JP Yogan Yalu & Talos Dakora — I'll eat any kind of burger, I'm so cheesygoing, Part 1
Travis
(( Burger Nagus, Deck 227/228, Deep Space 224 ))
It was the lunchtime rush at the Ferengi burger joint, and the crowd was bustling. The Ferengi interpretation of historical Earth fast food was, Yogan’s human friends had told him, a faithful recreation of the original in both price and quality. If nothing else, it was an experience, and Yogan had never met a burger he didn’t like. He wasn’t certain whether Talos Dakora would find the cuisine palatable, but this was the only place on the station that served burgers. And the only way to determine if the Betazoid was meant to be an honorary Yalu was to chat over a pair of Double DaiMon Bacon Burgers with cheese.
Yalu: ::points to menuboard:: I don’t know who DaiMon Bacon is, but that’s the burger I always get. It comes with fries. You can get a salad instead, but they always leave the lettuce in the fryer too long and it gets gross.
Talos stepped up to the counter beside Yogan and surveyed the options on offer. He hadn’t really had an opinion of the Terran meat sandwich that the Trill was so fond of before they’d made the switch, but now the little holographic image next to the DaiMon Bacon burger did cause his stomach to rumble a little.
Yogan’s comment about the lettuce in the fryer caused his nose to scrunch up a bit as he replied.
Dakora: ::Uncertainly:: I guess I’ll do the fries then?
They finally got to the first place in line, and a diminutive Ferengi with a name tag that read “LARF” beckoned them up to the counter.
Larf: Welcome to Burger Nagus, where you can taste the flavor in your lobes. Can I take your order?
Yalu: Yeah, I’ll have the Double DaiMon Bacon Burger with extra cheese, and to drink, I’ll have an Aquasition. ::beat:: Oh, can I get extra grolv and the flarn on the side, please?
Larf: ::shouts back to kitchen:: Extra grolv! Flarn on the side!
Yalu: ::gestures to Talos:: And whatever my friend would like, please.
Clearly, not all of Yogan’s memories of burger-enjoyment had been shared with Talos, because he didn’t recognize a good portion of the words he’d used to order.
Fortunately, Talos had years of in-depth training that allowed him to adapt and overcome even the most challenging of circumstances. He leveraged these powerful skills as he ordered.
Dakora: I’ll have the same, thanks.
Yogan gestured to a large, illuminated sign above the order counter, on which was written in a dozen Alpha Quadrant languages: “SATISFACTION NOT GUARANTEED.”
Yalu: Probably best not to get your hopes up.
He glanced up at the Trill with a lopsided grin.
Dakora: I accidentally skipped breakfast. ::A growl from his stomach accentuated the point.:: I don’t think it’d matter what they put on my plate at this point.
Yogan handed over a bundle of latinum strips to Larf and received a holo-chip in exchange. On making contact with Yogan’s hand, the chip activated and the number 125 floated ten centimeters in midair, rotating slowly. They waded through the crowded tables to an empty one on the opposite end of the restaurant, and Yogan dropped the chip on the sticky tabletop as he sat down. The upbeat and bustling atmosphere of Burger Nagus contrasted somewhat with the tone of the conversation Yogan wanted to have.
Yalu: So, Talos. How’s your brain?
Thus far Yogan’s mind had sort of blended into the noise of the burger joint’s lunch crowd, but some mixture of their proximity at the little table-for-two and the sudden genuine question brought it to the forefront.
Talos drummed his fingers on the table a bit, nervously.
Dakora: Yeah, uh… ::He smiled unconvincingly.:: Good. Fine. Thanks. How about you?
Yogan had spent the trip back to DS224 and the time since Excalibur arrived pondering the question. He’d asked a few other crew members who’d experienced interspecies swaps if there were any lingering effects on them once everything was put right. Disorientation, confusion, and adjustment fatigue were common, but the extent to which Yogan and Talos had… commingled… seemed to be a peculiarity of the orbs’ influence on a Joined Trill and a Betazoid in particular.
Yalu: To be honest, I’m having a bit of a time with it. Your consciousness wasn’t in my body for long, but it was long enough to…
Yogan hesitated. His work in intelligence perhaps being the exception, Talos didn’t seem like the kind of person who lived a secretive life. Still, one should always have the right to choose which personal details to share and which to keep private. Talos was not given that choice.
Yalu: Your consciousness was in my brain long enough for your memories to be shared with the symbiont. In a way, it’s as if you and Yalu were Joined. Just like Yalu was Joined with Zedro and–– ::beat:: well, you know all their names by now. I just wanted to see how you were doing, and whether there’s anything floating around in that Betazoid brain of yours that I could help with.
Opening up wasn’t the problem. Talos was as in-touch with his feelings as any other functional person, but it was the delicate subject matter and the implication of the whole thing that was tripping him up. A polite person might’ve called him a people-pleaser, but trained professionals had called him possessed-of-an-unhealthy-need-for-approval. Whatever. Mugato, Gumato.
Dakora: I guess… ::He shrugged.:: I guess I’m still kind of processing it all. I’m back in my body, but the memories and the feelings they shared with me are making it hard to just… be myself again. You know?
Yogan nodded. It was hard to put into words, and for a moment, he wished he still had the telepathic abilities that belonged to Talos.
Yalu: I know. I’ve spent seven years balancing the seven lifetimes of experience I have from Yalu. And now there’s an eighth one in there. Yours.
Nodding along as Yogan spoke, Talos tried hard to ignore the fact that he’d just seen the Ferengi fry cook drop something on the floor, pick it up, dust it off and put it back on a plate in the kitchen behind him.
TBC
Lt. Commander Yogan Yalu
Strategic Operations Officer
USS Excalibur NCC-41903-A
Justin D238804DS0
and
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Ensign Talos Dakora
Intelligence Officer
USS Excalibur-A
O238811CD0