Comfort Food and Girl Chat Part II
Posted on Sat May 27th, 2023 @ 12:54pm by Lieutenant Vura
Edited on on Wed May 31st, 2023 @ 8:29pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 14 - The Poseidon Adventure
Location: Tasty Toppings - Deck 70 - Poseidon Station
Timeline: MD006 2000 hrs
"I've not met Elen Diari yet," Vura replied, coming out of her "trance," and putting the wine glass back on the table. "Not a bad vintage," Vura said to nobody in particular before turning the subject back to Elen Diari, "Why do you say that Elen Diari will be an interesting case? And," then she started giggling, "what it is it about you and Romulans and Vulcans? You might find that Vulcans are quite logical about sex except during their pon farr. They find a way to rationalize everything at the end of the day. And yes, I'm enjoying the wine. We Deltans tend to eat and drink very slowly. We savor everything. We live for our inner space, so trying something new like Kanar would be a delightful experience. I hope that my slow eating and drinking will not be a problem for you," Vura replied apologetically.
Paisley shook her head. "It's fine. I tend to eat too fast, so it will be good for me to slow down," she said. "I don't have anywhere else to be, anyway," she said. "As for Elen, well...she seems...lost. I haven't quite figured out why, but it doesn't take a counselor to recognize it." She shrugged. "As for Romulans and Vulcans, well....my whole life, I was taught to be a certain way, a certain THING. The daughter of a well-connected Cardassian General, and advisor. I had to be a lot of things I wasn't. I value logic and the stoicism they show," she said. Finally, their food appeared, the waiter quick and silent. "Oooh, that looks SO good." She said. CHEESE. Cheese made her happy.
Vura took a longer sip of her wine, relishing it. She tried not to laugh when Paisley said that she eats too fast. Was there anything that she did not do at lightspeed? She managed to not choke or spit out her wine as Paisley prattled. "You know, Paisley, living to be the opposite of what you had to be isn't necessarily the best way to live either." She put her hand to her chest and apologized. "Sorry, this isn't a counseling session. I can't help myself sometimes. My apologies, Paisley." She looked over the cheese and the assorted items scattered for dipping. Daintily she pinched a toothpick holding some bread. She dipped it in the fondu and guided it to her mouth.
The Deltan put it all in her mouth but some of the cheese hung from her lower lip and started to dribble towards her chin. Vura, oddly, was paying it no mind.
Paisley chuckled. "It's ok. I imagine it's difficult to turn off that part of your brain, especially if you're a caring person, anyway. How did you come to be a counselor?" She asked. "Also, you have a bit of cheese, there," she said, leaning forward to tap Vera's chin a little. "And maybe you're right, but it's kept me alive and out of danger, which is more than I can say for some of my school mates. Most of them joined the militia, or got married straight away. Are any of them happy, though? Truly? Only one woman I know of is. The rest just...did it because it was EXPECTED of them." She shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder if my father even knows I'm gone. He stopped paying me attention YEARS ago. I stopped being cute enough to be a girl magnet, and he had to rely on his own charms," she said.
Vura laughed and unlike her normal unrefined self, took a finger, scooped up the cheese, then put her finger in her mouth, and languidly sucked it off her finger. "Did I get it all?" she asked Paisley, her eyes twinkling in the candlelight. "You're right, it is difficult to turn off the counselor part of my brain. I trained for it on Delta IV. I was not really gifted in arts or math. I mean, I can still do spatial trigonometry in my head, but I might have been average at best. So, I did some testing and I was shuttled into counseling. I went to the Delta Institute for Psychosocial Sciences. They're quite good. But you know what was strange, Paisley? I was not as strong in all of the sexual and sensational therapies. I was strongest in psychoanalysis and what you would call 'Humanistic' theories. So, I'm a bit of a weird Deltan," she replied laughing. "Anyways, just something for you to think about. Only you have the answers that are right for you. I'm just a guide, when I'm on the job, that is."
Paisley nodded. "Yeah, you got it all. I see. I sort of fell into Engineering, actually. I was training to be a politician and attorney before I left Cardassia. My head is in numbers, really, I guess. More analytical. Perhaps that's also why I like Romulans and Vulcans?!" She shrugged again. "It was fulfilling, actually, but I discovered engineering and I really like that, too. I sometimes think *I* am a weird Cardassian in that way, too, because I don't like fighting, I don't like warring. I do my best to avoid conflicts, at all costs. I sometimes wonder how different things would be if I had been born a boy, or if my brother had survived...would HE be the same? I don't know. I would hope not, but I fear that our father would've made it so as much as he could. HE was raised by a military father, too, and while I understand it's engrained in him, I don't like it." She explained.
"You can't be a weird Cardassian because you're also part-Bajoran," she noted specifically before taking a piece of fruit, dipping it into the cheese and eating it, again, taking an inordinate amount of time while savoring every morsel. "I don't remember you ever telling me that you had a brother. What happened to him?"
Paisley considered for a moment, before dipping some bread into the cheese, and popping it in her mouth. Unlike the Deltan, she didn't savor it, but she DID enjoy the flavor. "Died in childbirth. Well. Technically shortly after, but. He was breach and my mother went into early labor on a shuttle. There was no doctor on board, because it was my father's private shuttle, and she wasn't due for awhile. They both...passed that night. She lost too much blood, and he, too much oxygen." She remembered it, kind of. In small bits and pieces, vaguely, foggily.
"Oh," Vura replied softly. "I knew about your mother but...." She let her voice trail and taking another long sip of her wine."
Paisley just nodded. "I don't think I clarified. So far as I know, we were the only children my father has had; he COULD, conceivably, have other children in the Universe, but I don't know of them." She said, "I hope I am more like her. Making her proud in whatever life comes next." She sighed but ate some more. "Do you have any siblings?" She asked. She'd always envied people with siblings-she'd hated being an only child.
"Yes, I have a brother, Letas, and a sister, Zaya." She took a piece of green apple and dipped it in the cheese and then placed it in her mouth.
Paisley nodded. "I always envied the other girls who had siblings. They always said they wished they were only children," she laughed. "I wished I had someone to talk to. I took care of myself mostly by myself from about age 6 and it's not all it's cracked up to be." She poked some celery into the cheese, and ate it quickly. "This cheese is good! I wonder what kind it is. Do you think it's from Earth?" She asked.
"Do not envy what you do not understand or did not have. The humans have a saying, 'The grass is always greener on the other side.' Essentially, each set of circumstances has its own trials and tribulations. Let me tell you, family trips were not enjoyable. The fights about who was on who's side of the shuttlecraft or not breathing the other one's air were legendary. My sister wanted to trade me for a tantine (a semi-common pet on Delta IV) at one point...."
Paisley laughed. "My father was 19 when I was born; I think it's a lot like having an older brother," she said. "That sounds heavenly. But I understand. Nowadays, I wouldn't trade it-being an only child afforded me a LOT of things that I might not otherwise have had if I had to share resources and attention." She said. Not that there was a lot of attention paid to her, but oh well. "I was able to travel the Universe and tow along with my father and his colleagues while they went places. I might've missed that if I had a mother at home to care for me." Still, she was sad at the fact that all of her womanly knowledge came from her father's girlfriends and lovers, and friend's mothers and older sisters. "Still, I guess I missed out on embarrassing things, like parents coming to school and kissing you in public or having to buy your first bra," she said. "My father just parked me at a mall on Risa and told the salesgirl to help me, and spare no expense. I got some great stuff on that Latinum, let me tell you!" She laughed out loud at the memory.
"I can only imagine," Vura answered with a knowing smile. "I think you turned out quite well, Paisley. You certainly know how to make me laugh and that does not happen that often. But Deltans don't often leave home either. But, as I said before, I'm a weird Deltan." She dipped another piece of bread in the cheese and placed it delicately in her mouth, careful to avoid cheese going down her lip this time. The bread melted in her mouth and she audible murmured, "Mmmmm."
Paisley nodded. "I understand why most of you wouldn't leave; it would be frustrating, to me, to have romantic feelings and not be able to act on them. Would that go for Orions, too, though? Since they have the pheromone thing, too?!" She went for some bread, too, again. Ok, she was really here for the carbs tonight. "Why did you join the Fleet?! Was it some heart-on-your-sleeve thing? Or just to see the universe?!" She gave up on the bread, and picked up a spoon, spooning the golden, molted cheddar into her mouth slowly. She realized too late how gross that was, but put the spoon down and switched back to the food. She got some broccoli this time, and soaked it.
"The Deltan Oath applies to contact with anyone in Starfleet." She thought about it for a moment. "Orion pheromones work differently, anyways. Theirs are more airborn and generalized. My pheromones.... Well, let's just say that we've been known to drive non-Orions insane. That's literally, not figuratively, Paisley." There was an ounce of warning coupled with sadness in her voice. "But I left Delta IV because there was nothing left for me there that I wanted to experience anymore. The Oath is a burden but just think, had I not taken it, I could not have met you." She showed her pearly white teeth as she smiled genuinely at Paisley.
Paisley nodded, but blushed a little bit, turning an interesting shade of purple. "I see. I didn't know there was a difference! I've heard stories of Deltans marrying non-Deltans but I have actually never SEEN it so I couldn't confirm. And I have only met one Orion, sadly, and he wasn't my type," she said. "Too muscled." She clarified. "And I can understand that sentiment. There's a whole wide, ever expanding Universe to see. One planet, even the prettiest, the most comfortable, isn't the end-all." She went for some more bread. "Of all of the Universe I HAVE seen, there's so much more I haven't, and I want to see as much as I can before I die." She said. "However that looks, hopefully I can." She still had to see nebulas, and a black hole explosion, and whatever is IN one of those weird psychogenic pitcher plants. So many things for her half-Lizard, half-Bajoran brain to see.
Vura knew that Paisley did not understand what she was talking about or why she had left Delta IV, but she was not about to correct her friend. Paisley had hopes and dreams of seeing everything, whereas Vura just knew that she needed to escape home and her memories there. "Seeing a Deltan married to a non-Deltan is quite rare, I assure you. It changes the non-Deltan forever and it often is not pretty." She shook her head and said, "I would not recommend it."
Vura took another sip of her wine, washing away the cheese. "I would suppose that the meats are next, no?"
Paisley nodded. "Feel free, I don't eat much meat. I am not vegetarian, per se, I just prefer vegetables and pastas and breads. Lots of bread!" She laughed. "I suppose it's because the simple carbohydrates gives me that quick energy I need to do what I do," she said. "But I might eat a bit of the fowl," she said. "I see," she said, in response to Vura's final statement. "That DOES make sense. I figured those jerks were pulling my leg, but I was still too dumb to know it yet," she laughed. She'd been a bit sheltered in her life. She watched, sadly, as the cheese was taken away, replaced by meat and hot oil. She tried not to make a face, but instead ordered an Uttaberry tea, iced, and picked up a piece of what looked like chicken on a skewer. "Here it goes!" She said, sing-songy.
"You know, Paisley, you could ask them to leave the cheese if you want. And, my mother always told me if you make a face like that, it might freeze that way," Vura told Paisley when she frowned. "And why would you call yourself dumb? You're far from it, Paisley. Just because you're inexperienced or unknowledgeable, does not make you dumb," Vura lectured Paisley politely. "I don't associate with dumb people...." She then added as an afterthought, "except sometimes in therapy." Then she giggled.
Taking some meat on another stick, she dipped it in the oil and let it sit for a few moments before taking it out, blowing on it, and popping it into her mouth. She crewed it a few times, let it sit in her mouth, and then swallowed. "I don't know what it is, but it definitely delighful."
