Posted by Lieutenant Commander Serena Stone (Executive Officer) in Holosuite HIke

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in Holosuite HIke

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Serena Stone (Executive Officer) in Holosuite HIke

(snip)

Serena shook her head. “No, not really. Nobody’s ever really asked. Earlier I was so focused on career. This became a quiet little getaway. Closest thing I could get to getting back home.” Shaking her head, she picked up a stick and nudged at the bed of coals, stirring up more flames. “It’s also a little bittersweet. Good and bad.” Raising her head she glanced at the mountains peeking over the coniferous trees. There was no snow on them now, but as her mind wandered back to when she was nine, they had been wrapped in snow. She could still picture the Jem’hadar landing craft appearing over the peak and plunging down the valley, polaron beams striking deep into the town. Explosions and fire rent the night when they’d came like gray and violet angels of death.

Janna just leaned into Serena enough to make contact but nothing further. She was there for support, whatever that looked like.

Taking a breath, she shoved the memory aside. It was all rebuilt now. Hardly a scar on the area to show for all the fighting in those two years of the Dominion War. “The VAlkyri was just.. It was a good ship, but it wasn’t a place where people got close much. Not because the commanding officer had an issue with it. It was a tactical cruiser, and expected to get into serious trouble in it’s patrol zones. When the shroud of death hangs over the crew it’s hard to form tight bonds. Though you might take whatever comfort and connection you can get.” She shrugged one shoulder.

Maybe I should have made more of an effort to find a little of that. But was it realistic, with being yanked around and transferred all across the fleet? Connections were fleeting unless … well she had someone she was committed to. But could she really ask them to uproot and follow her around? Or vice versa?

That was one of the great quandaries of Starfleet. “What about you? Any special programs or spots?” She refrained from going further. It wasn’t right to pester about her and Orvos specifically. Certainly not with as little time as she’d been there aboard the Athena.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna nodded. “There’s a couple. One that isn’t mine and I’m not able to share, but one I use on a regular basis. Strangely, it snuck its way into my weekly routines. Have I told you about my new hobby?” She was so used to keeping herself out of the picture unless it was necessary in a session to build rapport, that some days Janna couldn’t remember who knew what about her

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena shook her head. “No. I don’t think we’ve discussed any hobbies. Certainly not yours. Do tell.” She flashed Janna a bright, eager smile. It rolled off of her just the same, suddenly lighter and brighter herself.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

“Ceramics, especially working on a pottery wheel,” Janna said, radiating excitement. “See, I collect vases from the different places I travel. One of my favourite excursions on a new planet is to find where the artisans are and buy a vessel I find beautiful. So on a whim after a conversation with Daggum, I decided to learn how to make them myself. Pottery is safer than glassblowing, so we’re sticking with that. It’s very physical, tactile. And meditative. You can’t be distracted by anything else. If you’re not focused on the clay, things go wrong. And your emotions always reveal themselves in what you make and what it looks like.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS