Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in Too Often to be Coincidence

Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in Too Often to be Coincidence

Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in Too Often to be Coincidence
Posted by… suppressed (26) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
A small smile graced her lips. “You’re welcome. I hope it helps. Let me know if it doesn’t and we can adjust it a bit more.” There wasn’t anything anyone could do for her. No one could erase her memories or make her feel safe anymore. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Though she didn’t care about swapping favors. “Good night, Sisnil. I hope you get some sleep.” She stepped out the door and was gone.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Night, Dee.” Sisnil said just before the door shut behind her. He did sleep that night, and the next morning woke feeling refreshed and better than he had. Earlier than usual, he was out and heading towards the galley for breakfast.

~ Zoi

Dradvia was later than him getting to the lounge. There was another Officer walking in with her. He was chatting and animatedly engaged in the conversation. The young man was taller and much broader than Dradvia. He was enjoying the conversation and was quite taken with her.

Dradvia on the other hand was more reserved and quiet than normal. Waves of stress came off her. She was intimidated by the man and he seemed too close. She got in an opposite, shorter line than him. When she got her food, she hurried to a table with a single chair, nit looking at anyone.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil noticed quickly. He stood from his seat and moved to her table, sitting down next to her. “Hey, Dee. How’d you sleep?” He asked politely, subtly watching the officer that she seemed stressed by.

~ Zoi

Her stress level went up significantly as she heard someone approach and sit down. Her relief was palatable and immediate when she realized it was Sisnil. Which, if she thought about it, would be odd, would make her worry about what she was thinking. Oh Sisnil still intimidated Dradvia. He was more intimidating than that ops Officer following her all morning. She wasn’t afraid of Sisnil though. At least not as much as she had been.

She smiled at him, “Isn’t that my line?” She shrugged just a little, “I slept alright I guess. You?” He looked better, brighter, more alert, but that might be wishful thinking.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Well, thank you.” Sisnil said and smiled. He started eating his food again. “Now I can cause trouble at my normal level of efficiency,” he said and grinned in a way he hoped conveyed he was kidding.

~ Zoi

“You mean you are going to be worse?” She grinned at him. “I’m glad it worked. Really. How much sleep did you get?” She grabbed her coffee and took a sip.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“All night,” Sisnil said, as if bragging. He finished his breakfast and then his drink. “Better than in a long time.”

~ Zoi

“I’m really glad.” She was. She started eating her own food.

“Hey, Drad,” the officer from earlier had spotted her as he had gotten her food. He stopped looking pointedly at Sisnil. “Drad and I were in the middle of a conversation. We had planned to finish it over breakfast.”

Dradvia didn’t like the way he looked at her. Like they belonged together. How he was assuming things in order to stay near her. It made her tense and instinctually afraid. The young Officer wasn’t cruel or bad by any means, but he was willing to stretch the truth so this Civilian wouldn’t ruin his chances with Dradvia. He knew it was just a matter of patience before they were together.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I don’t know, she doesn’t seem all that enthused,” Sisnil replied easily. “Maybe you should continue your conversation later.” The words weren’t forceful but firm, a trick he’d learned long ago as a pirate captain. The officer was presumptive and cocky and Sisnil didn’t like him. He was taller than Sisnil, by probably half a foot, but that didn’t seem to intimidate Sisnil at all.

~ Zoi

The man stood a little straighter at the inherent command in the statement. “Dradvia? What’s he talking about?”

She didn’t like the attention. She was staring at her food, seemingly shrinking. The man looked from Sisnil to Dradvia and back. “She doesn’t look too comfortable. Maybe it’s you.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I’m a mind reader,” Sisnil pointed out. “Besides, the attention like this would make almost anyone uncomfortable.” He wasn’t trying to start a fight, but he wouldn’t back down. He remained where he was, gaze locked with the officer.

~ Zoi

Mind reader or not didn’t make the man all knowing. It certainly didn’t qualify him as a better suitor. He sized Sisnil up. He wouldn’t start a fight. That was a serious infraction to regulations, but he wasn’t agraid to fight back. He looked at Dradvia, “What do you want Drad?” he said as encouragingly and charmingly as possible.

She didn’t want to get involved, she wanted to be invisible. Her discomfort finally dawning on him. That had been very far from his intention. “My misunderstanding,” he waited trying to catch her eye. “I’ll catch you later, Drad. Alright?”

He left, but glanced back at her. The man was protective of her, but that didn’t deter him. He just had to change his approach.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil turned back to her without another word about it when he walked away. “Where were we, Dee? Oh, yeah, sleep.” He smiled. “I’ve really got to find a way to thank you.”

~ Zoi

It took her a moment to breathe. It wasn’t like the man did anything wrong, she just couldn’t and she didn’t want to have to explain to anyone. She stared at her food and pushed it away. She’d lost her appetite.

“You don’t have to do anything. I was glad I could help you.” Besides getting rid of that man was more than thanks enough.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Listen, Dee…” He said when she pushed her food away. “I couldn’t really tell whether you wanted him gone or both of us gone. But if anyone does bother you… Just say the word, alright? I’m not violent, I won’t hurt anybody. I’m just convincing.”

~ Zoi

She didn’t look at him, but her confusion was obvious. Why was he doing this for her? Because she helped him sleep? That made her feel warm inside. The fact he wanted to help because she was kind and not because she was nice to look at.

“J… Just him.” She was staring at a spot on the table. “It’s not his fault. He thinks he’s attracted and… and makes all these plans in minutes. I can’t, I don’t…”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“He’s cocky and arrogant anyway.” Sisnil said, waving his hand as if shooing the man away. “Assumes way too much, way too quickly.” He set his tray aside and pushed hers towards her. “Eat. You’ll be alright. But you’ll regret it later if you don’t eat.”

~ Zoi

She really wasn’t hungry anymore. Dradvia had a feeling Sisnil wasn’t going to let it go either. She picked up the utensil. “Who’s the doctor here?” She tried to joke. It wasn’t really effective. She ate a few bites slowly, her stomach not settling, but at least the food didn’t make it worse. “So, what do you do all day? Other than randomly run into me?” She didn’t want to think about what had just happened. It was irrational she knew, but it upset her a lot.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Who’s the ship captain?” Sisnil said back and grinned. He shrugged, “Not much. No one trusts me near anything and I’m not trained as an engineer or a security person anyway so… Sometimes they make me run around like a yeoman.”

~ Zoi

She glanced at him, “But I’m not your crew.” It wasn’t defiant or oppositional. The way he talked about his crew, she thought he cared for them. That he would take care of them. She was kind of envious of them having people who cared about them.

“No, but I care all the same,” Sisnil replied.

Dradvia wasn’t sure how to take that, and she wasn’t really willing to ponder it. She was very sure that it would upset her already precarious equilibrium. Then again she didn’t have much of that right now anyway.

She ate a few more bites and shook her head. “That’s wrong.” It was forced servitude. “You should book the holosuite for the same time every day and do some kind of monkish thing. Like meditation or flower arranging or rock gardens. Open it up as a group activity. Just to make them confused.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil laughed. “I like your style, Dee.” He said. “I will. Thanks.”

~ Zoi

His laugh transformed his expression. Dradvia caught herself staring after a moment and looked away to take a drink and then back. “They can’t expect you to just sit and stare at a wall or roam around aimlessly for days or weeks on end. It’s not healthy. If they aren’t going to give you anything meaningful to do, then create your own.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I’ll code and design crazy holodeck games.” Sisnil said. He was joking, but he could do that. It was all code. Complicated, fancy code, but code. He could make a holodeck do nearly anything a holodeck was capable of doing.

~ Zoi

“If you design new holodeck programs, adding more variety to what is already there, you’ll be swamped with socialization. People will be eager to ask for more or borrow them or join you. On a ship this small, a new holodeck program is like water to a dying man. The other option is the board games under the table there,” and she nodded toward the coffee table in the ‘lounge’ area.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil spotted a deck of cards. “I could run ship wide poker games.” He winked at Dradvia, “House always wins.” He knew how to play poker to subtly win all the money.

~ Zoi

“Poker is very popular.” She nodded, it would certainly get people’s attention. “Make yourself popular. It will confuse the sanity out of the people watching you. Especially if you don’t do anything ‘iffy’.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil eyed her playfully. “…You just don’t want me to do anything else “iffy”, don’t you?” He said and grinned. “Trying to trick me into liking this place, are you?”

~ Zoi

“No,” she said honestly. She would never try to trick him even if she couldn’t admit to herself that she wanted him to like it here. Much less why she wanted that. “I just want you to get back to Noril. If you stay out of trouble, hopefully your chances increase.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled. “I appreciate that.” He said, but he didn’t seem to believe that would happen. At least, not if Starfleet had anything to say about it. “If I start making holo programs, you’re my test runner,” he said, grinning at her.

~ Zoi

Dradvia was honest enough to know that those chances were slim, but she had to hope there was a possibility. As far as she knew Sisnil had never committed a Capitol crime. How long did they intend his sentence to be?

She buried her confusion and flutters. “Okay, yeah I can do that.” She groaned, “I have to go, or I’ll be late.” She glanced around. She didn’t want to have to walk past that other officer or be hounded once she left.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer