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
Posted by… suppressed (20) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(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

Serena nodded, listening intently. It sounded like a good creative outlet. And as Janna said, far safer than glass blowing. And the focus required was the same if not more. And the emotional clarity required or that it could bring out, the focus, the meditation it sounded like a perfect choice. It almost made her want to take it up herslef. Or at least give it a try. “At least you don’t risk setting everything on fire or burning yourself. And if Daggum gets on your nerves you can throw clay at him.” She broke into a bright rin, givng the counselor a nudge with her shoulder.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna laughed aloud. “I don’t know how my friends would take to having clay thrown at them, but something tells me he’d just give me the side eye.”

“But yeah, it’s been nice to have something creative and physical to just play with without worrying about consequences. Yes, I’m hoping to continually improve and make things I actually like and want to keep, but I’m also okay with them turning out like crap and starting again.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena nodded. “That’s good. We all need hobbies. At least two, if not three. One to keep you sane, one to do something creative, and one for exercise and to stay in shape.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Have you heard the 100 Vases Theory?”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna regarded her friend with a tilt of her head. “No, I don’t think I have. Tell me about it.” She more or less had the three hobbies covered, if her creative people-watching counted.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

The redhead nodded. “Supposedly, sometime in the twentieth or twenty-first century on Earth there was an experiment conducted. A beginner pottery class was split into two methodologies. Both were told that at the end of the month they would be judged on the quality of the vase they could make. The first group were only allowed to make one vase. Try to make it as perfect as possible. That would be the vase they were judged on at the end of the month when it was fired.” She rubbed her hands together, gaze distant, locked on the dancing flames. “The second group were given the same deadline. But they were told to make a hundred vases, or as many as they could. Didn’t matter how many times they started over. Make and make and make.”

She looked back at Janna. “You know who won, to the student?”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna smirked. “The ones that were freely allowed to make as many mistakes as they needed, would be my guess. We need trial and error in order to practice new skills. Most humanoids can’t achieve perfection on the first go, nor is it best to strive for it.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena nodded. “Exactly. Learning by doing is often the fastest. Making mistakes. Iterating. Learning from those lessons. Failing forward faster. So… Dive in. Have fun. Don’t worry about the mistakes. I’m sure you’ll be making good stuff in no time, and still having all kinds of fun with it. And maybe you can make something for me when you’re got some skill grinding done?”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna’s laugh was light and bright. “Oh, I’ll make something for you. It’ll be my pleasure.” She grinned at her friend. “I really wasn’t disparaging my efforts. I’ve been happy just making a mess and being tactile. It’s the first real hobby I’ve had in, oh, decades. I just really needed to do something in my off hours beyond reading. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good book, but it’s very much in my head, and everything I do is people-centered and analytical. I wanted something that would get me out of my head.” She loved that Serena wanted to boost her confidence a little though. It was rather sweet.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“Oh I know you’re not disparaging. It was more ‘Consider approaching the journey in this manner.’” She shook her head then. “Truth be told, even though I give that advice I probably would be bad about doing it myself. Maybe. I dunno.”

“Getting out of your head is a good thing. I probably live too much in mine. Trying to change that a bit.” She paused, gesturing toward the space around them. “Hence being here, like this. With you. Trying to find good people and make sure I have them in my circle. Besides you know, the job and the work hours.” She gave Janna a soft nudge of her shoulder. “People I want in my corner and there for me, with me, when things go bad. And that I can be there for too, when those dark times come. Closest thing I might have this far out in the black.”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna smiled and leaned into Serena, resting her head on her shoulder. “We all need that,” she said softly. “It can look like different things and come in a variety of forms, but at our core, even if we’re the most secure and independent of people, we all just want to know we’re not in it alone.”

Serena nodded. That much was at least mostly true.

“I’ll come out here with you anytime you need me to. You only have to ask.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

A smile spread across Serena’s face. “I appreciate that. Will keep it in mind. It’s …” A soft sigh escaped her even as she slipped one arm around Janna. “This is the closest I’ve felt to home in a long time. And I’m glad you’re here with me. I dunno who else… you know?” She rested her head against Janna’s, watching the play of firefies in the trees, winking in and out. the air was cooler now, but the kind that didn’t make one cold around the fire. Instead it seemed to put a light blanket on the world, and it’s noise.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Something settled in her, or rather Serena’s affection eased an old tension that had been tucked neatly into a corner. “It’s been a long time since I can say I’ve had a true friend myself. As you so aptly reminded me earlier, I’m allowed to take up space and let myself been seen. Be remembered. I think things really started to change after the mission that took us to Risa in the other universe. There was something about standing before a version of myself and discussing which of would continue this current journey through the cosmos that really shook me up in a way I hadn’t been since my accident.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena tilted her head. She was still wrapping her head around most of the ship and crew, and didn’t have all the particulars for all of the seniors yet. Certainly she wasn’t about to pry into people’s personal matters and circumstances. “That sounds. Hell I can’t imagine how that would be, or how I’d feel about that. Or how I’d deal with it. I don’t know the particulars, but I might be at least a little concerned if something like that didn’t affect you in some way.” She squeezed just a little tighter with one arm around Janna, but mindful to avoid damage.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna breathed in the connection and the comfort. “It was definitely something.” She turned her head to gaze at Serena. “Did you know that that version of me was in a relationship with Ben Grey?” She smirked. “It’s funny how different events can lead us down very different paths. I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. Not in a morose, ‘what if’ sort of way, but just of genuine curiosity and intrigue. Sometimes it’s the big events that change us, sometimes it’s an accumulation of very tiny moment.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena nodded. Her mind went back to these very same hills and streams, back when she was nine, before the skies rained fire and fear. “It’s like in Basic Land Navigation. If you’re off by a degree, it can translate to being off course by kilometers, if you have a destination. Or lightyears off if you’re in space. Tiny things can mean big differences on a long enough timeline.” She shrugged one shoulder, the far one from Janna, so as not to push her off or away. “I suppose that’s true with a lot of things in life”

Her gaze swung back to Janna, now sidelong. “So just how curious are we talkin’? Like just wondering, or are we talking a little medical exploration here?” She nudged Janna gently, breaking out into a crap-eating grin.

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

Janna laughed and it shook her whole body. “Oh goodness, no! I like Ben as a friend and a colleague. I don’t have any sort of romantic feelings for him. But I think my curiosity lies in recognizing how different events in my life have shaped me so I can appreciate the journey I’ve been on. Sometimes I’d like to go back and tell the Janna that was stuck in Sickbay with a new medical condition that was going to kill her and let her know that things not only get better, but life gets pretty damn good. It’s worth it to keep going.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena nodded. “I’d happily deliver that message if I could. And oh, to talk to our younger selves in those darkest moments. To let them know things will be quite alright. Would make things easier to bare, I think. But we don’t really get that option. None of us are fourth or fifth dimensional beings. Yet.” She broke out into a wistful smile, shrugging once more. “I suppose you’re right. It hasn’t been all bad. Done a lot over the years. And still more to go. What about you? Any plans for the future or are you just riding the wave of time?”

Lt. Cmdr. Stone, Executive Officer

That was a good question and one that she had pondered on occasion. “I’ve never been ambitious in my career, so at least on that end I don’t have any real plans. I had imagined I’d lead a team at some point, and now I am. The promotion in position had been unexpected at that time, but it all feels quite natural now. Other than that?” Janna shook her head. “I’m just taking life as it comes. I’m still here and I have friends and someone I love. I don’t know what I want more than that, but I know I’m content with how things are just now.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS