Not the Best First Impression

Posted on Sat Mar 26th, 2022 @ 6:11pm by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Ensign Kateyo Fenn
Edited on on Sat Mar 26th, 2022 @ 9:44pm

Mission: Character Development
Location: Deck 9, Gym
Timeline: Between Missions
2371 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Finally with some time to herself, Zade put her hair up into a messy bun as she entered the gym on deck 9. She also needed time to process the rapid change of events: she went to the Athena to offer assistance on behalf of the Colossal, and ended up staying as the ship's new security chief. It would be some time before she got the rest of her personal belongings from the Colossal, and she couldn't really do anything in her bare quarters, so she figured she would burn some energy.

The Trill had on blue leggings with a silver stripe that ran down the outside of each leg and a dark grey windbreaker-type jacket. Finding a spot a little more out of the way to set down her water bottle, Zade began her stretches. After a couple of minutes, she felt sufficiently warmed up and grabbed some weights that she could secure to her ankles. It wasn't a lot of weight, just enough to strengthen her endurance, and she walked back to the space she marked with her water bottle. Squatting down, she secured a weight to one of her ankles, and once it was snug she stood and tested her movement, seeing if she needed to adjust the fit. Once she was content with it, she placed both feet on the ground and widened her stance. Shifting her balance to one foot, she lifted the weighted one and started doing slow side kicks, taking the time to lift her leg the right height before extending it. When her leg was extended, she'd hold it for a moment before bending her knee to bring her foot back to her body. There was a pause, then she brought her leg back down and lightly tapping the floor before repeating it. She liked to have a weight on one leg at a time because she found that she could test her balance too.

Teyo needed to unwind, the last few days had been intense, to say the least, and now he just needed to feel the burn in his muscles. There weren't many things that distracted him like working out; whether that was alone in the gym, or with someone else in a more intimate setting. However, the intimate type was partly the reason he was here today. He was trying to get 'him' off of his mind, his face, his body, his smell. Teyo's options were to either get drunk, sleep with someone hotter, or work out. And since drinking in the middle of the day was frowned upon, finding someone to sleep with was a lot more effort than he wanted to commit to right now, he found himself here, in the gym.

Teyo was so lost in thought, he paid no attention to where he was going and walked right into the path of the Trill woman's leg. He fell to the ground with a loud thud. "Ouch," was the only word that managed to escape his mouth through gritted teeth.

Zade had her leg fully extended when she felt something push her foot forward. Her gaze snapped to her foot, seeing a muscular Trill falling over. The way he fell caught her foot and was enough to disrupt Zade’s balance. She fell next to him, her weighted leg landing on his chest with no grace. "You alright?" Zade asked, giving an apologetic look as she lifted her weighted foot. That might leave a bruise. "Say, Muscles, you must be in a deep train of thought to run into someone this out of the way," she commented. Pushing herself to her feet, she offered a hand to Teyo.

"I'm fine," Teyo lied, the wind knocked completely out of him. He accepted the hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Maybe watch where you're kicking in the future, this isn't your personal gym." He said as wiped dust from the back of his shorts.

A small part of Zade was tempted to push him over again at that, and her eyes narrowed slightly. "Look around you, the only other place I could have picked that's more out of the way is a corner of the room," she replied with a scoff. She thought she had been careful enough in picking a spot.

"Don't let me stop you," he said as he held his arm out, pointing to the corner of the room. "At least then you won't be a danger to the rest of the crew."

Zade paused for a long time, assessing the situation to decide how best to proceed. She couldn't quite tell if he was truly angry or not, but it seemed like a major overreaction. She had no doubt something was on this guy's mind. Turning a little, she kept eye contact as she leaned over to pick up her water bottle, then popped the top to take a slow sip of water, her other hand on her hip. Once she was finished with her drink, she closed the bottle and held it beside her at about shoulder height. There was a pause, then she let go of the water bottle and let it thump to the ground, a nonverbal sign that she wasn't going anywhere.

"Damn, if my foot is that dangerous, I should ask to see if I really need to be carrying around a phasor," she replied in a joking tone, resting the hand that held the bottle at her side. Zade was attempting to lighten the mood, but she was being careful to not joke too lightly, in case that made the situation worse.

"Teyo, she's not in the way, man," a crewmate from a couple machines down said.

Zade glanced in the crewmate's direction and, while appreciative of the support, gave him a look that told him to stay out of this. No need to drag other people into it if this guy decided he wanted to fight. If anything, others would just get in the way. Turning her focus back to Teyo, she shifted her weight and stuck out her non-weighted foot behind her, clearly demonstrating that she had plenty of space to the wall behind her. The adjacent machines were also far enough apart and she'd have to take a step in either direction to actually hit them. "Would it put your mind at ease if I did my exercises like this, Muscles?" she asked him. Maybe negotiating out of this would avoid a scene, but she did have a backup plan in mind if he did decide to fight.

Teyo watched as she tried to intimidate him by drinking a bottle of water and then discarded the bottle in a way, that he presumed was meant to be threatening, but came across as, strange. Before he could respond, he heard a familiar voice interfere, as usual. "Mind your business Jenkins," Teyo said as he turned to face the crewman, a dark scowl on his face. "This doesn't concern you."

Teyo turned back to face the Trill woman, he looked at her bottle and then back at her. "You know, some people just say sorry when they kick someone to the ground," he said, his voice cold and angry. "Pathetic," he added, as he started to walk away.

"It's not my fault you lack spatial awareness," she replied, slightly more to herself than to him. She lowered her foot as she continued to watch Teyo closely. The change in his expression indicated to her that dropping her water bottle was probably not the right move. Add in how he responded to Jenkins, she definitely pissed him off. Her stubbornness, however, prevented her from sucking it up and apologizing. He ran into her, so why should she apologize? "I'd apologize for my foot landing on your chest, but only after you apologize for not paying attention in the first place."

"You want me to apologise?" Teyo almost yelled, whipping back around to face her. "You attacked me and you want me to say sorry? To you?" He honestly couldn't believe the brass neck of this woman, who the hell did she think she was? "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I was minding my own business when you decided to drop kick me. Happy?" He was sure the sarcasm wouldn't be lost on her but at this point, it was all he could do to not go into a rage meltdown.

The outburst had caught the attention of several crewmates nearby, and Zade could feel their eyes now focused on the disturbance. This had definitely turned into a tense situation. It was starting to annoy her that he was claiming she attacked him. On the outside, Zade appeared a little tense but largely annoyed, but on the inside she was starting to worry. She rolled her eyes and matched his sarcasm, "right, and I'm sorry for being so in your way that you think I had to 'attack' you." She put finger quotes around the word 'attack.'

If she could relocate this so others wouldn't get hurt, that would ease her mind. Then, an idea came to her head. She tilted her head slightly and gave a hint of a smile, though her eyes retained her annoyance. "It looks like you want to blow off some steam, and frankly, I could use it too. Want to try a sparring match, Muscles? Winner gets a real apology?" Not waiting for an answer, she took the weight off her ankle and collected the other weight and water bottle, then started walking to the sparring mats she noticed when she entered the gym.

"What the hell are you doing?" A crewmate whispered as she passed.

Zade dropped her smile and gave the crewmate a glare. "Just stay out of it," she muttered at equal volume. If Teyo was anything like Zade, she knew that he wouldn't admit to being wrong that easily. She did feel responsible for the unintended escalation and was hoping she could help him release that pent-up anger in the way she knew how: by punching things.

Teyo was completely taken back by the change of attitude from the Trill woman. "You want to fight me? Here? Now?" Outwardly, he was still angry, in fact he was sure there was steam spilling from his ears; inwardly he was weighing his options. First of all, he had no idea who this woman was and the truth of the matter was she was in great shape. However, Teyo had never backed down from a fight before and he wasn't about to start now. Even if she did kick his ass in front of all these people, he would rather that than be the coward who walked away from a challenge. "Bring it on," he said sounding more confident than he actually felt. "Be warned, I don't pull my punches."

"Not fight. Spar. There's a difference," Zade corrected, stopping just off the mat. She had put her weights back where she found them on the way to the mat, so just set down her water bottle. Knowing she was probably going to get sweaty, she unzipped the jacket and removed it, revealing a fitting tank top that was the same shade of silver as the stripe in her pants. She neatly folded the jacket and set it on the ground next to the water bottle, then took off her necklace and placed it on top before stepping onto the mat. "I don't expect you to hold back," she replied to his last comment, rolling her shoulders to loosen them. The top showed off more of her spots as they traveled down her neck, as well as revealing more of her toned form.

The Trill turned to face him, noting his distance from her. "Only rule, no killing each other. I just got my promotion and I'd rather not lose it," she said with a smirk. Then she widened her stance by putting her right foot back, then positioned her hands so one was intended to protect her neck and the other would protect her chest and abdomen. "You better come at me like you mean it, Muscles."

Teyo pulled off the vest he was wearing so that he was bare-chested, he threw it to the floor towards the edge of the mat.

Jenkins, who was at first trying to mind his own business like Teyo said, couldn't ignore what was just about to happen. He was too curious, both about the outcome of the fight and the... unique way the female Trill was handling things. She looked familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen her before.

"Hey Jenkins," another guy said, elbowing Jenkins in the side. He nodded to the two about to fight. "I'll bet you a day's rations Teyo wins."

Jenkins watched the two for another moment before turning his head to Merrick. "I'm not one to bet on stuff like this..." He watched the female Trill go into a defensive stance that he recognized as some form of martial arts. "Actually, I think I will. If she wins, it's a day's rations, plus winner gets to decide the loser's next off-duty outfit."

"Seriously??" Merrick scoffed, looking back at the fight. Teyo was clearly more muscular than the female Trill, but she looked like she might have the agility to counter. The Vulcan slapped his hand onto Jenkins' and shook it. "Fine, but I have to be clothed."

Teyo had to admit that the woman was more in shape than he had first given her credit for, not that that was going to stop him now, he was in too deep. He interlocked his fingers and twisted his arms so that his palms faced out towards her, stretching them out as far they would go, there was the sound of tiny cracks along the joints of his fingers and forearms. Feeling loose he too braced himself in a fighting position; slightly crouched, his right leg in front, his left leg stretched out behind him. He held his hands up, his fingers wide open, ready to attack. "Let's rumble, Princess."

To Be Continued...