Spring Cleanout

Posted on 07 Sep 2014 @ 2:07pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D.
Edited on on 07 Sep 2014 @ 2:44pm

3,659 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Van Zyl/Faye quarters
Timeline: MD8 1600 hours

[ON]

It had taken some doing to get it all fixed up, as something hadn't quite gone right before but Tyrion thought he had fixed the problem now. He was crawled haflway into their room's air ventilation shaft, only his feet sticking out now. Some grunts and muffled curses could be heard when the Betazoid fixed the filter in place a second time. He heard the doors slide open, knowing Piet was coming home.

Another muffled profanity, this would spoil the surprise for sure!

At first, Pieter didn't notice the feet sticking out of the shaft when he entered. He was too busy trying to work the crick out of his back with random, awkward-looking poses and stretches. The years of bending over consoles and crawling through Jeffries tubes with such a broad body was finally getting to him at the ripe old age of thirty-five, it would seem.

Left unsatisfied and still with a dull pain in his lower back, Pieter finally sighed and looked around for his roommate before his eyes fell on the pair of boots dangling from the ventilation shaft. Blinking slowly, Pieter approached, wondering if his next door neighbor had forgotten his quarter's access codes again and was trying to crawl through Pieter's quarters to his again. With the tribble numbers growing, he'd read reports of quarters sensors not noticing people and Sickbay was apparently seeing bruised noses quite a lot lately.

Wanting to get the man's (he assumed it was a man, anyway) attention, Pieter tapped an ankle when he reached it.

Despite having heard the door, but obviously not sensed his roomie's presence, Tyrion squealed and quickly slithered from the tube to thump down on the deck. "Ow," he muttered, rubbing his ass. "Could've just called y'know," he said as he crawled to his feet, but not before the spanner slid from the tube and connected soundly with his head.

Pieter bit his lips to keep from laughing at the sight of his roommate's injuries and reached down instead to grab him under his arm before hauling Tyrion up to his feet in one smooth, powerful pull.

He gave him an apologetic look before signing, "Sorry. Habit."

"it's okay." Tyrion rubbed his head, flinching as his fingers touched a sensitive bump. "I was installing a sort of pollen or fur filter. That should keep those dratted tribbles out. At least for a while. I've covered all the vents I hope, and keep you alive."

Pieter blinked at him silently, slightly stunned at the act. He glanced up at the filters, then to Tyrion again before feeling awkward. He hadn't done anything for Tyrion, so why exactly had he done this?

"Thank you," Pieter finally said, finding his manners behind all of the confusion and suspicion. "That was very kind of you." As he put his hands down, his body seemed to shift to a parade rest position, a nervous habit.

"Least I could do. We're roommates that makes your safety somewhat my responsibility doesn't it?" He smiled ruefully. "How was your shift?"

Pieter nodded in agreement at what Tyrion said before shrugging and suddenly looked slightly annoyed. "I had to file a complaint against the quartermaster," he admitted before walking to his bunk and taking off his uniform jacket.

"Oh? What'd he do... surely..it's not that bad?" Tyrion asked, after the man turned back to face him. "I had lunch, with the assistant chief engineer I believe he was. Grayson...he helped me with the filters."

"He didn't do his job," Pieter said as a way of explaining, his body language clearly showing that he was sure in his judgment.

"I have met the AEO," he added. "He seemed..." Pieter paused, trying to find the word that would be appropriate without sounding condescending. "Young and friendly."

"He is young and friendly," Tyrion chuckled, "and flirty and shy. Maybe I'll bring him home for dinner sometime. My morning was .. irritable. I got hauled into the CIO's office, and I got told expressively that I can't research Tyrek's death. No-one seems to understand how important that is to me but nooo I can't use intel resources. "

"Well, you can't. It's for Starfleet business only," Pieter explained automatically. While he could understand that it was important for Tyrion to find out the truth about his friend, he was on the CIO's side on this one. If they all used Starfleet resources to research everything they wanted all the time, it would be chaos and no work would get done. Rules were put in place for a reason.

"But this is starfleet business," Tyrion argued frantically, "Tyrek was a starfleet officer, a science officer. And for some reason, they just stopped investigating his murder. Someone has to do it, if security won't."

"There's no need to lose your head," Pieter argued with a shrug. "I'm sure the Fleet knows what they're doing. You should have more trust in the system," he told his roommate, changing out of his uniform shirt into a simple, white V-neck.

