STF

Peace Offerings

Posted May 5, 2021, 1:26 p.m. by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Scientist, Medical Researcher) (Jennifer Ward)

Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Medical Research & Development) in Peace Offerings

Posted by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Scientist, Medical Researcher) in Peace Offerings

Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Medical Research & Development) in Peace Offerings

(snip)

When she said the guy that had treated her like crap had also been her boss, and that the bastards hadn’t told her before she was ‘recruited, he snorted derisively, but not at her. At the ones who did the recruiting. He was all too familiar with their tactics to get what they wanted… who they wanted. But when she said she wanted to stay, he just nodded and said “Good, I’d like you to as well.” and let the whole thing drop.

He opened the wine and poured her a glass and then himself one. He then leaned and looked under the table at the dog. “None for you. You’re too young.” and reached down stroked her neck softly a few times. “And I’ll make sure she eats, ok?” Kane had always liked animals. It was people he had issues with.

Frigga leaned into the scratches as far as possible, without actually moving away from Alexis. She was trained to recognize and react to distress. Alexis was distressed, or she had been,she was less so now. And she, Frigga, hadn’t done anything about it. But this man was not the cause of Alexis’ distress so Frigga had no problem with him. She stared into his face as he talked like she understood. She nosed his hand as if agreeing. Then, as if no longer concerned, she laid down, head on Alexis’ shoe.

Leaning back up, he looked at Alexis and said “So about those tattoos of yours…” and he gave her a half-smile.

Kane, R&D

Alexis accepted the glass but didn’t drink it. She had taken classes once about wine, just like cooking, dancing, warp core theory, botany, and many others. Simply because she needed to learn something, to do something, to let her mind focus on something to prevent boredom. Though the aroma was appealing she knew she shouldn’t have too much on an empty stomach. For in fact she’d skipped both breakfast and lunch that day. She knew what Frigga’s soft whine had been about, but it surprised her that Kane did as well. Her mind worked that over the training Frigga had received and what she thought she knew about him. He’d worked for NDFD, of that she was certain. Perhaps she had experience with working dogs…He was talking, and her mind had wandered, trying to solve the puzzle. But thankfully she didn’t miss anything, obvious by the fact her face turned a shade of pink. “What about them?”
Lt Bonner

Kane saw the blush. Shes kinda cute when she does that. he thought. “Relax, Alexis. Im not asking to see them or anything.” and he laughed quietly. “Just making conversation.” At that moment one of the bar staff came over and set a plate between the two of them. On it was an assortment of meats, cheeses, fruits, and crackers. “Didn’t know what you liked, so I got a variety to start. I saw you skip lunch again. You gotta be careful with that. Hypoglycemic index will make you miss things in your research. Maybe keep some glucose bars in your desk.” and he took a drink, but his eyes stayed focused on her.

Kane

She made herself relax. This encounter couldn’t get more stressful than how it started. Alexis took an assortment not really giving what she grabbed a lot of thought. “I’m not picky. As long as it has actual nutritional value and is safe to consume, I’ll eat it.” Did she need to put it that way, probably not but that was how she thought about it. She ate a cracker and a slice of fruit. She nodded in agreement, “From a medical stand point you are right, of course, low blood sugar is a concern. Causes all kinds of problems with orientation, balance, the ability to process and analyze. It changes the blood chemistry. Which probably gives off a different scent. Probably how Frigga knows when I haven’t eaten. I know dogs can be trained for such things. To detect high or low blood sugars, chemical changes for seizures, respiration and heart rate changes in cardiac patients. Usually trained for a specific person though. Frigga wasn’t trained for any of that though. I wonder though, each person has a different body chemistry, but the fundamentals are the same…if there is a base scent that dogs could be trained to recognize.” She looked down at Frigga who had raised her head at her name, “You may have to come to the lab.” Frigga huffed and put her head back down. Then seeming to come back around to the conversation. “No food and drink in the labs.” She had gone on for several minutes but hadn’t eaten anything else.
Lt Bonner

Kane listened to her go. Her mind was wholly different than anyone he had ever known… save one. And she was Vulcan. The thought of T’Aria made a shadow cross his face, but was swiftly gone. Kane reached over and put a piece of cheese on a cracker, topped it with a piece of meat, then a piece of fruit. He set on the tray near her and said “Try that.” and the made the same for himself. One of the abilities Kane learned was how to make food taste good. Growing up on the streets of a slum city, you had to do what you could with what you had. Given fresh and tasteful ingredients? Kane could make a plasma conduit palatable.

Alexis picked it up and bit into it. Her brows raising slightly and the flavor. She finished it with a sip of the wine, and then began, automatically, to make another. She liked it.

“So can I ask you a personal question?” he said after he had slowly chewed and swallowed. He took a sip of wine and his eyes searched her for… something.

Kane

He kept looking at her like he was trying to make sense of her. It made her nerves dance. She put her hands in lap and nodded. “Sure.” He said he wanted to know her outside the lab and she’d stayed. But there really wasn’t anything to tell.
Lt Bonner

“How does you mind handle things like this?” and he gestured between them. “I’ve seen it at work… but that’s all you seem to do. Work. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’ve known someone else like that. Just… curious… how you handle it.” He made another bite, different from the first, and set it on her side before repeating again for himself.

Kane

How did she handle it? She hadn’t really thought about it. Did she process relationships differently than other people? She didn’t know. “Are you asking if I recognize that physical attraction is a series of sympathetic chemical responses between two people? Yes, I could even give you the complete chemical breakdown and how it works.” But oddly enough she didn’t begin spouting off the biological treatises on the subject. Instead she was quiet. “If you’re asking if I have feelings, yes I do. I’m human I’m not a machine. I understand the psychology and sociology behind it but it’s not some social experiment. It’s not that I don’t understand or can’t engage in social interactions…” She went quiet thinking. She didn’t have an answer. She picked up the next bite but put it back down untouched. “I have feelings I know why events cause me to feel a certain way. I know why I react a certain way based on those feelings.” Her brows knit together, her mouth pursed in confusion. The question had effectively paused the nonstop running in her mind as she tried to figure out the answer.
Lt Bonner

Kane watched her face as she ran through the gymnastics in her head. He listened… more out of being intrigued than politeness. He watched her as she grew quiet and thought and then he said “Is work all you want to do? Or do you want something outside of that?”

Kane

Alexis sighed. That was how she got into all that trouble with Solis in the first place. “Life should be more than work. I would love that but no one would put up with me that long.” She wanted to shrug like it didn’t matter, but it did. A furry head thrust under her hand and she looked down. “But you do, don’t you Frigga.” She ruffled the dog’s ears. She picked the bite up that he’d placed next to her earlier and ate it. “My mind never stops. Without something to focus on I become frantic going from one thing to the next as they occur to me. They feel like I don’t pay attention, but I do. So…I have my work.”
Bonner

Kane looked at her intently, his gaze predatory at first glance… but there was a kind of questioning that softened it if one looked hard enough. He was quiet for a long time, just looking at her and then he said… very quietly…

“So how about you focus on me for a few minutes? Take your mind off work. I think I can distract you… if you like.” The statement wasn’t aggressive, it wasn’t an innuendo… it was a legitimate offer to help her quiet what he could plainly see on her face. “Or… we could go for a walk and you could tell me everything about everything you see. Either way…” and he half-smiled at her.

Kane

She was surprised, not shocked, just surprised by the offer. She obviously had not expected that, and jsu as obvious she wanted to accept the offer. She didn’t want to walk though and tell him everything her mind went through. The way her mind jumped and made connections wasn’t always clear and her thoughts came off rude or seemingly inappropriate because no one saw it the way she did. More than that though it was too similar to what Solis had done. Letting her ramble and then taking notes on her ideas. She didn’t think that was what Kane was doing but she didn’t want the similarity to be there.

She duplicated the bites he’d made, and instead she chose to focus on him. “What does it say? On the hair clip. I couldn’t see all of it earlier, but it looked like a type of writing.” She began to eat, slowly, keeping her gaze focused in his direction.
Bonner


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