As The Worms Bite

Posted on Sun Nov 6th, 2011 @ 6:37pm by Captain Li Hawke & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Norval Tigan

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Li's Quarters

The dark, warm bedroom belonging to Li Hawke and Sakkath was starting to be more comfortable for the current sole occupant: Iggy. After her harrowing... dream? Nightmare? Whatever it was, it was an experience she did not wish repeated and, because of it, she'd abandoned the hammock she'd woven above Li's bed. Instead, she'd pulled the hammock down and, using a cleft between pillows and sheets, used it to line a makeshift burrow.

Since spiders don't really 'sleep' in the way that mammals do, Iggy huddled in her new burrow and went still and silent. A part of her brain, the one woken by the blue crystal, pondered on the 'nightmare' experience; the other part didn't think at all, even when voices interrupted the quiet of the apartment.

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow." The doors whooshed open and Li stepped in, still looking far different than her usual. "I need a drink. And a shower. Drink first. You here Iggy?" The door chime rang and Li, still in her undercover mindset, and disguise, opened the doors. "Yeah, what do you want?"

It hadn't taken Norval Tigan very long to discover just what had everyone aboard the station yapping. A few well-placed free drinks would loosen anyone's lips in the Nexus, and when he had found out... well, he had left laughing.

He was still chuckling as he reached Li's quarters, amused at what a passerby might think. Making a cuckold out of a man was one thing; doing it to your immediate supervisor and your friend? Well, that was just stupid. Let them think what they like, he reasoned. It would all blow over when the away team returned.

He sounded the chime, and was greeted by a sight that took the smirk straight from his face.

"I... err... should I come back later?" Norval asked, pointing aimlessly down the hall. Whoever this red-haired, violet-eyed woman was and whatever business she had with Li, maybe he shouldn't be interrupting.

She looked Norval up and down, then a wicked smile spread across her face. It was good to know she hadn't lost her touch while being a homebody. Reaching out, she hooked a finger into Norval's collar and dragged him inside. The doors closed right behind him and she pressed him back against them.

"What took you so long?"

Norval blinked, and suppressed a half-laugh/half-cough from escaping his lips. He briefly wondered if this was what it felt like when he came on too strong, too fast.

"I... wasn't aware I was expected?" he managed.

"Most of the station already thinks you're sneaking in here." The paused, and finally gave in to her laughter, laughter that should sound very familiar to Norval.

"Well, yeah, but not... wait... Li? That is you, isn't it?" Realizing, Norval reached up to try and pull what he assumed was a wig away. "What're you all dressed up for?" he wondered out loud, amusement creeping back into his voice and a smile returning to his features.

The red hair came off in his hand and she pulled back, letting him move from the doors. "Introducing Patrick to some of my friends down in the Cherry Pit. Something to drink? And Iggy? Come out, we have company."

I am here. The thought moved into Li's brain slowly, as if sifting through molasses to get there.

"Oh, yes, 'friends,'" Norval was sure he knew what that meant. Tossing the rather vibrant wig onto a nearby table he nodded his assent. "Sure, I'll have something. Oz's spider is here?" he asked.

"She is. Somewhere, wherever she feel like perching. And yes that means she is loose."

"I have a worm living in my stomach, I think I can handle a spider walking about. Though, I suppose I had best watch where I'm walking."

You need not worry about where you step, came an alien thought, this time faster and more confidently than the one a moment ago. From Li's bedroom, a large shadow scuttled across the ceiling. She reached the point where Li was, near the replicator and, anchoring a line, dropped to the floor. She left the anchor line hanging and rapidly moved towards Li's legs, where she touched one calf. Who... I recognize this male, though not well. He has been in Oralia's apartment.

"On the Berkeley," Norval affirmed, at least slightly prepared for the fact that this spider could talk, after a fashion. "And I suppose you are rather hard to miss outside your terrarium. I'm Norval."

I am Ignatius, the spider replied. Somehow, she managed to insert a degree of pomposity into her name. She moved towards Norval, her forward-most legs waving in his direction; she was tasting him, collecting the faint whiffs of his chemicals on the air currents. Li, he is not your mate; are you replacing the male I can taste in here?

Li rolled her eyes. "OH no, not you too. The answer to that is no, Iggy. What you have asked is something not really possible." Her gaze fell on Norval a moment, lingered there. And then she realized how little she still wore. "Umm, can you two excuse me a moment? I need to change."

"You read my mind," Norval said, just about as ready to voice his exasperation with Iggy's comment, only realizing a moment later that she literally could. He caught her eye in that moment, paused a moment to consider the violet hue that should have been an onyx pool, and then shook it off as Li spoke.

"Yeah, sure," he said, turning his attention to the bar, or honestly anything else. "You mind if I help myself?"

"Of course, I'll be right out." Li hurried off to the bedroom to remove the contacts and change into some casual clothes. And maybe bang her head against the wall. Maybe.

Norval took a deep breath as he poured himself and Li a drink, taking a hefty swig from his own. With everyone talking about it, the subject had come to the forefront of Norval's own mind. He needed to get any regret he had for Li out of there, because he certainly couldn't act on it and he valued their friendship.

"I'll tell you what, Iggy, even after eight lifetimes, three of them as women, relationships don't get any easier." He looked down at the spider, then to his glass. "I don't, ah, assume you need anything, beverage-wise?" He wasn't sure if spiders drank at all... probably not alcohol, but water or the like. And hell, if he was talking to her, he may as well offer.

As Norval headed for the bar, Iggy crawled the wall to come up relatively even with him. I require no fluids at the moment, thank you. Oralia said that Li would not have any cockroaches. Do you have any? A mouse or a bird or ...even a worm would do.

"I'm afraid I don't walk around with anything like th--- oh, worm," Norval said, grimacing slightly. "I may have... oversimplified that. And in any event, it's not for eating. I could possibly replicate something for you? Gagh might be in the database."

The spider hung on the wall, carefully but quickly cleaning her face and fangs with her pedipalps, seemingly staring at Norval the whole time. Iggy had the sort of blank stare that, even when she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, could make the most stoic of bipeds feel uncomfortable. Most of that effect stemmed from the fact that she had no eyelids and didn't blink. Ever. After a moment of silent grooming, she stopped and held still. I am unfamiliar with what gagh is. It might be interesting to discover what it is.

For those few long moments, Norval found himself fidgeting slightly with the glass in his hand, nearly jumping when Iggy decided to speak again.

"Something tells me you'll like it," he said as he walked, perhaps a little too quickly, towards the replicator. At any rate, it's about as unsettling as you are.

Norval had to close his eyes a moment, calling up the memories of his host Coran. "Torgud qagh," he said, recalling some of his Klingon, simultaneously relieved and disturbed as a squirming mound of serpent worms appeared on a plate.

"I can't say much for the taste," Norval said as he brought the living dish over to Iggy, "but eating it is certainly an experience." He set the plate on the floor... just slightly out of sight.

Li reappeared just as Norval stood up from serving Iggy. She now wore a loose skirt and a tank top, both in deep purple, her feet bare. Her eyes had returned to their normal black. Spying her drink on the counter, she reached for it around Norval.

"Thanks. So, have a seat? There's something we," she motioned from herself to Iggy, "need to talk to you about."

We?, Iggy, who had waded into the midst of the wriggling worms, shifted slightly to look at Li. That moment of distraction was all it took: the worms assumed their would-be consumer was actually their dinner. The squigglers had teeth and were using them to cling to and climb up Iggy's legs. At least one had a hold of her underbelly, using the hair there to hold onto the spider. Ah! Dinner revolts!, Iggy squealed and started 'dancing' in place to knock them off. In a flurry of black fuzz against a mass of writhing ivory, she defended herself by biting some, wrapping others in silk, and tossing still others away across the floor.

"It is rather revolting," Norval agreed, before he looked over wide-eyed, then back to Li. "Should we... do something?" he asked rather feebly.

Li tried valiantly to hold in her laughter as she watched but finally had to give in. "No," she gasped between giggles. "I suspect she needs the workout." A few deep breaths and she finally got herself under control. It felt good to laugh, really give a deep down, let it go laugh. She hadn't realized till now how much the current situation was stressing her. "As to what we need to discuss, it's this Rhys business. He is here Norval. Connor has picked up a secondary neural pattern... in me."

The subject of Rhys had a way of changing the hilariously bizarre into the somberly morose in an instant. Norval frowned, regarding Li as he realized he might have doubted her not long ago. Then there had been the episode in his quarters, and Connor wasn't prone to exaggeration or flights of fancy... Well, at least not medically.

While corralling the wayward worms, Iggy kept tabs on the conversation. Fortunately, her quarry was quiet and she was able to hear the two bipeds as they talked. In due course, she wrangled the worms into a net of webbing and quickly stepped away from the plate. Coming around the corner of the couch, she was trying to simultaneously groom her hair back into place and walk. The attempt resulted in a jerky, slow march. Interrupting the two, she suggested, Next time..., double male, just a few of those, not a full plate like that. Dangerous dinner.

Norval turned back to regard Iggy. "Double male?" he asked. "In any event," he went on, "if Rhys, or Rhys's..." Spirit? Ghost? "echo is here... what can I do about it?"

"This is more fair warning than expecting a solution. Since you are close to me, and after what happened in your quarters...." Li paused, her forehead creasing in thought as she picked up a sudden change in Iggy's mental state.

He was here while you were away, Li, Iggy said, shaking a leg and causing a few small spots of her black blood to splatter against Li's chair. As she wrapped the wound with a length of silk, she added, He intends to wait until your mate returns, then kill him.

Li paled visibly at that bit of news. "He came without me here...." The implications weren't good. First Norval now Iggy.

Norval didn't like the sound of that at all. He didn't want to believe that a mental presence could deliver on such a threat, but he had physically felt Rhys in his quarters... just a touch, but could he do more than that? He'd rather not find out.

"I'm going to say it again. We should destroy that crystal."

"I agree but I suspect I'll need both Sakkath and Leroy for that." She sighed aloud. "Wait, Iggy, he said wait. Does that mean he's laying low till Sakkath is home?"

I do not know, Iggy's tone had grown grumpy. There were multiple reasons for it: one, she didn't like having had a nightmare; two, she very much disliked the idea of destroying the crystal; and, three, she was the spider in the room. How was she to know the intentions of a biped, especially one that was, supposedly, dead?

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Norval said, even as he sipped his drink - the first time since this business had turned dark. "We might think we imagined a lot of it, chalk it up to paranoia, then the Hammond and Takei return and Commander Sakkath is taken completely by surprise... because why would we bring it up?"

"There is no way I can't bring it up. As long as he has been gone, he will want to take the shortcut to catching up." Li looked back at Norval finally. "Don't expect him to be the least bit happy about it."

Norval looked at Li quizzically. "The shortcut? Ohh, Vulcan mind meld." He nodded in understanding. "Right... telepathic relationships must be something, huh? No secrets. Unless, I suppose, you're trained to hide things, like Rhys must have been." The Trill sighed. "So what do we do about him? Play the waiting game?"

"Yes...unless you want me to activate the crystal again?" Her tone left no doubt that she was being sarcastic. "Besides, I have Iggy. For some reason, he is cautious around her."

Norval's disapproval was evident on his features, even if the suggestion was in jest.

"Maybe you're right. None of us has experienced anything in the company of others. He's always struck each of us alone... so let's try not to find ourselves in solitude. Agreed?"

"That mean you're staying? It might be a good idea." Li studied him a moment before looking away to Iggy, hoping the spider might do something to break the tension.

Iggy had been quiet during their conversation but she hadn't been still. She'd disappeared back around the chair, back to where the worms were in storage. If the bipeds had stopped talking, they might have heard small popping sounds as she envenomed her dinner. Suddenly aware that Li held an expectation for her, the spider scuttled back into view, one serpent worm impaled on her fangs. Shall I weave a hammock for the double male? He will not fit in the burrow I made. Neither will you, Li.

"I'm going to need you to explain that at some point," Norval said as he tilted his drink in Iggy's direction before consuming the last of its contents. Setting his glass down, he stood. "And I don't think that will be necessary, on either count. I'm confident in my skills to find someone to spend the evening with, you girls have fun."

A smile lit Li's face finally. "Be careful Norv. Please. He knows how close we..." She fell silent and waved him on out. "Go, have fun."

"I know. And I am ever the pinnacle of prudence," Norval said with mock flourish as he made his way to the door. "Keep an eye on one another," he added, more seriously. It wasn't until the doors swished shut behind him and he was alone in the corridor that he allowed himself a heavy sigh.

Back inside, Li looked to Iggy. "I think I'm going for a walk, Iggy. You'll be okay here?"

I will be. Perhaps you could bring Oralia here tonight, Iggy suggested.


"I'll try and track her down. Call me if anything happens." Li slipped on some shoes and soon was out for her walk.

*********
Lt. Norval Tigan
Lt. Commander Li Hawke
Iggy
Playing The Waiting Game