I <3 NY my ass. Fucking tourists.
“Where have you been the last two days?” I demanded as Diziara sauntered into the mess. She didn't stop, or even say anything, as she peered at me. I'd taken the table right next to the door. She shook her head ever so slightly, and walked past me towards the replicator, so I grumbled as I collected a curly fry from my plate and lobbed it at her.
“Lucky for you,” she directed at me, catching the fry that was strangely on target for her head like I'd intended, “I was craving curly fries. Otherwise you would regret that.” She tossed the fry into her mouth as her fingers flew across the replicator controls. She pulled a plate filled with curly fries and a cheesesteak out of the replicator, then walked back over to the table I was sitting at.
“Where have you been?” I demanded as she set her plate on the table. She turned her chair around before sitting down.
“Busy,” she returned, grinning wide before she took a large bite out of her cheesesteak.
“I figured,” I allowed, pausing as she smirked around her mouthful. “Doing what?”
“The more I learn about Commander Sevel, the more I like her,” she explained, punctuating the statement with one of her fries. I quietly considered this before I tilted my head, mocking her trademark inquiring look.
“She's the one who gave you that blank check for violence on that mission you drug me on, involving the flaming fat bastard, right?” She nodded. “What'd she do for you now?”
“She asked me to do something,” she corrected me, and I frowned.
“You know, it's hard to have a conversation with you when you play these games,” I grumbled, and she leaned across the table, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
“Rhiana, the Romulan exchange officer, is leaving,” she admitted quietly after a quick look around the mess. I can only assume she was looking for crew mates who might be able to overhear her.
“Already?” I hissed back at her, and she nodded. “What the hell did you people do to her?”
“I didn't do a damn thing.” She sounded somewhat offended, probably also annoyed, at my question. “She and the bastard almost got into a fight, a real blood spiller it looked like it should have been. She insisted she was waiting for him to make the first move, he insisted he was waiting for her, and it went nowhere fast.” She leaned back from the table a little with a small sigh, her left hand gripping the top of the chair back in front of her. “Usually such face offs turn into friendships, but something failed to fall in place... can't say I'm surprised with the bastard involved. At any rate, she didn't seem to think any of us were conducting ourselves as officers of the Federation should.”
“Well, I can understand her making that mistaken assumption with you,” I allowed, drawing a sharp look from Diziara. I was quick to offer my defense as she sat up straighter again. “Not that I hold such things against you, but you aren't exactly the poster child then hold up when explaining proper conduct of an officer. Why the hell do you think I hang around you so much?”
“Good to have finally solved that mystery,” she said with a hearty laugh. “The exact things you bitch about the most are what keeps you coming back for more.” I shook my head at her observation, and she smirked widely. “Must be a New Yorker thing, you people don't have your heads on straight.”
“Says the proud Lunatic,” I shot back, but couldn't help grinning as I did. “So, what were you up to for the last two days?”
“Getting my fighter craft certifications up to date.”
“What's that got to do with Rhi-” I started to ask, even as I realized what she was implying. I leaned forward, narrowing my gaze on her for managing to dangle this factoid under my nose for so long in our conversation without me catching on. “She was in charge of the fighter wing, wasn't she?” When she nodded, and I sat up again, shaking my head slowly. “Congrats.”
“Eh, I figure it's probably only temporary,” she dismissed, much more casually that I expected given my knowledge of how much she likes small agile spacecraft. “Despite my preference for smaller craft, the fleet seems to like to put me in charge of the helm of large ships. I was probably one of a small list of people on this ship with all the right craft ratings on my record, lapsed or not.” She finally allowed the toothy grin I'd been expecting, and I nodded at her. “I'll enjoy it while it lasts, though. It'll be nice to get some time in the fighters.”
“Got anything planned for leave?” I asked her after we'd eaten quietly for a few minutes. She shrugged at me.
“I'll probably find Toby, if he's on Earth right now, and I'm sure I'll get a karaoke fix in at some point. You should come along for that, it's fun.”
“I don't do that sort of thing,” I quickly insisted, turning my attention down to my plate. She clicked her tongue at me, and I made a point to ignore it.
“You used to date an opera diva.”
“She wasn't a diva at the time.”
“But someone like that doesn't usually go from lacking interest in music to being a star overnight. She had to drag you out for karaoke at least once.” I looked up at Diziara's insistence, and she wasn't harsh in the look she was directing at me, like I had expected. Her head was tilted to one side, something I'm still not even sure she realizes she does, and she seemed genuinely curious and surprised by reaction to her questioning.
“She tried,” I admitted with a sigh. “I just sat and drank, while she and her friends sang.”
“I'll have to see what I can do to fix that,” she insisted, and thus returned the lunatic I'd become so used to over the years. I suspected I was going to regret my admission, but I couldn't waste time thinking about it, the damage was done. “My favorite karaoke place has a sister location in that damned city of yours, and I've been meaning to check it out. Also, I need an opera fix. I'll have to check in with The Met, see what they have available in their cancellations while we're on Earth.” I stared blankly at her at the mention of opera and the Metropolitan Opera House, and her head tilted again. “What?”
“You like opera?” I asked her quietly.
”You didn't know? I knew who the hell your old girlfriend was, and she's known for being an amazing Opera Diva...”
“She's also known for her Klingon flavored Shakespeare. I thought that was where you recognized Sky from... that's all you'd mentioned.”
“What's the big deal?”
“I've just never heard you speak favorably of anything located within New York.” When all she did was giggle over this, I elected to let the subject lie.
“Are they giving you leave?” she finally asked me, and I looked at her a moment, considering the expression on her face.
“Most of what we're in for is being done by the crews at the shipyards, but I do have to pull a shift to start and end leave, to help turn the ship over to the shipyard crews, and to clean up their mess when they're done.” She snorted at this, and I narrowed my eyes at her. “I've managed to dodge Ma the last few times I've been on Earth, I should probably actually check in on her while we're here.”
“Your non-birthday is going to land in the middle of leave, isn't it?” Her question caught me flat footed, I actually wasn't sure what day it was at first, then the math flipped through my head.
“Oh, yeah. Ma'll probably be ecstatic I'm planet-side on my non-birthday for once... unless you want to save me and make some plans first?” I sat up, smiling as hopefully as I could. She giggled.
“Karaoke. We'll hit Fly Me to the Moon on your non-birthday. Sound good?”
“I suppose it's better than one of Ma's home cooked meals and catholic preaching.” I sighed, and she grinned widely.
“I'll even be a sweetheart, and not wear my I heart New York shirt for it,” she teased, provoking a growl. Topics drifted to small talk, a holodeck program she's working on, interrogating me on the upgrades we were putting into the shipyards for, and the ranged cattleprod the Lieutenant Commander and I had worked on together. She picked my brain in particular about the upgrades to the universal translators and communications systems, as Svetlana's New Siberian language seems to render nothing but static through the universal translators, so she was curious if these upgrades would make any difference to that. I had to honestly admit I didn't know if they would make a difference or not.