Off the Record

Posted on Fri Nov 15th, 2024 @ 11:32am by Ensign Ziahli Lorel & Lieutenant Kevan Dash

Mission: Character Development
Location: Messhall, USS Athena
Timeline: The Morning After
1667 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

"You know, you'd all be less grouchy if you just talked about it."

If the intention had been to enjoy a quiet early lunch, the table's sole occupant was destined for disappointment. As much as it had taken Zia longer than she had any patience for to find a few minutes where she could feasibly pin him down without shirking responsibilities, there was a certain inevitability to her claiming the only other spare seat without waiting for invitation. It was a habit already formed, and though the tension radiating from the crew was not entirely absent from Kevan's demeanour, the Betazoid at least hoped there had been some anticipation that she'd check on him sooner rather than later. Satiating her own curiosity was certainly part of it but something about the suggestion that he had stood right next to her at the party and experienced an altered reality without her even noticing had provoked at least some concern. Guilt wasn't something Zia felt very often but she did feel at least a little responsible that she hadn't somehow helped him, if it turned out, in fact, he'd needed it.

It was hard to say; nobody was giving her a straight answer about what had actually happened.

Pulling the seat forward, she tucked herself against the table to lean her weight against folded arms and fixed the Trill with raised eyebrows. "The cone of silence is starting to freak me out."

"Ehh." Kevan shrugged. He'd not really spoken to anyone about it; even Zade. Though she was his boss, so it was a little more awkward anyway. Then again, Zia was a Betazoid, so could read his distance without even looking. And beside that, she was closer than a friend anyway. At least, that was how he was starting to see things. "When did you become a counselor?" It was an unnecessarily snide remark, one that he quickly regretted. "Hmm...sorry. It was - well, like being pulled into a holo-novel against your will. With the safeties off, you know?"

Having already proven to be exceedingly difficult to insult, Zia's primary reaction to the rapid pendulum swing of emotion from her fellow security officer was a raised eyebrow. The apology was almost unnecessary, it seemed reasonably clear that wherever his head was, it was provoking a mood that would have been egotistical to take personally. And, since her usually playfulness hadn't quite landed as it normally did, the telepath adjusted her tactics and responded in a slightly softer tone. "But what caused it? I'm positive I didn't experience it, it was like you were fine and then you just...weren't."

"You didn't hear?" He blinked. "I thought everyone knew...I suppose it might just have been those that got caught up in all the weirdness." The Trill's eyes went to his almost-finished food. "Stuck in a fantasy world with Lieutenant Zade, almost cooked by a witch. Tell you, I'm never going to look at candy canes the same ever again." Shrugging off the thought, he looked over at her and put a hand on the back of hers. "What was it like for you?"

On the verge of frustration at the 'everyone knew' assumption, which seemed to explain some of the brush-off she'd received for most of the morning, Zia hesitated as the explanation seemed possibly more bizarre than the pieces of circumstance that she did know. "As far as I know, it wasn't like anything for me." Without context, the Betazoid wasn't sure why she'd been overlooked for celebratory holodeck adventures but she was starting to think she'd been one of the lucky ones. "I'd about halfway dragged you to the dancefloor, the Commodore interrupted, the loud, obnoxious guy interrupted him..." Zia trailed off as her focus turned inwards in an attempt to recollect. Something was missing, it had been bothering her since she'd woken up, but trying to figure out what hadn't gotten her very far. "The next part I remember is Kane shouting at him. Whilst wearing a wig."

"So you didn't get..." Kevan trailed off. "Ohhhhh." Another pause. "You know, I've always wondered what that was like - you hear when people get snapped away by these Q beings and then snapped back; like, what they remember and don't..." Seeing her face, he quickly decided not to finish that line of conversation and touched her hand instead. "You okay? You don't look okay."

The expression on Zia's face rewarded the Trill for his audacity. "I look fine, thank you, Lieutenant." Q-beings. Why was this the first time she'd managed to get anyone to actually pinpoint the culprit by name?. "And I feel fine, at least now. At the time, the disorientation was a little overwhelming but I was willing to put that down to the cocktails." Truth be told, she rarely drank enough to lead to complete intoxication but chasing the slight buzz, coupled with the psionic-energy of a large crowd having a good time, was Zia's sweet spot in terms of socialization. So much so, that it was the perceived absence of the latter that had worried her the most.

"There was a moment where I felt completely alone though." As she dug deep to recall her own experience, Zia seemed more inclined to view it as cause for investigation than personal concern. "My eyes were telling me you were all there but there was nothing." She tapped an index finger of her free hand against her temple and then finally turned her other to give his a squeeze. "If I had to say anything, that went on for longer than events make it seem likely." With a shake of her head, the Betazoid lost her grasp of the recollection and gave up. "Not quite as exciting as getting eaten by witches though." Mischief flashed in her eyes. "It wasn't Zade, was it?"

"The witch? No. She was the one who saved me from being cooked alive by one." Kevan shrugged, not happy to admit that he needed rescuing, especially by his boss. Aside from the tarnish to his reputation and male pride, that sort of demise was a prospect that had weighed on him far too heavily. "Thank goodness you weren't there to see the outfits, though. I'm never sharing that with anyone."

"Is that right?" Never one to dwell, even though there would be time later to try and puzzle out the odd sensation that was right on the cusp of her recollection, Zia propped her chin up with a hand and offered a playfully smug smirk brimming with over-confidence. "I guess I'll just have to use my imagination then. Which is risky," the telepath pointed out. "Nobody was hurt though, right?" As much as Zia enjoyed the way the Trill's mind worked when she teased him, it seemed more of a priority to make sure there wasn't a lingering security threat.

"No one of consequence," Kevan smirked faintly, recalling just how things had ended up thanks to Zade's somewhat unconventional tactics. "I've heard rumours about some of the other crews' misadventures. I'm not sure whether to say you should be glad you weren't involved in one or that you missed out on the fun."

Zia wasn't entirely sure of where to land on that herself. On the one hand, nobody involved seemed to have enjoyed the experience, which suggested missing out on it wasn't a huge loss. But being excluded from something of significant social prevalence was likewise frustrating, especially as she couldn't shake the feeling she'd missed out on an experience very few got to have.

"All I will say," she arrived at, "is that, as an excuse for avoiding the dancefloor, it's a bit extreme." Zia curbed a playful smirk to add, "If you struggle to keep beat, you could have just said."

"Are you kidding? I was looking forward to getting my groove on. I've got moves, you know. Slap on some classic 'Perigee' anthems and I'm absolutely there." He flashed a more familiar grin, patting her arm. "Holodeck two after shift? How about it?"

Given what he'd just described, Zia was a little surprised to find the Trill so ready to step back inside a holodeck again but took it as a good sign she could trust he'd recover from the ordeal just fine without intervention. "I'm game," she confirmed, grinning as usual at his enthusiastic challenge. "Any particular dress-code?"

His grin widened a couple of millimeters. "Minimal?" The suggestive wink that followed was joined by a light shrug. "Okay, not quite Betazoid wedding, but something you feel like getting your own groove on, yeah?"

The predictability, at least, earned him a huff of amusement. "You know," Zia remarked, pushing her chair in, "one of these days, I'm going to have to take you to Betazed. Something tells me you'd embrace a culturally-relevant excuse to wear nothing all day." A playful eyebrow added its own challenge. "Though you might be disappointed to know that casual nudity isn't as prevalent as rumour would have it."

"I don't mind crashing a few weddings if you don't," he remarked, maintaining the banter a second longer. "Just don't get any funny ideas, though. I don't know what the Betazoid cultural thing is around marriage proposals or if you have some secret hidden tradition other than the whole nudity thing."

"Oh, trust me," Zia reassured as she pushed away from the chair to leave. "We keep our secrets for after the wedding, not beforehand." With that ambiguous claim, which was likely just mischief but it was never easy to tell, the brunette made her exit, acutely aware of the fact she was still technically on duty.

Kevan chuckled, watching her go with that wistful gaze a few seconds longer before his mind caught up to her words. "After the...wedding?" She was already out of the door before he'd vaulted himself up from the seat and bolted out himself.