Law of Averages

Posted on 04 Nov 2015 @ 4:26am by Nevedno Lož & Lieutenant JG Lenaris Marika

2,458 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo; Deck 2; Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 04 - 0840h

[ON]

Bleck! All these familiar people that looked at him like he was newer than the new guy. Just a creepy-looking nobody who happened to eat in the same mess hall as the rest of them. Perhaps it was destiny or the will of a higher power that through all these months no one aside from a few random chance people had ever bothered to say hello to Nevedno. A woman here, perhaps the same man twice there. But for the most part he was left to his own devices.

Until she came along, whatever her name was. He had no idea who she was but she had started on the ship not long ago. At first he seemed to be ignored by her just like everyone else did, but then he noticed a pattern. Every day she had scurried over to some other crewmember or two to frantically chat with them. But it was always someone different than the times before. By law of averages alone she would make her way over to him at some point and, though he was completely unsure with how he would steel himself against the barrage of words that always seemed to come from her, he wondered if today would be the day that she did.

Sneaking up involuntarily on the lone crewman as only someone who isn’t attempting to do so can pull it off with such grace and panache, Marika dropped her ration pack in front of him and plopped herself down in the chair with as much grace as a Telerian sea cow. “Why are you alone? You shouldn’t be alone. I don’t believe I recognize you, but then again I’ve only been here shortly so, I guess that doesn't mean much yet. What division do you work in? I’m planetary. Not much planetary going on for the moment. Although I might help blow up an asteroid later on. Which would be awesome if it didn’t entail my certain demise along with it. What is that you’re having?” Pointing at his meal, she gave him a great big smile, a twinkle in her eyes.

What just happened? How could he even begin when the other didn't even seem to end? So offsetting was the barrage of words that it didn't even register that someone was actually meeting him for the first time and so it was one of the few opportunities where he could feel as they did every time they ran into him. Right now he just wanted to slow the speeding thoughts down. So he answered just one question.

“Gagh,” he answered in a low monotone voice. “You know, there are quite a few different kinds of gagh,” he continued as he forked through the pile of replicated, non-living worms. “Bithool; Filden, my favorite; Meshta. But in the end they're all like this,” he said pointing to the pile. “Dead.” He held up a handful of the lifeless worms. It was so depressing. Even someone who didn't eat the stuff would probably think it so. They just sort of hung from his fingers like slimy noodles.

Observing the dead worms carefully, Marika poked one with her pinky. “Aren’t they supposed to be alive? I heard they all have their special way of going down.” She raised an eyebrow, smile ever present.

“I'm sorry. You are,” he questioned as he peered through the dangling earth-crawlers at the mysterious and over-energized woman before eating them whole.

“Marika! And you?” Glances shifted between him and the gagh, as if both were too interesting not to look at. With the fork she had brought along, she poked at the dead worms a little attempting to revive them by interest alone, not realizing how rude her behavior might be to some.

“Nevedno. And these here are my recently deceased friends,” he spoke as he pointed at the lifeless worms in a faux somber tone. He never did care much for their motions, but the taste had been much more interesting than was lead on my the Klingons. “They led very full lives I hear. Would you like to know more about them, as you seem so much more interested in them than myself?” Sarcasm was evident, as was perhaps a bit of curiosity as to what her answer would be. He was almost certain that the strange individual that had sat with him would actually continue to question him about the lost souls on his plate.

“Yes yes!” Her eyes lit up at the idea of learning more. “But only if you put in as much information about yourself too. They may be highly interesting to learn about, but I can always go check on the computer for more information. Although it’s not as fun as mouth to ear kind of learning, and that was not meant as an odd off sexual comment. That being said, I could probably go on a computer and go read up on you, but that would suck even more, so you need to tell me fun things about you too so I can be even more happy about this encounter.“ She beamed him a smile full of genuine interest and affection, completely oblivious to the sarcasm.

A quiet sigh left Nevedno's mouth as he thought for a moment. Strange, he had always had a silly sort of enjoyment with these encounters, knowing that they would be forgotten in a few hours, but the star-bright cheeriness and genuine curiosity of the girl in front of him almost made it hurt that everything he told her would be forgotten. But he'd appease her nonetheless.

“I was lying about the worms, actually. They're dreadfully dull,” he spoke to her with a smirk. “Especially post-mortem. “I, on the other hand, am most fascinating.” It may have sounded vain, but he was serious. “Quite simply I am the man you will forget. A most unfortunate condition. Genetics really. In a few hours this will all be gone from your thoughts and perhaps we can have the same conversation once more tomorrow.” For some reason that last part actually didn't sound that bad to him.

“How do your superiors remember you then? Alarm of some kind? Daily reminder? I’m guessing it must be pheromone based, why not devise a suppressant? Unless it’s telepathic? Do people even know your on board?” Her eyes widened at the thought, but not in alarm, more like they were expressing all the possibilities such a feat would permit. “No wonder you have that dull face, no offense, you need to amuse yourself or something. Don’t tell me you never pull a few pranks here and there? Come on! Your like prank central, all to yourself! Not to mention the possibilities of just kissing random people and getting away with it.” Giggling like a five year old who’s just had too much chocolate only to be presented her favorite princess, Marika started clapping. “Oh the possibilities are endless!” Turning dead serious for a brief moment, she looked at him intently. “So long as certain rules and moral guidelines were followed …” Excitement regained her as quickly as it had faded, the possibilities are incredibly awesome!”

She wasn't afraid of his condition. She was curious. She was enjoying it. How completely different from the others. He leaned in closer with a school-boy smirk on his face. He wanted to test her a bit. “Maybe I'm pranking you right now. Maybe we've already met and I already know everything about you. Maybe you hate me but have forgotten all about it. Maybe we have kissed, or more, and you know not a thing about it. What say you to that?” The thoughts would probably not be amusing, that was for sure.

Peering at him intently for almost a minute, Marika burst out laughing. “See, you were way too morose for any of that to be true. But it would have been awesome! Except for the me hating you part, but you’d have to be twenty times the douchebag I envision possible in my head for that to happen. So I think we’re good. And if we did kiss, then I’m sure you enjoyed it.” Grin half mocking, half serious she winked at him and giggled some more. “But seriously, you cannot let this opportunity pass! Next time you see me, you have to prank me. I’ll leave the specifics to you, if only because that’s half the fun! Ah! I’ll be thinking about pranks all day, and according to you, I won’t even remember why. Ha!”

Interesting. She was asking for it. Literally. What sort of prank could he pull? Well, for starters he'd have to know more about her and the scientist in him was very curious as to just what made this very curious creature tick. It was almost frightening how at ease she was. And how forthcoming. “Tell me everything about you. Everything,” he said in a mysterious as it was curious tone. It was somewhat obvious he had not talked to her before, mostly because he obviously had no idea just what he was about to unleash.


“ Just to make it clear, when you‘re rolling on the floor writhing in pain, I’ll remind you, you asked for it. “ With a giggle and a twinkle in her eye she started. “ So I was born in Meluni, a small city on the Kendra province on Bajor . . .”

- -

“ And that’s when I knew I wanted to dig things up for a living. That ancient pottery really got me to see the world in another light entirely.” Smiling at her one man audience she raised an eyebrow. “How am I doing so far?”

Well that was certainly far more information than Nevedno was expecting. It was like a tell-all exposé being told to someone she didn't even know. She was almost frightening in how forthcoming she was. She was either profoundly ignorant or blessed by the Prophets themselves with the unwavering trust of a divine being amongst her subjects. He chose to go with the latter in his assessment.

He loved how much she seemed to trust him, but after this amount of time he decided to slow her down. Pretty soon she might start forgetting who she was talking to and why. It would probably be best to save more information for the next meeting. It was exhausting listening to so much and she had just given him an opportunity to interject, though he wondered if it would just open up another torrent of words. He'd have to think of his next escape, but for now he took the opportunity to add some words of his own. “G-great. Fascinating that you chose your life's course based on some old artifacts, but did you not say that the ancient pottery you found was just some broken pottery from a neighbor of yours? Don't you find it interesting that something so insignificant influenced your life in such a big way?”

Sitting Back on her chair, the young Bajoran seemed to ponder the best way to address his question. A few moments later, she smiled and put her hands up in front of his face, her index fingers only a few inches apart. "There are on earth many very interesting animals, two of which will serve to illustrate my answer. The first is called a mouse, and is about the length between my fingers. Small, furry, tail encompassing half it’s length. While it has it’s place in the animal kingdom, it is by most considered rather useless and insignificant. On the other side of the spectrum we have the elephant, which is the biggest land mammal native to the planet.”

Shifting on her hair, she mimicked the hugeness of the animal with her arms. “This animal has no natural predators to speak of. It is simply too big and strong to be a viable meal. And yet, it is afraid of mice. You see this particular animal has what is called a trunk. Basically it is a fusion of the nose and upper lip, which is elongated and has specialized to become the elephant's most important and versatile appendage - very interesting stuff. The thing is, mice are small enough to get in those trunks, and should the elephant not be able to remove it, it would cause a serious issue. Would you agree this small mouse might not be so insignificant to our elephant friend?”

Without waiting for an actual answer she proceeded with the rest of her analogy. “Was my first discovery simply an old broken vase from a neighbor? Sure. But was it also the single most important discovery of my life up to that point? Most definitely. Like many things, insignificance in this instance is highly relative to the person living it. And to me, it was my first real turning point, so it is anything but insignificant.

Nevedno had found himself lost and it showed. It certainly seemed reasonable for the elephant to be worried when there was the possibility of some creature jumping into it. Oviposition. Infection. Not to mention outright devouring. He shuddered at the thought as he almost completely lost the point. Then it came back to him. Small things! Right.

“Well, it seems that little vase has certainly turned your life in a positive direction. You don't happen to still have it, do you?”

Nodding gently Marika smiled. "I do believe my father hid it somewhere in the house. Wanted to make sure I'd have it if I ever needed reminding of who I am. That makes me thi..." Interrupting her, her communicator made a strange noise. Shrugging she quickly jumped up from her chair. "Well gotta go! Catch you next time ... stranger!" She winked at him and fled off without giving him time to react, nearly stepping on a few crewmen in her hurried state.

“...Bye,” Nevedno spoke in hesitation to the empty space where the warp speed Bajoran had been, raising his hand and giving a small wave in the process. He hadn't even gotten to prank her like she had all but asked for, or actually asked for for that matter. There was clearly a lot to learn if he was going to get this one. She was fast! He smirked a kind of smirk he hadn't shown in a long time. Playful. “I'll get you yet,” he muttered quietly to himself.

[OFF]

Ensign Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

Nevedno Loz
Science Technician
USS Galileo
[PNPC played by Jynn]

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