Snip

Duncan watched her disappear, pushing clothes and things out of the way so the door would close. Then, in the silence that followed he looked over at Billy. “So, you two been, uh, roommates, long?”

“We’ve been roommates about a month. A loooooooooooooong month,” Billy dragged out the word. “A very very very long month.” It was then Billy abruptly decided to change the topic. There was no way he was letting this one go. Lily and he had no romantic connection but she also had no desire to move out. Billy, however, had a strong desire to move Lily on to ‘greener pastures’ as she referred to it. This Duncan was the first solid lead he had to achieve that purpose.

” So you’re the science chief. Must be a fun job,” he tried to strike up a conversation. It was the only conversation he wanted to have with Duncan but he had to play it smoothly. There was no way he was letting Duncan get out of this room without thinking Lily was the greatest things since sliced bread.

“So you gonna show and Lily your lab,” Billy asked trying to work the conversation into the one he was prepping Duncan for. “She’s a great girl. Super curious. Loves adventure and smart as a whip. She so needs something better than that coffee shop. Does…Starfleet....hire,” Billy asked slowly. He had a pretty good idea they did not just pop an opening into the want ads but odds were if she was home she was fired. Better to start an earworm now.

“In fact, at one time I think she said she worked in a lab. It was a photo lab And she was amazing at it.” Billy knew this was pretty much stretching the truth but hopefully Lily had shared that much of her past with Duncan yet. There was still time to salvage this and Billy was going to make sure Lily was presented in the best light possible.

------------------A short time later--------------

Duncan and Lily arrived outside his quarters only minutes after leaving Lily’s shared cupboard. As a Starfleet officer, his quarters were nothing amazing. They were standard assignment for Department Heads on the station and had very little by way of anything fancy going for them despite Duncan’s means. “Trico is probably awake,” Duncan told her, “but I think she will like you. Come inside and make yourself comfortable, I’ll give Trico her dinner and change a little before we head out. Lily is a nice name, too, by the way.”

“You named your kid Trico,” Lily looked at Duncan. She was a bit surprised that the “are you single” question she asked earlier was not followed up with ‘no but I have a kid with a weird name’ but she had only known the guy for a short period of time. “I had a best friend named Leah Mon Gil’low but it was spelled Lemon Jello so to each thier own I guess,” Lily shrugged it off.

The doors slid aside to reveal Duncan’s room. It wasn’t a huge space, but notably it was very tidy and organized and the furniture inside was visibly better than standard, although not too much so. Despite how clean and organized it was, it looked cozy and comfortable. As they walked through the door the layout became clear. On the left wall was a large fireplace with holographic fire, a view screen above it, faced by a large and comfortable couch and coffee table. On either side of the fireplace were bookshelves with real books, and a large plush reading chair sat in the corner on the door wall with a small table beside it. Next to that table, right beside the door, a large liquor cabinet sat.

Ahead of them was a four place dining table made of wood, it seemed and between the table and the door a large Persian style rug. On the other side of the table was a floor to ceiling window almost the size of the wall, and dark red curtains covered each end and could be pulled across to cover the window. In the corner opposite the reading chair sat a display unit with various pieces of art and memorabilia on the shelves and inside cases.

On the right wall, were the doors to the bedroom and bathroom as well as the small replicator. Around these were more cabinets that held collectibles of sorts, and in the corner joining the wall that held the door was a table and console workstation for messages and personal use. The wall between that and the door they were standing in was filled with pictures and paintings. Images of Duncan and two women were in many of the pictures, with many seemingly around an old looking manor, almost a castle, that was obviously on Earth. Another was of Duncan amongst a collection of antique aeroplanes, wearing very old fashioned looking flying gear and a leather flight helmet in his gloved hands. Many of the paintings seemed old, and were from many different species depicting many different things.

“Wow are you some kind of antique dealer,” Lily asked letting out a low whistle. “This place is gorgeous and so full of little knick knack things,” she said running her finger over one of the aeroplanes propellers shocked that it turned so easily.

In the corner opposite the workstation was another set of couches with large cushions, these ones arranged at right angles along wall and window with a low table in the middle and end tables at either end. Another liquor cabinet, much smaller, sat in the very corner of them and candles that produced holographic light were placed on the tables. It was clearly an area for more quiet socializing, conversation or drinking. Also on one of the couches, and raising her head as they walked in was a small creature. It let out a series of bird like whistles and sounds as she jumped down from the couches revealing a four legged creature. It’s body appeared to be covered with feathers and it had a dog like head and body, but on that head were two very small horns. The creatures legs were like those of birds, but much thicker. Her tail was long and had fur, not feathers and the most obvious part were the large wings that unfolded on each side of her as she stretched out. Trico had grown in the years that Duncan been on the station, she had gone from cat size to now the size of a medium dog. Seeing her person, Trico stretched happily, then stood and looked in curiosity as he brought a new person into her home.

“Oh my god, what an adorable bird, cat, dog, dragon-like thing,” she said in a sweet tone but obviously bewildered by the creature in front of her. Lily might not have known what it was but it did not stop her from dropping to the couch. Once seated Lily spun on the cushions so Trico could approach her. “What…what is it?” she looked at the pet curiously.

“Lily, meet Trico.” Duncan introduced them, “Trico, Lily and I are going to head out for a little while. We just dropped home to get your supper and so I can change my shirt. Say hello would you?” At Duncan’s words, Trico came forwards and tilted her head at Lily, as if judging this new person and her relationship to her person. She made an odd woof like chirp and then sat down in front of them, folding her wings in close with her tongue hanging out slightly. She looked intelligent as if she understood perfectly what Duncan had been saying.

Lilly smiled and reached out to pet the small creature. Trico complied quickly and let the woman scratch her head. “Duncan she is amazing. Where did you get her? I’ve never seen anything like her,” Lily marveled at the small animal. “I can take of her while you go do your thing,” Lily offered with a smile still petting Trico.

Loosening his collar and cuffs, Duncan moved into the room further and looked around, then smiled at Lily. “As I said, come on in and make yourself at home. These shirts and ties can get a little uncomfortable, let me go change and we can head out. If you like, Trico’s dinner is steamed broccoli, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts. Just go easy on the cabbage and sprouts, she loves them, but you’re not the one that has to sleep in the same room as her later.” Duncan grinned and gave Trico a pat as he walked past, in return, Trico gave him a dirty look and a very grumpy sounding chirp.

Lt Rhodes, CSO

“Cabbage and Brussels sprouts,” lily said in a low tone looking at the critter and then casting a side glance towards Duncan’s room. “Is he trying to kill you or study you,” she said swinging her back pack around. After rooting around in it for a second she pulled out a plastic wrapped package. In it was a long brown meat looking stick. Biting one of the ends, lily opened it with her teeth while she spoke to Trico. “You look like a dog and a hawk had a wild night,” she let out a small laugh as she peeled back the now opened package. “Both animals are definitely not vegan so how about a bite of this.” Lily broke off a small piece of the soft meat stick and held it out in her hand.

Trico sniffed it once and then used her beak to gobble it down. The taste of it was not like anything she had had before yet it was absolutely delicious. Taking another step towards lily she placed her feet on Lilly’s crosses legs giving her a little more height and closer to the brown thing in the plastic bag this woman was holding.

“You like that,” lily said scratching under her chin. “Well what if I get you another....oh god,” she ducked to the side as Trico let out a small hiccup ater eating the meat. This would not be a write home event excpet for the fact a small flame shot out of the bird. “Oh my God,” Lily said shocked. Not sure what to do. Trico looked at Lily with blank expression and then hiccupped again. Another small burst of flame erupted from Trico but this time it caught the edges of one of Duncan’s throw pillows. Instantly Lily reacted by hitting the pillow to the back of the couch to extingush the flames. This would have been fine except that Trico turned watching Lily and let out a last hiccup setting fire to a small cirlce in the back of the couch where she had put the pillow out. Lily looked at Trico and then at Duncan’s bedroom door. “Are you quite finished” she asked the small animal. Seeing the the round of hiccups had stopped Lily went to work. Beating out the flames with the pillow Lily then dropped it next to the couch but behind the large set of heavy red curtains. She grabbed a throw blanet from the chair and drapped it over the burn mark on the couch. Duncan had so many things in the room he would never remember where the blanket belonged. *Now if you dont saying anything about me giving you a beef jerky I wont tell you daddy you tried to burn his quarters down,” she said in a low tone.

Lily