[Back in the Bar...]
In the bar, three of the maintenance crew are working on the bar's matrix
from an open panel. As Emni and Katara enter the room, one of them look up,
then points out the females to his companions. Emni, having only thoughts of
D`Tarik's well-being in mind, walks past them, past Rylan, and over to the
injured and unconcious medical officer who's still laying on the floor. The
three repair personell watch the medical assistant walk away, very obviously
stareing at her backside, and very distracted from their work. Katara rolls
her eyes at the males' display and, knowing they were probably gawking at her
as well, she headed over to Rylan. "Au alright?" she asks concerned.
Rylan, who had looked to see who had entered out of curiosity, fixed the
maitenence personell with an angry look. The three catch on to that, and
turn back around to their duties. Turning back to the barmaid he nods
absently, "Ie. I will be as soon as I get this leg fixed."
"I'll go see if she has anything for it that I can give au." she smiles.
Emni meanwhile, had injected D`Tarik with a painkiller/stimulent and waits by
his side as his eyes slowly open to look into her own, concerned ones.
"Au...." he began with a weak smile, "are showing the early stages of
pnemonia....au should have that looked at by a doctor."
She smiles back, relieved that he was apparently coming out of it, "Well,
get better and au can warm me up, okay?"
Katara had just come closer and caught that last. Feeling a little awkward
at interrupting, she clears her throat to announce her presence, and waits
until Emni looked up at her questioningly. "Um...excuse me, but do au have
anything I can use to help Rylan?"
Casting a quick, disapproving glance to the erie`Arrain sitting at the bar,
she holds out a bone knitter to the barmaid, "Ie. He should know how to use
this...he's had basic first aid. I'd give him a painkiller...." she said
apologetically, "But by the looks of the bottles on the bar I'd say he's had
enough substences for io day."
"Or, I'm sure I may be able to figurer it out," Katara accepted the knitter,
"or at least I might like to learn how." she threw a wink at D`Tarik, not
thinking that it might get him in trouble, then hears that last from Emni,
"What?!" she turns to count the bottles on the counter, "Rylan!!" she runs
over, leaving Emni and D`Tarik alone again.
Rylan hears his name being called in that all-too-familar tone, and quickly
hides the bottle he had been drinking from, "What?" he feigned an innocent
look.
"What??!!" Katara repeats incredulously, then angrily points to the bottels,
"Those Rylan!" Then shakes her head at his 'oh-those-aren't-mine' look.
"Never mind....here!" she angrily shoves the bone knitter in his hand, "Au
use that!" At seeing him immediately go about healing himself, Katara shakes
her head again and walks away from him; not knowing how to deal with the
problem, and trying to think of something she could do to show him how badly
he had hurt her by drinking as much as he had.
D`Tarik, trying to use humor to make himself feel better asks Emni, "So, do
my scars make me look all bad-ahz? Oh, and don't fill in those holes in my
legs just yet...I have plans for them."
Emni, who had seen the wink that Katara had thrown D`Tarik's way, raises a
brow and ask a quiet question of her own. "What was that all about?"
"Oh, that?" he gives her a little grin, "I just said she should think about
looking into becomeing a medic. She has na been through academy yet."
"Oh, okay." she nods, then pauses a moment, "What are au going to do to
ninte leg?"
"Oh, na-thing too bad." he shrugs, "I was thinking of maybe instaling some
retractable spikes. Wouldn't that be cool!" he grins, "I'm na sure if I
should go with organic or cyborg though...."
"Umm....D`Tarik.....retractable spikes?! Umm....I don't know about...." she
glances to the others in the room then says quietly, "What if they ...
appeared.....at a *bad* time??" she shakes her head, "I don't think I like
that idea."
"I would make it so they would have a trigger, silly!" he grins.
Emni only looks at him as if he's lost his mind, "We can talk about that
later...okay?"
"Okay." he grows quiet a second, then suddenly asks, "Well, if na spikes then
what? I mean, I can't miss an oportunity like this!" he points to his
injured leg.
"I don't know..." she sighs, then looks to all the medical equipment she
brought. "Well, I don't know what au want to do, so ....there's the
equipment if au want it."
"Have I upset au dear?" he asks concerned, rubbing his hurt leg, "Okay,
fine. I won't do anything with my leg....but what about my scars....hmm?
Something can be done with them!" he riffles through the equipment, that
starts working very absently but still with great skill, "Hey!" he stops a
moment to grin at her again, "How about gills! On my cheek! Then I could
breath air...under water...that could be of great use!"
"D'Tarik..." she tried to make him listen to reason, "how many times have au
actually been *in* the water? Actuall water now...na just holograms!"
"Umm... na much; but still! Au always have to be prepared.... plus, I can't
swim." he shruged, "If I have gills, I won't ever have to worry about it!"
he grinned and shook his head, "I see na down side to this."
"Au see na downsi...." Emni pauses then sighs as she looks away from him. "I
guess au will do it na matter what I say anyway..."
"Well, I would like ninte approval..." he frowns, "But I guess I can live
without them." he almost pouts at that.
Emni kisses his cheek gently, "I love au the way au are, D`Tarik. Au don't
need all those things."
"Ie, I don`t....but I have plenty of room for improvement. What if I made
little compartments in my legs? To hold medical equipment! Now, come
on.....that would of have plenty of use!" he stops his work on his leg, "Oh,
by the way.... I love au too." he adds, making sure to put a lot of feeling
into the words.
"Au have ninte labcoats to hold ninte equipment in. Au dont' need
'compartments'." she pouts, "I don't want to be with a borg! I want to be
with au." She pauses, then smiles at the 'i love you' bit, and adds, trying
to distract him, "Besides, if au do all that now, au won't be able to keep
ninte promise to me. I still want my pet au know."
"I won't be a borg with a few compartments in my leg, silly!" he playfully
pushes her, "Yeah, but with those compartments, I would *always* be ready to
save people. I mean, think about it...I could always be ready to save
lives!" he pauses, "But I guess that does na matter.....Well, the
compartments will take like a day, tops. And ninte pet...." he frowns, "was
killed when the power shut off."
She sighs and looks away again, "Au'rh really going to do that aren't au...?"
"I would like to..." he admits, looking at her curiously, wondering what the
problem with the whole idea was, "But I won't do it if au dislike it *that*
much...because au matter more to me then that."
Rylan, who had heard the whole bizzare argument, finished healing his leg and
stands up to test it out. Finding that the leg works just fine now, he leaves
the knitter on the bar and heads to the doors. "Don't worry Emni," he
jokingly calls over his shoulder as the doors open, "He won't do it. 'Cause
if he does, that would prove *he's* the io with the problem, and *he'd* have
to go see the Khensia!" he finishes as the door shuts behind him.
"I plan on seeing her anyway Rylan." he sticks out his tounge out at Rylan's
retreating back when Emni wasn't looking.
"I doubt he heard au...." Emni shrugs, watching the doors close, then looks
back to D`Tarik.
"Okay, forget it." he sighs, disappointed. "I'll just work on ninte pet." he
sighs again and goes back to working on his leg.
Emni happily and hugs him, "I love au just the way au are, D`Tarik...." she
looks at his face, "And ie...the scars are very distiguishing."
And almost at the same time that she had spoken, D`Tarik had said firmly,
"But I`m keeping the scars, to make me look more sexy." he winks at her then
goes back to work.
As she had pretty much already said that, Emni smiles ammused, "Please do."
As if he had been expecting her to say something other then what she had,
D`Tarik suddenly frowns, "Oh, I don't get to have any fun." he pouts again,
then suddenly looks at her suspiciously, "Wait! So, the scars would make a
difference to au? Is that all that matters to au? My looks?"
Totally bewildered by this, Emni shakes her head, "Na, D`Tarik. I like au
with or without them." she shrugs, "I thought au liked them and wanted to
keep them....but if au don't that's okay to...."
