The little boy peaked around the door of his mother's shop, bright eyes darting about. He dashed out onto the front walk, picked up his lost ball, and stared at the pretty lady and the baby on the terrace next door.

"Hello," said Kasidy. She gave another biscuit to her daughter, seated snugly in the baby stroller beside her cafe table, and smiled at the boy. Rachel grabbed at the biscuit and began gummily chewing on it.

The little boy, about two, tucked his ball under his arm and looked out at her from large dark eyes. "Hi," he whispered back.

He looked too young to be playing in the street, but this was a quiet section of the village, down at the end of a side street leading to the main market. Kasidy liked to come here to eat for just that reason. There were fewer people to throng her and the Emissary's child. She hadn't yet been inside the store next to the cafe, where brightly-coloured streamers of fabrics from all over the quadrant hung in the windows. Kasidy looked around for a parent and didn't see one.

"Does your mommy know you're out here?" she asked. He shook his head. "Maybe you should go back and see her."

He shook his head again. "Pretty baby," he said, pointing at Rachel.

"Thanks." Kasidy was charmed. He really was a cute kid.

"My mommy says--"

"Nalas! Nalas, where are you?" A worried young woman burst out of the fabric store. "Oh, there you are. What are you do--" She saw Kasidy and pulled up short. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Emissary! I didn't mean for him to bother you! I'm sorry!" She quickly snatched the little boy from the walk.

"It's okay," said Kasidy. "I think he came out looking for his ball."

The woman still looked flustered. "He should be inside. I told him to stay inside--" She turned quickly back towards the store.

"He was really no trouble," Kasidy started to say, when the light caught the little Bajoran boy's face. Surprised, she stared for just a moment, long enough for the mother to whisk the child back inside and close the door.

Little Nalas was half Cardassian.

Current Mood: surprised

I realized the other day that Rachel is standing up--almost walking!--and has three teeth, but I haven't posted here in long enough that none of you have seen baby pictures. I'm very sorry, and hope to remedy that in this post. :)



Rachel Jadzia Sisko, one month (First Contact Day, 2376)


( More images here! )

Current Mood: cheerful

Deep Space Nine
Habitat Ring
2317 h

It is late. Kasidy comes quietly into the Siskos' quarters on the station, where she and Ben are staying temporarily while they visit friends. She puts the sleeping baby Rachel down in the bedroom, then comes over to the computer and opens her journal.

( News of a disquieting kind )

Current Mood: distressed

Holopictures of Rachel coming soon.

Ben and I are talking about taking a trip to DS9, to see Ezri and Nerys and Julian and Beriani and everyone. Jake, who's been here helping out for the last few weeks, is going to move back into his quarters on the Station and try to get some writing done. Anyway, while Rachel's sleeping, I thought I'd do a meme. (Na'Toth, my dear, I'm afraid our affair will have to be put on hold now that Ben's back. *wink*)

( Meme--'What Do You Think of Your Friends?' )

Current Mood: amused

Questions from natoth_muse

( Questions from Na'Toth )

Current Mood: thoughtful

Visual friends' list (via londo_mollari)

One of the things involved in unpacking at the new house is the job of setting the comm system here as the default for people trying to page me. In the process of doing so, I found out that I could get visuals on all the people I've been corresponding to on the interuniversal community. Maybe it's a new feature, or maybe I just never noticed it before. At any rate, here they are:

( Visual Friends' List )

I had a lovely two days with Ezri and Julian; they helped me move things around the house and made things seem more friendly. It's already looking like home. They left this morning, after Julian fussed over me one last time ("Be sure to call me right away if you have any trouble! You could go into labour any time, although I don't expect you to for another three weeks. Everything should be fine, and I'm sure the doctors in town are great, but--") and Ezri congratulated me and said again that she thought Ben would really like what we've done with the place.

