Truth In Wine

Posted on 10 Jul 2014 @ 3:19pm by Ensign Louis duChampe & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D.
Edited on on 10 Jul 2014 @ 3:28pm

2,487 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Ship's Lounge
Timeline: MD06 - 1000hrs

[ON]

Louis had just gotten back from reporting in, Trapped in a buffer for four days. He is glad somebody caught that clerical error. He was sitting there in a corner, nursing a snifter of what the bartender told him was Brandy. He also had a huge plate of deep fried onions from a replicatior.

He had walked into quite the situation it seemed. He dipped the fried onion into the mustard and chewd. He looked up at the door, he wasn't trying to be gloomy he was at a point where he could use somebody to talk to though.

Suddenly, a young blonde appeared as if out of nowhere and slapped his hand down onto the bar. "Mint lemonade! Now, please!" Despite the urgency in his voice, he was perfectly polite. There was no reason to be rude, after all. Bartenders worked hard just like he did.

Louis looked at the bartender and from his seat he managed out a, "Put it on my tab."

Louis took another firm swig of his drink, He stood up and motioned the man over, "Come sit, Relax. You look liek you could use a seat?"

Oren seemed almost startled as he looked at the other man, only just noticing him. Maybe he really was losing it. "Oh...thank you," he said a bit tentatively, moving to sit down. "Idris Oren," he said. "I mean Oren Idris. Oren is my first name," he explained, a bit awkwardly.

"Since you were so kind in sharing your name, I will do the same, I am Louis duChampe." He smiled for the first time in days it was a warm and friendly smile. He did pick up on the akwardness, so he looked at the man.

"Its okay I will not bite, Deep breaths. If it helps I am with security and you can tell me about whatever the problem is?"

Louis prayed that was a decent icebreaker.

"I'm fine," Oren assured him, taking a big gulp of his drink. For the first time in a long time, he wished it was alcoholic. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he finally looked over the man, Louis, taking him in for the first time. He could feel that he was Human. And young.

"You're new," he stated with a nod.

"My first starship posting, aye." He raised an eyebrow at the scientist.

"I know a runner when I see one, Out of breath, the way you are guzzling, If you are not having trouble then good sir Idris I would like to inquire about what you were doing prior to this to get you so.." He motioned at the Doctor with his hand.

"What are you talking about, I'm fine!" Oren insisted before downing the rest of his drink and ordering another one.

"Ah alright so then it is case of nerves? Would you like me to share my Brandy with you? It will calm the nerves?" He smiled and sat back down.

"Um..." Oren hesitated, but then shook his head. "No...no thank you. I'll be fine." He finally smiled, a little relieved that his heart wasn't beating as hard as it had been. Maybe riding this thing out wouldn't be so hard.

"So...Louis, what kind of yellow are you?"

He pushed the basket of onion rigs towards him. He decided to speak in a calmer voice, like one would use with a spooked horse, "I..am..with..security. Or going to be once I am rotated into the roster."

"Oh," Oren said with a nod, then looked down at the onion rings. His stomach felt like it was gripping his spine for dear life, so that wasn't going to happen. He politely shook his head and just said, "No, thank you."

"I could never be in Security," Oren admitted. He wasn't stupid enough to not notice how Louis' demeanor changed. He didn't say anything, but he could appreciate the effort.

"Pretty sure I'd have a heart attack before the enemy got to me."

"I don't know? I joined it because it seemed like it would be the easiest, I mean I come from a family of intellectuals. Imagine growing up ridiculed for your desire to exercise and not pick up a book." He smirked and raised his cup at the man.

He also would pretend that this was good brandy and not something replicated. He then said, "My Grandfather would always tell me, Louis stretch your arm no further than your sleeve. So that is what I did. What do you do onboard?"

"I'm an Anthropologist and Archaeologist. And I understand, in a way. My parents were artists so for much of my childhood that just seemed like something I would do too. My father was a dancer and my mother was a fashion designer."

