She put the lime in the coconut, she drank 'em both up.
"Your aunt is crazy, Pip," Zyrah said with a laugh, wrapping her arm around Grace's shoulder. Grace opened the front of her jumpsuit, and shrugged it off her shoulders as she skipped ahead of Zyrah and turned around to walk backwards in front of her friend.
"Eh, that's just the start of it. You should see her in a biplane. A. Maze. Ing." Grace pushed the jumpsuit down past her hips, leaving herself in just a black and pink hibiscus print swimsuit as she stepped out of the jumpsuit. Zyrah shook her head, and started to shed her jumpsuit also, exposing a red halter swim suit, as Grace stooped to pick her jumpsuit up.
"Shit, who would have thought orbital skydiving would be so fun?" Kizel demanded, running up the beach and catching Grace around the waist. She squealed as he threw her up over his shoulder.
"We're going to have to do that again," Boq commented, walking up behind Zyrah. Shelly was quiet as she followed on his heels.
"But first, I think there was talk of alcohol and partying," Kizel insisted, making his way to the path up off the beach. The group could hear talking, and music just past the cluster of palms lined the edge of the beach.
"That's everyone, Diz. Our boobie prize winners are Ensigns Boq, Bright, Eyn, Toza, and White," Rafael Castillo announced as the five friends moved past the palms. There were tables covered with food, bins full of ice and bottles of beer, and what looked like a minibar with a selection of harder alcohol. A volleyball game was going at one end of the area, and a limbo pole was set up in the middle.
"We can't have five boobs," Diziara objected with a giggle. "Should we put it to a vote, or a limbo contest?"
"We can always have the holodeck duplicate the hat, it would be fun to have five of them running around," Rafael returned, only to cause Diziara to pout.
"A hat?" Boq asked, stepping forward with a curious look on his face.
"A magnificent one, with feathers and everything," Diziara returned. Boq grinned as he looked back at his friends, all of which looked hesitantly at him.
"I'll be the boob, ma'am," he offered, drawing a wide grin from Diziara.
"Bring forth the Boobie hat!" she called, and everyone else started chanting boobie over and over again, until Rafael brought the hat. It stood easily a foot tall, with a rainbow of plumage sticking off the top. Diziara solemnly took it, and stepped forward, holding it up above her head and drawing the group silent. "For volunteering for the boobie prize, an honor reserved for the last person to arrive at the party, I award you this carefully crafted hat. Designed to be the most hideous and embarrassing thing known to the universe, and your required headgear for the rest of the party." She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, though snickers, giggles and snorts flitted through the assembled group. Boq knelt down in front of Diziara, and she grinned widely as she placed the hat on his head.
"I thank you for this honor, and I request booze in compensation," Boq returned, bowing carefully so as to not lose the top heavy hat from his head. As he stood up straight again, he was a sight, rainbow plumage jutting above his head, and a pair of bright orange and black swim trunks, conflicting merrily with his blue bolian skin. Diziara grinned widely, and swiped the bottle of Romulan ale that was sitting in the middle of the collection on top of the mini bar.
"Only a man confidant in his own skin could carry that get up so well, you deserve the best I have to offer," she insisted, and held out the bottle. He looked at it a moment, before accepting it and taking a pull direct from the bottle. When he offered it back to her, he blinked a couple times before he grinned.
"Romulan Ale?" he asked her quietly, and she nodded. "I must admit, that was my first time."
"I popped his Romulan Ale cherry!" Diziara cried with glee. Rafael started cheering, and soon the whole party was making a ruckus as Diziara grabbed Boq and spun him around in a kind of a dance. The bottle made its rounds among the party when Rafael collected it from Diziara as she danced past.
Boq was soon released to his friends again, and the music turned up. People clustered into groups that drifted together and apart slowly. Diziara walked about, listening on this conversation and that, occasionally adding a comment here or there as she went until she noticed that the arch had appeared and Rafael Castillo was currently standing at it in such a manner to block someone else's entrance into the holodeck.
"No sir, everything's under control, sir," Rafael was insisting, his arms crossed and looking down. Diziara frowned as she heard this, and headed over to see what was going on. As she got closer, her frown deepened and she growled.
"What the hell do you want?" she demanded, hand on her hip as she came to a stop next to Rafael. The taller man turned to look at her as her piercing gaze was firmly locked on the blue disturbance that was making a half assed attempt at filling the archway out to the corridor.
"You! Are. Creating. A. Disturbance!" Therav snapped, his antennae pointing at her in an accusatory fashion. She laughed.
"There is not a soul in any of the adjacent compartments, quarters or labs," she shot back, taking a step forward and moving into his personal space. He looked up at her, but not in any manner that implied any inequality, unless it was on her part. "Besides, I borrowed Giannini for the night, in order to tell me if we were violating some rule that I forgot about." Therav took a step into the holodeck, brushing past her with a grumble deep in his throat as if her last statement was an invitation. When he spotted his underling, bottle of beer in hand and talking to a woman in a string bikini, he made a noise in the back of his throat. "Unofficially, of course. He wouldn't dream of drinking on duty," she added, though her tone came across heavily sarcastic.
"Of course," Therav muttered, clearly missing the implication of her tone of voice. Rafael couldn't help laughing a little, to which Diziara grinned and elbowed him in the ribs.
"Giannini, tell your boss man everything's kosher," Diziara yelled over her shoulder. Giannini's attention quickly turned to the group at the entrance into the holodeck, and suddenly he stood straight upright, beer bottle hidden behind his back.
"I'm not the one who calls him boss," Giannini returned, drawing a giggle from Diziara. "Pukey probably wouldn't have been able to get Kitty's permission to come, even if we'd wanted him here... for some strange reason." Diziara crossed her arms, and waited, even as Therav grumbled at Giannini's statement. "Right, um... holodeck reservation's in order, Sir. All the neighboring compartments are empty at this time of the night, thus avoiding any concerns of noise complaints, and everyone here is off duty, so reasonable alcohol consumption is not against regs. Sir." Giannini topped his report off with a salute, drawing a laugh from both Diziara and Rafael.
"And, in case someone does go overboard, we have two medical personnel on hand, volunteering in their off duty hours, of course. Ensign Michaels and Crewman Trippett," Diziara added, indicating Eddie and AJ who had taken up with Grace and her crew. Therav's gaze followed to where Diziara indicated, and his antennae twitched. "Unless there is something I missed, which I very sincerely doubt, there is no reason for you to continue to disturb my bonding exercise with my fighter squadron."
"Bonding exercise?" He seemed surprised and irritated to hear Diziara call it that.
"It's going better than bowling did," she returned. At this he growled again, turned, and marched out of the holodeck.
"What's eating him?" Rafael demanded.
"Eh, Noelle's probably working doubles again or some shit," Diziara dismissed, and turned her back on the arch as it faded out of view again. "I'm in the mood for body shots. Anyone else game? Giannini, get your tight ass over here and take some body shots." Rafael laughed as Giannini was quick to collect something ice cold and high proof to arrive at Diziara's side with. "I'd offer to let you play, but I can only assume your girlfriend might not be happy with it," Diziara directed at Rafael.
"Giannini can take my share of the body shots. Someone's gotta stay sober in case the blue terror returns." Diziara laughed, taking the bottle of alcohol from Giannini.
As more alcohol was consumed, people started to relax and enjoy themselves. Silly bets were exchanged, feats of skill and stupidity occurred and overall it was clear everyone was enjoying themselves. Diziara eventually sat down to observe for a bit, and Rafael noticed, joining her.
"Seems like this is going well," he observed, sitting on the table next to her. She nodded, and took another sip of her purple drink. "What's that?"
"Something Spiegel introduced me to, calls it a Succubus Napalm. Here, try it." She held out her glass and Rafael shook his head.
"I saw you fill more than half that glass with Romulan Ale, it'll leave me flat on my ass."
"You've become a lightweight since the Remington," she teased, waving the glass under his nose. He finally growled, snatching the glass from her, and took a sip. She giggled when he shook his head quickly after swallowing, and handed the glass back to her.
"The sugary shit will kill you," he insisted, and she smirked as she took another sip. "Our party on Remington wasn't anywhere near this good."
