A Opera Asinorum Redux

Posted on Sun Nov 27th, 2022 @ 11:57am by Gunnery Sergeant Roderik Kos & Lieutenant Commander BaoJun Qiao

1,393 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Season 1 Interlude II (E5.5)
Location: Overwatch Station - Bao's Quarters
Timeline: ID 1

Bao stared at the bag sitting on the low couch of his living quarters, debating what he should put in the bag. Going on vacation wasn't something he'd done in a long time. At least, not in the way most people understood that term. His last "vacation" was about 6 months before Mrazak had abducted him, and had consisted of visiting and touring Iconia and volunteering to assist the archaeological efforts there for 3 weeks, in the field. Risa was an altogether different proposition. Considering how carefully controlled the place was, he wasn't even sure what there was to do. There must surely be some sort of outdoor or sportive activities, but he rather doubted there was anything remotely adjacent to a true cultural or natural experience, which meant he had no clue what to pack. He groused at himself, seeing the time on the antique clock on the shelf across from him. He'd asked Rodi to come by his quarters to talk. Bao intended to ask the other man to spend at least some time with him on Risa in a romantic sense. Or, in more direct terms, he planned to ask the marine to go on one or preferably a series of dates, and also preferably that didn't involve near-death experiences like virtually every other time they'd been both together and not on overwatch station.

He considered for a minute, and went to his closet and grabbed the closest things he had to what he'd seen the marine wear off duty. It wasn't an exact match but he had a short-sleeved shirts that he'd used to work in the field in, along with a couple of pairs of utility pants. He tossed them all into the bag. If he was successful, he figured he'd have opportunity to wear them, as he figured his intended date's idea of a good time wasn't likely to require silk tunics and trousers, though he did rifle and put a nice combination of black pants and a cerulean tunic in the bag as well, just in case. There, clothing, and he could always buy more on Risa. Jade Emperor knew he had plenty of pay sitting in his account at this point since he hadn't exactly had any occasion to use it in quite awhile. He zipped up the bag at the same time his door chime went off. "Enter!" he called out.

Packing for a mission was easy. Rodi had done it hundreds of times without exaggeration. Packing for shore leave was not much different. He had secured for himself two pairs of rugged cargo pants, two pairs of rugged shorts, one pair of decent slacks. Three t-shirts, two flannel button ups, one dress shirt. Hiking boots, comfortable boots. An appropriate amount of underwear and socks. Two pairs of sunglasses. Frankly, the marine felt he had overpacked. On his last round of shore leave to Ronara he had only carried two pairs of pants and two shirts.

All his clothing, personal items, and anything else Rodi might think he would need were stowed in a standard issue SFMC duffel bag. The same kind of bag he had lugged his life around for almost seventeen years. The weight felt comfortable and familiar. He was clad in his third pair of rugged, comfortable cargo pants, he was wearing a black t-shirt with a green and blue flannel shirt buttoned up. His feet were tied down in said hiking boots. He was as comfortable in his clothes as he could be, but here he stood, nervous. And then he made the step into Bao's quarters. Quarters that were frankly much nicer than his own, and Rodi had very nice quarters for an NCO. "Nǐ hǎo." Rodi greeted, trying to not absolutely murder the pronunciation through the application of his Irish drawl.

The Lagashi smiled. "Dia dhuit," he replied with an equally horrific pronunciation, before switching back to the accented, but slowly improving English he was making an effort with. "How do you feel, Rodi?" he asked, motioning the man deeper into the living area, which was, in fact, far more extensively decorated than the marine's with the collection of cultural items and a few personal family items arrayed around. "The doctor promises my kidneys and ribs should be fully healed by tomorrow, though perhaps I should expect disappointment so that I might be pleasantly surprised if it is actually the case."

"Squared away." The answer had been the same for almost two decades now. Was it the truth? More or less, but nothing even close to everything. An answer that was automatic. It took a moment for Rodi to actually register what he said. "No. I meant to say I'm doing well, but several of my men are still in the infirmary." While he spoke he looked around the living room. The amount of 'stuff' around him made the marine feel slightly uncomfortable. "Glad to hear you're on the mends though. We might actually get to have some fun on Risa then." A minor smirk might have drawn across Rodi's lips, but his eyes were studying the various items and turned away from Bao.

Bao was able to read between the lines that Rodi was bothered by his men being in the infirmary. He could also tell the marine seemed a little overwhelmed by the amount of things in his space, since he knew from experience. He decided to be bold and stepped up behind the marine and put an arm around the shorter man's waist in a loose embrace. "I hope for the recovery of your men," he said before smiling a small smile himself. "As for the other, I suppose that answers the question I asked you over to ask. I was going to ask if you would like to spend some time together on Risa. The place is as fake as can be, so at least I could spend time with someone I like," he said.

"We're scheduled for a couple's massage the day after we arrive, and a three-day hike the day after that." Rodi said as he turned his head to look up at Bao. He allowed his own arm to snake around Bao's waist, resting it there comfortable. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to do a blacksmithing course too."

The taller man did an internal double-take. He hadn't expected the other man to have already planned out time with him. It gave him an oddly warm feeling to know the silent marine did, in fact, seem to enjoy spending time with him enough to plan it out. "I am not uninterested," he said in response to the implicit question, "though perhaps let us, what is the expression, play that by ear? I know you also enjoy some time in solitude, and considering with whom we are vacationing, it seems wise to assume some ridiculous calamity or dramatic interruption will occur. If I thought we could get away with it, I would ask you to extend that hike to take up as much time as possible. I did some checking and apparently there is also a V'tosh Ka'tur convention happening at one of the resorts. Maybe we should start a betting pool on what kind of horrific disaster an entire conference of Captain Mrazak's peers will cause?" He finished off with a light laugh and bent down to give a quick, gentle kiss to the marine to underscore the idea that he was, mostly, joking.

Rodi answered the kiss for a moment before breaking away. "I could happily spend my entire leave on a hike. If it means avoiding any unlogical Vulcans, all the better." Rodi agreed. He then glanced behind him. "Have you finished packing?"

The Lagashi gave a self deprecating laugh. "I just 'finished' right before you arrived. Although it really just consisted on grabbing what I used to wear in the field and throwing one nice outfit in on top of it. Worst case I can always get more clothing on Risa. It's not like we have occasion to spend money on a regular basis."

"Let's get to the Phantom." Rodi said, letting hand slide off and nodding to the door.

Bao smiled and shouldered his bag, giving the room one final look before following the marine, hanging back just enough to cop a good look of the man's backside.

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