Exploring

Posted on Mon Oct 10th, 2022 @ 6:02pm by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: Hysperia
Timeline: MD02
1836 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie looked at herself in the mirror and could barely recognise herself. The ornate dress flowed highlighting everything Cassie normally hid away under flight suits or uniform, and was a dark red colour that was perfect against her skin tone and hair. The delicate corset of her dress covered her stomach where the continuous flow of colour was broken up by a slender gold coloured rope belt worn fairly high around her waist.

Below the rope belt the dress opened up to the right and revealed the dress below. The front of the top dress was shorter at the front and flowed straight down revealing her heels below. The woman knocked herself out of the stunned state and gathered herself, paying for the items she wore plus the extra items she had purchased.

She stepped out of the shop into the sunshine to see Jake just finishing a call on his communicator with what sounded like Gregnol from the tone. She waited for the communicator to close before she stepped up beside him.

“All finished.” She announced.

"Sorry, I'm just waiting for-" He did a double-take. "Cassie...? Wow." His open-mouthed expression took her in slowly. "Honestly I didn't even recognise you dressed like that. You look...incredible."

The woman blushed just a little at the expression on his face as he realised it was her and not some random person asking for something. He looked stunned. "Is it too much?" She wondered quickly as she noticed the people in the shop looking out the window grinning at the reactions. "The women in the shop said it suited my skin tone and long hair."

"The woman in the shop was...not wrong," he said, feeling very fortunate he'd gotten to witness her looking this way. "I might have to ask Reuben to amend the on-board dress code going forward."

“Would spoil the special of dressing up like this.” She hinted. “Plus would be pretty hard to run operation checks were this swishing around my heels. How Nollel does it all in heels I will never understand.” To prove how difficult it was to swish around she span in a dress and watched the dress move and rises an eyebrow. “See.” She was not one to believe in making her life harder than it already was.

"I quite like it. Certainly better on the eye, for sure," he nodded. "So, where to next? Any particular element of Hysperian culture you'd like to engage with?"

“Not really.” She mused quietly taking his hand in hers and just looked happy for a moment as she looked around trying to take everything in. “What elements have you enjoyed so far?” She wondered thinking as he had more experience on the planet he would have an idea.

"Getting into character is quite fun. Although - I saw some posters for a performance piece happening not far away if you want to check it out? I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a comedy or a tragedy. Interested?" he suggested.

“We’ve seen me trying to get into character it’s not me but sounds like it could be interesting.” Cassie was eager to try anything to just spend some time decompressing from Tevir’s funeral and the family drama that had happened afterwards with the Vulcans there who refused to believe who she was until a mind meld had occurred. She shook her head and focused on Jake. “Come on.” She took his hand and tugged.

Letting a faint comedic yelp as she pulled him forward, Jake just let her take the lead for once, interested to see a more purposeful side to her.

The silence was not awkward but it definitely gave space to thoughts that Cassie would rather not be thinking on there and then as they walked past colourful stalls filled with the most varied selection of items that Cassie had seen recently. “Reminds me of a festival I went to on earth when I was little. May Day… used to dance around a pole… not that kind of pole.” She said thinking that it sounded different than what she had expected.

"Not something we had where I grew up," he admitted. "Vega wasn't very traditional. Fairly modern, all things considered. There was some sort of family feast deal around Federation Day but honestly the folks there weren't all into their celebrations. I'm guessing there are a lot of traditions here though."

"I lived on Earth for eight years as a teenager. My mother for her brilliance was someone who wanted a community and choice a really old community to hide away in." She could not blame Sorcha McAvoy for wanting to find her people after she fell out with her husband and proved the point to the Vulcans that interspecies relationships never worked.

He just nodded, listening to her explanation. It made a change to just listen to someone reminisce about a life so different to now.

"For a colony barely 200 years old it seems they took all the best things from Earth and merged it into a new society," Cassie explained. "I was looking at things on the ride back here. It is called the Wheel of the Year. The days that fall on the landmarks of the yearly cycle traditionally mark the beginnings and middles of the four seasons. They are major communal festivals." It must be nice to have those types of traditions and to honour them, she thought to herself as they joined a queue going towards where the show was.

"That's pretty amazing. I wonder what other celebrations we miss out on as a crew because we're so far from home. Must be some Betazoid, Bajoran, or even Romulan traditions beyond what we already know about," he remarked. "Apart from Federation Day, of course."

"Federation Day used to be nice in the 2200s. We used to have crew parties and theme events that officers used to run for enlisted... I once had to run...." She had a look of horror on her face for a moment before she smiled. "Bobbing the apple thing. Many people got wet."

He chuckled. "I'd have liked to have witnessed that. You should talk to Gregnol: I bet he'd be up for a festival-style celebration on board sometime. Like I said: there must be some new reasons to party that we don't even know about yet."

“Maybe. Gregnol does not seem the type to be involved in that. He reminds me of Sebastian.” Sebastian Deauvuex had been one of the few men in her life who she had counted on without hesitation. He had always saved the day until the end.

Sebastian. Eden had mentioned him a number of times. Her one-time husband. For whatever reason, thinking about that made Jake feel uncomfortable. He had to accept that Cassie was also a woman out of time, but mentioning the things that he thought had been shifted out of normal conversation brought up a slight sense of bitterness. "Well, I guess he must have been a good captain too," he said finally, not wanting to let the silence drag out.

Cassie turned ever so slightly to see the the strange combination of emotions flutter across his features and it left her feeling unsure as the silence settled for a few beats to long. Sebastian had been a friend and someone she had looked up to but she could also see that he was a shadow to the man thanks to Eden. “He was a good man.” Cassie’s said and gently leant in caressing his cheek.

"I'm sure." He kept his reply simple, preferring to move swiftly on from that subject. "So this show...any ideas what to expect?"

Cassie had never seen the man act like that before but followed his lead filing it all away for something to discuss later when they were alone. She stepped forward as the queue moved forward and looked at the poster that was in front of them. “It seems to be something more of a tragedy.” She admitted seeing how the people looked sad in the poster that told them it might be a reworking of Romeo and Juliet.

"Story of my life. Well, I'm sure it'll still be worth our time. Absorbing local culture is what we're here for and I'm open minded enough for that," he said. "Don't recognise the name or any of the leads, but that's to be expected I guess."

“Hey… what’s up?” Cassie questioned the ending to look at him properly instead of standing to the side.

"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing. It's a local show. Wouldn't expect there to be anyone famous out here on the fringes. Can you imagine - we show up to a little place like this and there's some big famous performer on show? Not a lot of chances of that happening." He chuckled. "Honestly, that might end up being a bit of a distraction," he added with a wink.

The woman nodded but filed it away as they got to the front of the queue and brought the tickets. Stepping inside the theatre was like going back even further in time than they already were. “Wow.” Cassie whispered as she realised it was all open.

The theatre, which is what it definitely felt like, opened into a three-quarters auditorium, with a raised level for high-paying viewers and complete with a 'pit' for the cheaper tickets. The stage itself was a platform only about waist-height, but those in the audience would be pretty close to the action itself. Jake was impressed with the authenticity of it, almost exactly like something one might see back on Earth, from the old historic archives.

"Where are we? High or low?" he asked.

She had, had into one option in getting the tickets but she was sure that it was a better option than the high ones. Cassie had always preferred to involved than apart. “Low. Only tickets available now.” She said not at all worried about all the people that would be around them. She took his hand and tugged him into the throng of people to enjoy the show.

They ended up roughly near-ish the front, though not right up against the stage itself. Given Jake's height he usually felt a bit awkward about being at the front. He put an arm around Cassie and held her close, trying to make up for the fact that the people behind would have to look around him. "It's almost strange to be cuddling for fun instead of warmth," he murmured in her ear.

Cassie glanced up at him and smirked. She much preferred hugging for fun instead of keeping warm. “Better get used to it. I hope to not have to disappear off again.” She said wishing she could comment more on it but the lights dimmed indicating the show was about to start.

"Me too," he whispered, settling in to enjoy the show with her nestled in his arms.