"Settling in"

Posted on Sat Jul 21st, 2018 @ 10:56pm by Maria Garabaldi

3,042 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 95 - Helping Old Friends
Location: SB 400: Promenade
Timeline: MD8

Maria started to set up the store, the books were shipped in and she was preparing to set some of them out, antiques and curiosities. It was harder to get a shop set up when a 3 year old was toddling around, having left Mr Targ upstairs so he could ‘rest’

So one half of her was setting out books, and organizing the stacks, and another half making sure Roberto didn’t run out to the promenade or cause any other mischief.

She managed to keep an eye on him as he ran to the window then back over, then toddled back over to the window and stared outside.

Jaca waited until she was on the Promenade before allowing herself to sigh in relief once she finally got out of customs. She wouldn’t’ve put it past that ensign to call her back because the thread count on her underwear was in question. In the end, the total casualty count from what she came onto the base with was a pair of socks, a few bottles of Pomegranate-Bloodflower fizzy drink, and two gripper clamps for molds. It could’ve been worse, but she was going to take it for what it was since each of those were replaceable. Her sehlat, however was practically bounding around in circles he was so happy to be out where there were so many Interesting Smells.

Her metal shod boots clomped loudly on the deck, much to rival a warband of Klingons as she walked through the crowds of people going about their day. She had the address her friend sent her, and was hopefully heading in the right direction. Jaca went past the Goodfella’s Bar and Grille. The food scent coming from the place did smell good, but she wondered if they actually put enough garlic and red pepper in things instead of the ghost of a promise of them everywhere else seemed to. The Skyline Lounge looked promising. At least it had a good view working for it from what she could see.

She took note of the other businesses and so far it looked like there wouldn’t be much if any competition so that was a good sign.

Rounding a bend, she finally found the address. Looking forward to finally being able to set her gear down, she quickened her step as she headed to the door.

Roberto began to bounce happily as he saw the familiar person and the fluffy creature that strode beside her. His babbling took on an excited tack as he recognized the fluffy creature “Teddy Teddy Teddy.” He began to say over and over. Maria looked up at the noise then headed to help her friend with the equipment she carried. Over and over Roberto continued his happy babble

There was a pause and Maria spoke to her son, “Remember we play nice with Teddy.”

He still bounced “I will I will….” Maria opened the door to bring Jaca inside, “Hey...your transport got in before mine, what took so long?”
Jaca smirked then spoke in a mock sonorous tone, “Anger not the Bureaucrat, for they can sentence thou to much paperwork and waiting in lines.” She then spoke in her normal voice, “Seriously, my people do get the baleful look over even travelling light. This time I guess they saw big bags, and the ulcers started.” She set her bags down, “I did stop home before here, I have loads of gifts for you two from the family.”

Itchayok was too busy slathering the happy toddler with kisses while flipping himself on his back for bellyrubs.

“Well we thank you.” Maria smiled, then watched as Roberto began to devote himself to the lost art of the belly rub, much to Itchayok’s loll tongued pleasure.

“Up top there’s two rooms we can live in, I figure you don’t mind sharing a place for a bit while we get set up. Back we can get your forge up and running.”

“All I need is a room big enough for the forge that can fit a cot and I’m good.”, Jaca said, “The family forges back home have bed niches in the walls for long work sessions. Even setting up won’t take long so I can help you with the rest.”

“I don’t expect you to spend all your time working, you are allowed your own space.” Maria gave her a look. It seemed to be the ‘mom look’ that every parent inherited, no matter the race/species or gender, every parent had that look. “It would look bad.”

Jaca sighed, but smiled, “I know you mean well, but you’ve never seen how the forging families tend to be back home. It’s in our hearts, our essence, it’s our reason to Be. Unless it’s a festival, a party, or a ‘I must Create frenzy of designing, we are at the forge always crafting. While I will be getting shipments of stock from home, I’m also going to be making more things for us to sell.”

“I appreciate that.” Maria began, “I’m just still...nervous. I never thought I’d be here in this.”

The Djabul smith knew what Maria meant. When they first met years ago, Jaca had bumbled her words since back then she still hadn’t a full grasp what death fully meant to the outsiders. As much as they didn’t have family member’s essences still around, in a way they did. Jaca knew her friend was seeing the echoes of her dead love all around her here. It was horrifying to Jaca in a way since it would be like they were still here, but silent.

“Well, you’re not alone. You’ve got me and my family who would come tearing in fit to cause an intergalactic incident to help you with anything.”, she said.

That got a second genuine smile. “Thanks, I don’t know what I’ve done to earn such loyalty. But thank you from both of us.”

“Oh you put up with my shit.”, Jaca said with a joking smirk, but then shifted to a normal smile, “Though serious, if there’s any trait my people will unanimously admit to sharing with offworlders is loyalty to family. Offworlder friends….well, genuine ones are rare. Those, we treat as bond family.” She paused before continuing, “Is it not the same with your clan, the Italicatl?”

She nodded, “It is, like Uncle Artie, who is actually one of dad’s old buddies from his days in Starfleet. But yea we have a similar thing.”

Having done some basic setting up and Roberto asleep against Itchayok. He could sleep anywhere. Maria figured it was time to put him down for a nap and get the upstairs assembled. She scooped up her son, earning a slight protest noise from the Sehlat who was used to the small biped sleeping on him.. “Let’s get the apartment set up.”

“I'll be up in a moment.”, Jaca said as she hefted her portable forge kit to the side room for it. It was big enough to handle the scaled down version. Jaca set down what looked like a large puzzlebox. She did a quick measure of the room by her footsteps to ensure the placement. Once she was satisfied, she gave it a solid thump with her heel. As the sound of tinny chimes started, she walked out to head upstairs to help Maria.

On it’s own the box continued to play the strange tinny music as it began to unlock itself. Seeming at times to fold within itself and fold out, it expanded into what looked like three separate crafting station/forges radiating from a central pole. Once it was fully expanded and the music stopped, the respective heating and freezing elements slowly activated.

Jaca stepped carefully between the boxes upstairs. They were roughly sorted, still needed to be properly unpacked and put away. One item caught her eye and she picked up the framed picture. It was of Maria with a man Jaca hadn’t met. Their attire was what Jaca guessed was wedding clothes. They both looked happy.

Maria came out and looked at what Jaca was holding, “we looked happy didn’t we. Thought I had the world by the balls, man of my dreams at my side, gonna be together forever. Admiral and Mrs Garabaldi, didn’t quite work out that way.”

“No patterns to see?”, Jaca asked. Granted learning to see the patterns took time and practice, and outsiders at best barely saw the basics, but Jaca was more fishing for something to say rather than expecting an answer.

“Just a captain being an idiot around Naussicans.” She set the picture up next to some other mementos of her husband, including the flag she had been given over his coffin. “But nothing else that I can see.”

Jaca never pried much after her initial bumble years back, even now she still felt a bit bad about it. She knew her friend’s husband had been in Starfleet and died there. “That captain pay for his stupidity?”

“That’s the worst part, he had to be the hero because Starfleet needed a hero, so he got a medal, moved to a new position and a discussion of promoting him.” There was barely restrained anger. “So he’ll get a star, maybe 2, be called a big hero, my husband will still be dead, and my son, doesn’t get to know his father.”

Not for the first time since leaving her homeworld Jaca wondered if she ever would understand outsiders. But then, her people really didn’t have organizations like Starfleet and the closest thing to heros her people had were people who tended to look to others who had proven good results. “Sounds like someone needs to nudge a pattern in his direction.”, she said.

Maria sighed as she looked ahead, “There was a time I would have planned to hire a few dozen Klingons to stomp a mudhole in him, but now….why bother, Starfleet protects him.” This was a woman who had once avenged an insult in 3rd grade at the offender’s wedding. But now she was just unsure.

“That’s too clumsy.”, Jaca said, “The right curio handled at the wrong time….falls right into a pattern.” On some level Jaca knew she shouldn’t be speaking this tangent with an outsider, but this was her friend who was still hurting and with what was being described of the situation, it was stirring her innate Djabul malicious streak.

She looked at her friend and sighed, “Send him a gift, got one that destroys his life?”

“Define destroy?”, Jaca asked. From her experiences since leaving her homeworld, the definition could range from a replicator delivering the wrong coffee drink to removing them from their station in life to permanent death. Outsiders were strange like that.

Maria paused a bit, this got a bit deeper than she expected, if Jaca had asked this when the emotions from Peter’s death, and the sense of betrayal from the court of inquiry, she would have jumped at death, humiliation, the hired Klingon goons, but time didn’t heal all wounds, but made it less painful, where once was a raw open pain had tuned in to an ache. She paused a bit more then spoke, “Why don’t we table this for now, get your stuff in your spare room.” There was a utilitarian reason for this too, Jaca could help with Roberto, not mandatory, but since her mother and assorted aunts, cousins, and other relations were back on Earth every little bit helped. “Plus a little tribble told me that there was a mention of gifts?”

Well, if Maria was dead set on her taking a room instead of just having a cot near the forge, Jaca wasn’t going to argue the point. She only had a small travel kit since much of her belongings were left on homeworld. “Yes, because it’s been so long, we have many-much gifts.”, Jaca said playing on an old joke from when she was trying to refine her command of Standard when she used to double up on different words-same meaning.

She started with a small crystal and her communicator-reader, “This is from Numse to you. You can play it on my reader.”

“Oh?” Jaca’s brother was a sweet guy as far as a large man who looked so much like Lucifer the one time he visited Church he actually made the old grannies reach for their rosaries. Luckily he didn’t take it personal when Mrs Bava started throwing holy water at him, he actually found it quite funny and played along until Father Karras was able to calm everyone down.

The crystal clicked in the slot and a holo-image as crystal clear as if Numse was physically there shimmered into view. Jaca’s eldest brother was lounging on a chair clad only with a very artfully draped wipe towel for modesty. His horns were polished to a sheen and his skin was oiled just enough to show off his eight-pack. His best golden skin jewelry sparkled, his unbound hair brushed to a sheen and flowing.. He spoke in Djabalese, extending an offer-invitation to take Maria out on a holiday, see the sights wherever she chose, indulge in rich food, dance for hours and if she happened to have a particular itch, he would be amenable to scratch that itch, no strings or committment attached.

Maria finished it with a sigh, then “And…..now I can’t look at your brother in the same way.”

“Well, while we don’t have the elders gift of knowing minds, we do notice…”, Jaca trailed off muttering ‘words...words...words..’ before finding something to go with, “the storm-gloom mood around you. You hide it well for outsiders, but my family does actually like you and we are concerned. Particularly my Aunt Glayisrael who is completely convinced you’re going to wake up dead and it’s going to be my fault for being such a horrible friend in not encouraging you to live deliciously. So, you now have an open invite from my brother to go off on a vacation and live deliciously.” She paused before continuing, “Besides, this wasn’t like the time I showed you the crystal of the last celebration for the first honeywine from the growing season and my father and bond-uncle already quite drunk having a nude twerking contest.”

Maria sighed, “I appreciate it. But….” There was a brief pause, “Peter wasn’t just a fella I got married to, he was like, that second part of me, You name a first I’ve had Peter was there for me. Or for some, involved with it. That half got ripped away, and it’s like I’m trying to patch it up and go on. But it’s hard.”

“We know.”, Jaca said, “And we’re still coming around to how...y’know works with your people. It’s just we know you’re hurting and want to help however we can. We’re Worker craftsmen, we have to fix all the things.”

“Unfortunately this isn’t a piece of metal to patch up.” Maria smiled, “But you guys giving enough of a shit to actually want to bust out the forge and fix it, does a lot.” She took out the data crystal, “and tell your brother I’ve seen more of him then I ever though, one good sneeze and that crystal could sell for a ton on the Holosuite market, especially the more...mature ones.”

“Numse was debating dressing all formal but decided to go the let her see enough to make an informed decision when she feels like it.”, Jaca said as she pulled out what was practically an envelope, “And this is from Aunt Glayisrael….it’s to hopefully inspire you to live deliciously.”

Maria took the envelope a bit hesitant then looked in it, “uhh...wow…..Uhmm, if I wore this in public I’d end up in jail or working at a Ferengi strip club.”

“This is why we will never join the Federation, just no sense of living deliciously to the full.”, Jaca said as she took out an elaborately carved ruddy gold coin in a frame, “This is from my father, first coin to bless the business venture.”

Maria smiled and took the coin, “it will hang in a place of honor.”

“We’re not big on that honor thing, you can even hang it in the bathroom and it’s all good.”, Jaca said as she took out a few handmade plush toys for Roberto.

Roberto came out from the bedroom where he had curled up with Itchaiyok and Mr Targ, he was still waking up and came toddling in carrying his stuffed toy the Selhat bounding beside him.

“Just in time.”, Jaca said with a smile, “I have presents. This is from my brother Beazil.” She handed over what looked like a cross between a humanoid and a squid plushie. The mouth tentacles curved as if smiling.

The magic word of ‘presents’ woke the child up as if given morning coffee. “What’s for me?!”, he asked as he hurried over and took the first toy, “Who’s this?”

“You have to help him find his name.”, Jaca said as she handed over another that looked like a plump humanoid bat with a sleepy smile, “Same for him.”

“Thanks Uncle Beaz.”, Roberto said after a reminder glance from Mom as he held both new toys and Mr. Targ in a bear hug.

Jaca handed over a simple puzzlebox, “And this is from my Cousin Nish. Solve it and there’s a prize inside.”

Maria watched as Roberto grabbed his toys and the box, then begin to work it, the pieces moved clicking into place and playing a cheerful tune to guide him in the right ways.

“He’s a natural.”, Jaca said as Roberto opened the box and grabbed his prize of Betazed chocolates.

Maria had to laugh. It felt good to laugh.

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