007 [[Abby]]

[jamiecooper]

Jamie grinned as he picked his choice of weapon. Beautiful gun, could not remember the name to save his life. Abby would be able to tell him, once she’d joined him in the holo-deck. They were due for some “weapons training,” or at least, that was what Abby had put in when she’d signed up for the holo-deck. In actuality, Jamie could probably use some. But they were on shore leave right now, the holo-deck was relatively free, and they were planning on having some fun tonight. Hopefully no one in command with the moral obligation to shoo them out would wander by.

While waiting for Abby to show up, Jamie walked over to the program console. He’d started with just a few blocks of stuff to use as shields and whatnot, but no reason not to make it a little more elaborate while he had time. It would make the game of what basically amounted to laser tag a little more fun. He keyed through some of the standard pre-programmed sequences, then grinned as he found one that would easily fit in with a game of laser tag. Someone else with a few programming skills must’ve played games in the room before them, because it was entitled “007.” This was going to be fun.

Jamie loaded up the sequence, then whistled as the scene established itself. From his perspective, it looked some lair of concrete tunnels and bare pipes, probably buried deep inside some evil villain’s compound. It might be fun for him and Abby to pair up against computer-made villains later, if they didn’t tire out too quickly shooting against each other. Hopefully he’d be able to hold his own and not get slaughtered by Abby. That’d be sort of embarrassing, even though she was the weapons specialist.

[abbyhalloway]

Abby planned on wiping the floor of the holo-rec room with Cooper. Well, not literally, that would require too much effort, and he weighed a lot and what not. Since the ship was on shore leave, the place wasn’t nearly as crowded as it could be, but there were still people in the halls, especially here on Deck 2 where most of the recreational facilities were. She ambled along the way, taking her time, knowing that Cooper would probably get there early while she would inevitably get there late. She was, by nature, not a punctual person. Time varied for various species, so if Abby wanted to run on someone else’s time for a moment, that was all right, correct? Well, maybe not, but it worked for her; she did make a point to make it to work on time, though. She didn’t want to piss off a superior officer. Cooper, however, was a lieutenant, just like her.

Tonight’s events had been a spur-of-the-moment decision that had come about for a reason that Abby couldn’t remember anymore. Had they been arguing about how was a better shooter? Or whether laser tag was worth it? Or if she had been teasing Cooper that he needed target practice? She couldn’t remember anymore, and she guessed that it didn’t really matter. She didn’t mind spending time with Cooper, in a completely platonic way. They were going to be shooting at each other. That was platonic enough for her.

She let herself into the holo-rec room, the door making its usual swish-swish noise as it slid open and closed. Before Cooper could say anything, she walked over and peered over his shoulder. Or rather, around it. She was a bit on the short side of the spectrum. “What’re you…” she started suspiciously, and then she glanced around the room at the holograms that were starting to pop up. She raised an eyebrow at Cooper. “You played a lot of laser tag as a kid, didn’t you? That, or you really, really wanted to.”

[jamiecooper]

Jamie noticed Abby walk in, but she was already at his side before he could move. He laughed as she looked over his shoulder and then looked around. He was sort of anticipating her reaction: high amusement. After all, the holo-rec room looked like a little kid’s video game fantasy land. “Like the scenery?” he asked with a grin as she eyed the program suspiciously. Her suspicion was well-founded, after all, the scenery was still coming to life. It was kind if looking a little rough around the edges still, with random bits of gray areas and half-formed objects.

He eyed Abby for a second. His relationship with Abby was, well, a weird one. Not strange or anything, but not like any relationship he had been in before. And half of that was probably because Abby wouldn’t call it a “relationship.” They’d been close from day one, since the moment Jamie had walked in to Abby’s office, trying to come up with a fumbling excuse for having broken a phaser. Abby had laughed it off, and they’d started hanging out together; it hadn’t taken long for Jamie to realize her preferred her company over anyone else, and that he liked her in what would definitely be called a romantic way. But Abby sidestepped most of his advances, except for the occasional moment when she was sleepy or something. Jamie’s one consolation to the whole affair was that he knew for certain that Abby definitely wasn’t interested in anyone else. He just wasn’t always sure whether or not he was imagining her interest in him.

Jamie laughed when Abby asked if he’d played a lot of laser tag as a kid, and he forgot about the quandary that often presented itself when he was around Abby. “Second one,” he said, turning so that he could look at her more fully. “No one in my family was really into laser tag, so I didn’t get to try it much.” He glanced around the room again. “I did get to play a few video games though.” Video games. It was funny to think how archaic that word was now. Most people had never seen a really VHS. His grandparents had told him about the old “videos” that they’d seen in their parents’ homes…they were collectors’ items now, especially if you had the equipment to actually play one.

Jamie poked Abby’s side playfully and then reached around her to grab one of the “guns” off the rack on the wall. At least with holo-laser tag, they wouldn’t have to wear bulky vests. The holo-rec room would keep track of hits for them. “Need me to get yours?” Jamie asked Abby with a grin. She was a little sensitive about her short stature, and it was sort of fun to remind her of it every now and then.