I hope they get back to DS9 all right, and Kira doesn't chew their ears off. She did give them the time off, but I think they took the latest possible transport back (which happened to be the Xhosa). I'm glad to see Ezri and Jelena hitting it off so well, but not at the expense of Kira's wrath. :)

Moving day (for ezri_tigan_dax)

Kasidy stands in her quarters on the station. Today is moving day. It's not as though she's actually taking very much with her down to Bajor; most of the furniture and household items in the house are new, and what she is moving has mostly been taken on previous runs. And she's keeping her quarters on the station for now, because she'll still be spending time here over the next few months. But today she's taking the last few boxes of clothes, and the small personal items that mark this as home. After today, the house in the Yolja Valley will be "home," and DS9 just a stop on a freight run.

She thinks of all the things that have happened here, and how much this hunk of Cardassian metal has come to mean to her over the last four years. DS9 was the first place in a long time that she'd settled down. She'd spent quite a few years before that living on her ship, going where fate and good shipping jobs took her. Meeting people like Kilby and making her way in the galaxy. Then she stopped over at this station, and ended up with a job and a romance that between them had changed her life.

She picks up the statue natoth_muse gave her, and puts it in her bag with Ben's baseball. She checks the bedroom once more for stray items, and makes sure the guest room is made up in case Jake needs to stay over for some reason.

Before she leaves, she checks the comm system one more time. The message waiting for her from the interuniversal community makes her smile at how appropriate it is.

( Reflect on the past year )

Kasidy sends off the message, smiling to herself. She comms the ship, where she's meeting ezri_tigan_dax for the trip to Bajor, and takes one last glance around her quarters.

Yates to Xhosa. Ready to beam over.

And she dematerializes, ready to start a new chapter of her life.

Current Mood: optimistic

Topic catchup (crossposted to theatrical_muse)

( What are your religious beliefs (and if you are a deity, do you enjoy being worshipped)? (200 words) )

( Do you believe in the possibility of a true friendship between a man and a woman? (4 words) )

( What would a description of your *exact opposite* be like? (168 words) )

Current Mood: hopeful

Kasidy beams back up to her ship for the return run to DS9. She's still a bit tired from her adventures in politics, but feels strangely rejuvenated after her visit from a strange young girl yesterday afternoon.

( Stardate 53447.2 :: SS Xhosa, 1217 hours )

Current Mood: amused

Meme via natoth_muse

Since she's already on Bajor, Kasidy decides to stop by her house after her meeting. Before finding some food and taking a nap (she really wants to check out the house in detail, but she's quite sleepy) she checks to see if the comm system is working. It is, and she finds the following meme waiting:

( Meme from Na'Toth )

Current Mood: tired

( For BR, who likes the crew of the Xhosa )

Current Mood: mischievous

Having fun (crossposted to theatrical_muse)

( Write a drabble/ficlet on the word 'fun.' )

Current Mood: nostalgic

From pilotmoya

I wasn't going to post this, but it's too perfect...

( Christmas present predictor )

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. Merry Strange Human Holiday to the rest of you. ;)

*looks at presents* Ezri, what is this thing?!

Current Mood: amused

Meme, from legate_damar

In order to get an idea of how my friends view me, I would like everyone to go down this list and pick the one from each pair that you think describes me the best. Then copy this and post it in your own journal to see how your friends view you.

leader or follower
quiet or talkative
spontaneous or planned
dominant or submissive
logical or intuitive
social or loner
kinky or vanilla

Current Mood: curious

First Minister's offices, Bajor (locked to legate_damar and yevir_linjarin)

First Minister Shakaar Edon paces up and down the open meeting room, stretching his long legs and working off some nervous energy. It is 1130 hours, and the sun is shining brightly on the jumja trees outside the windows. It is summer in this hemisphere now, and it always does him good to see the beauty of the Bajoran capital city in full bloom. Lately he has been too preoccupied to notice it much; ever since the post-war negotiations with the Cardassians fell through because of an attack, things have been going from bad to worse. Shakaar snorts, and thinks that if he were to tell the truth, things have been going from bad to worse since he agreed to neutrality with the Dominion. Not that the rest of his life had been easy, but true diplomacy was never harder than when Dukat was in charge of the space station again and he had to deal with him as an ally.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: hopeful

What do you want for your birthday? (crossposted to theatrical_muse)

Ben, a healthy three-month-old daughter, and probably flowers.

Current Mood: okay

( Today's news )

Londo Mollari, did you have anything to do with this?!

Current Mood: surprised