Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-cdr-kestrel

Timi sighed as the light for the doorbell went off, signalling that his old friend had arrived. He knew of their tendency to show up early, especially if they were excited, but half an hour was ridiculous even for them. Still, he was just lounging around before anyway, so they just walked up to the door and pressed the button to open it.

Senang stepped inside with flair, carrying a case in their hands and twirling around Timi a little to show off their happiness. Their facial expression hardly changed, and when they set the case down on the nearest horizontal surface, they looked at Timi with a nod.

Timi took that as a cue to open a mind link, reading Senang’s mind and talking to them through it. He knew Senang was a very poor telepath to say the least, but Timi was talented enough for the both of them. “I can’t believe you’re making me your first guinea pig.”

Had Senang been anyone else, they’d have responded with mock offence and a jab back at Timi’s expense. As it were though, they shrugged, and opened their case. “I did practise a lot on fake skin beforehand. And it’s not like tattoos are impossible to remove, so you’re stuck with me. I do want to remind you that you asked for it.”

Timi groaned inside his head, loud enough for Senang to hear. “Alright, grab your stuff, we’re going to my room. I share these quarters, I can’t justify getting blood on the sofa.” With those words, he moved to his room, expecting Senang to follow after him.

To her credit, Senang did close her case quickly and followed after Timi. “No blood on the couch? What a shame,” she commented dryly as she watched Timi strip the bed of its bedding so that he could sit or lay on it comfortably. She gathered the chair in the corner, so she could sit next to the bed as Timi lay on it. She had to move some stuff to the other nightstand, as an unfinished terrarium was taking up space in the corner of the room too.

“At least the bedding is easy to replace. I don’t want to have to strip the sofa and reupholster it.” A fair point, if he did say (or rather, think) so himself. He pulled the nightstand over so Senang could use it as a table, watching as she went to work. He was starting to feel a little lazy, and should probably replicate some snacks to keep him going.

“Are you already getting hungry? How much did you have?” Senang could feel what Timi was feeling, distant but distinct. She was busy disinfecting her workspace so that Timi wouldn’t catch anything, and while she did have a dermal regenerator, she didn’t want to risk her friend getting an infection either way.

“Only two gummies. You know I’ve got low tolerance for my size.” Timi ran out quickly as Senang was busy setting up, returning only a moment later with both healthy and unhealthy snacks. No ice cream, which was unusual but probably for the best, but Timi did have several kinds of protein bars, salted nuts, and crisps.

Senang looked over the snacks with a judgemental gaze. At least there were healthy options in there, but it was already late and if Timi wasn’t careful he wouldn’t eat a proper dinner. “I know I told you to take weed so the pain would be dulled, but you munching away while I work was not what I had in mind,” *he said, jabbing at Timi lightly.

Timi, for his part, took off his shirt so he was just in a tank top, and laid on his front on the bed so Senang would have easy access to his arm. “Should’ve known that’s what would happen, honestly. I always eat when I’m high.” It wasn’t the first time they’d done something like this, ever since meeting sixteen years ago when Timi was a fresh-faced ensign. Senang wasn’t a stranger to weed either, though the Vulcan was in charge of sticking needles in his skin today and as a result had wisely decided not to partake. Maybe later.

Senang ignored Timi expertly, despite him being in her head. “Okay, so, to recap. I sent you the practice designs I did, you’re going to let me freehand for the most part, I’m allowed to make use of your entire upper arm, and if you hate it we get rid of it at the end.”

Timi nodded, ready for the experience of getting tattooed for the first time. He just wanted to jab at Senang again, just for a little bit. “I should have just gone to the new tattoo artist. Print-on tattoos are so much easier to deal with.” It earned him a half-hearted smack to his back, which made him huff out a laugh.

“And refuse me my needles? You’d be a cruel, cruel man to do such a thing to me, Kestrel, and you know it.” Senang started disinfecting Timi’s arm, which had already been shaved earlier.

Unironically, despite the fact that Senang wore them very well, piercings were bound to be more obstructive in Timi’s work than a tattoo would be. He wasn’t particularly attached to getting either, but Senang was his friend, and despite the Vulcan not having grown up with innate artistic talent, they were dedicated and determined to master any skill they set their mind to, and the benefit of the way Senang preferred to tattoo was that it was slow enough for them to think about every press of the needle, adjusting as they needed. As a result, Timi was far more comfortable letting Senang tattoo him than letting him pierce him. Which was a little funny, maybe, but he’d thought about it extensively.

Senang set to tattooing with a single-minded focus that was difficult to attain for most people. He’d stick to shades of black, his use of colour not to the degree yet that he felt comfortable using them on someone else’s skin. He’d practised patterns and organics, his shapes generally shaping. He wasn’t very good at animals with complicated faces yet, but simpler animals that had patterns on them, like snakes, those he could do. She was lucky that Timi enjoyed all animals and was actually working on getting two snakes. She’d also found out that his surname was actually an Earth bird of prey, so she worked in the talons of said bird into the design. The rest of the space was filled up by leaves, which were less patterned than the two animals in order to create a sort of negative space while still rounding out the design more. By the time she was done with the outlines several hours later, Timi had fallen asleep, his snacks forgotten. She poked the snoring bear, and after a while, he blearily blinked up at her.

“Are we done for today?” he thought at them, closing his eyes again. The weed had absolutely helped him, he’d barely felt a thing. He felt Senang laugh at him, and then wipe the design on his arm before going over it with the dermal regenerator.

“Look in the mirror. If you don’t like the design now, we can get rid of it. If you do like it, I’ll come back in a week to finish it.” They took care not to sound too hopeful, but they’d worked hard on this, and they wanted Timi to like it.

Timi took a moment to gather himself, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. That had been quite a good nap, if he were honest, he felt pretty well-rested. He made his way over to the mirror, intent on giving it a good look to make sure he felt good about it.

23:51

He was impressed with Senang’s skill. He’d seen the results of his practising, of course, but seeing it on himself was a different story. The linework was very clean, clearly a result of Senang’s steady hands and many hours of practice. It wasn’t a design he’d have chosen for himself, but then he’d never have actually chosen a design for himself, and Senang’s work was really very nice. “It’s good, I like it,” he told him honestly, looking over to Senang.

The corners of her mouth quirked up into a satisfied smile, betraying her happiness at her friend’s approval. She started packing up her stuff, checking that she didn’t get any ink or blood on Timi’s bed. “I’ll tell you when I have time again, you can change your schedule pretty easily nowadays, right? So make time for me.” It sounded like a demand, and it kind of was, but she didn’t mean it badly.

“I’ll do that, Senang. Love you, get out of my quarters.” Timi told Senang as he put the bedding back on his actual bed as opposed to letting them gather dust on the floor. He waved as Senang took his leave, smiling genuinely at his friend. He’d have to figure out how to give him a gift of equal value, as this really was damn near unmatchable in terms of time and skill and love put in.

1