When Yams Fly (aka It Snot Steak)

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 12:49am by Lieutenant Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Petty Officer 1st Class Greep & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 2:09pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Pandora's Box
Timeline: Current

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Mindo & Petty Officer 1st Class Greep & Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan PhD & Aoife Brennan
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Pandora's Box
Timeline: current
Sat Mar 10th, 2018 @ 4:05am

Crewman Zo couldn't get the shield harmonics to cooperate. He hated working on shields, every Engineer in Starfleet does, because there is never an easy way to do it. And what's worse, the shields always needed to be worked on. The tiny bits of space debris that evaded the deflector dish wore away, slowly and gradually, at the force fields. So, the shields and force fields needed constant repair. Given that they were just in a battle Zo, along with Greep, Mindo, and the rest of Engineering, had been pulling double (sometimes triple) shifts bringing the damn things back to full health.

Zo reached out to catch Greep as he passed by. "Greep! I need you for one second," he said. "I just have to..."

"Sorry, Zo," said Greep, still walking away. "I'm off already. Just pulled an all-nighter."

"I haven't had a break in five hours!" Zo called.

Just then Mindo came floating by. "I'm at fifteen," he said. "Have fun fixing shields."

"You're leaving too?!" said Zo.

"I've got a date with Lieutenant Brennan," Mindo replied.

Zo straightened, his eyes wide. "Again? Man, Cailus was pissed the last time you guys..."

"It's not like that," said Mindo.

"It's always like that!" Zo replied, a little loud. The rest of Engineering stopped and looked at them.

Mindo sighed. "Go get a juice box and then get back to work."

"Fine!" said Zo, throwing up his hands.

"Get a cookie, too!" said Mindo with a grin. The other crewmen laughed.

Mindo floated out of the room and headed to the turbolift, where he deactivated his LEGs. "Pandora's Box," he said to the computer. He closed his eyes as the lift took him to his destination (or, at least, the deck where his destination was). It had been a long day. Plenty of time had passed since his last break, and even then he hadn't had a moment alone.

"It's not always 'like that,'" said Mindo to himself.

The doors swished open and Mindo headed down the corridor to the sliding doors of the Pandora's signature restaurant. This was his second trip there in two days and he hadn't slept a wink since the last visit. It would be good to see friends and get a bite to eat.

======= Pandora's Box ========

As he walked into the Box, he scanned the room and saw Shae at a table with Aoife in a high chair. Their food hadn't arrived yet, and he wondered if they'd ordered already.

"Hi!" he said, waving to Shae.

"Mindo, hi!" Shae said with excitement, but her smile quickly faded when she noticed his wearied expression. "Oh my stars, you... you look like you could use some rest! You will not hurt my feelings if you want to reschdule lunch in favor of some quality time with your mattress." It wasn't until after those words left her lips that she realized the additional connotations and she blushed, but had the good sense not to say anything more.

Seeing her blush, Mindo couldn't help but laugh a little. "Quality time?" he said.

He went over and climbed into a chair at the table, smiling as he sat on his heels, raising him a little higher above the table. The cushion of the chair was easy on his knees.

"How are things going?" he said, and turned to Aoife and smiled. "Hi, Aoife!"

"Well, I'm pretty wiped too, but work isn't the exactly cause; it's just hard to be a parent and a Starfleet Department Head at the same time," Shae said meekly. "Other than that, I'm doing alright and-" Shae was abruptly cut off as Aoife started trying to climb out of her chair. "Oh, what are we doing?" Shae said as she kept Aoife steady, only to watch in bemusement as Aoife sat down, but this time she was sitting on her feet like Mindo! Shae often sat the same way when on the couch or on the floor, but her digitigrade legs were designed for that kind of posture and even still she didn't do it in chairs, but here was another grown-up doing it and with a sort of brace apparatus encompasing his legs, it inspired Aoife to do the same and she smiled at Mindo once she was successfully seated in the chair with her feet tucked up underneath her.

"Well then," Shae said with an amused chuckle. "I could be wrong, but I think this means she likes you," she said to Mindo.

