Pandora's Box #119&120 - "Hit Me!"

<<USS Pegasus, Brig>>

Ryylar sat there, hands folded and eyes closed as he just waited. Four days and he was going to be done with this. He hoped he could bear the heartbreak of returning here after being let out for twenty hours to spend with Kristiana. It was a cruel and bittersweet fate that he was being let out at all. Twenty hours of freedom in the arms of an angel only to be thrown back into this cell. He wondered to himself if just staying in here for the full four days might have been better.

Alyson yawned as she entered the brig, dressed to kill, although not as trampy as she usually did for a shift at the bar. Pinstripe pants, turquoise button shirt, and matching fedora, complete with turquoise feather. Oh, and we couldn't forget the stilettos. She had received a small box a few hours earlier, although she had forgotten to deliver it to its rightful recipient.

"Hey, boss!" she called as she walked past the guard, who had turned his head back to get a quick look at her backside.

"Good evening." He said simply. Looking up at her. His eyes, though feline, were bloodshot. He had either gotten no sleep, or had been crying. It wasn't evident which as his cheeks were swollen too much from the fight and bruising to truly see if it was his eyes or the bruises.

"You look like crap. What's wrong?" she asked, noticing the bloodshot eyes instantly. An ex-junkie will always notice bloodshot eyes, no matter what the cause, although is was obvious that Ryylar was no junkie.

"Jusssssst thinking..." He said softly in return, his hands still folded and his head hung low.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked again, leaning on the wall nearest to her employer's holding cell.

"I've got sssssssome tough choiccccccessssss." He said with a heavy sigh as he looked up to her.

"Krrrrrrrisssss came by and told me that if I didn't sssssshape up that it would likely cosssssst ussssss ourrrrrrr rrrrrrrrelationssssship." He said as he looked to Cooper.

"Ohhh...well...speaking of shaping up..." she started, remembering her main purpose of this visit. She turned back to the guard, who was still staring at her butt. "Can we turn off the forcefield for a second?" she asked, twirling her finger towards it. When it was done, she entered the cell and sat beside her boss. "I think your lady love will be impressed by this."

He turned and looked at her, wondering what she was talking about.

"What?" He asked her, a bit confused. ` It was only then that Alyson took out the box out of her pocket. "I got this during the afternoon, before my nap, and forgot to bring it after I changed and only realized when I got up. Better late than never, I guess," she said, giving it to him. "Open it."

He smiled and popped it open. It was the Medal of Distinction from his dress uniform. The only positive accomplisment he had ever had in all of Starfleet. He ran his fingertips over the small brass round medal dangling from the ribbon.

"Thank you Cooperrrrrr." He said quietly.

"All in a day's work," Alyson responded as she grinned and tipped her hat. "You're all cheered up...I think...AND...you can impress your woman!"

"I don't know yet.... That'ssssss why I need thisssssss. I have a lot of thinking to do." He said with a slow nod.

"Look at it this way. I'm not even your woman, and I'm pretty impressed. But then, I'm nothing like Commander Petrova," she stated, rising from the bench. "Hope the medal helps you in your thinking."

"Thanksssss... Cooperrrrrr." He said with another nod as he watched the guard deactivate the forcefield and let her out, putting it back up after she had exited.

OFF:

Ryylar Morale Officer USS Pegasus

Alyson Cooper Barwench/Yeoman USS Pegasus "Just being Morale Officer to the Morale Officer."