2/13/99

You say "*tired* Hey, happy birthday." into the communit. [To Riley.]

You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.

Your communit crackles to life and announces "Hey Nick, good to hear you're alive and all. You sound beat. Happy birthday to you too. The trip home go all right?" in Riley's voice.

You say "It... went. It was interesting. They all say hello. *wry laugh* Aspasia and Losi both wanted to come back with me. Be grateful." into the communit.

Your communit crackles to life and blares "Aww, it would've been fun to have them around to torment you. Anya could've taken lots and lots of pictures." in Riley's voice.

You say "*quiet chuckle* Speaking of Anya... think Addie'll like fingerpaint?" into the communit.

Your communit crackles to life and blares "Nick, you're evil. Truly evil. I am -proud- to be related to you." There's a pause, "I hate to do this, but I have a couple of folks down here and I'm sitting here talking to my wrist. I have a box for you though see, and Anya's got one stuck here for you too. Want me to send somebody up with em? I'm guessing you're still beat?" in Riley's voice.

You say "*pause* Oh, sorry. Nah. Don't worry about it. I can swing by later or something." into the communit.

Your communit crackles to life and says "You're welcome to come down now if you're feeling like it. It's just Clara and Kya, all family and all. Nobody to bite you. Just figured you're tired." in Riley's voice.

You say "Oh. Well, yeah, but tired is relative. If y'all wouldn't mind?" into the communit.

Your communit crackles to life and blares "We wouldn't mind in the slightest, Nick. Company's nice. Bringing Ela?" in Riley's voice.

You say "I think she's in a meeting or something. Her comm's not receiving, at any rate." into the communit.

Your communit crackles to life and blares "Gotcha'. Well come on down then, let us keep you company then." in Riley's voice.

You say "Sounds like a plan. I'll be down in a few, got to get civilized-looking." into the communit.

Your communit crackles to life and blares "To heck with civilized, this is a strictly casual affair. Don't sweat it any." in Riley's voice.

You say "Oh. Well, in that case..." into the communit.

[Travelspam deleted.]

Riley's Room> A knock sounds on the door. "Would you like to buy some magazines?" Yes, it's Niko.

Clara calls out, "That depends? Do you have Soccer Monthly?" before opening it with a grin. "C'mon in."

You unlock the door and go into room S4.

Room S4

Evidently along one of the outer walls of the Complex, this room is bright an airy given the picture window overlooking the Pavilion, although the glass is polarized to be mirrored from the outside. Despite the window, the room is warmly comfortable, and furnished to match. The floor unfortunately is that unrelieved white tile, but covered in the center with a carpet of swirled shades of blue. In the center of the room is an oversized hospital bed, rails and monitors in place, but a double and long enough for an Edreeni. A rocking chair is in a far corner next to a vidscreen and a small table, opposite a dark brown easy chair that folds out to be slept on. The door to the necessary, immaculate and decorated in soothing sand colors, is in easy walking distance from the bed for the ease of the patient. Plants are scattered here and there to soften the effect of the room further, as well do quietly tasteful Chinese landscape silk screen prints on the walls.

Contents:

Clara

Kyara

Riley

Obvious exits:

Out

You come in from the Housing Hub.

Riley is in the process of catching up to his composure and his breath and holding onto it. Managing the feat he then tops it off by waving to Niko, "Afternoon Nick, surviving?"

Kyara gives Niko a smile. "You're looking much better than when I last saw you."

Niko pads into the room, bearing a middling-sized box. "Sorry, soccer belongs up there with red cans," he quips to Clara. "Hi, folks. Surviving, yeah." Riley's composure- and breath-catching draw a look of vague concern, and Kyara gets a quick smile. "Uh, thanks? Not sure when that was, see..."

Clara beams up at Niko, although with a hint of concern, then squeezes his arm briefly before heading to the rocking chair. "You look tired, Niko. Happy birthday, by the way."

Kyara chuckles. "Yes, happy birthday."

Riley shifts to sitting tailor fashion, recovering from the exertion of chair wandering. "Happy birthday indeed." He looks a little devious, but he can be forgiven for that perhaps. "Kya, huge favor?"

Kyara gives Riley a wary look, nodding. "Anything."

Niko does a bit of chair-wandering of his own, moving to perch on the edge of a seat. He murmurs his thanks for the well-wishes, but casts a wary look of his own towards Riley. Last time he saw that kind of look, the word 'Evvy' was used.

Riley is not -that- evil, he's not the one with green coffee. "Could you snag the boxes under your chair and hand them to Nick? I vouch for the safety of the bigger one on the bottom, but the top one's from Anya and she just snickered a lot when I asked what it was, so you might not want to shake it or anything."

Clara just stays quiet, looking fairly amused at all the wariness as she folds her arms and tries not to look smug whenever her eyes fall on Riley.

