All By Myself Part 9 - BACKPOST

Posted on 03 Aug 2025 @ 6:29pm by Lieutenant Commander Raviran Dattek-Winters & Lieutenant JG Cajag Lagnas

979 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Festival of Unity
Location: Cag's Temporary Quarters - Starbase 375
Timeline: (Backpost)

PREVIOUSLY:

“Soooooo now you’re insulting my intelligence. Like the one thing I have going for me!?”

CURRENT:


"I'm not insulting your anything, I wouldn't do that! I promise! I was trying to say that the random thought I'd had, but which I'm really sorry that I failed so miserably to explain, was that I was wondering it we had done this<?B>" Ravi again indicated the writing on the wall with a sweep of her arm. "You know as in..... if we..... had done the time-equation thing and that had messed with our metabolisms, or if we weren't where we thought we were......or even when or whatever....." putting out a pleading hand to try to offer an explanation of her wild and, now she was looking back at it, a pretty STUPID idea, but not the one he had thought she meant.

"And now you're insulted and unhappy and you've just made me such wonderful pancakes and I was just thinking how nice you are and....." realising too late that she had said too much now and made it all worse, Ravi sank back onto the sofa again, her head in her hands and her face red with embarrassment.

Oh Great! NOW LOOK what I've done" she muttered in exasperation at herself.

Caj picked up Rani's hand in his "Look. Chill. Its ok. Why does everything have to have a reason?" Caj nodded over at the writing on the wall. Though he was paying more attention to how cute Rani looked when flushed. "That..." he said pointing to the wall "Is a Tuesday for me. I am writing crap like that all the time. You should see what's scribbled on the wall in my bedroom." Now it was Caj's turn to blush.

Ravi visibly relaxed at that very reasonable explanation.

She sat down again, finished off her orange juice dregs and looked up at Caj. "I'm sorry" she sighed. "It's the colour of my trim." She gently swept a hand over her Teal colours at the top of her uniform. "Medical or Science - both very much the same breed - we're taught from the day we're born to ask that very question of Everything we see, morning, noon and night. Perhaps some of us are already born with the question in our genes, I don't know. It's just always there..... Why why DOES everything HAVE to have a reason - and what is it in each miniscule case?" She shrugged, looking defeated.

"You at least need to take me out for dinner before any breeding is done" chuckled Caj with a grin into his OJ as he took another Gulp. "But what you say is very true."

"Breeding?? Not the freaky Llamas again? Didn't you get rid of those from the programme?" Ravi pretended to look confused but her eyes twinkled. "But yes, dinner is a very important medical necessity. I prescribe it for us both, It's essential to our recoveries but let's put the breeding on hold for now though, because I'd have to do some essential research about how many species we'd be combining, what colour and content of blood we'd end up asking any produce to cope with and what sort of future we could offer them anyway.............." having dropped to a level of seriousness that wasn't where she had intended to go, Ravi had to lighten back up quickly to recover from that as well, how was it SO easy.... dangerously SO easy.... to fall into so much touble, depth and confusion with this unusual Trill?

"....deal?" she recovered, Doctors' factory settings were the go to when feeling this adrift. She winked at him and grinned.

"so now your asking me out on date...." responded Caj with a matching smile. "I accept."

Ravi's slightly cardassian-ridged eyebrows seemed to dip a little as she tried to work out how she'd got the blame for that.

"I did that once before.... well, actually twice in fact, but although the first one was a pretty crazy 'spiced Souflee' kind of date, the second one was a lot more... erm.... mysterious, perhaps to be remembered in the middle of a dark night somewhen in the far future, and the initial introduction was a trainwreck almost literally, then I'm not sure whether so be excited or nervous about this one." She joked.

"Where would you like to go this time?" she asked with genuine interest in what he would say. "I mean I crashed into you first off, I suggested the Bajoran Tea-Room for the first official date - or thank you meet up thing - and then I suggested the "Colour of Magic" for the life-changing one we just had, so it has to be your turn to choose the next place?" she reasoned.

Caj thoughtfully chewed on some pancakes. “Well how about a safe middle ground option? Somewhere between walks in the park and going out for drinks huh?” Caj was not a very good as a second date picker. He once took a Andorian to a cricket match. It did not go well. There was also the time with the apple bobbing oh and the pig throwing don’t forget the pig throwing. Better to be safe than sorry. So Caj leaned into caution. “What about dinner and dancing?”

Ravi looked surprised for a moment but then grinned. "yes" she agreed. "Good choice! I'll have to look into where that sort of thing happens around here" she mused, wandering off in her own thoughts to see if she had any memory of such a place. (Preferably one that didn't mention any lotus flowers in their name or had Orion serving girls).

TBC

A JP by:

Ensign Cajag Lagnas
Science Officer
USS Cygnus

&

Lieutenant Raviren Dattek-Winters
Chief Medical Officer
USS Cygnus

 

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