Ridges and Scales and Skin, Oh My!
Posted on 28 May 2015 @ 5:11am by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Adora Jerek & Petty Officer 3rd Class Veri RN
1,147 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Atlas - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 2: 1200 Hours
[On]
Adora had been assigned to the Atlas for the duration of the war games, which had put a damper on such plans as "getting unpacked" and "meeting shipmates." Still, she'd gone down to the Mess Hall, hoping that she could find someone from Galileo who was eating. Chances were, she could figure out which people weren't assigned to Atlas by finding the ones that were eating alone.
Of those, the one that seemed the most interesting was the bald woman. With a mental shrug, Adora had walked over. "Hey there, anyone sitting here?" she asked. She wasn't really the outgoing sort, but she had to do something to keep her mind busy until she could get settled on Galileo.
"Nope," the young Deltan answered with a bright smile and wide, eager blue eyes. "I have no idea why the seats lay vacant either. I mean, it's not like it's a busy day. Then again, I suppose it could be a phobia with medical professionals. I'm a nurse, so that is highly probable."
Adora smiled as she sat down. "Don't feel bad, people tend to avoid me because of the ridges." She shrugged. "Their loss. Are you Atlas crew or Galileo?" She studied the contents of her tray for a moment. Good Cardassian cuisine was impossible to come by on Starfleet vessels, but she tried to find human dishes that looked or smelled similar, sometimes with disastrous results."
"Both," Veri answered with excitement before she returned to her salad. "That is, I'm a temp on Atlas, but then I go to the Galileo. Surgical nurse. Served on medical ships mostly so I'm excited about seeing things no other Deltan has... That why you aren't in the Cardassian or Bajoran militaries?"
"Uh, well... hybrids are second class citizens in Cardassia, and Bajorans tend to get a bit weird around me. I guess I remind them too much of the Occupation." She shrugged. There wasn't much she could do about other people's prejudices. "Starfleet was the first place I ever felt like I was judged more by my credentials than by my genetics."
"So if you scrunch your nose, does that hurt your ridges," Veri asked out of innocent curiosity while she carefully made to touch the ridges with her left hand.
"Nope," Adora said. She'd been asked all sorts of odd questions in her life. "Somebody once asked me if I got dust and such stuck in them." Adora grinned a bit. "I dunno, I don't think about them much. It's no big deal when you've had them all your life."
"I like the texture," Veri noted with a huge grin. "Not as coarse as one would think. But then again, we Deltans have heightened senses that allow us to view things in ways others do not."
"Mine are less prominent than most people's," Adora replied. She continued to study Veri, noting the subtle move of the other woman's pulse in her neck, and the way her smile extended up into her eyes. She took mental notes of each trait, in order to refer back to it later. Veri was curiously unguarded, which Adora gathered was related to her Deltan heritage. "I'm Adora, by the way."
"Veri," the young Deltan explained while gently began to stroke the half-Cardassian's hair. "We don't have surnames really. Houses, but not usually a surname. However, there are a few families who are weird like that... Normally Deltans that are more isolated from the community."
By the way Veri invited herself in Adora's space, one might be easily intimidated or repulsed. But the strokes she gave to Adora's hair were reverent. Almost a religious sort of respect, as if breaking the slightest strand or pulling out the tiniest root might be sinful.
"I apologise," Veri finally spoke with a small blush. "My people lack hair, so I've always wondered what it's like to feel the strands move with wind, and if there is a different feeling of texture to one's own hair, from the feeling I get as I feel yours."
"No worries," Adora said. "I'm kind of used to being... well... a curiosity. Ever since I've been a little girl. There weren't too many hybrids on Lissepia and ever since I've left, I haven't seen another person with Cardassian blood." Adora shrugged. It was difficult to lead a life where one was always on the outside, never with people that looked like them.
She shrugged, "I'm Adora. Adora Jerek. It's a pretty popular surname." Makes it impossible to tell who my father is.
"Does your hair grow fast?" Veri asked with fascination. Almost as if her companion's last comment might of been overlooked. "Deltans lack the ability to absorb Vitamin E. We digest it, but we don't absorb it. That's why we don't grow hair."
"Oh, that's really interesting," Adora said. Her hand moved out to touch Veri's arm, since Vitamin E was a component of skin health too. Then again, it was one of many, and not all races needed the same sorts of vitamins to flourish.
Veri's skin was soft to the touch and provoked a smile from the young Deltan. As if her senses exists on a far different plane of existence than the rest of the universe to understand.
"It does grow pretty fast," she said. "I think I have Bajoran hair genes. Most Cardassians have stick straight hair. Does it bother you? Not having hair, that is?" Her inner curiosity was piqued, wanting to know everything about the other woman.
"Bother me? No." Veri laughed, her pearly white teeth showing. "But it is something of an obsession. I can feel your hair a whole lifetime and not truly connect with your strands. Because they are apart of you."
Adora cocked her head to the side, a little bit confused. She'd never considered something as trivial as hair to be a part of her, but she also didn't really consider her hair after she left her quarters in the morning. "I suppose I've never really thought of it that way."
Veri then felt Adora's cheek with gentle strokes from the back of her left hand. The slight coarseness of the scales, mixed with the softness of skin intrigued her greatly.
"You might see being a hybrid as a curse, Adora. But to me, you're a gem. The best textures of both races," Veri admitted honestly. And just as reverently, pulled her hand back. "Thank you for letting me get to know you."
Veri, ending, finished her salad and departed with a very intrigued smile and a very strong need for another cold shower.
[Off]
Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Adora Jerek
Flight Officer
USS Atlas
Petty Officer Third Class Veri, RN
Surgical Nurse
USS Atlas
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