Getting to Know You Drinks

Posted on Tue Sep 21st, 2021 @ 10:42pm by Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Lieutenant Sharrina Blackstone

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Debbie's Lounge
Timeline: Mission Day 10 at 2100

Sharrina made her way silently through the corridors of the Sojourner, thoughts on the meeting ahead of her. Those thoughts were pleasant. She had looked forward to this since she had met the doctor. But after the events of the Away Mission, she had found herself looking forward to it even more. She'd had to wait until now as both her job as Security and Dr. t'Nai's job in medical -- and now as the Executive Officer? She'd have to remember to congratulate her! -- had kept both extremely busy. Granted, much of the work was for the sciences and medical departments, but securing what they had brought back was equally important.

Now, finally, she and Emni had managed to work out a time to finally meet for that drink that had been agreed upon so long ago -- okay, it had only been days, but it somehow felt longer. So it was that she made her quiet but relieved way into Debbie's domain.

The tables at Debbie's appeared to be made up of a shiny material, edges in the matching bright chrome of the rest of the space. Emni had arrived early, choosing a few minutes to breathe in Debbie's around people, rather than a few minutes to sit alone in her quarters. It seemed like the right move even if she was feeling the wear of the last week's schedule.

She and Sharrina had gone back and forth a few times to settle on a time where both of them could be available and the Romulan doctor... No. She shook her head slightly even as she self identified as the ship's CMO. It wasn't that she wasn't still a doctor. That particular vocation was as ingrained in her as her own breath. But that wasn't the only thing, or even the main thing, she was these days. She took a breath, letting it out slowly through her teeth in a hiss to clear her mind. She was not working, and she was looking forward to knowing the part-Klingon security officer more.

Looking up as the doors parted a smile crossed her features. Sharrina entered the space and looked around. With a wave, Emni caught her attention so she could come to join her at the booth she had settled into.

Sharrina grinned, seeing her drinking companion. She made her way to the table and slid into the booth across from Emni. "You're early," she commented lightly. "Or am I late?" she added with good humor. She knew she wasn't late, but she had found that a light bit of humor at her own expense at the beginning of a conversation tended to make folks more comfortable. Not that the doctor needed that, she reflected. They had gotten along quite well during her evaluation. Still, old habits and all that.

"I'm early," Emni remarked with a chuckle. "Duty rotation changes have me a bit off kilter so I came here rather than kill time in my room. The atmosphere at Debbie's is always..." she looked around her casting about for the right word, "energetic."

As she spoke a server came over to their table, two glasses of water and two napkins being delivered.

"I took the liberty of ordering water for us both, but we can get our drinks underway now that you're here," Emni explained. Turning to the server she added, "Gin and tonic if I could and..." she looked to Sharrina.

Sharrina did not have time to respond to Emni's first statements as they were joined by a server. She glanced at the server and considered her order. All of it was synthehol, so in some ways, it didn't matter what she ordered, except when it came to flavor. The problem was that she wasn't sure what flavor she was in the mood for tonight. She frowned in thought, finally opting for something her half-brother liked. "SoCo and Coke." It was sweet, too sweet for her sometimes, but she was sort of in the mood for that at the moment.

Their server nodded, noting their orders, and stepped away.

"So," Emni started, "I don't know that we've really had a chance to talk since the goings on on Cho'thil. How are you handling with everything?"

That was true; they had not talked since the planet. Sharrina had to admit, at least to herself, that nearly getting smashed to pulp on her first mission with this crew was not a high point in her career. She shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. I mean, I've gone over it several times in my head to determine if I could have done anything differently to get a different result, but if it's there, I can't see it." She shrugged again, then chuckled softly. "My Klingon half found it... exhilarating, but my Human half would prefer not to cut it that close ever again." She stared across the table at her drinking companion for a moment, then asked, "How are you? It seemed like you've been hella busy the last days since we left there."

Emni nodded, "That makes sense. I don't think any of us ever care to cut it that close."

The server returned, setting drinks in front of each of them. The smaller rocks glass containing Emni's gin and tonic fizzed lightly. She pulled the orange rind from the edge, rubbing it along the rim of the glass before taking a sip. "I've been..." she considered, "alright. Being the Acting XO is a very different role than what I'm used to. There is a lot to learn and a lot to do in Commander Takomi's absence. I know my way around the anatomy of dozens of races, but the systems on a starship... those are less familiar."

Sharrina nodded. "I can see how that could be very stressful," she commiserated. "But I imagine the ship itself is the least of the problems." She smirked slightly then sipped her drink, savoring the sweet taste.

"Fair point," Emni remarked, taking another slow sip. "It's more being able to manage the people managing the things in a way that is equal parts knowing what I'm doing and respecting their expertise. I suppose I'm still working on the balance there."

Now there was something Sharrina knew something about. She chuckled softly. "Now there is something I know a thing or two about," she commented with that chuckle. "Balancing my Human heritage and my Klingon can be challenging to say the least." She took another sip of her drink.

Emni raised an eyebrow, tipping her glass lightly in the direction of the other woman. "Any tips?" she asked, curious about the woman's heritage. "I'm of dual heritage as well, but only really ever had direct exposure to the Romulan side."

Sharrina smiled. "Well, my father's Native American heritage helps. It also helps that he taught me some of the ways that he learned to control his reactions. I'd be happy to share." The last bit, the admission, did not surprise Sharrina, but it did make her curious. "Other side Human?" she asked.

"My father was half human and half Betazoid. My mother fully Romulan," she explained with a shrug. "Honestly never met a Betazoid until I left Romulus to help with the resettlement efforts before our star went nova. Luckily my mother was fairly aware of the possible outcomes for a part Betazoid child, otherwise, that Betazoid piece would have wreaked havoc."

Sharrina's eyebrows raised. "Wow, that's a hell of a combination. I imagine it gets... a bit overwhelming sometimes?" she asked. She wasn't trying to be rude or intrusive, but she could imagine how Betazoid heritage could complicate things, especially if the lady had any of the innate Betazoid psionic talent. "Sorry, if that's too personal a question, feel free to tell me to mind my own damned business," she added with a small smirk. She was serious about the offer itself, but the precise wording of it was meant to be half-humorous.

Emni tipped her glass back, enjoying the bubbles of the tonic water against the top of her mouth. "No, it's fine," she said, "It's not something I make a habit of talking about, but it's not something I hide either." Carefully she set the glass back on the table, one finger wiping a drop of condensation from the side of the glass. "Low-grade empathic sense is probably the best description for how my father's Betazoid biology interacted with my mother's Romulan biology."

She looked at Sharrina across the table, debating. She had entered the room with emotional defenses high. It made public spaces like Debbie's a little less noisy in general.

"Romulan psionic abilities aren't well studied," she finally continued. "Our Vulcan cousins have them, but they present only extremely rarely in Romulans. Apparently adding a little bit of Betazoid to the mix is enough to bring them out, although only slightly. It's kind of like any other sense I use. I know people by their emotional signatures as much as I do by their faces or the sound of their voice. And it gives me clues to how they're feeling--something that's been immensely helpful as a doctor. But folks are often a little uncomfortable with the idea so it doesn't come up all that often." She shrugged lightly, bringing her glass back to her lips again and tipping back the remainder of the drink.

Sharrina thought about that. While she had no psionics to speak of -- neither of her parents had possessed them -- she had observed the discomfort Emni spoke of directed at others. It had angered her when she was younger, that people seemed to assume that if you had the Gift, you'd use it without their permission. Most psionic cultures had very strict rules about that. Besides, since the ones they were uncomfortable with were Starfleet, she had thought they should have more tolerance and less baseless fear. She'd said as much to both of her parents at different times. Each had expressed it differently, but both had believed that, while it was something that was distasteful, it was also something that she should leave alone. She had grumbled but done so.

