The next day, Elle couldn't help but take a mental tally of who was wearing a skirt and who was wearing pants. She hadn't even noticed till now that there were three different skirt lengths. Uhura was wearing the longer one today, with no tights, and a short version of the uniform boots.

That led to Elle noticing her makeup. Which led to Elle noticing everybody's makeup; it hadn't clicked until now that almost everyone was wearing makeup. It hadn't clicked until now that McCoy was literally wearing blue eyeshadow and soft brown eyeliner. She couldn't stop staring.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked. "Or are Rigelian biomes really that boring?"

She dropped her gaze hastily. "Sorry. No, yeah, I'm paying attention."

He frowned at her. "Okay, what is it?"

"Why do you wear eyeshadow?" she blurted, and blushed immediately after.

He chuckled. "Is that all?"

"Yeah..."

"Because I feel like it, and I know what it does for my eyes."

"Makes 'em super blue," Elle said. "My mom had a crush on you forever." She clapped a hand over her mouth, blushing harder.

Bones grinned. "Oh really?"

She groaned and hid her face. "So embarrassing."

McCoy just laughed. "Thank you for the compliment. Really though, because it does draw people's attention to my eyes. It makes it easier to get a read on a patient if they make eye contact. Their emotional state, their lucidity, their truthfulness. And it helps if I need to reassure them during a procedure or something."

Elle thought about being stabbed. One of the only thing she remembered was a pair of kind blue eyes. "Well it works," she said.

He snorted. "That second certificate of mine is xenopsych, remember?"

She nodded slowly. "So is there like, a psych factor to why everyone wears makeup? Is there a thing in the regs? How come Spock wears makeup?"

"Here. I'll let you read it." He brought up Star Fleet codes and regulations and showed her the section.

"Earrings, bracelets, and rings are permitted onboard ship... religious artifacts... hair, really? It just can't be loose on-duty for safety?"

"Really really. You ever seen a chunk of hair get stuck in a Jefferies tube?"

Elle shuddered in phantom pain. "Ugh." She kept reading. "Ah. Cosmetics... may be used as preferred in accordance with position on ship and mission specifics..." She glanced up. "So like, if you went to the past any girls couldn't wear lipstick cuz it was only for hookers?"

"Yes. More likely to happen, it talks about violating cultural taboos."

"Hm. So, what does position on ship mean?"

"Like, engineers and maintenance officers don't use much makeup because they're doing physical work and it'll get all sweated off and gun crews don't wear makeup because they can't risk getting something in their eyes at a critical moment. But everyone else if free to wear or not wear as they please. This is the flagship though, and people like to show their best."

"So not only geniuses and all but beauty gurus?" Elle asked dryly. "Smart and pretty, no wonder you're all main characters."

McCoy laughed. "Something like that."

Elle nodded slowly. "So how come Spock wears it?"

McCoy snorted. "How 'bout this? Since you're so interested in this topic, we'll call it a project. You can ask people why they wear makeup and you can analyze it in relation to the regs."

"All 430?" Elle asked, blanching.

"Let's say fifty. Give you a good sample group."

"Cool."

She was released from her class early to do her project and meandered through the ship. She snagged the first person she saw which was Lt. Riley. "Can I ask you a question for a project?"

"Sure."

"Do you wear makeup and if so, why? I'm not being judgemental or anything I just wanna know. Please," she added as an afterthought.

Riley laughed. "Sure thing. Yes I do sometimes, but only on the bridge or for special events."

Elle noted it. "Why?"

"Well mostly I work in the depths of the ship so there's no point, but if I'm on the bridge, what if we make first contact or speak to one of our allies? I need to look my best, no? I don't want to reflect poorly on the captain or the Enterprise."

Elle thought about why Kevin Riley would put the captain first before anything else, and felt a little like crying but she forced it down. "Cool, thanks." She wrote it down.

"No problem, kiddo." He gave her a cheerful nod and continued on his way.

Elle went to the Rec Deck and pounced on the first girl she saw. "I love your highlighter," she gushed. It was purple and sparkly, just the smallest shimmer on her cheekbones.

"Oh, thank you."

"Can I ask a question about it?"

"Sure."

Elle asked her the question.

"Oh, that's easy. I wear it all the time because I like it. There's this company on Alpha Cent that makes this line of highlighters and eyeshadows, oh, they're great."

Elle blinked. "How do you afford it?"

"I use my credit allowance on makeup mostly. Don't need anything else. Well, besides the odd knick-knacks planetside and other bits and bobs. Mostly textiles... I like a good blouse."

"Okay, wait," Elle said, frowning, "I don't know how credits work."

The lieutenant laughed. "If it's a basic need, it's covered. If it's not, we have a barter system. That's the credits. Like, I'll exchange cred for makeup, and the merchant will exchange the cred for supplies."

Elle wasn't particularly interested in economy so she let it go. "Okay, cool."

"You know what, I'll give you one," the lieutenant decided. "I have an eyeshadow quad that doesn't go with my complexion. It'd look cute on you, though. What's your room number?"

"Uh..." Elle gave her the room number. "Thanks?"

"Don't mention it, kiddo."

Elle went back to picking people, pleased with her results so far.

Thirty people later...

"Iowan farmboy sunkissed glow," Elle decided. "That's your aesthetic, isn't it?"

Kirk stared at her for second and then laughed. He laughed so hard he had to lay his head down on the table. "Is it?" he asked, his shoulders still shaking with not-giggles.

"It totally is," Elle declared, pointing her stylus at his cheekbone. "You're wearing bronzer and highlighter, you've got that glow... it's totally working."

He just laughed some more. "Thank you. Captain Pike gave me that tip."

"Don't tell me it's a class," Elle said, trying to imagine earnest Command track cadets learning how to apply makeup.

"Command 101," Kirk said, deadpan. "There's a whole section on command image. Looking like a pale spacer ghost is bad for morale."

"Really?"

He just winked at her.

She went after Spock next. She found him writing reports in a quiet corner of the observation deck.

"Yes," he said, as soon as she approached.

"Huh?"

"You may ask me your question for your project," he continued.

"Oh. Thanks. So?"

He gave her an eyebrow raise that meant 'be precise in your research'.

Elle sighed. "Do you wear makeup and if you do, why?"

"I do, as you have seen. and I wear it because..." He trailed off.

"Because?" she asked.

He looked vageuly confuzzled. "I have not determined my exact reasoning," he said.

"Do other Vulcans wear it?" Elle asked, writing this down and trying not to look shocked. Spock always had an answer.

"Some do," Spock said. "But the majority see it as unnecessary and the others are mostly in contact with other races."

"So it's because you're here," Elle said. "Is it to fit in?"

He just looked at her.

"Or to stand out?" Elle asked. A fanfic she'd read once came back to her. "Um, do you wear it to make your differences stand out? Did Sulu show it to you?"

Both of Spock's eyebrows went up. "How do you know that?"

"I read it somewhere," Elle said, pleased that she'd guessed right.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement.

Elle gnawed on the end of her stylus. "So, can I watch you put it on?"

"For what purposee?"

"I dunno, I just, it's so cool and I wanna see," Elle said. "I'm just curious."

"Curiosity is an acceptable reason," Spock assured her. "You may come to my quarters at 0640 tomorrow morning."

"Awesome! Thanks, Spock."

-/\-

Elle was at Cmdr Spock's quarters at 0640 precisely. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey," she said cheerfully in greeting, sidling into his quarters. It was like an oven in here with Vulcan temperatures.

"I am a vegetarian," he reminded her.

"Wakey, wakey vegetables and sadness," Elle amended, and giggled to herself at the meme.

Spock just raised his eyebrow, the one that meant 'human-children-are-completely-illogical'.

The captain and first officer's quarters shared a bathroom. It was funny seeing Kirk's hair gel sitting next to his orange toothbrush, and on the other side of the sink, Spock's toothbrush and comb at perfect right angles to the wall.

Elle watched with rapt attention as Spock finished combing his hair and then started on his makeup. No skin products, just eyes. It was weird watching him blend the purple eyeshadow into his crease. "Do you really have two eyelids?" she asked.

"I do."

"Cool."

"For a human, the temperature is actually extremely hot," he said dryly.

Elle rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

Spock looked very Vulcan when he finished, which, you know, was the point.

"Eyebrows on fleek!" Elle complimented him.

He raised one of the latter.

"Wings sharp enough to kill a man?" she tried.

The other eyebrow went up.

"Drop that skincare routine?"

He sighed. "Elle. Please desist."

"Sorry. I just mean it looks nice, bye!" She waited till she was around the corner to shriek with mirth. I cannot believe I just said 'fleek' to a Vulcan...

-/\-

Elle presented her findings to McCoy the day afterwards. "Bascically, makeup is pyschology," she said. "There are some people who wear it because they like the way it makes them look. There are some people who wear it because they want to represent the ship to their highest ability. There are some people who wear it to accomplish an objective."

"And the ones that don't wear it at all?" McCoy asked.

"They don't need it," Elle replied simply. "And then I have one person who likes it but they get skin allergies real bad."

McCoy chuckled. "Crewman Wyss?"

Elle nodded. "So can I wear makeup?" she asked hopefully.

McCoy sighed. "No. You're too young."

Elle pouted. "Pleeeeaaaaaseee, Bones?"

"That only works on Spock," McCoy warned, but his eyes softened. "For play only," he said. "I don't want you to ruin your skin and then come cryin' to me about acne."

Elle beamed at him. "Thanks, doc!" She hustled out before he could change his mind.