Ensign Dasal - BUT WHAT TO WEAR!
Eric Kole
(( Holodeck 3, Deck 5, USS Valkyrie-A ))
Korin had been overly excited about his first ship-wide party. However, after rereading the invitation for who knew how many times, he noticed the extravagantly formal dress code. What the heck did that even mean? At first, he thought it just meant his dress uniform. After translating it and not getting many answers, he had to look it up—and his heart sank.
What was he going to wear? He had only ever gone to two kinds of parties: the fun, dress-comfortably kind, and the dress-uniform kind where you just stood around and did nothing. This didn’t sound like a raktajino-and–Romulan-ale Jell-O shot party you had during final exam week, because yes, that was exactly how you got through finals.
They needed to make more friends on this ship—quickly—to help with dire situations like this one: figuring out what to wear to parties and gatherings. They grabbed their dress uniform to get ready, but not even halfway there, they realized just how not correctly dressed they were. Sprinting back to the safety of their room, they had to figure something out.
He tried on his dress uniform pants with a few colored button-up shirts, adding a casual jacket in an attempt to mimic some kind of tux-like ensemble. After a few tries, he ended up sprawled on the floor, utterly defeated by the words extravagantly formal.
Plan Alpha—Omega—Panic—Call Cassi. A cadet he had trained with who loved romance holonovels. One message later, he worked with the replicator to make the perfect outfit.
Finally heading to the holodeck in his newly replicated outfit, he wore a blood-red shirt seemingly made entirely of princely ruffles, topped with a short black cape and pulled together by high-waisted, scandalously tight black pants that came to points over heeled feet.
Dasal: Sneak in like I was always here…
Sliding into the crowd to quickly grab a drink, he savored the sweet anonymity, along with the drinks meant to distract him. Shamefully, his height and odd hair still attracted some attention from random crewmates.
T’Ama: I guess this is what it feels like to be Is’Kah…
Any: Response
Seleya: Welcome everyone, feel free to make yourself comfortable. There are refreshments available, and if you brought a gift there is a table off to the right where you can place them.
Korin waved at Seleya at one point and pointed to his outfit, showing off a bit—almost like a kid wanting to confirm with their mother, look, I did good? He nodded back when she gestured toward the gift table. Oh man, was he supposed to bring a gift? He had gotten so lost in the outfit dilemma.
T’Ama: Well that was not mentioned on the invitation.
Any: Response
Seleya: You all look great. Thank you for coming. I hope you enjoy yourselves.
The holodeck was made up quite beautifully, and he watched as the sky gave off snow and colored lights. If he wasn’t at the party or at the edge of the dance floor, he lay on the ground and simply enjoyed the natural-looking light show.
T’Ama: Thank you. It’s a nice setting, I like the aurora. Which way is the dance floor?
Any: Response
Seleya: Off to the left is the floor for dancing. I just programmed the holodeck to make it look like ice, but don’t worry, it’s not actually ice. If you fall, I am not to blame.
T’Ama: Riiiight. Well I’m going to hit up the bar first.
Any: Response
(OOC: Splitting the scene up here, but I’m going to continue leaving any tags.)
Korin was easily two drinks in and feeling much more confident now that the space was filling up and things were getting into the swing of it. He noted that he was a good head taller than most, though Seleya’s heels still beat him by a few inches. He wondered if he could pull off heels, ah, of course he could. He made a mental note for the next party.
He picked up a green drink that was supposedly for the holidays, but it tasted minty, and he liked it. Moving through the space to watch everyone filter in, he noticed a pair of very serious eyes fixed on him. He glanced behind himself for a moment, then looked back at her. Taking a few steps toward her, he gave a small, nodding hello. She was one of the taller women, he noted, with a piercing gaze and a lovely black-and-gold dress.
Offhand, he guessed Vulcan, though with softer features, whether from genetics doing what they wanted or perhaps mixed heritage. Honestly, it wasn’t that important, but meeting new people was always interesting for exactly that reason.
T’Ama: You’re the new doctor, right?
Oh she was actually speaking to her.That was exciting!
Dasal: Ah, yes ma’am. Korin Dasal at your service.
He gave a prince-like bow, the kind you’d see in a romance holonovel. It would totally work, earning brownie points with anyone, absolutely. There was no way it would backfire and get him laughed at.
Any: response
T’Ama: You like to dance?
Dasal: Dance? Wait with me?
Oh, the bow had worked! He glanced down at his weird green, minty drink and quickly downed it to free up his hands before setting the cup aside.
Dasal: I mean if you want, I would love to.
Any: response
T’Ama: Well, I came to dance. After I finish this drink.
Now he felt a little silly for downing his drink… well, she hadn’t run away yet.
Dasal: What drink did you get? Looks good, I got…a Grinchy something, I forgot what the bartender called it.
T’Ama: response
He fiddled with the poofy sleeves as he watched her. He was at a disadvantage, she clearly knew who he was, and she looked familiar, but he couldn’t place her. So now came that awkward moment: did you ask, or just keep rolling with it and hope it came out naturally?
Dasal: What kind of dance does one do at these parties?
T’Ama: response
Any: response
Dasal: Ah really. That sounds… different. I’m kind of used to working out to music or just kind of moving. I hope you will then forgive any miss steps I take.
He gave a dog-like smile as he leaned back against one of the standing tables, slouching a bit.
T’Ama: response