Posted by Lieutenant Commander Daggum Hammor (Chief Operations Officer) in Chuy’s On the The Station - Working Out The Kinks

Posted by Ensign Viyara Nazeen (Scientist) in Chuy’s On the The Station - Working Out The Kinks

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Daggum Hammor (Chief Operations Officer) in Chuy’s On the The Station - Working Out The Kinks

(snip)

Hammor watched her for a moment and then said “You don’t like talking about yourself, do you? Like… at all. That’s fine, and I’m not saying you have to. But it does lead to lop-sided conversation.” and he smiled and took a sip of water. “Survival class my third year sucked. I was teamed with a Bolian. How is that fair? He can literally eat anything! Bastard kept picking up gravel and tossing it in his mouth and making Mmmm- hmmm noises. I almost tossed him in a ravine.” and he laughed.

Hammor, Ops

Viyara laughed with Daggum. “No, that definitely isn’t fair.” She shook her head and fell silent again, becoming uncharacteristically silent. There even was a small frown on her face. And not the ‘I’m concentrating hard’ type of frown. For several moments she just nibbled a little at the mozzarella. As if she was trying to make up her mind about something.

Eventually she looked up again and when her mismatched eyes met his, there was a fire in them. “I don’t, no. I never learned how to, I guess. And if I were to let people get too close …” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “Let’s just say it’s not only through boxing and martial arts that I learned to defend and protect myself.” Reaching for her glass, she took another sip of water without breaking the eyecontact.

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Daggum’s eyes didn’t leave hers. He held the contact and said “You keep protecting yourself when there isn’t something attacking you, you’re bound to have pretty lonely go of it. And Im the last person to judge someone for their past… but it sounds like you have one.” He took a drink, but kept his eyes on hers.

“Don’t we all?” Viyara asked with a soft sigh, choosing not to reply to the first part of what he had just said. He was right, of course, and she knew it. But there was a difference between knowing something deep within you and admitting it to yourself and to other people.

“But one thing I can say with absolute certainty… your past doesn’t have to dictate your future.” and his head cocked to side and he smiled a warm, friendly, wholly accepting smile.

“Or your present.”

Hammor, Ops

Without meaning to, Viyara snorted and shook her head. If only that was true. But for her, her past did dictate her present and most likely her future as well. She was good at hiding it, even from herself, but deep down within her, hidden behind smiles and her extroverted and flirtatious nature, she was still a frightened little girl. Part of her, a part that seemed to slowly become bigger since she first set foot on this weird ship, wanted to open up to someone and maybe Daggum was the best person to open up to, but the larger part of her was still afraid. Though she just kept telling herself that she wouldn’t even know where to begin and that no one would be able to follow anyways if she didn’t.

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist