Vulcan Thumbs

Posted on 19 Aug 2015 @ 12:03am by Ensign K'os Beaumont
Edited on on 23 Aug 2015 @ 12:59am

1,450 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo - Various
Timeline: MD 01 2100

ON

The majority of the major problems in Main Engineering were either being handled or still undergoing diagnostics. Grayson was somewhere on the main floor. He was being stubborn with not leaving and resting and a part of him wondered if it meant the man didn't truly or fully trust K'os. He had overheard that Stace was coming to visit, maybe she would talk some sense into Grayson. Currently K'os was wedged in an alcove under a workstation. The glow of the PADD he held in his hands illuminated his face as he stared at a message he'd just typed out.

During the crisis, surprisingly his first thoughts were of Andreus Kohl. but he knew he was okay because he'd heard his voice on the bridge. K'os had also just responded to a breakfast request from the man, for which he was feeling anxious about. Or maybe he was feeling anxious about the message he'd written to someone but hadn't sent yet. He couldn't identify the feelings he had as his thumb hovered over the 'send' key. He licked his lips; scratched his eyebrow; sighed heavily, puffing his lips and cheeks exaggeratedly. Then he pressed send.

ENS|KBeaumont: Are you safe?

Ellsworth groaned at the workstation as it beeped at him. Another message, another stupid problem. Everything had just started to settle down, and he was already being flooded with requests for stuff. Many of the requests he just granted an override for so they could get it themselves - he wasn't about to go digging through cargo bay one for five measly self-sealing stem bolts - but as his eyes drifted over to the notification he noticed this time it was to his personal account.

Three words with a dangerous name attached to them. The medication was doing much to ween him off his mental dependence but there were coals still burning in his heart. The words passed over them like a breeze, and instinctively he pressed down on them hard, snuffed them out. None of that today. None of that anymore.

PO3|EHudson: hi
PO3|EHudson: im safe
PO3|EHudson: but everybody needs stuff now, ugh. like im the quartermaster or something.

A long pause.

PO3|EHudson: are you okay, too?

ENS|KBeaumont:yus.
ENS|KBeaumont:Yes.*

K'os gimaced and sighed in annoyance at his typing mistake.

ENS|KBeaumont: im okay I mean.
ENS|KBeaumont: its good youre also okay.

K'os groaned, "It's good you're also okay?" He said out loud, mocking his own words. He put the PADD down in order to resume his work switching out isolinear chips into the open access panel under the workstation he was crammed under. He wasn't expecting Ellsworth to reply again.

Ellsworth grinned despite himself and quickly tapped out a reply; it was against his better judgment, but then again so was just about everything else he did.

PO3|EHudson: you still have vulcan thumbs.

It took K'os a few moments to tap out a reply. Everything he typed was promptly deleted before being sent. It either sounded too corny or it sounded too personal. Then K'os grinned a tight-lipped grin at the screen.

ENS|KBeaumont: i hear its an inherited condition. im done for im afraid.

PO3|EHudson: ill make the funeral arrangements. itll be beautiful. ill use those purple scablosa flowers you liked at the conservatory in san francisco.

Ellsworth ordinarily prided himself on how quickly he could type but at the moment it seemed like a complete curse. He'd typed the message instinctively, hit the "send" key without thinking, and now he'd dredged up a memory - a happy one at that - from their time together. He mentally kicked himself over the slip up but vowed not to make a big deal out of it; if they were ever going to move past this awkward stage then he couldn't beat himself up over every silly mistake.

K'os crawled out from under his workstation holding the PADD in both hands as he tried to think of a response to that. Unlike Ellsworth, K'os carefully thought out in a painstakingly deliberate process. He stood, but continued to stare at the screen as he slowly tapped out a reply.

ENS|KBeaumont: just don't let aunt s'reka sing. youll be there forever.

PO3|EHudson: cmon that recording she sent was only 147 minutes thats not forever
PO3|EHudson: are your quarters ok? i hope so cuz im running out of room to stick people the only thing left is next to the waste extraction unit

ENS|KBEaumont: its fine.

K'os didn't elaborate if he meant his quarters or not. He paused before reply. He'd have to get back to work soon, but he couldn't help falling into that easy friendly banter they used to have. He grinned, then started typing again.

ENS|KBeaumont: why arent we using apostrophes and capitalization?

PO3|EHudson: i thought it might be easier on your vulcan thumbs :p

ENS|KBeaumont: Isn't that thoughtful of you. :p

Ellsworth bit his bottom lip and fidgeted in his seat. Part of his impulsiveness, perhaps the very foundation of it, was his keen awareness of the shortness of life. He'd experienced that himself when his parents - his entire family - was taken from him too soon. So, as a result, he often said what he felt, even if it seemed poorly timed or inappropriate because he wasn't sure if he could live with himself withholding so much from others. They might die and leave him unable to tell them all the things he'd wanted to say...

PO3|EHudson: i miss you k'os

K'os sighed. It was a dangerous sentiment, and because it was a text he had no idea if there were things hidden in the message or what it was supposed to make K'os feel. He decided not to respond right away and wait for a follow up. One came, and it made him frown at the screen.

PO3|EHudson: do you think it will ever be safe for us to be friends again?

K'os wasn't entirely sure why, but those words made him a little angry.

ENS|KBeaumont: When did we stop being friends?

Ellsworth's brow creased in frustration. Stupid texting.

PO3|EHudson: well i was gonna say do you think itll ever be safe for us to see each other again but i thought maybe you woulda thought i meant see-see you know like...seeeee!

ENS|KBeaumont: I would very much like that to happen. To see you without see-seeing of course. One day.

PO3|EHudson: ok
PO3|EHudson: one day

Ellsworth's lower lip got sucked into his mouth slightly as he chewed on it and worked over his feelings in his head. "One day" stung, even though he knew it shouldn't. It felt like rejection, even though he knew it wasn't. No romantic feelings for K'os lingered in his heart - not after the ordeal he'd gone through - but there was something inherently hurtful in being put off. He was trying to turn over a new leaf, but there was still a very strong part of him that demanded immediate gratification. It defied logic, but then again that didn't surprise him - most of the hormone-fueled feelings that his species experienced seemed illogical.

PO3|EHudson: be safe when youre doing repairs ok?
PO3|EHudson: let the other engineers do the thumb work :D

K'os' creased forehead smoothed out as dimples formed in his cheeks and his lips stretched into a grin. He'd been expecting any number of 'Ellsworth' responses to his text. After 'ok' and 'one day' were sent, K'os knew he'd struck something in Ellsworth. They may not have been connected anymore, but they knew each other in surprisingly complex ways. He expected maybe an impatient plea or an angry frustrated reply. Maybe even a 'colon left parenthesis' which K'os had learned was code for sad. He was quite pleased that he continued the friendly texts. He resolved himself to have a chat with sickbay when the crisis was over. Maybe one day, wouldn't need to be so far off. He typed the code for happy. One colon with a right parenthesis.

ENS|KBeaumont: :+
ENS|KBeaumont: Oops. I meant :)

OFF

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

ENS K'os Beaumont
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

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