Ice Breaking

Posted on 18 Nov 2012 @ 8:10pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho

3,184 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 03 1605 hours

[ON]

With Kiri in tow, Maenad led the short walk from the observation lounge to the mess hall. When they go there, she saw that it was starting to get quite busy. Alpha shift had just ended, she realised, and all those engineering and operations officers who'd spent the day fixing the ship were hungry. There were so many gold uniforms and orange jumpsuits that Maenad thought that she and Kiri were the only ones in blue.

"Where are we going to sit?" She mumbled aloud, scanning the bustling hall. Maenad spotted a table by the window that had just opened up and practically began a sprint for it. They reached it in perfect time; the greasy repair crew that had occupied it was walking away as they sat down.

"A window seat," Maenad said excitedly, "Luck is on our side today, Miss Cho." She sighed, now wondering what to eat. She was starving."What are you going to get?"

She was hungry but Kiri didn't really feel up to very much, the thought of food right now kept her rather queasy, it was better to have something simple. An uneasy breath escaped her as she answered, "Soup, I think." There were so many people around, at least they all seemed busy with their own things.

Maenad stood up from the table in one quick motion. "Wait here and save my spot. What kind do you want? Oh, and what do you want to drink?"

Kiri didn't argue, still it didn't quite seem right to be the one remaining. She tried to answer as concisely as possible, "Lung fung, um, seafood, and water? And a breath mint."

Maenad nodded, but opened her mouth as though to say something. She didn't, though, and instead turned around and smiled to herself. She hurried off toward a replicator, leaving Kiri behind. The line wasn't too long, and Maenad stood with her hands in her pockets as she waited to order. Two or three minutes later, it was finally her turn; frustratingly, the people ahead of her couldn't figure out what they wanted.

"Computer, put all of this on the same tray. Lung fung, a glass of water, and a peppermint," Maenad said. "And spicy Phat Thai with chicken and a glass of water, too." The order materialised as requested. Maenad carefully took the tray and returned to Kiri, winding carefully through the mess of people.

She set the tray on the table, then lifted Kiri's plate and put it in front of her. Maenad then sat opposite from her and took her own plate and water off the tray. "There," she said, feeling ready. "Thanks for coming in here with me," she smiled to Kiri as she began prodding her food with a fork.

Taking a deep spoon Kiri managed to smile, a real one. This was her new commanding officer and Kiri liked her, there seemed to be no negative aspects to their interaction. She was kind, supporting, maybe even understanding, she was someone Kiri liked. She didn't even look that tired for a few seconds, "Thank you for inviting me."

Oblivious to Kiri's appreciation for having asked her for lunch, Maenad was busy twirling her noodles around to let some of the heat out. She was always burning her tongue and today she thought ahead. "Cho," she said, thoughtfully, still playing with her food. "That's Chinese, right?" she raised her green eyes to Kiri's.

"Yes?" Kiri gave a questioning look that she was getting very used to giving by this point. She hoped that being asked strange questions that seemed obvious to her would get less of a reflex reaction by now. It didn't seem to have worked that way yet though, slipping back to a thin masking smile she looked at the bowl, taking in the smell. Raising her the question, why did she pick seafood?

Maenad looked back down at her noodles and stabbed some onto her fork. It seemed that gradually breaking into conversation didn't work with Kiri. She forked what she had into her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and took a drink before continuing. "What I was getting at was how does a young trill get to Earth and take on a human Chinese name," she nodded toward Kiri's plate, "And, at least somewhat, a taste for Chinese culture."

It was a matter of personal history then, Kiri was silent for a moment. Sooner for later she would have tell her. There wasn't really much of reason not to explain, "I never knew my biological parents," Making sure she spoke quiet enough that no one else could hear, "I was brought up in China by my parents, I don't really know anything about being a Trill."

Well, she had done it again. Like with Kohl that morning, Maenad managed to turn what should have been a pleasant conversation into something much deeper and too personal than she had ever intended. Because there was food in her mouth she was unable to sigh, so the brightness in her eyes faded instead. "I'm sorry," Maenad said after swallowing. "I didn't mean to be rude," her voice was sympathetic and sounded genuinely regretful that she had gotten too private.

Kiri smiled, that was the normal reaction people had to her telling them. While she considered it a private matter it wasn't something that was painful or hard for her. Wherever she came from, the people had thought of as her parents were humans, they were her mother and father. People seemed to struggle to understand that though, she didn't ask about their families without invitation but people she talked to didn't always return the courtesy. Still speaking softly Kiri seemed to warm slightly, "It is fine, please don't discuss it with anyone else though," Looking at her soup Kiri was distracted again, she just couldn't eat and talk at the same time, "Do you have other questions?" They were having a conversation and Kiri didn't think she would mind further intrusions.

