Hobbies

Posted on Thu Sep 26th, 2024 @ 6:30pm by Lieutenant Katherine "Kit" Vulpes & Lieutenant William Neil

918 words; about a 5 minute read

The sonic shower had cleaned his body so now William focused on clearing his mind. He sat on the couch of his quarters with the small piece of driftwood he'd acquired from their unexpected away mission.

William traced the grain with his fingers as he visualized the shape buried within. Reaching over for the small knife on the table he began to gently carve away the excess wood.

Kit strode down the corridor of the officer's quarters, and shifted her small leather satchel to her other shoulder. She stopped at a door, double-checked the identification number on the door plate, and rang the chime.

William gently pushed the blade the rest of the way through and freed the sliver of wood before looking up. "Come on in, it's open."

He managed a smile as Kit walked in. "Evening Kit." William looked down at the unformed shape in his hand and chuckled. "It'll take a little more time I think."

Kit returned the smile. "No worries. I'm not done, either." She gave a shrug, pulled the satchel from her shoulder, and held it up. "It's hard for me to make a knife without measuring your hand. Is now a good time?"

"Oh, sure." William replied as he put down his tools and held out his empty right hand. "Any thoughts on material for the grip? I don't need anything fancy. Just something durable and comfortable."

Kit set her satchel on the small table, pulling out a PADD, a stylus, and a ruler. "I have a crate that I brought from home. I'll have to take a look at what I have, but I'm pretty sure I have some Beech, Ash, Sycamore, and Pine. I may have some Sweet Cherry as well." She sat next to him on the couch, reaching out to take his wrist. She held the ruler on his palm, measuring his hand from the base of his palm to the tip of his middle finger. "I have a few different stains, too--unless you prefer the natural wood grain."

"I've always been a fan of natural." William replied as he watched her take her measurements. "We're in an artificial environment in a tin can flying through the stars. A bit of nature goes a long way."

"What do you think is next?" William asked, changing the subject a little. "Are we able to get back to our own time on our own? Or are we stuck here until Temporal Affairs find us?"

He looked over toward the windows on the bulkhead and the blue marble they were orbiting. "A part of it was... relaxing. A simpler time I guess."

Kit gave a look to see where William's attention had been drawn. She gave a quiet sigh before turning her attention back to his hand, laying the ruler across his palm and folding his fingers to grip it. "It may seem simple. It never is." She lifted his hand to eye level, rotating the wrist. "There are advantages to living in progress."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. Left there I'm sure I'd have been dead within a year... if it even took that long." William continued to let her move and adjust his hand without resistance. "Nice to visit though."

Kit held his wrist carefully as she reached for her PADD, making a notation of the measurements. "Yeah, if the plague or pestilence doesn't get you, an infected cut will." She smirked as she looked up briefly, before turning his hand palm-up for one more measurement. "I grew up on Caldos colony, which prides itself on living just like they do in this timeline--with the added benefit of a weather control system. The medical technology there is still a hundred years or so behind the rest of the Federation, if they aren't so backwards that they refuse to use it at all."

She let go of his wrist, writing down her final measurement. "There are aspects of it that I miss. Working the blacksmith fire down on the surface when I couldn't just ask the holodeck to increase the temperature to ideal. The smell of highland meadows when wildflowers start to bloom."

"And the holodeck isn't the same as the real thing." William agreed. "Same reason I don't replicate my materials. I always keep an eye during away missions."

The thought of Caldos colony both intrigued and bothered him. It was one thing to work with your hands and not have everything handed, but medical science was meant to save lives. How many have died for the love of a simpler time that he himself had just romanticized? He remembered the young man who had lost his arm, and quite possibly his life.

"I know you mentioned planetside that you work more for art than tools. Do you have anything on board you'd care to show me?"

Kit smirked. "I do, but most of it is still in crates. Nothing like being thrown into another timeline your first week on a ship to delay your unpacking." She tucked her tools back into her satchel. "I've got a bottle of scotch I was supposed to open after my first day as Chief Engineer...but we got whisked down to the planet before I could even make it to the briefing." She paused. "Want to come help me unpack, and we can make that toast?"

"If you're planning on bribing me with alcohol to help you unpack..." William raised an eyebrow and then smiled. "You got yourself a deal Kit."

RSS Feed