Sweet Days Of Summer, The Jasmine's In Bloom

Posted on Mon Sep 6th, 2021 @ 7:18am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Lieutenant JG Takumi Fujiwara 'Tak' & Commander Ichika Misono & Lieutenant Karen Kujo 'Union Jane'
Edited on on Mon Sep 6th, 2021 @ 7:35am

1,473 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Love Boat
Location: SS Pacific Princess, Sun Deck [USS Myogi (NCC-65918), Holodeck One, Deck 4]
Timeline: "At Sea"- a few days after "Commissioning The Love Boat"

In all honesty, Ichika was very blatantly using Captain Takahashi's Holo-Suite for a change of scenery.

Sure, she opted to stick around and humor Captain Takahashi with these weird, old-world ceremonies (she figured she at least owed the Captain that much for letting her use the Holo-Suite), but as soon as she realized that there was a big, open swath of deck where she could jog to her heart's content, she quietly slipped out of the suite once they had finally gotten underway, changed out into her track suit, and ducked back in to run a few laps.

It certainly was a refreshing change of pace, compared to the sterile, gray bulkheads of the Myogi; even if all the sensations she was experiencing right now were fake, it offered a pleasant contrast to a stale routine. She made a mental note to try and hit the Holodecks more often, if and when she got the opportunity to do so.

After 15 or so laps of her muscles screaming at her to give it a rest, she figured a drink- fake as it may be- would suit her well before she returned to duty, so she made her way over to the poolside bar and drew up a seat. A few of the 1970s passengers that Captain Takahashi had populating the ship to make it appear more realistic were staring at her with a look of confusion (likely due to her more dog-like features, which she made no effort to conceal), but she didn't let it bother her; they were holograms, so they couldn't hurt her.

"What's it going to be?" the bartender inquired, turning his attention to Ichika.

"One bowl of water, please," Ichika requested with a smile.

The bartender raised an eyebrow. "A bowl?"

"A big bowl, if you could," Ichika reiterated. "Something big enough that I could, like, bury my whole face in and lap up the water."

The Bartender shot her a weird look, but anything he may have wanted to say on the matter went unspoken as he started searching around for a bowl- preferably face-sized, but he'd make do with what he had on him.

At that moment, the Commanders Takahashi entered the bar from the pool deck. Maho was wearing a form-fitting red and black one piece swimsuit that showed off her curves while Keisuke simply wore a matching pair of red swim trunks.

The bartender turned from trying to find a bowl the size Ichika had requested simply for his acknowledgement of new customers entering the establishment when he saw that one of them was the person he was programmed to recognize as the ship's captain, and he immediately stood up and put on a warm smile.

"Ah, Captain; welcome." He greeted warmly. "Showing off those magnificent curves again?"

"Hey, tubby; you can compliment her all you want when she's your woman:" Keisuke responded, flashing his wedding ring. "Until, then; how about you hold your tongue?"

"Babe, you know he's just a hologram, right?" Maho whispered to Keisuke before turning to the bartender. "Yes, truly flattering; say, how about when you're done with whatever order you were in the middle of fulfilling, you slide us a couple martinis?"

Maho then plunked some 20th century-style cash onto the bar.

"Yes, of course:" The bartender responded when he saw Maho place the money down, turning to continue looking for Ichika's bowl.

"Is your husband always like this, Captain?" Ichika remarked, stealing a curious glance at Keisuke.

"He can be a bit brash sometimes..." Maho admitted as she ran her nails along the bar. "especially when it comes to protecting his territory, but once he knows you're not trying to steal me from him, he's a big sweetheart. We're still working on trying to get him to show that side a little more often..."

"Oh, so he's like your puppy?" Ichika chuckled, finding the thought of big, strapping Commander Takahashi being compared to a small, cute puppy ever so amusing.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly use that terminology..." Maho trailed off.

Keisuke stole a disapproving glance at Ichika.

Dog people... He thought to himself.

"So, Lieutenant Commander;" Maho said, engaging Ichika. "I see you're enjoying the Pacific Princess?"

"Er... yeah," Ichika replied, a little hesitant to admit that she was using the Captain's weird holodeck fantasy-thing to get her exercise in. "It, um... it offers a nice change of scenery."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Maho responded. "It's always nice to hear positive reception to something. You know, if you're here every day, there might be something different to do every day; we might even make a port of call or two along the way."

"Port of... call?" Ichika remarked, an eyebrow perked in curiosity.

"Well, it wouldn't be a summer cruise if we just sailed aimlessly around the ocean all day, now would it?" Maho responded.

"Where are we stopping?" Ichika asked, leaning forward on the bar. "I mean, in circa-1970-lala-land, or whatever."

"Depends on the subroutine the program decides for the day." Maho responded. "One time, we might be somewhere in the Bahamas, the next time, we may be somewhere in the Mediterranean."

"CANONBAAALLL!!!" Lieutenant Kujo shouted as she suddenly burst into the Holodeck and vaulted herself into the swimming pool, sending up a torrent of displaced water that drenched everyone sitting at the bar.

"Ah, shit," the bartender grumbled, reaching down and wringing out his shirt.

Ensign Fujiwara, who had a few hours to kill before the start of his shift, had decided to stop by and check out Commander Takahashi's program for himself. He had been relaxing by the pool, but the deck chair in which he had been relaxing had been in the direct line of fire for the displaced water, and he was now soaked.

"Er, do you mind??" Takumi yelled at the Lieutenant that had just jumped into the pool. "You're lucky you didn't slip and kill yourself running on the pool deck!"

"In the holodeck?" Lieutenant Kujo retorted as she paddled over to where Takumi had been resting. "Puh-lease; unless the Captain has some sort of death wish and has the safety protocols disabled, I'm not all that worried about it."

"Just because it's simulated doesn't mean that there's no danger of slipping!" Takumi responded angrily. "Next time, think of the guy that has to use a fucking walking stick before doing something like that! Now I'm going to have to wait until the deck around me is dry enough where there's little danger of slipping before I can even move!"

Keisuke, completely uninterested in the conversation between his wife and Misono at the bar, had overheard the whole exchange thanks to Takumi's volume, and decided now was the time to intervene.

"Okay, knock it off, you two!" He said as he approached. "Fujiwara, while I don't know the hardships of relying upon a walking stick, your reaction towards Kujo here was unwarranted. And Kujo, this might be a simulation, but there's still the very real possibility of slipping and falling, safety protocols or not: It's how the holodeck manages to be so realistic. So please; no running on the pool deck."

"Well, looks as if I'll be stopping by the ship's laundromat once I'm done here," Ichika chuckled, shaking herself off like a... well, like a wet dog.

"Sorry about that, Rayburn." Maho apologized to the bartender. "While it's our job to look after the passengers, we can't prevent them from being idiotic."

"Never a truer word has been said." The bartender, Rayburn, responded, plopping a sizeable bowl onto the counter and beginning to fill it with water. "By the way; any word of volunteers for game night tonight? I have this new idea I've been wanting to try out; something a little different from the usual bingo night."

"I'm sure someone would be willing to volunteer:" Maho responded, remembering that this bartender was programmed in as an easter egg to a 1970s game show. "I've heard the concept, and it sounds very interesting."

"Should I be worried about where this is going?" Ichika whispered to Maho with a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

"Nah, he's mostly harmless." Maho said reassuringly. "It's actually really funny, he does this live version of this old 1970's game show with volunteers, and its actually quite entertaining..."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Posting by

Commander Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer

Commander Keisuke Takahashi
Second Officer

Lieutenant Karen Kujo
Squadron Leader

Ensign Takumi Fujiwara
Flight Control Officer

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