[SSE] LtCmdr Sky Blake, "We're all fools under stone."

[Deliera Jay]

((Starscape))

::When Elis had asked her out for drinks, she'd half the mind to say no. It wasn't that she didn't like Elis - he was a good friend, a loyal friend, one of the first few she'd made aboard the Veritas. There was no better person to go out with.

::She couldn't come up with a reason as to why she shouldn't go. Did she want to grieve? Maybe. Was it a lack of energy? Also maybe. It didn't help that her left arm was starting to sting on the inside for whatever reason. But she could use the company of someone familiar.

::It could have just as easily been the allure of a good drink, too.::

::Alas, Elis was also the safest person to share drinks with apparently, Sky catching him in the corner of her eye as she tried lining up a shot, the Bajoran pushing away what would have been her third bottle of egassem. She couldn't help but scowl.::

Blake: You steal my drink, you buy me another one.

Elis: You can rest easy then, because I think we're both done for tonight.

::She rolled her eyes, throwing the dart, hitting the board just shy of the bullseye.::

Blake: Why does everybody act like I'm a borderline alcoholic? You realize the last drink I had was on the Edge, *before* everything happened?

Elis: Okay, the fact that you have to recall *proof* kinda makes my point, doesn't it?

::Sky Blake narrowed her eyes, pushing her hand past his shoulder as she retrieved her bottle, taking a good mouthful before finally giving him a large smile, putting it back down onto the bar.::

Blake: You all worry too much.

Elis:::shrugging:: Someone has to.

::He sighed as she picked up another drat, lining up shots to the dartboard again. The Bajoran was leaning against the bar, frowning at his own glass, though was by the looks of things in no immediate danger of common sense. Her egassem remained in its place.::

Elis: How's the kids?

::She'd completely missed the dartboard having thrown just as he'd finished the sentence, the magnetic dart instead attracted to the safety area around it. Sharp emerald eyes pierced towards Elis.::

Blake: They're fine. As far as I know.

Elis: You don't get updates?

Blake: I'm not exactly the easiest person for my family to get a hold of, Elis.

Elis: Relax. I ask because I'm curious. You don't talk about them much.

::Actually she didn't talk about them *ever*. She'd never needed nor wanted to - instead she'd dealt with her own feelings during her own time. It had taken a while for her to stop giving people silent treatment whenever someone questioned their absence in her life, or, more specifically, her absence in theirs.

::She took a deep breath, stealing a smaller sip from her egassem before she glanced back at Elis, throwing a more stable dart (one that actually hit the board).::

Blake: My daughter turns five in a month.

::If she hadn't known better, she would have said that her even mentioning her daughter at all was enough to figuratively shock Elis off his stool.::

Elis: You have two, right? A girl and a boy?

Blake: Faith and Ayden, yes.

Elis: How old's Ayden?

Blake: Two.

::She didn't mention that he was having some relatively serious health difficulties. Sabor had mentioned to her that Ayden had been a surprise, and a hazardous one for her own health. That his Vulcan physiology clashed with that of Sky's hybrid heritage did not come as a surprise to her. The good news was that Ayden was not debilitated by any means because of this. But the energy Sky had witnessed in the bounding ball of excitement that was Faith at two was not present within the small and timid Ayden.

::Sky blamed herself for many things, but Ayden's health was not one of them. There was nothing more she or Syb could do for the boy, other then watch and wait. Ayden was young - adaptable, as Sabor would say. This was something their son would breeze through, despite the occasional hiccup.::

Blake: I'm considering bringing them here.

::The Bajoran seated at the bar couldn't stop his eyes from popping out of his head, apparently.::

Elis: May I ask why?

Blake: My bond-mate would understand the first year I took - that time I needed to move forward. But now . . . now I'm wasting time I don't have, and it's not fair on them.

::He nodded, finishing up his glass and putting it down onto the bar, taking the darts Sky was now holding out to him.::

Elis: By 'here', you mean Veritas?

Blake: Noree, no. There's no way in any kind of reality that I bring them aboard Veritas, but . . . I don't know. Maybe to Esperance? I don't have to take the two month trip to Ornara if they're here.

::On the other hand, she had to consider how Syb would feel about being moved. The Vulcan had put up with her antics thus far, but everyone, even unconventional and emotional strong-hand Syb, had breaking points.::

Blake: But it'd be easier for me. The only downside is getting permission to have Faith live here permanently. With Ayden it's not a problem - his father was a Vulcan, thus has all the rights permitted to him as Vulcan offspring. Faith, not so much.

Elis: I don't know - you're pretty scary when you're determined. Get 'em on a phone line and just rip them to shreds. That usually works.

Blake:::groaning:: That was one time.

Elis: Zhou thought it was pretty hilarious.

Blake: If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Zhou thinks *anyone* ripping Reuima Casko to shreds is hilarious. ::She drank again.:: Getting information out of that woman is like getting blood from a stone.

Elis: The red colour fools everybody.

Blake: If she does bleed, it's black.

::Elis couldn't help but laugh.::

Blake: Anyway, I'm not sure it'd a good idea for them.

Elis: Sounds to me like you're just trying to talk yourself out doing it.

Blake: We live in the Shoals.

Elis: And your kids live in the *Delos system*. No offense, but given the piracy around here caused by your fellow law-abiding citizens, I don't think the danger is any lesser. Ornara or not. It'd be worth having them here - besides, you can keep a better eye on them from within the Shoals then outside. Coms are still crappy around here, you know.

::She sighed, watching Elis hit the bullseye without a shred of effort and frowned.::

Elis: I'm just saying, I think you'd be a great mom, if you gave yourself the chance. Your daughter is five, right? So you must have been with her before the incident.

Blake: I'm told she was my pride and joy.

Elis: "Was" shouldn't be in that sentence.

Blake: You know what I mean. I hardly recognize that woman - the woman I was. Faith *does*. She's old enough to start having her own expectations - expectations I worry I'm not gonna live up to.

Elis: You sound like you're afraid of a five year old.

Blake: She is my daughter. And I didn't exactly have the mother-daughter relationship of a life-time either.

Elis: So you're afraid of becoming your own mother?

Blake: Why are we psychoanalyzing my every word? ::She snapped.::

::The tactical officer raised an eyebrow as he threw another dart, this time missing the bullseye.::

Elis: I'm sorry if I offended. But you need to stop trying to talk yourself out of this. Bring them to Esperance or send them to a colony world - either way, they should be closer to you.

::She glanced back down at the bar, tracing circles into the the cool metal.::

Blake: Thank you.

Tbc . . .

LtCmdr Sky Blake

Executive Officer

USS Veritas

C238803SB0

I am not a sheep, ser.