"I'm not interviewing you," Maenad smiled. She sounded more playful than dismissive. "I'm just wondering about you." She took a long sip of water. "I don't think you fully realise how remarkable you are," Maenad looked at her with sincerity. "An assistant chief right from the start. You're ambitious, thoughtful, independent; you have incredible initiative, and I have only known you since yesterday." She forked another clump of noodle and breathed in. "This is really spicy," she said to herself.

Kiri liked having her ego stroked. Modesty meant she tried not to let on how much she liked it but it helped make her feel quite a bit better. The smile grew, "Thank you," If only everyone was so nice to her. Finding a silent moment to lift another spoon of soup to her lips Kiri drank quietly. She wasn't able to make those sorts of comments about Maenad, the best she could do was, "Do you like Thai food?"

Maenad frowned, just noticing that what she had ordered was Thai. She did like it. "Yes," she said back to her. "I don't eat it very often," she tried to remember the last time she had eaten Phat Thai, or any other Thai, and failed. "I have never been to China," she observed thoughtfully. China was filled with many of Earth's most ancient archaeological sites, though she had never gone to see them. She felt an ounce of guilt over that. "Where in China did you grow up?"

"Guangxi Province, in the South," Kiri answered quickly, a part of her wished that Maenad had visited China. That was it, they did have something common, from her accent, she knew that. "When I was in the Academy, I spent six months in Paris." If they were talking about places they had both been in, surely that could be one?

"Oh yes," Maenad nodded. She was from Nantes, which was only a few hours west. "As part of an exchange? Did you like it?" She forked some more food into her mouth, glad that Kiri had been.

"I studded Physics there, along with sensor unit construction and development," While the Campus in San Francisco was the main one, there were areas for study all over the world with a range of specialisms. As for liking it, "I didn't go out very much, but I saw it snow for the first time."

"I thought I had seen snow until I started living in Montreal," Maenad said. "Canadian winters are no myth," she added, looking outside while wondering if it ever snowed on Vega.

"I did four days of cold weather survival training in Northern Canada, in winter," Kiri paused for a moment and felt the chill run though her, making sure she took another spoonful of soup. If it was a matter of if she liked the place or not then, "I didn't really enjoy it."

"I can't imagine that you did," Maenad grinned. She ate some more from her plate and downed more water. It was spicier than she had expected it to be, but she still enjoyed it. "What are your plans for the evening?"

"Oh," She wasn't used to talking about plans with other people, "I have a series of tests to run as well as data to review, as well as making my report to the Commander about the sensors." Since that was all at the meeting it likely wasn't those things that were being questioned, "I also have to ask some other members of the crew if they wish to attend the social event I am organising." Pausing she took the chance to take another spoonful, squishing a prawn between her back teeth at the end, it was nice.

Maenad watched Kiri as she spoke, thinking that she looked tired. Was she asking too much of her? She didn't think so, and revised her question to whether Kiri was asking too much of herself. "Just remember to get some rest," she told her. "I know you're doing a good job."

"Thank you sir," Reassurance helped, it helped a lot. If work wasn't something to worry about but something to just do, her escape was all the better. She didn't have to worry about the problems she was having at night, or her social problems in general while at work. It wasn't right to have people worrying about her though, "I will be finishing work at eleven pm today."

Nearly finished eating now, Maenad paused for another drink. She was out of water. "I'll be right back," she said while standing up and rushing away. She replicated a small pitcher of ice water and brought it back to the table, refilled her glass and drank from it.

Taking the chance for not talking Kiri made sure no one was watching and gulped down several mouthfuls, not really savouring any of them. There wasn't time to sit around here all day, not really. There was work to do, lots of it. It was nice to have someone to talk to though, it wasn't hard talking to Maenad though in her head Kiri still thought of her as Lieutenant Panne. By the time she had returned to the table Kiri was finishing the last bite and picking up her own glass of water. Slowly but without pause or sound she drank the entire thing before silently placing the glass back on the table. The question then occurred to her, "Do you like warm places?"

Being an anaemic, keeping warm wasn't always easy. She didn't want to get into her health problems, though, so Maenad simply shrugged. "My favourite time of year is the fall," she thought aloud, having nothing really to do with the question. "I got used to the warmth teaching in San Francisco, so I can't say that I don't like it. I liked spending time along the Cte d'Azur with my parents when I was little," she reflected. "That was lovely."

Teaching, scary, wait, at the Academy? Kiri remembered most of her teachers, she had made a database of them if she ever had a question to ask. But maybe she had seen her, maybe they were at least in the same city for a period of time, maybe? For a moment she forgot she could just ask, "Did you teach at the Academy or somewhere else?"

Maenad finished the last of her plate and washed the remnants down with a large sip of water. She crunched an ice cube as she replied. "Yes," she broke the smaller pieces between her back teeth. "I taught at McGill in Montreal for a year, then entered Starfleet where I've taught ever since. I did my Starfleet training during the summer months, usually while on assignment, and they considered my civilian undergrad and master's as credit toward graduating. I earned my PhD at Starfleet while teaching; I taught introductory genetics and biology courses, as well as advanced xenoarchaeology and micropaleontology."

She already knew what Maenad specialised in, topics that Kiri had covered at the basic level for a few months, not something she was really able to talk about very much. There was something she hadn't asked though, now it came up, "Why did you change to being on a starship?"

"To be honest, it wasn't entirely by choice," Maenad looked outside again as she thought aloud. "Teaching at Starfleet gave me the advantage of being able to travel the stars, to actually be able to go to my work. It also gave me protection while travelling; Federation starships are pretty intimidating to grave-robbers and pirates. I was told that if I taught at the Academy, they wanted to make me a Starfleet officer. I agreed. I hated it at first; I never got along with my superior officers, always thinking I was right.' A mischievous grin spread across her lips and she returned her eyes from outside to Kiri's, "I always was right, but I suppose that's not the point." She thought about getting into her stories of reprimands and being cited for insubordination, but chose not to. Telling Kiri of her problematic first days didn't seem like a good idea right now. "It's given me experience, taught me things I could never learn with a strictly teaching job, and I have learned a lot about myself."

"I see," Yet again, Kiri was seeing how little she knew about herself, how little she knew about life. All she knew about was from books really, almost all that was about mathematics, stars and physics, there weren't enough books on life. Trying to be positive she placed the mint into her mouth, "It sounds exciting."

"It has its ups and downs," agreed Maenad. Not being a very excitable person, she had always found what she did as natural more than exciting. She could see the allure that some people might have had toward the things she had done, and still did, but to her it was all just another day. "Everyone has to make their own excitement, Miss Cho," she breathed. "It is probably one of the most subjective emotions we have. What is fun to one person is boring to another. It took me a long time to figure that out, and I was quite miserable for a very long time because of it."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kiri knew what was exciting to her, the problems came that she had only met one person in the world that really shared that. That person was now so far away that even a call was hard, Sellen would want there to be a reason anyway. Work had stopped Kiri from looking at new problems in Mathematics to work at and talk about, that was all they really had in common. Regardless, to Kiri Maenad was exciting, Kiri had gone from home to classroom to academy room almost her entire life so far with very few asides. Remember stay positive, "I guess we are exciting now." Being on a Starship, fighting Klingons, visiting other worlds.

"I guess so, Miss Cho," she smiled at her unintentional rhyme. "And there is much to come our way," Maenad finished the rest of her water. "I should probably let you go now," she nodded to her. "Thank you for joining me."

Yes, there was a lot to do, there was only an hour or two before it was too late to present her idea to the XO. After that there would still be a whole lot of work to do, there always was. Kiri loved it though, it was fun, it distracted her from harder, scarier things and was helpful to everyone else. There was no downside at all, she was leaving the meal more cheerful than she had entered, closer to someone that might be a friend one day, maybe. At least someone she liked, "Thank you for eating with me," Then a little presumptively she asked, "Can, can we do it again, I mean, other than the social event?"

Maenad had begun to stand up and was putting the dishes back on the tray for recycling when Kiri's question made her stop. She looked at her, still sitting there in her chair, small and adorable. Maenad could only smile at her, but she was smiling because she realised that what she had only done out of politeness had in fact meant a lot to Kiri, perhaps more than she knew. It struck her that Kiri was very lonely; asking her to lunch might have been the best thing that had happened to poor Kiri in a while. "Of course," she said softly, her eyes affectionate. She lifted the tray in a thoughtful silence. "Kiri," she used her first name on purpose, "I might be superior in rank, but we're equals in everything else. You can knock on my door any time you like, and you don't have to have a reason."

A lot of things happened all at once, Kiri froze as she tried to process them. Maenad had taken her plate for starters, that was always her job at home. Then there was the way she had looked at her, the words she had said, all of it. She even used her name, something that would normally cause Kiri to get defensive, yet right now, so. She blushed, her cheeks right up to her nose, her stomach fluttered, it was nice to be looked at like that. Then she panicked, she was looking like a child and acting like an idiot. Standing up Kiri bowed her head, her voice strained, "Thank you again," There were no words she could say that didn't sound stupid, "H, have a nice, eve, afternoon, sir." Now her legs were playing up, they felt heavy, even hurting as Kiri forced them to move, heading for the door, almost walking into someone as she left.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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