Baubles and Tinsel

Posted on Tue Feb 25th, 2020 @ 3:40pm by Lieutenant Commander Meslina Amakawa & Lieutenant JG Rachael "Ripcord" Yamaguchi-Cullen & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 15: Old Ghosts
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 1900Hrs - December 4th, 2390

"Mom, you think the Tree looks okay?" Rachael inquired as she looked at it with an odd look on her face, Torilla likewise was looking at the tree but something about it seemed off to both women.

Torilla reached in and began sorting out a half dozen more branches. "Thats good mom... I'll start decorating while you get drinks."

Torilla smiled in a bemused expression as she responded. "By your leave." and with that she turned, making her way over to the replicator, the door beeped at them.

"Its Open!" Torilla called out.

"Greetings Commander, I heard that you were on board so I thought I would stop by and say hello." Meslina stated in a half- excited voice in knowing that her former CO was going to be serving on the same ship as her. Looking around she saw Racheal over by a tree, "hello there Racheal nice seeing you again as well. Looks like you are having fun with the tree."

Stepping inside the room she noticed that the tree was a giving the younger Yamaguchi a little trouble. "I haven't done this in a long time. Do you mind if I give you a hand in this?" She asked both the women.

Rachael regarded the visitor before she went over to the woman who was just about her equal in height before she gave her a big hug.

Meslina gave Racheal a hug to match the one that she was receiving and smiles up at the young girl.

Torilla smiled. "Meslina, What the fuck are you doing here?" she inquired.

Rachael looked at their visitor. "Yes... why are you here with us, in purgatory?"

Looking kind of sheepish at the inquiry she looks down a little, "well let's just put this way the Admiral did think I was doing my job very well and he pretty much said that I am to be re-assigned. So here I am and what do you mean purgatory? It can't be all that bad I mean I was given a promotion and I have you guys that I can talk to." She smiles a little bit at the end her spirits rising a little bit.

Torilla chuckled softly. "Well my day just got a lot better... and you should be in the Green Dragon around seventeen hundred hours for the nightly bar fights..." she explained. "I think Siaxx is ready to kill something.."

Meslina looked a little puzzled, "nightly bar fights? Is that really allowed on a Federation starship, I mean yeah it's more common on a Klingon ship. Also I haven't had the pleasure to meet Siaxx yet. Who is she?"

"She's our Chief Medical Officer.... be carefull, she might try taking you to bed.." Torilla added as Rachael chuckled. "Yum.."

Meslina is slightly surprised at that, "really the Chief Medical Officer... Well I hope I am not the one that she kills." At the last comment Meslina decides that she won't say anything about her being Bi-sexual so being taken to bed probably wouldn't bother too much.

Rachael suddenly smiled as she indicated the tree. "So... wanna help me with this?" she inquired with a smile.

Torilla placed the drinks on the coffee table as she sighed softly, she then sat down on the sofa as she closed her eyes.

"Yes I would be happy to help. Although there might be a slight issue with some of the taller branches." Meslina laughs a little as she tries to demonstrate her failure of reaching the top of a branch. As she helped Racheal with the tree she noticed that something seemed a little off from the last time that she saw the young girl. "So what's going on with you young one, you seem a little different from the last time I saw you."

Rachael raised an eyebrow as she regarded the other woman while she hung a bauble on the tree. "Oh... I'm still the same old me... I just finished going through the bloom." she explained before turning to her mother. "Mom.. go on to bed.. we got this.."

"You sure?" Torilla sounded exhausted.

"Yeah... go already... leave the two of us to whisper and plan evil deeds while you sleep..."

Torilla sighed as she slowly hauled herself to her feet. "your siblings are exhausting." she commented before leaving Rachael and Meslina alone to talk.

"Sleep well Commander," Meslina calls out to her as she heads for bed.

Rachael turned to Meslina. "I'm concerned... I've missed my cycle."
she explained. "I've been learning fighter pilot combat training in addition to my martial arts training."

Meslina nods a little bit, "does your mother know that you missed your cycle?" She placed some kind of ordainment on the tree something that could have possibly been from their home planet from the design. "I mean granted it's none of my business really but that's something that you should be discussing with her, I've never been pregnant nor do I think I will be since I've never been with a guy." Watching the younger girl she could tell that this topic is slightly unsettling for her. "I'm sorry if I worried you, you've been going through a lot of stress and that can sometimes cause you to miss your cycle, you could just have missed it from stress."

She heads to the table where the coffee was sitting and picks up a mug, taking a sip of it her face pinches together. "Ack.... this stuff is really strong. I'm sorry but I don't think I can drink this," she replaces it back into the replicator. "Anyways I'll make you a deal. If you can beat me in a fight without your psi abilities then I won't say anything or ask any more questions. However if I beat you I can and will keep in touch with you and help you with whatever I can, also you will have to let your mother know."

Rachael lifted her glass as she plucked it out of mid air, before taking a sip. "Alright... but first, lets decorate this tree.." she teen commented as she turned her gaze towards the bedroom. "Good... mom's asleep. she pushes herself too hard..." the teen commented softly. "she's almost ready to take her forth level black belt test.." she turned back to the woman who was the same size as her. "Do you guys have a holiday like Christmas?" the teen inquired. "where you give people gifts,. wrapped in paper and decorated with big festive bows.."

"That's pretty impressive for her, I'm glad I've had a chance to meet her and hopefully I will get a chance to spar with her as I did with you that one time. Though I'm also aware that she will have her hands full soon with the new-borns." Meslina said as she went to pick up the tinsel and started to work on the tree. Looking towards the bedroom she noticed that Racheal was indeed worried about her mother but at the same time she was also working hard.

Thinking about it Meslina had a slight frown before she gave her answer, "not really since my parents were always busy with their work we never had time for that sort of thing. Once in a while we would put up a tree but I would be the one at home while they were busy with something else, and unlike your family I don't have any brother's and sister's due to the fact that my mother had a hard time with my birth that it was decided to not try for any others." Meslina finished putting some tinsel on the bottom branches since it was a lot easier for her to reach.

Letting out a sad sigh Meslina turned to Rachael, "though I say that now I kind of wish I had more time with my parents. However I won't have the chance any longer."

Rachael regarded the older woman. "I'm sorry... what happened?" she inquired.

"They were killed when their shuttle was hijacked by a group of raiders, my father was a diplomat and my mother was a micro biologist and the planet that they were heading to had some unique life-forms that my mother wanted to study so she went with him. Granted I was in my mid twenties when this had all happened so I understood that it was really no one's fault but yet I still miss them dearly." Meslina felt the pain of her parents death but with years of having to deal with it she was able to suppress the urge to cry easy enough.

Rachael gently placed her hand on the older woman's shoulder. "But you still miss them.." she responded quietly.

Touching the girls hand and tilting her head to have it rest lightly on it she nods, "yeah I do. I mean what child wouldn't miss their parents?" She turned so she was looking at Racheal and looked back to the room where Torilla was sleeping in, "I'm sure you will miss your mother too, but I hope for your sake that it will be a long time in coming before you have to worry about that."

"Mom is having a rough time with this pregnancy.." Rachael admitted as she sighed softly, before placing a bauble on one of the tree branches. "I can hope.. but sometimes its a four letter word.."

"Hope is powerful when it is given strength by someone who really believe's in it. Or that's what my mother would always tell me, and you know what she was right sometimes." Meslina smiled faintly and gave some of her own hope that Rachael would remain happy and spirited. "Okay enough sad talk, we have best finish this before your mother wakes up and gives us an ear full for not doing this." She said as she had playfully wrapped some tinsel around the young girl.

Rachael chuckled softly as she gently plucked the tinsel off of her clothing as she draped it on the tree.. "Lets see..."

Watching the girl draping the tinsel on the tree Meslina thought about how she was going to beat her in a fight so that she would have to tell her mother about what's really going on, not to mention Meslina was truly glad that she had a few friends that was on board this ship as well. Helping her finish off the tree Meslina had gone to the chair and sat down and smiled at their handy work, "I think it looks good. How say you?"

Rachael regarded the tree as she powered up the lights. "Very nice.."
she teenager smiled. "I need to check on Mom..." she commented as she went over to the doorway to the master bedroom. "While Mom is pregnant, I watch over her... same as she watched over me.." Rachael regarded Meslina.

"That's really kind of you, I'll wait here if you want or I will come back later if you think that will be best." She said as Racheal had started to head towards her mother's room.

Rachael regarded Meslina. "Alright.. I don't want to keep you from anything pressing." the teenager responded as she opened her mothers bedroom door and peered inside.

"You're not, I just need to finish unpacking my belongings." Meslina stated smiling slightly.

Torilla was lying in bed, softly snoring, clearly very asleep and comfortable as she did so. "Sleep well mom." and with that she turned to leave, closing the door behind her.