Vacation Plans

Posted on 22 Jan 2016 @ 3:26pm by Lieutenant JG Cyrin Xanth & Lieutenant JG Lenaris Marika
Edited on on 22 Jan 2016 @ 7:48pm

1,335 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Mess Hall
Timeline: MD05, 1230 Hours

[ON]

Cyrin carried his tray from the replicator over to the table that Marika had already picked out for them. He'd ordered the Denobulan sausage with vegetables and a big glass of water to go with it, but as he walked and eyed his plate he wondered if he really was all that interested in the food. If he was being honest to himself, he wasn't all that interested in his lunch date with Marika either. It was nothing against her; she was a wonderfully friendly person, brilliant, and kind - and they had agreed to this lunch ahead of time anyways - but after everything they'd all been through, well...

He slid into the seat across from the Bajoran and unfolded a napkin over his lap, fussed with his silverware for a moment, and pushed his food around on his plate. Cyrin cast a half-hearted glance at her own plate, wondering if maybe he should have ordered what she had instead, eyed her drink as well. Finally, having run out of things to delay with, he offered a half-hearted smile and an even less enthusiastic, "Hiya, Marika. Hows it going?"

"I find myself... perplexed at our recent situation. But otherwise I believe I'm fine." Giving a slight frown as she spoke, she looked back up to him with her usual warm smile. "I find it sad it was such a difficult situation on many people. I wish there was something I could do to help."

As she gazed at him with loving care, she couldn't help but be thankful her experiences had not been as rough. She had the luck of being stuck in their own brig for most of the unpleasantness. "If you ever need a tickle fight buddy, I'm just a com call away." She grinned at him with a twinkle in her eye. She knew he wasn't in a laughing mood, but adding to the glumness would help no one.

The astrophysicist blinked rapidly at her, obviously and completely confused by the offer, "Uh, I uh...I can't s-say th-that I have um...ever had a n-need for that before. But...thanks?" She'd distracted him enough though that he took a bite, and started to chew thoughtfully. After a moment he swallowed and cast Marika a very furtive glance, as if worried how his question might be taken, "What is it that has you um, so uh, so perplexed?" It seemed like an innocent enough question, but Cyrin looked downright paranoid as he asked it.

"The impossibility of it all." Looking at her companion she wondered what exactly he had to endure to look this ... alert. "When was the last time you slept? You like like you haven't had a good night's sleep in ages." A somewhat slightly worried, almost maternal look overtook her features for a moment as she awaited his answer.

Cyrin had turned white as a ghost at her words, 'the impossibility of it all'. That had been the exact thing that had been troubling him more than anything else that had happened. He'd been trying to keep it to himself and his superiors only, not wanting to alarm anyone else who hadn't come to the same conclusions he had; given all the supposedly random variables that had contributed to their passage into the Mirror Universe, it was next to impossible that they had wound up there. "Oh uh, well," Cyrin deflected, going with Marika's second part, but now that he was agitated his stutter grew noticeably worse. "I got a fuh-fuh-few hours last n-n-night. But um, yuh-you know, th-there's been so m-much data to uh, pruh-process."

Looking back at her companion with an unconvinced glare, she pointed a finger at him and wiggled it some. "Well now then. Tonight I give you a massage. Get that tension out of you so you can have a proper night's rest. People at the next starbase can analyse the content to their hearts content."

With a wry chuckle, Cyrin started to relax, and even muttered a joking, "Yes ma'am." He still didn't seem too hungry, but at least he took a couple of small bites. After a time he looked up and seemed better composed again, though certainly things were troubling him in the back of his mind. It was a look that was likely duplicated on many of the crew's faces these days; a lot of them were haunted by their experiences in the alternate universe. "So, Marika, um, do you have anything fun planned for your leave? I know we might be too far from Bajor for you to visit but maybe you had something else in mind?"

"I have no idea. Although I think Oren is planning something, and I have the feeling he might invite me. If not, no bother, something always finds it's way to me." She gave the Trill a slick smile and a wink. "You thought of anything fun to do?"

He hesitated a long moment before saying, "I'm g-g-going back to T-T-Trill." Cyrin took a big bite of his food then so he could chew and not speak. It was maybe a bit of a foolish or immature reaction, but it was obvious he didn't want to go into much detail about it either. Cyrin looked around the mess hall idly, avoiding the Bajoran's gaze.

"Oooooh! Trill! I've always found that place awesome. Well, from what I've read anyways. Did you know there are more fresh water fish in the Taalin river than in the entire Solen Lake? Or that the Deni Monks are known to create some of the sweetest beers in the sector? Oooh! And then there's the Caltor Forest region which is said to inhabit twice as many primate species as earth in it's entirety." Giving her friend a wide grin Marika slapped herself on the forehead and laughed. "What an idiot I make. Acting as if you wouldn't know your own planet."

"I uh...I didn't know any of those, actually," Cyrin admitted a bit shamefacedly. "My Initiate training didn't cover a lot of those topics. Mathematics, the sciences, basic engineering and piloting, symbiont history, that kind of thing was all I really studied." He fell silent for a moment, then asked all in a rush before he lost his courage, "Did you want to go, maybe? I am planning on spending a few weeks there, maybe a month. There'd be plenty of time to swim in the river, visit the monks, or go play with monkeys."

Eyes widening at the prospect, Marika's excitement increased tenfold. "Realliiiiiiy? That would be awesome! I'd love to go! Yes! YES! We'll have so much fun together!" Half jumping on her chair, the young Bajoran exuded raw glee, eyes losing focus as she started imagining all the incredible adventures they'd have.

"Wow!" He had expected such an enthusiastic reaction, but Marika's excitement actually made him feel better about the trip too. "Drop out of w-warp for a second though," he said. "It's a long trip th-there from Sector 001, and uh...I won't be...I mean I'll be uh...a little b-busy for a while. So I guess make sure you r-really want to."

"Hah! For a chance to visit your homeworld, you can take your time. I'm a big girl." Winking at him, she gave him her trademark Cheshire cat grin. "So long as you promise to give me a little of your time, I'm sure I won't run out of adventures to entertain me with." Jumping in place a few times, she offered her excitement to the rest of the crew in her own very Marika way.

A slow smile began to appear on his face, caught by her enthusiasm, "Well then, I guess we're going to Trill. I'm sure there'll be enough time to have some fun." Without realizing it he'd started to feel a bit better.

[OFF]

Ensign Cyrin Xanth
Astrophysicist/Cosmologist
USS Galileo

&

Ensign Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

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