Sometimes, Anari figured, she had the worst luck in the universe.  Her father would say that it was the Prophets showing their displeasure with her.  There was a large costume party this evening on base and with the massive number of enlisted personnel on board only some of them were urged to attend.  When the call for those that really wanted to go had turned up short, some of the enlisted engineering staff had decided to draw lots.  Much to her annoyance, Anari had picked one of the figurative short straws.

She hated costume parties.

If she was fair though, Anari had only attended one other costume party: a get-together her husband's parents had thrown for an Earth holiday called Halloween.  Cole had insisted that because they were staying at the house, they needed to go to the party.  She had vehemently disagreed, on the grounds that she had no business celebrating an Earth holiday.  Her husband, of course, had dismissed what he called her faulty logic.  So they went to the party.

Memories of being constantly uncomfortable and uneasy assaulted Anari as she stepped out of the turbolift and walked toward the bar where the party was being held.  She remembered having no idea who people were supposed to be dressed up as and wandering around confused the entire evening.  She still didn't understand what the women in pointy hats, short skirts, and carrying brooms had been portraying.  The man in the tight blue and red costume with the strange 'S' on his chest still didn't make any sense, either.

And now, once again, she was going to a party with a bunch of people in Earth-centric costumes that would completely confound her.  Only to make matters worse this time, the party would be home to a majority of officers, including the base's senior staff, and despite being here for a little while now, Anari had no idea how to handle the whole fraternization with officers issue.  Especially when she was going to be at a costume party and it could be hard to figure out who people were.

Sounded exactly like her idea of fun.

Despite her aversion to the idea of costume parties in general, Anari found herself hoping that this party would be a little bit more entertaining then the one that her in-laws had thrown.  As nice and friendly as Kevin and Trisha's friends had been, they were still rather dull, in her opinion.  She also regretted not sending a message to her mother-in-law about her costume after she found out that she was among the lucky enlisted that got to go.  Anari had no idea what was appropriate attire for this particular party and had felt vaguely embarrassed about asking any of her fellow crewmen.  So she had ended up re-replicating the costume that Cole had picked out for her to wear to his parents' party.

Entering the bar, Anari semi-subconsciously adjusted the long black wig on her head and hoped that she hadn't managed to accidentally smear her eye make-up at some point.  A quick glance around proved her theory correct, as she spotted several members of the senior staff or at least she thought they were, already in attendance.  Deciding that a glass of springwine might just be the thing to settle her down a little, the Bajoran Cleopatra headed toward the bar itself, muttering a prayer to the Prophets along the way.