Lieutenant Ikaia Wong - Just a Little Off Beat
Ka Banning
((Just outside of the Flight Inn - Merchant District, Habitat Ring))
Keehani: Hello Lieutenant.
Ikaia nearly jumped out of his skin! His hand flew up to his chest as he spun around. Sure enough, it was none other than Keehani standing behind him. She smiled wickedly for the briefest of moments.
Wong: Keehani! Ah! You nearly gave me a heart attack!
Keehani: Well, at least you’d be able to treat yourself if that happened.
Ikaia allowed his hand to drop from his chest and back into his lap.
Wong: Well, it’s still nice to see you at least. How did you ever get to be so silent?
Keehani: ::Looking around at district:: Oh, I have my ways.
Wong: Somehow, I’m not surprised.
After Wong paused to sip at his smoothie, Keehani let out a small sigh of frustration and decided to join him on the bench.
Keehani: This race and this expo is going to be the death of me, Ikaia. I just spoke to the ::pointing thumb over shoulder:: manager of the Flight Inn. She’s the Fourth Manager. The Fourth. And it’s *still* not ready to open. They’ve had months. “We’re just putting the final touches on”. Pfft. ::eye roll:: How can a hotel, designed to be deliberately simple, take months longer than ::gesturing to other hotels in the Paxau district:: those beautiful ones? We factored in those beds for the amount of people that are going to stay here as part of planning for the expo. If they’re not ready…
She looked around at the shops that were in the small sub-district of Paxau.
Keehani: This part of Amity gives me the creeps. I don’t know why anyone would want to stay in the Flight Inn anyway.
Wong: Huh. Well…. Remember the story about me being chased around while responding to a medical emergency? It happened here at this hotel. I know there’s been reports filed on the incident and those involved arrested. But part of me feels a bit unsure about it. Like somehow, this is going to come back and bite me.
Keehani: ::Quick smile:: I don’t think so. After that incident, security arrangements were improved. Now the Merchant District is just a place of ::looking around:: weird shops. ::Focusing eyes on one in particular:: If you can call a “fortune teller” a shop.
Wong: Oh it can’t be that weird, right? Maybe it’s just a little off beat?
Keehani: Oh, c’mon. ::pointing:: A junk dealer. ::another point:: “Kim’s Natural Remedies.” ::another point:: A massage therapist. ::eyes narrowing at one small office:: Don’t even get me started on “Betazoid Bob’s Yacht Emporium”.
Ikaia glanced at everything Keehani was pointing out. Perhaps there really was some merit to the unusual nature of the Merchant District. As a teal shirt, he found “Kim’s Natural Remedies” particularly off putting.
Wong: Okay… maybe REALLY off beat. More or less boarding on sketchy.
Keehani: Wil taught me a new word the other day. “Dodgy”. That seems appropriate. ::Handwave:: Anyway, how are you feeling about the expo, are you feeling prepared?
Ikaia took a long sip of his smoothie. How was he going to approach this? Expo prep had been ruling his life and his mind lately. Among other things. He certainly found himself staying up late at night from time to time for the past little while. More frequently than he should.
Wong: Huh? Oh yeah! I think we’re plenty prepared for it. I think it’ll all go smoothly.
Keehani: ::tilting her head, sarcastic fluttering of eyes:: Well, I am a Betazoid, Lieutenant.
Oh. Right. There was that mind reading thing.
Wong: Can’t exactly get anything past you, now can I?
Keehani: Response.
Ikaia swirled the straw of his smoothie to break up the ice chunks in his drink with the hopes of melting them.
Wong: Well let me see…. I feel nervous, stressed… kind of like there’s butterflies in my stomachs and my head is filled with fire. In other words, kind of like how I’d feel just before a Merry Monarch competition.
Of course, he tried to lighten the mood with that statement. Although, now he was reminded she could read his mind and that his attempts to keep the mood lighter might not work.
Keehani: Response.
Wong: Realistically, no. I haven’t given myself many opportunities to “soak it all in” as the Commander would say. Mostly, I’ve been throwing myself at the expo except for well… the odd time here and there on the holodeck to blow off that stress.
And then of course, there was that whole augment virus fragment that had been playing on his mind. Starfleet Medical knew about it. He reported it as soon as he knew that this was a part of him. While he was safe to continue to practice medicine and that he posed no threat, it was still something that made itself known during the quiet moments of his mind. It was something that he hadn’t consolidated with himself yet. He certainly hadn’t expressed this to his friends either.
Keehani: Response.
Wong: Most of the stuff I run are things I’ve programmed myself. Nothing exactly worthy of a major holonovel. But more like interesting scenarios. Some of which I’ve lifted from Starfleet records.
Keehani: Response.
Lieutenant Ikaia Wong PA-C
Chief Medical Officer
Amity Outpost
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