04-02-2026, 02:31 AM
Alex chuckled at the suggestion of having Carley do his makeup, looking over to Carley, he asked, "I don't know, what do you think Carley, did her lipstick look good on me? I'm usually not much of a lipstick kind of guy."
It was obviously a bit of sarcasm mixed with the idea that he mostly liked the way it got there. The value in the question was more to test the waters to see how her friend Carley was feeling about Beno swapping lipstick with him on the dance floor. It was fairly common in almost every culture that a person needed to know where they stood in the eyes of the dating partner's friends. It wasn't a solid requirement, but it certainly helped in the long run. Carley was very sharp and good at her job, but this was a personal matter and that could be an entirely different topic. Sometimes you had to keep the personal and professional separated, but this had not exactly been planned out. Alex felt that he was generally a nice guy, but there were always a few who didn't like him.
Beno began to prepare to start her official kicking off of the event. Alex gave her a genuinely warm smile when she said the dance was for her, because that was why he did it, but he didn't need to say so. Like a true professional, she began speaking about her crew and how they performed their mission. The crew had earned the praise and Alex was proud of them all as well.
When Beno mentioned Cindy, both Alex and Cindy blushed and fought the impulse to laugh when she accidentally said missus Talion. Such a title was typically reserved for the wife or partner of someone. Neither said anything, nor did they make a sound as it might have spoiled the moment. Sometimes you had to let such things roll. Alex joined in with the applause as Beno went through her list of praise for key members.
When she had finished and returned to his side, Alex commented honestly, "You're good at it. It's easy to see how much you care about your crew. On a ship this size, it isn't easy. I was FO on the Titania for a few years and it was a big ship as well. I can relate. It's not always an easy job, but it can be very rewarding. Giving recognition is always a high point. You want your people to feel the appreciation you have for what they do, and although not everyone does their job for recognition, it certainly doesn't hurt. I hope that the Captain and those above you have said such things to you as well. What you did on this mission was no small task. Your team was under fire at one point, there was a great deal going on in the shadows, tensions were often high, lives had been lots and more could have been. You saw it through though. You got your people through it. Like I said, you're good at your job. Not everyone could have kept a cool head and talked to the people you did in the way that you did. That kind of conversation, with powerful people in tricky situations, that's the stuff that checks boxes when top brass are looking to promote people."
Alex took a sip of his drink and then added, "By the way, if you need a transcript of that conversation, I recorded it. It's also part of the classified logs I tend to submit for the missions, but you could have recorded it yourself and nobody has specifically said that it was privileged information that couldn't be part of a medals package for diplomatic performance...should the Captain wish to submit such a recommendation for his First Officer on such a basis...hypothetically speaking."
Alex gave her a rather sassy smile as he finished. He was enjoying this moment with her in a way that he had never been able to with anyone else. He had been deeply in love with his wife, but their relationship had been...complicated. She had not even been from HERE. Technically, she had not been from this WHEN either. They had worked together on the highly classified efforts to get her home, as well as a number of other things, but she had technically been assigned to his department at the time of it all. They had worked together as if born to it and the list of strange and amazing things that happened were unbelievable, but his wife had not really understood the weight he felt with his rank and what came with it. If not for the mission involving the Borg, they would have faced complications because he was her supervisor and outranked her. Kristina had temporarily been assigned to a different department and then her mission...well...
When Alex looked at Beno, he felt like they could relate on professional terms as well as personal ones. He might not be able to relate to the joined Trill part, but then again, he had his own uniquely strange baggage as well. He didn't know if anyone could relate to such crazy chains of events and the implications that came with it, but he hoped that she could. He was sure that there were aspects of being joined that she couldn't explain to him either. Maybe he was letting his brain get too ahead of himself. The only thing he knew for sure was that he felt more of an equal with Beno than he had with anyone else so far. Maybe they would never have to talk about it. She had never asked any of the questions that he had expected her to ask, so maybe she didn't want to know.
His thoughts were interrupted by a light and playful tap on the back of his head and Cindy's voice saying, "Stop it. You're over thinking things again. I can always tell, when you get that look on your face. You should eat something before you start drinking too much."
Cindy looked to Beno and rolled her eyes, "He can be a certifiable genius, yet he can still get stuck in his own head like when he was a kid." She then smiled at Beno as she abruptly changed topic, "Missus Talion! That was good. I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of that one."
Alex chuckled and tried to get a word in, "Cindy..."
Cindy wouldn't let him though, "Why are you still sitting here talking to me? Go get some food with your date. I know you might have forgotten how the date thing works, but this one involves food, now go."
Cindy made an exaggerated shake of her head as she looked at Beno and gave a heavy sigh, "Men..."
== Tag to Beno and Carly...as well as anyone else around...lol... ==
It was obviously a bit of sarcasm mixed with the idea that he mostly liked the way it got there. The value in the question was more to test the waters to see how her friend Carley was feeling about Beno swapping lipstick with him on the dance floor. It was fairly common in almost every culture that a person needed to know where they stood in the eyes of the dating partner's friends. It wasn't a solid requirement, but it certainly helped in the long run. Carley was very sharp and good at her job, but this was a personal matter and that could be an entirely different topic. Sometimes you had to keep the personal and professional separated, but this had not exactly been planned out. Alex felt that he was generally a nice guy, but there were always a few who didn't like him.
Beno began to prepare to start her official kicking off of the event. Alex gave her a genuinely warm smile when she said the dance was for her, because that was why he did it, but he didn't need to say so. Like a true professional, she began speaking about her crew and how they performed their mission. The crew had earned the praise and Alex was proud of them all as well.
When Beno mentioned Cindy, both Alex and Cindy blushed and fought the impulse to laugh when she accidentally said missus Talion. Such a title was typically reserved for the wife or partner of someone. Neither said anything, nor did they make a sound as it might have spoiled the moment. Sometimes you had to let such things roll. Alex joined in with the applause as Beno went through her list of praise for key members.
When she had finished and returned to his side, Alex commented honestly, "You're good at it. It's easy to see how much you care about your crew. On a ship this size, it isn't easy. I was FO on the Titania for a few years and it was a big ship as well. I can relate. It's not always an easy job, but it can be very rewarding. Giving recognition is always a high point. You want your people to feel the appreciation you have for what they do, and although not everyone does their job for recognition, it certainly doesn't hurt. I hope that the Captain and those above you have said such things to you as well. What you did on this mission was no small task. Your team was under fire at one point, there was a great deal going on in the shadows, tensions were often high, lives had been lots and more could have been. You saw it through though. You got your people through it. Like I said, you're good at your job. Not everyone could have kept a cool head and talked to the people you did in the way that you did. That kind of conversation, with powerful people in tricky situations, that's the stuff that checks boxes when top brass are looking to promote people."
Alex took a sip of his drink and then added, "By the way, if you need a transcript of that conversation, I recorded it. It's also part of the classified logs I tend to submit for the missions, but you could have recorded it yourself and nobody has specifically said that it was privileged information that couldn't be part of a medals package for diplomatic performance...should the Captain wish to submit such a recommendation for his First Officer on such a basis...hypothetically speaking."
Alex gave her a rather sassy smile as he finished. He was enjoying this moment with her in a way that he had never been able to with anyone else. He had been deeply in love with his wife, but their relationship had been...complicated. She had not even been from HERE. Technically, she had not been from this WHEN either. They had worked together on the highly classified efforts to get her home, as well as a number of other things, but she had technically been assigned to his department at the time of it all. They had worked together as if born to it and the list of strange and amazing things that happened were unbelievable, but his wife had not really understood the weight he felt with his rank and what came with it. If not for the mission involving the Borg, they would have faced complications because he was her supervisor and outranked her. Kristina had temporarily been assigned to a different department and then her mission...well...
When Alex looked at Beno, he felt like they could relate on professional terms as well as personal ones. He might not be able to relate to the joined Trill part, but then again, he had his own uniquely strange baggage as well. He didn't know if anyone could relate to such crazy chains of events and the implications that came with it, but he hoped that she could. He was sure that there were aspects of being joined that she couldn't explain to him either. Maybe he was letting his brain get too ahead of himself. The only thing he knew for sure was that he felt more of an equal with Beno than he had with anyone else so far. Maybe they would never have to talk about it. She had never asked any of the questions that he had expected her to ask, so maybe she didn't want to know.
His thoughts were interrupted by a light and playful tap on the back of his head and Cindy's voice saying, "Stop it. You're over thinking things again. I can always tell, when you get that look on your face. You should eat something before you start drinking too much."
Cindy looked to Beno and rolled her eyes, "He can be a certifiable genius, yet he can still get stuck in his own head like when he was a kid." She then smiled at Beno as she abruptly changed topic, "Missus Talion! That was good. I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of that one."
Alex chuckled and tried to get a word in, "Cindy..."
Cindy wouldn't let him though, "Why are you still sitting here talking to me? Go get some food with your date. I know you might have forgotten how the date thing works, but this one involves food, now go."
Cindy made an exaggerated shake of her head as she looked at Beno and gave a heavy sigh, "Men..."
== Tag to Beno and Carly...as well as anyone else around...lol... ==