InsaneJournal

Isabela and technology were only barely getting along. Sure she could use the PADD relatively well, but the holodeck controls were still beyond her. Another thing that was somewhat beyond her was the replicator. She’d finally decided that maybe she should have another set of clothes.

“Maker’s balls, why is this so difficult?!” Isabela cursed as clenched a fist and was going to punch the thing, but decided better of it. “And people seem to think this shit makes life easier.” She’d really rather just use coin and buy from a merchant like any normal person. Not that she had coin with her, but she’d try to trade sex for clothes.

“What are you having problems with?” Kitty slipped up besides Isabela, giving her an easy smile. Perhaps the weirdest thing being on the Enterprise was the monotony. She actually missed ‘something bad is happening it must be Tuesday’ sometimes, and today was definitely one of those days.

“This replicator thing. I’d like another set of clothes but like most everything else on this bloody ship, I don’t understand it. I feel like punching it, but that’d just hurt me more than it.” Isabela said, glowering at the replicator.

“Well, pulling a fonzi might work on some machines, but not all,” Kitty joked, tapping her hand against it. “Ah, that is, hitting a machine to make it work. It’s a thing sometimes. Just not this time. Do you want a copy of what you’re wearing, or something more modern?”

Kitty was just going to assume it would still be skimpy.

Isabela was going to ask what ‘pulling a fonzi’ meant, but then Kitty explained it. She nodded a bit, taking a breath. “Yeah, copy of this, though going with a black corset instead of white. You know, something a little different.” She looked at Kitty. “Though I don’t really know what clothes here typically look like.” She looked Kitty over, for once not in a sexual manner, but to just take in what she was wearing.

“There’s probably as much variety here as there is on your world. But let me show you how to program in the pattern. It just needs a scan of what you’re wearing then we can change colors. You could go hot pink if you wanted.” Kitty grinned at her. “Hot, at least.”

“Perhaps, which means about ninety-eight percent of people wear more clothes than I ever care to.” Isabela said, though at Kitty’s last comment, she had to laugh a bit. “I think you mean hotter.” Because of course Isabela was already hot.

“I grew up with really, really hot women. It’s amazing it took me this long to realize I was attracted.” It was a hell of a wakeup call, and more than a little denial. Kitty had always thought she’d just been jealous of everyone else. That had only been partly the truth.

“Okay hit this button.”

“At least you came around, though. Some never do.” It was sad when someone was never able to embrace their sexuality. Sure, societal norms were part of it, but considering how much Isabela didn’t give a shit for ‘saving face’ and all of that, it never made sense to her why some people refused to embrace their sexuality and uphold their family legacy or whatever.

“Okay,” she said, hitting the button that Kitty told her to.

“Being taken out of my comfort zone, and a little bit of hindsight helped.” Kitty sighed dramatically. “There was this one time when I was drunk with a redhead friend of mine…”

“Oh I like where this is going,” Isabela grinned. “What happened? Was there a drunken kiss? Strip poker? Or something more?”

Kitty turned a shade vaguely reminiscent of Lara. “Just a kiss. Maybe heavy petting. The memory isn’t too clear. There was another friend, a girl named Xi’an. We almost kissed while sober but got attacked by a killer robot before it could happen.”

She had to smirk at that shade of red that Kitty turned. “Ah, of course. Surprise attack comes in and ruins a perfectly good moment to share a kiss.” Isabela sighed dramatically. She understood that feeling. “Good on you though, for the drunken kiss. Could’ve been worse!” She grinned and clapped Kitty on the shoulder.

“We pretended it never happened but I’m pretty sure she never got over it. Meanwhile, I went from one bad-for-me guy to another.”

The outfit materialized in front of them. “I’m hoping Jaylah turns out a little different.”

“Jaylah, huh? Girlfriend or boyfriend?” Isabela wasn’t going to assume someone’s gender based on their name. “Hopefully your taste in people has gotten a bit better. Sometimes you just gotta learn things the hard way, unfortunately.”

“This gorgeous, brilliant woman. She’s with Starfleet and…very literal.” It was really hard to describe her beyond that, so Kitty pulled up a hologram with her PADD. “See? She’s not human. But she’s very pretty.” And Kitty could go into other details, because holy damn.

The whole concept of being able to look at a hologram of someone was kind of mind-blowing to Isabela. But in this case, she could see why it would be easier than having Kitty describe what she looked like. And Jaylah didn’t look like anything she’d ever seen. The closest might be the Dalish with their facial tattoos, but otherwise she was unlike anything she’d seen.

“She’s definitely very beautiful. I think you’ve got a good one there.”

“She’s just..she’s just… yeah…” Kitty smiled dumbly, flicking the hologram off. It had been awhile since she’d been able to show off her person and it felt really good. Really good. “Got anyone yourself? Here, or back home?”

“You definitely got it bad,” Isabela teased with a smirk. It was a feeling she didn’t really have personal experience with. And she didn’t want to have personal experience with it. “No. I don’t play for keeps. I play for sex and nothing more.” She was still struggling with whether it was worth trying to get into Lara’s pants or not.

“So got a fuckbuddy then?” Kitty asked, instead. “That’s how me and Jaylah started. This whole… ‘I want to know what it’s like’ that then kind of became more.”

She was okay with admitting that, even. But then Kitty had never been able to do casual sex.

“I’ve got a couple, yes. No danger of them becoming more.” Lomea was definitely fun, but Isabela wasn’t in danger of falling for her or anything. She was remarkably suited for fuckbuddies, and she also had a tendency to not let people get too close to her or to learn a lot about her. She had a tendency to fabricate the truth of her past at times, especially if someone asked about more sensitive subjects.

“At least some people are having fun on this ship,” Kitty said. She smirked at Isabela. “I want to see you in that outfit though. Just to make sure it looks good, you know.”

“It keeps me from thinking about how this place is a box I can’t get out of.” Isabela said with a shrug. Her struggles with claustrophobia were more prominent here on this ship, and she couldn’t really pretend that she didn’t have issues with it. “Do you? Curious, are you?”

Kitty shrugged lightly. “So I’m a little curious. It doesn’t hurt to look.”

Isabela chuckled. “Curious is good. I like curious. Shall I go try it on for you?” Had she not known about Kitty’s girlfriend, she wouldn’t mind changing in front of Kitty. Oh who was she kidding, she could still change in front of her, but she was going to exercise some manners this time! Kitty had already seen her naked.

If she was honest with herself, if she wasn’t seeing someone Kitty would have gone along with that. But Kitty was nothing if not loyal, so she just nodded at Isabela. “I’ll wait here!”

Isabela chuckled softly. “I’ll be back in a minute.” As a sign that she could control herself, she didn’t walk with a purposeful sway to her hips. She knew better than to get in the middle of someone who was with another. Unless she was invited to, then she’d happily jump in the middle. But currently? She would simply be friendly towards Kitty, and not be friendly.