A Quiet Evening Out

Posted on Wed Mar 10th, 2010 @ 4:40pm by Lieutenant JG Hannah Andeti & Commander Michael Evans M.D. & Ensign Velia Moretti

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A House Divided"
Location: Lounge
Timeline: MD01 1930

ON

Andeti had arrived in the lounge well before her meeting with the doctor and was spending a very relaxing few minutes with her quiet drink. The day had been busy and the lounge was full of excited and happy crew members -- exactly what a counselor wanted to see. She was tired after the late night of report writing and a full day of work, but that didn't mean she wanted to head back to her quarters and go to bed. No no, with a ship full of amenities she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to relax with her ship mates.

Michael entered looking a little worn but generally in good spirits. The command cadet was conspicuously absent from his side, having been dismissed that evening for a bit of his own R&R. He acknowledged Hannah's wave and made his way to the table, sitting across from her. He looked a little more tired-of-eye tonight than was typical, but when the waiter took his drink order it wasn't for his usual coffee. Instead, he ordered a hot Irish mint tea. "...so I suggested that the next time he goes sand surfing he should delete the cacti from the program, or at least omit the needles," he continued as the waiter brought him his drink. He inhaled its aroma deeply, but looked a little disappointed.

Hannah sipped her own drink. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of inviting Ms. Moretti along." The intelligence officer had seemed less than enthused at the prospect but the counselor was good at not taking 'no' for an answer and hadn't let her get out of it.

"Moretti," he querried. "Oh, yes," he said, remembering their first encounter in sickbay. "No, that's fine. She doesn't seem to be a very sociable sort though, does she?"

Hannah smiled. "Actually, I think the woman could afford to be invited out more often."

Michael shrugged and sipped his tea, deferring to the counselor's more expertise opinion.

Meanwhile in Moretti's quarters...

“Honestly Moretti. You have lost your damn mind.” Velia was tugging on the last boot, fuming. She’d been so surprised when Hannah had suggested that they meet for dinner that she hadn’t been able to come up with one good excuse to get out of it. To her horror and surprise, instead of something at least noncommittal in response she’d agreed. AGREED! “Either that counselor is off of her medication or she’s some sort of sadist. Dragging me into the lounge. When people will be there.” At some point discussion about decent reading material was going to run its course, then what would they be left to talk about? Velia’s past? Hannah’s past? “Ohno,” she groaned. “What if she wants to start a book club?”

She pulled furiously at the laces. Ever since this afternoon Velia’d been searching for a good reason to shrug out of this little rendezvous. Unfortunately, every time she found one she thought may work she was tugged on by a hint of guilt. So fine. She’d go. There wasn’t anything that could explain to her why Hannah thought that this would be some form of fun. Reasons it had even been brought up had been running around Velia’s mind for the better part of the day, and she just couldn’t figure it out. “If I’m her idea of good company, that woman needs a shrink of her own,” she snorted to the image in the mirror as she yanked her hair back into a ponytail.

But Hannah did have a shrink of her own. Velia’s eyes narrowed until they were barely even a slit’s width from closed. “Myrin.” If he’d planted this little idea in Hannah’s mind in lieu of coming to Velia’s quarters … it made sense. In a public place, with witnesses, Velia was more likely to keep a grip on her temper where he was concerned. “Demented little worm,” she hissed, tugging a matte gray hooded sweatshirt over her head. She heard her mother’s voice echo in her mind from her days at the Academy, asking her if she’d made any friends yet. ”Mother, this is my career, not summer camp. I’m not here to make friends.” That held true, as far as Velia was concerned. If Myrin had anything to do with this, he’d find dinner to be less pleasurable than he’d anticipated; Velia was sure of that.

She’d concluded that she’d show up, then she’d suddenly not feel well … which wouldn’t actually be a lie. Congested places really did make her a little queasy. So did faked conversation. So did Myrin. One last tug of war with herself and she left, headed for the lounge. Maybe she’d get lucky and Hannah would have an emergency and then this whole thing could be avoided. Most likely not though.

Outside the Express, she manually pushed the corners of her lips up a little. What was bothering her the most was why she would feel so bad about cancelling on the counselor, but she had no desire to figure it out now … if ever. As she entered, her eyes scanned the faces for the tall blonde. Not surprisingly she wasn’t that hard to find. And she was with a man. For a minute, Velia was so convinced that it was Myrin that she was truly shocked to discover it was the doctor from sickbay. The one who’d had to help her after the disaster with Commander Earlond. There went her excuse of feeling ill. All the ways Velia’d envisioned that this night could be more uncomfortable instantly paled in comparison to the realization that she had to spend it with two people she couldn’t for the life of her find a reason to dislike. “Well crap,” she muttered. Her better sense told her to turn and go now, before she was spotted, but one look at Hannah’s hailing wave and she knew it was too late. She approached slowly and took a seat.

"Glad you could make it," the counselor greeted her. "Do you know Dr. Evans?"

"We've ... met." Velia shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she nodded hello to the doctor.

There was a quiet moment and the counselor eyed the doctor and intelligence officer with a small smile. At last she motioned to one of the servers and ordered three drinks for the trio. The man eyed her for a moment as though he thought she were insane -- privately Andeti wasn't entirely certain that she wasn't -- before slipping off to bring their drinks. She turned back to the pair. "I hope you guys like to try new things. A friend on Earth created this drink and he asked that I . . . try and get an idea as to how the officers around here liked it." She grinned, kindly leaving out the fact that she knew him from her rather . . . questionably experimental youth.

Velia made a noncommittal noise. "I don't really drink alcohol." 'At least not with strange women who more or less asked me to be a guinea pig' she added silently. "But I'll be more than willing to take notes on your 'experiment'," she offered dryly.

Hannah raised an eyebrow, but couldn't hold back a smile. She looked at Michael. "Well, there's no way I'm drinking alone. How about it, Michael?"

Michael shrugged and smiled. "Count me in," he said. He liked to try new things and Andeti certainly had his curiosity piqued.

The counselor smiled at him and glanced back at the intelligence officer. "You're all alone here, Velia. Sure you don't want to take part?" A wicked grin crossed her face. "Not even if we dare you?"

Michael stifled a laugh.

It was then that the man arrived with the drinks and Andeti grinned again. They were all murky blue and - she almost laughed - smoking slightly. "No going back now, Michael."

"No," Velia answered unamused. "Ever heard of the Lemmings on Earth, Counselor? Just because the rest of the group jumps off a cliff, it doesn't mean it's a good idea." She wrinkled her nose at the colored liquid. "Especially if it looks like something that came out of an android."

Michael's left eyebrow had shot up into his hairline as he eyed the drink suspiciously. "What did you say this was again," he asked holding it to eye level as though it were something dubious he had found in a petri dish. His eyes were glinting with adventurous mischief though, and it was apparent that he was teasing.

"From what I gather, it's something like a Blue Motorcycle meets a Warp Core Breach," she explained, eying the drink herself. With a wicked grin she picked it up. "Well, bottoms up." She took a long drink, closing her eyes to focus on the flavour. It was sweet, soured by alcohol and immediately her mind and body relaxed as though she were lying on a big fluffy cloud. She opened her eyes and put her glass down, looking to see if the others had tried it.

Dr. Evans had sniffed experimentally at the smouldering cocktail before taking a full mouth of the drink. He held it a moment before swallowing and frowned in concentration as it hit his belly like a soft, warm explosion. He smacked his lips once, as if making sure he liked it, then downed the rest of the drink, smiled, and sighed.

"Well," Michael said, then was silent as he continued smiling. "Well," he said again with a grin. That seemed to about cover it he figured.

Velia watched them suspiciously. Neither one of them had turned an odd shade of green, so she supposed that was a good sign. Hesitantly she picked up her glass, holding it as though it could burst into flames at any point in time. With one last darting glance between her two tablemates, Velia pressed the rim to her lips and threw her head back expecting to have to spit it out. When she opened her eyes they were filled with surprise. "That's actually not terrible," she acknowledged to the counselor. "It tastes a little like," she paused a moment. "Froot Loops." What happened next surprised her even more. She giggled.

Andeti was feeling unbelievably warm and relaxed, but she still managed a laugh at the strange giggle emanating from Velia. She looked at her. "Frootloops?" She said it as thought it were one long word.

Michael giggled, sharing in the mirth.

"No," Velia snickered and enunciated for the counselor. "Froot. Loops. It's an old breakfast cereal that was comprised of multi colored ohs and flavored artificially to mimic various fruits, as well as having a considerable amount of sugars and food colorings. You should try replicating it sometime."

