LtCmdr Jovenan – Recent developments
Jovenan
((Leaving Chief Science Officer’s office, Deck 9, USS Artemis))
Jovenan guided Richards out of her office. She was happy to be able to add one more skilled scientist to her little collection on the Artemis, but now that the official part of Richards’ on-boarding the department was close to finishing, she was open to her suggestion of resuming where they had left the last time the former Amity crewmember had visited the ship. It had been some months now, and of the things that had changed since then, there was one particular elephant in the room Jovenan just could not stop herself from asking.
Jovenan: If it’s okay for me to ask… I don’t remember seeing that the last time we met. How far are you?
Richards: I had actually just found out last time I was here. Now I am about halfway through the pregnancy. Give or take a couple weeks. ::Shrugging:: The science behind hybrids can vary so much. Twins make it even more uncertain.
Quietly trying to remember her xenobiology courses in the Academy, Jovenan tried to estimate what that would mean for the time of delivery. Humans had a gestational period of some 9 months, if she remembered correctly, while Betazoids had a little more, so even with the twins – twins! – being hybrids, “halfway through” would mean several more months. She considered congratulating the mother-to-be, but before she’d let it slip, she realised that she hadn’t asked anything about Richards’ mood yet. After all, the pregnancy had caused or influenced major changes to her life, moving together with a person, moving across the entire galaxy, all the bodily changes and all the things what becoming a parent meant. She wouldn’t have blamed Richards of being overwhelmed; not everyone felt happy about pregnancy. She decided to proceed cautiously with the topic at first.
Jovenan: And how are you feeling?
Richards: Now that I’m not sick all the time and I am getting settled into living here, I can finally focus on being excited and preparing for them to get here.
It was great hearing that Richards was getting excited. People don’t get excited and look forwards for things they don’t want. Jovenan felt sorry for the things Richards had to go through, especially when they all happened at the same time – relocating was stressful enough, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine the symptoms and discomfort. All things considered, Richards’ positive attitude was amazing.
Jovenan: Oh, that’s good. Congratulations! I can believe it’s not easy, but from what I can see, you’re doing great.
Richards: I think Talos is getting excited too. ::Pushing her hair away from her face.:: We are taking it all day by day as we learn to live together. It’s uh, a new experience for both of us. :: Raising an eyebrow:: Brew Continuum?
Jovenan wondered if she could offer her help. She didn’t know anything about moving in with someone yet, nor of pregnancy, but she did grow up with eight siblings – most of them half-siblings – and several more communal siblings and other younger family members, so she must have picked some experience in babysitting. However, as much as raising children was a communal effort in her part of the Edo homeworld, it was not so among most other cultures, so she thought it was better to save the offer for another day. After all, she had only met Richards a few times, and more importantly, the babies hadn’t even been born yet. It was probably better to go just with emotional support for now.
Jovenan: I can believe that. ::nods:: Yup, the Continuum is good.
((Brew Continuum, Deck 3, USS Artemis))
After making their orders, the two scientists took their seats close to where they had met last time. Back then, Jovenan wouldn’t have guessed that Richards would be transferring to the Artemis, and even less so that she had been pregnant already back then. That had been when Jovenan learnt that she and Talos had started a relationship, so she supposed the pregnancy must have come fairly early into the relationship – not the most common a timeline for Humans and Betazoids from what she had understood, but who was she to say, she barely understood what being in a relationship meant for other cultures. From an Edo perspective, it appeared reasonable, even if Jovenan was in many senses an outlier of an Edo.
Richards: So how have things been going for you since the last time we saw each other?
Jovenan tilted her head to the side for a second while stirring her green tea. She supposed Richards wasn’t asking for the recent mission reports or research papers, so she focused more on how she was doing right now.
Jovenan: Missions, research and administrative work have been keeping me busy. You get quite a lot of PADD-work when you’re a department head. I’m trying to get as much work done now, I was thinking of waiting for someone to come back from a survey mission before starting the shore leave properly.
Richards: So… Are you dating anyone?
That was a blunt question. Jovenan dropped her gaze to the tea cup and tried to hide her smile. It was only fair that she’d answer it, she had been asking Richards several personal questions already.
Jovenan: It’s a… recent change, yes.
Richards: Response
Jovenan was almost blushing. After keeping her feelings towards Vitor hidden – with varying levels of success, if she were to believe some crewmembers – it felt weird just casually talking about their relationship. There was nothing wrong with talking about it, either, they had told Doctor Sadar, and Vitor was probably boasting about it on a runabout somewhere, but Jovenan was somewhat more shy about her personal matters.
Jovenan: It’s a new thing, and also not. We’ve known for some years now, and we’ve had feelings for each other for a while now. We just didn’t know how to deal with them and how to move forwards, so we tried to be just friends for a while, but recently, we decided to just start dating.
Richards: Response
Hiding her smile didn’t work out very well for Jovenan. She hoped Richards wouldn’t mind if she looked silly while talking about her boyfriend.
Jovenan: Thanks. It’s all still very new to me since I’ve never been in a relationship before, but Vitor is just so lovely and understanding guy, so I hope it’ll work out.
Richards: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11