Posted by Lieutenant Ta’lahali Akera Beveres (Counsellor) in Holodeck - Nakuto Looks for a Friendly Face

Posted by Civilian Kara Nakuto (Civilian, Former CO) in Holodeck - Nakuto Looks for a Friendly Face

Posted by Lieutenant Ta’lahali Akera Beveres (Counsellor) in Holodeck - Nakuto Looks for a Friendly Face
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Would she have done the same? Yes, of course. But was she in the right mind in telling Kara of that truth? She could not lie to the woman before her, knowing the trust bestowed on each side of their relationship. She had never lied ..intentionally.. no reason to lie, not to someone she knew she could have placed her full trust into. There seemed to logical reason to break that trust, should such a simple thing be able to in these precarious times. “Yes,” Tal submitted, finding that admitting with such a mundane answer was harder than it seemed. Would she be advocating for Kara returning to somewhere that would likely kill her? She didn’t wish to see Kara leave again, but she knew how selfish that was. Sighing, inwardly, she pushed it away.

“You were their Captain, you have every right to feel the need to go after them, to feel the drive to do the same. It is admirable of you, Kara.. and I don’t claim to begin to understand what you’re going through, right now.” Tal was clueless, as was the next person, trying to help where she was as ignorant as anyone else. She wished, oh how did, that there was a way to remove this pain from Kara’s shoulders, that there was a path that could be solidified to help her and those people lost with her.

Kara was right before her, yes. However, Tal felt as if she was not fully there. As if a part of her was still trapped in that void with the people she was hellbent upon saving. Their rescue seemed her top priority, and Tal did not have the heart to blame her, not the hypocrisy in her veins to be so stupid as to. It was understandable, it truly was. But at what cost would Kara be able to help these people? At what cost would they be saved?

“As long as you’re going to return with others, to assist you, then I suppose there’s no reason to nag you about it.” Tal managed a smile, “But until then, try to relax some, all right? You’ll only be risking your mind and your body even further by going in as drained as you are now. It anything at all, promise me you’ll take some time for yourself. Whether that is resting or doing something you love.”

Lt. Beveres
CNS

Bump, to keep on boards!
Trin

Kara nodded. “I will try to relax, I promise,” she pledged, before adding, “although it is not a natural state for anyone on this ship to feel relaxed.”

“As a counselor, I wish the crew would be more apt to relaxing and taking time for themselves.” She paused, a faint smirk curling her dark lips. “As an officer on the Viking, I know that is impossible.”

In truth, the half-Klingon could not recall the last time she had been at peace, engaged in simple but enjoyable pleasures, her mind uncluttered by work and problems and the various demands of continuous duty. Had she ever been dedicated to a hobby? Had she ever identified that singular pursuit that she could indulge in for no grander reason than enjoyment of the thing itself?

“I am not one for idle passtimes,” her shrug punctuated with the bark of brief laughter. “I always found my mind to be best occupied by tinkering and fixing. But engineering onboard this vessel brings only frustration. Where a success is gained it is quickly swallowed by a swarm of new defects, always.”

“Idle passtimes are for the feeble mind, eh?” It was a proverb her father had always told her, when she was but a child. She wasn’t certain where he had got it, never able to find it anywhere else. Thus, she assumed he made it up, in order to force her to go outside. Regardless of its authenticity, she found that it could be true. “That is part of the amusement.. You are never bored here.”

As if to prove her point, a cluster of overhead lights at the top right corner of the bar gave out, the area immediately consumed by a heavy and impenetrable darkness.

Nakuto laughed once more at the irony of their lot, before leaning forward and presenting Tal with a mischevious grin.
“How are the holodecks faring these days? Perhaps you might suggest a program for me. Something to distract me from all of…this. Perhaps,” she added, her smile now reaching almost to her forehead, “you might even join me?”

Kara Nakuto

Chuckling, glancing up as if cursing the Viking for being so apt to proving the Captain’s point, she shook her head. “It seems the ship would have to agree with your insult of terms,” Tal wore a grin that met her dark eyes, turning them into a smile, themselves.

“The Holodecks? Oh.. Just as defective and sentient as they always have been.” For a second, there was a pause in her voice. “Although, I’m sure there are a few suggestions I could offer you.”

A small smirk warped her smile, “For old time’s sake,” She hummed, regarding the memory of the time they had spent together, all that time before.

Tal
The Reminiscent

Kara rose to her feet, draining the final drops of her raktajino as she did so.
“Then, my dearest friend, let us throw our customary caution to the wind and take a chance with the holodeck,” she proposed with an eager grin. “The programme can be any of your choosing, training or recreational, wherever your desire leads. And I…I will be honoured to share in the adventures of Ta’lahali Akera Beveres,” she concluded with a wink.

“Oh, I do believe there is something that could be of usefulness to both of us.” She smiled, grinning at the woman’s ability to pronounce her name in all of its exotic peculiarities. It often amused her, how many people found it increasingly difficult to ever bother speaking her name. A curse bestowed upon her by parents who wanted nothing more than to hold tradition. With a smile, she was almost grateful Kara did not share such a complex structure of name. “Shall we, Kara?”

In truth it was exactly the kind of distraction that the former captain needed. Released from the demands of duty and responsibilities of leadership, it presented an exceedingly rare opportunity for Nakuto to step outside of her increasingly bleak existence and remember how it felt to enjoy life, to value the simple, life-affirming act of breathing in and out. Deep in her gut there was a small kernel of guilt at taking so much time from one so busy and essential as the ship’s Head Counselor, but silencing the notion, for the most part, was the suspicion that Tal could benefit from the distraction as much as she.

Kara Nakuto

As a woman ever so focused upon the psyche, Tal wondered just how long it had been, since Kara had truly relaxed. She pondered dates and frames of time, but not even she could come to any accurate conclusion. The Viking was not the ship one would join, if they were searching for simplicity and the ability to rest with every passing day. Alas, people who believed it were, happened to be quickly rid of, after they realize the truth of this ‘haunted’ vessel.

Kara was very rarely wrong when it came to Tal, and this was no different. A counselor learned to silence their own needs, in favor of the others. It was one of the few traits they shared with Captains and XOs alike. Of course, all three shared the damnation of such qualities, often times coming to a point where they required their own guidance (or counsel) just as equally as their officers (or comrades) did.

Tal’s day never stopped, so it made minimal difference whether she was with Kara or locked up in that prison of an office. Heading from the mess hall, once the remnants of food and their carriers were taken care off, she made her way down the hall, heading directly for the holodeck. In all the time it took them to arrive, Tal spoke very few words. It was a trait she possessed, her silence. One that happened to be useful and happened to be damning.

Standing before the deck, she typed in a command, pausing for a second, before completing it. Silently, she motioned for Kara to step inside and see what would behold them both.

Tal
CNS

The shared silence as they walked towards the holodeck brought a great deal of comfort to the tormented half-Klingon. So often did people feel the need to fill a rare moment of peace with idle chatter. Nakuto herself was no different in that respect, her Klingon nature seeing every natural pause as an opportunity to boast of shared victories and to toast great battles won. But her Japanese father had strived to impress upon her the infinite value of silence, of the power that rode on the crest of a calm mind and tranquil soul.
“To plan a battle, one must first be able to visualise its arena without any distractions” he was oft found to impart, wise words dispersed to the hearts of both Kara and her sister. He had long tutored them in the act of Vulcan meditation and the ability to create stillness in the most turbulent of seas.

Ta’lahali Beveres shared many qualities with Isaake Nakuto. She was possessed of the same aura of measured and collected calm, the same gift for noble, poetic words, as stirring as they were profound. Little surprise, then, that Kara found herself drawn so strongly to the petite African.

Arriving at the holodeck, Nakuto paused at the threshold and allowed Tal to enter first and key in her chosen program, before following eagerly and, with brown eyes sparkling like a child about to unwrap a precious gift, she watched as the stark gridlines began to dissipate and melt into another vista entirely…

Kara Nakuto

Before them, a world so different from their own unfolded. Cold, emotionless halls flooded into the vibrant blues of a sky whose tears were very seldom seen falling from bleary, azure eyes. Inanimate object utilized for a purpose programmed by a computer, were replaced by the lively stems of blooming flowers beneath a sun that encouraged their hardly idle growth. The sun, while hardly visible to them, filtered through the treetops, meeting the ground in the speckled delicacy of a far-off majesty. The air, while humid, was filled with warmth, something quite different to the Viking. Mountains, rolling in the hazy grey of drooping fog, misted the far edges of the horizon, where they stood as silent monarchs, awaiting their kingdom to fall into place.

They cast a shadow over the land beneath them, but it was one so faint the Sun was easily capable of compensating with the fiery breath of its strong, passionate lungs. Thus, dancing before them, a world of endless beauty, from the deepest shades of thin strands of emerald vines swaying in the wind, to the faintest yellows of delicate flowers whose face never turned from the sun it so greatly needed. Every creature, every plant, competing for the sunlight that rested far above their heads, where the canopy met the sky. Yet even in its competition, there was peace. From where they stood, they were surrounded, on all sides, by those eloquent monarchs, each dressed in the regal fabrics of wide based, flourishing trees. It was an ethereal land, the soil beneath them only adding to its feeling by its spongey albeit firm touch.

All around them, life was blooming, a sweet antithesis to the sterilized environment they had just come from. Instead of the scent of antibacterials and other cleaning devices, one could smell the fresh scent of newly bloomed flowers, mixed with the earthy musk of the drumstick tree, whose thin, broad leaves reached out to tickle them. The sonorous hum of the ship had been replaced by the wild calls of a world untouched by man. Predators’ growls, so deep, went unheard. But the vibrant calls of exotic birds, shouting obscenities -or perhaps even pleasantries- at each other, created the perfect cacophony of noise. Here, in this sacred land, the rainforest met the Zebras, and the volcano met the girrafes. In this world, hidden away from all that was known to the people of this country, someone could be truly free. Even if, it were nothing more than a simulation.

“Welcome to Mnt. Suswa ,” Tal informed, kneeling down beside one of the many plants. She reached out, cupping her fingers around the base of a flower, whose spotted petals offered an exotic twist to the remainder of the land. Plucking it from the vine it hung from, whose base nearly graced the ground, she stepped back. Turning to Kara, she offered a smile. “May I?” She inquired, gesturing to place the flower behind her ear. “It isn’t toxic, I swear.”

“This is the land of my ancestors. Yes, this version of it is programmed, but it is rather close to the volcano we hold sacred. At least, to the people I come from.” Tal took in a deep breath, “You can almost smell the diversity of this place.. The scent of the nectar of those flowers, the musk of the oncoming rains, the ashen smell of a dormant volcano.. Things grow as if enhanced by mother nature, herself. The soil here is perhaps some of the most fertile you will find, as it gains many of its nutrients from the Volcano.”

“But enough about the science. Really, all that matters today, is the beauty of this rainforest.” She hummed, “Not many people have ever actually been. And while this isn’t authentic, you seem the person I could show to, and someone who might appreciate its grace.”

Ta’lahali
The Kenyan

Bump! Take your time, Sharon. :)
Trin