"I mean dumb in the same way a puppy is-they don't know better yet," she said. "And it's fine, I did mention I don't eat a lot of meat. I don't know how you can; it doesn't seem refined and sensual like you seem to prefer," she said. "But I am willing to concede that it could be what I am used to; when you're supposed to be taking care of yourself by yourself, you go for what's easy, and grilled steak isn't exactly easy." She said. "We had a lady who came in to cook and clean but she was Bajoran and made those traditional dishes, and they eat a lot of vegetarian dishes." She picked up another piece, and ate it without the oil. It was slightly better raw. Wasn't that a THING, anyway? Tartare or something like that? "And ha, if my face stayed like that, it might be an improvement over the grey scales." She said, wryly. Her facial features were more Cardassian-though she had the notable absence of an "inverted spoon" marking, she DID have thick, ridged skin and a grey pallor to her face. "You should enjoy it, though, please." She said.
"Meat doesn't seem refined?" Vura's voice purred. "Then you have not tasted the right pieces of me," she informed Paisley with a knowing smile and a sensuous voice. Innuendo was dripping from every word in her last statement. "Point of view is a very powerful thing, Paisley. I just try not to ascribe to any particular one, whenever possible. IT does not serve me or my clients well."
Paisley chuckled at the innuendo. "I should rather taste YOU than this," she said, trying to not wrinkle her nose up further. "But I bet you don't taste nearly as well as a Vulcan," she said, a smirk playing at her face. "And that's good, hopefully one's point of view changes with new information about a person or situation," she remarked, sipping her iced tea. She flagged down the host again, and asked him to return the cheese to the table. It would do her better to at least eat that, especially if she wanted more Kanar later, which she did.
"You're right. I don't taste nearly as good as a Vulcan. I taste infinitely better," Vura informed Paisley. "But you will never know that now, will you?" She squinched her nose prettily. "Such a shame for both of us, no?" She dipped another piece of meat into the oil, then tasted it. After savoring it, she informed Paisley, "I think this is a type of fowl. Find whatever looks like this and give it a try."
Paisley laughed again. "I guess we never well, will we?" She said. Too bad that, but she knew better than to play with fire. "Ok, fowl," she said, inspecting the trays. She found a piece and dipped it into the cheese. She put it gingerly into her mouth, and after a moment, she nodded. "Yes, that's quite good. Thank you!" She perked up a little bit. "But I don't yet know how a Romulan tastes," she remarked, "Nor an Andorian. So many races left to explore!" She commented. "And I personally can't WAIT for Pon Farr Fridays," she joked. "I did meet a Romulan here on base. But I am not sure it's a good time; we'll leave again soon, and I don't like goodbyes, and I am not good at long-distance things." She said.
"You have time regarding finding a Romulan, but as to an Andorian, I do not know what Thex's tastes are, but she's available as far as I know. Best not to mention that I had a little fun with Thex and subjected her to Deltan pheromones when I met her on the Promenade." She shrugged lightly as she played with another skewer of meat. "Now, goodbyes are not fun, but remember with every ending, there's a new beginning."
Paisley raised her eyebrow again. "Poor Thex!" She laughed. "I have heard she's single but I don't know how well we vibed, to be honest. I think she might be interested in Elen, or at least El was interested in HER, because she ran me off when I tried to insert myself in their fun," she reported. "Not in a mean way, mind you, more like "don't block me from my fun, woman" kind of way," she clarified. She gave up on the meat and picked up some bread, dipping it in the hot oil and eating it that way. "And yes, new beginnings but what happens if the new beginnings are equally messy? I don't have time for that!" She said. "It's better to not date people on your ship, I feel like, in case it goes South." She shrugged. It was just her opinion, of course. Plenty of people did it.
Vura thought about Paisley's question and sucked on another piece of meat before finally answering, "And why if the new beginnings are not messy? You never know until you try. If you don't try, you never find out and then you could be missing out on something special because you're too worried about a negative result. Hardly a way to live in my opinion."
