LtJG Jovenan – Home is where I belong, and I belong on the Artemis
Jovenan
((Casa Adea, Dekoa, Betazed))
The grey dog jumped around them and between them as Jovenan and Doctor Adea made their way through the village and to one specific building. She hadn’t dig through the Doctor’s personnel file beyond what one would imagine in order to get to know a colleague and a superior officer. Still, when he had asked her to join him in Dekoa, she had recognized the name from that file. For her, it was a distraction from Hiro’s departure. For him, it was a homecoming.
And of course, for Toto it was a nice walk out.
Jovenan: Have you taken Toto here before?
Adea: No, but I wanted to show him where I grew up. ::he rubbed Toto’s head:: Didn’t I boy?
Jovenan nodded. In a way, she had expected that the veterinary office they were approaching would have been his base for all Toto related issues. Not having been here all this time would have been her second guess. She was left wondering how much taking Toto to a vet was an excuse to seeing his old home. Watching him rub Toto’s head talking to him and the dog wagging his tail, she agreed that it was a good excuse. But there was just one question that needed to be asked before she could tell how much the well-excused trip meant to him.
Jovenan: How long have you been away from here?
Adea: Not since I left for the academy. My parents came to the graduation and then, zip, I was off and away to the stars.
Jovenan nodded again and tried smiling. That was a regrettably common story from what she had heard. Not everyone had the same background, but Doctor Adea was far from being the only one. Starfleet was the place to go for many people: Those who sought meaning and community their families couldn’t provide them. Those who had been wronged and wanted to leave their past behind. And those who were ready to abandon everything familiar for the mission of boldly going. She didn’t know yet which category the Doctor fell into.
She tried counting the years. Doctor Adea had a decently long career, although he wasn’t so much older than her as one would have guessed. Even still, four years of Academy and some five, maybe six or seven, years of service accounted for a decade.
Jovenan: That… That is a long time. It must feel strange seeing how much has changed.
Doctor Adea nodded slow and deep while idly drawing something to the dirt with the tip of his cane. Jovenan stood there with him, near the entrance to the yard to the vet’s office that clearly had a deeper meaning to him. She studied his wistful expression silently for a moment. There was something more in his mind than just new names in doors, repainted houses and trees grown over the decade. Something here seemed to be bothering him. He hadn’t left without a plan to return just for the sake of an adventure.
Adea: What about you, when did you last go home?
Jovenan didn’t know why she was surprised by that question. Whether a deflection or an element of a conversation, she might have done the same. The last time she had told about the last time she went home, she had ended up crying on Hiro’s shoulder. She didn’t want to do the same to the Doctor now. Granted, she had been much closer to actually going home that time and hence the calling had been stronger.
Jovenan: Oh, uh. It’s mostly the same story for me; I haven’t been there since I left for the Academy. And even before that, I lived a few years elsewhere, for the University, so I haven’t actually lived there for quite a while.
Adea: Response
Jovenan: It’s a long way to Rubicun. ::shrugs:: Sometimes I try to find a slipstream starliner there, but it’s not the most popular route and their timetables don’t align well with our shore leaves.
Adea: Response
Jovenan looked at the house again. It seemed that the whole building was the vet’s clinic, although it did seem to fit in with the residential buildings of the area. She turned back to Adea and smiled.
Jovenan: Are you ready to go inside, sir?
Adea: Response
She wondered if Doctor Adea knew the people who worked there. She didn’t actually know much about what the Betazoid culture was like for moving place to place, town to town. Maybe the entire population of the town had changed in that time, maybe Doctor Adea knew everyone above the age of ten in here. Either way, she thought he might want to do the talking as they walked in and entered the reception.
Jovenan: Hello!
Receptionist?/Adea: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Jovenan
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11