PNPC LT Yesfir Meyers - When the past comes knocking, you must look forward (Part II)

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

(( Lumeon Eatery – Calle Profondo, Nuova Eleganza Subdistrict, Deck 1046, Starbase 118 ))

He hadn’t changed at all, to Yesfir’s dismay, still the perfect height-to-shoulder ratio for a young male his age; still with a neatly shaven jawline, so clean you’d be forgiven for thinking he wasn’t capable of growing a beard in the first place; still with green eyes speckled with just enough golden flecks to convince your brain you were seeing an optical illusion when he was under the right kind of light. The same kind of shock that had rooted Yesfir in place at the sight of him had also gripped him, as they stared dumbly at each other over Xaadri’s shorter shoulders.

 

Tetr: I didn’t know you were back aboard the base!

 

Yesfir was shaken from her shock by Xaadri’s announcement, released from the not-entirely-unwelcome embrace and put at arm’s length, and she forcibly dragged her eyes to Xaadri’s face.

 

Meyers: I’m not. ::brief confusion:: I mean, I am, but briefly. Just while mom is away.

 

Tetr: Oh, right, she mentioned she was heading out for a bit! You sure your Ship can spare you? The Artemis, right?

 

Yesfir nodded slowly.

 

Meyers: It’s fine, we have enough Doctors... Did you, want to eat something?

 

Tetr: Oh, right! Sorry. Umm... D- Sol, where do you want to sit?

 

Solanar Velix, estranged Son of the 4th House of Betazed, shrugged, a smile on his face.

 

Velix: Maybe somewhere a little out of the way? ::nods to Yesfir:: Wouldn’t want to distract you. Seems like you’re holding down the fort.

 

Tetr: Actually, that’s a good point, I don’t see Mandla anywhere?

 

Meyers: I sent him to bed. He’s been skipping his doctor’s appointments.

 

Sol laughed out loud at that, in spite of himself.

 

Velix: With you for a daughter?

 

Yesfir smiled, the truest smile she’d probably worn today.

 

Meyers: Not his first mistake, and won’t be his last. ::clears throat:: Well, come on then, I’ll take you to a table. Don’t want to block the door.

 

Yesfir led her two old friends to one of the corner tables, raised on a small platform with half-walls surrounding it, so as to offer a modicum of privacy.

 

Meyers: When you’re ready to order, I’ll be at the counter.

 

Tetr: Of course! It’s really good to see you again, Yesfir.

 

Yesfir offered Xaadri a slight smile at that, nodding – the closest thing Yesfir ever offered as a ‘you too’ – before she left the table behind. She barely made it back the counter before she heard someone walk towards her.

 

Velix: Fir, could I-

 

Yesfir – who’d been about to sit down – stopped herself as she looked up at Sol’s face, his intense discomfort clear.

 

Meyers: Yes? Did you already decide? That’s not like Xaadri.

 

Velix: What? ::shakes head:: No, she takes half a war to decide, you know that. I just-

 

Meyers: I’ve already noted down a plate of Obe Ata with coconut for you. Do you still want cold barley tea with it?

 

Velix: Fir, could you just listen to me, for once?

 

Yesfir glowered at the half-Betazoid, her previous genuine joy at seeing him again firmly tucked behind her annoyance with his tone.

 

Meyers: Excuse me?

 

Realizing his mistake almost as soon as she did, Sol raised a hand, as if to pause the conversation.

Velix: Sorry! Sorry... I just- ::deep breath:: I just want to talk.

 

Meyers: I hardly see the need for that.

 

For some inexplicable reason, that caused Sol to smile.

 

Velix: Yeah, I know... But, I do. Indulge me?

 

As though that was a massive sacrifice on her part, Yesfir sighed, before crossing her arms. As opposed to when she did this while facing down her father, however, this wasn’t to enforce her will on an antagonistic force, but rather to form a wall of indifference between them.

 

Meyers: Okay. Speak.

 

Velix: It really is good to see you.

 

Meyers: That’s hardly what you wanted to tell me, Sol.

 

Velix: No, but it... It felt important to say. ::intake of breath:: We never talked, after you graduated.

 

Yesfir shrugged.

 

Meyers: You were on Betazed, and I shipped out in less than a week.

 

Velix: You could’ve called.

 

Yesfir shook her head – not because Sol wasn’t right in his observation, but because she knew that that particular conversation wasn’t one she intended to have right now.

 

Meyers: Sol, what is this about? If you wanted to admonish me for not informing you that I left the station, you have had ample time to do so. Why the sudden need for clarification?

 

Before Sol could respond, Xaadri approached the two of them at the counter, a light skip in her gangly legs.

 

Tetr: Yesfir, I decided on my order!

 

Sol startled slightly at her announcement, an observation that Yesfir smiled slightly at, before turning to their shared friend.

 

Meyers: That was quick.

 

Tetr: Oh, Sol is always telling me to speed it up. Do you know, he’s started hiding the labels from me?

 

Yesfir eyed Sol with a raised black eyebrow.

 

Meyers: How rude of him.

 

Velix: Hey, I’m just correcting years of your indulging her. ::to Tetr:: We don’t use currency, and all the ingredients used were replicated anyway!

 

Xaadri slapped him on the upper arm, but Yesfir could tell there was no actual force behind it.

 

Tetr: You keep missing the point, dear. It’s the meaning of it!

oO Dear? Oo

Yesfir blinked as Sol suddenly found great interest in the counter under his hands.

 

Tetr: Regardless, I’ve decided on Frosted Nakia and some ice water, please!

 

Meyers: Of course, Xaadri. I’ll have that ready for you in a second. ::measured glance:: Sol just had something he wanted to talk to me about.

 

Tetr: Oh, okay! I’ll keep our table, okay, Sol?

 

Sol nodded wordlessly as the Petarian woman skipped happily back to their little cubby, and Yesfir tried her very best to not smirk at the obvious discomfort experienced by the man in front of her.

 

Meyers: I see now why you wanted to talk.

 

Velix: I wanted to tell you!

 

Meyers: Sol, just as I don’t owe you an explanation for why I didn’t call you after I graduated, neither do you owe me an explanation for this. Our relationship ended a long time ago.

 

Nevertheless, Yesfir hadn’t anticipated this particular development. Solanar and Xaadri had existed entirely on each other’s periphery for most of their upbringing, with Solanar only residing on the Starbase when he was visiting his father every other month and Xaadri very much a loner for most of her childhood. In fact, Yesfir was quite certain they didn’t meet each other until Yesfir’s parents threw that shebang to celebrate her admission to the Academy.

 

Which had occurred two months or so before Yesfir and Solanar agreed to break off their relationship, so Yesfir could focus on the Academy.

 

Velix: Fir, I didn’t mean to hide this from you. But I didn’t know how you felt, and-

 

Yesfir raised an eyebrow, unamused.

 

Meyers: What, you thought I would feel betrayed at my ex-boyfriend dating my childhood friend without first asking for my blessing?

 

The analysis was delivered so monotonely, Sol nearly flinched. Yesfir wasn’t good at social intricacies, and she was far worse at reading subtexts, but she’d known Sol for a good portion of her life, and she liked to think she was able to read him better than most. Though, frankly, that had everything to do with how plainly Sol wore his emotions on his face, rather than any spectacular emotional awareness on Yesfir’s part. That being said, there was something evident in Sol’s eyes as he looked up at her again.

 

Meyers: Or do you harbor some misconception that I still thought we’d get back together one day?

 

Velix: Didn’t you?

 

That was probably the first time in years that Yesfir had been left stunned by something someone had said to her. She stared at Solanar – the very picture of a Betazoid prince, his wavy curls framing his unfairly proportioned face so perfectly, it felt like an affront of the laws of physics – with complete confusion, bordering on insult.

 

Meyers: You seriously thought I was the type of woman to pine for my ex-boyfriend for seven years? I think that may be the single most insulting thing you’ve ever said to me.

 

The delivery of that line was so entirely void of emotion, so very Yesfir, that Sol couldn’t do anything but laugh.

 

Velix: ::breathless chuckle:: I’m sorry, I’m sorry!

 

Meyers: I fail to see what about this is funny. Please tell me you’re the only one sharing in that horrendous analysis of my character.

 

His expression told Yesfir all that she needed to know.

 

Meyers: ::blank expression:: Great. Wonderful. I am not at all mortified by this revelation. Well, with those concerns out of the way, please return to Xaadri so I can make your food. ::turns away with alarm:: Pining. ::disgusted grunt::

 

Yesfir’s dismay at Solanar’s extreme misconception about what she spent her days on, and the revelation that he wasn’t the only one entertaining that notion, was so grave that she barely even paid attention to her actions as she prepared his and Xaadri’s meals.

 

oO Do I seem that pitiful to them? Oo

 

They couldn’t be more wrong. She was just made Lieutenant, for crying out loud, and yes, while she wasn’t the one making breakthrough medical discoveries in the journals, she was doing good work! She was serving on the flagship of the Borderlands!

 

oO Do they measure success purely in the value of my relationships!? Oo

 

The mere notion was crass. If she started investing time in stuff like that, she might as well hand over her pips right now. Pining! Was she pleased that Sol and Xaadri has instigated a relationship while she was off the station? No, perhaps that wasn’t the right way to put it, but in no version of this was Sol dependent on her permission to start dating again. The mere thought almost made her want to file for slander.

 

As for Xaadri... No, surely she didn’t think like that? That notion was actually more disturbing to her than Sol’s misunderstanding. Xaadri was one of her oldest friends and had always cheered her choice to enlist on. Surely Xaadri didn’t-

 

And what if she did? If Yesfir knew, surely that was enough? And yet, Yesfir could practically hear it – the pity, the gossip – ringing from the darkened balustrades lining up the tall walls outside. The Meyers girl had broken up with Solanar Velix and was now stuck watching as he found love with her childhood friend. It wasn’t true, but she could just imagine the way those kinds of rumours would follow her parents everywhere in town.

 

Meyers: Here’s your food.

 

Yesfir placed the plates in front of her friends in quick order, with Xaadri excitedly clapping her spindly fingers together.

 

Tetr: Thank you, Yesfir! I’ve been looking forward to this all day!

 

Velix: Me too. Thanks Fir.

 

Meyers: You’re customers, it’s only natural. ::looks to Sol:: Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear, Solanar Velix.

 

Surprised by her confrontational expression, and deeply uncomfortable with her application of his full name, Sol sat up a bit straighter.

 

Meyers: I could not care less that you’re dating again. However! You’ve chosen Xaadri for a partner, so I feel I should make something crystal clear.

 

Obviously very concerned for what Yesfir might say, Xaadri tried rising from her seat to placate the stern-looking Human.

 

Tetr: Yesfir, you don’t-

 

Yesfir was undeterred.

 

Meyers: Xaadri is clumsy, naïve and trusting to a fault. She’s likely to follow a stray animal to its den and feed it her entire week’s allowance, because it looks at her with tears in its eyes. ::narrows eyes:: She’s indecisive, meticulous and takes forever to decide on anything.

 

Tetr: Oh, I don’t think that’s true.

 

Meyers & Velix: It’s true.

 

Dismayed by being downvoted in this manner, Xaadri fell quiet, and Yesfir returned her gaze to Sol.

 

Meyers: But she’s one of my oldest friends, and if I ever hear of you trying to prevent her from observing her people’s culture again, I’m submitting you for a ceremonial Artemis airlocking.

 

Of course, neither Xaadri nor Sol had the even most remote inkling of what that meant in context, but Yesfir’s expression made it abundantly clear that it was a threat of the highest order. Satisfied that she’d spoken her piece, Yesfir nodded, resolutely.

 

Meyers: ::genuine smile:: Enjoy your meal.

 

Upon returning to her PADD, she looked into her inbox where a particular message had been obnoxiously sent to her for the 18th time. One thing she had to hand to that Kantare woman – she was persistent.

 

oO Pining indeed! Oo

To be continued on Starflirt!

LT Yesfir Meyers

Pharmacologist

As simmed by

LT Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Operations

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1