Overfamiliar

Posted on 29 Apr 2018 @ 7:18pm by Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Ensign Callin Mastrel
Edited on on 21 Aug 2023 @ 1:18pm

3,227 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 16 - A Far Sun
Location: USS Schofield - Science Laboratory 02
Timeline: MD -14, 1320 hours

[ON]

The doorway to the corridor opened up with a quick whoosh, heralding the entrance of Lake ir-Llantrisant. Given the sciences-teal highlights on his crisp uniform and his cocky gait, Lake came through with the bearing of a Chief Science Officer. Stepping in only far enough to allow the door to close behind him, Lake’s confidence in this time and place lasted all of three seconds. His dark eyes scanned the small compartment, including the other man within. Lake vocalized a, "Hmm," as he stood his ground and walked no further. He looked down at the widescreen PADD between his hands. "Yes," he said and he turned in a circle, as if there might be a large antechamber leading off from the lab that he couldn’t spot at first glance. Turning 'round to where he had begun, Lake nodded to himself and he said, "Righty-oh."

Hardly distracted from the results of a low-level sensor sweep of surrounding space, Callin had looked up as soon as the doors opened. And then he looked up some more. Even if he hadn't been sitting, the stranger would still have inches on him. Bright, black eyes, glad to be relieved from the screen he'd been staring at for a while now, watched as the visitor seemed to almost dance in place. Callin's face lit up with a grin, only partly from amusement.

"Hi." Callin said simply, taking the time to turn his chair around and to lean back on his perch slightly, one elbow propped on the controls negligently. "If you're trying to find out just how many particles of space dust per cubic meter we're seeing right now, you've come to the right place."

Approaching Callin on languid strides, Lake came to stand as close as the LCARS workstation beside Callin's own. Lake opened his mouth, as if to reply, and then the narrowing of his eyes made it look like he had second thoughts about doing so. His expression turned into something of a smirk, and he gently slapped his PADD against his left thigh. "Would you believe me if I said I was on a scavenger hunt?" Lake asked.

A little taken aback by the question, Callin blinked up at the man and replied, "Is there any reason why I shouldn't?" He wondered if he was ever going to get used to how some races communicated with less than perfect honesty. It was then that he noticed the sharp angles of pointed ears, as well as subtle ridges upon the man's brow that had been easy to miss. Excited, he hurriedly dug through his memory for the phrase, and strained to get the pronunciation right. With a grin, but still a little unsure of both his words and if the man was actually a real live Romulan, Callin said, "Jolan'tru. Uh...fvah...drolae...um..."

Now it was Lake's turn to be taken aback. Callin's dark eyes were darker than Lake's own, giving him the look of a Betazoid. Lake's visceral reaction to a Betazoid speaking in a Romulan tongue --asking What are you looking for?-- was one of discomfort and displeasure. Causing a sort of cognitive dissonance, Lake wondered how this young man had come to learn the language of his home. It left Lake speechless. Standing there, and saying nothing, gave Lake the opportunity to notice the grin on Callin's lips. Not only notice, but take notice.

Without any guile, Lake raised his PADD to tap a few more words on the display interface. Once he was done, he turned the PADD to show the entire contents of his scavenger hunt to Callin: Find an Ensign with a killer smile.

The scientist's grin widened when he read the words his grin widened with white teeth revealed and amusement in his eyes, "Scavenger hunt indeed!" He didn't seem at all displeased by the compliment, nor embarrassed by it either. Callin's posture grew more relaxed and, with typical Betazoid straightforwardness and not a care for the extra pip on the broad-shoulder man's collar he added, "I'd like a chance to make you smile so, at some point. But how can I help you, Lieutenant?"

"I was searching for a bit of office space, frankly. At this point, I would settled for a crawlspace in one of the nacelle pylons," Lake replied. He deflated a little at the admission. His growing smirk demonstrated his appreciation for Callin's affirmation, but he was disappointed not to have a scientific matter to capture Callin's attention for the next little while. "In the day of the Oberth-class, counseling services were relegated to Sickbay," Lake said, "I'm not sure if my patients will open up to me when another patient is being opened up for heart surgery on the biobed beside them."

Callin nodded with understanding of the counselor's need, and began to try to think up solutions. "I don't imagine they would," he agreed as he turned in his chair back to his console. A few keystrokes had cleared the screen of the data on the surrounding space and instead pulled up a schematic of the Schofield. Callin paused and glanced at the Romulan before he began typing again, "So, Counselor is it? Are you one of those from the old Galileo, waiting on the new?"

Shaking his head, Lake remarked, "No, I never had the distinction of serving aboard the Galileo." --He tilted his head to one side, watching the schematics on the LCARS display for one heartbeat, and then watching Callin work for the ones that followed-- "The exploratory mission of Galileo-A is what captured my imagination," he said, because he'd practiced saying it plenty for Captain Saalm; "I expect a crew on the edge of nowhere will need my counseling expertise more than any."

"That makes sense," Callin said as he started to enter a few queries into the computer. As he did so, different compartments began to be marked off in red, and the small ship seemed to get smaller and smaller as more places were blocked off. "They told us about that, in the Academy. 'Don't be afraid to go see your counselor. Life in space is hard.' And all of that..." Callin concentrated for a moment, a lowering of his brows and furrowing of his forehead.

"There!" He pointed at the screen where one small room was lit up in white amidst all the red he'd painted over the schematic. "Room 42 is marked as unoccupied for the logistics of this mission. Would that work?"

Nodding vaguely, Lake offered a noncommittal reply. "It might do. It just might," Lake said, as he tapped the new information on his PADD, copying over the schematic to his display. Clearly, Lake's attention had wandered to the advice Callin had been given at the Academy. Leaning towards him, Lake asked, "How much energy did you have for the counseling staff at the Academy? Some days, I think those were the most stressful in my entire Starfleet career."

Turning back from the screen to the big Romulan, Callin had a small, close-lipped smile on his face this time. He didn't shift as Lake leaned a little closer, just looked up at him with an expression that almost seemed knowing, if a little cheeky too. "Never had a problem with the counselors," he answered honestly, trying to keep his smile from growing as he shared. "They had a job to do and I tried to make it easy on them. Now, my instructors on the phaser range? I wouldn't be surprised if I caused some of them to seek professional help."

Black eyes narrowed slightly, bright with amusement, and Callin was failing pretty badly at hiding the good-natured ribbing he gave the lieutenant, "Stressful you say though? Do you have many secrets then?"

Had Lake been a couple of years younger, he might have lost his temper and made a salty comment about Callin assuming a Romulan must have secrets. His cheeks probably still flushed green, slightly, and he took a couple of breaths. Every day, Lake tried to be a better person, and every day it felt harder to do so. Despite having bit back a snide comment, he supposed the Betazoid already had a decent idea of how Lake was feeling. There was no sense in completely hiding it, Lake supposed.

"It was the competition between the work load and my perfectionism, for me. I suppose I'm missing the correlation," Lake remarked, "between secrets and stress?"

Something hadn't come across well. Callin was able to pick up that just from the tint of color in Lake's face, slight as it was. The sense in the room just confirmed it, that he'd offered some offense. Callin wasn't sure what it had been, and his smile slipped. "I meant...secrets, they are so hard to keep," he said carefully, obviously picking his words with purpose. "Secrets aren't something I'm much experienced with, but I saw how they could effect other peoples. The way it would build up inside of some of my classmates, even some of the instructors, especially some of the things they hid from the counselors."

Shaking his head slowly, Lake remarked, "The Academy beat me down with its own hands. The academic demands were steep." --The more personal his admissions became, the more impersonal his timbre-- "It got to a point I resented how much time, energy and capacity it demanded of me."

"That too makes sense," Callin offered gently. He could certainly commiserate with how hard the Academy had been, as the memories were fresh for him indeed. Scientist he may be, that didn't mean Callin was a genius who had sailed through all his courses with ease. He felt a swell of understanding for the other's feelings, though he wasn't sure how to express it given how Lake's tone had changed from playful to defensive.

"You're not alone in that, Lieutenant. Um, what does a counselor do to address their own emotional difficulties? If you need someone to talk to about things I'd be glad to offer an ear, as I'm sure soon enough I'll be stopping into your...storage room number 42." He tried another grin to see if he could brighten Lake's mood.

That grin-- something about that grin gave Lake pause. Lake squinted at Callin, and then Lake stopped. He ever started to say, "Your smile--" but the words were breathless. The words hardly made it past Lake's lips and whatever sentence was meant to follow trailed off into nothing but air. Quickly then, Lake answered the question by explaining, "Counselors see Counselors too. We wouldn't be fit to practice medicine if we didn't." --He perched himself on the edge of the LCARS console beside Callin, to avoid towering over the seated Betazoid-- "Chewing your ear off would be something to do for fun, rather."

The younger man's expression changed to one of curiosity with bit of a frown this time, wondering what Lake had been about to say, and he had to suppress the urge to probe for more. The way so many peoples hid their true meaning and thoughts wasn't something he thought he'd ever get used to but he was big enough to admit that maybe he didn't have a right to know every detail all the time. So he thought. Still...it could be damned frustrating. "I didn't know that," Callin offered, smoothing his expression as he continued to focus his dark gaze on the large Romulan. "Counselors seeing Counselors, but there's logic to it. I could definitely use a friend on board though, and the offer to listen stands if you want something...less official."

Swaying towards Callin for a heartbeat, Lake openly studied the Betazoid with his eyes and then leaned back against the LCARS console. "I'll take you up on that in the fullness of time," Lake said, and it was a promise. "My anxieties, this morning, are half-formed. Trying to put them into words would be like speaking with only consonants," he said. "I had mixed feelings about joining the Galileo crew to begin with; I'm still disoriented about coming here instead."

To this too, Callin nodded as if he completely understood where Lake was coming from. Sometimes communication was difficult. How many times had he thought that just in this one day among the telepathically deaf? It was a small thought, one he wasn't proud of ever having, but he wished he could share the sheer efficiency of it with others, not just for science, but to improve their lives and... With a wistful look in his eyes now shining almost wet with unreleased tears, Callin shook his head at Lake and delivered in a voice that perhaps did say he understood for whatever the reasons, while still picking his words carefully, "I'm sorry you're feeling that way, Lieutenant. And I know what it's like. I...didn't expect my first posting to be quite like how it...turned out."

