Flaming Red Hair

Posted on 09 Jun 2013 @ 10:12pm by Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley
Edited on on 13 Jun 2013 @ 8:21am

2,199 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD09 - 1900 hours

ON

Mor'an entered the Mess, intent upon eating alone after a long day of being around so many people. However, as she entered the room, she caught sight of a girl she had never seen before. The girl had flaming red hair and pale skin. Mor'an had never seen hair quite like it before and decided that she was intrigued by it. Meandering over to the girl, Mor'an stood in her field of vision and greeting the red-haired girl with a traditional Tarkannan hand gesture.

"May I?" she asked, her hand indicating the empty seat across from the girl.

Victoria set her book down on the table and looked up at the new arrival. She was about her height, maybe slightly shorter, and she had long, jet black hair. She seemed to Victoria to be very sedate and calm, not prone to getting overexcited, a relief to Victoria after a day of over-enthusiastic greetings and non-stop conversations and introductions.

Victoria gestured to the chair and smiled at the girl. "Please."

Settling into the seat like a bird into its nest, Mor'an studied the girl. "I am Im'er Mor'an," she said, "Daughter of Im'er An'aley, of the Order of Ban'kina. You may call me simply Mor'an." Her piercing blue eyes took stock of the red-haired girl. She seemed calm by nature, and deceivingly intelligent. "You are new on this ship?"

Victoria nodded, amused by Mor'an's formal way of speaking. "Yeah, I just got here. I'm Victoria Crawley, but you can call me Victoria." She took a sip of her tea, and studied Mor'an as discreetly as she could manage. She seemed nice, but Victoria sensed that she wasn't the fluttery, girly type. She seemed almost Vulcan, in a way, yet with a tough, Klingon edge that fascinated Victoria. Putting her cup down, she continued. "I was just transferred over from the USS Venture. I'm the new psychologist."

Mor'an raised an eyebrow. A psychologist? This red-haired girl, Victoria, thinks she knows the mind, then. Keeping her thought to herself, Mor'an asked a question instead. "I am sorry," she said, "But your hair. It is natural?" At the Academy she had seen red hair, but nothing quite like Victoria's.

Slightly taken aback yet amused by Mor'an's question, Victoria grabbed a piece of hair and looked at it. It was kind of obnoxious. "Yeah, it is." She took another sip of tea before changing the subject.

"Now it's my turn to ask you question, if you don't mind, that is."

"Of course not," Mor'an said. She liked when people asked her questions because she liked to impart knowledge, no matter the nature of it.

"What species are you?" Victoria was curious and she could never resist learning all she could about alien species.

Mor'an smiled. That was always one of the first questions that people asked when they first meet her. "I am Tarkannan," she said. "My home planet is called Arun-R'lantha. My people are new to the Federation and I am the first of us to join the Academy." Victoria seemed like the type who pursued knowledge simply because she was curious. Mor'an liked that in a person.

That would explain why she wasn't familiar, then. Victoria wrote a note to herself on her PADD to look up the Tarkannans when she got a free minute. Looking back at Mor'an, she placed the PADD back on the table, next to her book. "How long have you been with the Federation, then?"

"Oh, I am not sure exactly," Mor'an said, leaning back and crossing her arms at her chest comfortably. "My people to not always take kindly to change, so it was a slow process getting me into the Academy." She smiled. "I do not know what my mentor thinks of my joining the Academy. I wish you could have met her. She had been on board for a while, but she is gone now."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Victoria wondered what had happened but decided it was inappropriate to ask. "So, what kinds of things did she teach you?"

"Things?" Mor'an repeated, "Well, she has been my mentor since I was old enough to walk, so she has been like a second mother to me. There is no end to the things that I learn from her. In the capacity of my physical and mental training she tough me everything that I know at this moment. Everything from how to fight to how to think." She paused before adding: "I did not mean she was dead and I said she was gone. I simply meant that she had to leave." Mor'an grinned sheepishly at her mistake in using this language she was so unfamiliar with.

"Oh," Victoria smothered a laugh in her hand. "Wow, well...that was kind of stupid of me. I'm sorry, again." She made no effort to stop laughing this time. She couldn't help it; it was probably just because she was tired. Yeah, that had to be it.

"it is alright," Mor'an said, trying to ease Victoria's discomfort. "I do not always have a good hold over your language. Sometimes I say things and forget that they do not mean what I want to say." She offered Victoria a smile. "When did you arrive?"

Victoria sipped her tea and said, "A few days ago." She was surprised when she realized that she hadn't been on board for very long. For some odd reason, she found it remarkably easy to adapt to the change. It felt like she had been on the ship for years. "I'm already loving this ship; I didn't think I'd like it, being so small and all, but I actually prefer it to the Venture."

Mor'an nodded. "I like this ship very much," she said with a smile, "Although, I have yet to live on board other ships besides this one. I am used to the close quarters, though. I have lived like this much of my life." She leaned forward, elbows on the table in front of her. "Where on Earth are you from, exactly?" She liked to know these things about her shipmates.

"Maine, United States. I lived there until high school, and then we moved to San Francisco. I miss Maine, though; t's so beautiful there." Victoria's hands gripped her mug of tea until her knuckles turned white; she couldn't help but think of her and Peter's escapades after school to the docks, where they would watch the ships come in. Realizing what she was doing to the cup, she released it and smiled as calmly as she could manage.

There wasn't much that could escape Mor'an's sharp gaze. She noticed the sudden tension in Victoria's body and the forced smile she presented, almost as though she had memories floating about inside her head that were less than happy. "I am from Arun R'lantha," Mor'an said, hoping to take Victoria's mind away from what was bothering her, "It is a planet that is covered in more water than yours. I love the water more than I care to admit."

Victoria perked up a bit, happy for the change in subject. "You swim? There's a pool here?" She wasn't going to lie, that sounded pretty nice, but she didn't know where it could be on such a small ship, if there really was one.

"No..." Mor'an said, "There is no room, unfortunately. But, yes, I do love to swim. All of my people do. We learn to swim sometimes before we can walk. What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"Well, I don't have a lot of hobbies, per se, but I love languages, especially Trill. That was one of the first ones I learned, and it's one of my favorites. What about you? What kinds of things do you and your people generally do for fun? Do you shoot or practice karate or something like that? Or maybe you meditate and do spiritual things? Or maybe..." Victoria trailed off as she realized she was starting to sound a little bit manic. That's great, she thought. Scare the poor girl, why don't you. That's a fantastic way to make friends.

Mor'an chuckled softly at Victoria's stream of words. "We actually do meditate quite a lot," she said, "It is part of our daily rituals, but many of us do it outside of our requirements. I also spend a lot of time on the Holodeck training in combat and knife-work." She was always cautious about mentioning her fancy of sharp weapons and the fact that she was more than capable of using them. However, Victoria seemed to her to be the type that wouldn't mind.

"Knives?" Victoria asked, incredulous. For some reason, this admission surprised her. She hadn't expected that, but it seemed appropriate. "You'll have to teach me sometime." It was definitely a good skill to have and something told her that Mor'an was more than just skilled. Victoria might be able to pick up a few things from her. She could try, anyway.

"I would love to," Mor'an replied with a smile. She liked to teach people how to use knives properly. "You can come by my quarters and see my collection. Have you ever used a blade before?"

Victoria held back a laugh, trying to cover it with a cough. The thought of her handling something like a knife was hilarious; she'd probably just end up killing herself without supervision. "Does a kitchen knife count?"

"No," Mor'an said with a laugh, "Not really. Handling blades really is not as hard or as dangerous as you may think. You must not be afraid of it. Do you know how to fight at all?"

"A little. I took krav for a couple of years in Maine, but not since we moved, so I don't remember a whole lot. I do know how to handle a firearm, though." Victoria made a mental note to try to start doing some kind of martial art when she got the chance.

"If you take it up again your muscles will remember," Mor'an said, "I knew someone at the Academy who knows krav. It is a very good martial art to master. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, I did. I've been meaning to take it up again, but I haven't had the time. Maybe now I will." That was the hope, at least. She could practice in her room after she got off duty. "Do you take anything like krav or jujitsu or something like that?"

"I suppose you could say it was something of that nature," Mor'an said, "Though I do not believe there is a name for it. It is simply a way of life that we learn beginning at a time that we are very young. It is hard to explain."

"So everyone on your planet is kind of a badass?" Victoria said with a smile.

Mor'an smiled at the difference in the way her and Victoria spoke. "If my understanding of that term is correct, then yes, I suppose we are. But, if you ever meet my mentor, do not allow her to hear you say that. She would not approve." The way Mor'an said these last few words were said in a manner that suggested it wouldn't bother her if Del'an actually did hear it.

"Of course," Victoria said, nodding. "We wouldn't want that." She looked checked the time on her PADD. She should probably get going soon; she'd have to get back to sickbay soon so she could get back to work.

"Did I interrupt you?" Mor'an asked when she saw Victoria look at her PADD, "Do you need to leave?"

Victoria's head whipped up, her cheeks almost as red as her hair. "Damn it, sorry! That was rude. I don't need to leave just yet, but probably soon. I don't want to miss work." Way to be awkward, Victoria, she berated herself. Nicely done.

"No, I am the one that came to you," Mor'an said rising from her seat, "I must get to work myself. It was a pleasure talking with you."

"I guess I'll see you around, then," Victoria said, grabbing her now empty cup and PADD from the table, also rising. "Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate the company." She smiled at Mor'an again and held out her had for the other girl to shake.

Mor'an looked at Victoria's outstretched hand with a raised eyebrow. She had seen people at the Academy shakes hands and had even done it once or twice herself. However, she could never quite remember how to do it. With hesitation, Mor'an reached out her hand to mirror Victoria's and let it hover next to hers. After a moment of though to make sure she did it properly, Mor'an finally clasped Victoria's hand and gave it a firm shake.

"I shall see you later, then," she said with a smile before turning and striding from the room.

Realizing that it was getting late, Victoria took her things and strode out the door, heading back to work.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Cadet Senior Grade Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Intern
USS Galileo

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