Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in The Second Meeting

Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in The Second Meeting

Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in The Second Meeting
Posted by… suppressed (34) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Sisnil was in the galley getting food. Disinterested in socializing with the crew, he fully intended to return to his quarters to eat his depressing, Not-Vash’s-Cooking meal in peace. But apparently it was ship supper time because the galley was busy and getting his food took forever.

~ Zoi

So much for a quick all in one check in. Not that Dradvia minded. It kept her mind solely on the work. She entered the Galley and looked around. The line was long for the two replicators, but she had to wait. It wasn’t like she had an option of getting food in her room. Not that she wanted to be alone in her quarters.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Right behind him in line was… The Risan from earlier. What a coincidence. Sisnil turned around. “It seems the gods like the idea of us meeting.” He said, looking at her.

~ Zoi

Dradvia looked up, wary, how in the world was he right there? Except she was behind him in line so he hadn’t followed her. “You didn’t strike me as the type to believe in fate.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Fate? No. Fate and gods are two different things,” Sisnil replied with a shrug. He picked up on her wariness. Did she really think he’d follow her around? Heh. “Ready for the food? Trust me, it’s depressing.”

~ Zoi

It wasn’t that she really thought he would follow her around. She was just having an off day. Everything seemed to be setting her on edge. It wasn’t the man’s fault. She shrugged again, “Is it really though? Fate means that things are inevitable. Isn’t a god putting things in motion also inevitable? If they are, all powerful, that is.”

“Betazoids don’t believe our gods are all powerful.” Sisnil replied with a shrug. “They exist to guide us, but they aren’t all powerful or all knowing.”

She rocked her head at him, a hint of something flashed, “If they aren’t all powerful or all knowing then how and why would they want us to keep running into each other?”

“Look, I don’t know, I didn’t come here to have a philosophical debate about my religion,” Sisnil said, annoyed.

She withdrew into herself. There was an overwhelming urge to apologize, minimize the consequences. She tapped down on it. She didn’t have to do that here. She changed the subject instead.

Dradvia peeked around him. “I guess compared to some. I don’t mind it. I guess you are used to fresh and professionally cooked?” At one time, she hated replicated food too. But after being fed inedible scraps or going hungry for days, you appreciated it.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Not professionally, but fresh cooked, yeah. I have a- friend. That cooks.” There was a lonely and sad expression on his face quickly hidden away. “Whatever. I’ll get used to it.”

~ Zoi

“You haven’t seen them in awhile?” She asked. Compassion filled her. She knew what that was like. She missed Kryssa.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil shook his head. “My crew… My ship. They’re out there somewhere, and they don’t know where I am. I don’t even know if they know I’m alive. I have a twin - but we must be far far away because I can’t feel him out there.”

~ Zoi

His crew and his ship? Her stomach churned slightly. “Why don’t you just send them a message? Was your ship attacked or lost?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Not exactly,” Sisnil said. “I was.... borrowed by Starfleet. And not given a choice on whether to accept being… ‘borrowed’ or not.” He explained, a little cryptically, because he guessed she might not trust a ‘pirate’.

~ Zoi

Her brows drew together. “So your boss made you come help? Sorry. That’s not a fair shake. And you don’t have any work to do? No wonder you’re wandering around aimlessly.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I am my own boss, I am my ship’s Captain.” Sisnil said firmly. “Commander Morris and his Starfleet brass goons made me come. And no, I’m not Starfleet, and have no pertinent skills, so I’m not doing anything specific.”

~ Zoi

She didn’t want to think about the implications of that. On many, many levels it was all wrong. She felt slightly ill over the things she didn’t want to think about.

He also seemed angry again. She should have stayed quiet. It seemed like simple conversation. Well not so simple, but safe. “My misunderstanding,” she mumbled. She looked past him again and then behind them. “Ummm, it… it’s your turn.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

He stepped forward and got some food for himself. Then stepped aside and waited for her. He wasn’t sure why, he just didn’t want to be alone he guessed. “You ummmm… You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”

~ Zoi

Deny it or admit it? What was the safer option? Was she scared? The ship was safe. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be allowed to wander about unescorted. She was being unfair, just because he was intimidating. While she thought it over she stepped up to the replicator and scanned through the offerings. She sighed, they didn’t have what she wanted. She had no idea how to program a recipe either. Well she knew the basics but she didn’t know the program for what she wanted. She sighed again and chose something else. It didn’t really matter, it was all nutritionally balanced and would fill her up and keep her healthy. That was a blessing. She took her tray and moved out of the way.

She didn’t have to be afraid of him. She was safe here. She would not be afraid. “No, you’re just very intimidating.” She was sure he was quite aware of that fact as well.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

He chuckled. As a five foot four skinny dude, ‘intimidating’ wasn’t a descriptor often used. Intense, sure. Dangerous, maybe. Intimidating? Not really. “Well, I guess I can’t help that.” He commented. “I’m.... sorry? I guess?”

~ Zoi

She shrugged again. It seemed to be her go to response when she was uncertain or slightly anxious. “No need to be sorry. You are who you are. Being intimidating is useful I imagine.” Maybe if she had ever learned how, she could have saved herself and the others. She glanced quickly at him, “Thanks for saying it, though.”

She stepped further out of the way of the crowd and scanned the area for an empty place. There didn’t seem to be one.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Most people don’t think I’m that intimidating,” Sisnil admitted. “Commanding? Sure. Intense, sometimes. But how I look prevents ‘intimidating’.” He shrugged. “Don’t care either way. My crew respects me. That’s enough.”

~ Zoi

“Only fools think intimidating is proportional to physical size,” Dradvia said still looking around. She really didn’t want to eat aline in her quarters, but it looked like that was the only option today.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

That was Sisnil’s plan, to eat alone in his quarters. But he heard her thoughts, she was thinking the same. And didn’t want to eat alone. With how she seemed to feel about him, he didn’t think she’d feel comfortable being alone with him privately. “You know what I used to do, in school? I’d pick a spot in a quiet hallway and sit there and eat.”

~ Zoi

“Don’t like crowds?” She wasn’t prying, she was just trying to keep the conversation going. She could have remarked on how crowded her own school lunch room had been. Or eating together at the orphanage. Or how sneaking away to eat in her room was not quiet because she shared a room with 5 other kids.

“No, I don’t. They’re too noisy. Too many people, too many thoughts and feelings. I prefer the company of a few.”

His words brought back the memory of Kryssa. Dradvia didn’t know what it was like to be telepathic, but she had seen the results of too many minds on a telepath. “I guess animals empty hall was more comfortable.”

She looked around, it was almost too crowded, “I never used to either. Now I do.” Now she sought them out. There was safety in numbers. Even if that safety was only an illusion.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Why’d you change?” His tone was curious. He wasn’t meaning to pry either, but it was something about her tone, and the feelings with the words. “Where do you want to eat, then?”

~ Zoi

She shook her head, lips a thin line. She clamped down on the terror, fear, desperation, hopelessness the memories brought. “They’re just better.” How could she tell this stranger about the darkness, the he!! she had only barely escaped. That followed her awake and asleep? This man that was alternately social and angry, rude and conversational, that kept talking to her, but said a little young Officer wasn’t worth it.

She got it, she wasn’t, but she had a feeling the question was only polite. Maybe he could handle the darkness that still existed in the universe, maybe he couldn’t. But she couldn’t bring herself to say to a complete stranger, someone she didn’t know.

“I guess I’ll have to eat in my quarters. That’s alright. I should probably ‘unpack’ anyway.” Not that she had anything.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Oh. Okay,” Sisnil said, seeming put out with that answer. He didn’t push her, not verbally, not telepathically. He let her be. But one thought he did hear, passively. “I don’t have anything either. It’s all back on my ship.”

~ Zoi

“You can’t have anything sent?” She sighed and shook her head, “Replicating isn’t the same. The things don’t have the same history. I guess I’m lucky. I never had anything sentimental.” Then she looked at him. She hadn’t said that. She thought it. Her brows drew together. He was very much unlike any other Betazoid she had encountered. Was she so easy to read?

For him she was. He and his brother had quite a bit of telepathic ability, and he was used to simply reading those around him without much regard. Not to mention the need to breach mental boundaries when one was a criminal. The Syndicate had asked him and Noril to do things like that more than once.

He seemed disappointed in her reply. She couldn’t figure out why. Maybe he was lonely? “I suppose a quiet corridor would work. I don’t want to walk all the way there to sit and come back 10 minutes later to return it.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“You can pick a place. Wherever you’re comfortable,” Sisnil offered.

~ Zoi

She didn’t want to leave alone with him. But Sisnil could tell it wasn’t him. Nothing he had done or the fact she found him intimidating. She was anxious, afraid, to go off with strangers, any stranger.

“I think there is a larger junction two sections down, port side. That would work. Probably.” She tried not to be obvious about the fortifying breath she took as she stepped out of the corridor with her tray and headed in that direction.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil followed without another word. When they reached the place, he settled in on the floor and set his tray on the ground in front of him.

~ Zoi

She leaned against the bulk head, but then realized how paranoid that looked. So she sat and set her tray on her lap. She ate quietly and quickly. She never talked much during meals.

It was replicated, but it was good if not great. A full meal was always something for which to be grateful.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

It was fine. Food was good. He finished quickly and set his tray aside. Sisnil sighed softly. “I uh… I’m sorry if I’ve bothered you. I don’t know… I guess I don’t want to be alone.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia shrugged glancing up at him through her lashes. “You didn’t bother me, really. I don’t really want to be aline either, but… I just don’t do well with strangers.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil chuckled lightly, “I noticed. I’m telepathic and I can’t tell whether you want me here or want me to leave you the hell alone.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia shrugged, bigger than before. She was embarrassed. “Sorry, really. It’s not you, specifically. It’s just me. I don’t really know what I want either.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Guess I haven’t been super clear, either.”

~ Zoi

She thought he had been. He had made it quite clear he didn’t want to be there and he found her slightly annoying. Or maybe he was just taking his annoyance at his situation, whatever that was, out on her.

She looked down at her empty tray and the stood in one swift quick movement. At one time it was probably graceful, but now it was quick, rushed, as if not wanting to be caught idle or towered over. “I guess I need to return this.” Then back to her horribly empty room.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Yeah, me too.” He stood with his, a slower, but fluid motion. Then he looked at her. “Uhm. We don’t have to go together, if you don’t want.”

~ Zoi

She blinked at him, confusion crossing her features. She wondered if he was trying to be nice or was just ready to be rid of her. “Not much we can really do about that. I don’t really feel like taking empty dirty dishes back to my quarters. You don’t seem the type to be untidy either. We’re both on the same ship. There are lots of people we’ll be coincidentally in the same place, doing the same thing with. It’ll just happen. I’m sure it will happen to the two of us again.” She was rambling.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer