Posted by Lieutenant Siennadye Nox (Counselor) in Holodeck 2- Cooking with the CNS

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Holodeck 2- Cooking with the CNS

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Holodeck 2- Cooking with the CNS
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Vora was quiet for a moment and then shrugged. “You have to keep in mind that I was and still am the only Tenraith in Starfleet. And there’s a part of me that wonders if it could have worked if I had been farther along in my recovery but I wasn’t, so it was just rather terrible an experience. But I can see how it could be incredibly useful for others. If there’s a way to signal to your brain that it’s safe when a trauma memory is triggered, it’s ultimately worth doing.” She smirked. “But as usual, I have to go about things a little differently. I’ve ruled out EMDR and exposure therapy as useful techniques, for me. But when I first came to the Federation, the relationship with my people was still fairly new. And when I joined Starfleet, even my physiology was not known well. I didn’t even know what the differences were. It was all something of an experiment and none of it was malicious. And post-rehab I was willing to try just about anything to make everything less intense. In the end the only thing that has truly worked is having time and distance from those events.” She cast Johann a warm smile. “That and newer and happier memories to push the bad ones away.”

Johann knew what that smile was about, and felt simultaneously happy for her and smugly satisfied with himself.

Jerrin meanwhile was eating his lasagna quietly. He wasn’t brooding exactly, but he was pensive. Vora noticed but for the moment let him be. If there was anything she had learned in the years since he came to the ship is that sometimes she just had to give him some space.

~Vora & Jerrin

“There are many useful techniques to help with trauma. Some take a shorter time to see results than others.”

“But anyway, it seems like it would still be worth trying for other people,” Johann said a moment later, pivoting the conversation slightly back to what it was originally about. “So that would still be worth following up on. I mean, people still work the same way in your universe, right?”

It was a question that wasn’t as silly as it sounded; there was some evidence that different quantum realities and other parallel universes had differences in human physiology that were also significant enough to induce differences in human behavior. Like in the so-called “Mirror Universe.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Sienna smiled. There were some things she would not speak of about her universe, but this she could certainly answer. “As far as I can tell, everything as far as most species physiology, its the same. biologically there is no difference. Culturally, it seems there are no differences either, though I have not been able to really explore that in person. Part of my time with the other Sienna searching for the man responsible for my being here was making those comparisons and discussing what was the same and what was not. It was a fascinating study to be honest.”

She turned to Jerrin, including him purposefully to pull him a bit out of his shell and get his mind off whatever he was concentrating on. “Would you cut the lasagna into squares and serve it please? 3 or 4 inch squares should do it. I think it has rested long enough that it won’t utterly fall apart.”

Nox, CNS

Jerrin’s face shifted to a darker yellow and he nodded slightly. He had already taken a piece of lasagna and had been eating it, but he set about cutting more for everyone else. Rising to his feet, he carefully carried the hot dish around the table and lifted a slice of lasagna to each each plate.

“Thank you,” Vora said to Jerrin, making sure to meet his gaze as he came by her and gave him a smile.

Returning to his seat, he cut off another bite of the pasta wondering if he had missed some sort of rule or something. He usually ate with his mom or on his own; he wasn’t sued to eating in a group with others who might have a different way of dong things.

~Jerrin

“Well, I’m impressed,” Vora said, looking at the lasagna. “This is quite the meal. I think I could learn a ting or two,” she said brightly.

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

Sienna watched the young man as he did as she requested. He seemed unsure and that was pretty normal. She knew his life had not been what people would consider normal family life. And even now as he lived with his mother, whom was still new-ish to him, they were trying to find their own equilibrium. Sienna nodded at Vora and turned to mostly address Jerrin. “When I lived with my family on Betazed, everyone helped in some way unless they were guests. We made food for one another. We served it to one another. We had pleasant conversation together. There was laughter and good natured ribbing. The bigger the table of people, the better. It was a moment for us all to show we cared for those present.”

“Ahh,” Jerrin said with a nod. Though he was trying to show less interest he was actually taking in what Nox was saying intently.

“I suppose I don’t want to let go of that tradition. My husband and I certainly didn’t though he was far more introverted than I am. Between my parents, our friends, and their children, we had quite a dinner regularly. I must admit, I miss it. I am very glad you came to cook with me and I would love it if we could do it again.”

Nox, CNS

Johann blinked momentarily at this comment. He had a feeling it was somehow very significant, but did not know how. More importantly, he did not know what this particular intuition was in relation to; something Sienna just said was a piece to a puzzle that he wasn’t even consciously aware that he was putting together. He stared off to the side for a second while he thought about this…

Jerrin seemed to consider this for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah, I could do that.”

~Jerrin

“Well, I for one am happy to eat such delicious food,” Vora said with a smile. “I have to admit that I’m not used to eating with large group of people in that way. Around a lot of people yes, but not where everyone was engaged with each other’s conversations. And the mess hall at the Academy doesn’t count, at least not for me, though I could tell for others it operated similarly.”

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

Johann was not actually paying attention to what Vora had been saying; he only noticed the end of conversation around the table generally for about a second. So he simply said the first thing on his mind to fill the silence.

“On this planet?”

What an odd question.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Vora frowned and titled her head slightly, gazing at Johann. “Planet?” she asked, her puzzlement deepening as she tried to find context for the words that he had spoken. And… nope, still nothing came to mind.

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

“This planet,” Johann said quickly.

Sienna had been about to speak to her time in the Academy when Johann’s question came out of seemingly nowhere. She turned as Vora had, to gaze at Johan with question in her eyes. She too scrubbed her mind to figure out what the connection was with the Academy and a planet, having completely forgotten they were on the holodeck in her home that she shared with his alternate universe self. Then she tried to think back to the conversation and wondered where a planet came into it and was at a loss. There had to be a place where Johann had stopped listening and was thinking his way through something. She knew him better than many people did, even with the minor divergences of this Johann and her husband.

So, she simply waited for him to clarify his question.

Nox, CNS

He looked at Sienna and actually repeated the words of the question again, though he wasn’t really asking anymore. “On this planet. You had dinner with your parents, on this planet. Your betazoid parents on this planet, Earth. Where this house is. Right?”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

While Vora was following what he was saying, but it still wasn’t making much sense. She exchanged a look with Jerrin and both kept eating their dinner as they waited to see how things would unfold.

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

She blinked. Her mind was moving slower than she would like, trying to compute where this was going. Having been so happy in the company of others and her small successes with Jerrin, she wasn’t seeing the possible issue with answering his question honestly. “Yes. They visited often when my husband and I were home. He is human. much to their chagrin.”

Nox, CNS

“Huh,” Johann said. He seemed to think about this for another second. “That’s an interesting detail.” It was the last piece to the puzzle. He actually could figure it out now, if only he realized that he had a box of puzzle pieces to put together.

“Must have been a pain to coordinate that, you know, interstellar travel. Around your Starfleet careers also. You could be anywhere.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO