Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Side Sim: Friends and good food -what else does one need?

Posted by Lieutenant Kiama Naim (Chief Science Officer) in Side Sim: Friends and good food -what else does one need?

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Side Sim: Friends and good food -what else does one need?
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Kiama nodded thoughtfully and then asked, “Do you know when you’ll be allowed to return to duty? And are there going to be any shifts in your duties?” She smiled at Faye with sincere interest, but quickly added, “If you are allowed to tell me, that. If not or if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s perfectly fine.”

~Lt. Naim, CSO

She went to say something but Calloway just chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment and shook her head. “Uhh, hard to know any of it really. My position on the ship doesn’t really change. Except that some of the classified stuff will likely be not or less classified and I’m still going to be working on the project I’ve been spending all those hours on. I’m still not going to be attached to a department, but I will likely be working more directly under someone.” She grimaced. “Sorry, that’s not very specific, I know.”

“You don’t have to apologise, Faye. I knew from day one that your job is classified. So while I’ll always be curious, I also understand that there is only so much you can share and that is perfectly fine,” Kiama replied with a soft laugh, her expression suddenly a little sheepish as she remembered their first encounter when she had tried to get into Faye’s lab. Not knowing that no one but Faye was allowed in there.

“But to answer the other question about when, no. No idea. As soon as Counsellor Rollo gives me the green light. So I suppose that depends a lot on me and how I’m dealing with everything.” Faye chuckled. “I do know it won’t be tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

~Faye Calloway

Kiama nodded thoughtfully as she took another sip of the synth rosé. “I understand that you’re eager to return to duty. I know I would be as well. And yet I’m sure we both know how important it is to take the time we need to heal.” After another moment of silence she added more lightly, “Though if you get cabin fever, maybe you can help me figure out what might be a good hobby for me. Part of me always felt like it would be nice to have a real hobby, but as I mentioned earlier I never managed to really stick with anything. Maybe now is the time to give it a try again.”

~Lt. Naim, CSO

Faye nodded slowly as she chewed `swallowing, she said, “You know, maybe rather than trying to find a new hobby, you should start trying the stuff you’ve tried before but do so because you want to now. You’re a different person, I’m guessing, than you were back then so maybe you really did like something back then but other things were getting in the way. take me and gardening for example. For me I associate growing things with Tracken. But I was hiding that part of life for so long that I couldn’t bring myself to try it. But later, when my being Maquis was out in the open I became more willing to let things like that back in. So I tried it again during my physical rehab after my assignment prior to the Manhattan.” She shrugged. “You might be surprised, you know know what will strike your fancy.”

~Faye Calloway

“You’re right,” Kiama replied thoughtfully. “The question is: Where do I start?” she laughed softly and shook her head. “The list of things I’ve tried over the past few years is rather long.” Part of her wanted to give something another try that she knew her mother would hate. But she had a feeling that that was one of the worst possible reasons to choose something as a hobby. So the starting point should probably be something she had enjoyed before in one way or another. Not that that actually narrowed down the list much, but maybe it would help, she mused silently.

~Lt. Naim, CSO

She gave her friend a lopsided grin. “I don’t know. I’m hardly an expert. My hobbies after all are either ones I’ve not shared with others or stuff I’ve taken up in more recent years. But you could always write down that long list of yours and have the computer pick one at random. Then, you just try it out for a few weeks and see if it’s something you enjoy now. If not, have the computer randomly select another one.”

~Faye Calloway

“That is a brilliant idea!” Kiama beamed. In her mind she was already starting to make the list and even contemplated making two. One for everything that would be a sport and one for everything else. “Thank you Faye,” she continued before eating another forkful of curry; falling silent for a moment as she followed a couple of different trains of thought.

~Lt. Naim, CSO

She tilted her head and gave Kiama a nod with a warm smile. “You’re welcome. I’m always glad when this crazy ass brain of mine does something useful,” she said with a grin before continuing to eat.

As quietness fell over the table it wasn’t an awkward one, and Faye felt content here. It was yet another moment where she could more clearly identify something that made her feel good. Having not really have close friends before, it was still startling how nice it was and for a moment she regretted pushing people away for so many years.

~Faye Calloway

Kiama sensed Faye’s regret, but she didn’t want to pry. So she kept the comfortable silence between them for a while longer. She enjoyed it a lot that they could sit comfortably together like this without feeling the need to fill every moment with conversation. In her opinion being able to talk and be silent together formed part of the foundation of a friendship and was something she treasured. Looking at Faye she eventually asked out of the blue, “Do you know what you want to plant in your plot in the Arboretum?”

~Lt. Naim, CSO