For once in his life he managed to hold back his usual one-hundred percent honesty, sharing "too much". The fact that this man was indeed a Lieutenant was a reminder that he shouldn't complain, at least not outside of an appointment, and should give the respect he was due. Still, Callin couldn't help to begin to notice the heat of the other's presence now, and spared the man himself another full glance. A glance to him, an appraisal from more staid peoples perhaps, but a look indeed. Callin swallowed hard and looked up again, and offered a shrug as if he hadn't just done exactly what he wasn't supposed to do to a lieutenant. He steered the conversation away pretty pathetically with, "So, how 'bout them particles of space dust eh?"

"Forget the space dust," Lake affirmed, his timbre communicating how little he cared for space dust. He clapped the palm of his hand on Callin's shoulder to further grab the science officer's attention. "I feel like I've asked this question seven times today and the answers just pass right through me," Lake remarked. Then he fixed his gaze on Callin, holding it firm. "Can you tell me what's so meaningful about a cepheid variable star?"

What space dust? Callin's earlier grin had returned as Lake clasped his shoulder, and the Romulan certainly had his entire focus now. The smile started to grow wider, and he just knew he was about to make a comment to a superior officer that might land him in hot water for his frankness, though unaware that perhaps there was more to his enthusiastic responses than Lake's handsome face. Then Callin blinked.

"Uh." The smile vanished again, replaced with confusion for a moment. Then he shrugged under the hand on his shoulder and explained, "Meaningful? I suppose not much honestly. I mean, they're useful for measuring distances, when we're talking about millions or billions of light-years, of course. But this one we're going to see is important because we haven't observed yet the actual process by which a star becomes a Cepheid variable."

As much as Lake gave care to his image as an officer and a professional, he wasn't above a bit of humility. He leaned into Callin, practically hovering his chin over the young man's shoulder. There was a tentativeness to Lake's question, as if he knew it was an ignorant question, but he was willfully asked it anyway. "Does it... matter... how... it changes?" he asked.

Clearing his throat, Callin tried to focus on his answer, though Lake wasn't making it easy on him, "Yes. Well...maybe. Yes." It took him another moment to focus his mind, withdraw within himself, shutting out the wonderful background sensations of the minds around him, and a couple of long, steady breaths. At least Lake seemed interested in the science, and that Callin was always glad to share, "You see, a star like this emits an incredible amount of radiation, and that can be dangerous to inhabited planets in nearby systems. We're going to find that this system is full of bare, irradiated rocks for planets if even that much. If we can figure out how and why the change occurs, perhaps we'll be able to predict it."

Excitedly, Lake said, "Okay. There. There. That makes sense." He didn't raise his voice, exactly, but there was a clear intonation somewhere between eureka and victory. Lowering his voice even more, Lake said, "You always know how to make mysteries meaningful to me," and as he did he nuzzled his nose into Callin's shoulder. Almost as soon as he'd done it, Lake questioned the level of affection he was showing this young ensign he'd just met. Drastically, Lake took two sudden steps back from the other man.

"Whoa." It was a word he'd picked up on Earth that Callin rather liked. A stupid thing to pop into his head to say, but for a second he didn't know any other word to use. That move, those words, they had been unexpected, but in his surprise he was out there with his mind and senses once more. Running blind into that was...Callin suddenly realized his heart was racing, his face red, and his chest hurt. Ah, breathing. That started and he began to recover. "That's probably the nicest thank you I've gotten." Ever. Callin watched Lake intently, not moving from his chair, half a smile on his lips and all cautious. "Pleased to meet you too." More pleased than he'd say, but very confused.

Lake was finding it hard to make eye-contact with Callin. He supposed Callin's Betazoid senses might have a better concept of what Lake was thinking and feeling right now than Lake felt inside his own body. There were swirls of contradictory emotions flushing through him, but embarrassment was top of the list. Continuing to back away from Callin, Lake said, "The pleasure was all mine," softly, and he tacked on an, "evidently," as he remembered the physical contact between them. Nearly reaching the exit, Lake said, "Thank you for finding me an empty compartment. I think I'll go to there. Now."

"If you must," Callin said, shaking his head slightly as he sorted through what he sensed. Something had triggered a pretty confusing and embarrassing emotional reaction - overreaction - by Lake, and those were some powerful feelings. He would need some time to sort out his own reactions to it too. Some of it had been all his own initial attraction to the Romulan, some of it was definitely from his own tentative reading of the thoughts swirling around them. "But please don't feel any embarrassment. You've made quite an introduction." Callin now gave Lake a real killer smile.

At that, Lake took one more step back. The Schofield's internal sensors could detect Lake moving his body towards the exit and the doors pulled open behind him, in response. Before he backed out into the corridor, Lake ended his introduction with a bow and he blew a kiss in Callin's direction.

[OFF]

--

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Schofield

Ensign Callin Mastrel
Science Officer
USS Schofield

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