tampered | anniversary

anniversary

When; Friday, March 8th
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Uhura, Penny, the NPC Karaoke Adam, Zelgardis, and anyone else who wants to crash
Summary; Uhura realizes she's been in the City for six months. She decides to celebrate/mourn this by going drinking with her coworkers.
Log; Uhura downs a shot of whiskey, resisting the urge to peek at her device. She already knows what it says.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SIX MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

She likes to think she's adaptable, the kind of person who can take things in stride, but the City has seriously been testing her calm. Six months away from her home, her family, her friends, her life. Six months of curses and nightmares.

She doesn't normally try to drink away her problems, but ice cream and old movies aren't going to get the memory of Spock's rotting corpse out of her mind. But she did learn something from the incident four months ago. As much as she loves Chekov, she doesn't invite him along. Instead, she's brought her coworkers Penny and Adam to keep her out of trouble so she doesn't have to worry about it.

"Are you sure I can't get you guys anything?" she asks them.

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This isn't the kind of thing Penny would normally do on a Friday night. Hanging out with other adults at a bar? Weird, but it's a nice change of pace. Plus, she gets to serve a purpose. Uhura doesn't want to get caught up in any bar fights (it's hard to imagine that she was in one, ever) and deemed Penny and Adam suitable anti-barfight chaperones.

And they're friends. Penny isn't sure what she did to merit that, but she'll take it.

Uhura seems kind of down. It makes sense; not a lot of people celebrate City anniversaries when they have somewhere else they should be. Penny's trying to walk a line between cheerfully oblivious to any potentially unpleasant emotions and sympathetic. Adam--a regular volunteer at the Welcome Center--is all smiles, but he has a way of looking imminently approachable and sympathetic to all woes in the world. It's kind of hot.

"No thanks," Adam says in response to Uhura's question, flashing her a dazzling smile that manages to be charming instead of skeevy. "Shouldn't we be offering to buy for you?"

Penny just shakes her head. Adam pretty much covered all the bases.

Uhura grins. "That'll come later tonight," she says. "I'll be right back."

She makes her way over to the bar to grab another drink.

Penny is briefly blinded by Adam's smile as he turns it from the departing Uhura to her and asks her if she's sure he can't treat her to a drink. She can't quite bring herself to refuse and, in a moment, Adam is off to fetch a mimosa.

That leaves Penny to wonder about Uhura. The other woman keeps it together really well, that's true, but there's got to be something going on--something more than being in the City for half of a year--with her.

Uhura comes back with a Paloma and slides into her seat. "Looks like Adam's pretty popular," she says, nodding her head towards the bar where Adam is comforting a man sobbing into his drink.

"Yeah, he is," she replies, looking over at the bar. "He'll probably be a while. We've gone out before and he just can't stop helping people."

Penny likes the guy, she really does. She even relates to the compulsion to help every single person who crosses her path. There are times, however, when she would like to not get ditched when her date gets distracted by the wrongs in the world.

She turns her attention back to Uhura. "So how're you holding up after six months here?"

Uhura takes a sip of her drink. "Pretty well, actually," she says. "I have a house. A job. Friends. It might not be the life I chose for myself, but it's not bad."

"That's good," Penny replies, all sincerity. "Some people never really seem to settle, you know? They just keep thinking about home and getting away from here."

Which is a shame. The City isn't exactly a great vacation spot, but there are plenty of good things about it. Penny's happy, anyway... but her situation is different from Nyota's. It's hard to keep that in mind.

"Can you really blame them? They had lives back home. Lives that for all we know are going on without us."

The drinks, it seems, are already going a little to her head. In vino verite.

This is one of Penny's least favorite topics of conversation.

She puts a hand on Nyota's shoulder and, in her surest voice, says, "They don't go on without you. Tons of people have left and come back... they all say the same thing. It's okay. Everything back home? It'll be waiting for you, no matter how long you're here."

Uhura shrugs. It's hard to believe -- the idea of time freezing, waiting for you is such a perfect fantasy, far too good to be true. And it's not like this place is that kind in any other respect.

"Perfect things can be true once in a while," Penny replies with optimism that isn't reflected in her tone. "I mean, putting people back where they belong is the least the City could do. Really, everyone who ever left and came back with their memories says they were back exactly when they were."

"I guess." Uhura downs the rest of her drink and gets up. "Sure I can't get you anything?"

That's not the most convincing I guess that Penny has ever heard, but she'll accept it. In response to Uhura's question, she looks over at the bar where Adam is, in theory, getting a drink from her. In actuality, he seems to be explaining how a network device works to a kid who can't be out of his teens.

"A mimosa, if you don't mind? I think we lost Adam for now."

Edited 2013-03-14 02:37 (UTC)

Uhura glances over at Adam and laughs. "I think we've found the one thing he isn't perfect at," she says. "Being a drinking buddy."

"Is it awful if I'm glad that he has a flaw?" she asks, voice light and joking. "Completely perfect people make the rest of us look bad."

"Can you imagine how insufferable he'd be if he was actually perfect?" Uhura asks. "I wouldn't be able to go anywhere near him."

"I know. I'd rather hang out with not-quite-but-really-close-to-perfect people like you." Yes, Penny says this sincerely.

Uhura rolls her eyes. "Please. I'm nowhere close to perfect. You're closer than I am."

"Oh, come on. You're amazing." Penny gestures at her vaguely. "I mean, you're gorgeous, smart... and how many languages do you know?"

"Enough to do my job," Uhura says, sidestepping the question. "You're pretty amazing yourself, Penny. Not many people would bother running a Welcome Center in a place like this, or put nearly the amount of love and dedication into it that you do."

"Well, thank you." There's no point in denying any of that, although Penny certainly doesn't think that there's anything exceptional about what she does. "So... how many drinks have you had?"

Uhura takes a moment to think about this. "Uh....about one more than my ability to count right now."

[Zelgadis doesn't need much sleep, and he finds walking around much more palatable in the evenings after many people have taken to bed. Not everyone, but the dim lighting also helps. He's not sure what he's looking for, but it beats sitting alone and doing nothing.]

[He almost turns the other way when he hears someone coming his direction, but he pauses long enough to confirm her identity] Nyota?

[She left Adam somewhere. Or did she leave her purse somewhere? She left something somewhere. Which is why she is here. And not somewhere else.

A small portion of her mind that is still sober says this is exactly the reason why she had invited Penny and Adam out. To keep an eye on her so she'd be safe while drinking.

So where did she put them?]

Zelgadis! [The sound of his beautiful and familiar voice derails her train of thought, and she throws her arms up into the air welcomingly, giggling as the momentum upsets her balance and she stumbles. God, she is so drunk.]

[Ack! He moves to grab her (as gently as possible) before she falls.] Are you all right? [It's not that he doesn't recognize a drunk person when he sees them, but she doesn't seem the type to frequently engage in... this.]

[And she's not the type...usually. At home, Uhura was always a responsible partier. She drank enough to have a good time but always stayed sober enough to keep an eye on herself and her friends. Occasionally she would drink to take the edge off of a bad day, but usually she relaxed with a hot bath and a good book instead.]

I'm fine! I'm fantastic! [She's also lying. Being in the City has almost completely thrown her, and her usual coping mechanisms aren't working, hence the unusual amount of drinking. Two nights of wild partying in six months do not an alcoholic make, but it's definitely not the ideal way to cope.

She leans on him.] Wow. You're sturdy. I bet you would be really good at American football.

[The lean is mildly embarrassing, but he's more concerned about her state than anything so he just wraps an arm around her shoulders to help prop her up.] I'm not sure what that is, but I think I have an unfair advantage. And don't hurt yourself on me. [Accidentally hurting people from something as basic as casual contact makes him feel all the more separate from humanity.]

Can I help you get home?

Good point. Good point. [She nods, agreeing emphatically, and pats him on the chest. It's like petting a mountain. She opens her mouth to blurt that out, but mercifully she's not that drunk. She snaps her mouth shut and shakes her head.]

No, no, I'm here with friends. I just...lost them. [frowns] Have you seen Adam?

[He shakes his head and tries to ignore the touchiness. It's not like she'd act like this normally.] I don't know him. Let's look around. [He moves to help support her a bit more so they can walk, his arm across her back.]

You should know him. Everybody should know him. He's perfect. He invented karaoke when he first sang along with the radio. [This sets off another round of giggles -- sorry, Welcome Center in-joke. They liked to tease Adam with jokes about how perfect he is.

She lets go of Zelgadis and gently pushes his arm off her back.] I can walk! But yes. We should look for Adam. You need to meet him, and I need to go home.

[He lets her go, but keeps close just in case. The subject of some 'perfect' guy isn't exactly his cup of conversational tea. He has quite enough of an inferiority complex on his own, thanks.] I do better keeping to myself.

[...But he can't just leave her alone like this, so.] But I'll help you find him before I go.

[It's too bad Zel wasn't around for Penny and Uhura's conversation earlier about how annoying perfect men can be.]

Thank you. You are a good man. A good man.

[She pats his shoulder emphatically.]

[He gives her a sidelong look that plainly says "you are a very strange drunk."] You don't know what you're talking about. And don't hurt yourself. [On his shoulder, he means.]

Edited 2013-03-26 23:19 (UTC)

I know exactly what I'm talking about! Don't you tell me what I don't know! [She thwacks his shoulder and winces.]

You're hard. [And then she starts giggling at the inadvertent innuendo.]

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anniversary

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after the bar

after the bar

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I had to use this icon

XD best

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this will teach me not to proofread after posting.

<3