The Meditation Gardens (Open Post is Open!)

[sehlatbear]

If Spock had been prone to think of such things in such terms, he would have thought it funny (if he had been willing to acknowledge such a human thing as humor) that a place so unlike his native Vulcan would most remind him of it. The meditation gardens were lush, greenery in abundance organized along classic Vulcan aesthetic principles of order,

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[original_fierce]

It was strange, Uhura thought, as she rounded the corner and saw Spock, that the Vulcan should look so at home beside the water.

She had been walking all morning - or at any rate, it felt that way. And while she had encountered the Captain several times since her arrival here, she had not spoken much with Mr Spock.

She held up a hand in greeting as she crossed towards him, and smiled. "Mr Spock. Am I disturbing you?"

[sehlatbear]

Humans did not seem to appreciate that one would not occupy a public space if one wished not to be disturbed. It was a thought with some degree of fondness, however; Spock had much reason to appreciate humanity, after all.

"I remain undisturbed by your presence, Lieutentant. Indeed, it is gratifying to see you."

He unfolded himself from the grass, stood as she approached.

[original_fierce]

"It's nice to see you, too," Uhura returned lightly, as she neared him. She had appreciated the public nature of the area as she entered it, but Spock had looked so composed, so reflective, she had felt it best to check.

"Congratulations on your engagement. I haven't seen you to say it, since I heard."

[sehlatbear]

He managed to look entirely pleased even without a change of expression. "Thank you. It has been a most... satisfactory evolution of my relationships with the captain and the doctor.

Spock and Uhura had a friendship of sorts, based initially on their mutual appreciation of music. He had found her, in the past, to be both passionate in the human sense but also quite logical in many ways.

"And your own experience here? I trust it has been acceptable?"

[original_fierce]

The look of satisfaction veiled on Spock's face did not escape her, and she smiled a little more at the sight of it. "Yes," she said, setting down a small bag of purchases on the grass at her feet, "it seems a very logical union, all told."

Any separation of the three of them, after all, she found difficult to fathom. That they should be bound together, in all ways, seemed only natural.

"I've been buying things," she went on, indicating, the bag. "Too many things. And eating too much." She laughed. "Vulcan food is far more delicious than it has any right to be, if you ask me."

[sehlatbear]

Vulcans did smug very well. "I have found it to be so." Their Leonard was, of course, a busy man, but even so, the mental bond had grown stronger between them and Spock reached out now to simply brush against the minds of his mates. "Though it shall require, no doubt, some negotiation when we return to our own Enterprise." Star Fleet would not necessarily separate them - which would be entirely unacceptable - but there were many who would not be pleased.

He looked with interest at her shopping bag. He had acquired gifts for his mates on Risa and those had, rings included, been received rather well. Perhaps a similar excursion for presents was necessary here. "I have always found my native cuisine to be quite superior."

[original_fierce]

"You're an excellent command team," she assured him, smiling. Not that he needed to be told - she knew he was aware of this already - but she couldn't help her human urge to reassure. And part of her suspected that the human part of Spock might like to hear it, too. "I'm sure there'd be an outcry among the crew if anyone tried to split you up."

She hefted the bag up again, seeing the direction of his gaze, and held it out for his inspection. "I would agree. I did try to interpret some of the packaging on some foodstuffs for the Captain, but I suspect he's wary of trying anything without at least a picture on the box, if he can't read the writing." She laughed. "Maybe he'll trust your explanations more than mine."

[sehlatbear]

Spock would not call it a fear, per se. But he had considered it. And did not care to contemplate it in the slightest. "Do you think the crew will accept our relationship? I am aware that it is not the standard among humans."

As long as she was offering. Spock took the bag she offered and inspected the contents. Fascinating. He had not realized these items could be purchased on New Vulcan. They were not of Vulcan origin. "He has proven somewhat more adventurous with the replicated meals available in our quarters."

[original_fierce]

"I think," Uhura said, carefully, "that the rest of the crew will be as unsurprised as I was to hear that the three of you were involved. Not that I knew beforehand, but..." She shrugged. "I did have some suspicions."

There would, of course, be more members of the crew than just Christine who would be roundly disappointed, but they would recover from that.

She noticed the look of curiosity on his face, and took the bag back, smiling. "Yes, some of it's a little exotic. I'm glad your Jim isn't completely resistant to new things."

She sort of suspected that the captain would eat anything, really, provided that it had been vouched for beforehand as delicious.

[sehlatbear]

"Was it so obvious then to everyone but us?" A strange notion, that a predominantly human crew would notice what Spock had missed. But he had been so very centered on rooting out his emotions. Perhaps that had caused his blindness.

"Our captain is quite fond of the unknown. In foodstuffs, however, I believe he favors pie."

[original_fierce]

"Not to everyone," Uhura assured him. "But I spend most of my life on the bridge with the three of you. It wasn't obvious, but once I knew, it wasn't...surprising. It made retrospective sense."

She smiled, and peered down into the bag again. "I don't think I saw any pie."

[sehlatbear]

Retrospective sense. That much was acceptable.

"There is a bakery I had planned to visit before returning to quarters. Vulcans are quite adept with pies."

And he would have found a way to bring Jim his favorite food even if there were not a conveniently located source for it.

It occurred to Spock that, even when he was on the Enterprise he had seen very little of Uhura. "You have been occupied sufficiently with more tasks than shopping?"

[original_fierce]

Uhura laughed shortly, and looked at him sidelong. "You mean on the ship? Yes - the captain put me on rotation. The Lt. Uhura of this universe - " and that was still a strange concept " - trained me on their systems. I found them prettier, but not significantly different to the ones I was used to, so it wasn't too difficult to make the switch."

She couldn't really imagine Vulcans going for pie. Huh.

[sehlatbear]

Before he had bee otherwise occupied, Spock had made something of an effort to reach out to the crew members from his native universe.

That had not ended well, Jim had explained, in the case of Christine Chapel. But Spock was still concerned for his shipmates' well being.

"My own official duties there have been minimal - and much interrupted. However, I have found unofficial business with which to occupy my time and energy. And an array of interesting social engagements."

[original_fierce]

Uhura knew something of his interesting social engagements from Christine, but she felt it best not to mention that here. For one thing, Christine was her best friend; but Spock was her friend, too, in a different way, and she was very aware that he had not been quite...himself...when the debacle had happened. Besides which, he had not seen Christine since then, she was sure. There must, therefore, have been many other interesting social engagements to which he referred now, but still, she thought it best to address his other point.

"The captain said you were looking into getting us home?"

[sehlatbear]

"It has been my much-interrupted yet primary occupation. I have many notes on the subject from my mirror counterpart. He and his captain were able to cross dimensions with some deliberation."

But they had not experienced the pain his Leonard had reported, that he and Jim and experienced when their Enterprise broke free of the anomaly.

"It is... acceptable here. But it is not home."