Lt. Inabnet's Quarters Makeover

Da-an arrived at Lt. Inabnet's quarters with a tiered box of seeds tucked under their tendril. They rang at the door meekly.
"Lieutenant Inabnet? It's Groundskeeper Da-an, I'm here at the Captain's behest," they said.

It had already been a deeply weird morning and it was shaping up to be, quite possibly, an even weirder day. T'Pren was finally alone in her quarters, showered and dressed in an oversized purple sweater and light brown pants with her hair over her ears. She had been waiting, staring at the door, for this precise moment for almost half an hour now.

The lieutenant reminded herself not to chew on her bottom lip and stood to greet Da-an as she opened the door for him. "It's nice to officially meet you," she replied cordially. She resisted the urge to immediately ask if she could have a DNA sample. She was, after all, off duty today. And also that was probably a rude thing to say upon first meeting someone. "Thank you for being here. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

"It's my pleasure to make your quarters a better place, Lieutenant. How much coverage of available space did you have in mind? Rai mentioned you enjoyed rainforests? Do you prefer container plants?" they asked.

T'Pren smiled at Da-an right until he mentioned rainforests. Her cheeks went green and she cleared her throat. "I'm not really sure what I want," she admitted. "I'm not really sure what you can and can't do. But if you could make this room come alive, uncontained..." She smiled just at the thought.

"I could give you a self contained moss garden, a bromeliad wall, an epiphyte trellis. We could keep everything in containers; adding hanging orchid pots everwhere. The orchids are gigantic, and very colorful, mind you. There's also a form of Bajoran night blooming jasmine that works fantastically in cool, dry environments like that of the station. How does that appeal to you, Lieutenant?"

"I think...the fewer containers the better. I..." Her face flushed again. "I would like to be completely unable to tell the Cardassians built this room. If that's at all possible."

"It's possible, I think I know exactly what you need. Go have your day at the Two Moons, I'll take care of everything," they said. They had already begun to set out a number of small bulbs and plugs of moss near the walls.
"It'll be a new place by the time you return."

T'Pren's smile was grateful, if slightly anxious, but she had an appointment to keep and Captain's orders to be there. "Thank you, Da-an. I'm sure it will be beautiful." She glanced at the guitar against the wall, told herself not to worry, and left the room.

While T'Pren was out of her quarters, Da-an carefully arranged her small collection of personal objects delicately in the bathroom, to keep them out of harms way. They were especially careful with the ancient looking guitar.
Placing plugs of moss and orchid pods strategically around her quarters, Da-an began to terraform her quarters. In a cloud of green spores, moss and epiphytes sprung from the walls, popping forth beautiful jungle flowers like fireworks. Gone were the grey Cardassian walls and bulkheads, they were now seemingly consumed by nature, as if a decade had passed, and the station had been kept in a dark rainforest. Climbing jasmine claimed the bulkheads and the head of her bed. Bold, vulgar orchids had come to life, taking the shapes of faces, insects, and organs. It was no longer recognizable at all.

Although Rai had specifically told her to see Akhil as well as Lorelei, T'Pren was completely wiped out by her experience at the bath house. She had finished her tea and gotten dressed and only just barely gotten back to her quarters without collapsing in a puddle.

But when she opened the door to her room, having forgotten momentarily of Da-an's ministrations, she stopped dead in her tracks. Of course, she didn't have the energy to really explore or even to stand there staring for long.

But she breathed out a sigh she felt as though she'd been holding in since arriving on the station, stripped out of her clothing, turned off the lights, and curled up under her covers. It took barely a moment for sleep to take her and it didn't let her go again for a very long time.

Rai gave her about 8 hours to sleep the sleep of the just. It was around 2100 hours when he finally contacted her over commlink.
"Lieutenant? I'm not waking you am I?" he asked.

He was. He definitely was. But it was the Captain, and, more importantly, it was Darren. So she rolled over in bed and blinked to adjust her eyes to the dim forest of her room. And made a mental note that he called her Lieutenant, so she should probably not reply with anything inappropriate. "You are, but I don't mind."

"Sorry, he said," whispering reflexively. "Did Da-an handle your quarters?"

Rai's whispering made T'Pren grin a little stupidly in her room. "I'm awake now. There's no point in whispering."

As for Da-an, she took a long look around the flowers and greenery and let out a sigh so relieved it almost brought tears to her eyes. "It's absolutely stunning. You have to see it to believe it." Which was a subtextual invitation if ever there was one.

"How did everything go?"

"Everything went well, think this voyage will be great," he said, making small talk. He was hunched over a PADD in his office, reviewing a duty roster.

"How'd she look coming in?" T'Pren wondered, more than a little envy in her voice.

"Magnificent. Brought tears to my eyes," he said.

"Wish I could have been there," she said earnestly, but lest he think she was complaining, she added, "But you were right, of course."

"Of course I'm right, that's why I'm a Captain," he snickered. "You're no good to science when you're falling to pieces," he said.

"Yes," T'Pren replied with a grin in the darkness. She stretched out on her back and stared up at the ceiling while they talked. "That's why I did this. For science."

There was a pause and then she wondered, her words charged with innuendo but without making it too obvious, "Sir, when will I be allowed to get my hands on the helm?"

"You're authorized to resume duty tomorrow, I don't see why not then," he said. "You should probably check it out before Tal'Ara fills it with bombs and listening devices."

"Oh," laughed T'Pren. "So you are alone." Then, more personally, "You really have to come see this, Darren. It's...you won't even recognize it."

"That was the idea," he said. "I'll be right over," and down the turbolift, through the halls, Rai was at her quarters. He paged her at the door.

While Rai was making his way to T'Pren's quarters, she was turning on the lights and pulling on an oversized sweater so she could answer the door without scandalizing anyone who might be walking by. And brushing her hair and her teeth because obviously.

She looked infinitely better for having finally slept well, and though her face looked younger as a result, her energy was more mature. Her smile for the Captain was pleased and warm.

"Look at all this!" and she stepped out of the way so he could see it.

Rai's lips shaped into a very round "O" as he surveyed her new, wild space. Lush and green, it was everything he wanted for her, to make her safe and stave away the Cardassian-born nightmares.
"Oh, this is perfect. I would swear Da-an is magic if I didn't know any better!" he clasped Pren's hand excitedly, overcome.