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 (34) 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 Capital 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

Sisnil watched her for a moment. “Do you want me to walk you to the medical bay?” He asked. “You can say know, I just…” sensed her apprehension about getting hounded on the way.

~ Zoi

It upset her how secure she felt around him. She shouldn’t knowing where he came from, but he hadn’t chosen that life. “Please.” It was barely audible and she should be able to do this on her own. The other man had been pushy. Pushy enough to make her anxious.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Well, he hadn’t chosen the Syndicate. He hadn’t exactly not chosen crime. Sisnil wanted her to like him. But he didn’t want her to fool herself into thinking he was something he wasn’t. He smiled. “Okay.” He took his tray and got rid of it and then returned and stood by her. “Whenever you’re ready.”

~ Zoi

The thing was, Dradvia grew up on Risa. There was plenty of crime and a known Syndicate presence. It had always been around. Mostly where she had grown up went unnoticed by the Syndicate. There was no money to extort and most of the kids were permenarly injured or sick. Kryssa and Dradvia had always been very careful of where they went.

But crime was a part of the exotic tourist economy on Risa. It was just too tempting to outsiders and the have nots struggled to get by. So that didn’t really bother her. But the Syndicate wasn’t filled with criminals but with monsters and evil incarnate.

“I’m ready.” She stacked her half eaten meal and carried the tray to the return and then headed for the door. She made sure not to catch the man’s eye or even glance his way, despite his quiet efforts.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil walked by her as they left the galley. He didn’t invade her personal space, nor did he touch her. Just let it be seen he was with her. “Consider it payback for the sleep machine, yeah?”

~ Zoi

Dradvia nodded, “Okay.” She hadn’t thought about it like that. In fact, she never would have asked him, or thought of him owing her anything. If it helped him to know she had no hold on him, she didn’t mind. Favors were both deadly and worth latinum in the Syndicate.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

And that was exactly why he seemed so set on not owing favours. In his world, a favour was a ‘debt’, and dangerous. They arrived at the doors to sickbay and he smiled again. “See you around, Dee.”

~ Zoi

“Thank you, Sisnil.” She paused before she said, “Let me know what monkish activity you pick.” Then she went through the doors to start her shift.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer