Lt. Cmdr. Lhandon Nilsen - Moms the Word
Lhandon Nilsen
((OOC: I also have no idea what I’m doing haha. I think slight goof up with me and Amanda just misunderstanding what each other meant, we’ll file it under “oh well lol”))
To their surprise, Cadet Zarah Johnson returned to her old stomping grounds rather suddenly. With the context of what both Lhandon and his yeoman, Shyvo, knew, it had been cause for concern.
Nilsen: Zarah, are you absolutely sure you're okay? What do you know about this stuff? You were on the Thor, weren’t you?
Johnson: Yep and yep.
She gave them nothing in her response, so Lhandon pressed on. The task of the day, outreach had been forgotten.
Nilsen: And…?
He looked over to Ragh, Shvyo looked between them all.
Ragh: Can you you elaborate a bit?
Johnson: You know these aliens decided to use us as actors in their show and didn’t give us a choice about it. To be honest, I was in several, but my favourite one was about this family that lived on a prairie and were targ farmers.
Lhandon blinked, his mouth hanging slightly open as she described her kidnapping and forced performance. Ragh then whispered to him the exact words he had been thinking.
What in Michael Landon, Little House on the Prairie had happened to the Thor?
Ragh: ::whispering to Nilsen:: Either she had an amazing time, or she is not processing the ordeal appropriately.
Lhandon nodded gently as he agreed with Ragh.
Nilsen: :to Ragh:: You could be right. I mean, we have seen some trippy things. Remind me to tell you about that time we fought an eldritch nightmare, or the giant ant queen that helped us with a jailbreak, or the time… :To Cadet Johnson:: Okay, Zarah, I’ll take your word for it, but I want you to say hi to the counsellors because you were kidnapped and forced to perform in their shows. ::Beat:: How long are you here for?
Shyvo slightly raised his hand to wave it as he expressed his feeling on the matter.
Shyvo: It’s g-good to see you again friend.
Awkwardly, Shyvo said what Lhandon had felt, too. It had been good to see her. With the context they had, anything could have happened to the Thor. Johnson had clearly arrived with some extra context.
Johnson: I’m only here for a little while. I still have to finish out my term on the Thor before I return for a longer period. What have I missed?
And when she said she would finish her term on the Thor, he could not assume the worst, and it lifted a sword of Damocles of worry from over his head.
Nilsen: Well Dr Ragh here pulled off a medical miracle and helped handle a drug epidemic. There were zombies and pirates…and that wasn’t fun. We’re spending our shore leave here.
He made sure to place emphasis on the word “wasn’t”. The last mission could have been summed up as pirates and zombies. If you said, “Oh yeah, we dealt with pirates and zombies,” it almost sounded fun. But if you said that one of their shuttles had been shot down by an unknown source, that the crew had been shot at by drug gangs as they investigated abandoned labs, that the people of Argratha had narrowly avoided an epidemic that sent them into a rage state where they attacked people on sight, and that one person had died because a Starfleet officer had had to defend themselves, then suddenly it was no longer fun pirates and zombies.
Shyvo stayed quiet. He remembered how worried he had been about Lohkina and Lhandon and how he sat on his own in the department during that missio3`. Danger was not meant to reach the diplomatic department. It was meant to be office work and phonological analysis.
Ragh/Johnson: Response
Nilsen: I know you said it was fun, but I want you to see one of the councillors, space can be weird.
Johnson: Response
Anticipating a protest, Lhandon interrupted.
Nilsen: Ah ah! don’t make me order you to do it or to ask this big guy to drag you there.
Perhaps even the threat of a Klingon would have acted as appropriate motivation.
Ragh/Johnson: Response
Like he had said, space could be weird, but it did not mean someone should hide it when something terrible had happened. Even the most traumatic moments could be made to sound fun with a well-placed laugh or smirk.
Nilsen: Make sure you see your mom too after this, I’ll free up her schedule. That’s an order.
Shyvo quickly reached for his PADD, and before Lhandon could process it, the young Orion had already changed the roster for him and sent out the notification.
Shyvo: D-done sir.
He looked over at Shyvo with an expression that was both impressed and almost terrified by his efficiency.
Ragh/Johnson: Response
For Lhandon, this had been the nice part of being XO. Zarah had just returned home. It had felt like the right thing to suggest. They were docked, and between the studies the cadet had been doing and the time on the Thor.
He had a second, ulterior motive. He knew she was reluctant to speak about the stress officers on some ships face and, like him, would hide things behind a smile, but moms were the key.
He really should call his mama.
TAGS/TBC
Lieutenant Commander Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
Executive Officer & Senior Diplomatic Officer
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)