LtJG Nilsen, Ens Lahl, Ens Caras - JOPA Bridgerton: Part 1
Lhandon Nilsen
((Holodeck 2, Deck 8, USS Octavia E Butler))
The program that Lhandon had planned, a murder mystery set in the 19th century, had refused to work. He faced error after error. At one point, he was given an ID-10-T error, which prompted Lhandon to take a sharp intake of breath and resign himself to the fact that this might not work. It wasn’t that he wanted to give up, far from it, but the effort didn’t seem worth it.
Lhandon greeted Morro and Kimonzi as they entered the holodeck.
Nilsen: Hey, glad you could:...
He then broke into a hearty laugh as he saw that they followed the prank instructions about clothes. Caras walked in with a full regalia, as well as a white wig. A magnificent dress and a tight corset. His gloves were immaculate, and he even included a fan. Kimonzi herself walked in wearing a costume that looked extremely like the Tin Man from Earth’s Wizard of Oz.
Nilsen: Haha, I didn’t think you two were going to do it!
Caras: People actually used to dress this way?::tugging at the corset:: Very tight. Orions have tight clothing but most don’t have clothing that starts tight and gets even tighter. What do humans have that they are afraid is going to fall out?
Lahl: I was explicitly told to look towards the Tin Man from one of your Earth stories.
Nilsen: Nah, you got into the spirit of this. Normally I’m all set up at this point.
Lhandon was dressed somewhat like a socialite from the 19th century. He had found a long brown earthy coat and a blue shirt with a fluffy kind of necklace at his neck.
His hair was different from what Morro and Kimonzi remembered him having, and in many ways, this was Lhandon’s first appearance since his trial. His hair was the most striking change; it was cut short. Morro would also notice that he had lost a little muscle mass, not quite gaunt, but definitely looking as if he had a reduction in muscle mass.
Caras: Is that your real hair? Interesting choice. I like it. Not what I would have expected. I don’t know if it fits this look. Also, why are you laughing? Is this not standard attire?
Lahl: It is not. I’ve spent plenty of time in holo novels set in this time period. Trust me.
Caras had never dealt with this time period of earth. Usually, he did sense a prank, but only malicious ones. He still felt like he had been duped with the reaction to his outfit.
Nilsen: Yeah…I wanted a change.
Kimonzi thought fondly back to her time at the Academy with Jennifer. She did appreciate what the Regency attire did for her body. The shapewear did wonders for her.
The whole theme Lhandon had planned was the 19th century. He wanted to mix it up and had found some comfort in an old television program called Bridgerton. He was just faced with one problem:
Nilsen: However as you can see ::nervous laugh:: the program isn’t, erm…programming.
The program seemed to start only for about a second or so, causing a flash of a manor from earth’s 18th century and a very trippy horse that loaded in with a glitching effect.
Caras wasn’t much of a holodeck programmer. He didn’t typically indulge in roleplay or fantasy. He really only used the holodeck for dance programs and for engineering practice. He had been invited a few times to the holodecks at the academy by his roommate, which reminded Caras…
Caras: I have a program that is from this earth era, maybe we can use some elements from that and put them into this one to fill up the gaps.
He never thought that program would ever come in handy, and his roommate was so proud of writing it.
Lahl: Well, if you all are going to be taking time fixing this, I’m going to have the computer conjure up a changing room.
Kimonzi did so, the computer putting up a Regency Era changing wall that she ducked behind. She thanked the fact that she was tiny and could hide behind it and get fully changed without having to worry about flashing anyone inadvertently.
Nilsen: Please do, erm… Yeah. I shouldn’t have brought this from Quark’s.
Caras: What is Quark’s? A holo program menagerie?
Caras knew that there were a lot of seedy holodeck programs out there. He had been to enough Orion night markets to hear whispers of every kind of fantasy. Morro had his fill of night market adventures, if this was one of those, he wanted to get out soon.
Lahl: ::from behind the changing wall:: Quark’s is a chain of bars and holodeck facilities that is based out of Deep Space Nine near the Bajoran Wormhole. Quark, the founder and proprietor, is a Ferengi, so you should trust his wares about as far as you can throw him.
Caras now knew what Lahl’s species was, and had read about them very recently. He still didn’t fully understand them but he knew Lahl must be exceptional if she had been trusted with a symbiote. Morro did know what a Ferengi was enough to know Lahls warning. That was one of the few species he saw while he was growing up in the vale.
Caras: Lahl, in all your lives have you ever participated in anything like this?
Lahl: Yes, I dated a woman back at the Academy before my joining that was obsessed with holonovels, and even more specifically from this era. I never complained, this era of human female attire does wonders for even someone as small chested as me.
Kimonzi came back around from behind the changing wall, which then promptly disappeared showing that Kimonzi was just being extra. She was dressed in a fine dress of the period, in a bright red that accented her extremely pale brown skin. True to what she said, the corsetry of the period was able to even provide her with cleavage.
While Morro knew that there was something about his owncostume that was humorous to Lhandon, he decided to keep wearing it and owning it. He noticed Lahl now was wearing a similar dress so he was even more deeply confused. Lahl has mentioned it helping the chest, a department he didn’t need help in. He never skipped pec workouts. What was this outfit doing for him?
Caras: oO Is this a gender thing? I’m always bad at these. Gender specific clothing. So weird. Oo. Well then I might be the only clueless one here.
Caras had Ensign Rahayu’s program loaded into the database. He had loaded it up when he had first had downtime on the Butler and needed to do some more engineering practice. He checked the dates. They didn’t exactly match up, but he hoped it would still work. 30 years wasn’t that big of a difference.
Caras: I patched some holes in the program. Lahl are you much of a holoprogrammer? I mostly have just cobbled things together.
Morro stepped away from the console after quickly patching things in from the handcrafted program.
Lahl: Well, your first mistake was trusting a program sight unseen that was purchased from Quark’s, but let me see what I can do.
Kimonzi set herself up next to Nilsen and poked around in the program. She could see what part of the problem was, but it was going to be a lot of work to get the murder mystery portion of tonight’s festivities involved.
Lahl: How important is the murder mystery portion of this program? Because if it isn’t important, we could just ditch it for another time.
Nilsen: Honestly not at all. I thought it might be ironic given last month but you know this theme…I can’t turn this down.
Caras: That should do it then!
Lahl: Indeed, let me just press a few buttons here…::Kimonzi pressed a few buttons on the console for the holodeck and the program settings sprang to life::
Lieutenant JG Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
Assistant Chief of Operations.
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)
&
Ensign Kimonzi Lahl
Engineering Officer
U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler
O240107KL4
&
Ensign Morro Caras
Engineering Officer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240106MC1