She chewed on yet another piece of meat unusually fast for her and held the skewer in Paisley's direction before continuing. "And yes, dating on a ship is difficult, but it also is natural. How can you really have a relationship with someone on another ship? You have to coordinate leaves and then really, all you get is the best of the person when you see them for a week at a time. Relationships are forged when you get to see someone at their best and worst."
She considered. "Maybe. On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for seeing a person only certain times," she said. "For example, just before I met you here, I was covered in grease and whatever bugs live in the tubes. Say I was dating one of the girls from Engineering-they'd see me covered in grossness and I-them." She shivered. "Could you imagine kissing someone who'd just swallowed a spider?" She made a face. "Besides. I am not looking for a full relationship right now. Just some fun trouble." She shrugged. "Like a female Rider; a girl in every port, a guy on every shore." She giggled.
"Nothing wrong with that," Vura giggled in return. "Oh, I remember my younger days and exploring so many things on Delta IV, but that was a long time ago, now."
Paisley nodded. "It seems like every day is a year out here," she said. "I actually didn't date much when I was younger. Not just because of my father-I don't think he would've minded much-but I was kind of a loner. Out here? No one expects me to BE anything other than an Engineer. I can just do my job and go to my quarters. Or wherever. I don't have to worry if I want to kiss a girl today, and a guy tomorrow, what "people will say," she made air quotes, "Or worry that because I don't even like to carry a phaser, that I am not good enough. We have enough fighters out here, my being unarmed isn't an issue. I've never felt safer, honestly." She said. She popped more bread in her mouth, and swallowed it before continuing. "IF you were free to date around, who would it be? There's got to be SOMEONE you've met this week that turned your head. A certain Marine, maybe?" She asked, gently. "I couldn't imagine the self-discipline it takes for you. I'd be in a brig or something. What IS your punishment if you break your vow, anyway?" Nosy questions, but Paisley didn't care.
Vura ignored the question regarding the "certain marine," and said, "The punishment for breaking the vow is rather severe. The court martial would be nothing. The incarceration would be lengthy and the harm to such a person could literally render someone insane." She shuddered involuntarily. "We Deltans cannot help that your species are so sexually immature. We're simply a danger to you until another few millenia go by and even then, we will have advanced more and still probably be a danger."
Sheepishly she continued, "But we mean no harm and love the Federation, so we take the Oath as a compromise. But, it is also one of many reasons that there are very few Deltans in Starfleet."
Paisley nodded. "I DO understand. If these are too personal of questions, tell me to be quiet," she said. "I just want to learn about your race," she said. "It seems a rather harsh punishment for an organization that prides itself on its humanity," she remarked. "I do understand what they SAY will happen, but are there any actual recorded instances?" Her analytical mind wanted to know. "I promise I am not trying to get you to break your vow for me, or anything. Just plain curiosity," she said. "Though it'd be fun to stick THAT on my father's head, too. Could you IMAGINE the talk among the Army people? Oh, there's Yeicet F'rar's daughter, driven mad by a Deltan woman," she nearly collapsed from the laughter. "He'd have to leave Cardassia Prime forever!" The thought was immature, but it made it her feel smug, at least for a moment.
How could Vura not possibly react with the biggest, most genuine smile that she could ever give Paisley. The woman just pleased Vura on every level: her running at the mouth, her insatiable curiosity, and her forthrightness. The Deltan could not stand it anymore and burst out laughing boisterously. After settling herself down, wearing a large smile, she told Paisley, "You'd likely end up leaving Cardassia Prime forever, too, but at least you would be well cared for and your needs all handled. But yes, there are examples, and as far as I know, most are between humans and Deltans. Now, there was the curious case of Ilia and Will Decker. Will seemed to resist the irresistible urge until the very end when he and Ilia disappeared.... It might be a Starship Captain thing?"
A Joint Post By:
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Ensign Paisley F'rar
Damage Control Specialist, USS Pioneer
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