"That looks good on you," Tyrion complimented somewhat absently. "If I were to trust the system then why haven't they unraveled it yet? Besides...all I did was call up all the files so far, nothing more. And I intend to pursue this in my own time but I'll need help."

Pieter dismissed the compliment with a wave of his hand, watching Tyrion talk. "Perhaps you should speak with Security," he suggested, walking to the bathroom to get some cleaning supplies. As he went, he signed, "Keep talking." He knew his roommate had a habit of waiting until he was face to face with Pieter before he spoke and, while Pieter appreciated it, there was no need when he had his VOICE on.

"I suppose I can, but I'm not sure they'll do anything," Tyrion went on after a brief silence, while starting to pick up the various tools and putting them away in their proper storage places. "I mean, if my boss already isn't willing to help..."

Pieter stepped out of the bathroom with a few cleaning supplies and threw a dust cloth at Tyrion. "Markos isn't really the type, but you may have more luck with Security. It falls into their jurisdiction, not Intel's." Taking a dust cloth of his own, he started wiping down the nearby desk.

Catching the cloth, Tyrion started at the cabinet near his location and worked his way towards his bunk. His bed was already neatly made, despite having slept in twice that morning. "I'll see if someone will," he promised, "and I'll make sure that whatever I do from here, won't get you in any trouble."

"I'm not worried," Pieter said, wiping the desk down. "So, how was your lunch with Jones?" A change of subject seemed to be in order as Pieter would rather not think of the implication of Tyrion's previous statement.

"Oh...he's quite adorable. And flirty, but I don't think it'll go anywhere. I mean he's nice and friendly, but he's very...I don't know." Tyrion shrugged as he continued his cleaning efforts, reaching up to clear the dust on the upside of a framed picture on the wall. "Shy's not quite it, but he was certainly holding back on me."

"Well, you just met. Maybe that's it," Pieter reasoned with a shrug, taking a break to look at Tyrion now while he washed off the dust from his piece of cloth.

Tyrion flashed a grin at him. "Who knows about the future right? Besides, I'm not really looking as I told you. I mean, if I find someone I won't say no, but I did tell you I just lost someone who meant everything to me, and who I loved very, very much. I don't think I've ever loved anyone like I loved him, nor will again. "

Pieter was quiet and for a long time it felt as if he wasn't going to reply. As they were almost finished dusting, standing side by side near the replicator, the botanist put the cloth down.

"I think you need to give yourself some time. You'll learn to put it somewhere that matters but doesn't hurt so much."

"I'll have to make an appointment with the counselor soon, I just wanted to get settled in properly first. But I'll do it soon." He tossed his cloth into the bucket, then went to find the vacuum cleaner. "Hey Piet, do you like flowers?"

"I'm a botanist," was Piet's only reply.

"Oh duhh...how could I forget that! Anyway, you mind if we put some flowers in here from time to time? You know, just to brighten the place up?"

Pieter looked around, then nodded. "Alright. I can get something from the Arboretum. I had some beautiful moon blossoms but the Tribbles attacked them." The tall man frown, as if the event had saddened him greatly.

"I'm sure we'll get you some new ones when this is all over," Tyrion offered, sensing the sadness without wanting to. "Anything with a nice scent will do. Roses maybe? I hear that Vulcan roses are actually giving more scent than Terran ones, is this true?"

"Not exactly. The fragrance of Terran roses changes during the day and over time, so you can mostly smell them in the morning. Vulcan roses keep their scent throughout the day, giving the appearance that they give off more fragrance," Pieter explained. "I think we have Vulcan roses in the Arboretum, so I think I'll try to get a mix of both Terran and Vulcan roses, with maybe a Chameleon rose in the mix just to make it more interesting, colour wise."

"I'm all for colour," Tyrion smiled, "now I won't hear you for a bit as I'm starting the vacuum cleaner. Just gimme a poke if you need my attention on something okay?" He started the device, humming a soft tune. Somehow, this task felt somewhat therapeutic, in an odd unexplainable way.

Pieter nodded back, deciding to go tidy up his little corner of their quarters. Tidying up an already tidy bed took very little time and Pieter sat down on it before taking out the box from beneath the bunk. Inside it were some space pictures he hadn't found time to figure out a place for. Taking out one, he looked around the living room. Activating the back of it, he pressed it against the bulkhead near the door. It was a photograph from home - Pieter himself was sat in the center of what looked like a big couch, holding a little girl on his lap, with three more small children crowded around him, all with bright, gap toothed smiles pointed at whoever was taking the picture.

Turning just as his roommate took the picture out, Tyrion found himself staring at it. He deactivated the vacuum cleaner and walked over. "Siblings? Or your children?"

"Neither. My nieces and nephews. I have a little brother and sister. Each of them have two children," Pieter explained, giving the picture a small smile before going back to the box. The only other item in it was a beat up paper book.

"Do you want children?" Tyrion continued, eyes still on the picture. "I have three sisters, and I haven't seen them since I was seventeen."

Pieter gave him an odd look. His family was very important to him and all of his siblings were incredibly close to his heart. So an estranged family was a concept he'd always had problems understanding. "Yes," he simply replied. "I want them very much," Pieter revealed. Having a family of his own was always an important goal of his, but it just never seemed to work out.

"So do I... but since I'll never have a wife that'll be a little more complicated. It's just a long story on why I haven't seem them, but long story short they're a domineering lot, all three of them and I don't like to be domineered by a woman. I don't like to be told how to live my private life, or who to marry. They were going to marry me off you know, to some high society girl."

Pieter frowned. "That doesn't make sense," he simply said with a shrug. "Don't they care that you don't like women?" Pieter decided to ignore Tyrion's comment on not wanting to be domineered by women in particular. He was young still and it probably wasn't intended to seem like it did. Pieter himself didn't agree either way. He'd grown up surrounded by strong women and couldn't help but be drawn to them, one way or another.

"Are you kidding? I'm supposed to marry that girl, and provide children..and make sure her line endures. You do know Betazoid lineacy goes through the women right? It's a matriarchal society and us men...we're to do as we're told. And I couldn't stand it so I left when I was seventeen. When I marry, it's for love, not because some high'n mighty wants to make sure her line continues. I have three sisters, they can make sure of it. When I have a child, I'll probably adopt a poor orphan who needs a loving home."

Pieter nodded, reading his words patiently. Once he realised Tyrion was finished he gave him a smile. "I don't usually say this, but distance from your family will probably do you some good." If that was Tyrion's home situation, Pieter couldn't blame him for leaving. Pieter had left in a similar fashion after his mother passed away. For a moment he wondered if he should share that, but resisted. It was really none of anyone's business what his past was like.

"Maybe, when the time is right, I'll seek them out again. But not yet." Tyrion looked away. "I'd be shamed for sure."

Pieter looked at him for a few moments. "You'll patch things up. Family can't stay apart for long. In the meantime, try to make the best of it," he advised.

"I agree. Enough about me and my family perils. Tell me about yours."

"No peril. I have two younger siblings, Abrahem and Jewel. My brother is an oceanographer and he's married to Akemi. She's an athlete. My sister is an architect. She's actually married to one of you and lives on Betazed." Pieter seemed more relaxed than Tyrion when talking about his own family. "My father is at home in South Africa, still working as a vet at the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park."

"That sounds interesting, veterinarian medicine. What made you go into botany, it seems so different from what your siblings do."

"I've always loved plant life and, after the war, I needed something quieter and more relaxing. Damage control is the least glamorous of all the Engineering fields," Pieter explained with a shrug. After being stuck in a warzone on a ship that was falling apart all around him, the freedom and patience of Botany had been very appealing to him.

"It can be quiet and peaceful," Tyrion agreed with a nod, "I do like flowers but I'm not sure I got the patience to tend to them. but I wouldn't mind learning...if you have the patience to teach?"

Pieter looked uncertain. "I don't know. I'd like to, but I've been told this," he paused, holding up his wrist and the white device wrapped around it, "Isn't the most pleasant thing to listen to for a long period of time."

"Teach me sign language then," Tyrion offered, then grimaced. "Or use telepathy. Not my favourite option but hey it's there, and convenient I suppose. Besides...you have a voice...you'd only need it if I speak right, not when you speak?"

Pieter looked confused, looking down at his wrist screen. "I don't want to do anything to make you uncomfortable and sign language is complicated with science," Pieter explained. "It's not like other languages." He appreciated the thought and Tyrion's curiosity, but his VOICE tone being unpleasant wasn't the only reason he didn't teach or give speeches. He would be the first to stand up for himself but there were simply some things he was incapable of.

