Starbase Elipson - Day 33 - Evening - Open/Unfinished

[nurse_cchapel]

Somehow, two medical professionals' afternoon of shopping had evolved into an evening at the bar, because one of them had suddenly remembered it was karaoke night. For whatever reason, it was decided karaoke night would be the perfect way to cap off their visit to Starbase Elipson. And with their combined education and experience, of course they

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[my_god_man]

Well, they'd had a fun afternoon of Medical staff bonding. And even just Christine and Leonard bonding. And they had themselves a damn fine coffeemaker and enough good quality coffee to hopefully last them to next shore leave. The goods had all been dropped off at the room Leonard had rented on station. Doing his best to avoid any mention of the obvious reason for it, of course. They were better friends now. That didn't make Christine his diary

[nurse_cchapel]

Upon his approval, Christine started to weave them through the tables to their target. Of course, his question required her to shoot an amused look over her shoulder.

"You say 'others' as if we'll be getting up there ourselves, Leo," she teased. Truth be told, the stage was looking damn good right now to a girl who hadn't been on one in months, after practically growing up in the theatre. She'd always been more confident in her dancing and acting, but had been known to break out in song when the situation called for it. Especially when the situation called for it and she'd had a drink or two.

This could be her teen years all over again.

[my_god_man]

The grin she got back clearly said all there was to say about the 'ourselves' comment. Leonard waggled his brows at her as they took their seats. "Oh you can't tell me that stage isn't temptin'. I remember you once mentionin' singin' lessons once, yeah? Betcha could out-sing everyone in here."

[nurse_cchapel]

She slid just inside the booth, laughing a little. The man made a good point. "Yes, the stage looks cozy, but that doesn't mean I'll be getting up there." She paused thoughtfully to take a drink of the rather potent red thing who's name she forgot already. "Not this sober, at least."

[nurse_cchapel]

Whatever the red drink was - she still wasn't sure, and she'd even asked the bartender and got a muttered reply - it was Christine's favourite thing ever. Probably wouldn't be come morning, because she'd only had two and she was already up on stage, not just singing, but downright performing.

Mic in hand, some part of her subconscious apparently found it imperative she also throw in a collection of jazz-tastic grapevines and cross-steps (not to mention a near continuous string of hip movements) to go with the swinging, immortal music of Irving Berlin.

And, while some part of her brain was going 'you are going to regret this, Christine', the better part of it was just thrilled to bits when she got applauded when it was over. Tripping a little from laughter and inebriation, she left the stage, thinking about getting another drink before making her way back to Leonard and the others.

[im_a_donnie]

Donnie was still counting pi to deal with his agoraphobia 3.14159265... and the fact that the place was packed to the ceiling with what seemed like every single crew member of the Enterprise wasn't helping. His face was popping with sweat, and why had he agreed to this again? ...358979323846264... And who the hell was that crooner? That was making him even more anxious.

He glanced up and...and just stared. For a moment the people around him became mushy and transparent and he just saw her. What the fuck was she doing? His face read perplexed, but started following her to where she went. At least he'd go to someone he knew.

He wiped off sweat from his forehead. He was in civvies.

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty had headed on over with him after Chris commed, in civvies himself and planning to get trashed. "Hey, anyone in there?" he said, slightly bewildered by Donnie's dead stop in the middle of the room. That was, until he followed his gaze and saw...bloody hell. Way to go Chris. As she finished her song he joined in the chorus of cheers and catcalls, whistling loudly.

[nurse_cchapel]

Sidestep this chair... fistbump that Yeoman... apologies for running right into that person. Yep. She could do this. Noooo problem.

"Ohmygod, I'm so sorry I just - " Being turned around to apologize meant she caught sight of her invitees, one looking mildly terrified and the other one looking... well, damn good in that jacket. "Donnie! Mister Scott! Hey!"

Christine started on Donnie, first, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug, then, planting a kiss on his cheek, exclaiming, "Orange is so your colour!"

Scott, next, then, with a hug and kiss and, "I'm so happy you came. So, soooooo happy."

[nurse_cchapel]

Leaving Donnie, Christine mananged to only run into a few things on her way to the entrance. "Nyota!" she greeted loudly when she seemed close enough.

A bit closer, she threw her arms around the other woman. "I'm happy you're here."

[nurse_cchapel]

"Pointy ears isn't around, don't you worry," she promised her with a smile. "And don't drink the red things because they get you wasted way too fast."

Stepping back, Christine took Nyota's hand and tugged her towards the bar. "You need a different drink and then to come sit with us."

[im_a_donnie]

Donnie was at the bar. He was idly flipping through available songs out of curiosity on a nearby monitor while waiting for his drink. He glanced behind him at the continued conversation at the booth. His perception of people was immediately changing and he wasn't comfortable with it, not one bit.

"Try something from Earth," the female bartender recommended. Though it was obvious that she wasn't from Earth in the least. If Donnie were to describe her the word 'crustacean' would probably come up in the summation of her appearance. "Look at your audience, buddy. We may be in the 23rd century but 90 percent of you guys are from Earth. You really think Bolian pop music from ten years ago is going to appease them?"

"N-no," Donnie argued, "I wasn't planning on--I was just--"

"Here, good decade in Earth history, popular song. Bet you'd win over everyone with that. C'mon we have a dry spell. I need to keep these people singing. And here's a little inspiration on the house. Cutie."She slid over a shot glass. Red usually meant stop. Yellow

[my_god_man]

Well, it looked like someone had just sneaked in another round of karaoke when they weren't looking. Leonard was polishing off his second drink, to work on the third that Scotty had brought, when some pretty decent notes made their way to his ears. He turned, then swallowed hard in some surprise. Donnie? Damn, the man was full of surprises. Who knew all it took was enough alcohol to unlock them?

Something itched annoyingly at the back of his memory. To get rid of it, he took a few more drinks. If his brain didn't think he should be remembering, who was he to argue?

Leonard knew the piece and actually swayed a little to the melody. Unconsciously hummed along very softly. It was a tune his family used to round robin a lot. The words also made him think more about Chris. When the song ended, Leonard shot up and made just as much noise for Donnie as he had for his other friends. The man had done quite well, on many fronts, despite the odds. He deserved no less.

[nurse_cchapel]

In life, some things were good ideas and some things were bad ideas. Getting drunk and snuggling up to the Chief Engineer while the xenobiologist and her had a face-making competition across the table probably all fell in the bad idea category.

Getting Donnie out and tipsy and accidentally up on stage and being awesome was not a bad idea. In fact, it was so good, Christine wished she'd thought of it sooner. At the end, between the CMO and HN, their table was easily the loudest in the joint. But it was deserved. Because Donnie... wow.

Except now she was torn between staying where she was and running up to give Donnie the biggest, scariest hug he'd ever had. Dilemmas sucked, she decided, just staying put for the moment.

[im_a_donnie]

Donnie came back to the table with a nervous recognition of the praise. He drummed his fingers on the table and grabbed an ignored glass of water from the middle of everyone. He took a long drink and acknowledged everyone again.

"For the record," he said, a finger going up in point, "an agoraphobic with stage fright going on stage should provide no excuse to anyone else for denying their fate in celebrating this time honored tradition of singing to a track of a song you only vaguely remember in front of a bunch of people who look like a mass of molded gelatin dessert." Paused to add, "With the proper inspiration--" He tapped Scotty's nearby glass. Then rethought and tapped Uhura's glass as well.