Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Black Rock- A Reunion of Friends

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Black Rock- A Reunion of Friends

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Black Rock- A Reunion of Friends

(snip)

“Yeah, I guess if we’re engaged. Honestly I have to read up on the rules about that. I’m somewhat old fashioned in that I’ve never really been a fan of that before marriage.”

She eyed him curiously. “For me it seems natural. On Tenra, living together is just as legitimate and as a legal marriage, though I recgonize that there are some differences from what other Tenraith may have experienced, and my, well, unusual situation.” She had been Roquan’s hateesh and was for all intents and purposes his wife culturally. It just had effectively been a coerced arrangement though, so outside of Cortallo no one would have considered it binding in any way.

“Well, there are parts of Earth where it is too. In some places if you live together long enough it becomes a legal marriage whether you intend to do it or not.” He never did find out if it was true that it only took 90 days of cohabitation in some of the United States of America. He just knew he didn’t intend to find out.

“I just never liked it because I kind of think that if you’re going to do that, you should be committed. A lot of people who move in together aren’t actually fully committed when they do it, so they take it as a kind of baby step to avoid or delay actually committing.”

She considered this and could understand that perspective. “I guess it’s a matter of how a society views marriage. It’s a looser sort of thing on Tenra, but not for me. I spent so long trying to not bind myself to people that to come to the point where I want to have that kind of permanent bond with someone means something important to me.”

The lift resumed its course down through the station.

He let out another sigh. It was as if the excitement from a moment ago had evaporated completely.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be a downer but… well… I have to admit something to you.”

Vora turned to face him. “Oh?” she said with some concern.

He breathed in slightly before continuing. “I haven’t actually told my parents much about you.”

There was a long pause as she frowned slightly. “Ah. That would make things a bit different, I guess.”

“I mean… it’s not about you… it’s just… well… My mother… umm… wants me to do well in this particular area of life. So… when there’s something for her to know, she… uhhh… well… she gets very… excited… let’s say. And that can be very… difficult… to deal with. So I usually deal with it by simply never discussing the topic any time we talk.”

“Okay…” she said warily, trying to process his jumbled set of thoughts, but fortunately for her she could replay this conversation later for clarity if needed.

“My father knows more. I can tell him pretty much anything. I often do. But, my mother is going to be very… surprised. And I think it’s mostly going to be pleasant, but you might find it… awkward… at least at first.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“Halt lift,” Zorell called out and the lift came to a stop. Taking a deep breath, she gazed at Johann deeply. “I… understand that our situation, and my background make for rather difficult conversations. I don’t know your parents aside form the odd comment you’ve made now and again, but I think you’ll find after all this time that the awkward stuff is easier for me to talk about than you might think. I can handle the uncomfortable questions, Johann. I also know that I’m not used to fervent attention that was positive. But for I know it’ll be a refreshing surprise.”

“OH, it’s… umm… I mean, I wasn’t talking about that sort of thing. This isn’t about your background. It’s about my mother’s… uhh… exuberance… When it comes to the topic of me and women. I doubt your background is even going to come up unless you raise it, and I wouldn’t care about it if it bothered my parents.”

Actually I guess we’ll have to explain Jerrin, he thought a second later. But still…

“Alright,” Vora said with a nod. She had long understand that she had never been the kind of person one would be proud to introduce to their family, but that had been before. So much had changed in the last decade of her life and she wasn’t going to negate that progress by overly worrying about what some relations who were not in her daily life might think of her.

“But… this makes me realize that we definitely can’t skip steps here and there are things we’re going to have to talk about that haven’t really been necessary before.” Vora said, giving his hand a squeeze.

“You know I was informed that it’s very unlikely that I could get pregnant or carry a pregnancy safely. But we haven’t talked about kids. Jerrin came into my life, and subsequently our lives so quickly that it’s been all about him and trying to make up for lost time. But I don’t know what you want, Johann. Do you want kids of your own? I mean, there are ways around things and maybe I’ll have more options now than before. I don’t know- I haven’t pursued it because it was far, far from my mind.”

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences

“I haven’t considered raising children to be very compatible with my career,” he said plainly. “I don’t think I’d want to have them unless I’ve already been shoveled dirtside or put on a staff someplace. Or if I retire.”

Well that sounded pretty resolute to her.

He had considered retiring from Star-Fleet a number of times in his career. The first was after he made the mistake of taking an assignment at a research facility on Upsilon Mu X. The second time was when he lost his natural vision. The third time… well…

“I’m not really planning to retire yet, though every once in a while I get tired of certain aspects of this job. Ones that I really go out of my way not to complain about. I think about entering the dreaded private sector. I know some people who’d be interested in things I could do for them, so I wouldn’t have to worry about just loafing about at home all day.”

“I can’t imagine you ever being happy with an idle life. Maybe a more relaxed one, but certainly not idl,” he said with a grin.

“Thankfully the magic of modern medicine means we don’t have to even think about the timing of children very seriously… I mean, barring the other issues. Do you want to be the mother of one or more of my children?”

— Johann Dvorak, CO

Inhaling slowly, Vora didn’t answer right away, though she wasn’t intentionally trying to be dramatic. “I’m open to it, yes,” she said softly.

Reaching out, she took Johann’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “For most of my adult life I either assumed I would be a terrible mother, or poured all my energy into creating a life that would make the one child I did have maybe be proud of me someday. I never thought about what I wanted, but I think we can both agree that was standard operating procedure for me for a long time.”

“Having another child, or even more than one is something I gave up, unwillingly. And I’ve been so focused on the here and now and not making future plans too far that I guess I never really thought about whether I wanted more children. I missed so much with Jerrin, and while I can’t make up for that, there’s a part of me that always wants to make sure that others get a better life, and childhood, than I had. So… I guess that’s a complicated way of saying that, yes, I would like to. It’s not a deal breaker if we don’t, but I don’t have the same limitations in my mind that you do. From my perspective, anything better than the situation I grew up in is a perfectly reasonable place to raise children. Starships included.”

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences