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! 👻

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?”

Ky’Laria issued the most genuine chuckle yet, amused enough to give a fully open smile as she glanced out the window. “Congratulations, Doctor. You have stumbled upon one of the great philosophical questions of my people.” Turning her water glass idly between her thumb and forefinger, she returned her attention to Karina, the smile naturally ebbing from her features. “I am something of a… romantic, I suppose, would be the best term in your language. Perhaps ‘traditionalist.’ I tend to, deep within me, believe the former. However, thinking scientifically, the latter is technically quite true. I cannot discount it,” she explained.

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

Ky’Laria sat for a moment, strictly observing, and notably allowing a deep silence to fill the room. She saw the tiny shifts in skin tint, and heard - felt - Karina’s heart rate. She drew in a breath, deeply through the nose, drawing it out but making it just noticeably audible. “Focus on that,” she said, her voice in a lower register; it was not forceful, but still assertive. “You are flushing, and your heart rate has increased. Your pupils have dilated, and your eyes are moving more rapidly. Do not fully lose your calm… but allow yourself to feel this. Focus on it,” she repeated, her tone now a strange mixture of command and reassurance.

Unmoving, Ky’Laria did little but to fix her gaze on Karina, as if to stare into her. “Do you feel, right now, like you are… in control?” A small, and gentle tilt of her head was all that marked a short pause. “You may be, you may not be… the fact does not matter. Do you feel like you have power over this moment?”

-Lt. Ky’Laria (Sci)

A young man appeared seemingly from nowhere and summarily intoned, “The Base Commander will see you now”. Then the hologram disappeared answering the question of how the aide has appeared so unannounced.

Junior Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist
OOC Welcome, I’ve been instructed to make you feel right at home and not over complicate things… I make no promises :-)