Look What The Cat Dragged In Part 3

Posted on Sat Mar 9th, 2024 @ 4:23am by Indigo (*) & Dodai Yaari
Edited on on Sat Mar 9th, 2024 @ 4:24am

Mission: Fractures
Location: Freecloud
Timeline: Jan 2398
2702 words - 5.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Indigo was dressed against the Freecloud, subzero temperatures wearing a long black coat. She usually would have been a seen in a bright colour but much like her mood she was muted today. She had. It taken long but there had not been many words exchanged whilst they had been getting ready.

She had led them from her apartment into the crowds and into the nearest park to a cafe that was in the middle hoping that being out in the open might convince him that things are being a joy.

“What do you want” She offered indicating should go to the rep to get it.

"They seem to have quite a small selection of tea." It was an observation drenched in benign innocence and yet, to someone who had known that certain twinkle in his eye for far too many centuries, Dodai presented as positively exuberant by his usual standards and was clearly of a mind to tease. It wouldn't have helped to try and guess just how many samples of his own blends he'd brought with him, and Indigo likely wouldn't have put it past him to go up and offer his services to whoever was in charge of stocktake. As he caught the look in her eyes, he managed to attempt to look somewhat contrite, and turned his attention to the menu. "What would you recommend?"

“Water so you can make your own tea.” The woman noted already thinking ahead to the man who some time declared her his wife or whatever the mood took him as not enjoying any of the selection. “Grab one of the pods and I will find you.” She prompted sweeping her hair out of her face as the snow was making it heavy around her.

"I didn't bring any with me," Dodai called after her, smiling to himself as he then looked around for somewhere unoccupied to sit. Typically speaking, he was a man willing to try most things, an adventurousness that took him well beyond the realms of culinary exploration and extended into most facets of life. Whatever she returned with, and he had every faith that she would eventually just order him something without consultation because she usually did, he would either enjoy it or not but the experience would be worth it. Inclining his head to several diners he passed on his way to an empty seat, it wasn't until he'd settled his large bulk into place that Dodai realised a few of them were still staring at him.

Ever so carefully, he cast his glance around and, settling them on the man closest, acknowledged the scrutiny with a wink.

He was still chuckling by the time Indigo arrived back.

The woman found him easy enough it was hard to miss him when he left a wave visibly shook people behind him. “What did you do?” She wondered placing the tray down in front of her deciding best where to sit. She could sit next to him and they could talk more intimately or she could keep him at arms length and keep the table between them.

"I selected a seat. Apparently, that drew an audience." Even for a place like Freecloud, Dodai's current appearance was a little rugged, and though he'd taken a shower and could no longer blame a pervasive musk for the distraction of others, even tying back his hair away from his face hadn't quite tamed it entirely. The tendrils of his beard reached his sternum at its apex and, despite the cold, his shirt and outer poncho exposed enough of his chest to include another source of hair in the overall shagginess. A certain amount of grooming would probably be required if he was going to hang out in civilization again for a while but, for now, he lounged without concern for his wild man impression.

Indigo glanced around noticing the looks moving from him to her as she just stood there in decisive and took her seat next to him. Intimate discussion would be easier with the looks they were already getting she decided going into Watchdog and Fenris Ranger mode. "It'll be your poncho." She said grinning just a little as she looked him over. "They are not used to it I am afraid." It would be a highlight for a few of them so used to the way Freecloud looked now compared to 50 years ago.

Fresh bemusement saw Dodai cast a faintly disbelieving stare around the remaining stragglers, who swiftly returned their attention to their food along with everyone else who had given up trying to figure the man out once his partner had returned. As a pair, they weren't trying very hard to blend in, but that said more about the environment than it did about them. At least in Dodai's case, had this been overgrown mountainside, trying to pick him out amongst the shrugs would have been a task and a half. "Perhaps they would do better to seek out more meaningful entertainment," he observed, at a volume easily overheard though his tone was jovial enough.

Indigo could not help but agree with his sentiment as a man appeared carrying both their drinks. A large wine glass for Indigo and a tea that was blue and smelled more of berries than anything else. He smiled to Indigo before disappearing again leaving the pit alone. Indigo moved her drink closer but did nothing with in for a moment as if she was finding some courage that she was not at all sure was in the alcohol.

Though he mentioned nothing of it, Dodai took the large frosted glass of iced tea that was a far cry from the hot water she'd threatened him with, and and took the obligatory tentative sip that left a line of dew-drops dappled along the tips of his moustache-hairs. It was robust enough to satisfy, though far tamer than the brews he liked to attempt himself, and probably half as potent because he doubted they incorporated anything that qualified as a true stimulant. This was civilisation though; out here, everything was expected to be neat and tidy.

Long, calloused fingers smoothed his beard.

"It's certainly a popular venue." He said this in such a way as to suggest that popularity, in this instance, was not necessarily indicative of quality preoccupation. Casting his gaze around the nearby tables, whose patrons were now determinedly persisting in pretending he didn't exist, the El Aurian scratches his cheek. "Though it does seem as if half these people wish they were some place else."

Indigo was not sure if that was a dig at her or not for a moment before she remembered he did not dig, he just pointed out the truth. "They more than likely wish they were." She agreed. "I do not wish to be anywhere else despite how I look... I..." She could face down the evils of the universe but not quite talk to her husband as easily as she used to before coming to Freecloud. "Being here has made me not quite as open and honest with myself as I used to be and it is a struggle to find the medium of my emotions."

"And yet, despite that, you don't want to leave." Stretching backwards until the front legs of his seat were off the ground, Dodai balanced comfortably and watched her without scrutiny. "Is lack of clarity the appeal?" It was, just as every other had been, simply a question. If pressed for an opinion, Dodai could usually provide one, but was often quick to point out that it was not very useful as anything more than a passing observation. He had no expectations for how others chose to live, not even her; when it came to Indigo, the main difference was his investment in her sense of balance and contentment. It didn't matter to him how she achieved it, only that she did.

“Maybe. Maybe I just like being…” She threw up her hands in a who knows gesture. She liked both her alter egos - Indigo the Fenris Ranger and Indigo the Watchdog solider. Both part of her but neither summed her up fully, she was something more but she had no idea how to merge them all together.

A pair of eyebrows rose just a little, a pair of hairy caterpillars emerging from dense shrubland. "Thrown skyward?" He was being intentionally obtuse but he had learned after all these years that he would not make any headway with her philosophically until he at least provoked a smile. "Employed as a juggler?" His eyes twinkled despite his insistence on a prolonged pantomime of innocence. "Gifted a melon for each hand?"

Indigo tried to not smile but she found herself breaking into something far easy going for the mood she was feeling deep down. It was hard to explain as she had never seen him have a moment of doubt or hesitation so she suspected he would not understand but he seemed to be trying as he had come Romero knows where to venture into her life as things were going wrong. “Thrown skyward feels like the best analogy for what I feel.” She suspected.

"Turbulence is not without merit," Dodai reminded her, settling his focus on their conversation. "A polished stone encounters plenty of friction," he paraphrased and intentionally butchered one of the favoured sayings recounted to them over and over as children. "And purpose can definitely be overrated." How many years had he spent drifting around with no clear idea of what he wanted, only that he remain open to being convinced along the way? He studied her for a moment, stepping outside his own tendencies to better reflect on her own. "I have never known you to thrive without it, however."

With every word he spoke, Indigo wanted to interrupt and argue but stopped herself and just let him come to his own reflection. It was easy to see that he knew her better than she knew herself at the moment. "We all need a purpose." She shrugged taking a large gulp of her drink looking up at the snow hitting the window.

A dip of his head was only partial agreement. Dodai's personal philosophy veered more towards securing contentment and, if a requirement of that was some sort of underlying purpose, then the necessity spoke for itself. He just wasn't entirely convinced that it was applicable in all cases. "Certainly some of us do," he amended, his dark eyes still drawing in details from her expression and all the things she wasn't saying. "How long have you been unsure of yours?"

