clothe herself. She's been getting better, but she still needs someone to look after her."

"They did what?!" Ven said with a look or horror. "Why would someone do something like that!"

"It was a Romulan prison camp and she was Starfleet Intel. Do they need any more reason than that?" Nexi said with a shrug "Anyway, try not to tell a lot of people about Aewia and me being related. I know it'll get back to Starfleet and the Betazoid government eventually, but the longer I can put that off the better."

Ven still didn't understand why that would be a good reason to literally pick apart someone's brain while they were still alive. "I won't, I swear." He said to her.

Nexi sighed and chose to answer his unasked question. "I'm a bastard in both definitions of the word," Nexi said as she picked up the last of the tribbles and found a place to tuck them in the pile Ven's arms. "I was... an accident, and our father was a prominent political figure on Betazed. Was, he's dead now, but if his little 'accident' was discovered it could bring shame to his house and cause problems for Aewia and her right of inheritance. Captain knows of my relationship with Aewia, but she's doing what she can on her end to make sure our connection goes unnoticed."

"I swear." Ven affirmed. "And I'll make suse Ameila knows not to say anything."

"Thank you," Nexi said quietly. "Well, I gotta get back. No telling what trouble that girl has gotten into since I've been gone."

"Nexi, seriously, if you need help just ask. Aewia seems like a very sweet girl, I'm sure she's fun to get into trouble with." Ven said with a little grin as he set the pile of tribbles on the floor. He pressed his com badge. "Transporter room two, got more for ya." The pile beamed away.

"I'll walk you back to your quarters." Ven said to Nexi.

Nexi nodded and walked back down the corridor to the quarters she shared with her sister. She hit the button to open the door and it swished open to reveal... "You know, I joked about her getting into trouble, but this is why I can't leave her alone..."

When Nexi and Ven came back, there was no sign of Aewia. There were at least three dozen bowls of various grains scattered around the room and a giggling sound coming from under Aewia's bed. Apparently she had tried feeding the tribbles all sorts of things and had just given up and crawled under her bed with them.

"Oh wow..." Ven said looking around the room.

"Yeah..." But Nexi didn't miss a beat, she just started picking up the bowls as though there was nothing wrong. "Anyway, you take care and I'll talk to you later," she said to Ven.

Yeah, cause Ven was going to just ditch Nexi like this. He just started picking up the bowls with her. "Yeah, ok..." was all he said as he helped.

As soon as they got all the bowls back through the replicator, Nexi went looking for Aewia, following the sound of child-like giggling that led her to Aewia's bed. Nexi peeked underneath. "Hey, you three okay under there?"

Pausing in her giggling, Aewia peeked out at Nexi. "Yeah, they're helping me with my puzzles."

"Smart tribbles," Nexi commented with a grin. "If you're willing to get out and get dressed, then we can take 'em to Sickbay, get 'em fixed up so they don't breed. How's that sound to you?"

Crawling out from under the bed with a PaDD and the 2 tribbles, Aewia nodded sagely. "They can't be broken."

"Right, not broken," Nexi said. "We just wanna make sure they don't make a lot of tribble babies. The babies are cute, but they can have too many for us to take care of," Nexi explained carefully.

"Are tribble babies that bad? I think 2 is enough. One for you and one for me." Aewia rationalized as she set them aside and started changing.

"Tribble babies ain't bad, but there can be a lot of them. Two's more than enough," Nexi said, grabbing a brush to run it through Aewia's hair. Damn, she was hung over. She didn't want to go to Sickbay right now, she just wanted to kick back on the couch for a little while.

Pulling her jumpsuit on, Aewia zipped up and finished getting dressed as Nexi brushed her hair. Aewia loved having her hair brushed, her mind calming and almost melting. "We could go after a while maybe?"

"You're not supposed to be reading my mind, kiddo," Nexi said with a playful tug on Aewia's hair as she secured it with a hair tie. Not that she minded Aewia regaining her telepathy, but it was still something of a surprise considering how damaged her brain was when she was rescued. "Think maybe you could let Ven take you down to Sickbay? By the time you get back, I should feel better and I can help you with your games."

As Aewia started changing, Ven found something to fiddle with to advert his gaze. When he heard his name he looked up. "Huh what?"

"Ven, can you take Aewia and her tribbles down to Sickbay for me?" Nexi asked as she and Aewia came back out to the living area. "I know it's kinda last minute, but I'm still hung over and I could really use a shower and a power nap."

"Yeah!" Ven said with a big goofy grin "if that's ok with you Aewia."

Aewia snuggled her 2 tribbles and nodded to Ven. "Yeah, that's ok with me. I think it's ok with them too. They need to be fixed."

"Thanks, Ven," Nexi said, then reached over to ruffle Aewia's hair. "Now you be good and listen to Ven," she said to Aewia. "Wen you get back we can play."