"Aw, thanks Aoife!" said Mindo. "I like you too!"

Aoife smiled brightly, and Shae ruffled her hair playfully.

"Thanks for coming," Shae said now that it seemed that they had all settled in. "I know you'd probably rather be sleeping after all the long hours, but I do so enjoy spending time with you, not to mention I could really use your help with something!"

"I enjoy being with you too," said Mindo. "Er... you know what I mean."

Again, Shae blushed, but said nothing; she knew what that sounded like, but she knew what he meant.

"What kind of help do you need?" Mindo asked. He looked over and caught Aoife looking at him. He raised his eyebrows and smiled to her.

Aoife smiled when he smiled; she may not be talking yet, but it was clear there was intelligence in those brilliant blue eyes as she watched Mindo.

"Ah, well, someone, not gonna name any names but it might have been Nurse Davies..." Shae started playfully, "showed Aoife this old Earth movie about talking fish, uh, this clown fish who goes on a journey to find his lost son, and now Aoife is obsessed with fish. We were thinking of setting up a fish tank, possibly holographic at first to see how she reacts to it then later order some fish, and since you seem to know so much about fish I was wondering if you could help us with some tips about what to get and how to maintain a tank."

It was about this time that a waitress came over with Shae and Aoife's meals; Shae ordered a lovely broiled shellfish for herself while Aoife got some chicken with some steamed vegetables. "Sorry, I didn't know what you would want or I would have ordered for you," Shae said as she broke the chicken apart to make it easier for Aoife to feed herself.

"What would you like, Mr. Mindo?" asked the waitress.

"Oh anything," said Mindo. "Ham and cheese on rye, light mayo."

The waitress nodded and punched in the order into her PADD.

"So she's into fish, eh?" he said. "I had a fish tank once, back home. Had these exotic little guys, four of them. Never heard of a clown fish, though. Does it tell jokes?"

"Well not in the movie, though the other fish seem to enjoy teasing him about being a clown fish," Shae said with a perplexed expression. "But the little clown fish is orange with white bands around his body, and he has a friend that is blue with black across her back and yellow fins, and Aoife simply adores her. The setting is Earth oceans, so they're saltwater fish."

"So you think she would like similar fish?" said Mindo. "What's the name of the movie? I need to look this up!"

"Oh, what was it..." Shae mused aloud as she nibbled on her lip in thought. "Finding... Dory, I think? No no, Dory was the sequel, the first movie was Finding Nemo. Lots of brightly colored fish and coral, kind of like in your holodeck program."

"Oh yes!" said Mindo. "I've seen the title in my library. I thought it was a sequel to 'Nemo in Dreamland,' which was not a movie I enjoyed. So I've stayed away from it. But maybe I should watch it. It could give me an idea of what kinds of fish Aoife would like. You know what we could do... we could take her to my holodeck program. We could get some swim gear for her, you know, for safety. We could take her snorkling!"

Out of the corner of Mindo's eye, he saw the doors open and the familiar giant furry blue blob walked in. Mindo could tell without looking who it was. Greep had just gotten off duty too. No doubt he was hungry. Mindo looked over in his direction and waved.

"Greep! Over here, pal!" he said, signaling for him to come over. Greep nodded upon seeing his friend and made his way to the table.

"I was just getting something to eat," he squawked, his yellow beak moving up and down as his throat imitated the sounds of language.

"You're more than welcome to join us," Shae invited with a smile. "Huyo has outdone herself today; I can't remember what this is called, but it's absolutely delicious!" she added, gesturing to her plate of broiled shellfish. Aoife, who was having some technicaly difficulties getting her food onto her fork and then into her mouth, did not like that she was no longer the center of attention and made a sound somewhat imitating one of Greep's squawks. In the process, she accidentally flung a bit of mashed yam into the air, and Shae watched in amused horror as that yam smacked Greep right in the face.

"Oh my stars, I am so sorry!" Shae exclaimed, trying desperately to hold back a laugh; she was absolutely mortified, but it was still kind of funny. "Here, let me get a napkin for you," she said and swiped the nice cloth napkin from the extra place setting on the table.

Mindo flat out laughed.

Greep brought a furry hand up to his cheek and he looked at the weird substance now on his face and fingers.

"I'm glad this is amusing to you," Greep said to Mindo as he took the napkin from Shae and wiped his cheek and hand.

"This is the highlight of my day!" laughed Mindo.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Greep, but she's just a kid, I'm sure it was an accident," Shae said with the hopes that she hadn't just made an enemy. Of course, it didn't help that Aoife was following Mindo's lead and laughed with him.

"I'm fine," said Greep. "Do you still want me to sit down?"

"O-only if you want to, and I would understand if you don't want to after this," Shae replied, taking the fork from Aoife and began feeding her to ensure no more accidents happened.

"Sit down, Greep," said Mindo. "You could use more experience with the little ones."

"I work with a little one all day," Greep replied.

"Pulling the size card, eh?" said Mindo. "Now you have to sit down. That's an order, Crewman!"

Mindo used his LEGs to hover to the next empty chair over so Greep could sit by Aoife. Mindo smiled again at Aoife as he set down in the new chair in the same position. Greep hesitated, then took the seat next to Aoife. Reluctantly, he held out a furry hand.

"It's nice to see you again," said Greep, trying to sound friendly.

Aoife reached out for Mindo with a sad little whine; no, flying man, don't go! But when she saw that Mindo wasn't leaving, only moving to a different chair, she returned his smile. Then she took notice of Greep. Greep was a strange fellow and Aoife could tell by his body language that he was uncomfortable, but she graced him with a smile and a wave of her hand to say hello.

"Pay attention, little one," Shae caustioned her daughter as she attempted to feed her, and Aoife's attention snapped back to her meal. "We were just talking about Aoife's obsession with fish and possibly getting a tropical fish tank," Shae then informed Greep with a smile.

Greep cocked his head to the side. "Fish? I eat fish! I love eating fish!"

"Ah, I enjoy eating fish as well, but that's not exactly what I meant," Shae said with a slight chuckle.

"Fish for pets," said Mindo, glancing at Aoife and Shae, slightly nervous that perhaps Aoife understood the awkward Ontarion.

"Your pets eat fish?" squawked Greep.

"I'm sure some pets do, but that's not what we meant either." Shae laughed softly and Aoife followed her cues and giggled with her. "Sometimes fish are kepts as pets. They're not the usual sort of pet that you can play with like a domesticated canid or felid, they're usually kept in elaborate tanks that recreate their natural habitat so we can admire them for their unique beauty," Shae explained.

"I see," said Greep. "Is that what a gold fish is for?" He said the words as separate, "gold fish" instead of "goldfish."

"I've never understood the big deal with gold fish," he continued.

Goldfish? Aoife knew this word and reached out to Greep with grabby hands.

"Oh goodness, you said 'goldfish'..." Shae said with an exasperated sigh, then reached into her pocket for a small crinkly bag of fish-shaped crackers and opened it, setting it on the tray before Aoife. Aoife clapped with glee and grabbed a few of the crackers from the bag, making them 'swim' around before eating them.

Greep looked at Mindo and Mindo recognized his friend's "confused" look, even though no one else would be able to tell. Mindo chuckled. "They're little crackers that taste like cheese."

"I don't like crackers," squawked Greep.

"More for Aoife, I guess," said Mindo. He turned back to Shae. "So are we talking smaller fish or bigger fish here?"

"We can start small for now, and once we've learned how to maintain a healthy tank then we can gradually go bigger and with bigger fish," Shae said with a nod. "Besides, she's still too young to appreciate the effort all this would mean, so smaller would be better for now."

"That sounds just fine," said Mindo. "I have several kinds of fish in the beach program, so she'll have plenty to choose from. I can easily transfer them to an aquarium program you can use on a PADD holo display."

"That sounds wonderful!" Shae said with a gentle enthusiasm. "How does that sound, Aoife?" But the little fox-child was too preoccupied with her fish crackers, making little chirping noises to imitated conversation between two of the little goldfish. When she noticed that everyone was looking at her, Aoife smiled and even held out a goldfish in offering to Greep.

Greep looked down at the goldfish. "For me?" he said.

With a chirp, Aoife nodded, smiling when Greep finally took the cracker.

Just then, a waiter showed up. "Is everything to your liking, gentlemen and ladies?"

"Hello, Mr. Waiter!" said Mindo. "I don't think Greep has ordered."

Greep looked up from Aoife and said, "I'll take the Kroakoan steak, extra lurb snot, please."

"Of course," said Mr. Waiter with a bow. "I'll have that to you in a few minutes."

Just then, a server came with Mindo's sandwich. Mindo thanked the server and Mr. Waiter and picked up his sandwich, looking over at Aoife with a smile before taking the first bite.

Meanwhile, Shae was looking at Greep with a perplexed expression. "Did you say 'lurb snot'?" she asked in disbelief. In all fairness, she'd had and enjoyed haggis using real sheep stomach, so it stood to reason that she shouldn't balk at other people's weird food choices, but snot was definitely not something she thought should ever belong on a menu.

"Don't knock it til you try it, sweetheart," said Greep.

"I don't care if it's the most delicious thing in the galaxy, I'm never eating snot," Shae said firmly, then attempted to recompose herself so she could finish her own meal. "So Mindo, let me know once things have slowed down and you've caught up with your rest and then we can make time to visit the holodeck to pick out some fish."

"I'd like that," said Mindo. "Maybe I should let Zo handle Engineering for a day. Give me and Greep a break."

"I support that idea," said Greep. "Let Zo mind the store."

"While I would normally support the idea of playing hooky when some down time is well-deserved, you both probably shouldn't take the same day off," Shae cautioned. Granted, she didn't know Zo at all, so maybe he could handle it, or maybe he couldn't and the ship would suffer some terrible catastrophic event because he was left to his own devices...

"She's right," said Greep. "Zo would probably cause the ship to suffer some terrible catastrophic event because he was left to his own devices."

"I was just thinking that," said Mindo.

"Wow, that's creepy, I was thinking that too..." With a shake of her head, Shae dispelled the weirdness and continued on. "Would you mind if Cailus joined us in the holodeck?" she asked cautiously. "I know you two don't get along very well, but he could use some R&R as well, and Aoife adores spending time with him. Of course, I do understand if that would simply be too uncomfortable for you, and he can always go swimming with us at a later date."

It was an awkward question, to be sure. Mindo wasn't entirely sure how to answer. There were many reasons Cailus should be there, and a few reasons Mindo would not want him there. He thought as quick as he could, trying not to stretch out the question.

"I think... that would be fine," he said. "Cailus and I won't fight around Aoife... I hope."

"I don't want to be inconsiderate to your feelings, it's no real trouble at all if in the end you decide you don't want him to come along," Shae said to assure him. "But if you're really okay with it, I'll make sure he's on his best behavior." In the back of her mind, she wondered if Cailus being soft and gentle around Aoife might help Mindo to see him in a different light and not always as the stern Security Officer that had been riding his ass, and maybe Cailus might get the chance to see something good in Mindo as well...

"It's fine if he comes," said Mindo, more confident this time. "He's part of the family. He should be there."

"Thank you," Shae replied with a warm smile. She was about done with her meal and she checked her watch to make sure she wasn't running late yet. "Well, as much as I would enjoy watching Greep eat snotty steak, I've got to head out; Aoife has physical therapy soon and I've got reports to catch up on. But it was great catching up with you and I'm so glad that you can help me put together a tank," she said to Mindo as she started to clean up Aoife's face.

"It was my pleasure," said Mindo. "I look forward to our get-together. I think we'll have lots of fun, won't we Aoife?"

Aoife chirped in affirmation, and as Shae lifted her from her high chair Aoife waved goodbye to Mindo. With Aoife on her hip, Shae used her free hand to clean up their area of the table and collected the remnants of their meal onto a tray, then with a quick "Talk to you later," she scurried off to run their plates through the replicator and then it was back to work for her!

As she left, Greep's steak came out, and for the first time Mindo got to see how Greep ate food.

OFF