"A year... maybe less. Time feels out of synch sometimes." She shrugged swirling her drink in the glass. "Maybe I am just not listening enough." She sighed. "But enough about me for a moment, what have you been doing? You cannot just have been in your bubble." She decided trying to get the focus off of her for a moment.

"You pose it too much like a challenge and I'd be willing to try." It was a partial jest, not because Dodai wasn't sincere in his warning, but because he was fairly sure he'd already qualified several times in his lifespan as the kind of hermit that would disappear into himself for vast stretches, at least comparatively. "I've been in a cycle of motion, though, took to Bajor for a while. Still plenty of scope there, agriculturally. Relliketh mostly, though I paused for a while in B'hala." The ancient city, now found, had been far too compelling to avoid entirely, though he had taken care not to overstay his welcome for once.

“Your bubble is not a bad thing.” She commented quietly listening to him telling her about Bajor. She had not been there since before the occupation and even then she had not been there for long. Nothing had kept her from moving. “Well you always did like history and lost places.”

"There's still a lot to learn there." Eagle-eyed, Dodai watched her for a moment before adding, "You'd like it. The city feels its age and yet its rebirth is an impressive marrying of what once was and now must be. Preservation of the past without servitude to it."

It very much sounded like it was something she could get behind if she thought about it. “Are you trying to encourage me to leave Freecloud?” She wondered quietly raising her gaze to look at him. She could see him watching him so watched him back.

"I am trying to encourage you. End of statement." At least for the time being, Dodai seemed to have made the decision to speak in the more direct manner her protests tried to suggest Indigo preferred. He'd never been convinced but knowing when to stop arguing was a life's work he had at least partially commenced. "To what end is entirely up to you. I can't tell you what to do, riya, I can only point out what I observe. If you are content here, then you hide it well."

The woman nodded slowly. She was content and she was not at the same time. It was a strange feeling in her stomach that she knew she would never find peace on Freecloud but she knew being a Fenris Ranger gave her so much more passion than anything but it was a life that came and went to maintain cover. “I know. “ she finally chose her words and looked at him. “You are right.” She finally said the words that in decades and decades of marriage she had never said.

An arched eyebrow conveyed an element of incredulity. "Well, now I'm worried." Despite his penchant for mischief, and the casual light-heartedness of his demeanour since arriving, there was a gravitas now to the man's tone that suggested he was being utterly genuine. It wasn't a matter of victory, or any kind of attempt at point scoring. Dodai was less concerned with the rare occurrence than he was at the assumed severity of a situation that would prompt her to admit as much out loud.

“Don’t Facvumja.” She said almost whispering as she stared back at him and said a word that she had not used for him in as many years as they had been married. “It will work out. It always does.”

Gathering himself forward so that his weight leaned against his forearms, Dodai reached across the table with one large hand and drew hers towards him. Trapping it between both, smothering it in a warmth that never seemed to fail him, he curled their combined grasp into a fist he could gently rest his chin on and gazed at her for a long moment in loaded silence. He didn't seem particularly surprised because there was very little that caught Dodai unawares and, besides, he had shown up again because of an uncanny sense of when she needed him to. And he was concerned but optimistic because Indigo wasn't wrong; it typically did work out, which was why he invariably ended up leaving. When things were balanced, his wife didn't really require his constant presence and there were plenty of arguments for her being better off without it. The future did not take care of itself, however, and they only perpetuated the cycle by knowing when it was time to recombine their efforts. Stubborn rebellion really didn't amount to much when it was all said and done.

She needed him.

"I think it's time you introduced me to your friends." As much as it wasn't a demand, it was also well past any opportunity to be a request. It may be that they eventually decided he was best suited to remain on Freecloud but it was doubtful. That meant seeking a berth on this ship that appeared to be her only lifeline currently.

The woman was surprised as she looked at him that she did not see a moments hesitation or any sort of doubt around him. “… okay.” She agreed. “But tomorrow… let’s just wander and see where the night takes us first.”