Tyrion tapped the device curiously. "What if the engineers do something about the voice modulation? Or what if I do? I'm sure I can tap into the programming and change the voice mode, rewrite the programming to make it sound more like you? Or...somehow enhance it so it recognizes a speaker, and mimicks that person's voice? Then again...you're deaf so why does it have a voice to begin with..."

"So that people can understand me. Not everyone speaks sign language and it also functions as a universal translator. So it's convenient. And the voice modulation can't really be changed to assess emotional state and incorporate it into it's output," Pieter explained, starting to feel frustrated but not wanting to show it. "It has a lot of modes, but I've been told that, out of all fourteen modes, this one is most fitting to me." He shrugged.

"But maybe we can make it sound a bit more like you...make it sound more pleasant. Even without emotion, surely that must mean something to you?"

Suddenly, Pieter's face seemed to darken. "Tyrion, my VOICE is fine. So just drop it," he warned, hoping what he lacked in emoting through his voice, his expression would make up for.

"You're the one saying the voice module might get a bit grating," Tyrion replied, failing to see through the expressed emotion, "I'm just trying to help you know. People tell me to be wary, but I tell them to shut up. I'm not a child, I decide who I can be friends with. But if you're like this, you're not making it easy."

"My voice has nothing to do with us being friends. My voice is not who I am. It's just a device that helps other people understand me." Pieter stood up then, wanting to work out some of the bubbling frustration through walking. Why couldn't Tyrion just understand that he didn't need any help making himself more 'likeable' via the voice module? No matter what mode they chose, it would never sounds like Pieter because Pieter didn't talk with a voice. He spoke through sign language. That was his first language, not the substitute of a "real" language.

"Then maybe they should make a little more effort to understand you, if they want to get to know you," Tyrion replied irritably. "Or we can make that thing sound more like you. Emotion or no emotion."

"This device will never sound like me. I don't have a sound," Pieter insisted, feeling his temper flare. "Stop pushing this issue."

"So what is this that I'm hearing then when you're actually speaking? Surely, that's your sound? You do have a voice, and you're using it. Why're you being so damn stubborn."

"This is a machine, not my voice. It's like a replicator. A thing. See?" In a feat of stubbornness, Pieter took off his glasses and the device around his wrist before throwing them onto his bunk and sitting down at his deck and crossing his arms.

Sighing, Tyrion sat down across from him. "It is your voice," he argued, "it functions as your voice so why not want it at least use your tone of voice? Your intonations. Can't that thing be made to learn? It's an interface to you, surely, it can learn?"

Acting like a petulant child, Pieter just pointed to his ear, shaking his head with a shrug. He knew people thought he could read their lips to know exactly what they're saying, but it was a myth he wished would just die already.

Does that thing learn at all? Tyrion's black eyes stared intently at his roommate as he focused his thoughts. Given it's lack of regular use, Tyrion had to concentrate to use his telepathy even though he'd always had the skill. If it acts as your voice it should at least use your intonation.

Pieter startled as he felt the presence in his mind. It had been a while since he'd exchanged a few words with his brother-in-law like this, so it took a moment to get used to. I don't have an intonation he thought back once he managed to decipher what Tyrion was trying to convey.

You can talk, can't you? You're not a mute. So you have intonation. And if your thought process can be tied into that thing, you can have an actual voice. It just needs further development, that's all.

I really wish you would stop talking about this, Pieter admitted. He didn't know Tyrion that well, so he wasn't about to spill his guts all over the floor to him about his speech or his lack of hearing. This was how it was and there was no reason to pick it apart or try to 'improve' anything. There was nothing to be improved upon.

You're acting like a child now but fine. Tyrion sighed and looked away. Why was it so hard to get through to him, to get him to understand that no matter how he looked at it, he did have a voice? That he could make it sound less mechanic or screechy or however it was perceived?

Pieter nodded. His arms still crossed, he swerved his chair around until his back was to Tyrion, indicating the end of the conversation. To further his point, he picked up a random paDD from the desk and pretended to read it.

Shaking his head, Tyrion went back to the common area and plunked himself down on the couch. He closed his eyes, and promptly fell asleep.

[OFF]

JP by

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Idris]

Ens Tyrion Faye
Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC T'Vanna]

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