Will You Be My Valentine?

Posted on Sat May 25th, 2019 @ 7:20pm by Lieutenant JG T'Pruk & Lieutenant JG Brian Pendragon

985 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 6.5 - Obtaining New Crew
Location: T'Pruk and Brian's Quarters
Timeline: 2296/02/14 - 0800

T'Pruk was awake. She knew that this was the Terran holiday called "Valentine's Day" and that it was the human day for the celebration of love. The previous day, she had researched the holiday and discovered that there were three Valentines and nobody seemed certain which it was named after. Further research seemed to indicate that Valentine's Day was created to avoid or "Christianize" the holiday of Luperci where Romans would sacrifice a goat and a dog to seek favor with the Gods of Romulus and Remus. T'Pruk involuntarily shuddered at those names and then berated herself for having a slight emotional reaction. Further research indicated that Valentine notes started to appear in the 1400s and that by the 1800s, it became common for friends and lovers to exchange notes and small tokens of affection.

Armed with this knowledge, T'Pruk created a handwritten note on pink paper. When Brian awoke, she awkwardly approached Brian and said, "I know that today is the custom of your kind to celebrate Valentine's Day. Therefore, I wanted to tell you 'Happy Valentine's Day,' and give you a traditional token in accordance with the holiday." She handed him the note on pink paper.

Brian blinked, bleary-eyed at her for a few minutes as his brain attempted to engage and then subtly pinched himself to make sure he was actually awake and not dreaming this.

When Brian looked at the note, he was surprised to find that T'Pruk had an elegant script. To say that it was penned perfectly would only prove that it was T'Pruk's own writing. The cover said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Brian." At the bottom of the cover it said, "From T'Pruk." On the inside, the note read, "I find that you are not wholly illogical and are a reasonably decent human being. I appreciate sharing quarters with you."

If nothing else, Brian had been brought up to be polite.

"Thank you!" he responded automatically, before his consciousness had even had a chance to hit impulse speed. "I'm sorry, I haven't got you... I mean, I didn't expect to... well, I didn't think we..."

Cascade failure.

Reset.

"Thank you... that's really sweet. I appreciate you too. You're so much simpler..." Nope, that was a totally inappropriate word. "I mean, less complicated... no - more straightforward... person to share with than my previous roommates."

T'Pruk gave Brian a nod of acknowledgement. "I believe that the word that you're seeking is logical," she told him. "However, I see that I have upset you somehow. Perhaps I should withdraw so that you can sort out your emotions." T'Pruk took a step or two back. The awkwardness in her movements was still apparent, though she would likely deny it. "My intent was merely to give you pleasure associated with your culture's celebration."

"Oh, you have!" he was quick to assure her. "The embarrassment is entirely mine. I usually think of this festival as more of a..." now he was definitely blushing, "er... well... 'love' thing, in the... er..." He was struggling for terminology. He knew there were some adjectives that applied, but his linguistic skills weren't specialised enough for this, "... non-platonic sense? Though I really like how you're using it to express a more general appreciation - that's really much cooler than the mainstream version. More people should do that... and now I'm ashamed I didn't think of it too and have something to give you. Can I owe you?"

"You owe me nothing," T'Pruk responded simply. "I am satisfied that you derived pleasure from this token." The Vulcan looked awkwardly at Brian and said, "Though, there is a subject that we may have to discuss at some point." She shuffled for a moment and then told Brian, "Pardon me. I have already made you awkward enough for one day. Perhaps you desire going back to the cantina with your Engineering friends...."

Brian shuddered. "No, thank you. That was not a place I could relax in. Too much opportunity for misunderstandings and... accidents... I think I'll just check in with the Chief - see if there's anything useful I could be doing while we've got the chance to take some systems down without causing much disruption. They're bound to want a Level 1 diagnostic of something while it's quiet, may as well take the opportunity."

"I have made you uncomfortable," T'Pruk observed. "I apologize for my conduct, Brian. If you feel the need to avoid me, I will make it easier. I have no desire to make your life difficult, level 1 diagnostic notwithstanding."

Oh bog, he'd upset her. That was the last thing he wanted to do and he had absolutely no idea how he'd done it or what to do about it, but the girl had visibly deflated.

"No, no, it's not that," Brian offered. "I don't want to avoid you. I really like being with you. You don't make my life difficult at all. So many people just exhaust me even trying to work out what they mean, especially when they keep trying to hint at things without getting to the point and make you have to work it out or they know what they want you to say and give you a choice so you can get it wrong, or even worse don't even give you a list to pick from so you have to guess and can get it really wrong. You're not like that at all - it's one of the things I like best about you."

T'Pruk straightened up. "Then, if I am to understand you correctly, you are saying that you admire my forthrightness and logic?" T'Pruk gave a satisfied nod towards Brian. "Perhaps you would have done well on Vulcan. If you would like, I can teach you more about my home and culture, that is when you are not needed in Engineering."

"That sounds wonderful," he nodded back. "I'll catch you later then."

 

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