The Concert: Part III
Posted on Mon Apr 1st, 2019 @ 10:17pm by Captain Brady Dering M.D., PhD & Cadet Freshman Grade Benjamin Hall & Cadet Freshman Grade Molly Seol & Cadet Freshman Grade Jesse Grant & Captain Karyn Dallas R.N. & Commander Sonia Dalca & Cadet Freshman Grade Catherine Wells & Cadet Freshman Grade R'Maia & Ruby Kaldar & Denak Brel
Edited on on Wed Jun 5th, 2019 @ 3:46pm
Mission:
Ready For The Weekend!
Location: The Subspace Cafe
Timeline: 2388/08/30 2045 (Sat. Aug. 30 2388 8:45pm)
Catherine wore her club wear in style as the lights strummed many colors in the darkened interior. The music had a primal, fast beat that mimicked the racing hearts of the dancers as they moved and gyrated on the floor in a celebration of life. Wait staff ran around serving tables and a babble of voices ran under the loud and overwhelming beat. Dressed all in black with a v-neck shirt and black boots, Cat seemed to blend in with the shadows especially with her black hair. Her athletic form moving ceaselessly to the beat totally rocking it. She was part a small group of girls on the dance floor, she gave her roommate a thumbs up as she continued to jam out. This had been a good idea of Molly's.
Molly smiled back showing off moves of her own as she kept pace with the best on the dance floor. Continuing to swing her hips in time to the music while turning, her hand was suddenly grabbed by another.
A cute young guy with piercing blue eyes started to spin her around and around, to dipping her low, to rising her back up with his arm, to spinning her around and around again. Then just as quickly, he let her go and was off dancing back into the crowd.
Her eyes widened at the whole experience, Molly mouthed to Catherine, "Oh my gosh...!"
Catherine laughed and gave a thumbs up, "Nice!" She yelled to be heard over the music.
"I'd say!," Molly laughed and went back to dancing with a full grin on her face.
Miach and Brighid moved to a table to sit and watch the entertainment. He had to admit that he was curious after his daughter had informed him that there was a band called "bardtastic" playing he had to hear them. The name evoked images of Ireland for him and Brighid had more of a professional curiosity.
As a fellow musician she wanted to hear what the others could do. He father had taught her how to use her voice as he was an accomplished vocalist, but her instrumental training had suffered since moving here. So she settled down to enjoy and critique, if they were good she may talk to them about joining or at least sitting in on some jam sessions.
Barim found a place where he could get a good view of the stage and reinforced his mental shields to keep out the barrage of thoughts around him. He only hoped that the feelings generated by the crowd wouldn't overload his empathy and made sure he was close enough to the exit if he had to leave.
"Excuse me." Ben had walked up to his table, "Mind of I sit here too?"
"Sure," Barim said as he looked up and recognized the young Xenexian student. "Pull up a chair and have a seat."
Ben nodded a thanks, pulling out a seat, and sat down.
Kyle walked in to the Subspace Café
Kyle got his drink faster than he expected for as busy as the place was. But before he could take it, an armband was placed on his wrist and marked. Kyle watched and shrugged before he picked up his drink and took a swig. He kept scanning the tables further in and noticed his roommate Barim had a couple of empty chairs at his table. He took his drink and headed in that direction, snaking through the crowd and accidentally brushed against a couple of people. Some of them smiled at him, most them ignored him. Kyle eventually made it through the crowd and over to the table. As he pulled out a chair, he said “Hey guys. Mind if sit, Barim?"
Barim looked "Sure, man. This concert is promising to be really good if the house music they're playing is any indication."
Kyle sat down and put his drink on the table. “Yeah, you’re right. Everyone out there," he said, gesturing to the dance floor, "seems to be enjoying it. I've never been one to do much of that, though. Dancing, I mean. I just like listening to the music."
"Same here," Barim said. "Man...look at all this eye candy around here and those outfits!"