Hannah swiveled on her chair and motioned for the waiter to bring them three more. She turned back to them. "I don't know about that but I'll have to tell him it's a success."

Velia wiggled her toes to make sure they were still there, resisting the urge to physically check. It occured to her that she should be thankful the Doc was there in case the numbing wasn't a normal side effect. A warmth was spreading from her feet up her legs as her shoulders became more relaxed. She allowed herself to lean into her seat.

The waiter arrived and slid the drinks before them. Andeti reached for one, her mind feeling soft and squishy, but still stable. She thanked the man and slowly took a sip of the drink again.

Michael gave a toasting motion with his glass to his tablemates and began working on his. It didn't take him long to get through it though. An objective part of his brain noted that he felt curiously uninhibited, without a care. The carefree part warred with the objective part momentarily, but after a brief bout the objective part won, as usual. Carefree resented Objective sometimes, but also knew that Objective kept them both from doing something foolish, so they agreed to make this drink their last one. Then Michael giggled at himself. Objective figured it wasn't dangerous to only appear silly, so he allowed it. Michael giggled some more. Then glanced up at Moretti and Hannah.

Hannah was already laughing silently at the look on Evans' face. "The last time," she choked out. "The last time you looked so happy," she had to pause again in order to laugh harder. "You were scanning Awen and I with your . . . your tricorder." She tried to stifle her giggles by sipping her drink and failed miserably, some of the liquid dribbling down her chin. She reached for a napkin as she continued to struggle with her mirth. "I've been wondering for a while now . . . does it . . . does it . . . have a name?"

Michael had gone beyond giggling and was now laughing outright. He'd forgotten about that particular scanning incident, but now remembered it with some embarrassment and more amusement. Besides which Hannah's laughter was very contagious, especially with this drink in him. A tear squeezed out of the corner of his left eye. "As... as a mater of fact," he tried to say seriously with feined offense, "it does. It's," he whimpered mirthfully, "it's... Toby," he broke back into his continued laughing fit.

Hannah really wanted to ask 'why Toby' but she couldn't seem to stop laughing long enough to slip the words out. The server arrived just then and delivered three more drinks, eying them all as though he wondered a their sanity and she began to wonder herself -- she didn't remember ordering more drinks.

"Toby the tricorder?" It sounded as ridiculous spoken as it did in her head. "Why did you name your tricorder? And why did you name it Toby?" Velia eyed the doctor with a mix of curiosity and horror. It didn't seem sane to name and form attachments to inanimate objects. For a split second in her minds eye, she envisioned Dr. Evans in sickbay. With a little pair of overalls on 'Toby the tricorder', who was dancing along a makeshift stage, voiced by a concealed Dr. Evans, explaining to a faceless biobed occupant how the process of scanning worked and wouldn't hurt. By the time she'd played it through in her mind, she was grinning ear to ear.

The smile didn't leave Evans' face, nor the krinkle from his eyes, as he got serious enough to say, "Hey, that tricorder and I have been through a lot together! Chasings by Nuasicans to Reman attacks to triage on the Biko, all-nighters at the academy, besides many a tedious hour on assignments with nothing else to do." He paused a moment. "Toby shows me wonders of the world that cannot be seen by the naked eye." His eyes were no longer smiling, nor were his lips. "He taught me a lot..."

Michaels eyes were now focused on a memory. A long moment passed as he stared at the untouched smouldering cocktail. Coming to himself again he glanced up at Velia and Hannah. "Toby London," he explained, "was my best friend. I'd never known that kind of friendship before. We met at the academy; went to med school together until h-he," he swallowed, "...died in our seventh year. One year before graduation." A moment of solemn silence. "The tricorder was the first one I'd been issued; it's been everywhere with me, including in and out of a few 'adventures' that Toby London and I found ourselves in." He took a breath. "When he died, I was the one to pronounce him. It was with that same tricorder that I scanned his lifeless body."

Michael shook his head. "He was so smart, and so inquisitive about everything. And he didn't care one whit about where I came from or who my father was or anything like that. But he did care a lot about the wide world around him and the people in it." Michael shrugged his shoulders. "I still think about him sometimes when I use it. Thought the name was fitting." In the silence that followed he continued to smile a little half-smile, no longer one of hilarity but of good times remembered.

