(closed) may have been clouds or sun

[scholiast]

who: lucretia + ye
what: quick catch-all
when: august to september ish? good lord
where: here there everywhere
warnings: n/a will update if necessary

Comments

for dancingmd ♡

[scholiast]

(So Lucretia and Beverly are taking a weekend off from... well, everything. Beverly had pitched her the idea one quiet evening and had offered the use of the holodeck to get off planet for a while, an idea that had proved deeply appealing. Having been here for more than a year now is making Lucretia antsy, like she needs to leave and go be somewhere else. It's hard to convince herself she's here for good, or at least here until the portal opens back up to take her home.

So, while this isn't a solution by any means, it will at least be a nice distraction. Or would be if Beverly would stop being so secretive about where they're going! She had deigned to tell Lucretia to pack for weather to go swimming in, so she's assuming it's a beach of some sort but... if it's that mundane, why is she hiding it!)

Now will you tell me, (she wheedles, leaning a little on her bag as they approach the door to the holodeck out on the sidewalk,) or are you going to keep me in the dark right up until we get there?

[dancingmd]

Oh that would be too easy now, wouldn't it?

(The anticipation is half the fun! Beverly's been sneaking out of the apartment a few hours every day to work on this new program. She wants to get every detail right, not only for Lucretia, but for herself as well. Where they're going is a place that means a lot to her.)

In fact... (Beverly pulls a blindfold out of her pocket and holds it out to Lucretia to put on.)

[scholiast]

Beverly, (she protests, but there isn't any genuine irritation behind her whine. Lucretia likes that she's being playful about it. Her only concern is that she may die from the curiousity of it all, so she takes the blindfold impatiently and slips her glasses off, wrapping it around her head.

Once it's tied, she blindly gropes for her girlfriend's hand, finding her arm by patting her way though the air and trailing down to link their fingers together.)

Okay.

[dancingmd]

(Nobody dies of curiosity. Trust her. She's a doctor! Beverly takes Lucretia's hand with a small chuckle and a kiss to her temple.)

Don't worry, it won't take long now.

(She leads Lucretia into the holodeck and calls out:) Computer! Play "Caldos-One."

(The computer chirrups in acknowledgement. Suddenly, there's a cool breeze caressing Lucretia's skin while skylarks sing overhead. Wherever they are has a nice wet, earthy smell to it, like it's just rained. Beverly carefully walks Lucretia forward over rocky ground that soon gives way to sand.)

Okay. Are you ready?

(Teasing, of course. Lucretia's been pestering her for days about where they're going. She's more than ready. Beverly reaches up to untie the blindfold, revealing the stunning scene before them. Old, old mountains covered in the greenest grass you've ever seen are ringed around a bright blue lake and in the distance, there appears to be some sort of castle ruin. At the other end of the lake is a small village with sheep dotting the hills beyond.)

What do you think?

[scholiast]

(What if Lucretia is the first case, huh?? That would show her.

She mollifies a little at the kiss to her temple though, squeezing her hand as Beverly carefully guides her into the corridor of the holodeck, down toward and through the bright orange door. 'Caldos' sounds familiar... she's still trying to place it when the simulation loads up, and she suddenly has a million other things to concentrate on instead.

Beverly unties her blindfold just as Lucretia reaches up to push it down around her neck; she can't help smiling at the scenery. It's lush, is what she notices first. So green, a little like Riverview in that regard. The mountains are absolutely breathtaking, mossy, imposing. The lake they circle is so calm in contrast.

Lucretia turns slowly on the spot, taking everything in with delight.)

It's beautiful, Beverly. (She's programmed it perfectly.) Where are we?

[dancingmd]

Caldos. The planet Nana and I moved to after Arvada. She still lives here, though her town is... (She spins 180 degrees and points in a direction opposite the lake) Several hundred kilometers that way.

(She turns back to Lucretia.)

This is the Lake District, a popular vacation spot in the summer. Mainly because the rest of the year, it's too cool and foggy. The whole colony on Caldos was terraformed about a century ago to look like Scotland, an ancient country on our homeworld of Earth. Most of my ancestors were from Scotland, so I suppose Nana thought it'd be good for me to get back to some of my roots.

[scholiast]

(A popular vacation spot huh... Lucretia privately likes that the hologram means they can have the scenery all to themselves! Thanks to all the fraught commotion of the last week, she's still isn't up to being around a lot of people.)

This is Earth too? (She understands that it's Caldos, she's just reacting to now finally looking at something visually matching the planet she's heard so much about. She remembers it from Beverly showing it to her on one of the Enterprises' screens the first time they had visited the holodeck: marble-like, blue and green and white swirls.

That's sweet, that they copied it in order to feel more at home... though it saddens her to think something may have happened to the original. She turns back to Beverly, smiling, curious.) What are people from 'Scotland' like?

[dancingmd]

(Don't worry, there wasn't much to the original. The Federation only allows terraforming on lifeless worlds to begin with.)

Only one small part of Earth. Scotland's not very big at all - its a country on the tip of an island. I've only been a few times, but it is beautiful.

(She grins.)

And there are a lot of redheads there.

[scholiast]

Oh, okay.

(She's trying to make sense of it all, but it's hard when she doesn't have any concept of scale. Thankfully Beverly distracts her from trying to quantify Scotland's position with everything else!)

Really? You'll fit right in, then.

