JP - Lt. Robin Hopper & Kerilyn Hopper: Sorellina (Part 1)
Robin Hopper
((2399, Days After Ukinix’s Promotion Party – Amity Outpost, Hopper’s Apartment))
Robin sat sideways on the conversation pit cushion, her back leaned up against the soft cushioned edge and her legs tucked up towards her body. A PADD sat in her lap, staring at her, waiting for a response. One of the local FNS reporters, Ivanonic, had asked her for a statement clarifying the recent events that had occurred… She’d already been cleared by Ambassador Vataix to respond but couldn’t find the words. A lot had happened. Very quickly. But then, when it had all been resolved, it almost seemed as though nothing had happened at all. She lifted the glass of rosé off the table beside her and sipped it absent-mindedly.
Finally, she set the PADD down amongst the collection that had started forming on the cushion beside her – a mess of nearly-finished approvals, reviews, and requests – and let out a sigh. Looking around at the empty room, cozy as it was, with the gas fireplace bathing her in a warm glow, she still felt cold and lonely.
oO This apartment is so big… Oo she thought to herself. oO And empty. Oo
For a moment, she thought back to life back on Theta VII. Her room at the family home had a window that looked out over the greenhouses. They grew enough food on their farm to feed everyone on Theta VII year-round, or so her birth mother, Melissa, had always told her. Ansyra had always chuckled and said that was an exaggeration. Of course, nobody wanted to live entirely on beans and spinach for every meal, so most of their product was shipped off-world… part of a robust system of exchange that meant everyone in the Federation could have their needs met.
Her sister, Keri’s, room had faced the other way – out towards the woods. A terraformed world, Theta VII had been established during the early days of Federation expansion as a mining port. Resources were extracted from the mineral-rich soil and in exchange, its inhabitants (the workers) got to shape a world to their vision of paradise. Perhaps it was no surprise then, how much it now resembled the aspen forests and glacial lakes of Minnesota, once known for its rich Iron mining industry.
It had been two-and-a-half years, she suddenly realized, since she had last seen her sister in person. The day of Robin’s graduation from Starfleet Academy, before setting off on back-to-back deep-space assignments. Their personalities, she mused, seemed to match their childhood views. Robin appreciated the beauty of organisation. Keri was wild and free to a fault, but still growing – at least, the last time she had seen her…
((Flashback, 2397 - Earth, San Francisco – Angel Island, Summit of Mt. Livermore))
Hopper: Isn’t it beautiful?
Robin stood, arms resting on the shining metal railing of the lookout, admiring the distant Golden Gate Bridge and the sparkling bay filled with boaters. For the last four years, she’d called San Francisco home – had walked its beaches, ridden its old streetcars, toured its historic sites… but nothing had struck with as such awe as the seemingly endless water that spread out to the horizon and the marvel of engineering that crossed it. She was going to sorely miss that view from the mountain top at the center of the bay.
Keri stood with her back resting against the railing, filing her nails.
Kerilyn: ::Monotone:: Do you and the view want to get a room?
Her sister, Keri, always found a way to spoil Robin’s fun. She turned around, a slight tone of annoyance – and disappointment – carried with her words.
Hopper: Is that all you have to say? ::Gesturing at the Bay and the city beyond:: You’ve never seen water like this, Keri, or a city like that. You’re telling me you’re unimpressed? ::Making a face:: Are you filing your nails?
Kerilyn: ::Flat tone:: How very perceptive of you, Dixon Hill.
Keri blew on her nails, then held them up to her own face to inspect them.
Kerilyn: If the view impresses you, then it certainly won’t impress me.
Robin crossed her arms, her cadet’s uniform suddenly no longer feeling adequate to shield her from the cutting breeze blowing in from the Gulf of the Farallones. No warmth came from the gleaming ‘USS Wall Street’ pin that had been affixed to her chest either, even though it had filled her with vim mere hours earlier.
The only thing that bothered Robin more than her sister’s apathy was how much her sister’s apathy bothered her. Their relationship had always been difficult, but despite her best efforts, Robin still cared deeply for the little #@$%head. She just wished that her sister could be more excited – or, unlikely as it would have been, proud of her for what she’d accomplished and where she was going.
Hopper: Would it kill you to be happy for me for a few minutes, or to enjoy one thing that I care about?
Keri whipped her head to the right to give her more successful, more attractive, more intelligent, more favored-by-her-parents, hell more everything sister, a piercing stare.
Kerilyn: If you care about it? Then, yes! It would kill me!
Hopper: Ugh… You know, I actually thought that maybe – just maybe – you might have changed since the last time we were together. Like, I dunno, grown an actual personality?
Kerilyn: You would say that, *banana face*.
It was a cruel nickname that Keri had used since they were much younger. She just knew it somehow got under her older sister’s skin and had done so for at least a decade.
Hopper: ::Irrationally irritated:: That is. The. Stupidest—
Kerilyn: ::Blinking eyes:: Banana face.
Hopper: Why do you have to be so—
Kerilyn stepped forward, and raised her voice.
Kerilyn: Because! You have the face! Of a *banana*!
With a pleased, wicked grin, the younger Hopper sister crossed her arms as all the nearby tourists turned to look over their shoulders at the siblings. Robin suddenly became very aware of the uniform she was wearing. Arguing with the teenage antichrist in the middle of a tourist attraction was not becoming of a Starfleet Academy Graduate and PhD-holder.
She gave Keri a nudge away from the railing, back towards the stairs that led down the hill towards the ferry docks below. If they were going to have this conversation, she’d rather it not be in the midst of so many onlookers.
Hopper: ::Trying to stay calm:: Look. I didn’t ask to babysit, okay? But our moms want a little alone time – oO Who can blame them given what they live with? Oo – and we both said we’d make the most of… ::Smiling, trying to play things off for the people looking:: This truly incredible city!
She waited as long as she could stand to for a response. Kerilyn simply just looked back at her sister, half suppressing a smile.
Hopper: Are you even listening to me? Why are you smirking? Why is this so amusing to you?
Kerilyn: BECAUSE OF THAT @$#@ EATING GRIN YOU ALWAYS WEAR! ALWAYS THE MOTHERSHIP’S FAVORITE, ALWAYS WITH THAT STUPID BANANA SMILE! ::pointing finger:: Well I’m going to do better than you one day. And I’m going to *peel* that smile right off your pretty, smug face.
Robin just shook her head in astounded disbelief.
Hopper: God. You are actually going to grow up to be a serial killer or something aren’t you? ::Taking her by the arm:: Come on, let’s go.
Robin hadn’t played the ‘big sister’ card in years – then again, she hadn’t been home in years. Keri had always been challenging, had always wanted, for some reason, to try and one-up her older sister despite – or perhaps because of – the years between them.
As far as Robin was concerned, the notion that their parents played ‘favourites’ was a juvenile delusion that Keri ought to have grown out of by now. She led her sister by the arm – as gently as she could allow herself to be – away from the crowd of people and down the steps towards the landing below.
Hopper: There has to be somewhere in this city – hell, on this planet – that you’d be happy to visit. Right?
Keri ignored her sister and instead sang a tune, replacing the words “Mah Nà Mah Nà” with…
Kerilyn: ::Singing:: Ba-na-na face... Doo-doooooo-do-do-do… Ba-na-na *face*!... Doo-doo-do-do… Ba-na-na face-
Hopper: Shut up! Listen… We have one and a half days before I leave for Starbase 118 and from there, the Wall Street. I just.. ::Taking a calming breath:: ..want to see my little sister for a while before I go. Without us trying to kill each other, you know?
Kerilyn huffed, before crossing her arms and looking out across the water. It annoyed her, but Robin was right, and deep down, somewhere, she was grateful that her sister wanted to see her. But it didn’t make up for the years of resentment she held towards her. In her mind, the “Mothership” (the nickname both Robin and her gave her female parents) was far more approving of and sympathetic towards Robin, whereas she felt like they treated her like the problem child.
Hopper: What’s it going to take?
Keri kept looking out over the water before finally answering.
Kerilyn: Ice cream.
Hopper: That’s what you want to do? All of Earth at your disposal and you want to– ::Stopping herself:: Okay, that’s fine. You know what, that’s great. Fine. Perfect. We can… make a day of it or something.
Kerilyn: I hear the best stuff is in a place in… on another continent. “Italy” I think it’s called? They give ice cream a different name though.
Robin furrowed her brow, trying extremely hard not to be irritated by her sister’s exorbitant request.
Hopper: You know they have perfectly good ice cream here in San Francisco. You sure you don’t want to check out the Jonathan Archer Museum or go whale watching or–
Keri stared at her older sister.
Kerilyn: Ice. Cream. You. Asked. What. It. Would. Take.
Robin sighed.
Hopper: You’re right. I said you could pick. Just whatever it takes for us to have a civil conversation with more than two #@$%ing words in it.
Kerilyn: Oh, please, like we’ve ever had a civil conversation. You never liked talking to your bratty younger sister, why would you start now?
Hopper: ::Smiling:: That’s the most self-aware thing you’ve ever said… Congratulations – for that I will take you for ice cream…
Kerilyn: Then take me to “Italy”. If you’ve seen one bridge, you’ve seen them all, this place is boring.
Robin considered it for a second. Finally, she started nodding. Maybe Keri was onto something after all. She wasn’t about to let her sister spoil a good time – and visiting Italy just for ice cream was exactly the kind of spontaneous activity she’d held herself back from for the last eight years of studying.
Hopper: Okay – you know what. Yes. Yes, we’re going. We’re going right now! Italy, ice crea– no, gelato – here we come! It’ll be… fun.
Kerilyn: ::Roll of eyes, sarcastic tone:: Oh, I’m sure it will.
Robin led Keri to the bottom of the hill, towards the site-to-site transporter that would carry them back to the mainland transport terminal. From there, it would take a series of transports to get them to their destination – but now she was determined. She was going to have fun with or in spite of Keri.
Hopper: Let’s go!
TBC in Part 2…
Robin Hopper
Chief Science Officer,
Amity Outpost
V239806K11
&
Kerilyn Hopper
Civilian
V239511WU0