"I had to wait until I got a feel for Khazara before I started pulling out the contraband to share. Even if people don't drink it, they have a tendency to let their hair down if there is illegal shit present, usually means you can get away with more."
"That's right, you actually cared what Khazara thought of you... and now you have Johnson-"
"If you go down the Admiral's pet path, I will kick your ass for all our squadron to see. I'm sure AJ and Eddie can patch you up well enough you can still perform your duties when I'm done with you." Even as she said this, she grinned wide, and Rafael shook his head.
"You are fucking insane," he told her, reaching over to grab a beer from the bucket at the end of the table. "We need to start sparring again. I've missed that."
"What happened to staying sober in case of any further blue harassments?" she asked, taking the beer bottle from him. She caught the cap in the opener attached to the table, and handed it back to Rafael after a quick twist of her wrist to open it.
"Usually he comes back within an hour if he's going to be a repeat pest. We're probably good now. Besides, if he believes that Giannini's here to serve in an advisory capacity, he likely won't waste his time in trying to nail us, as he'll assume either we will play by the rules, or we'll cover our tracks with our inside man."
"He seems to take perverse pleasure in harassing me though. Did I tell you about how he shot me in the back?"
"You've told everyone about that, well, everyone you can without actually filing a report on the incident. He'd probably get hung for that, if you turned him in." Rafael took a swig of his beer, and Diziara sipped her Succubus Napalm.
"You know, I didn't even think of that. But I don't see the fleet having the proper resolution. He insulted my honor, I don't give a flying fuck if he violated regs, or not, in doing so. Hell, you know me, when have I given a fuck about the regs other than how the punishment might cramp my style?" She gestured with her drink as she said this, and Rafael shook his head slowly, with the occasional sip of his beer.
"Quite honestly, I'm surprised they haven't washed you out of the fleet, with how much of chaos follows in your wake. Don't get me wrong, I like the chaos, but I know the brass doesn't."
"They did dump me on 668, should have ended my career there. That was my assignment before this one. I still don't fully understand how I managed to get out of there, but I know Johnson was involved in it."
"Which explains why you get so defensive whenever someone so much as jokes about you being his pet. There's something off about him, leaves me with the hairs standing up on the back of my neck sometimes."
"You noticed that too, huh? Did you meet that guy he had with him last time he was here, Voralis Cryn?" Rafael shook his head at this question, and Diziara took another drink before she continued. "If you think Johnson sets off your radar, you should try staring down Cryn. Spook job if I ever met one. He and Johnson are pretty buddy buddy, and it's not clear who's working for who, even if Johnson appeared to be the one giving the orders." The two of them sat in silence, watching the rest of the party until Giannini walked up.
"I really should call it a night, but I was kind of hoping..." he said to Diziara. She laughed.
"Kind of hoping to get fucked tonight?" she finished for him, and he glanced at Rafael.
"No worries man, I've been there before. Would go there again if my girlfriend wasn't so great," Rafael said with a chuckle. Giannini turned back to Diziara.
"Yes, ma'am," he said, grinning wide. Rafael chuckled again, and Diziara shook her head as she clicked her tongue.
"What have I told you about calling me ma'am?" she demanded, then emptied her drink. Giannini hung his head. "Go wait for me in my quarters, I have to make sure everyone gets back to their quarters okay when we clear out. Then I'll punish you, and if you're good, I'll fuck you when I'm done with that." Giannini grinned again, and hurried off. Diziara jumped off the table, and Rafael stood with her.
"We have to do this again when we have leave for the whole ship the next day, so we don't have to cut it off so early next time," Rafael told her, as they strode towards the middle of the party.
"You're only saying that because you offered to take one for the team and work the morning after shift," she chastised him, provoking a grin. The party had pretty much wound down by this point, and everyone noticed as Diziara and Rafael had stopped in the middle of the group. A few words were said, she eyed her underlings carefully, and finally dismissed them. They started filtering out the doors in pairs and groups until she and Rafael were the only ones left behind. They collected the alcohol from the minibar, and put it into a bag for her to carry back to her quarters. When they parted ways at the turbolift, she gave him a hug and insisted she had to meet his girlfriend at some point.