Joint Personal Log - Cn duPont & Sally Moffat - "She Comes In Colors Everywhere"

Posted on Sun Aug 31st, 2014 @ 11:05pm by

2,710 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?

The reputation of both the new lounge and its new keeper had spread wide. Wide enough that even the enlisted mess was abuzz with talk about it. It wasn't just an officer's lounge anymore, the new contract for civilian management meant that it was general access now. Cecil had been dying to explore it, but he'd been so busy tending to his Captain's needs that he hadn't had the time... until now. Now that the ship was out of those dreadful Klingon shipyards, headed instead to the dreadful Klingon home world for leave in a resort owned by a Ferengi, Cecil had a moment to himself and was going to treat himself to a nice dinner, and hopefully some conversation, in this new oasis of socialization.

He approached the bar, noting a couple people sitting and eating at it, as well as others drinking and talking in intimate little groups. He settled on a stool and looked for someone to help him.

"Aaaaand..what may I get for you Sir on this Summers evening not that you'd know it was a Summers evening by looking outside ofcourse but the date and chrono say that it is so we just have to imagine it don't we do you know that we have a full selection of wines and spirits to suit all tastes and we now do delicious meals from gourmet to a simple snack that will so delight your palate that you'll wonder why you havent been here before." she declared, reeling off the patter she had been told to mention to every new customer.
She looked at Cecil closely.
"You haven't been here before have you.." she asked in another cascade of words "..because Im new here myself so wouldnt know but if you have then welcome back and if you havent we have a fine selection of wines and spirits to suit all tastes as you know because I just told you."
She beamed at him and tapped her finger on the bartop.

Cecil chuckled, raising an eyebrow at the very enthusiastic bartender. "I hadn't had the pleasure yet, as until the renovation this had been an officers only lounge," Cecil admitted. "What do you recommend?"

"Depends on what you want." Sally replied and tilted her head a little as she observed the dark haired man in front of her. "Are you hungry or just in need of a drink " she asked " or perhaps both yes we welcome all the riff raff in here." She began to laugh but stopped suddenly, her eyes growing a bit wider as she looked to left and right along the bar.
"Sorry I shouldnt have said that " she told him in a confidential manner " but my old boss Mr Brewster used to say it all the time and the customers there didnt mind at all and lets face it some of them 'were' riffraff sorts not that theres anything wrong with that because they were the nicest kindest people you could ever wish to meet....mostly." she added as a memory or two sprang to her mind. She pushed the thought away. "Ofcourse 'this' place is very different to that and Mr Bernard wouldnt like me calling his customers riffraff even if they were not that he'd let them in he's rather particular."

Cecil had opened and closed his mouth a couple times to respond in the middle of the woman's speech, then decided to wait for her to run out of steam a moment before finally getting a chance to answer her. "A meal and a drink, please. Why don't you just surprise me?" He winked at her, and leaned forward to rest his chin on his hand with his elbow on the bar top. "Mr Bernard has caused quite a stir among the crew already. Particular is not a word I'd heard used in association with his name yet, but there are other words that could be assumed to mean something similar... but aren't fit for polite company, so I won't sully your ears with them." He grinned at her.

Sally reached for a glass, her interest already aroused as to what the crew were saying. She knew little of Mr Bernard apart from the short initial meeting but he had been very busy at the time so, she thought, that excused him from chatting. He liked things done as to his specifications and they needed to be done quickly but then again, that could be a good thing could it not?

"What sort of stir?" she asked adding ice to a glass of pale amber liquid and smiling to him as she handed it across the bar.

Cecil accepted the glass without looking at it yet. "He's been asking for all sorts of special accommodations, if you listen to the gossips down in the enlisted mess," Cecil explained with a shrug. "Something about wanting a horse on the ship? I guess someone overheard him in the corridors talking about it to Waterhouse." Cecil laughed with a head shake. "Who would want a horse on a starship?"

"A horse?" Sally said and laughed too " thats too silly who's Waterhouse back in a min." and before Cecil could utter a word she moved to a small work station tapped in a few commands and returned to the bar looking expectantly at her customer as if she had never left him.

Cecil couldn't help an amused head shake while her back was turned, quickly hiding behind a sip of whatever she'd handed him to drink as she turned back. "She's the ship's XO. Showed up wearing a gray intel uniform, jumped in and started fixing things while we were all but down a command staff, and next thing you know, she's been named XO. Overnight rise to power, I tell you. She's either crazy or blessed; I haven't found out enough yet to be willing to lay gold pressed latinum on which it is."

"Intel.." Sally almost whispered the word " and how do you find out oh that was quick be right back"
A swing door had been opened by a chef a little further along the bar where the huge mirror ended. A call of "Mixed salad ready to go" sent Sally scuttling in his direction and she was back in a few moments holding a tray which she placed in front of him.
"There you go" she said with a smile " a mixed salad which I hope you will enjoy as lots of people do because its healthy and surprisingly tastey if you add the sauces and can chew leaves if you want meat I can arrange it for you but lots of people dont like the thought of eating what was once a little animal running about and I thought you looked that kind how do you find out?" she ended folding her arms and leaning on the bar ready to learn.

He considered the salad in front of him. He had asked her to surprise him, and that is exactly what she'd done. The absolute last thing he expected was a salad, but at least it looked like a good one. "I mostly find things out by listening. Listening to people complaining about things, listen to conversations held in front of me — you'd be surprised how many people will ignore a yeoman with a PADD, just paying attention to who sits with in the mess or the lounge, or who has meetings with who. There's a lot of data that can be collated, and a lot of things figured out from it." He picked up the cup with what looked like a vinaigrette in it, and drizzled it on top of his salad. Then his fork found a big hunk of tomato, and he took a bite. "Is this a real tomato? Not replicated?"

"Oh it's real " she said dismissively " and I suppose as a Yeoman you get to listen to lots of people as you go about your job rather like I will do here" she added looking around the small part of the lounge that she could see. " I dont know anyone yet except you ofcourse." She looked back at Cecil, watched him spear a baby Beetroot and smiled to him when he met her eyes.
"I'm Sally" she said " and very pleased to meet you Mr....."

"duPont, Cecil duPont," he introduced himself. "And the pleasure is all mine." He grinned at her. "I was just going to say, if it was replicated, it's a very good pattern, but it is true what they say, you can tell the difference between real and replicated. Is it your first day?"

She nodded, still smiling, pleased to meet such an interesting man and pleased that he seemed to like the food.
"First day at work but arrived yesterday and so far Ive been allowed to wipe the tables and the bar, polish glasses, sweep the floor and serve drinks and bar food under supervision ofcourse David is keeping an eye on me thats him down there"

She waited a moment then waved her hand madly when the Bartender at the far end of the bar, looked in her direction.
"He's very nice " she continued leaning again on the edge of the bar but not too close to Cecils tray " he gave me a Ginger Beer to welcome me in and it was a very good one I can recommend it if you like that sort of thing has a real bite to it but I shall graduate to laying tables in the restaurant and eventually serve there as well but thats a long way off because Mr Bernard has the final say in everything here."
She sounded happy with the fact and spoke with pride about the ladder of promotions she wished to climb.

"Good luck on a quick promotion," he offered. "I only recently became the Captain's yeoman, before that I was languishing in the lower decks. Doing paperwork still sucks, but the view's better from the bridge."

"The Captains Yeoman?!"
Sallys exclamation resulted in a few people glancing in their direction including David who, Sally saw, raised a finger to his lips in a gesture to keep the volume down.
"You're the Captains Yeoman?" she asked more quietly, obviously excited by this news. "you go on the Bridge the real Bridge with the captain wow"

Cecil grinned wide with pride. He loved his job. "It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. Our captain's pretty great too, she shared tea with me one time while we pulled a late night working on paperwork so we could leave the shipyards."

Sally looked at him in awe, unable to believe who she was looking at and for a few moments, words were lost to her as her thoughts tumbled more quickly than usual through her overactive mind.
"You work on the Bridge, know people in Intel and take tea with the Captain" she eventually managed to say " Ive never met anyone like you before except ofcourse an ex friend of mine who said he was an undercover agent but I dont think he was really because he didnt like ice in his drink and all undercover people do that its a well known fact would you like a top up?"

He nodded to her offer to refill his drink, and considered her comment about ice. He hadn't heard that one before, and couldn't recall if he'd seen Waterhouse with ice in her drinks or not. "Where'd you hear about the ice thing? Though I think you're right about your ex-friend, why would he tell you he's an undercover agent? Who admits to that?"

His not knowing surprised her."It's in all the films!" she said and, adopting a gruff voice and doing her best to look mean and moody, added: " On the Rocks" then beamed a smile to him which faded again as she answered his question.
"I think he was trying to impress me and I'm sorry to say that he did right up until he gave me the bracelet at least I 'think' it was a bracelet because it was in the right size of box although it could have been a necklace I suppose I dont know because I didnt get as far as opening it"
She turned away to refill the glass and having done so and placing it near to his plate continued:"It came with a little card attached and that was pretty too with a little white dove carrying a heart in its beak it was very small and the writing on the back was difficult to read but I could make it out and guess what it said."

Cecil stifled a chuckle at her impression and the source of her 'fact' by taking a large bite of salad. He listened attentively as he chewed, then swallowed quickly when he realized he'd been prompted to assist with the narrative. "Come with me if you want to live?" he teased, fully expecting to get chastised before she continued the tale.
She shook her, leaned forward and said quietly: "Mt darling Bunnikins to remember last night" then stood back expecting a reaction.

He leaned back, an eyebrow raised, as he considered her. Clearly there was something he was missing, but he had no idea what. "I... clearly need to spend more time with Waterhouse, I really am not up on the latest spy stuff," he admitted, taking a stab in the dark.

For a fraction of a second she wondered what this had to do with the XO but didnt ask it.
Staring sadly at a piece of Little Gem lettuce she paused momentarily reliving the past then raised her head and said with a hint of defiance.
"I said to myself 'Sally' I said 'why is he calling you Bunnikins and theres nothing to remember about last night except that you washed your hair unless he means the quiz show because 4 was a good score' but no I knew in a flash that Bunnikins wasnt me and that last night something happened that didnt include me in it so I handed the box back and told him to give it to Bunnikins whoever she is and have a good life havent seen him since and neither do I want to with all his undercover stuff oh he was undercover alright probably undercover with Bunnikins" she ended darkly then gave Cecil a very appraising look.
"I wonder what the bracelet looked like." she said

"Sounds like you made the right choice," Cecil agreed. "The bracelet was probably a tawdry thing, would have tarnished in no time and one of the fake stones would have fallen out within the first month you had it. Usually is, with gifts from that type of man." Cecil poked at what was left of his salad and washed it down with the contents of his glass.

"You know you could be right" Sally replied thoughtfully "he had a lapel badge which he said was Intel related but I always thought it looked more like the logo of Benny's Fast Food."
Her eyebrows raised and lowered again as she thought things through, obviously coming to a happy decision because she smiled and said:
"Ah well nothing lost there anyway it's been a pleasure to meet you Cecil and I hope to do so again and please if you have enjoyed this meal remember to recommend the After Dark Lounge to your friends."
She offered her hand to shake as she delivered the closing lines of well rehearsed patter but genuinely meaning what she'd said about meeting him again for someone such as he, in Sallys estimation, was invaluable in more ways than one.

Cecil made mental note to look up what the logo of Benny's Fast Food looked like, and cross reference it against known intelligence groups — mostly out of a sense of personal curiosity. He clasped her outstretched hand and smiled at Sally. "The pleasure was all mine," he insisted as he stood up. "I'll certainly be back."

"Looking forward to it." Sally told him with her ready smile.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Sally Moffat
Bar Attendant
After Dark Lounge

Crewman Cecil duPont
Captain's Yeoman
USS Vindicator

 

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