Interdepartmental Relations

Posted on Sat Sep 25th, 2010 @ 11:17pm by Lieutenant JG Hannah Andeti & Lieutenant JG Malia Jacy

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A House Divided"
Location: Counselor's Office, USS Pandora
Timeline: Mission Day 2, 1400

ON:[[ Counselor's Office, USS Pandora, MD02, ?]]

Malia trotted down the corridor hugging a small covered object to her. It'd been an exciting mission, for sure, but now that everyone was back safe and sound she felt more at ease. Tense situations tended to not make people very friendly; and if one other person on this ship would be as relieved to have things return to normal, Mali was sure it'd be a counselor. She also knew that socially speaking, counselors were typically the best at conversation. She rang the chime and stepped back, rocking on her feet while she waited.

Myrin yanked his feet from the counselor's desktop and felt the floor come up hard beneath them, even as a trio of PaDDs went scattering accross the room. He hurried after them, expecting Andeti's return at any moment and not wanting to be caught slacking he immediately called "Enter!"

And enter Mali did. "Hello there," she singsonged as she approached the desk and placed the covered dish upon it. She quirked an eyebrow at the stooped ensign and his small gathering of PADDs and couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you redecorating? Or is this your usual organizational system?"

Final PaDD in hand the Ensign glanced up at the entering lieutenant and stumbled to attention as one PaDD slipped away from him again. "M'am."

Mali moved to pick up the PADD. "I didn't think formalities were employed when one was in the counseling office." She returned the PADD to the desktop and took an unoffered seat, waiting expectantly for him to join her.

The young man grinned, instantly at ease. "Maybe not but until you're officially my patient there's still the possibility that you'll put me on report." He chuckled and hoped that she was as easy going as she appeared. Maybe he would finally have someone to interact with other than Velia and Hannah.

"Well, you see. I had this serious chocolate craving, which everyone knows can only be cured by Death By Chocolate cake, but after replicating a whole one I saw the flaw in my plan. One can't simply have an entire chocolate cake laying about their quarters, now can they? Of course not. So naturally, I must share it with someone," Mali explained, reaching over to pull the cover off the plate. "Since chocolate is one of nature's ways of stress relief, I thought ... what place on this ship could probably use a little stress relief? And it struck me that maybe counseling could use a bit of a pick-me-up."

Myrin chuckled again. "Or maybe we're the only ones onboard who won't take 'death by chocolate' literally and have you thrown in the brig." He found himself vaguely thinking of the commander and repressed a small shudder.

Mali's shoulders rose and fell slightly as a twinkle shone in her eyes. "It was that ... and the fact that I haven't yet visited the office. What kind of Ops officer would I be if I didn't make some time to offer my services to such a valuable department?"

"Valuable department?" Myrin looked temporarily mystified. "You do know that this is the counseling office." He broke into a grin and stacking the PaDDs back in place motioned to the chair. It felt odd, behaving as though he weren't simply a visitor in someone else's office.

Mali's voice took on a serious note, though her lips didn't droop a bit. "Every department is valuable; if it wasn't it wouldn't be here," she explained to him.

While Myrin headed for the replicator he offered over his shoulder "Would you like something to drink with that..." He ended sharply with the note of expectation that she would offer her name.

The Ops officer didn't miss the question within his question. "Malia; or Mali, which I actually prefer." She nodded at his offer. "I'd like milk, please. Skim?" While some may have found it odd, Mali thought the beverage complimented the sugary dessert nicely.

He smiled as their drinks materialised. "I'm Myrin, Ens Myrin Nezar." He took their drinks in hand and returned to the desk. As he moved he took a moment to appreciate the particular sheen of this woman's hair in the artificial light.

Mali reached her hand out, bypassing the glass to shake Myrin's hand before pulling her drink closer to her. "Very nice to meet you Ensign." Opening a compartment on the cover, Mali removed the utensils she'd stashed and then, with some difficulty she frowned. "It seems that I've neglected to bring plates," she glanced over at the Ensign.

Myrin laughed and repressed his automatic bent towards sexual innuendo. "I don't mind if you don't." He grinned and picked up one of the forks, reaching towards the platter but not quite taking a bite. He wanted to make sure she wasn't completely repelled, after all.

"I learned long ago, Sir Myrin, that sharing is, in fact, caring." With a smile and a wink Mali speared her fork into the cake, bringing it back to her lips and pulling the fork away clean as she sank back to lose herself in the rich dessert. "Absolute perfection," she murmured.

The ensign chuckled and followed suit, burying his fork in the cake and bringing a delectable peice to his lips. The taste was . . . surprising and Myrin felt his knees lose solidity as the delicious flavours washed over him. At last he swallowed and looked at Malia. "You sure you're the new Ops Chief and not the new Cook in disguise?"

Malia chuckled and was unable to help herself as she bent forward for another dig at the plate. "Why do I think that's possibly an offer to allow me to cook for you Counselor?" Her grin split her features and she stuck her tongue out at Myrin for a moment before sliding the cake from her fork into her mouth. She swallowed slowly and shrugged lightly. "I'm not against cooking," she explained, "it can become quite an art form in its own right, I think. But no, I don't think I could bear the thought of being in the kitchen all shift long. It's too ... confining," she nodded in agreement with her spoken thought.

Myrin grinned. "And being stuck behind the ops consol is better?" He took another bite himself, giving her a moment to answer.

"You're really only as stuck as you want to be, I've learned." Mali shrugged slightly. "There's always somewhere else to be that may fall under the catagory of 'job related' you know." She pointed her fork at him. "What about you. Do you desire helping people passionately?"

"Oh I live for it, honestly." He grinned, sarcasm running thick and hiding the nugget of truth that lay behind it. "And I would love to see you explain this," now it was Myrin who motioned around with his fork. "As work related."

"Of course I can," Mali straightened in the chair. "Interdepartmental relations, team building, making sure lines of communicationi are clear ... take your pick." She nabbed one last bite and then stood, fork in hand. "In fact, in the interest of making sure the crew has everything they need to keep their departments running smoothly, I'm even going to leave the rest of this with you, Sir counselor, in hopes that it gives you a bit of pick up in your day."

Myrin laughed. "I'm not going to object to that."

"It was wonderful to meet you Myrin. I do hope we can do this again sometime." With that, Mali gave him a fork fisted half wave and headed out the door, considering the next stop in her day.

OFF:

A choco-goodness JP

by

Lt. JG Malia Jacy
Asst. Chief Ops
USS Pandora

and

Ens. Myrin Nezar (NPC)
Counselor
USS Pandora
played by: Lt. JG Hannah