Draw Four

Posted on Mon Nov 18th, 2024 @ 11:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: Character Development
Location: Space...the final frontier
Timeline: Day after 'The Three Amigos'
1770 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

There was no particular rush to get to the mystery planet. The three left the Athena at 6 like promised, and the cruising speed of warp five ensured an arrival within the hour. Once Zade had laid in a course, she let the autopilot take control before moving to the back to hang out with the other two.

"Wait, so if I don't have a card matching what's on the deck, then I just keep drawing until something matches??" Zade asked. It was fairly simple to ask the replicator for a deck of cards, and a mess of them were on the ground between the three. The pillows the Trill had brought along for the trip were repurposed as cushions for those wanting a seat closer to the cards. This game had been going for the last ten minutes, and Zade had gotten down to three cards until none of them matched the blue or the six on the card currently face up.

"Yes. I can't believe you haven't played this before! This game was practically tradition in my household. Every week we had to play over family dinner. There were times it was more torture than game." Seeing that it could be a while before Zade found a card that worked within the defined parameters of the game, Finn stood up and made her way to the replicator. "Coffee, with a splash of mint cream," she commanded. "Can I get either of you anything?"

"Yeah, iced-Raktajino, double strength," Xavier replied as he stifled a yawn. Despite all of his bravado the day before he had struggled to get up this morning and had barely enough time to have a shower and meet the pair without being late. He suspected the medication but he couldn't use the computer to check for side effects, just in case his entries were being monitored. Maybe paranoia is another side effect? He thought to himself.

"I can see all the generations of Keatings sitting around a table, playing the most intense card game Earth has ever seen. One wrong move would result in phasers at dawn," he smiled. "Was your upbringing just as structured?" He asked Zade, realising he didn't know too much of the Trill's background.

"Black tea, thanks." Zade began to draw cards, frowning a little as the first couple were neither blue nor contained the number six. The sudden question about her upbringing made her pause when grabbing her sixth card off the deck. "Not really," was the rather disappointingly simple response. She didn't usually talk about her family, preferring to keep the rather emotionally charged part of her life to herself. "We had house rules, but no requirements for when to play games. Finn, this cannot be fair, it's so many cards." It only took about nine tries to get a blue card, which she then placed onto the discard pile before rearranging the eleven cards in her hand. The number of red cards she now had in her hand seemed a little suspicious, hinting to either a bad shuffle or just bad luck.

"It's totally fair, and just you wait, the game changes pretty quickly. You have a bunch of cards now but when someone plays a wild and changes the color someone else will end up with a ridiculous number of cards and you'll almost go out before it changes again and we start the cycle all over," Finn chuckled as she gathered both drinks in addition to her own. "Double strength? Stay up too late last night Xav?" She asked as she handed him his certainly overly caffeinated beverage.

"Don't ask," Xavier said as he took the drink and finished half of it in one go. He placed the glass cup next to him and burped a little louder than he intended to. "Sorry," he said a little sheepishly. He felt the sadness coming from Zade but decided not to press further. He didn't need to be a telepath to know that this was a subject that made her extremely uncomfortable and that was the last thing he wanted. "Honestly I wouldn't put it pass the Commander here to cheat, she does love to win, at any cost."

"Hey now, I love to win, but I don't cheat...not that I didn't try when I was younger anyway," Finn chuckled. "I can tell you that never ended well. Now," she sat back on the ground. "You can't say don't ask and just expect me to ignore it. Someone better start drumming up some good conversation. Since when did you drink double strength Raktajino? I'm also willing to let you off the hook for information on how the hell you and Teyo ended up friends. Alternatively, Zade here can save you by sharing her experiences with Teyo. I hear you really...pack a punch?"

A sigh came from the Trill at the mention of her experiences with Fenn. "It was one time. If you two keep bringing that up, I'll make a shuttle rule that says you draw cards each time you mention it," Zade warned.

"Sorry, Lieutenant, that's not how this works," Xavier said, happy for the excuse to deflect the conversation away from himself and why he was so tired. "We all get bullied for our mistakes here. Like did you know when I first met Finn she actually attacked me? It was ages ago but I bring it up every opportunity I can." He gave Finn a cheeky grin and then cut her off before she could rebuttal. "Tell Finn how you broke his arm and then I'll tell you how we became friends. I still can't believe he turned down the offer to come with us."

It was Zade's turn again. This time, she only had to pull two cards before she got the same number, but a different color. "I didn't break his arm, he did it to himself," she clarified, though she knew it was in vain. She had no doubt that Fenn put some dramatic flair into the story. Even now, a year later, there was still some bitter feelings around the memory. "He was in a mood in the gym, got angry at me because he lacked spatial awareness and walked into me, and he was starting to be verbally aggressive to others when they called him out on it. I invited him to spar so he he could blow off steam in a controlled manner, I eventually got him into an arm lock, and then he twisted into it like an idiot."

"What?!" Finn feigned shock. "Fenn would never do such a thing," she chuckled before placing a draw two card down on the deck. "That answers that I guess. Now it's your turn to spill the story...and draw the cards," she looked to Xavier with a smirk.

"Cheat-ter," Xavier said, drawing two cards from the deck. "We were all at the academy together," he said after having a long drink from his cup. "My best friend Kala was dating Tey's best friend at the time and the five of us, including my boyfriend Ari, were all quite close." He smiled as he reminisced, it had been so long since the five of them were all together. "I didn't like him at first, too sure of himself, too arrogant, not that I have to tell you two," he added with a chuckle. "I didn't quite understand how someone like that belonged in the Academy. As a Starfleet brat, I saw so many people not even get into the place and then there was this Trill who acted like he was too good to be there." He shook his head.

"Anyway, Matty, Kala's boyfriend, got into some serious trouble during the last semester of their first year. He was so scared he was going to get kicked out of the Academy, his parents would have killed him, figuratively. But Tey stepped in, took the blame, and nearly got kicked out himself. Somehow he managed to talk his way into staying and since that day we have been close." Xavier finished his story with a smile. "There are so many Kateyo Fenn stories like that, but for some reason that isn't the side of himself, he wants to show the universe." Xavier shrugged.

"You know, I have noticed that about him. As much as I hate to admit it, he's not always terrible. There are times he's a downright good crew mate, I've seen it around engineering. Though I'd never let him know that, because he'd always rather be perceived as an asshole. Why is that?!" Finn asked.

"Are you asking as his friend or as someone who can read minds?" Xavier asked with a smirk.

"Why not both?" Finn chuckled.

Xavier let out a breath as he played a card. He hiked one leg up on the chair he was sitting on and brought his knee to his chest. "Where to start?" He said aloud but more to himself. "Bravado, obviously. Insecurity, fear, immature. But there's a sense of boredom too. He's kind of a little genius but not challenged so he creates his own amusement, part of that amusement is annoying the people around him." He smiled, "I could take over Savin's job," he added.

"Well to be fair, being able to read everyone gives you an advantage. It still freaks me out from time to time that you can read my thoughts. Though it has also come in handy. It's not exactly fair that we can't read you back though," Finn replied thinking that she wished she knew more about what was behind that double Raktajino. "Anyway, how much longer until we arrive at that planet? If we don't get there soon, I think I'll win this game."

"I'm an open book," Xavier said with a flourishing wink. "I showed you all of my secrets on that beach on Earth." He turned to face Zade who had offered to pilot this expedition. "Yeah seriously, are we there yet?"

"Not so fast, you aren't," Zade replied to Finn. Putting down a draw 4 card, the Trill then stood and walked over to the front of the shuttle, checking the console. "We're about 20 minutes out, ten minutes before we have to go off of autopilot," she reported.

"Then let's gang up on Finn so she loses by the time we get there," Xavier replied as he threw down a card which made the engineer miss her turn. "No cheating today, Commander."