Posted by Lieutenant Tandra Mika (Chief Mental Health Officer) in Dinner and Conversation

Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Counselor) in Dinner and Conversation

Posted by Lieutenant Tandra Mika (Chief Mental Health Officer) in Dinner and Conversation
Posted by… suppressed (46) by the Post Ghost! 👻
On the way out of the Starfleet complex building, Mika smiled up at Séan. “Soo… What do you feel like having?” She asked. “I’m up for anything.” It was already getting dark, since they’d been out late, but it wasn’t fully dark yet, and the sky was painted a beautiful pink/purple/orange with the sunset.

~ Mika

Séan looked down at Mika and grinned. “Is it always a thing with women to leave food choices to a male companion? How does a group of women decide on what to eat?” He winked to show he was kidding around. “Well if you’re up for anything, how about this nice little Italian place I found on one of my outings?”

Counselor Iven

Mika grinned and shrugged. “We stand there for hours talking about it.” She said it like it was terrible, but obviously mockingly, complete with fake shudder. “Italian sounds great.” She said and smiled. “Lead the way!”

~ Mika

Séan nodded back and led Mika on a fifteen minute walk before arriving at a small restaurant off a quiet side street. They had been a bit conspicuous walking about while still in uniform but nobody seemed to want to bother them. They entered the restaurant and were met by an older lady who smiled at the two of them.

“Table for two?” She asked with a lightly accented voice. “Yes, please.” Séan answered back with a smile of his own. “This way then.” She said then led them with two menus in hand. They were taken to a table out of the way, given the menus, and told that she’d be back in a few to take their orders.

Counselor Iven

Mika looked at the menu for what couldn’t have been more than a minute, then closed it and set it down, having decided. “So did your session run really late?” She asked him. “It’s not usual for you to still be seeing a patient a half hour after time.”

~ Mika

Séan looked up from his menu at Mika’s question. “It ended up being a spur of the moment booking so we had started late. I didn’t want to displace any of my already scheduled patients and Jezem was fine with coming in after hours.”

Counselor Iven

“Hmm.” Mika said. She didn’t like to gossip about patients, so she didn’t mention it, but she felt the Orion patient of Séan’s… A bit odd. She just… Had a feeling. “What’re you ordering?” She asked.

~ Mika

Séan set the menu down and grinned. “Some seafood pasta with extra shrimp on the side and a salad. What about you?”

Counselor Iven

“Alfredo noodles with their signature house salad.” Mika responded. “And just a water, I think.” She smiled, “You must really like shrimp.”

~ Mika

“I do like shrimp. I’m a big eater though and so just the entre and salad wouldn’t be enough.” Séan shrugged and then smiled. It was at this time that the lady came to take their orders and took away the menus. He had ordered a water as well though a wine had been tempting.

Counselor Iven

Mika ordered hers. Their waters were our quickly and she drank from hers. “So you’ve been doing more exploring? Find anything interesting?”

~ Mika

“A couple different restaurants, a bunch of bars, oh and a handcrafted weapons shop for various blades.” Séan detailed his different discoveries. He took a sip from his water.

Counselor Iven

“A weapons shop?” Mika asked. “Sounds interesting.” She smiled then, “Any other interesting restaurants you think I’d like?”

~ Mika

“I’m not sure.” Séan chuckled at the question. “Every time we go to to eat something you say you’re up for anything. It would help if you told me what you don’t like.”

Counselor Iven

“Hmm… No steakhouses.” Mika said and looked up at him. Their food came, the restaurant wasn’t too busy, and Mika pulled her plate towards her. “Looks good,” she said.

~ Mika

Séan nodded enthusiastically as he started eating a few shrimp then moved to his salad. He said between bites, “Why no steakhouses?”

Counselor Iven

“I’m just not a big fan of them,” Mika replied. “Nothing against the food, really, though barbeque and steaks aren’t my favorite.”

~ Mika

Séan nodded then shrugged. He finished his salad and then started on the pasta. “Do you have a favorite food then? If you had a replicator that could only store the recipe for one meal, what would it be?”

Counselor Iven

Mika gave the question a lot of thought. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t spend that much time thinking about food. Maybe something my mom used to make, though I guess it wouldn’t be the same, then.”

~ Mika

Séan chuckled at a thought that evoked for him. “My mom couldn’t cook worth a damn. It was either replicated or a neighbor brought us food. Though replicators on a colony are rare-ish because of the power needed to run them and the base elements to actually make the things. My dad made sure we had supplies to run it though.”

Counselor Iven

Mika nodded. “My mom was a wonderful cook. And she was always finding new things to try making. She taught me some of her tricks, but I’m not the cook she was, nor do I really like cooking.” She had taken over cooking after her mother was murdered and just hadn’t enjoyed it.

~ Mika

Séan had a stray thought, he kind of wanted to try her cooking, but he kept it to himself. It was a bit of a personal thing to ask and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. He finished his pasta and considered if he wanted to get some dessert. “Are you getting full or are you interested in getting some dessert?”

Counselor Iven

“A little dessert would be good,” Mika replied, “but let’s get something to share. That way if I don’t eat it you can.”

~ Mika

“I’m happy to share. Do you want me to pick? Anything in particular you wouldn’t want?” Séan was getting wise to Mika’s foisting the decisions on to him.

Counselor Iven

Mika grinned, deciding to be contrary. “Do you like tiramisu? That was on the menu.”

~ Mika

“I love tiramisu.” Séan reply while he grinned back at Mika. He got the attention of the older lady and put in the order for dessert. She took the empty plates and left to go tell the kitchen.

Counselor Iven

Mika smiled politely. “So how have things been? Still settling in or..?”

~ Mika

“I think I’m settled now. I’ve gotten used to the routine and case load. Our daily lunches have helped a lot too. Yeah, I think I’ll like being here.” Séan said with a smile. At this point the tiramisu arrived on a plate with two forks.

Counselor Iven

Mika nodded. “Good.” She picked up a fork and tried the tiramisu. “It’s good, try it.”

~ Mika

Séan picked up the other fork and took a bite. “Mmm… that is good. I think I’ll be coming back here pretty regularly.”

Counselor Iven

Mika smiled, taking another bite. “I wouldn’t be opposed to being invited along to some of those trips back here.” She said, looking at Séan from across the table.

~ Mika

“You are on the top of my list for dinner companions Tandra. I will definitely invite you when I come back.” Séan said with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile. The piece of tiramisu was a pretty good size but sadly it was finished all too soon. “I’m going to use the restroom real quick and then if you’d like I’ll walk you home.” He got up and went to the restroom but on his way back he was a bit sneaky and settled the bill. He came back to the table and gave Mika a grin. “Are you ready to go?”

Counselor Iven

Mika stood when he came back. “What about the check? We haven’t paid yet.” She said, having not seen him stop to pay it on the way back to the table.

~ Mika

“I took care of it. You’ve been incredibly helpful and sweet to me since I’ve arrived, I feel it’s the least I could do.” Séan said with a soft smile.

Counselor Iven

Mika smiled, “You didn’t have to do that. Thank you.” She said as she headed out with him. “I think I’d like it is you walked with me.”

~ Mika

“It would be my pleasure.” Séan said with a grin. He walked next to Mika at a slow, for him, pace. The sun had finally dropped and the stars were coming, though the cities lights made it hard to really see.

Counselor Iven

Mika walked with him at what for her was a normal pace. “So what do you do in your off time besides appointments for rich househusbands?” She asked.

~ Mika

Séan shrugged. “Not really a whole lot. Some reading, some exploration, finding new restaurants, and trying to stay out of trouble.” He looked down at her and returned the question. “What have you been doing in your time off?”

Counselor Iven

“Getting my garden going.” Mika responded, her eyes lighting up. “Sharah and I set up a watering system in case I wouldn’t have the time to water them, but I’ve been trimming and shaping them so they produce plenty of herbs. Oh, yeah! All of the plants in my garden have some kind of medical effect.”

~ Mika

“Medicinal like pain relieving, fever reducing, relaxation, etc.?” Séan asked curiously. He’d never had a green thumb or much of an interest in gardening, but he was interested in what Mika was interested in. Plus it was engrossing to talk with someone who was super enthusiastic about something. And right now Mika was positively glowing.

Counselor Iven

Mika nodded. “Exactly like that. I like survival medicine, you know, like treating people when you don’t have access to advanced med, like if you were on some alien planet on an away team, right? This is kind of part of that. Plants come in handy! And Sharah and I are gonna run an experiment for how effective they are compared to traditional medical counterparts. I don’t expect them to perform as well, but I think they’re certainly better than nothing!”

~ Mika

Séan nodded along and grinned, he was getting swept up in Mika’s excitement. “That certainly sounds like a fun project. How would you determine the potential effect of an alien plant and whether it’s safe for applying medicinally?”

Counselor Iven

“Generally, lab tests, but if you didn’t have access to the lab… The same way as the ancients. Test a small amount of it and see what happens. But… Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, I’m sure you can guess why,” Mika said and smiled again.

~ Mika

“Huh. Well if you crash land somewhere you’re not going to have a lab available. Are there any things to look out for that might indicate poisonous plants?” Séan asked, hoping to keep the interesting conversation going.

Counselor Iven

“Sometimes, yeah, but in an alien environment you can never be sure. All the plants might be purple for all you know.” Mika said. “I visited a planet where all the animals were either reflective or bioluminescent once.”

~ Mika

“Really? The only time I went on an away mission was for disaster relief for a planet hard struck by a disaster. I’ve never seen alien flora or fauna as exotic as that.” Séan was surprised by why Mika described.

Counselor Iven

“The perks of being a doctor. Counselors hardly ever go on away missions.” Mika said with a grin. “Unfortunately I caught the very disease I was there to treat. I was sick for weeks.”

~ Mika

Séan shook his head. “The perks and the cons it seems. Was there not a quarantine protocol established?”

Counselor Iven

“Of course there was,” Mika said. “But errors, mistakes, and just plain bad luck all happen. When you’re medical… Sometimes that means catching something nasty.”

~ Mika

“It’s fortunate for us all that you survived the disease.” Séan said with a look of gratitude. He was certainly happy that she had. He was about to quip that counseling didn’t have anything nasty to catch but then he remembered the last counseling session he had on the Ogawa and his thigh started to hurt. He took a deep breath that was not quite a gasp and stopped in his tracks. If he tried to keep walking his leg likely would have buckled and down he would have gone.

Counselor Iven