How to Twin Friends and Influence People
Posted on Tue Nov 19th, 2024 @ 5:16am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sakura Tanikawa & Petty Officer 3rd Class Fulvia Benvenuto & Lieutenant JG Kally Kellerman & Lieutenant JG Katie Kellerman & Ensign Henry Taylor
Mission:
Lower Decks
Timeline: Over the Course of the Week After Halloween
The Hydra is most often associated with Greek Mythology as a multi-headed, multi-legged creature. However, there are tales of creatures like that going as far back in human cultures as Ancient Babylon. The most modern sighting, was the mass of legs, arms and three heads currently occupying a set of Petty Officer quarters. The head on the right yawned gently and its arms unwrapped from the torso in the middle, as did its legs as it extricated itself from the whole.
Virtue quietly stood up and stretched silently, happy to have some room to move. *Next time, my quarters,* she thought to herself. Her internal clock had woken her up just in time, according to the chronometer on the wall, and she pouted as she realized she had to go. She tiptoed silently to the replicator and got a padd, leaving a note saying how much fun the previous night was and how she looked forward to doing it again. She reflected on their conversation at the party, and at the lack of conversation in bed all night, and got a wicked grin.
Looking forward to next time! ~K~
Her little prank set, she quickly gathered her toys, threw on the minimum amount of clothing she'd brought, and snuck out the door back to her quarters to freshen up before her shift.
**
Petty Officers didn’t get particularly large beds in their quarters, and the room layout did not permit them to push beds together. So when the alarms went off and Fulvia woke it was a bit warm and crowded.
But not as warm or crowded as expected. Where had Angelface gone?
The note wasn’t hard to find, left near where her clothes had been discarded. She probably had something else on. Engineers were busy, as her roommate knew too well.
Speaking of whom…
“Hey Sakura,” Fulvia said, stretching, her voice a bit scratchy as her throat was parched. Heh. Dehydration will do that to ya. If it were the doc twin she might’ve made us take a water break. Her roommate was out cold and snoring loudly. So she smacked her ass. “Wake up sleeping beauty,” she said more loudly as she got up to go to the replicator.
Sakura groaned and rolled over. “No. Bed too nice.”
“Too bad, toots. We have duty shifts in thirty minutes.”
The pink-haired Japanese engineer sat up and held her forehead. “Whyyyyyyy.”
“Probably all of those fruity drinks you had last night,” Fulvia suggested. “That hottie that works in the Hydra told me they were called 'Death By Sugar'. Makes sense, don’t it?” Fulvia had learned long ago that dulling the senses to that degree could get you whacked.
The hung over one rolled out of bed to her feet but kept her eyes pinched shut.
“Christ you’re in rough shape, girlie. Get dressed and to Sickbay. I’ll run interference with Espersen.” With that bit of advice she ran to the sonic shower. “Good luck, toots.”
The door to Sickbay swung open and Sakura Tanikawa winced. “Too loud,” she whispered to herself. It happened again when the door closed behind her. Uniform was on but not to regulation. Hair was unkempt. It was all she could do to look presentable and get to the one who could help her.
“Is Doctor Kellerman around?” she asked meekly, looking around and shielding her eyes from the bright light.
Nurse Taylor's eyes narrowed at the clearly post-intoxicated crewman in front of him. He lowered his voice and said, "this way, please." He escorted her to a biobed and helped her on, laying her back and lowering the illumination over her. He took a moment to appreciate the pink hair and the face it framed, then silently walked to the CMO's office.
"Doctor?" he said, his voice low.
Kally looked up, surprised. "Something wrong, Henry?"
"We have a crewman from the party last night...she doesn't look well," he said.
"'Something's wrong with the replicators' doesn't look well, or 'someone skipped the replicators and went for the real stuff' doesn't look well?" she said.
"The second one," he said, giving an amused smirk. "She asked for you."
"And, so, it begins," Kally said, grinning and standing up. She grabbed her tricorder off her desk and followed him back into Sickbay, coming up to the biobed. "Well, well, well," she said. "Hello, Sakura."
"Friend of yours?" Henry said, making notes on a padd.
"She works with my sister," Kally said, scanning. "All right, let's get you feeling better." She grabbed a hypospray and popped in a dosage. She pressed it to Sakura's neck and injected her, then gave her another shot of hydration and electrolytes. She scanned her again and finally gave her something for the headache. "Thank you, Henry, we're set here."
