[JP] LT Gila Sadar & Kolya Aqila - Culinary Memories, Not All Good
LT Gila Sadar
((The Sadar-Aqila Quarters - Compartment 83, Sector 03, Deck 6, USS Artemis-A))
One thing that Gila had neglected to consider when first agreeing to her sister’s request that Kolya come with her to the Federation, to spend the remaining years before adulthood on a Federation Starship, was the excitement with which her shipmates would welcome him. The gifts and the welcoming words were very kind, of course, but Sil-net and Ensign Lyara were rapidly approaching territory that Gila was not comfortable with.
Namely, the hypothetical situation where the two overeager aliens before her would, in a word, ‘babysit’ her nephew. Gila was trying to convince them that such a scenario was very unlikely to occur, to which they seemed to take offense.
Silveira: Oh, are you saying me and Al aren’t able to?
Lyara: Are you saying we wouldn’t be great aunts and uncles?
Gila felt her cheek folds flare with anxiety, her anxiety band twisting numerous times in an attempt for her to weather the eyes of blame that her two fellow crew aimed in her direction.
Sadar: O-Oh, uhh... No, that’s…
This was when Gila first noticed that Sil-net was winking at Ensign Lyara, and she felt her brows knit together.
Silveira: Care to explain… Doctor?
Ensign Lyara - whom Gila didn’t know nearly as well as Sil-net - placed her hands on her hips in a scolding look, and Gila felt herself attempt to shrink, lowering her considerable height advantage further below the admonishing glare.
Any excuse would do. Any. Or, at the very least, a distraction.
Sadar: H-He’s staying while he’s studying. Mizabet doesn’t have an, uhh.. An ’arts degree’, and Kolya is.. ::searches for the best word:: ‘stubborn’.
oO Like me Oo
That thought always had a way of cheering her up, even if it simultaneously filled her with shame.
Silveira: That’s good. Did he always show interest in Arts?
Sadar: Y-Yeah... Or, well... He went back and forth for a while, but recently, he seems to have, uhh... ‘Found his niche’?
The fact that his consistent interest coincided with the first time Gila started sending him samples of alien art, with all their color, expressionist shapes and grotesque - by Mizarian standards - motifs, she left unsaid.
Lyara: It’s always good to find where you fit, I was probably going to be a farmer until I found out I loved flying. Now after four years in the academy here I am.
Sadar: I see…
Where would Gila have been, if she hadn’t come here? Likely have been stuck as a pariah on Mizar IV... That thought was too heavy to bear, and Gila felt gloom settle into her mind.
Silveira: Well, if I hadn’t enrolled at the Academy I would either work with my parents in their trading company, or go for a University degree in History. Admittedly, with all that I… ::He smiled and looked at them:: We… Have been through, I still don’t regret it.
Sil-net and Ensign Lyara both seemed happy with the paths their life took, and Gila considered. Was she happy here? Certainly happier than she would’ve been on Mizar IV, but... If she could do everything over once, would she have made the same mistakes that led her here?
Lyara: Kolya’s lucky to be in a galaxy of opportunities. Like us he’ll find his own.
‘Lucky’.
That word tasted like ash in her mouth.
Sadar: I-I hope so.
Silveira: Well, when Kolya is free I can help him socialize. There aren’t that many kids here but… ::he winked at Al, before looking at Sada:: I can teach him about interspecies relationships.
Lyara: I’m sure you have plenty of experience with that Lieutenant.
This comment made Gila blink in confusion.
Sadar: I think all of us do? No? ::considers:: C-Certainly there are no Mizarians here, and we have considerably few Bajorans, so by definition, wouldn’t service in Starfleet necessitate interspecies communication?
Silveira: Response
Lyara: But, I had plenty of half-siblings growing up. I know how to watch a kid no matter what their age is. ::She gave a slight chuckle:: Well, except the late teens. I moved out by then.
Gila knew that Ensign Lyara meant well, but she felt like there was a rather substantial point that had to be made - if only to further dissuade the loud-mouthed Bajoran’s attempts at becoming official babysitter.
Sadar: ... W-Well, Kolya is in his ‘late teens’ though.
Silveira/Any: Response
Ensign Lyara took a bite of the Hasperat at that junction. It was then that the young Mizarian returned to the party, his ‘gifts’ safely positioned in carefully selected places that would compliment the room. Of course.
Lyara: And we could teach him how to make something so spicy it’ll practically be blasphemous.
That caught Gila’s attention, and the gloom that had settled on her mind lifted, as she stood up taller once more, looking at the Ensign. She also noticed Kolya had rejoined them and reached an arm for him, to summon him to her side.
Sadar: Do you cook, Ensign Lyara?
Kolya: Dona loves to cook. Even non-Mizarian foods! She even cooked with a Klingon on Deep Space 9 :: looks to his Dona with fresh awe :: I heard that Klingons cook with Batleths.
Gila tightened her lips into a narrow line. That memory was not a particularly happy one.
Silveira/Lyara/Any: Response
Sadar: I, uhh... I-I dabble. Th-That is- uhh - th-the replicator doesn’t know many Mizarian foods, so I tend to make them myself. The incident with the Klingon was just, uh, coincidental. I was looking for someone, and they roped me into attending a cooking class with them.
Which was plenty of reason for Gila to avoid Captain Karrod Niac for the rest of her mortal life.
Kolya had researched this Captain Niac and discovered that he was a Trill, and then subsequently discovered that Trill have worms inside them that also have other people inside of them.
oO The Wheel save me! oO
AND that was as much as Kolya ever wanted to know about Trill. He shuddered at the mere mention of the name.
Silveira/Lyara/Any: Response
Sadar: Oh no, I wouldn’t have the first clue how to make a good Hasperat. Mizarians don’t eat, uhh, spicy foods. W-We don’t have any spices that would create that kind of flavor profile on Mizabet. ::looks at Silveira:: Y-You made Hasperat for us once though, didn’t you, Sil-net?
Silveira/Lyara/Any: Response
TAGs/TBC
LT Gila Sadar
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1
&
Kolya Aqila
Arts Student
USS Artemis-A
As simmed by
Lt.Cdr. Luxa Lorana
Science Officer
USS Ronin
A240004LL1