Posted by Lieutenant Ky’Laria (Scientist) in Meanwhile… on the Station (for those awaiting the ship)

Posted by Ensign Karina Niles (Doctor) in Meanwhile… on the Station (for those awaiting the ship)

Posted by Lieutenant Ky’Laria (Scientist) in Meanwhile… on the Station (for those awaiting the ship)
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Ky’Laria chuckled, glancing away for a moment as her amusement showed plainly in her lingering smile. “I did mention that I was not going to make an issue of you being ‘overly’ informal earlier, correct?” she teased. “I’m not… hungry, at the moment. I do not even have to eat each day,” she added, on a more serious note. “However, the Federation’s M-class standard artificial environment–” Ky’Laria paused to gesture at the general surroundings– “Are quite dry for my preference. So, I do consume an impressive amount of water.”

Moving to a window-side table, she beckoned Karina to follow once more and chose a seat opposite her. “I will happily accept the skills of any of the ship’s doctors,” she explained, “Since I know that each of you will need to spend the same amount of time studying the information I bring about my physiology and medical requirements. I simply–” Ky’Laria stopped, as if suddenly reconsidering how to finish her sentence. With a little smile briefly twitching its way across her features, she glanced out the window, and back to Karina. “I sense that you are especially curious.”

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Sci)

The smile and blush once more replaced themselves on Karina’s face. “Well, if that’s a polite for of ridiculously curious, than thank you. Yes, I admit I am. Even more now that I know there are special concessions you will require. As a Doctor, I have taken an oath to maintain the secrecy of anything you tell me. So there is no trouble if you have need of something and can’t get it without some questions being raised. All right?” She settled across from the woman and finished her drink and set the empty glass on the table off to her right and slightly behind her so it wasn’t in line of sight for Ky.

Karina
Doctor

“What do you–“

Ky’Laria gazed intently across the table at Karina, searching her for some clue as to what she was thinking. “I appreciate your willingness to assist… but I wonder– you almost sound as if you think some part of my dietary needs is… contraband, or something,” she said, chuckling and letting her right forearm rest flat on the table. Her fingers drummed gently on the tabletop and her eyes and lips narrowed just slightly. Clearly, she was considering something… “I suppose, depending on how I obtained–” She stopped, idly waving that thought off with her other hand.

“Ordinarily this would have waited until the medical interview, when you- or another ship’s doctor- have my medical information at hand,” Ky’Laria explained, though her voice was still tinged with a hint of amusement at Karina’s barely-restrained flood of curiosity. “Obviously, as a doctor, you’re well versed in biology. Xenobiology is optional at this time. Feeding strategies, yes? Predation, parasitism, grazing… yes?”

Karina felt like she should pay attention or miss something vital. “Mmmhhmmm…” she nodded to the query.

“You will never fully comprehend, Doctor, how I hate this term,” Ky’Laria said, almost muttering. “Biologically, my species fits your science’s definition of… micropredators.” Perhaps it was the ‘micro-’ prefix, but to utter the word seemed to somehow damage the Kuras’ pride; she seemed to shake it off quickly enough, however, and continued. “Specifically, hematophages.” It was at this point in the conversation that centuries of experience had informed Ky’Laria to wait, and allow both the scientific minds and laypeople a moment to process. She gazed intensely at Karina, examining her reaction.

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Sci)

“I’m sure it’s not contraband,” she smiled. “I merely meant when it comes to extra vitamins, minerals and additives, some replicators won’t do it as a general safety measure. I merely meant…” it then hit her what the rest of Ky’Laria’s explanation had been about.

One corner of Ky’Laria’s lips curled upward slightly as she offered Karina a knowing gaze and a small, affirming nod.

She tilted her head slightly as if trying to make sure she had it right.”Oh, you mean you need blood?” The question was said with as much shock as if asking if the sock in her hand was the one she had been seeking. It was if it hadn’t actually registered. “I mean, there are definitely things specific to blood I can understand as nutrients, but I am sure we can find a more palatable way for you to accept them.” Karina had missed the point entirely. Her mind was so wrapped in the additions to the blood it didn’t occur to her scientific mind that the blood was the exact thing needed, not just the copper and iron that came immediately to mind.

Karina
Doctor

Hmm. Karina clearly meant well, but so far she had only made it to ‘almost there.’ “Well… it’s not a matter of palatability as it is of portability, but you are thinking on the right track, Doctor. But perhaps you are trying to solve a problem that I do not have. In the end, like any organism, I require nutrients and energy to function,” she explained. After a brief pause to consider Karina’s empty glass, she slid it to the middle of the table, between them.

“This… cocktail of yours, does not have the optimum nutrition for my physiology, I am sure. But it has all the basic elements for my survival… though not in a form that my body can access. So, this could represent… fruits, grains… the Sitara stalks on my homeworld, anything.” Glancing up at Karina for a moment, she looked back down at the glass and gently tapped its base against the table. “So, right here at this table, we have a food chain, in theory. You drink this, you break down the nutrients into glucose, simple lipids, amino acids and the like.” Releasing the glass and letting it be, she again met Karina’s gaze, gesturing toward her with both hands. “These, my body can utilize just as yours does. But, since I cannot convert them to those forms…” Pausing to show some amusement dance across her features, she concluded, “I have to get them from you.”

Deliberately, Ky’Laria waited for a moment before grinning, “As an example. However, my body frankly does not care whether the glucose comes from… you, or from a nutritional supplement I produce in the replicator in my quarters. This is the essence of my people’s highly unglamorous version of the field of food science,” she chuckled, picking up her glass of water for a long sip.

-Lt’ Ky’Laria (Sci)

Karina watched her as she spoke and, albeit slowly, she would see the Doctor start to put the hints together. When she said it didn’t matter if the nutrients came from Karina directly, or the replicator, the connection was made. Her eyebrows rose, though not in fear but in the fact it had suddenly dawned on her. “So you can get your nutrients from drinking blood directly or synthesizing something equivalent in your quarters. I understand.” She took a moment to absorb this and she leaned back. Not out of fear, because curiosity still reigned too prevalent in her mind. It never triggered in her ‘fight or flight’ that the woman across from her said she was ok with biting her for a food source. “Can I ask you something?” She paused, though not long enough to give Ky an actual change to respond to the permission request. Instead she just moved on and asked anyway. “Do you prefer to drink from a person?”

Ky’Laria blinked as her upper lip gave a single, tiny quiver. The reflex to ‘free’ her incisors into their extended position was always a strong one, and the considerable effort to suppress it caused her to sit erect, adopting an almost regal air. With slightly narrowed eyes and widely raised ‘eyebrow’ spots, her surprise was genuine.

The question came out with a genuine desire to know if that was what she wanted. Her mind still not quite making the connection that she should be cautious, if not downright scared.

Karina
Doctor

The Kuras drew in a long breath through narrowly opened lips. “It would be more accurate,” she began, giving a slow, tilted nod, “To say that Kuras prefer live prey. We have powerful predation instincts, and a hunting spirit. Our culture evolved to celebrate these, rather than suppress them.”

Her posture eased slightly as she, ironically, managed to fully suppress her momentary call to instinct, and she leaned toward the table again. “As an individual, at this stage of my life, I take a practical outlook. Sustenance, is sustenance. But it is the hunt which truly calls to the heart of a Kuras; the feed is simply its culmination.” With a gently widening grin, she decided to add, “The reward.”

Once more, Ky’Laria examined Karina closely across the table for a moment before reaching for another sip of water. “Do you understand the distinction?” she queried, in a suddenly easygoing tone.

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Sci)

The image of this woman, so regal and proper, ‘hunting’ was something Karina couldn’t quite wrap her head around. So she did what she always did… she asked questions. “I cannot say I personally knot the distinction, but I can respect and understand there is one. So is it the hunt itself, proving one is a superior species, that makes you want to gain your prey that way, versus… say… being handed a volunteer and losing that ability to prove you are above them? Or is the adrenaline and oxygenating of the blood from the panic, fear and flight, change the taste of the blood and therefor make it a more palatable drink?”

Despite her mind trying to remain calm and scientific, there was a base instinct inside, indeed inside every living being, that started to register the woman across the table as something to be feared. While her brain tried to suss out the reasons for preferring the to hunt instead of being handed a voluntary donation, her hands were absently starting to fidget and her heart was beating just a touch faster than it had been at their meeting not too long ago.

Kairina
Doctor