Chapter Text
Beckett Mariner stretches her hands towards the sky as she takes a deep breath of fresh air. Towering buildings and a green-covered campus spread out before her. She already had her bag in her dorm room. All of her legal paperwork was processed, and the school’s records were officially on the way to reflect her name change. “Everything’s coming up Mariner!” Beckett was half tempted to take off her shoes and go running through the grass, but a future captain doesn’t go darting across campus barefoot. Especially on the first day of classes.
She contents herself with walking with a bounce in her step. Her books tucked under arm. Yeah, most people just use their padds to read up on materials, but wasn’t the point of this to carry the knowledge forever? What way is better than actual physical books? Besides maybe having gone out of her way to design her class materials into books for the synthesizer to create was just the edge that’ll catch her professors’ attention. Basics in Xenohistory was her first class. Starting her life with her future degree! Can it get any better than this?
Unable to keep her energy under wraps any longer, Mariner starts racing across campus. She cuts off the sidewalk, straight through the grass. The xenohistory class was held in the building closest to the dorms. Another lucky pull. Hah! Who needs connections when the galaxy is on your side?
In an almost tragically overused cliche, the moment Beckett blinks she collides with something.
A large thud, lets her know it was most likely a person. Damn. Bad first impressions are the worst. Cringing at the upcoming confrontation, Mariner opens one eye first.
A shorter, blonde bajoran was on her knees. Her bag was on the grass, its contents covering the space between Beckett’s feet and the bajoran’s knees. Well, she didn’t seem pissed. That's a plus.
“Are you alright?” A padd with schematics of the academy’s trainer crafts was closest to her feet.
“Yes.”
Mariner crouches down and picks up the padd. “Man, I’m sorry. I was just in a rush and,” her voice drifts off as the stranger’s hand rubs against her own. Soft, short fingers pull the padd free from her hold. “I was in a rush,” Beckett repeats staring into the bajoran’s eyes. Whoa, those are some green eyes. Or were they more hazel?
“That’s alright.” The stranger easily shrugs off Mariner’s worries. So no confrontation? Cool. “First day jitters and all that.”
A nervous chuckle cuts the tension. “Yeah all that jazz.”
“I’m Sito.” She rises, and Beckett follows her lead. “Sito Jaxa.”
Sito holds out her hand, and Beckett is quick to take it. Maybe too quick. “Mariner.” Shit, first name. Quickly, spit it out before she thinks you’re new last name is your first name. Come on! “Beckett Mariner.”
“Are you in that dorm?” Sito points at the dorm she is clearly walking to.
“Yep. You?” Please say yes. Please say-
“Yes.”
Beckett beams. Another win for luck. “Then I guess we’ll be seeing each other around.” She playfully bumps her elbow into Sito’s. “Want to go get food sometime?”
Sito readjusts the bag over her arm. “I’ve heard there’s a cafe down the street from the academy that serves the best muffins.”
“Hell yeah. Muffin time!” Beckett wraps an arm around Sito’s shoulders. “I have a feeling we’re going to get along just fine.”
Xenohistory can wait. At least for five minutes. Sometimes there are perks to leaving thirty minutes early.