One Little Drop

Posted on 24 Jan 2015 @ 11:40am by Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D. & Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D.

1,447 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 4, Multipurpose lab
Timeline: MD40 - 1200hrs

[ON]

Still in the throes of anger and resentment towards Tyrion, Pieter stormed to the only place he knew would be a source of calm and, hopefully, relaxation. The rest of the crew, lacking his own ambition and sense of work ethic, still hadn't occupied their workspaces in the Science lab to the full, so Pieter found it as deserted as he'd expected. That is, until he spotted one lone figure sitting on the nearby analyzer, feet kicking. It was a sight eerily reminiscent of their first meeting, nearly ten years ago.

But now the sight wasn't met with curiosity or interest but instead with scorn and an almost irrational fury.

Oren was trying to construct the perfect message to send to Ellsworth and had been at it for what felt like hours (it was twenty minutes, tops), swapping and rearranging words every few moments. If he could just get the perfect tone to the message, he was sure it would be almost half an apology and he could do the other half in person. As he was thinking of an appropriate synonym for 'guilty' when a movement caught his eye. He looked up just in time to see Pieter come to a stop a few feet away.

Pieter saw Oren open his mouth to begin speaking but he cut him off. He wanted to begin stinging the moment he spoke, to just throw everything he thought of Oren's behavior right into his face and make him deal with it, but instead, he focused on the most immediate irritation.

"Get off the analyzer, you'll break it."

Oren frowned but, like an obedient child, slipped off the equipment. Although he'd always had problems reading Pieter, he could sense something was off about him. It didn't bode well.

"Sorry," Oren said instinctively but was unsure what exactly he was apologizing for. The analyzers were sturdy, so it wasn't like he actually could break it, but maybe Pieter needed to use it? Then again, what a botanist would want with a...whatever the thing was, Oren wasn't sure. He just knew that Pieter had all he needed to work with in his lab, away from everyone. It was the way he liked it and everyone else had enough sense not to argue.

"You're not sorry. You're never sorry. For anything."

Raising an eyebrow, Oren glanced at the machine again. Pieter's frown deepened.

"This isn't about the machine. You know exactly what this is about, you're just playing dumb." Pieter was having none of Oren's innocent act. It had gone on long enough.

"I really don't," Oren said, confused but also irritated with Pieter's attitude. Who was he to just barge in here and talk this way to Oren?

"Yes you do. What did you do with Tyrion? How could you?" Pieter knew he the question wasn't exactly coherent but he wasn't feeling in a very coherent mood right now.

At the mention of his fling's name, Oren's face paled. How did Pieter know about that? Did he know Tyrion?

"See?" Pieter said, looking triumphant at the look on Oren's face. "You know exactly what you did."

"So?" Oren said, false confidence lacing his voice. Of course, Pieter couldn't tell but it was instinct, trying to look more sure of himself than he really was.

"So?" Pieter frowned again. "He just barely escaped prison. You want him to go there again."

"He won't go to prison!" Oren insisted, crossing his arms.

"You're a minor, Oren," Pieter pointed out, taking a step closer to Oren. The El-Aurian took a step back, only to hit the analyzer. There was nowhere to run.
"I am not!" he said back. "I'm a legal adult."

"Emancipation doesn't mean you can do whatever you want, Oren," Pieter pointed out, frustrated. "It just means you're legally responsible for yourself. You still can't do everything. Including what you did with Tyrion."

"Calm down," Oren told him, scoffing. "I'm almost seventy-five, I'm not a child. It's fine." If anything, his emancipation from his grandmother was more of a formality, a legal issue stemming from some ancient El-Aurian law that had no real meaning now that the planet had been annihilated.

That sentence. If there was one things guaranteed to drive Pieter to another level of fury when he was already upset it was 'It's fine'.

"It isn't fine," Pieter said, throwing his hands up. "This is just like you, Oren. You don't care what you do or what the consequences for your actions might be, you just do whatever you want.

"Usually, I don't care about what you do, but this isn't about you. How can you just do whatever you want without taking even a moment to consider how your actions affect others? How can you be so selfish?"

"I'm not selfish," Oren replied automatically, but a nerve was struck even if he wasn't about to admit it.

"Yes you are. You care about no one but yourself. You think you have everyone fooled, acting the way you do, but I know you. I know your game."

Oren scoffed again, rolling his eyes at Pieter. "Please...just because we used to work together, doesn't mean you know me." The idea was ludicrous.

"I know that all you do is pretend," Pieter revealed. "You pretend to be an adult but you aren't. You pretend you care about people, but you don't."

"I care about people!"

"Oh, really? So why did you take advantage of Tyrion? You had your fun, risking him jail time and then you just left him?"

Oren frowned, feeling a deep sense of dread, not just at being confronted for his action, but at the accuracy of Pieter's words. About to defend himself, Oren was suddenly shocked into silence by Pieter's next words.

"And what about Hudson?"

Oren swallowed hard, feeling a lump forming in his throat.

"W-What about him?" he asked, his voice tentative. Had something happened to Ellsworth while he was away? Oren didn't know if he could forgive himself if it did.

"You just abandoned him. He's been mopey for weeks. He thinks I don't notice, but I do."

"How would you?" Oren asked, skeptically despite his curiosity about his friend's well-being.

"I'm his mentor. If you cared about him, you'd know that. But you don't. You act like you do when you need someone to make you feel good, but then all it takes is a whim and you're gone."

"I didn't use Ellsworth," Oren argued.

"Yes you did. Because Ellsworth is nice, and nave, you manipulated him. He made you feel good about yourself, like you're more than you are."

At those words, Oren faltered, not because they came from an unexpected source, but because they were true. Though Oren would never admit to outright manipulating someone, he knew there was truth to Pieter's claim. He did like the way Ellsworth made him feel. The guilt he felt about it, he usually ignored, telling himself it was just the irrationality of his anxious mind.

"I care about Ellsworth..." he said, his voice weak as he fought back the wetness threatening to overtake his vision.

"No. You don't. You care that he makes you feel good. He doesn't know what you are.

"He doesn't know that everything about you is shiny and fake, but deep inside you, there's nothing. You're empty, Oren. You act like you're nice and sweet but life is just one big game for you, we're just all here for you, and your amusement."

Oren remained silent, his hands trembling. The combination of the objective tone Pieter was using and the known integrity of Pieter's character felt like too much all of a sudden, his words hitting home almost too well.

Pieter barely noticed the other man's reaction. Instead, he continued his assault.

"It's probably for the best that you do pretend. The real you is too awful for anyone to like and you know it. So just keep pretending you're wanted."

Those words got the first reaction Pieter managed to notice. He saw Oren twitch as his breath hitched and he swallowed hard, hoping to stay the tears welling up in his eyes. About to ask something, Pieter suddenly felt himself pushed aside as Oren rushed past him. The strength with which he shoved against Pieter surprised him but he didn't have a chance to react beyond regaining his balance.

Oren stormed out of the lab, tears escaping his eyes just as he rounded the first corner.

[OFF]

JP by

Oren Idris, Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Idris]

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