[dancingmd]

(Beverly laughs.)

You know, there's a time when I was a teenager that I actually hated my hair?

[scholiast]

Really?

(She looks mock-taken aback,) but it's so beautiful!

[dancingmd]

(She shakes her head.) I didn't think so, at the time. I wanted dark hair. So I tried dying it and (She pulls a face) Oh, it was awful! But I certainly learned my lesson!

[scholiast]

(Now she's laughing: she can't imagine it! Beverly, with dark hair.)

We couldn't change what we looked like for longer than a year while aboard so– um, sometimes we did truly awful things to our hair just because we wouldn't have to deal with the consequences. That was fun.

[dancingmd]

(It was Bad.)

What kind of awful things?

[scholiast]

Oh, you know.

(Lucretia doesn't want to tell now, not with Beverly looking at her like that! She shrugs.)

We're here for a weekend, right? Whereabouts will we stay?

[dancingmd]

(Never fear, she'll worm it out of her later!)

Well, there are a couple of options. It depends on what you'd prefer, really - a tent or a cabin?

Yes it's rather insulting, this table

[tevinteraltus]

[ For all intents and purposes, the end table Dorian inherited from Jeff wasn't visual remarkable. Its paint was peeling, it isn't level. But it is quite a remarkable table. He's left it in his lab at work, of course, working on other projects near it, around it, but never on it. Preliminary tests have suggested it is enchanted in some capacity he's never seen. There are no runes to be found, no infusion of lyrium, but there's certainly something of a magical persuasion going on with it.

He learned that on day one. Now, he's simply let it stew, and the enchantment certainly is a marvel. And it adapts to the...inclinations of it's owner. And so it is that when Lucretia happens to stop by Dorian's laboratory and encounters the tragically colored table near the door, a voice, childlike if not for its cruelty, and of an indeterminate gender, issues forth from the piece of furniture. ]

Those shoes must've been a great deal at whatever rummage sale you scored 'em at, lady!

[ Across the room, a tome open on the desk before him, Dorian looks up at the voice. ]

Forgive the table. It seems to be enchanted to sling insults.

[scholiast]

Excuse me?

(Lucretia has paused by the entrance, staring curiously at the table; she glances down at her sensible, no nonsense footwear. Sure, they aren't very nice shoes but at least they aren't sneakers, which Taako has spent a solid century trying to impress upon her do not go with jeans (no matter how comfortable they are).

Dorian seems to have been reading at his desk.

Lucretia lets herself in over the threshold, glancing over her shoulder once more at the end table, which doesn't seem to have anything else to offer now that she's objected to it, and comes to join him. She has no qualms with apparently interrupting his work.)

Is it yours? Where did you find such a thing?

[tevinteraltus]

Actually, a friend found it for me. [ He slides a slip of paper between the book's pages before flipping it closed and standing, coming around his desk to greet her properly. Even at work, Dorian came in style, and he smiles as he approaches her, motioning toward the table in question. ]

Well, not for me specifically. He bought it from a man over the network, because he's foolish and thinks nothing through, and the enchantment laid upon it left something to be desired. I offered to take the errant furniture off his hands, and so here we are.

[scholiast]

(By contrast, even at work, Lucretia is dressed for comfort over style; she spent a lot of her chronicling and fieldwork days in jeans and plain shirts. It worked for her then, it works for her now. Still, she does appreciate his own style. It's very Dorian.

As for the table...)

Interesting. (She looks at it askance, tapping her fingers on her chin.) I didn't know it was possible to enchant furniture to talk. (Maybe because she's never considered it before. Why would somebody bother??) Do you mind if I...?

[tevinteraltus]

[ Fashion thrown by the wayside for the time-being, she's talking about that table, now, and the scholarly endeavor of its very existence was more important.

That should tell anyone exactly how important Dorian feels education and intellectual exploration are. ]

There are magics from some realities capable of such a thing without the employ of spirits, it's true. Currently, I've been toying with the theory of it having been an aesthetic enchantment, something to enhance the table's appeal, as it inherits traits from its owner, and as it's aged it's...degraded, but it's only a working theory.

[ He steps around his desk and motions. ]

Be my guest.

[scholiast]

(She nods as he talks, half her mind on the conversation, half on inspecting the desk. It doesn't look out of the ordinary in any way; though she didn't expect to find a visual tell. Magic doesn't often leave traces... unless you use more to find them.

There's an awkward pause during which Lucretia reaches for her wand, and realises it isn't there any more. Then, she simply brings both hands up in front of her to cast detect magic...

to no effect.)

That's odd. (She hadn't been expecting that either.) It has no magical signature that I can detect. You've probably tried that too, correct?

[tevinteraltus]

I have, yes. [He only responds after her inspection is completed. Maker knows he hates interruptions.]

I can find no traces of runes or other means of embuement, but I also don't detect any spirits.

[scholiast]

(Bless him, this simple act of kindness does not go unnoticed.)

Interesting. So it's a challenge, then.

(She looks very excited by this possibility.)

[tevinteraltus]

Indeed, and a free one at that. Jeff was rather...putt off by the furniture's criticisms in regards to his mother.

[And as if on cue, the table pipes up again.]

Hey lady, that guy's mom's got nothin' on you. Where'd you get those pants, anyway? Fantasy Walmart?

[And Dorian slowly arches a delicate eyebrow.]

That was rather uncalled for.