<USS Banshee> Lost Cause
- From: Cannon Everett <youwerealmostkind@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussbanshee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:17:56 -0700 (PDT)
Hey, this log was supposed to be sent out BEFORE the last sim, but I kind of
had something emotional happen, so I didn't get it finished. But now it is! So
the events in this log took place BEFORE last sim. Enjoy.
Lost Cause
By Ensign Cannon Everett
Ivy laughed, her eyes watering with condensation of jollity as her chin sank ?
in her doubling over ? almost into her homemade spaghetti. Across the table
from her in her quarters sat good Cannon Everett, grinning a wide toothy smile,
the jaws slightly apart, as if he was laughing with her silently. Watching her
laugh was like watching a beautiful waterfall during a bright full moon, so
close you can feel the mist clinging to your skin and cooling you in the
nocturnal summer. This experience was revitalizing, invigorating: quite the
opposite from the energy others normally projected to Cannon. In him, on his
inner-trampoline, bounced his inner-child, gaily laughing on the last day of
the school year.
?You know what Ah?m sayin??? he asked, reinforcing her battalion of laughter.
He had just pointed out something that had always been funny to him and no one
else. No one else, now, except for Ivy Lesser. You could say she was his first
friend. Ever.
?Yes,? Ivy answered, her mirth finally moderating. ?Yes, I do, Cannon.? She
remarked how she didn?t expect to have such social fun on the Banshee her first
night aboard. Once finished with their splendid meal, they disembarked, heading
off to the Holodecks. On the way, in the transporter lift, he was caught
staring at her; Ivy?s hair was pulled up in an extravagant system of blonde
curls, winding around each other and swaying this way, and that, and this way
again when her head turned. Seeing this, she modestly turned her head again,
and the young cowboy was hypnotized by the waving of her charming hairstyle.
Again, she glanced at him and stared at his face and approached him slowly, the
distance between them seeming to part like Moses? Red Sea as if time itself was
separating between them. Reaching up a delicate hand, Ivy touched his face and
Cannon nearly died from the chemical warfare in his genitals. Lightly, her
fingers caressed his cheek?
?and wiped three amorphous spots of marinara sauce off his skin.
?There,? whispered Ivy. ?Got it.? Then she retreated and stood idly, waiting
for the doors to expose the Holodeck corridor to them. Needless to say, Cannon
was very disappointed. When they entered the imaginary world in the second
deck, Ivy showed him her home, ?Ariel.?
?This is where I lived. This was where I went to school. These were my favorite
mountains. This is where I met my husband. This is where we got married. This
is the tree I climbed when I was little, throwing rocks at all the boys who
walked by that I had crushes on.?
Ah wish she was throwin? those rocks at me, Cannon thought, as they came to
that point in Ivy?s narrative. Giddily, they laughed and lingered in her
homeworld, visiting places she would go. On the way, they found an exotic
Arielian dessert vendor, and they purchased it. It was like ice cream, but not
frozen; it seemed to sparkle in the little woven holders they came in, and they
smelled better than they tasted. That was the joy of eating the bifgy was
smelling it right when you brought it up to your face to ingest. When she asked
where he was from, he answered that he was originally from Freeport, Texas, but
grew up in Boulder, Colorado. ?Ah?d love to show it to ya, if ya don?t mand.?
Cannon?s head, though, turned as if he was spoken to. And Ivy guessed that
somehow, he had been spoken to, because he said, ?Nah you leave me alone, durn
it, Ah?m on mah own time here.?
She watched him carry on one end of a conversation. ?What do you ?spect me ta
do??Well if Ah won?t be anywhere near ?im until then, then Ah suppose Ah can do
what Ah please!?
?Cannon, what are you doing?? she asked.
?Hold on just a sec,? Cannon answered her, smiling a grin of impatience.
Turning around again, Cannon said, ?So what do you ?spect me ta do? ? Yeah,
that?s raht. Go on, nah. Git. Ah?ll talk ta you some other tahm. Go on, git!?
And he kicked at the air and Ivy could have sworn she heard his foot actually
hit something. As if it never happened, he turned to her and said, ?Nah whut
were we talkin? ?bout??
Ivy looked concerned, trivially twisting her head to look at him cockeyed.
?What was that??
?Randy,? Cannon answered quite unimportantly, now shuffling his boots through
the holograph grass. On the shiny black toe of his shoes, there was moisture
from the dewy foliage as it slammed on his foot. ?Ya know, Ivy,? ? he
pronounced it ?Ahvy? ? ?this place remahnds me of back home??
?Cannon, you were just talking to thin air.?
?Thin air? Nah, Ah was talkin? to Randy.? Then he mumbled under his breath,
?Though sometahmes, that?s pretty much lahk talkin? ta thin air??
?Cannon, there wasn?t anybody there.? Ivy looked at him and did not break her
gaze. Cannon turned to look at her sweet face and found no trace of fear or
dislike. She seemed genuinely interested in whatever it was he was doing.
?Yep, there was!? He called out to his side again as they passed an old house,
lit up with little orange squares as the stars above began to poke through the
papier mache night sky. ?Randy! Hey Randy, nah, come on back. You could show
yerself ta Ivy, nah, she?s all raht. Randy? Hey yo Randy, where y?all gone off
to??
Cannon? ?Hey Randy! Hey, it?s all raht, she won?t tell nobody!?
Cannon? ?Come on, don?t make me look lahk a damn fool, nah! Got a reputation ta
proteck!?
Cannon? ?Hey!...? And he realized Ivy was saying his name. ?Whut??
?You know,? said Ivy Lesser, stopping their stroll and using his elbows as
steering columns to make him turn to her. ?I?ve never met someone who has
certifiably gone pistachios before.?
?Pistachios??
?Nuts, Cannon.?
?Oh! Raht!? Then it hit him like a huge meteor, the dimwit. Suddenly, he looked
more stupid than he already was. So you could imagine the impact this had on
him. ?So Ah bet this means you don?t lahk me. Ah bet Ah scared you away bah
talkin? all crazy-lahk.?
Ivy Lesser?s face grew apologetically longer. ?No! No, that?s not what I meant!
No, don?t be silly! Of course I like you!?
And then the moron decoded her message all wrong and said, ?You do?! Bah shit,
Ah don?t think a girl?s ever lahked me before?? Ivy furrowed her brow but he
took no notice. Cannon looked at her as lovingly as he could, the dumb shit.
Romance had never been this guy?s forte and he leaned into her, put his hand
behind her neck and kissed her with the utmost lack of grace. Widely, her eyes
shot open and she attempted to pull away, humming her modest protest. Finally,
he pulled away and started actually doing a victory dance.
Quietly, Ivy stood there, holding her hands in front of her and wringing them,
waiting for Cannon to stop. ?Yaaaaaaa-HOOOOOOOOOO! Oh boy, Ivy Lesser, Ah ain?t
never had a kiss lahk that before!? He was lying. The idiot never had a kiss.
Cannon? ?Oh boy, wait?ll Ah tell the fellas!?
Cannon? ?Ah?m definitely gonna call home and tell Mama about it!
Cannon? ?Ah bet she?ll want to meet you.? And he realized Ivy was saying his
name. ?Whut??
Ivy slowly walked up to him and sighed a heavy exhalation of apprehension.
?Cannon, I?oh how am I going to say this? I didn?t?mean?that I liked you
like?that.?
?Lahk what??
?Like?? and Ivy made some sort of motion with her hands that she could neither
explain nor remember if she tried. ??that.? And again, his tiny pea-brain had a
little meteor shower. He tentatively backed away in embarrassment and
self-deprecation. Mumbling something about hating himself for making stupid
decisions, he tried to make a walking flee into a formation of moss-covered
rocks that sidled a river. The Sycryn River, an Arielian river popular for
swimming holes and rafting. Ivy admitted that the simulation that snaked
through the Holodeck was almost as stimulating as the real river, in which she
played in her youth. Calling his name, she followed after him as he came up to
a small cliff that rose a small height above the rushing water.
Realizing he had nowhere to run, and no reason either, he stopped and crouched,
sitting cross-legged on the precipice as the electric blue moon rained pathetic
moonlight upon him. Ivy Lesser found him and sat next to him. ?Cannon,? she
began. ?I?m sorry. But please, don?t think that I don?t like you as a person.
As a friend. You make me laugh, you?re fun to be around? Cannon, you?re the
first and best friend I?ve made since I boarded this ship. I want to be your
friend and work with you and be around you. Please let me be around you. That?s
what I was wanting. That?s?what I?m still wanting. You?re a mystery that I?m
determined to solve. Please?don?t let it all dissolve over this. All right??
Cannon turned to her and just stared. A wide smile was on her face. Leaning
over, she hugged him and accidentally tackled him to the ground and she fell on
top of him laughing, which forced a stupid laugh to erupt from his lungs.
Stupidity had always plagued Cannon, his entire life. His only friend had been
his mother. Period. Dad remarried and never visited and there were no other
little Everetts running around. School was horrible, though he really didn?t
realize it, and now being on the Banshee was horrible. No one really seemed to
welcome him back after his vacation and when this welcome did not come, in its
place came question and doubt. Presently, he didn?t know what to do with his
emotions. On one side, the first girl who had ever paid attention to him had
rejected him romantically. On the other, that same girl accepted him as the
first friend he ever had.
Ivy Lesser?
That night, they talked and talked and talked and talked. Mainly, he talked and
she listened. But in the dark trees stood Randy, looking on in worry at the
savior of Eternity wasting his evening away flirting with a lost cause.
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