Kyara ohs, slipping off to retrieve said boxes. A slight grin appears as she offers them politely to Niko.

Niko murmurs his thanks once more. "And could you hand this off to Riley?" he inquires, juggling the two boxes for his own. "Nothing currently alive, promise."

Kyara giggles quietly, turning back to gently lay Niko's boxes on the bed next to Riley. "I've heard of playing postman before but..."

Niko adds, with a crooked grin, "It's more from the family than from me, but I figured I could take credit."

Riley looks a bit sheepish, and not a little wary himself. "I think I should be afraid." He gestures to the boxes Niko's holding. The first box is relatively small and wrapped in cheerful paper covered in wildflowers of all things. It glurgles slightly. Fear. The second box is relatively largish, and relatively heavy, and is wrapped in bright blue paper. The ribbon and bow are a strikingly sunshine yellow, distinctive against the blue. The paper has been applied with military precision, see cause Riley didn't wrap it. "The one making the scary noises is from Anya, and she said she wanted to be far away when you opened it."

Riley looks a bit sheepish, and not a little wary himself. "I think I should be afraid." He gestures to the boxes Niko's holding. The first box is relatively small and wrapped in cheerful paper covered in wildflowers of all things. It glurgles slightly. Fear. The second box is relatively largish, and relatively heavy, and is wrapped in bright blue paper. The ribbon and bow are a strikingly sunshine yellow, distinctive against the blue. The paper has been applied with military precision, see cause Riley didn't wrap it. "The one making the scary noises is from Anya, and she said she wanted to be far away when you opened it." He carefully sets about tugging the paper off his own box.

Niko eyes the flowerdy box with something akin to fear--mostly feigned. "Maybe I'll wait and go to Security to open this," he mumbles. "And get more fingerpaints for Addie." He instead opts for the blue and yellow box. Miraculously, he doesn't tear off the paper, but instead opens it neatly.

Inside the box is a pair of inline skates. They're the right size, since Riley could cheat and look up Niko's boot size through Supply. Bulky and high tech looking, they're a silvery-gray in hue. They're almost the same shade as the Security uniforms, and they look armoresque. None of that however is likely the reason Riley picked this pair out of the available varieties. In script on the heel the name of the brand is displayed, 'Galahad'. Now how could he pass -that- up?

Kyara settles back in her chair, watching with relish. Dangit, now I want a hot dog.

Niko pulls out a skate and looks absolutely thrilled. "Riley, these're -great-. They'll blend right in with the--" Oh, yeah, he saw the name brand, and breaks up laughing. "Where in the world did you find them?"

Riley has managed to get the paper off his box, although it's an involved process for him as his motor control is still a bit off. The box is filled with a vast quantity of foodstuffs and a flash of sunshine yellow. Riley mutters softly in his own mangled native language, then adding in Standard, "Talk about heaven..." Cookies are pounced upon and one is snagged. He beams at Niko's reaction. "Store in the Quarter. I lost it, probably the owner thought I was a loony. Clara kindly wrapped it, hence the lack of duct tape involved."

Kyara sits up a bit straighter, trying to peer into the foodstuff-filled box. "What's that?" She points to the yellow.

Niko murmurs his thanks, visions of skating in the Atrium already taking form. He has enough self-restraint to keep from pulling on the skates immediately, though he's clearly tempted. "The owner was quite right," he says deadpan. "And thanks to you, too, Clara." And Kyara's inquiry, he adds, "Oh... that's from the girls. Be glad it doesn't have anything fluffy on it."

Riley doesn't really know either, as he's munching on a cookie that's apparently good enough to make his eyes glaze a bit. Finishing off the cookie with reverence and dusting the crumbs from his hands he pulls out the yellow shirt, unfolding it. He doesn't speak Hellenic however so the black writing on it garners a puzzled look. "It's very cheerful, but what does it say?"

Kyara blinks, peering at the writing. "Are you sure you want to know, Riley?"

Niko shakes his head very slowly back and forth. "I'm not allowed to tell you," he says, though from the hint of mischief in his eyes, whatever the shirt says is a doozie. "Uh... you might not want to wear it in front of the Hellenic delegation, though. The older ones, at least."

And you thought Niko's temptation was self destructive, Riley gets a devious look at that. "I'll remember that." And of course do so at the earliest available opportunity. "Thanks Nick, it's festive. And tziziki and kourambiedes and baklava... Wow..."

Kyara shakes her head slowly. "Now Riley, if I gotta behave, you do too."

Niko's head bobs in a brief nod. "Gigia's the best," he says simply. "Though I think Nacippe helped a little. I was honestly afraid she was going to send me home with more than I could carry. Glad you like it, though." One brow lifts fractionally at Kyara's words, but he doesn't comment, instead casting another look towards that flowerdy box.

