Before The Ball

Posted on Fri Apr 21st, 2023 @ 2:51pm by Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Indigo (*)

Mission: Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: Kali's Quarters
1445 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Indigo pressed on the door chime on the quarters that she was looking for and grinned as she heard noises inside that signified that the person she was looking for was at least there. It had been months since she had ventured inside the depths of SS Mary Rose but it was nice to see the difference. Indigo had not been sure about taking up the offer from Kalahaeia about helping her get ready but after an argument with Taev when he had made a comment about her being young and idealist she had told him to stick it and she was going to do something else that sit around moping. It had not been her entire intention to get ready there but it had been offered.

Kali had finally had the time with all the other mods to the ship to discreetly install what she'd been longing for since arriving - the ability to get a view on or basic scan of anyone ringing her door chime before letting them in. In this case, it was pretty easy to be satisfied quickly, and she toggled the lock and the door sprung open, revealing Kali's quarters in their usual state of semi-disarray, or perhaps a bit more than usual even, given the various items strewn around from prep for the ball.

"Wanted to take up your offer if there is still time?" Ingio explained holding up everything she had brought with her to the pilot.

"Sure." Kali's own hair was pinned up in intricate braids that ended high on her head with a waterfall-like crown of ringlets pinned just-so into place, with little crystals here and there throughout. If some of the crystals were in fact attached to tiny blades concealed in her hair...well. That was for her to know, and no one else to unless she ended up having to draw one. Her dress, for the moment, was still laid on the bed off to one side, a flowing draped creation of purples and blues with silver and gold sparkles and embroidery and a matching mask and jewlery, leaving her currently clad just in black leggings and a matching blouse, looking incongruous with the hair. "You can just chuck stuff on the chair there."

"Thank you." Indigo stepped into the small space and smiled at the clutter that greeted her. It was typical of a woman's bedroom before going out in her opinion but it did leave her in a dilemma of where to put her own items. "Chair there." She laughed nervously as she flung the dress and her bag down and looked at the woman properly. "Looks amazing. Definitely better than I could ever do." She nodded appreciatively of the hair.

"Credit also goes to my instructors: My mother; and a pair of old fleet colleagues who both did amazing stuff with hair and style; a Betazoid and an Orion." Kali shoved a duffel bag of shoes off the second chair and gestured to it as a seat for the other woman. "Mind showing me the dress? Depending on how it fastens, may or may not be best to put it on first before we do the hair, if it's anything that has to slip on from the top."

The dress that was held up bright red and fastened over one shoulder with an ornate clasp. It was beautiful with lines that looked intricate whilst not making the dress look old. It suited the hysperian style. “Well the credit is justified. It looks good.”

"OK. That should be able to go on later from the bottom, then." Kali disregarded the dress for the moment. "Got any combs or other hairpieces you want to use?"

“I’ve gotten into it one handed before.” Indigo said brightly thinking of the time she had to to dress whilst holding a phaser to someone. “All the things I brought yesterday.” She held out the hair piece she had thought at there previous meeting as well as many pins.

Kali too the offered piece and set it to the side before her fingers - after a moment of visible and deliberate hesitation to make sure there wasn't any objection to the contact - started nimbly pulling blue hair into various sections and weaving them through one another into a pair of braids that twisted into a pair of top knots on Indigo's head that she pinned off before joining into a larger, combined one on the back of the top of her head, sticking it with the decorative comb before moving on to begin curling tendrils of falling hair into ringlets with the styling tools she'd laid off to the side. "Anything else you want worked into this, or not?" As if in demonstration, with a grin she reached up to her own updo for a moment and pressed a hidden catch on one of the hair sticks in it, drawing the tiny stiletto blade hidden in it out of the metal sheath it was in, then sliding it back where it belonged. No harm in showing one to your own allies...probably, that is.

"I do not need weapons... I am a weapon." Indigo said simply with a bit grin as she stood her head seeing herself in the mirror. It did not look like her in the slightest which was an odd sensation. She knew it was her but she had not seen herself looking like that it many years, it was almost like looking at someone else. "But those are very pretty and more your style." She added that the statement was not quite as cutting as someone could take it as.

Far from looking either miffed or impressed at 'I do not need weapons, I am a weapon', Kali just nodded, and a nostalgic sort of little smile passed over her face, her tone turning distinctly fond as she swapped languages to a burst of repeating what she'd heard from her father so often as a child during martial arts lessons. "Even if an opponent strips you of all your weapons; you are never truly unarmed." Then all of a sudden the fond look swapped out again for one distinctly more sheepish and the language back to Standard. "Uhh. Sorry. Lemme know if you don't understand what I just said and I'll translate it. Just something my dad used to say a lot."

Indigo smiled. “I understood. And your dad is very much true in what he says. I might not speak fluently but I do speak enough to understand that and when Teav and Kaylin are trying to be private.” It was not possible with how small the ship was but they did at least try by speaking Romulan but she was too old for that.

"OK, that should be it for the hair...just make sure to pull the dress on feet first rather than over the head, to preserve the style for the ball. Oh! And this." Kali reached over to a little canister in one of the nearby piles, and held it up. "Hold your breath for a moment." She sprayed the mist over Indigo's hair to lightly hold the style. "Protects against humidity a bit, too; but not flame retardant so don't go harassing any dragons."

"I will leave the harassing to your engineer," Indigo assured quickly when she was able to breathe again. The hair style looked amazing and it was thoughtful of the woman to help her. "Thank you. Can I help you with anything?" The woman wondered pilling out her dress to hold it up against her body for the fall effect.

"Not at the moment I don't think." Kali's own gown was still laid out nearby along with its various accompaniments for later. "I'll let you know later if something comes up." She grinned. It was kind of an unspoken awareness, with another Romulan; the existence of and the levels of seriousness of any sort of debt or obligation between two parties that might later be called in and the interplay between them; but Indigo definitely was not such. Exactly what she was...Human, perhaps; with social rules that varied to a degree from one sub-culture to another? Or one of the several species outwardly difficult to distinguish from humans? Not a Betazoid at any rate probably; the eyes were wrong.

“I am sure you will.” Indigo laughed and moved to gather her dress to get read. “Well with that threat out of the way shall we get dressed and get going?” She wondered.

"Sure." Kali nodded. "I'll see you at the ball."