JP: Cmdrs Adriana Morgan & Karrod Niac - Settling Up PT2
Marissa Jeffrey
((The Avalon Lounge, Deck 18, USS Excalibur))
He seemed worried, so Adri did what she did best and sat back, non-threateningly, peacefully, and waited. There were some who had said she should have gone into counseling, but truth be told, she couldn’t stand that. No, as a communications officer, she was simply very cognizant of how she communicated…verbally, telepathically, and non-verbally.
Morgan: Take your time. I’m on leave.
She smiled warmly and sat looking at the stars streaking by until he spoke.
Niac: In a way, you and I are still connected…well, a part of you anyway. You see…while your mind was stuck up here :Karrod tapped his temple:: it was also comingled with this..::Karrod tapped his gut.:: In essence, you were a Joined Trill for the better part of a day. Turns out that’s all the time Niac needed to get a pretty complete impression of…well..you. And it’s…it’s still there.
Karrod exhaled and let that revelation wash over the woman, truly perplexed at how she’d respond. It had been no ones fault but it still left her intimately exposed to someone she barely knew.
Where one eyebrow had been raised before, a second joined it in reaching for the ceiling as she considered the information he was presenting her. The first thing to cross her mind was how exciting it was to be the first Betazoid joined Trill to live to tell about the experience, but then she realized that Talos shared in that experience. Then her mind was suddenly flooded with questions.
Morgan: Complete impression as in…?
Karrod concentrated and found a small moment from the miscellaneous cloud of memories that was still coalescing into the whole of a personality.
Niac: I could tell you what you had for breakfast last tuesday…you overcooked those eggs, by the way. Rostil was a master chef….he’s something of a harsh critic.
Adriana laughed.
It wasn’t because the situation was necessarily funny, but it was at the same time. The poor man in front of her was now left with an impression of her mind, her laid back attitudes, her adventures, the good times and the bad. He would know about the day their current captain ended up in the Resolution sickbay with a Hirogen blade in her chest and almost died before leaving Ensign behind for JG, he’d know what it was like to be intermingled with the admiralty. And most embarrassing for everyone but her, perhaps, was the fact that he’d know what a certain Betazoid Intel officer, that he’d have to work with, looked like naked and soaked in sweat.
Morgan: You poor soul.
It was Karrod’s turn to be surprised. He had prepared himself for anything from anger to shock to complete incandescent fury at what some would perceive as violation of their most cherished and private self. Sympathy for his situation had never once crossed his mind. He realized his mouth was hanging open when one of his whiskers tickled the inside of his lip.
Niac: I’ll be honest…that’s not the reaction I was expecting. Not that I’m upset, mind you…just..surprised. Pleasantly.
Sitting back she shook her head slightly.
Morgan: If you still have me in there, you know that as a culture, Betazoids are pretty open. We don’t have many secrets.
She tapped the side of her head. Indeed, a telepathic society meant that there was an openness that just didn’t exist in some other races.
Karrod nodded in agreement. He had that knowledge but he hadn’t really understood it till now. It was something about being a Joined Trill that hadn’t ever really been explained to him. He may possess the memories and experiences of all that had been hosts before him but it was his mind that was presently in the pilots seat. If he couldn’t wrap his own perceptions around a concept, like Sencha’s exotic math or Horvu’s love of Andorian thrash metal, it was like owning a book you couldn’t really read.
Niac: I guess knowing it and believing it are two very different things. All the same...I don’t know that I would’ve taken the news with quite as much grace as you have.
Morgan: Aside from that, I’m pretty laid back. I apologize for the poor decisions you’ll now know about, or…good decisions that others might find questionable perhaps. ::she shrugged.:: At least you know my reasoning too.
Karrod leaned back, considering this. He’d been hesitant to really explore the memories and experiences that Adriana had left behind. He knew now that would have to change. He wondered how she would affect the Balance, as the commission had described the interplay between personalities that went on within each symbiote. Karrod had been reading between the lines and got the sense it could be precariously fragile.
Niac: First and foremost, thank you…I appreciate the empathy and now realize the solid comedy of that statement. Secondly, I’m still pretty new on this boat and I didn’t want this to impact our working relationship. I haven’t been in the field for a while and I know how hard it can be to form those bonds with a crew that already has a lot of history.
She grinned at him then, somewhat mischievously. Some of the crew had been to hell and back, that much was true, but they were a generally welcoming bunch. Add to that the fact that chaos had a tendency to find them no matter where they went and the whole bunch was a forge by which bonds were formed by necessity, if not choice.
Joke was on the universe though, most of them were by choice, not the other way around no matter the circumstances.
Morgan: Well it seems like this one wasn’t so hard.
Her eyes twinkled slightly. The circumstances of the situation were no one’s fault, and hey, at the very least she now had a very close friend by which to run her craziest thoughts by. It would be like speaking to herself, but with an added dimension of…rationalism. Maybe. Adri laughed to herself.
Niac: So, fair’s fair - you got stuck in this heap for a day and I know from the idiots array ::Karrod poked his midsection playfully:: that they were peppering you with questions, accusations and just a hint of panic pretty much non-stop. If there’s anything you want to ask, you deserve answers.
He wasn’t wrong, the symbiont was an interesting experience to have, but it wasn’t the pressing question on her mind. No, that was reserved for something else entirely.
Morgan: I do have a question…
Karrod braced himself mentally for whatever came next.
Niac: Fire away.
She put her hand up and touched her chin, ever thankful there wasn’t anything there like she’d woken up with in his body with.
Morgan: Why?
Karrod’s hand went to his chin and collided with his beard. He looked down as if seeing it for the first time, snorted, then began laughing. He continued laughing until he could barely breathe and, at the stupefied expression on Adriana’s face, laughed again. Harder. It was several minutes before he was winding down and wiping the tears from his eyes.
Niac: Sorry sorry….just…whew…I think I may have popped a rib. ::Karrod felt his side gingerly.:: This…ample thing actually started as a bit of an old spacers tradition. For a long time, men weren’t allowed facial hair when they were serving active duty so when they went on leave, or took shoreside assignments, it became something of a competitive sport to grow the finest facial hair one could. I started this when I took a desk job…when I thought starship life was behind me. Now ::Karrod stroked his beard thoughtfully.::..I like it. Keeps my face warm on those chilly nights.
Karrod winked and smiled, a small joke passing between the two of them.
Her smile turned into a hearty laugh at that, something shared between two minds who knew the same thing and understood on a level that was generally only shared by telepaths. It was almost like looking in a mirror, in the most unique sort of way. And just like that, out of the forge that was the Reso-Excal, ever stronger bonds were formed.
–
Commander Adriana Morgan
Communications Officer
As Simmed by
Commodore Kalianna Nicholotti
Commanding Officer
USS Excalibur - A
R238605KN0
And
Commander Karrod Niac
Chief of Operations
USS Excalibur - NCC-41903-A
Commodore Kali Nicholotti, Commanding
V239509GT0