Kyle moved his chair around the table slightly so that he could get a better view of the room and the dance floor. Barim was right; there was a lot of eye candy out there. Kyle grinned as he looked at their outfits. “Yeah, they look a whole lot better in those outfits than the uniforms.” He took another drink. “Kind of hard to keep your eyes on any one of them.”
"I don't think I could do it for all the gold pressed latinum in the galaxy," Barim said. "It's so hard to keep my shields up, though. I don't think I'd want to know what some of them are thinking."
Kyle laughed. “Aww c’mon. There’s not one of them out there that you’d want to know what they’re thinking? Maybe not right now, though. I’ll give you that.”
"Oh yeah," Barim agreed readily. "If I lowered my shields now, though, I'd end up in Medical. The emotions are good right now, but the thought barrage would drive me insane."
“Well we can’t have you end up in Medical,” said Kyle. “I’d have to go find someone else to hang out with while we wait on the concert to start.” He looked at his roommate and grinned. “Though, some of that eye candy might be fun to hang out with. Better looking anyway.” He laughed and took another drink.
Barim laughed. "Better looking than me? I'm hurt." He laughed harder.
“Yeah well,” said Kyle amid the laughter. “Take another look at those girls, man, and tell me they don’t look good in those clothes.”
"You know it, Kyle," Barim said. "I'd like to see them without them, too." He grinned at his roommate.
Ben had been sitting there quietly, and having lifting his mug of synthehol beer, was about to take a drink, sat it back down and said to them both a little intensely, "One of those girls is my sister."
"Which one?" Barim asked. "I'll make sure to leave her alone."
"Yeah, same here," said Kyle. "You point her out and she's off limits."
Looking amused, Ben took a swallow of his beer. "I'm just..." he paused for a moment and half smiled as he thought of the right words, "messing with you," and pointed over towards one group of girls, his eyes on Catherine, "I like her. She's nice and she has a nice.." he narrowed his eyes, and unable to think of the word, motioned with his free hand.
Kyle nearly choked on his drink as he chuckled at what Ben said. "That was a good play, my friend." Kyle took another drink just to clear his throat and looked towards the area where Ben was pointing.
Barim laughed at Ben. "Good one, man," he said to Ben. "And the word you're looking for is badonkadonka, I think. Not that I'm staring. Unless you mean something other than her rear."
"Badonka..." Ben blew out some air at the difficulty of the word, and then continued to watch Catherine while taking another drink of his beer.
Kyle looked at Barim and grinned widely. Actually he was trying to hold back a chuckle. It appeared to him that Barim had caught Ben off guard or something. He took another look at the girl Ben had pointed out and nodded his head. "How's that liquid courage working for you, Ben?" he asked.
Reminding himself there was no way Kyle could know any better, could know of the conflict going on inside of him, of the worry he had for his uncle on the Armstrong, Ben kept his feelings wrapped up tightly. He allowed a slow smile as he looked over his glass. "It's only beer."
"Go talk to her, man," Barim said. "I doubt she'll bite you."
Ben couldn't help but wryly smile at that, for it wasn't her biting that had been holding him back. Yet, there was the music and the way she moved, and the slight buzz he was starting to feel as he replayed Barim's words. He returned to looking out at the dance floor, his always intense gray eyes seeking her out in the crowd, and it wasn't too hard to figure out that he was starting to ignore whatever it was that was holding him back.
Catherine was having a great time, it felt good to cut loose and just be. To freely live in the moment without worrying about school or somesuch. And she was good at it too. Her dance moves were smooth and on point. After one cool but complicated one that involved touching the ground with her hands, behind her. She told Molly she was taking a break and went for a drink.
Molly grinned back to her as she turned away dancing, soon lost in the crowd.
Lance Parker got a drink from the bartender and settled down in a seat, smiling when he saw the Vulcan Commander enter with his daughter.
Miach nodded at Lance as he moved to get a drink for himself and his daughter. He wondered if his wife would be joining them tonight or if she had, as was typical for her, lost herself in her work.
The bartender, a Betazoid/Vulcan hybrid named Denak Brel provided Miach with the drinks and then went back to making another visual sweep over the dance floor, making sure no one had taken their drinks out there with them. So far, so good. Grabbing a towel, he looked over to the other bartender, and watched as she placed an armband on another cadet's wrist, then marking it before handing him his first synthehol drink for the night.
All the staff, bartenders and waitresses, carried the small scanners to mark the cadet bands. Ensuring they had no more than the limit of three synthehol drinks.
"Hey, Ruby," he shouted over to her, giving her the hand signal he needed to get something from the back room.
Ruby nodded, in acknowledgment, with Denak leaving. Her grey eyes then scanned across the club, looking for the face she had snuck glances at since the woman arrived.
Catherine was chatting with some friends at the bar, finishing her drink and just generally enjoying the atmosphere. She laughed easily anyone could see she was in her element. With a wave to her friends she reentered the dance floor.
Ben came up behind her, and leaving barely more than their body heat between them as he swayed in rhythm to her movements.
Catherine was really grooving so it took her a bit to realize someone was dancing pretty close, in a smoothly graceful move she danced so there was a little space between then and looked over. She was surprised. From what she remembered of…Ben…she remembered his name was, he seemed quiet and maybe a little socially restrained. She smiled and moved closer impressed he was keeping up. Looks like Ben had moves of his own. “Didn’t think I’d see you out here…” she called to him over the music without missing any of the shifting beats.
"And why is that?!" he asked, her close proximity heating him up more than the dancing.
Cat shrugged, "Didn't seem the type!" She called back but not like she was disappointed he was out here. She moved smoothly, hands above her head briefly as she swung her head to the beat in time, both very close to each other. Difficult sometimes to really dance to the techno beat but Catherine and other were managing to look like they were doing more that spazzing out, though there were those too. She was having a great time, the music was rockin' and she was dancing with a nice/hot guy, what could be better?
If she had seen him at a club (Zulu back then) on Starbase Phoenix a little over a week ago, she would know he was very much the type. This was the first time he had felt like himself for the past week, and he tried not to think about what it was that had been holding him back.
As her toned and athletic body continued to sway to the pulsating beat, Ben placed an arm around her waist, his body staying insync with hers.
Like rhythm given form Catherine and Ben moved, with a grin she stepped backward avoiding his feet with a kind of sixth sense, laying one hand over his as it still rested around her waist. The feel of well muscled his form behind her only added to beat that thrummed through them.
Karyn entered the café in dressy velvet slacks with a matching royal blue blouse. Her red hair arranged in a classic up do and her ears adorned with dangling tear shaped diamonds, the hover chair bound counselor was pleased to see she wasn't the only older person present, and she smiled as she took in the decor. It was actually her personal assistant, Julia Monsoon, who encouraged her to attend tonight's concert. Dallas wasn't one for raucous club music, even in her younger days, because of her strong startle reflex, but she enjoyed classical pieces immensely for their relaxation value.
Also in her younger days, she enjoyed singing and still remembered some choral arrangements from her school days, and she wondered if tonight's concert would bring back any of those warm memories. Either way, Dallas agreed with Monsoon that tonight's concert was a rare opportunity to mingle with the Academy population while enjoying herself. The counselor had to admit relaxation hadn't been on her priority list lately, and she could think of few things better than losing herself in the music for an hour or two.
Over at one of the VIP seating booths close to the stage, Brady was laughing at something that had been said at his table, when he notice Karyn moving down the center aisle between seating areas. His smile fell as he continued to watch her for a few more heartbeats, before suddenly getting pulled back into the conversation.
As Karyn made her way to the seating area assigned to her, she felt as though someone had his or her eyes upon her. This in itself wasn't unusual for Dallas, as many people found her hover chair intriguing even amongst the diversity present in the Federation today.
Dallas might've ignored the feeling, except her intuition told her to look up. When she did, she locked eyes with Brady and for a second her breath caught in her throat. What was he still doing here?
Just as quickly as the question came, she also felt some relief. While she done her best to convince herself their last meeting had ended as well it as it possibly could have, another part of her wanted a chance to do it all over again before he left her life. Just as she was about to make her way over, however, he broke his gaze from hers and returned to the mirthful conversation he'd been having with someone else. She couldn't help but wonder if that was her subtle cue to leave things well enough alone. As hard as she'd worked to get rid of it, the familiar ache with back inside her heart. She looked away and turned her attention to finding her seat, trying to suppress the pain she couldn't do anything about.
Sonia had meet up with a few friends and now sat at a table with a few others as they enjoyed the rarely experienced atmosphere as they waited for the main act. It was, different yet familiar but Sonia did feel a bit old as she watched the cadets cavort on the dance floor. She was stylishly dressed in calf high dark green leather boots, tucked in them were black pants. A black top and a hunter green waist jacket completed the look. Her eyes eyes skimmed the room as she relaxed with her friends.
Ruby, not one for being timid, wanted a closer look. So approached Sonia's table, a friendly smile lightly on her lips. Her grey eyes absorbing every detail. "Can I get ya a refill? "
Sonia looked up at the voice and began to reply but paused thrown off by an odd feeling, maybe something about the eyes. Grey wasn't uncommon but that didn't mean she saw it much. She shook it off, chalking it up to the alcohol. "Yes that vould be nice" she said in her Romanian accent English, trying to shake off the odd feeling.
Ruby gave a light friendly smile, although her eyes were noting every detail. Inwardly her heart raced and she reminded herself her thoughts were her own, her past well hidden. Outwardly she said with a slight nod "Coming right up." Then turned and headed for the bar, wanting to look back but kept walking instead.
Sonia nodded her thanks then was distracted from her musings as her friend got her attention to ask a question.
Ruby, satisfied with her up close of Sonia, slipped easily through the crowd of mingling bodies to the bar. In less then a minute, Ruby was on her way back. Using the distraction of conversation to set the drink down, and look over the woman's profile again, before leaving unnoticed.
Sonia turned back and saw a full drink and frowned vaguely puzzled. She hadn't sense the approach of the waitress. This was mildly annoying, she never missed any detail no matter how small though she had been drinking a lot, maybe that was it. She wondered briefly if she was getting soft living in relative peace on this planet. It poked at the back of her mind as she returned her attention to her friends conversations, not enough to ring alarm bells but just enough to nudge her sense of curiosity.
Stepping nervously into the cafe, R'Maia looked around and wondered why she was here. The cadet had heard the music trailing in through her open window and had taken a spur of the moment decision to come and check it out. Now though, turning up on her own, she thought it wasn't such a good idea and began to step backwards.
Having come down right behind her, Jesse nearly lost his balance and grabbed a hold of her arms, exclaiming, "heyyy, whoa..." as he steadied himself.
"Oh!" R'Maia shrieked in surprise as she stumbled back against Jesse, "I'm sssorry, I uh...wasss jussst leaving." she mumbled turning to face the person she'd almost tripped over.
"But why?!" he shouted out over the music, and smiled, holding out a hand to her "Why don't you join me?"
"I-I..." R'Maia looked at his hand for a moment as if it were a rabid animal then sighed in exasperation of herself and nodded, reaching out to take his hand in her fur covered one, "I'd like that." she said softly.
Where Jesse really wanted to be was out on the dance floor, and to take her out there with him, but he had already discerned that it would only possibly happen one step at time. "Great!" he grinned, and then lead her over to a nearby booth, where they both took a seat.
From where they had been, Cadet Sierra Sarantos was suddenly there. She had finished her cleaning and prep work from upstairs in the cafeteria kitchen, which was closed for the night, changed her clothes, and now eagerly headed out towards the dance floor.
To be Continued...