"Oh," was all Velia could say before busying her mouth with the drink. Now she felt like kind of a jerk, and was very glad Evans had no idea of how her mind had trivialized one of his most cherished connections. Wait, she felt like a jerk? She peered at the blue liquid. What was this stuff?

The counselor's mirth had died away almost at once. Alcohol always seemed to enhance her empathy and her mood changed with that of the table accordingly. She lay a hand on the Michael's arm and offered a little smile. "That's nice." Her voice held real feeling.

Michael grinned again. "I think Toby would've thought it was hilarious," he said, the mirth creeping back into his voice. "I mean, could you imagine someone naming their pet tricorder after you? Especially the same one used to pronounce you? The irony would've killed him!" Then, realizing what he just said, he giggled and turned a little red. Other people usually found medical humor rather macabre. Regaining control of his sniggering he said, "I do miss him though."

"It sounds like he was a good laugh." The doctor's mirth spread slowly to the counselor and she found herself grinning along with him as she reached to sip her drink. Was it her third or her fourth? She thought about it for a very long minute before sipping it again. She looked over at Velia who still had a sour look on her face, as though she were trying to pull her foot out of her mouth. "Scho . . ." the counselor blinked as she struggled to keep herself from giggling again. She could usually hold her liquor and rarely slurred. "So," she focused hard on the word and was pleased when it came out solid and sober. Unlike herself. "So where is your boyfriend tonight?" She asked the young intelligence officer with a grin. Best if she know that Hannah was teasing, even if she was trying to pull her back into good humour.

Velia finished her glass as Hannah's question echoed in her ears and died. She stuck her tongue to the bottom of the small glass and curled it upward, capturing the last bit of liquid at the bottom. The silence steadily thickened and when Velia finally looked up, both Evans and Andeti were staring at her. "Oh, me?" She flushed. That did make a little more sense. "I don't have a boyfriend," she replied matter of factly and unapologetically ... and a little proudly to boot.

Evans made a noise like a scoff or a snort and said, "Come on! A girl with eyes like yours doesn't have a boyfriend? How come?" He had indeed stopped at the second drink, but he felt warm and furry inside despite. It wasn't like him to make comments like that, let alone make personal inquiries of people. 'Objective' reprimanded him and he blushed slightly.

"Because not every woman in the universe needs to define herself by a man," Velia shot back, only half joking.

"And Intelligence Officer Velia Moretti does quite well defining herself, thank-you-very-much," Michael announced to the table as though someone had suggested otherwise and he were merely coming to her defense. Having made the point as though it were indisputable he grabbed a third drink, toasted Velia, and said, "To Velia, who knows exactly who she is and doesn't let anyone else tell her otherwise; who defines herself by her own standards," he finished, seemingly sincere. With that, he downed the drink and stood. "I, however, am feeling very ill-defined at the moment and am going to see if I can still find my bed." His speech was still clean and controlled, but his eyes had a glazed look and he blinked on occasion as though trying to clear them. "I had a wonderful time," he said, addressing the two women, "but next time I'll stick to tea I think." He gave them both a smile and made for the door, only stumbling slightly.

Hannah rocked as she arrived on her own feet. "I sh-should be heading off too, I think." Her mouth felt incredibly heavy and all of a sudden she wanted nothing more than to collapse in bed somewhere. She felt rather silly, tipsy bordering on drunk as she was. She hadn't done anything quite like this in a number of years and her tolerance was certainly down. She giggled at apparently nothing.

Velia was still reeling from Evans' sudden departure. People really confused her sometimes. "Yeah," she replied in agreement. Her stomach was starting to feel strange and she wasn't willing to risk attempting to move with people to witness it.

"We should do thish again." The counselor made an elaborate bow, but stumbled and had to grasp the edge of the table for support. Feeling her equilibrium stabilize she released it, nodded to Velia and headed for the exit, trying to appear stable, responsible and composed.

Velia watched her go with a small shake of the head. Maybe Hannah was excited to do it again, but Velia was most certainly not. What she wanted now was her bed and the complete absence of sight, sound, and people.

A Joint Post by:

Lieutenant (jg) Hannah Andeti
Chief Counselor
USS Pandora

Ensign Velia Moretti
Intelligence Officer
USS Pandora

and

Lt. Cmdr. Michael Evans, M.D.
Second Officer/CMO
USS Pandora

Reference posts:
http://usstethys.kersare.net/index.php?page=post&id=521
http://usstethys.kersare.net/index.php?page=post&id=448