"Na....I do like them. I think they look cool." he explains, now also
confused by the conversation, "I thought....that au did na like them...."
"Na." the two looked at each other, mirroring the other's expression of total
uncomprehention, "I said they're very distiguished looking." Emni blushes a
little, then smiles a little shyly, "I thought they made au look... even
more sexy."
"Then there!" he smiles, "It's settled. The scars stay." then goes back to
working on healing his leg, focusing only on that. Emni, knowing that he's
lost in his own little world at the moment, crosses over to a table and takes
a seat, waiting for him to notice her again. She quietly watches him a few
moments more, then raises a brow at seeing him reach into a pocket to pull
out a tube of pills then empying it by dumping the contense into his pocket,
then set the now-empty tube down. "Okay!" he says to himself, "Got io hole
filled!"
"D`Tarik?" she asks curiously, "What were au doing with the pills?"
"I need that tube for something.....for latter." he smiles, then puts it back
in his pocket.
"For what? Wouldn't an unused io be better?" she shrugs, "We have some in
the lab...."
"Au are right! Where would I be without au, honey!" he smiles again, still
working.
Emni practically beams at the praise, then asks after a moment, "Where did
au get the scars, D`Tarik?"
"Oh, the scars..." he shrugs, "Some big killer cat-thing. Na very nice at
all, it almost ripped my face off." he pauses, then casts a hopeful sideways
glance to her, "Umm..honey? Do au think it would be a big deal to have *io*
compartment...merely for emergency use? I mean, I really see na harm in
that. I just wanted to ask before I did it....just io, tiny little hole....."
Emni thinks about this question for a moment, "Uh...au'rh really set on that
whole 'compartment in ninte leg' thing, aren't au?" she shrugs again and
waves the matter away, "Go on then...it's ninte leg, do what au want I
suppose..."
"Are au sure it won't change anything between us? I won't do it if it
will....and I want the truth." he gave her a hopeful look.
"I'll still love au D`Tarik." she smiles at him, "Io little compartment will
na change that."
"Yay!" he goes back to working on his leg merrily again, "Hann'yyo!" he
smiles. Emni giggles at that reaction a moment, then D`Tarik happily goes on
to explain, "I really do think it could help out a lot. Now....what to put
in it? In case of an Emergency....?"
"Well, something that will deaden pain...but help heal injuries." Emni nods,
then adds "Au could've used that today."
D`Tarik thinks about that, knowing he had something that fit that bill quite
nicely, "Na sure if I should put that in here or na......" he says quietly
to himself, then continues on, addressing her this time, "Oh well...I will
decied once I put the compartment in. I've got to get ot med lab before I can
do that anyway...." he shrugs, "and restart on ninte pet...." he pauses,
looking up to make sure that Rylan had not returned. He didn't want the
taller boy to know what it was that he had been concidering storing in his
planned new compartment...not after the kind of addictive display that Rylan
had displayed when he had used it on him the first time.
Katara meanwhile, had gone back to straightening up the bar, still miffed
over Rylan's drinking, and even more miffed that he had so casually left
without saying so much as 'jolan`tru' to her. He hadn't even stopped to fix
his still injured shoulder, or his hand! She shook her head at the thought
that he probably no longer felt pain from those injuries...had in fact,
probably not felt pain from the broken leg anymore, and would've simply
walked out before had he been able to.
Straightening a table, Katara wondered again just where her uncle had gone
off to, usually he stood behind the bar, ready to start doling out drinks to
anyone that asked....but he wasn't there, and hadn't been there in quite some
time. Getting the table back where it belonged, she overheard the three
maintenance personell's comments about her, and trying not to notice that
they were openly gawking at her again, she wiped off the drops of blood from
the table's surface. After a couple of years of working in a bar, one would
think one could get used to being so openly starred and commented on; but she
never had gotten used to it. It made her uncomfortable.