He chuckled and for a second imagined an exotic dancer shaking his package for the world to see. "I have a brother who is a Doctor and a sister who is a lawyer, About to be made one of the youngest judges ever appointed. So yeah... I am living out my Peter Pan fantasies. Sadly when I found out that this was where the second star to the left led to.. I should have smacked Tinkerbell."

"Yeah, I don't understand that reference," Oren said with a sheepish grin, shrugging his narrow shoulders.

He pondered for a moment, He looked for spots on the side of the face then asked questioningly, "Are you an El Aurian or a Trill?"

Oren raised an eyebrow. "Trills have spots. Like....all over the sides of their head." He seemed horrified by the young man's lack of basic knowledge. "What made you jump to El Aurian?" He was curious as most people didn't generally go there so quickly.

"Not the unjoined ones, I have a friend who is a connoisseur of lovers the same way I enjoy wine. Only with her she said El Aurians are like humans to almost undetectable standards. So I took an educated guess. As for Peter Pan he was a character from Ancient Earth fiction, a boy who never wanted to grow up, Convinced himself that running away to a spot called Neverland was better." He smiled and took a few more bites of his food.

Oren nodded in understanding. "That sounds like the oppsoite of me. I ran away to grow up. Sounds like we both got screwed."

"So, your lover-collecting friend. What did she have to say about El Aurian." As someone who had never slept with an El Aurian, he was infinitely curious about it. He seemed much calmer now to Louis, maybe even a bit flirtatious. The back of Oren's mind screamed at him to abort, but he needed to take his mind off of his anxiety.

"My friend is not one to kiss and tell a whole lot, She just told me that "they" may look human, but for such a long lived race you would think they would know a few more tricks? Personally I take that to mean they are bad partners. But I reserve that until after I have taken a sip from that well." He looked wistfully out the window into space.

"You been aboard long Mes ami?" He asked.

Oren looked a little insulted and almost demanded the friend's name so he could give her a piece of his mind. But he refrained and, instead, decided to answer the question.

"Not really. A few days, actually. I was supposed to arrive over a week ago, but I lost track of time and missed the ship by three days."

"Have you ever been stuck in a pattern buffer? I was supossed to be here about three days ago it sems, Well I was here. Just somebody forgot to put me back together." He laughed a little.

"Oh my goodness!" Oren exclaimed, reaching out to touch Louis' arm, almost as if to see if he was really all there. "Are you okay?" He sounded genuinely concerned.

"Aside from a slight hangover form my bon voyage party, I could use a shower and perhaps the right kind of company.." He smiled. it was the truth he wanted to make sure everything worked.

Oren couldn't help but laugh and blush a bright red. "Um...that's a very sweet offer." He ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit.

He smirked, "I understand two things in my life, The first is if it feels right why should you denny yourself? Men, women,alcohol,work,time off.. Life is a banquet. Try everything no?"

Oren smiled back more softly this time, finally stealing an onion ring. "That's always been my philosophy," he agreed, taking a small bite. "And the second thing?"

"The other is you cannot run away from your problems forever, but there is nothing wrong with a good head start." He flashed a wide smile.

Oren took a small sip of his new drink and nodded slightly. "I guess there's some truth in that as well," he admitted. "I do agree that you can't run forever. Most problems are a state of the mind, in my experience," he added after a moment of silence, looking down at the drink in his hand.

"But that is just my own limited brand of wisdom. I am sure a man of your years and calibur has a lot to say on a variety of subjects. Tell me for a man of your years..." Louis paused a moment to take a sip, then set the snifter down.

"How do you keep life fresh and exciting?" He added in and looked at Oren,waiting a response.

"So far, I think that people often mistake drama for happiness, which it isn't," Oren explained with a small shrug, but then he smiled. "But, I may be the wrong person to ask. I'm only seventy-five," he pointed out.

Louis pondered for a moment. "Seventy five? How did you..."

He stopped short of accusing the poor fellow of being a kid. He did choose his next phrasing carefully.

"That is, just incredible to accomplish so much, Personally I detest undue or unneeded theatrics. That is why I also detest emotional games, Be straight forward. But I guess that is why I prefered security. Less of a thinking man's game and more of the kind where I just get to point, shoot, go back to my bunk and sleep. If needed, I get to rinse, lather and repeat for success."

He let out a hearty chuckly and touched his newfound friend on the shoulder.

"You seem to be a little more at ease no?"

Nodding, Oren took another sip, finally finishing off his lemonade. "Yeah...I feel better," he said with a smile. "The mission has just been a little overwhelming," Oren added after a few moments. "This ship is taking its toll or, rather, the new environment is. I honestly prefer being on an actual planet, but I figured new experiences enrich the mind and I enjoyed my last posting with the Fleet."

"Well you are an anthropologist, So that is normal I think?" Louis smiled warmly.

"That and the fact that my mother was a naturalist, so I spent a lot of my childhood in the outdoors, being one with nature." Oren grinned back.

Louis laughed, "My Grandfather, maybe you have heard of Onri duChampe? He is an Astronomer, spent his life raising me more then my father did, so I always had my head looking upwards, makes me trip a lot."

"It's funny how, the things you don't necessarily like as a kid ends up changing you. I mean, I used to really dislike going out into the woods and learning to light fires and fish and hunt," Oren explained, shifting on the barstool. "It just seemed so useless to me, considering people didn't have to do that anymore. Now, sixty years later, I read everything I can about it and it's helped me immensely when observing indigenous, pre-industrial societies."

"Well much like Monsieur Pan I am the kind of guy who never tries to grow too old before my time. I mean if you.. and I mean no offense, spend all of your time observing then you spend no time living. I for one can only do thinks like study for so long without wanting to do."

He drained some of his glass. He offered his hand, "Walk with me for a moment."

"Sure," Oren said without hesitation, giving the bartender a quick goodbye taking Louis' hand hopping off the barstool. "When I say observe, I mean participant observation. It basically means living among the people you're observing. I really love it when it's a...I guess you could say undeveloped society, but I really hate that word," Oren explained, following Louis.

"One mans civility is another man's chaos. An ancestor of my countrymen wrote that. Voltaire was the originators name. I think you would appreciate him."

Louis smiled as he escorted Oren to an observation window.

"Space is beautiful, I bet there are some young men looking up at the stars and wondering just what goes on out there. I think if I knew what every star had in its orbit I would just want to stay at home. There are times I wish I was smarter, are there things you wish you were better at?" Louis shrugged at Oren.

Oren smiled a bit sadly. "Too many to name, I think," he admitted, taking a step forward to touch the glass with his fingertips out of habit.

Louis was reassured he wasn't the kind of El Aurian who seemed to be holier then thou. "Think about that for a moment, you have a thousand lifetimes to make yourself into what you want. As for moi I only have a few decades. Anyway Oren, I have to get to my quarters and drop off a few things, then shower, then do all the fun things required of me. But I will b eback here this evening. Perhaps you would care to join me for another drink then?"

Oren turned to look at Louis. "Maybe. My shift finishes at midnight, so..." He shrugged lightly with one shoulder. He glanced back up into the expanse of space. This wasn't the first time someone pointed out his long lifespan to him and he was still unsure about how exactly he felt about it.

Louis smiled, "Until then, au revoir." Louis offered a friendly smile.

Oren just smiled back and then, figuring Louis would leave, he turned his gaze back to the observation window and proceeded to sit down on the floor. Crossing his legs under himself, Oren stared out at space quietly, deciding it was the perfect place to kill time before his shift.

[OFF]

Ensign Louis duChampe
Security officer
USS Galileo

&

Oren Idris, Ph.D.
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

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