Star Trek: Eventide 777 - ┊whidbey-household

[D] It was later that day when Austin was accessing the Starbase chat room. After he had tried to given advice to two, he saw people talking about Ava, in a way that made him feel... jealous. He didn't know if he was meant to be feeling that, supposedly Ava was his best friend and nothing more then that but he couldn't help but feel a burrowing deep in his chest. Especially after the other night in his quarters. He was contented to not push things any further but he didn't know what to do anymore when his heart was telling him something else. Austin was always a emotionally supressed man but maybe one day he would need to let things out more.

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[PADD]

To: Austin From: Aella Hi Austin, long time no speak, but I am on earth to visit (alone, sadly). I was wondering if you had time to welcome me to your little island in... what is that place, sans serif?

To: Aella From: Austin Whidbey Yeah feel free to come on down. It's called San Juan Island, it's not too far off from Seattle. Do me a favor though and don't say anything about the dominion around my dad, he's allready questioning me being in starfleet.

To: Austin From: Aella Okay! I won't don't worry! I'll be over there faster than you can say s-a-l-a-m-a-n-d-e-r!

"Okay, thank you so much Mr. Whidbey, " Aella spoke as she popped open the door of the car. It was still so loud. Was everything on earth this loud? She gave the older man a wave as she straightened out her little sun hat. "I think I can find Austin," She added before walking slowly towards the house. Being from the Dominion, to see a proper house by the beach was a surprise to her. They did not have houses or beaches in Dominion space, not where Vorta could go anyway. She knocked on the front door and jiggled the handle, could Austin hear her?

Austin screamed. "Agh you fucker." He was out on the beach dealing with some freshly caught crabs and one of the more aggressive ones was able to get loose and pinch Austin. In a knee jerk reaction he threw the crab down into the pot with the rest of them, damaging the crabs arm. After a second of waving his hurt finger he picked up the crab. He had dented its shell slightly aswell. "Agh I'm sorry Mr. Crab." He carefully picked up the crab by the back of the shell and let it go back into the water. "I'm gonna let you go but dont go pinching anyone." He then returned to his bucket of crabs.

Her frilly little ears picked up on a familiar voice coming from the beach? She heard the security officer swear and stifled a laugh when she heard the clacking of what sounded like a shell against a pot. Following the sound of the voice, the Vorta soon made her way to where Austin was. Her heels were more than a little uncomfortable as she stepped on the uneven ground. What a mistake, she thought as she gripped the brim of her hat to keep it from falling off. "Austin, I'm-- I'm here!" Her light purple eyes fixed on the other as she attempted to catch her balance. Maybe it was best to just go barefoot? But then the ground would get on her feet and that would be gross. She wished Eshen was here to carry her.

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By the time Aella had made it over Austin was allready holding up anouther crab by the back of its shell. It was swinging its claws around trying to get a good angle to pinch Austin but he didnt give it the chance this time. He waved with his free hand. "Oh hey..." He took a second to recognize who it was. "Hey Aella." He smiled. "How is earth treating you so far?"

She smiled nervously as she watched the human wrestle the strange red creatures with claws. The shells looked a little like Jem'hadar spikes on their skin, but less scaly. "Hey Austin, it's kinda loud on a planet than on a ship or base," She covered her ears, very much disliking the noises crab shells made. "Umm.. what are you doing with that uhh red thing? Are you moving it to a different area?" She said, clearly unaware of how seafood was prepared.

He looked Aella and the eagerly pinching crab that was still in his hand. "Oh well I was going to eat these, though I already released all the female ones." He shrugged. "We've got to keep the eco-system in check and what-not." He said it casually but Austin took the environment, especially around the island very seriously, even in a future where Earth was a lot more clean.

"Eat them?!" Aella's eyes grew wide and she quickly shuffled over to the pot with the crabs and shook it very hard. "Even if you release the females you're eating them! The pinchy earth crustacean!" She spoke in a high pitched whine (well as high as her voice went, she had a masculine tone). Her eyes went from Austin to the crabs, frowning and looking very distressed over what was happening. "They look scared..." So Aella would literally commit genocide but eating crabs was too far?

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He was still holding the crab in his hand. "They don't suffer or anything." He looked at the crab in his hand, into its little beaty eyes. "Here do you want to hold this one, I'll let you do whatever you want with him." He held out the crab towards her. "Just be careful He might pinch you." He knew full well it would probably pinch her, he had been holding crabs for his entire life and they still pinched him most of the time.

Aella looked in horror as she watched the man handle the crab. The terran crustacean was so scary! And that's why when Austin handed it to her she nearly dropped it. It was like playing a game of hot potato, Aella kept bouncing the crab between her hands. "A-Ahhh why is it crunchy??" The poor Vorta squeaked before-- *Click, clack, the crab fell to the ground, causing Aella to wobble and shriek as she threw her arms around Austin in pure terror of the crawling critter at her feet.* "Austin!!!!!"

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Austin picked the crab off the ground. He had lost one of his claws. "Damn, I guess I really can't release this one then. You took his claw off." He picked the claw up with his other hand and placed them both into the the bucket. "Don't worry most of these crabs are actually quite friendly, if he had pinched you it probably would have just been a friendly pinch." He frowned into the bucket. Too damaged crabs allready, his dad probably wouldn't be the happiest about that.

"What? Why can't you release all of them? Austin, they're innocent terran crustaceans," Aella said, clearly she was very invested in the wellbeing of some crabs. She separated from the the other and stood her distance, looking at the pot of crabs from a safe distance now. "How-- How could you eat a living animal? I know all about your fat bovines and birds, but even Mr. Snap crackle pop?" She pointed at the pot, confused how humans could be so cruel! Sure the Dominion wiped out entire races who disagreed with them but humans?? They did this on a daily basis and were okay with it? Aella was stunned.

"If you want to make him your pet I wouldn't stop you but if I released him now without his claw he'd just go off and die." He looked back at the bucket. "As for the others that's dinner tonight, that's how people have done it here on the island for hundreds of years. I dont eat bovines though, just crabs and fish"

"Umm... So let me get this straight," Aella clasped her hands together and looked over the pot once more. "You will... Kill these live creatures who have done nothing to you.... Every day?" Despite the explanation from the human, this Vorta was still not convinced what he was doing was sound. She still had a look of surprise as she stared at all the crabs still moving around in the pot. Meat that had already been slaughtered was one thing but how could someone just kill another animal and eat it like-- were humans Klingons? Oh no, maybe that's what was going on here. "Are you sure humans and Klingons aren't related? This seems pretty Klingon to me."

Austin shrugged. "Not every day, we can only do it during a certain time of year. Also I couldn't eat them every single day, we have plenty of other things we catch though like Salmon." He looked at Aella with a slightly frown. "This is just part of the life style here, there was a time before replication you know?"

Aella's expression softened a little when Austin explained a little further. It didn't mean she was happy they were eating these strange animals, but this was their lifestyle. "I guess. We don't really eat. Well, Jem'hadar used to just have the White and Vorta, well we only need food every couple of days and that's usually limited to berries or water," She explained, as she straightened out the wrinkles on her dress and readjusted her sun hat. "I don't mind if you eat them in front of me but is there any non seafood non meat option? No disrespect but I feel so bad for these creatures I could never eat them," Aella had strange morals, but they made sense to her. War crimes sure, but she drew the line at seafood and meat.

"I suppose I can probably trade some crab for some vegetables and pick some berries for you to have." He shrugged. "Trust me this will be very good. Almost any where else in the federation is still on replicators, this is about the only place you can get fresh proper food." He stretched his neck and decided to place the bucket inside the house so no birds would get to it. He didn't want their deaths to be wasted like that. He also wasn't about to kill them infront of Aella... unless she went talking about genecide again and he needed to make an example.

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"This is the only place? But doesn't that Admiral Sisko have a restaurant in... What was it, New Orleans? And on the station we have a lot of restaurants that don't use replicators," Aella said with much confusion. She was aware that the majority of the Federation had switched to replicated food, but finding 'fresh' food didn't seem like a rarity. Maybe because the only experience she had was 777 which was a bit more diverse than an average Federation base. She was happy when Austin brought the pot into the house, she did not want to see him hurt the poor little animals in front of her! "And veggies and berries would be nice. I have the medicine that nice Cardassian boy made me so I can taste all the foods! Except chocolate, I don't know what that tastes like yet."

"Unreplicated chocolate would be hard to come by this far north sadly. When it comes to the resturaunts though they tend to replicate the ingredients even if they use classic cooking methods." He smiled. "Do you mind shellfish? I mean they don't have eyes or anything. Would you be cool with eating those? The berries would probably be best made into a desert and we can certainly whip up a nice salad and maybe some mushrooms with dinner?"

"Do they really?" Aella said, surprised to hear that everyone was still using replicated ingredients. She would have to talk to her favourite Ratman and Zhimata to see if everything she had been eating was really a lie. “Shell... fish. That's still a living animal? Well... As long as I don't see it when it's alive and it's... no eyes, I think I can try it," She hesitated as she spoke. Eshen had told her it was rude to refuse offerings of food, but she also felt so bad for the tiny little animals. "It's just, well you know the Vorta, not too long ago, we kinda looked like those little animals, Lemurs you call them on earth? Please don't tell me you eat those."

"Yeah it's like clams or stuff. Here let me show you." He ran towards the door to his house and gestured her to follow him inside. "They are pretty good in a nice tomato based broth."

She followed Austin towards the door of the house and walked in after him. It was a nice place, very cozy. It was obvious she was best friends with a Bajoran when her eyes darted around the entryway trying to find a shoe rack. Two bright purple eyes stared at Austin as she was attempting to copy whatever he was doing. When in the Dominion do as the Founders do-- that was the saying. "Tomato-- oh I know that vegetable! I love tomatoes!" Aella said with much excitement on her face.

He left his shoes on, this portion of the house, the basement had a concrete floor even if there were nice parts. There was a guest bedroom down here but mostly this part of the house was used for storage. Especially the fridge down here. He lifted up two somewhat heavy bags, one containing muscles and one containing clams. Both the clams and the muscles had been raised on the island. Austin even dug for most of the clams in the bag himself. "How do these look to you?"

She followed Austin through the house and kept turning her head to look at all the various decorations and rooms they passed on the way. Maybe it was just Bajorans being weird for taking their shoes off? She didn't pay too much mind to it as the focus was just following the human around. When they got to the fridge she immediately wrapped her arms around herself when the cool air hit her skin. Why was it so cold? What was going on? And then her eyes caught sight of what seemed to be the shellfish? Lowering her sunglasses with one hand so she could look at the strange creatures, she gave a slow nod. "I will try it this once," She said, not wanting to offend Austin by refusing but also still a little skeptical that such things would be tasty. As long as it wasn't terran pizza, that stuff had the weirdest texture.

He placed them back into the fridge. "Sounds good, how would you like to go berry picking?" He shrugged. "Its kind of a outdated method of gathering fruit but I've found that it makes it better when you work for your food."

"Berry picking? That sounds amazing!" Aella's face lit up at the idea. Anything involving nature she absolutely loved. Not too long ago the Vorta were hunter gatherers too. She couldn't really say much about the 'beauty' of nature, but being outside collecting berries sounded fun， even in heels. "What sort of berries do you have here? I assume nothing from the Gamma Quadrant, right? I like earth blueberries and straawberries," She told Austin as she clasped her hands together.

He exited the house from the front (the opposite end they came in from.) And walked across the street to reach a conveniently placed hiking trail. "We mostly have Raspberries and blackberries growing naturally but you'll find some strawberries aswell." He added on. "My dad also taught me how to forage for mushrooms so I might pick some up to cook."

Aella followed him when they exited the house. Her eyes went back to the ground as she tried not to lose her balance. Grabbing the brim of her hat yet again she treaded quietly fight behind Austin. "That sounds great! I have never picked my own fruit, we don't really have leisure activities in the Dominion as you would assume," She spoke in a soft but lighthearted tone. After a few steps on the path she had gotten a hang of walking and was wobbling less. She still stuck close to Austin, who knew when a random stick would foil her plans. Oh how she wished someone would carry her. "Mosh rooms sound good too, I don't know what they are but I'll try!" Since she didn't eat meat she was going to try as many other earth foods as she could!

"Mushrooms." He corrected her. After a moment though they reached the first raspberry bush, carefully he pulled out a raspberry, making sure he wasn't stabbed by a thorn in the process. He immediately offered her the berry. "Would you like to taste them?"

"Mosh rooms," Aella said, incorrectly yet again. She considered herself a pretty confident Standard speaker, but some words just did not translate well with her Dominionese accent. She was attempting though. She watched as Austin picked one of the raspberries, stepping back at little the branch of the bush shook. Maybe it was because all the 'jumping' plants on Kurill Prime, but Aella half expected a cloud of smoke to attack them. She was great at not showing this on her face though and just held out her hand to take the berry. "Thank you so much," She said before popping the berry in her mouth. It tasted very similar to Rippleberries and that brought a smile to her face. "I love this!"

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He began gathering up plenty of raspberries for his desert, a nice little raspberry tart would be a nice classic dessert for everyone. Plus it was mostly made with fruit which was something he figured Aella would appreciate. After pick one particularly good looking raspberry that was deep in the a thorn slashed across his cheek. "Ouch!" He exclaimed. He needed to stop getting himself hurt today.

Aella was just thinking about what if Eshen had come to earth with her when she heard Austin shout. Instinctually she covered her highly sensitive ears and looked in his direction to see him struggling with what looked like a branch or something? "Austin! Are you alright?" She lowered her hands and looked at the man with a look of concern. "Solids are really fragile, you need to be careful," She said calmly, not trying to sound like an Asian mother but she certainly had that vibe.

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He waved his hand. "Its nothing and it's not even that deep." He tapped a finger against the red line on his cheek and then looked at it. "There is a bit of blood but I'll be fine." He shrugged and then addressed the bigger picture issue. "Have you not recognized that you too are a solid?"

Aella's expression softened when the other shrugged and said he was alright. It looked pretty bad to her, blood was always bad! Well, if Austin wasn't worried perhaps it was fine. She looked at the branch that had so ruthlessly attacked her friend and gave it a Vorta Stare of Judgment™️ before looking back at Austin. "I know I am. In fact I am more fragile than humans in a lot of ways, that's why I ask Eshen to carry me places," She said proudly, happy that she had such a loving partner who was willing to carry her and wasn't offended when she sounded bossy. It was just in her nature as she was a Vorta. "But I wanna be more independent, I came here all by myself, didn't I?"

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[D] After chilling with Austin for a bit, Aella said her goodbyes and headed off to see her good friend Maggie!

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