Lunch Conversations

Posted on Tue May 24th, 2022 @ 2:12am by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Jerant van Rijn

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Athena, Mess Hall
2183 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

A small sigh escaped Zade's lips as she looked around the mess hall. Despite her efforts to avoid the busy time of the lunch break, she found that the timing she used on the Colossal would not work here. All the tables were occupied by at least 1-2 people, and she usually tried to get a table before they started filling up. It gave her a sort of imposter syndrome to have to ask around for a seat. Seeing even more people come in through the doors on the opposite side of the room, the Trill went to the replicator and got herself some noodles so she could get a chair. With the bowl in both hands, she looked around the room with a thorough eye, not sure where to go first. Normally she was the one inviting people over to the table, not the other way around.

Sitting by himself, a darkened PADD in front of him, alongside a bowl of soup and what might appear as a cheese ciabatta roll, Jerant caught a flash of indecision. It caught his attention because he was still having trouble controlling his telepathy, it being still more absent than present. He glanced up and caught sight of an indecisive Trill female wearing the yellows of either operations, security or engineering. From afar, Jerant had no clue but seeing as she might be looking for somewhere, possibly quiet, to sit, he raised his hand to flag for her attention.

Movement caught her eye, and Zade turned her head to make eye contact with a man who had his hand raised. Taking another quick look around to make sure he wasn't waving at someone else, she approached his table. He was young, easily younger than her. She gave a friendly little smile and said, "you just saved me from the nerves of finding a table, thank you."

"You're welcome," he answered, returning her smile as he offered his hand. "Jerant van Rijn," he introduced himself, "currently off-duty but normally the counselor's aide and I suppose part of the linguistics team."

"Lieutenant Zade, the new security chief, but just Zade is fine," she replied, putting the bowl of noodles on the table she she could shake his hand. When he mentioned he was the counselor's aide, she recalled the conversation with Mason a couple days ago while they were searching for Savin and connected the dots, the outward evidence of it being a nod of understanding. "Good to see you on your feet after that virus," Zade commented, giving her noodles a mix. "Linguistics, huh? What got you into that field?"

"Innate talent I suppose, and a stone deaf friend I grew up with?" Jerant smiled. "Good to be on my feet again ma'am," he answered, "though I'm not all like my usual self yet and I've got no idea how long that'll take. I'm free of that infection, and I'll live, but I feel part of me is missing."

Zade nodded again, resonating to an extent with his words. While it wasn't from an illness, she knew all too well how to live while feeling incomplete. "Years ago, a friend told me, 'strive for progress, not for perfection.' It isn't easy learning to adapt when a part of you is missing," she said, twisting her fork to start collecting noodles. "... but it does help to find something that can be a motivator, at least in my experience."

"Oh I'm hardly perfect," the Betazoid smiled gently, "and I'm not alone in this either. I'm fortunate that I can still hear a telepath if they speak to me...I just don't sense anything, or not much anyway. It does mean that I'm pretty useless to my best friend on the telepathy front at the moment though, even though we can still sign. But for that I'll always need line if sight, and that isn't always possible."

The fork in Zade's hand spun slowly, continuing to gather noodles into a cylindrical shape as they wrapped around themselves. "Having someone who understands what you're going through can be... comforting, in its own way. The way I interpreted my friend's quote was basically: take small steps, and don't worry as much about the end goal. Some progress is better than none." She paused for a moment before giving him a comforting smile. "I'm not telepathic, but if you and the others need a mind to read or emotions to sense for practice, I'm not opposed to letting you in." As the words left her mouth, she realized that she had no idea what such 'practice' would even look like. Zade wasn't exactly a fan of having her mind read, but she had to be comfortable enough with it, in case her other methods of communication were not available to her.

"Oh that's a very kind offer but that's a bridge I'll cross when I'm ready. For now I'm trying to focus on just sensing emotions as that happens in brief flashes at the moment. Besides...I'm sure the counselor will happily be my guinea pig when I'm ready... He's got no secrets for me anyway." Jerant gave her a look of gratitude though. "But thank you, if Savin's too busy when the time comes, I might take you up on that offer."

Nodding again, Zade took the moment to take a bite of the noodles, savoring the flavor. He seemed nice, so she wanted to get to know him a little more. "Ok, now I'm curious," she asked after swallowing the bite of noodles. "You say you have innate talent for languages... how many languages do you know?" There was no doubt that he probably knew more than she did.

"Uhm..." The Betazoid seemed to blush a little. "I don't want to brag ma'am...but quite a number." He gave her a slight nod. "I do speak Trill... I'm not very practiced at it, and it's really conversational only, but I can do it."

"Well, I'm also happy to help brush up on Trill," she replied with a smile. Pausing, Zade thought for a moment. "I'm sure you know Federation standard sign language, but do you know Trill sign?" she asked curiously.

"Federation standard sign and Vulcan sign, but no, not Trill." He cast her a curious and somewhat excited look. "Why?"

Zade noticed the change, knowing she grabbed his attention. It was always a pleasant feeling seeing someone's expression change when they're excited about something. "Mostly curiosity. I have to sign to a backup translator when my vocal implant fails. I can use Federation standard, but translating between three languages at once is difficult for me." She began to spin her fork again to collect another bite of noodles. "Would you be interested in learning some? A linguist can never know too many languages."

"Oh I'd be happy to," Jerant offered, "I mean I should be able to if and when Savin doesn't have need of me... And to be fair I feel fairly useless without my telepathy right now..."

A slight frown crossed Zade's features at the way Jerant talked. She knew that kind of talk. "I can teach you Trill sign, but on the condition that you stop beating yourself up so much, alright?" Her words were gentle, yet to the point. "Surely a counselor understands that getting back to normal doesn't happen overnight. I'd hope a long time friend would understand that, too."

"Oh he does understand." The Betazoid smiled. "He probably knows me better than anyone on this ship, and he's too nice about it. I mean who better to understand a handicapped person, than someone with a handicap?"

"Good that he understands," she said with a nod. Knowing she'd need both hands, at least initially, Zade ate the noodles she had gathered before setting her fork down. "The sentence structure is a little weird, but it is easier to learn from Trill," she said, switching to her native tongue. Holding up her hands, she started to sign and talk at the same time. "I should ask, how do you learn? Vocabulary first? Some basic sentences? Just watch and mimic?" Zade ended up talking a little slower than she normally would, partly to make sure each sign was clear, and partly because of the effort that went into speaking and signing at the same time.

"Mimic is usually the way to go," Jerant answered, in Trill but without signing. "If speaking standard, sign is almost second nature. Savin does it often without thought so I respond in kind. However, as I do speak and understand Trill, sentences might be a good idea."

Zade nodded, pausing to think of some examples. "Introductions seem like a decent place to start." Pausing, she pointed at the base of her palm with one hand while the other made four signs, then gestured to herself. "My name is Zade," she began, continuing her signs, "I work in security." Making the same fingerspelling sign again, she then spelled Jerant's name before gesturing to him. "Your name is Jerant. You are a linguist. We are both in the mess hall, which is on deck two." She gave him a smile before asking, "think you can repeat that back to me?"

Seeing some similarities with standard sign, Jerant nodded though he didn't get it all right the first time around. "Then again, I only need to understand your sign," he realized, "as you're not deaf I could just talk to you while you sign to me."

"Fair enough," the Trill said. She thought for a moment, then added, "I could also sign what you say as well, since you know the words you're saying and it's just a matter of word association. Basically interpret for the both of us." With one hand, she scooped up some more noodles with her fork, but then put the fork down briefly. "Barring bites of food, of course. Trill sign is pretty dependent on both hands and understanding one-handed sign is challenging." Zade's expression turned briefly pensive, "which now that I think about it, is oddly inaccessible." When she finished signing, she picked up the fork again and took a bite of the noodles she scooped up.

"And what are the odds you'll be having a meal, when directly needing sign?" Jerant chuckled as he attempted to sign in Trill as he spoke. "Do please correct me if I get things wrong. One-hand sign is probably only needed in case of injury, but then the presence of a telepath might be more useful." He gave her a pained expression as this reminded him of his current handicap.

Zade smiled and raised a hand to wiggle two fingers at the tip of her nose, the Federation sign for 'funny.' One of the things she got used to was signing her expressions in Federation sign, since people were more likely to understand it. "Of course. It looks good so far. I could think of other reasons I'd sign with one hand. Like if I'm holding a phaser or something," she said with a shrug. "You almost have to imagine the other hand, which is why it's difficult." The Trill did catch Jerant's expression and gave him a comforting smile. "The circumstances that would require me to get help from a telepath are few and rare. In most cases, I can find a way to communicate just fine, it's really when I need to quickly convey something critical or if I'm completely unable to communicate that I would need someone to speak my thoughts."

The Betazoid nodded in understanding. "I suppose..." he answered thoughtfully. "...but telepathy does make things so much easier, and in circumstances like such, I find I do really miss mine right now."

There was a pause as Zade finished signing his words, her hands lingering on the sign for 'miss,' which was her index and middle fingers making a vague x. Normally it was meant in a literal sense, like failing to catch an item, but signed over the heart like she did conveyed the emotional meaning. She wasn't that great at comforting people and didn't really know what do say aside from repeating herself. "I can only imagine," she said, giving him a sympathetic look.

"No, you can't," Jerant answered softly as he put his utensils down and sighed. "I'm sorry...I need to go." Abruptly, he stood, grabbed his tray and walked off. While he had tried not to let it get to him too much, it was affecting him more than he desired it to do.

Zade was surprised when the man suddenly stood and left. Did she say something wrong? She opened her mouth to call after him, but he was already well on his way to leaving. She watched him leave the mess hall before turning her attention to what was left of her noodles. He was right in a way. While she knew what it was like to lose a part of her, she wasn't telepathic and she couldn't understand what it felt like to lose that.