She smiled across at the doctor again. "Well, I'm not uncomfortable around psionics. I've worked with several over the years," she assured. "It makes sense that Rihannsu" she used their word for themselves out of respect "would have such gifts since the Vulcans do." Some of Emni's statements made her pause to think. She tapped one finger on the rim of her glass as she considered for a moment. "You said that it's like any other sense. That means that you use it on a day-to-day basis. Isn't a place like this... noisy?"

The Romulan woman set her glass back on the table, raising a hand to wave down their server to order another round. "If I let my defenses down, yes," she replied, "but they're fairly high right now. Just like you might do things to keep yourself from being burnt or blinded, I do things to keep my emotional senses from being overwhelmed. It's not dissimilar to the low murmur of voices in the background. I know they're all there, but I can't make them out distinctly unless I really focus on someone right now."

Sharrina nodded. "That makes sense." She finished off her own beverage and set the glass down as well so that the server would know that she needed another as well. "I can imagine that there are advantages and disadvantages to such a Gift," she said thoughtfully. "Like my knives, double-edged," she added with a smirk. A pause and she became serious, though not somber. "I apologize if my flood of questions makes you uncomfortable at all."

Emni shook her head, a friendly smile spreading across her features. "Not at all. I don't get to talk about it often, truthfully, but it's refreshing to be able to without worrying about making you uncomfortable."

The server stopped at their table then, sweeping the two glasses onto a tray to return to the replicator for recycling. "Another round," Emni noted, pointing with one finger at the table and making a circle in the air. "Gin and tonic for me and SoCo and Coke for Sharrina. Thanks." She pinned the server with a warm smile before he walked away.

"So," she said, "did you grow up on your mother's planet or your father's? Qo'noS and Earth are drastically different places."

Sharrina chuckled a bit. "Neither really. My mother is an independent merchant -- I know, odd for a Klingon, but she got the ship and the business from her father -- and my father was Starfleet. So I would spend half the year on her ship with her crew and half the year with him. It could get a bit... nuts sometimes, but I learned a lot about both sides of my heritage that way." She shrugged. "And in many ways, they couldn't be more opposite. But there are also similarities."

Emni raised an eyebrow fingers lacing together on the table in lieu of a glass to hold. "That makes it sound like you don't have a planet you necessarily call home," she remarked, curious. "Unless I'm misunderstanding?"

Sharrina shrugged again, her expression unruffled. "Well, you could look at it that way. Or you could see it as I have two homes." She grinned. "I prefer that perspective myself."

The server returned quietly, setting two fresh glasses before the ladies then leaving just as quietly so as not to disturb their conversation.

The Romulan nodded, her expression thoughtful. She returned the glass to her lips, sipping slowly and savoring the fizz of the tonic water on the roof of her mouth. Finally, she returned to the discussion. "You mentioned that you had learned some methods of controlling reactions from your father's side of the family. I'd love to hear more about that sometime. I've done quite a bit of training on shielding, but am always open to new ways to approach things. If you're willing to share more, of course..." she added.

Sharrina smiled. "Sure. Maybe we can swap techniques. Not that I have any psionic talent, but couldn't the focusing techniques be used for meditation as well as building walls?" She took up her glass as well and took another sip.

Emni nodded her agreement, "Absolutely," she remarked. Her expression darkened ever so slightly as she said it, a brief flicker of sadness running across her features before she schooled them back to normalcy. "I have some experience teaching non-psionic people how to shield their emotions from empaths." Her mind went to Jori and Sulli briefly as she spoke before shutting that particular line of thought down.

She looked up, raising her glass in a half toast to Sharrina. "Perhaps we can find a time when we are not at Debbie's, though," she added. "As you pointed out... it is a bit noisy here."

Sharrina had not missed the fleeting look that had passed over her companion's face, but neither had she missed the fact that it had been banished almost as quickly as it had come. Maybe one day, she would ask about it, but right now, they did not know one another well enough for that question. So she moved forward as the other lady did, raising her glass reciprocally. "I would like that. To the beginning of a friendship." she toasted with a smile.

=/\= A Mission Post By =/\=

Lieutenant Emni t'Nai
Acting Executive Officer

Lieutenant Sharrina Blackstone
Security Officer