[BACKSIM] Lt. Cmdr. Alex Brodie “The Obvious Question…”
Alexander Brodie
“The Obvious Question…”
((Counselling Suites, Deck Ten, USS Chin’toka))
((OOC: Finally back into things after some Gmail access issues – posting to the new list but naturally it take place while still on the Chin’toka so I've marked it as a BackSim))
Brodie: ::Sitting up and smiling:: We are open all hours…as long as you don’t mind the less than regulation "jacket off" approach.
V’Nille: Excellent! Casual works best for me anyway. And maybe while I’m here, you can help me work through something.
Brodie eased himself into a more comfortable position for conversation and regarded the Caitian. He’s not had a great chance to spend time with them between missions and his time away so it was perhaps his first time exchanging more than a few casual words or nods.
They were shorter than he was by a clear foot so even from his seated position things felt virtually at eye level.
Brodie: Please pull up a chair. ::He gestured toward one:: What can I do for you V’Nille?
The ship's strategic operations officer pulled up a chair and then placed a wooden box ornate wooden box on the table. She glanced towards him, her golden gaze piercing through her calico colouring.
V’Nille: Well, I am mostly here for someone just to talk to but you are a psychologist, right? I might as well pick your brain about something that’s been bugging me while we are both here.
He was…slightly relieved that she didn’t need acute psychological intervention but he was slightly concerned about the box. She seemed quite chatty, again, not unnerving in an of itself but it was taking him a minute to read the situation and get up to speed.
Brodie: ::Smiling:: Well, I certainly hope I’m a psychologist or Starfleet have about three hundred malpractice cases on their hands.
He paused.
Brodie: But I have to ask…what’s in the box?
The Catian gave a grin and then began to remove pieces from the box and spread them around on the small table before him. They were curious. They appeared to be wooden but they were all different shapes and sizes. Some varied in colour; there didn’t seem to be a natural grouping of the items.
V’Nille: How familiar are you with Caitian puzzles, Doctor? Specifically, the three-dimensional ones like this?
Brodie: I have to be honest – not very. I’ve seen them but they’re not something I’m familiar with.
V’Nille: Well, the important thing is that the ones made by us are specifically designed to appeal to our senses, and I don’t just mean aesthetically. I speak of the way this looks and smells to us. Humans, as I understand it, generally have eyes designed to see more detailed colors than Caitians typically do. Meanwhile, our eyes are that much more attuned to low-light environments and detecting movement. Our noses, on the other hand, are much more sensitive than yours.
She offered one of the animal shaped pieces to Brodie, which he reached forward and took. He played in slightly between his thumb and two forefingers – turning it around and looking at it.
V’Nille: Tell me, what does this piece look and smell like to you?
He stopped for a moment.
Brodie: Smell?
V’Nille: Response
Brodie: I’m not going to contaminate these with my own…for want of a better phrase, sweaty human hands, am I? I’d hate to damage them.
V’Nille: Response
He played the item around some more…it had a curvature and was a light brown colouration. The prominent, if rounded, points on one side put him in mind of a pair of antlers – if he’d needed to put a shape to it he’d have said it looked like a deer.
Then he sniffed it…there was something there – a slight note but it could have been anything.
Brodie: I’m tempted to say just…wood…but there is something else there – although that might just be whatever type of wood this is.
V’Nille: Response
TBC
-------------------------------------------
Lt. Cmdr. Alexander W. Brodie
Counselor
Writer ID.: A239005BM0
He/Him/They/Them: Player & Character