Getting Along
Posted on April 24th, 2019 by Linxi Jude and Ryleigh Grey

By Linxi Jude and Ryleigh Grey

Linxi walked down deck 14, looking for the room of a particular crew member. It had been a few days since the battle with the Xovul, and the Atlantis was undergoing a few repairs. Enough time for the broken marines to be healed, right? It’s not that she cared, but with all the injuries, she felt the need to drop in. Linxi took a short breath as she stopped outside of a room, and bleeped the door chime.

Ryleigh was sitting in her berth, on obvious bed-rest orders to let the rest of the injuries heal/finish healing from the surgery, as her chime sounded. She paused the video she was watching on her datapad, confused at who was coming to visit. “Come in!”

Linxi awkwardly stepped in,“Oh, hey, I just wanted to check in how you were doing.” She stood up straight with her hands behind her back once she was in the room. “Hope I’m not err- interrupting anything.”

Ryleigh shook her head. “You’re not. I appreciate the company, Linxi.” She smiled brightly at the Betazoid, slowly straightening to sit up in her berth. “Come, take a seat. I was just watching some funny cat videos.” She winced suddenly before settling again.

Linxi hesitantly took a seat next to Ryleigh, “Well, I heard you got pretty fucked up down there.”
Wait a second. Why am I being nice to somebody I don’t even like? She paused for what seemed like an eternity in her head. Oooh right. Crap. The counselor told me I need to get to know people before judging them.

“I don’t particularly like cats. Or pets in general. Well, non-sapient animals, actually. Their thoughts tend to be… weird,” Linxi rambled as she looked at the padd.

She hummed in acknowledgement. “I did, yes. I’m kinda indebted to my male relatives at the moment for insisting that I learn how to fight hand to hand.” Ryleigh responded. “It was either me throwing myself out there or letting the other Marines take the fire. I figured I could do it.” She shrugged slightly before laughing. “You would hate my family then. We have three dogs and one cat at the moment.”

Ryleigh cocked her head slightly to the side. “Is there… something you wanted to talk to me about?” She adjusted her position slightly more, blankets falling slightly to reveal bandages wrapped tightly around her chest and shoulder.

Ah, shit. Okay. “So, since you have came aboard, I kinda- err- definitely have been a bit jealous… of the attention… you are getting from Major Wolfe. And, I don’t know, I guess I judged your entire persona on that jealousy. The counselor suggested that I… get to know you better. So- here I am.”

Ryleigh threw her head back in laughter. “Oh, you know I’m dating back on Earth.” She explained with slight laughter in her voice. “Major Wolfe is… kinda more like an older brother figure. He keeps an eye on me, there’s no romantic feelings in anyway.” She smiled brightly. “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to take him away from you.” Ryleigh reassured her calmly, adjusting her blanket positions again, attention fixed on Linxi.

Oh damn. “Oh. Okay, good for you? I think?” Linxi huffed at nothing in particular, “The deities- I have been trying to get his attention for a while now, but the closest thing I got was when I partially kicked his ass- ok, barely kicked his ass at rock climbing during a shore leave.”

She laughed. “Based on my interactions with him, so far, I’ve found that you need to let him come to you.”

“If only telepathy were socially acceptable in Starfleet, I’d have a lot less trouble trying to get along with people.” Linxi snorted, “Betazed was so much easier in that regard. No secrets or manipulation.”

“Of course it was.” Ryleigh murmured briefly with a chuckle. “What do you like to do?”

Linxi lifted her legs up onto the bed and sat cross legged as she became more comfortable. “I know I am a science officer, but hear me out.” She started counting with her fingers as she listed, “Fencing, archery, rock climbing, and bat’leth sparring. Oh! And I was also in the academy marching band. Man, I miss that.”

Ryleigh laughed. “I’m always down for a fencing match, once I recover.” She smiled, jerking a finger at her own set of fencing and archery equipment sitting in the corner. “ Ryleigh cocked her head briefly in thought. “Hm. Maybe challenge him to a sparring match after his knee heals? Or we could do an entire tournament while waiting for something to happen?”

“Ooh, a tournament! The marines versus the science officer.” Linxi snorted, “That would be funny. Y’know, my academy advisor asked me if I wanted to do tactical as my major instead but I told him ‘hell no’ and ‘I’ll do what I want’. I am lucky I got away with just a warning for disrespect, but I did do what I wanted.”

Ryleigh nodded. “Interesting. I, personally, majored in tactical with a minor in medicine.” She responded calmly. “I think you could’ve done very well in tactical.”

“As much as I’d like to kick some ass,” Linxi shrugged, “I don’t really see that anytime soon. Science was my first love, anyway. I spent all my spare time as a kid reading about archeology and ancient civilizations. I used to dream of unearthing some ancient civilization that people never found before.” She shook her head, “Ptth. Like that will ever happen.”

Ryleigh chuckled. “You never know.” She murmured calmly. “Maybe they’ll have a new civilization somewhere that we didn’t see before?” She murmured. “I mean, there’s still planets we have to discover… who knows?”

“Look- I just want to get down and dirty, and dig up old stuff. Vases. Pottery. Ruined buildings. If we ever come across something like that, I would not want trigger-happy Wolfe around.” Linxi shot Grey a grin.

She grinned, returning the bright expression. “I know, but it might be a good thing… imagine something going on, you and Wolfe getting stuck overnight, etc, etc…” Ryleigh teased Linxi brightly.

Linxi covered her face as her cheeks turned pink, “The deitieees- stop iiiit!”

The two’s conversation continued late into the night, until they realized they eventually needed to get some sleep for their shift. As unlikely as it seemed, they seemed to get along quite well, and managed to find commonalities within their differences.