Smooth - Ensign Aeson Del

[Kali Nicholotti]

((SICKBAY - USS RESOLUTION))

For all of his tough talk on the bridge about not needing to go to sickbay just yet, Aeson had seemingly had a change of heart. As his adrenaline from the bridge "battle" wore off, it's pain dulling effects went with it. He'd found himself wincing with practically every minor change in expression and feeling like his whole face was throbbing like some kind of large, red, cartoon injury. Still, this was technically his first day and he had impressions to make. It wouldn't do for Aeson Del, hardened Security Officer and all-around tough guy to walk around whining about a booboo. With some effort, he forced a painful smile on his face, stepped through the door, and made a beeline to the Doctor.

Del: Doctor Adea, I had a.. uh... minor kinetic incident on the bridge. ::He pointed unnecessarily to his bloodied and bruised face:: I just need something to dull all of this so I can get back to work, Sir.

Adea: Response

Aeson followed Adea's gaze and his smile became a lot less forced, if still quite painful. The strikingly pretty, red-haired Vulcan Ensign from the bridge seemed to be waiting for him by a bio-bed. She seemed amused by his smile, which he of course attributed to his own natural charm and certainly not to any kind of schadenfreude about the smile itself causing him pain. He hadn't been able to find a good excuse to make her acquaintance on the bridge, but hey, when life gave you a broken nose and a pretty doctor, you make lemonade... or something like that. He couldn't exactly recall how that Terran saying went. Aeson tried to crank his confidence up as high as it would go, which in his current state wasn't as high as he'd prefer, and made his way over to the ginger Doc.

Del: Doctor Adea said you might be able to help with this? ::He again needlessly gestured to his blatantly obvious wounds and casually, like this kind of thing happened to him every day, continued:: It hurts a little, but I've had worse.

This wasn't entirely or, actually even slightly true. Aeson was probably in the worst pain of his life. The Doctor maintained a sort of stern, clinically appropriate expression as she replied.

Sirin: Ensign Meidra Sirin, ship’s counselor. I believe your nose is broken. It will have to be reset. Please sit down.

Now armed with a name to go along with the quite agreeable face, Aeson tried to very smoothly mount the bio-bed, but something went wrong. Perhaps he was swooning over the good doctor... or possibly it was the acute head trauma he'd received, but his coordination seemed to be slightly out of spec. Whatever the case, he managed to miss the bed entirely, landing squarely on his rump. He felt his face redden slightly from embarrassment, but with all of the bruising and other fun colors he had going on, he figured no one would notice.

Aeson felt sort of like the guy who slept in late the day they handed out brains as Meidra helped him back to his feet. A task, he noted with another minor hit to his ego, that was quite effortless for her due to her inherent Vulcan strength. He eased himself onto the bed carefully this time. Ever the optimist, Aeson tried to salvage what he could of the first impression.

He'd used his charm to woo countless (Countless was a strong word. A couple would be closer to accurate.) attractive women, men, and humanoids in his Academy days. Surely, He could turn this one around.

Del: It's very nice to meet you, Counselor. :: He straightened his posture slightly:: I'm Aeson Del with Starfleet Security. You know, I...

His attempts to try and talk himself up were deftly thwarted as she cut in.

Sirin: What? Oh - of course. You’re in security. Was there a reason you weren’t chosen for the away team?

He made a sound, somewhere between a squeak and a groan, but decidedly un-masculine. It was impressive really, how she had fired a well-aimed shot to the center mass of his bravado. He was offended and infatuated in equal measure. If it was possible to blush further, he did.

Del: Well.... ::He stammered.:: I was on AN away team. Not the main important one, but... well... there was a very suspicious console...and...

The situation had deviated very far from how Aeson had imagined it. Not only had he wooed no one, but he was quite certain he had done the opposite. He may have invented the anti-woo, here, in this very sickbay. His sort of groggy mind was spinning out of control trying to find a way to come out of this exchange with a net-positive outcome, when Meidra hit him unexpectedly with a hypospray to the base of his neck. He jumped at the sudden cold sensation and somehow managed to fall backward and hit his head on something hard behind him. This set into motion a series of events that Aeson could only assume was some kind of cruel punishment meted out by the Four Deities for some past misdeed.

Aeson rubbed at his tender head, letting a few expletives fly that would've disappointed his mother. He turned to survey the damage and, realizing he'd hit his head ON someone else's, without thinking, he reached out to apologize and managed to knock the hypospray out of her hands and sent it careening into the forehead of a nearby patient. Any reasonable person might've cut their losses and sat on their hands to prevent further misfortune, but not Aeson Del. Desperate to do something, anything that wasn't utterly embarrassing, he took a step towards the newly disturbed patient in yet another attempt to apologize and slipped on something squishy and unpleasant and very nearly crashed onto the bed of a wounded Klingon officer. At the last second, the strong hands of the Counselor caught him and guided him back to his bed before they had to dispatch an engineering team to clean up his damage.

Adea: Response

The words of admonishment from Doctor Adea barely registered to his mortally wounded pride. The momentarily disorienting effect of the hypo had worn off and he was left with only the "I-wish-I-was-dead" feelings of embarrassment rattling around in his mind. Aeson could not imagine how this could've gone any worse. Whatever dashing impression he'd hoped to make on the gorgeous auburn-haired counselor was a distant memory and the only real option he had now was to get out of here and transfer to another ship where no one had witnessed anything that had just happened.

Hurting in several new places, Aeson put his hands on his lap and tried his best to just behave himself.

Del: ::Staring straight forward, he affected a forced calm tone.:: I'm just going to sit here and let you fix me before I break the ship.

Del: oO Then I'll go crawl in a hole. And die. Oo

Sirin: You may be the first patient to leave Sickbay in worse condition than when they arrived. Now please hold still while I attend to your injuries. ::she consulted her PADD:: First step, clean the wound then - hmm shove cartilage back into place..:: she hid a grin as he paled, the blood on his face a vivid contrast to his skin.:: Oh wait, that is a historical text. It appears a few minutes with an anabolic protoplaser will repair the damage. ::She moved the device closer to his face::

His eyes had gone wide when she had initially described the procedure, but his forced neutral expression had gradually melted into an involuntary smirk as he'd realized she'd been messing with him. A Vulcan with a sense of humor was certainly a new thing for him. She ran her various medical gadgets about his face and gradually, some small components of his confidence began to rebuild themselves. So things hadn't gone as smooth as he'd hoped, maybe he'd made a bit of a fool of himself, but he hadn't become a Starfleet Officer to back down in the face of adversity. Self-imposed or otherwise.

It took all he had, but Aeson took his shot.

Del: Make sure you do a good job Doc. ::He managed to catch her gaze.:: I'd hate for you to have an ugly dinner date...

She finished her work and took a step back seemingly dumbfounded and, Aeson hoped, at least a little charmed by his advances. She turned away momentarily as he surveyed her handiwork in the bedside mirror. There was still a bit of residual redness, but for the most part his mug seemed to be back to its original state. He thought he heard a reluctant sigh as she turned back towards him.

Sirin: I suppose if we were both in the mess hall at the same time, I’d allow you to sit near me.

It felt sort of like a bolt of lightning had shot down his spine. In a good way. Instantly a lopsided grin appeared on his face and he climbed off of the biobed. He suddenly felt great again, like he hadn't just been minutes away from shame-induced self-exile.

Del: ::Still grinning:: It's a plan. As soon as this whole Unity thing is handled, Consider yourself ::He realized there was no real good way to finish his thought so he just went for it.:: ...uh... sat near.

Sirin: Response?

Still smiling as he left the sickbay, heading towards the cargo bay that held the console that had sent the disturbing message, Aeson paused just on the other side of the doors and, after checking to make sure no one was looking, made a silent fist-pump motion to himself before continuing on his way.

Del: oO That went great! Oo

 

++++++/////++++++

Ensign Aeson Del

Security Officer

USS Resolution

R239708AD0

 

[+ Yalu]

This was so good.