D`Tarik saw the girl blush and turn her face away from the three males, then
asks Emni quietly, "Hey...au want to help her, maybe...while I finish this?"
he nods his head towards Katara, then looks over to the guys making the
barmaid feel uncomfortable.
Emni turns to look at the barmaid then nods, "Ie...I suppose." Heading over
to the other girl, ignoring the males as they turned to watch her walk past
them -- she was a nurse, she had lots of practice in ignoring those kinds of
looks -- she offers, "Something I can do to help?"
"Na..." Katara smiles tiredly, "I'm just waiting for my uncle to get back;
he'll help me clean up...." she passes another glance around the room to the
blood that had splattered and to the over turned tables and chairs. The mess
must've been from Rylan's and D`Tarik's fight with their cat-creature they
had spoken of. She paused a moment, suddenly wondering where the other two
barmaids that worked there had gotten off to, they should've been here
helping out. Another comment from the 'supposidly working' males near the
panel snapped her out of her thoughts, and embarrased again, she turned away
to straighten a few chairs .
Emni helps her with this, pushing the chairs under the uprighted and newly
cleaned table. "Don't let them bother au." she says quietly with a shrug,
"They're na-thing to worry about."
"Eh....I guess na. It just makes me feel weird is all...."
>From the other side of the room, D`Tarik, who had suddenly grown angry that
the other males were gawking at not only the barmaid, but his own girlfriend,
suddenly announces, "Hey! I know what I can do with this tube!" he takes it
out of his pocket again, then throws it, hitting one of the other males right
in the top of the head. "Stop gawking and get back to work!" he growls at
them. "That's an order!" The three erien-a lowered their eyes, the one that
had been hit rubbing his forehead gingerly, and turned back to the task
assigned to them.
"See?" Emni smiles to the barmaid, "Na-thing to worry about."
Katara smiles back, "He's nice. Au'rh lucky....."
Emni smiles proudly, "Ie. And to think I liked his friend better at
first...." she shakes her head at that thought, "But D`Tarik's sweet. A
little absent minded sometimes, but sweet all the same."
"His friend?" Katara asks curiously with a slight raise of her brow.
"Ie...." Emni rolls her eyes at her next word, "Rylan. That io's bad news."
she warned, setting a few more chairs to rights again.
Katara stops cleaning up the other table she had been up to stand and place
an angry hand on her hip, "Excuse me? Rylan is na bad news. He's just....
misunderstood." she defends him firmly, then goes back to her task, "He just
needs some help pulling his life back together."
Emni looks shocked at that, "Oh, I'm sorry...." she offers quietly, "I
didn't realize au...umm... liked him." she pauses a moment, to push the
chairs upto the table gently, then warns the younger girl quietly,
"Well...just be careful of his temper then...."
"Ie, I will be. I just want to help him...because I do like him." she
admits, looking up from the table she was cleaning, "But I've seen Rylan's
type before....and I can tell when there's more to somebody then just an
angry drunk....Ow!!" she had been picking up some broken glass, then stops
suddenly as she cut herself. "I should probably clean this...." she says to
herself, heading back over to the bar, "Stop the bleeding....fingers always
bleed a lot...."
Emni follows her, intent on seeing if D`Tarik had been right in his earlier
assesment of the girl, "So...au want to enter the medical academy?" she
asks, watching the girl first clean off the cut, then use a dermal
regenerator to restore it to health.
"I have na clue..." Katara shrugged, "D'Tarik was talking aobut it, but I
don't think I could do something like that. I never studied, and even if he
did help me study now....." she pauses again, then shakes her head, "I don't
know....."
Their conversation was over as D`Tarik limps closer to them. He had repaired
three of the holes, but two were still open and bleeding. "Emni, can au help
me to medlab?" he asks a little painfully, "I just found out through the com
that they've got deck 4 restored, so it's open now."
Emni smiles, and puts an arm around him to help him walk. "Ie." nodding to
the other girl, she helps him out of the bar.
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