Nurse Taylor nodded, taking his padd to enter the information to the computer.
Kally looked down at Sakura and grinned. "Hey gorgeous. Too much fun last night?"
“You have no idea,” she quipped, smiling and squinting less, the worst of the effects already clearing.
"Well, take it easy today," Kally said, patting the other woman's thigh comfortingly. "I'll get you a medical pass for today's shift only. I recommend any combination of either bananas, eggs, avocados, ginger, or coconut water included with breakfast and lunch until you feel completely better."
Sakura nodded, making a mental note of the foods suggested. “Arigato."
Kally stepped aside, letting Sakura get back on her feet. "My pleasure to help," she said. She leaned in and gave Sakura a good solid kiss and then a motivating smack on the rump, sending the dazed woman on her way. "Now, off you go!"
The engineer’s eyes went wide with the kiss and wider still with the smack. Renewed and re-energized, if not fully rehydrated or otherwise ready for work, she starting heading for the door.
"Good to see you again!" Kally called, blowing her a kiss as she left.
"That doctor sure is confusing,” Sakura thought as walked back to her quarters, ready to collapse into her bed.
Katie was miraculously conscious at her desk after the night she'd had, and while she wasn't necessarily operating on all thrusters, she was making good headway on her to-do list. She looked up as she heard someone step into her office and smiled. "Hi there," she said. "What brings you by?"
“Man, even junior officers get their own offices,” Fulvia observed, nodding as she checked out Katie’s digs. “A lot of shenanigans can happen in a place like this. Almost worth trying to get a commission.”
Katie grinned. "Well, it's not exactly my office," she said. "It's the main computer diagnostics lab. I've just kind of appropriated it for my use as a computer specialist, and to work on my own projects." She gave a little shrug. "As for shenanigans...." She waggled her head back and forth, pondering the idea. "Yeah, although the transparent wall would give the rest of Engineering quite the show." She gave a bit of a snicker at the thought of her and Jadizon on her desk.
“Anyways, I wanted to compliment you on your designs,” the Iotian said. “The purple one in particular. The way it undulated…” She gave a chef’s kiss. “And that blue one, well I’ve never seen Sakura’s eyes go back quite like that before!”
Katie blinked for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! Well, thank you," she said, grinning, but blushing. "I'll be honest, I designed them a while ago for Kally's enjoyment. I wanted to find a way to help her kind of...not get in trouble." She grinned sheepishly. "Although, I'll admit, as much fun as I had designing them, we definitely had more fun testing them. Main reason why the green one needs two people to operate." She giggled hard.
“Heh. Yeah. Sakura figured that one out pretty quick,” Fulvia said with a laugh. “I was seeing double! And you! My goodness, that thing with your tongue!” She fanned herself.
For a split second, Katie was about to ask what she meant, then she realized exactly what had happened, and what Kally was letting happen. She gave a grin and shrugged. "Well, technically you should be thanking Kally," she said.
“Oh?”
"She taught me that trick," Katie clarified. "And while I won't claim every skill I have I got from her, but there's definitely been "an exchange of best practices" over the years, to quote my last department head." She giggled again, chin in her hand.
Fulvia laughed too. “You two are some odd broads, but the best kind of odd broads. Anyway I don’t suppose you have some extras of any of those devices?”
"I just made the one set for Kally," Katie said, "but I'm sure a barter system could be arranged. Or I could design you something more personally attuned to your tastes." She bobbed her eyebrows. "Just so long as I don't get blamed for you suddenly never being seen out of your quarters again." She grinned.
“Only one set and it belongs to Kally?” Fulvia asked, eyebrow raised. “And she’s okay with what happened last night?”
"I'm guessing you're an only child?" Katie said. "We had to learn to share things a long time ago, or risk constant war. Not to mention, Kally's got a pretty liberal open door policy. Makes it easier for people to pop in and fool around." She rolled her eyes slightly.
“I’m actually youngest of three,” Fulvia explained. “But things on Iotia are different. You don’t share. You defend your turf, and make mutually beneficial arrangements. Francesca and I made a number of good deals over the years, but I can safely say that none of them involved trading sex toys.”
