Baby Blues Ink

Posted on Wed 16th May, 2018 @ 2:14pm by

1,527 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Promenade, Deck 589
Timeline: MD 12, 1400

Jenna and Serena walked with elbows hooked, strolling rather than hurrying. "Oh, look!" Jenna squealed, stopping in front of Rhinestone Ruby's. "Did you ever see anything so cute?"

Serena peered into the display window to see what had excited her friend. On a piece of white velvet lay a gold link bracelet. Every three links, there were sparkling red stones carved in the shape of rabbits. "Adorable," Serena said, "if you like little bunnies."

Jenna slapped her arm. "You're hopeless. But don't you think it would be great for a little girl?"

"Are you kidding me, Jenna? This is a baby shower, not a bridal-gag party."

"So ... is that a no?" Jenna asked.

"Definitely," Serena declared, taking Jenna's arm to guide her away from the gaudy bracelet. She looked up and turned half around as she heard someone call her name.

"Serena? Oh, that is you! Good," Meryret Penre said. She ran the Signs of the Prophets shop elsewhere in the Promenade. She had met Serena through the Promenade Shops' Chamber of Commerce, whose board Jade Lantz sat on. "And aren't you Jenna?" she said. "I know I've seen you at Orchids and Jazz."

"Jenna Clark, yes," she held out her hand. "I've been in your shop once, but you weren't there that day. It's a very interesting shop with a good variety of things to interest Bajorans and the general tourist, I would think."

"Penre Meryret. That's my hope for the shop, anyway," Meryret said as she shook Jenna's hand. "I'm thinking of opening a side branch that just sells tea, because I sell an awful lot of that."

"Say, you wouldn't happen to be headed to Baby Blues, would you? Did you get a cute little invitation like this?" Serena pulled a little diaper, folded out of pink paper, out of her bag. "It's for the Chief Science Officer's baby shower."

"Yes, I did get an invitation like that one," Meryret said and pulled it out of her purse. "Stationery designers come up with the oddest things, don't they? I couldn't figure out why anyone would shape an invitation like this."

"They do," Serena agreed. "This may be one of those historical reproduction things. Join us, if you'd care to try your luck at BBI, too. What does a newborn need, anyway? Don't parents just replicate stuff?"

Now it was Jenna's turn to roll her eyes, as they all headed toward a shop a few doors down. "They do some things, but that takes a lot of replicator credits, even for two officer parents. Just look around in the shop. Most of the stuff they'll carry will be useful and needed, so you really can't go wrong."

Serena nodded and when they came to the shop, she opened the door. "After you, ladies."

"I don't know," a woman inside said to her companion, the words drifting out through the open door. "Leaving entirely aside the mess and confusion of it getting there in the first place, having a baby seems unnecessarily painful and complicated."

The two women looked enough alike to be sisters. They were both on the tall side, with darkish blonde hair only a shade or two apart. They both looked as though they were no stranger to hard work. The one who had just spoken wore a tank-top which displayed a tattoo of a skull surmounting crossed phaser rifles. The other wore a cap-sleeve t. Both wore khaki shorts and combat boots.

"An alien parasite," the second woman agreed. "Takes over your body for a year, and your life for twenty."

Jenna snickered, bringing the attention of the women to her. She shrugged, wondering what species gestated for a year. Ugh. "More like forever, if you ask my parents."

"How can it be an alien parasite if your own body produces it?" Meryret asked as they all walked into the store. She did join in the laughter, though, at the mention of a baby taking over its mother's life for twenty years. Some things did not change, no matter where in the Federation one went.

The blonde woman with the tattoo on her shoulder smiled at the group. "How does it get there?" she countered Meryet's question. "It's an invasive parasite that hijacks your body into producing its own. Not unlike the jelly thing infesting the station when we arrived."

Serena shuddered. "Let's not go there. My boss was involved in the searching for that, and I think I'd far perfer a human child." She fingered something soft and blue. It had sleeves, but she couldn't figure out quite what it was, or what purpose it served, so she left it and moved down a bit further, closer to the two obvious friends. Thinking she might pick up a clue about what a baby needed, she asked them, "Have you picked out something for your baby?"

The two blondes glanced at each other and shuddered. "Bite your tongue, woman!" the one in the t-shirt said, and they both laughed. "It isn't our baby, just... one of our acquaintance's."

"Honestly," the tattooed woman responded, "I'm not even sure how we got invited to this thing. I don't know if I could pick her out of a lineup."

"Wait. Did the invitation look like this?" Jenna held up a pink folded diaper. "'Cause if it did, we are going to the same party!"

The two blonde women glanced at each other. "That's the one," the one wearing the t-shirt responded. "I'm Butch," she pointed her thumb at the tattooed woman. "She's Shelly."

"Cake," said Serena. "Marin is making cake. No matter what else happens, I'm getting a piece of that cake."

Meryret chuckled at that remark, in spite of herself. "Clothing, diapers, and food. What else does a baby need that can be bought?"

"Things to snuggle," Shelly answered, at more or less the same time Butch responded, "Things to cram in its maw."

Jenna laughed and held out her fist for a bump. "I think we need to know you two, 'cause I already know I like you. I'm Jenna Clark, and these are my friends, Serena Alia and Meryret Penre. Meryret owns Signs of the Prophets, a few decks away, and Serena and I work for Jade Lantz at Orchids & Jazz."

"Marines," Butch answered for herself and Shelly.

"Glad to meet you," Meryret said. "Oh, you can hand-make things to snuggle. No sense paying an arm and a leg." She thought a moment. "Maybe one of those frames to hang small toys from?"

"You could," Shelly agreed. "But who wants to spend the time?" She walked over to a display of teething aids. "Oh, look. Amber. This almost looks like some kind of rosary, doesn't it?"

Meryret gave Shelly's back a baffled look. How could she not know that stuffed toys made by one's mother out of old rags were the best? Her attention was caught by the mention of a rosary, however, and she went to look at the teething bead necklace that Shelly pointed out.

"Oh, an amber one! Those are good; they reduce inflammation," Meryret told Shelly. "I'm glad it doesn't have a crucifix, though. I think those things are horrid."

Serena didn't understand the reference and looked over at the products on display. It didn't help. Teething aids she knew. Stormy had five children, unheard of in New Paris, but Stormy had always gone her own way. Serena felt a pang of homesickness. It had been a long time since she'd seen her twin. She shook off the feeling. Teething aids she knew, but what was a rosary?

"Dead guy on a stick is creepy," Shelly agreed with Meryret. "I think this is what I'll get the wee bairn. Butch, you find anything?"

The other Marine shook her head. "Nah. Maybe I'll just send a gift certificate."

Serena picked up a teething ring that looked a lot like one she'd seen at Stormy's house. She couldn't go wrong following her twin, could she?

Jenna nodded at her, "Very practical, I'm thinking. And I'm going with this." She held up a lovely baby doll, a retro 2052 version that was all the rage now. "What little girl doesn't want to play with a baby of her own?"

The two Marines exchanged a glance. "Hey, are y'all actually going to this shindig?" Butch drawled.

"Sure," Meryret said as she picked up a mobile frame but no dangly toys. "Commander Collins sometimes buys tea from me--she comes in with her dog. Besides, I hear the cake is not to be missed. I'll just make some stuffed toys for this and wrap it."

"If we give our presents to you, will you convey them to the mother for us?" Butch asked.

Shelly nodded. "Honestly, we don't know the woman. And I can't think that having us in attendance is going to brighten her day any."

"I'd be glad to," Meryret said. "I think you're lovely people for helping out someone you don't even know. If you ever wind up near Signs of the Prophets, come on by. I'd like to get to know you better."

 

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