Star Trek: Eventide 777 - ╰roach-harbour

And here she was, dressed in her nice island gear. She had a long pink sun dress with sunglowers on it and a straw sun hat. She remembered reading about earth climate and how their sun and atmosphere made it a necessity to wear this type of lotion called 'sunscreen'. Of course she covered her body in the stuff and wore a paid of dark sunglasses. For her shoes she had a pair of white heeled sandals with fluffy clouds on the tops. She had certainly been taking her boyfriend's 'rules of aesthetic attraction' to heart and the result was a glamourous outfit. Her long black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, tied off with a matching pink ribbon. Here to party, Aella certainly had some style. It was a bit difficult to get to earth, being not only a non-Federation citizen and from the Dominion, but she made it!

In the entrance to the town Sherriff Whidbey was leaning back against a wall. He was in full sheriff gear just simply greeting new comers. He was in the shade for the most part so he wasn't wearing any sunscreen but that was fine by him. The man looked pretty much like you'd expect Austin's dad to look. He had a similarly large frame and height to his son aswell as having eyes and hair similar to that of his son besides the fact his hair had turned to a frosty gray. He noticed the odd alien come onto the island. Most of the people here were tourists from Seattle even if he got the occasional tourist from off world. Aella was some sort of species entirely unfamiliar to the man who spent his entire life on the planet. He walked over to her. "Hello, Welcome to San Juan island."

Her light purple eyes caught the glimpse of a man greeting people as they arrived. Being a Vorta with little understanding about family, the only thing she could assume was he was the one in charge and most likely knew Austin. She held onto the brim of her hat as a soft gust of wind blew and the next thing she knew the man had approached her. "Hello, I'm here to see Austin Whidbey. I'm Aella," She introduced herself, remembering what Austin said about not talking about the Dominion war and Eshen's words about the big G. None of that! She was just Aella here, maybe this man wouldn't recognise her race? She wasn't sure how many humans outside of Starfleet had even seen a Vorta.

"Austin Whidbey?" He repeated back, why was this odd lady looking for his son. Maybe he was with starfleet but it also seemed as though she didn't recognize him as being Austin's dad, that was good. He knew his son wouldn't like him doing this but he wanted to see her intentions. "Oh yeah I know Austin Whidbey, he's a good guy. Why are you looking for him?" He wasn't sure how to feel about this, perhaps Austin had invited her. As far as he knew his son wasn't dating anyone though he wasn't sure if Austin would have said anything even if he told him a lot.

Aella had her hands by her sides and with her back straight as she stared at the man. Despite being an alien in a strange world, she did not sound lost nor confused, in fact she seemed oddly confident. Earth wasn't scary, being surrounded by a bunch of humans was not scary. What was scary was being alone, but she was excellent at not showing any of this on her face. "I'm from 777, we are acquaintances," She spoke softly and with a gentle smile. No war crimes or anything, just a sweet alien girl with sparkling purple eyes. "He said I could come visit, this is my first time on earth."

He nodded along. "Ahhhh I see." That makes a lot more sense, he was slightly relieved Austin wasnt dating this person. Though he kinda had an idea of who Austin actually liked which wasnt any better. Austin must be having an interesting time on the station. "Austin has always been quite a friendly person, if you want I can offer you a ride over to where he's at right now?"

Aella blinked a couple times at the strange man, still trying to discern who he could be exactly. To think this would be her first real interaction with a human civilian on earth, she wasn't quite sure what to expect. His demeanour and tone was not hostile like other humans she had met and-- wait Austin did mentioned about his dad. Could this man be him? She tilted her head ever so slightly when she spoke. "A ride-- yes that would be lovely. Oh may I ask, are you by any chance his father?" She had a hunch but wanted to confirm this was the man who was 'questioning Austin being in Starfleet'.

He smirked. "That would be me yes, Sheriff Walter Whidbey or just Wally to those who know me." He laughed as he approached his cruiser. "I'm suprised you didn't catch me before, my son is basically my own spiting image."

"Wally," Aella repeated back to him with a slow nod. She followed him to what appeared to be a-- cruiser was it? Honestly the knowledge of earth in Dominion space was pretty sparce and as anyone would expect most things were on a 'need to know' basis. Aella held the rank of Vara'toran which also limited her mostly to space battles within or around the wormhole. "My race does not have faimly. We're cloned," She explained as she tightened her ponytail a bit and looked down to watch her step. Perhaps wearing heels was a bad idea, why were heels aesthetically pleasing yet impractical? Such is life. "Spiting image? That's a compliment, right?" The two words did not seem like they went together and she was sure Austin was on good terms with his father so it had to be a compliment, right? But spit was not a good word and image was neutral.

