Gifting [Backpost]

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 8:50am by Cailus Griffin & Huyo & Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Emilie Temple & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:54pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Pandora’s Box

A Mission Post by Captain Nycolas Temple & Emilie Temple & Lieutenant Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan PhD & Lieutenant Katniss Wakefield & Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin & Aoife Brennan & Huyo
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Pandora’s Box
Timeline:
Thu Jan 11th, 2018 @ 12:27pm



Katniss felt as though she was walking funny in these heels, she had changed into a beautiful evening dress, let her hair down and even applied some makeup, after what had just happened, this felt right.

She didn't often venture to the recreation deck and she could hear gentle laughter and the noise coming from Pandora's Box, her stomach had butterflies in, she didn't know how her presence would be taken but she was going to make the effort. With a deep breath and a smile and slowly walked into was now a rather full, bustling room.

With the party now in full flow and people seeming to enjoy themselves, Owen grabbed himself another drink as he took in the festivities being enjoyed by the crew. It was good to see them letting go after what seemed like such a recent dark time where their lives and the ship had been in danger from different enemies and anomalies out in the Expanse.

He noticed Lieutenant Wakefield enter the room and noticed that she had arrived in a beautiful evening dress, very much looking the part with her hair down as well. He grabbed a drink from one of the bar staff and politely went to greet her. "Welcome to the festivities, Lieutenant," he said. "Can I offer you a drink before you join in the fun?" he offered to her.

"Very kind Commander, thank you," she replied taking the drink on offer. "It's certainly busy in here this evening," she said looking out at the crowd. It was certainly larger than she was accustomed too, but she was going to make the effort.

Owen looked around and nodded in agreement with her. There were quite a few crew members in here and that gave him a warm glow to know that so many people where here and enjoying the merriment. He looked at Wakefield and offered her an arm.

"There are indeed quite a few of us here, however if you'll allow me, I'll happily escort you to suitable seating area that will help you to feel comfortable whilst you enjoy yourself in such a merry atmosphere," he offered.

Katniss smiled and took the Commander's arm, "Thank you, that would be nice." she replied.

Mindo entered Pandora's Box holding a bottle of tranya under his arm. He wore his white suit he'd bought at The Flying Pants about six months before. Activating his LEGs hovering apparatus, he was able to scan the crowd much better. He heard someone call his name and turned to look.

"Mr. Fancy Pants!" Came Nyx's call from a table by the wall. He and Emilie had been entwined together for most of the evening, arms and fingers wrapped around each other, cuddling like a pair of high school kids. But when Nyx saw the unmistakeable flash of the best dressed Chief Engineer he had ever seen, they unwrapped from each other and Nyx joyfully shouted, "Come sit with us!"

Mindo smiled and grabbed three empty glasses from the bar and headed toward the Captain.

"Have you ever had tranya, Captain?" he said, pouring the Captain, his wife, and himself a glass of the bluish liquid. "It's a native Feserian drink. This particular vintage comes from my home province. I keep a large stash in my quarters for such events."

“Can’t say that I have,” Nyx replied with a bemused smirk, as he subtly moved both of the offered glasses towards himself. He shared a look with Emilie and she smiled knowingly.

“I... have an early morning.” Emilie commented to Mindo, taking a sip from her glass of water instead.

Nyx raised one of the glasses in a toast, “Many happy returns.”

Mindo raised his glass. "To the Pandora!"

Shae took Cailus' hand and led him over to the holographic tree where Aoife the Reindeer 'guarded' a set of presents nestled under the boughs. The Elven-garbed Astrophysicist smiled as they saw crew enjoying themselves so merrily; Shae never could have guessed that the small little gestures that she and Huyo had started would become something quite so grand, but it warmed her heart to see the crew banding together in this way. She waved to Nyx, Emily and Mindo as she and Cailus passed them by, eager to share something special with Aoife and Cailus at the shimmering tree. Aoife was happy to see Cailus and held out the gingerbread cookie she had been eating, offering to share the delicious frosted morsel with her 'father'.

Cailus didn't quite smile, but there was undeniable warmth in his eyes as he crouched down to accept Aoife's 'present'...even if it was half-eaten and a little slobbered on.

"Thank you, Aoife," he said quietly, then at Aoife's innocent joy that he'd accepted her gift, he couldn't help but laugh. Standing back up, he carefully took a bite of a dry bit of the cookie as he looked at Shae, now smiling. "You've done a really good thing here, Shae. I think everyone needed this."

"It started as Huyo's idea, I just built on it," Shae said humbly, then knelt beside Aoife to pull out two brightly wrapped gifts from under the tree. "These are for you; I couldn't settle on just one, so you can pretend that one of them is from Aoife," she said shyly, blushing slightly.

"Oh, so which one is from Aoife, then?" Cailus said playfully as he crouched down again, adopting that special tone of voice he reserved just for their little one, a tone that nobody besides Shae and Aoife would ever hear. Smiling at Aoife, he took one of the presents. "So this one is from you, is it? Okay, Aoife, let's see what you got me."

If Cailus was honest with himself, he wasn't expecting much as he unwrapped it, but as the paper fell away, his eyes widened in amazement. It was a kit for making a little model ship in a bottle, just like the kit he had once had in his previous life. Cailus examined the kit with appreciation, remembering the countless hours he had whiled away in his quarters on the Churchill making those models. Then he opened the second present, and lo and behold, it was a miniature model of the Churchill itself, his old ship.

Without a second thought Cailus leaned down and hugged Aoife, then smiled warmly at Shae over Aoife's shoulder. "Thank you," he said quietly. "They're perfect."

Shae smiled brightly. "I'm so glad you like them!" she said with excitement. "I had trouble finding any of the same models that were available in your time; maybe a newer one would have been nicer, but I really wanted to give back something you had lost," she said, kneeling beside Cailus and Aoife.

"Sometimes the classics work best," Cailus said solemnly. Then he pointed at a much smaller box in the pile of presents next to Aoife. "I believe it's your turn."

"But how did you-" Shae started, stunned to see him pull a present out from under the tree, but then she smiled and decided she would rather not spoil the magic of the moment by learning how he managed such a trick. She took the gift and gently opened the bright paper to reveal a wooden hair fork, not unlike the kind she usually wore, but at the top was some sort of stone inlay that looked remarkably like a nebula and it took her breath away. "Oh... " she managed to get out, clearly in awe. Then she smiled and removed the elf hat she was wearing so she could remove the hair stick that held the bun at the nape of her neck in place, immediately sliding the new hairpin in place. "It's perfect, I love it!" Shae said, then leaned forward to give him a hug; she really wanted to give him a kiss, and maybe if they were under the mistletoe she could get away with it, but she knew how he felt about public displays of affection.

"Good," Cailus said with poorly disguised relief as Shae hugged him. He really had been somewhat nervous about that particular gift, having been in two minds about how banal it might be, and was truly glad that she liked it. True, she hadn't seen the little engraving he'd made on the back of the hairpin, but he mused that she'd love it all the more when she discovered the engraving later on.

'The stars are your playground'

She hadn't seen it yet, but once she did she would love this gift all the more!

"I love you, Cailus Griffin," Shae whispered softly into his ear as she gave him one last squeeze before finally letting him go.

"And I love you, Kalin Brennan," he murmured back as she withdrew, saying more with his eyes than words could ever say.

OFF