Lt. JG Lyra Voss: Cookies and Tiaras
Sarah Terry
((Deck 515, Stellar Cartography Lab, Starbase 118))
Lyra’s Betazoid heritage was perhaps never more obvious than when she was showing off her tendency to be perhaps a little *too* honest with people she’d just met. The combination of being used to everyone knowing anyway, and her awkward struggle to decide what to say meant that, at any given moment, she was really only a few seconds away from blurting out some story from her past - embarrassing or otherwise - to try to make conversation.
Luxa’s openness, on the other hand, had a calculated edge. Lyra could feel the way her emotions rippled beneath that practiced smile, like a lake that looked so clear from the surface that it was almost impossible to tell just how deep the bottom really was. Another reminder that there was no such thing as *effortless* grace - Luxa tucked her darker feelings back inside with a seamlessness that betrayed a great deal of practice.
Lyra looked back at her with a quiet smile.
Voss: Can I show you the really pathetic thing that finally clinched it for me when I was deciding if I was going to go back to the Academy? ::adjusting the holoimager controls to find a particular chunk of dark rock:: This is R2600 JF. It’s a dark comet I was studying when I was at home. Just a way to pass the time really. It was marked as an object with “non-gravitational acceleration” - not orbiting anything, just drifting endlessly through space. But… with the data I gathered, I was able to prove that it is in orbit - it’s orbiting a collapsed neutron star that they’d previously missed when the area was surveyed. And I don’t know… ::with a blush:: I guess I thought… if she could come back around… so could I.
The Caitian looked up at the comet flying quietly above them for a long moment.
Lorana: I'm impressed, Lyra. That must have taken some work. That eddy there must have thrown off the sensors, I can only imagine it has grown in size and shape since your discovery.
Voss: ::nodding:: My paper on it is what got me into the Academy’s astronomy field program when I went back. So, in a lot of ways, it shaped the rest of my time at the Academy. I owe her a great deal.
Artesia. She’d named the comet and everything.
Lorana: Thank you for showing me this.
She could feel Luxa’s sincerity, and it brought just a touch of color to her cheeks.
Voss: Well… thanks for listening.
Lorana: I really should get back to my organising. Hopefully I'll have some new quarters soon and I can have you over in a more civilised manner. Only :: raised paw :: If you bring more of those cookies.
Lyra grinned.
Voss: Of course. And maybe some tiaras too.