He laughed as he got into the driver's seat of his police cruiser. Is was a beat up old thing but atleast it was a bit faster then walking around. Especially on such a small island. "It means that he looks a lot like me, that is all. I'd hope it would be a compliment though I don't necessarily look the same as when I was younger." He seemed to be in a pretty good mood even as he continued to internally observe aella. He rarely trusted outsiders, mostly because tourists seemed to get into all the bar fights that he would have to break up this time of year. The fact that she was cloned was slightly off putting, as far as he knew genetic modification including cloning was a crime in the federation. "You're not from around here are you?"

Aella got into the cruiser, sitting what solids called 'shotgun'. Strange term especially because there were no guns involved. Aella barely knew how to use a gun, let alone be in charge of one. Still, it was just another quirk of the language. She straightened out the hem of her knee-length dress and held onto her hat so she could get in without it hitting the top of the vehicle. "I do see the similarities now," Aella took another look at the older man, still with a bit of confusion how this man could be Austin's father. "Oh, no, I'm from the Gamma Quadrant, I'm a Vorta," She made sure not to mention the Dominion or anything about the Founders. She had to be nice and make a good impression, this was all of Eshen's socialising lessons culminating in this single interaction. She wasn't gonna mess it up!

"Far out." He said as a bit of a pun but also he thought it was kinda cool he had never actually left the inner federation. He kicked the car into gear and began driving. "How did you possibly end up so far away from home all the way on Earth then? That must've been quite the journey."

"Yes, far out," Aella chuckled surprisingly getting the pun rather quickly. The roar of the engine started the sheltered Vorta and made her jump a little in her seat. Loud noises were definitely not something she enjoyed and her hands immediately went to cover the tiny holes of her ears. "Y-Yes it is very far-- I am station on 777 and took a transport here. Warp speed is faster than you would expect," She spoke at a normal person volume, but to her it was like yelling. Aella never had a strong voice to begin with, after all the Vorta were sly negotiators, not soldiers and they did not win by shouting either.

He kept on driving the car and getting closer to his house. The scenery around them was quite nice. Much of the island was still old style farm land, a lot of the locals preferred their little slice of paradise home grown rather then replicated. "How are you adjusting to Earth so far then?"

Aella couldn't help but stare out the window. The dark sunglasses on her face protected her eyes from the harsh sunlight-- seriously how did humans deal with it? She had never seen so many plants and farmland in her life. Well, a couple of Dominion worlds did have their decent share of farmers but her and her Jem'hadar soldiers operated on scorched earth policy so she'd only see it for a few seconds before burning everything to the ground. Ah yes, fond memories. "It's... Bright. And loud," She stopped leaning against the window when she heard the man speak to her again. "How do you deal with all these sounds?" Aella was having a hard time even hearing herself.

He laughed lightly. "You think this place is loud? As far as I know this is among the most quiet places on Earth. Believe it or not most of the residents here come out here to escape all the noise. Just you go down to Seattle and I reckon you'd see just how much louder things can be." He was fiddling with his hands on the steering wheel as he approached his house.

Her frilly little ears twitched when the man said this place was quiet. If this place was quiet what would he think of the Vorta homeworld. As the car continued to move she turned to look out the front window at the house just in front of them. So this was where Austin grew up? The whole concept of 'childhood' and upbringing was still foreign to the Vorta, but after dating Eshen for a time she was starting to understand how environments affect solids. "Space is quieter than you would imagine," Aella said with a sigh as she slumped in her seat to wait for the car to come to a stop. Why humans still used cars when transporters existed was still beyond her, but perhaps this was all part of the whole earth experience? She pushed her sunglasses back up on her face and folded her hands on her lap. It was still loud, but she was starting to adjust.

He stopped the car in the driveway but left it running, he had to get to work. The Whidbey homestead was by no means large but it had a earthly charm about it. It had been built years ago mostly by Austin's grandfather. In spite of the house being lacking in size it far made up for it in location. It was nested right on a small bay where the Whidbey family could always have a bit of fun relaxing on the coast or swimming around. "Ive got to head back to work but Austin should be around the house somewhere."