You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.

Riley offers Kyara an entirely innocent look, snagging another cookie. "I shall have to write a thank you letter, or three...maybe four...THese are amazing." He grins, "Now Nick, you have to open that, I'm dying of curiosity..."

Kyara hmphs distractedly, eyeing those cookies before she glances back to watch Niko.

Niko pokes at the box for a moment, then gives up and unwraps it, very slowly and very, very carefully. It's not that he doesn't -trust- Anya, mind, it's that he knows her.

The other box contains three small bottles. All of which contain beigish-yellow liquid of various viscosity. It's a bottle of butterscotch cologne, one of butterscotch syrup, and another of butterscotch magic shell. Anya hasn't forgotten certain messages.

Kyara blinks, and slowly she starts to laaauuuugh.

Niko stares at the contents for a moment, clearly not sure whether to laugh or to hunt down Anya. Finally, he gives in to the former, sputtering as he picks up the cologne to peer at it. He mutters to himself, "Talk... brownie points... Ela..."

Riley nearly chokes on a bite of cookie, trying -not- to die laughing. It's not really working. He has to lie back against a pillow to snicker quietly.

Clara is still sitting in the rocking chair and watching quietly, although the sight of the butterscotchery stuff does bring a smothered spate of snickering.

Riley straightens back up, still snickering, "Anya's sadistic."

Kyara snickers, shaking her head. "Anya's a /genius/."

"And Anya is -always- right," Clara adds drolly.

Niko exchanges the cologne for the other two bottles, murmuring, "What the heck does she expect me to do with -this-?"

Riley starts to answer that, but then just has to start laughing again. "Don't," he susggests, "Ask her that. She'd probably tell you."

Clara simply shakes her head, obviously baffled as well, and still frighteningly innocent in some ways. "Use it on ice cream, I guess. There's a place down in the Pavilion that sells the most wonderful vanilla."

Kyara doubles over, Riley's remark poking her mirth into laughter again.

Niko is very tired, and has had a trying several days. He just peers at Riley and Kyara for a moment, then grimaces at Clara's words. "I don't really like ice cream. Ah, well. It's decorative, at least."

Riley has been in the Navy for twenty years. Innocence and he were long since parted. He manages to trail off however, "Maybe she just wanted to get it all to match. Butterscotch stuff's got to be hard to find."

Kyara snickers, pulling her legs up so she can hug her knees. "Or maybe she just wanted Niko to turn funny colors."

Niko is kind, he doesn't ask if Anya put that green-turning chemical in the butterscotch stuffs. "Depends where you look," he suggests to Riley. Kyara gets a very dignified raspberry. "I didn't turn funny colors, though. And please don't remedy that by pouring this stuff on me, eh?"

Clara shakes her head in bemusement, climbing to her feet. "It smells good?" she suggets, then snickers and mutters something about blue. "If you folk will excuse me though? I have a few...ah, errands to run."

Kyara rolls her eyes. "That trick's been done, Niko. I can come up with better." She blinks at Clara, nodding. "Have fun?"

Riley looks a bit fearful at the word 'blue', but with a rather sappy beamed grin at Clara with just a hint of sadness since she's leaving, he murmurs, "Later then, love."

Niko lifts a hand to Clara before replacing the butterscotch bits in favor of taking up one of his skates, the better to twirl one of the wheels. "Happy errand-running." Kyara's words get a raised brow, then he grins. "Depends who you ask." Ela, for example, would likely find nothing better than Niko covered in... the rest of this pose has been edited, courtesy of the Indecency Police.

Clara pauses at the foot of the bed to offer Riley a somewhat equally goofy smile, although holding a definite air of promise, then scoots out of the room, fortunately before hearing the rest of Niko's statement, since that would do horrible things to her level of innocence.

Riley watches Clara leave, still rather goofy, before shifting the box to the small table and easing back against the pillows gingerly. "No more dyeing people, or penguins, or -anything-, colors. It's evil."

Kyara's fingers dance along the arms of her chair as she sobers a bit, not quite sure what to make of that comment (or if she really wants to). She turns back to Riley with a shrug. "Not even Lexington?"

Niko pauses a moment. "Dyeing penguins colors?" Kyara's inquiry gets a shake of the head, and a mumble about half-blacks.

Riley has to consider that, at last deciding as he gets settled again, "Depends on what he does. See, there's rules to the game, I can only do stuff to him if he does stuff to me." He nods to Niko. "Kya was threatening to dye penguins colors."

Kyara grins at Riley's pronouncement. "I'll keep that in mind." She conveniently, um, doesn't hear Niko's mumble.

Niko tsks very quietly at Kya. "Penguins," he says solemnly, "Are not to be dyed. That's for cats."

Kyara blinks, then grins. "I'll keep that in mind too. But for the moment..." She slips off her chair, glancing toward the various gifts with amusement before moving toward the door, "I've people to do, things to see. Take care, both of you."

Niko murmurs something about scaring people away, head bobbing in a short nod. "You, too, Kya."

Riley gestures to Niko, "What Nick said. The poor things suffer enough." Starting to lose a bit of his crispness he nods to Kyara, even missing the joke. "Be good, eh?"

Kyara nods, smiling slightly. "Of course. I'm always good."

Kyara has left.

Niko snorts very quietly at Kyara's words, then inquires, "Getting tired, Riley?"

"Huh?" Riley has to pause to process the question, "Just a bit. Sorry, just sort of hit me. This is getting silly and all. Still, just two weeks left."

Niko gestures dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I know how it is." A pause. "Two weeks left until...?"

"Till they let me out of here," Riley explains quietly, managing to keep his eyes open with the effort of some will. "Then a couple days with Clara in nowhere, and I get to work again."

Niko ahs softly. "Sounds like fun," he murmurs. "Uh... you up for one more thing, before I flee?"

Riley tugs his eyes open all the way, "Thing? Flee?" He straightens up a bit, "What's up?"

Niko fumbles in a pocket, then offers a picture of a young woman who looks to be about twenty-five. "Talaxi Veruzac," he informs you. "Now I know why Mom had such a duck when I had a crush on her when I was a kid."

Riley accepts the proffered picture, peering at it a bit muzzily. After a moment he wistles softly, "Relatives coming out of the woodwork." He regards the photo at length, then offers it back. "You discussed the situation with your parents then?"

Niko's head bobs in a short nod as he tucks away the photo once more. "Yeah. Yeah, we talked about it. Hopefully, I didn't handle it too badly. Time will tell." He starts to collect his gifts, putting the butterscotch-related stuff in the same box as the skates, to save carrying. "But you look beat. I should go."

You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.

"Is everything going to be okay?" Riley asks, his tone soft not just from sudden exhaustion, but also worry. "Is there anything I can do?"

Niko shakes his head as he gets to his feet. "I can handle it, Riley. No worries. It was all kind of rushed is all."

Riley looks rather sheepish at that, "Want me to keep an eye out for a ship headed that way that would give you a bit more time?"

Niko shakes his head. "Nah, thanks. I'll go back later sometime, when I've actually done something to earn my keep for a bit. You're instructed to come for a visit at some point, too, by the way." His tone wryly humorous, he adds, "Gigia said that refusal is not an option. But that can wait as well."

There's a soft choked laugh at that, "I'd scandalize the lot of your family, Niko. I don't think going to visit's all that well advised." Not that he wouldn't want to, and that wistfulness is in his tone. Riley jerks his thoughts away from that direction asking, "Have they given you a date you get to work again?"

There's a soft choked laugh at that, "I'd scandalize the lot of your family, Niko. I don't think going to visit's all that well advised." Not that he wouldn't want to, and that wistfulness is in his tone. Riley jerks his thoughts away from that direction asking, "Have they given you a date you get to work again?"

Riley can't quite restrain a snicker, "Oughta get her to meet my mother. Y'could sell tickets." He shakes his head, "Might wanna ask. Anya'll drag ya' back out otherwise. When you do though, huge favor?"

Niko nods agreeably. "Sure, Riley, as long as it won't get me in trouble with Clara. What's up?"

Riley offers a rather vague grin, "Doubt it will. Temptin' as it is to ask for a dizen things that would drive her right nuts... Couldja' keep an eye on folks? Like Anya? Make sure she goes home and spends time with Tony and all? Y'have a knack for seeing the big scheme the place lacks at the moment. I trust you to make sure they don't worry stuff that doesn't need worrying. Heck, y'could prolly do my job better than I can."

Niko nods agreeably at your request, with a murmured acquiescence. "Sure, I could do that. Could try, at least." At your latter statements, however, he pauses. "No, I couldn't," he says, with a crooked little grin. "If I were in your job, I'd end up in a tower somewhere, opening fire." He pauses another moment, to consider that. "Though, with a tangler... hmm, if someone could get the Sectassians to walk by--" He halts those musings, with a chuckle. "Why don't -you- keep the job, though, huh? I'll mind the fort til you can get back to it, though, sure."

"Ain't likely to give it up til they drag me out kicking'n'screaming or bury me one." Riley's words are starting to slur rather heavily, "Thanks Nick, b'n'before they say y'can."

Niko doesn't catch your last statement, because of all that slurring--really. That's it. "No problem, Riley. I'll pop by sometime tomorrow. Rest well." And with that, he lifts a hand in farewell, heading from the room.

You leave the room, pulling the door shut behind you.

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