"Well, less trade, more design for mutual benefit," Katie said. "Back when I was tinkering around with things for fun, rather than for my job." She looked up at the chronometer. "Actually, to that end, I have to run. I have a maintenance run to do on Deck Six." She stood up and grabbed her tool kit, coming around the desk. "Catch you later? We'll grab a drink."
"Sure thing."
"Great!" She gave Fulvia a quick hug with her free arm and headed out of the computer lab. "Good seeing you again!" she called over her shoulder.
After a moment alone in the office, Fulvia let out a sigh. "That was a bit weird." Then she looked around. "I gotta get me an office."
“Don Giovanni on a lamppost I am beat,” Fulvia said as she came back into her quarters. “You missed quite a shift, toots. Espersen was super chill. That guy got laid, no question. We’re takin’ bets on how long until the stick in his ass grows back.”
She looked to see Sakura in pyjamas and eating a plate of avocado toast with sliced banana and scrambled eggs. “What the hell is that?”
“The doc gave me a list of things to eat,” Sakura said mid-bite. “She’s a strange one, that Doctor Kellerman.”
“That’s rich coming from you, doll.” Fulvia started taking her uniform off and saw that her bed was still in shambled. “You couldn’t have changed my sheets? Most of the mess is you, you know.”
Sakura blinked her pretty eyes at Fulvia. “I’ve been asleep in my own bed all day. I’ll help you when I’m done though.” She took another bite. “Seriously though. The Doc treated me for the hangover and then gave me a kiss and slapped my bum.”
That caught Fulvia’s attention. “Really?”
“Yes. And she said ‘good to see you again’ as I left.” She shrugged. “How strange. I hadn’t thought she would’ve remembered me. We’ve barely spoken.”
“Yeah…” Fulvia said, nodding but looking off into the distance and thinking also about some of what Katie said earlier. “Very strange…”
Her reverie broke when her roommate finished her last bite and went straight back to her own bed. “Hey! Bedsheets!”
Two days later, both twins were sitting in the lounge, sharing a table and both hunched over padds. "It's not about the circuitry, it's simple physics. She's within the margin of tolerance, we shouldn't risk anything," the left one said.
"She's barely there. She needs to breathe better. Hell, she needs to breathe, period," the right one said.
The left one saw someone approaching and looked up, smiling. "Hey, Fulvia," she said. "What's shakin'?"
“Hey Doc and Doll,” Fulvia said, looking at the twins. She raised an eyebrow. Crap. Which is which? The itch in her head from two nights earlier started to act up again. Gotta figure this out. “Mind if I join for a few?”
"Sure, pull up a chair," the left one said, moving her chair over, her miniskirt fluttering.
"Pardon our grumbling," the one on the right said, adjusting her short-shorts and crossing her legs. "Someone doesn't seem to understand that messing with atomic physics could be more dangerous than advantageous."
"And someone isn't taking into account that minor adjustments to atomic structure doesn't mean automatic explosion," her double on the left said.
"Anyway," the one on the right said, "how's your day going? Sakura fully recovered?"
“Thankfully yes,” Fulvia said pm, taking her seat. “She was a bit pathetic that first morning, all hungover and dehydrated. And now she’s hooked on avocado toast, but better that than those Halloween drinks.” A waitress came by and she ordered a synthehol bourbon on the rocks, stressing the word synthehol. “And messing with atomic physics, isn’t that what got us our Chief Science Mouse? She seems no worse for wear.”
"That's debatable," Skirt said. "Never developed a taste for avocados, myself, even if they are good for you."
"Very much a Terran taste," Shorts confirmed, nodding. "Healthy fats or not, I prefer something with more flavor." She smiled at Fulvia. "Glad she's feeling better though. A hangover's bad enough but hangover and physical exhaustion is double rough." She gave a wink.
“Not her first time, not her last either,” Fulvia replied with a handwave. Which one is it that just winked though? “Anyway I wanted to follow up on the action from a couple of nights ago. I assume you both know what I’m talkin’ about?”
Skirt laughed. "I'm pretty sure everyone in that section of the ship knew what was going on that night. Those toys don't lend to a quiet evening."
“Yeah well I’ll send my wall-mates gift baskets,” Fulvia quipped. “But I expect everyone involved to pay into it. It’s not my fault that I’m a screamer now is it?”
"That just shows enthusiasm and dedication to the enjoyment of all," Shorts said, loftily. "No one would fault you for that."
"Besides, it's a good way to tell when you've got company over," Skirt said, snickering.
“Alright, yeah, Skirt here gets it,” Fulvia agreed. “Besides, if someone doesn’t want to hear it, they can install their own soundproofing!” She took a sip of her drink, happy that she now had the moral high ground over the people who share the walls of her quarters. “Anyways, a couple of things. First, there’s a few articles that were left in my quarters. They were tangled in the sheets and I didn’t see them earlier.” Which will claim them?
"And this is why we shouldn't borrow each other's things," Skirt said.
"Don't look at me, I didn't borrow anything of yours," Shorts said.
"That red bra?" Skirt said, raising an eyebrow.
"Is under your bed. My pink sweater?" Shorts said, eyes narrowing.
"Is also under my bed," Skirt said, looking to the side.
"I knew it," Shorts said, rolling her eyes. "I've been looking for it for weeks!"
"You can come by and pick it up any time," Skirt said.
"Oh sure. Shall I swing by and grab our things from their quarters? How about I bring dinner over while I'm at it?" Shorts said.
"Sounds good. A bowl of kasha please," Skirt said.
"I do not need this kind of attitude," Shorts said.
"Fine, then leave."
"You leave!"
"Okay, I guess we should both leave!" they said in unison. "Fine!"
They stood up, glaring at each other and then looked at Fulvia. "Sorry," Skirt said, giving her a hug, and walking out. "We'll talk later."
"Me too," Shorts said, also giving her a hug and walking out the other exit.
"Yikes, what landmine did I just step on?" Fulvia said to herself. She finished her drink and off she went to find other people to talk to.
"I'm tellin' ya doll, something's goin' on," Fulvia told Sakura as the latter worked on her own passion project.
"This has been bothering you for days,” Sakura observed as she worked.
"I think they're messin' with me!" Fulvia exclaimed, exasperated. "They know I can't tell them apart. They're being purposely vague. And you! You’re not making this easier you know."
Sakura smiled to herself. “I know.” She put her tools down and looked to her roommate. “You need to either let this go or solve it directly. It’s keeping you up at night. And it’s making you insufferable.”
"I can't let it go," Fulvia affirmed stubbornly. "But I can't just ask them either! 'Hey Doc, listen, did we fuck on Halloween night or was that your twin?' So I need to trick them to revealing the truth! But how?"
She paused to think, then looked indignantly at her roommate. "Wait, insufferable?!"
Two more days passed before Fulvia next cornered one of the twins.
This time it was the doctor. She had a reason to visit while on duty. This had a clear advantage: they would be in Sickbay and the doctor would be in a blue accented uniform.
Nurse Taylor showed her to Doctor Kellerman's office, where she rapped lightly on the door frame. "Hey Doc. For the love of god, tell me you and your sister don't share uniforms on duty too."
The Doc looked up and gave a laugh. "Not as a matter of habit. We definitely couldn't do each other's jobs all day."
Fulvia handed the doctor a PADD. "Crew report from Commander Espersen. He asked me to bring it down. He also wants to meet you later this week to discuss some of the medical parts of it."
The Doc made a face. "Oh joy. A meeting with the XO." She looked over the padd. "Later this week, hm? Well maybe we'll get lucky and he'll get sent on a week-long away mission first." She smirked at Fulvia and put the padd down on her desk. "That or I just write a quick note saying 'everyone's healthy' and hope he buys it."
Fulvia smirked back. "The away team angle might work, except there's a decent chance you'll be on it too. Oh well."
"Hey there are four qualified doctors on board," the Doc said, shrugging. "So he's spoiled for choice."
Was there a way to get more information here? Ask about...what exactly? This was horrible, not knowing. Just a puzzle that might forever be unsolvable. But there was no way she would ever know for sure, was there?
Henry suddenly appeared next to Fulvia and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Doctor Kellerman, but we have a patient who requires some additional assistance."
Kally nodded, all trace of banter gone. "On my way," she said, standing up. "Well, wish me luck with the XO. I'll let you know how it goes." She gave Fulvia a peck on the cheek.
"Alright," Fulvia said, sullen. "See you around, dollface."
"Aw, I liked 'Angelface'," Kally said with a grin of pure evil on her face before walking out of her office and into Sickbay proper.
There was silence from the office where Fulvia was left alone, until midway through the door closing, when everyone in sickbay heard the same exclamation.
"I KNEW IT!"
END
