What Does Having a Roomie Mean....

Posted on 29 May 2015 @ 2:16am by Lieutenant JG Emmarie (E'Ma'ri) & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy

4,710 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo: Dru/Emmarie's Quarters
Timeline: MD -03 0030hours

[ON]

Due to shift differentials and the fact that she hadn't been aboard long, Emmarie had yet to meet her roommate. She could only hope that the other woman was friendly, and didn't have any odd eccentricities. She didn't have much in the way of things to unpack, as she had only brought one cargo container worth of stuff from Trinity to Galileo. Many of her possessions had been left behind as they reminded her too much of people and places that she didn't want to think about.

As she worked, she reached up and touched the pendant that she wore around her neck. She'd considered getting rid of that link to her past as well, but she had decided not to. She'd had it ever since she was found as a baby, after all.

Entering her code into the door's mainframe, Dru barely registered when the metal doors parted and her legs took her into the room at her own accord. She still wasn't sure about this...giving up her room and moving in with Markum seemed like such a big step, a step she still wasn't sure that she was ready to take.

Rubbing her fingers against the sides of her temple, Dru didn't register the other person's presence until she was almost ontop of the other woman. "Ah...sorry...who are you?"

"Hi, I'm Emmarie. I'm your new roommate," she explained quickly. On some vessels there was a lot of turnover, but with others you could spend years with the same roommate. She had a feeling this was close to the latter. "I work in Operations. Who're you?"

Taking a slight step back to try regain her personal space, Dru looked at the woman more carefully as she took her hand away from her temple. "My deepest of apologises....I was expecting Lieutenant Jones. Did something happen to him?"

Emmarie shrugged. "I haven't heard of him," she said, "Though I haven't been aboard the ship very long." She paused for a moment, then cocked her head to the side, studying Drusilla curiously. "They assign male with female roommates on this ship?" She'd heard that they did on some. Her first vessel had only assigned matching genders together. "Or is he your...?" she trailed off, knowing that the other woman would likely get the jist of her point.

It took Dru a moment to realise the meaning behind the Orion's words before she shook her head vigorously. "Oh no! The Lieutenant was just a room mate...it seems to be a common practise onboard that there is no segregation of sexes in relation to rooming assignments. My boyfriend...partner...ah...well that's a little more complicated I guess."

"I see," Emmarie said, though she really didn't. "My previous ship was a good bit smaller than this one; it's weird to not know everyone's business." She shook her head. Still, it was only a matter of time before everyone knew everything about her, if this vessel was anything like most. "What department are you in?"

Dru tried to read the other woman, it was almost automatic for her given her profession but she quickly shook the instinct off as she realised that this wasn't the time or place.

Moving over to her locker, she started to pick up items as she folded and tidied them into a bundle. "Counselling I'm afraid...You?"

"Operations," Emmarie said, rolling up onto one elbow in order to see her roommate more clearly. "Counselors interest me. I'd love to be able to have insights to what people were thinking." She expected her own interests came from the locking away of her pheromones by the regular injections she took. If she couldn't control people, why couldn't she at least know what they thought?

"I would have been an awful counselor, though. I'm missing that whole "compassion" part of the job." She shrugged, grinning ruefully.

Smiling at the comment, Dru focused on the woman in the room and the clothes she was sorting. She should have been packing, half of her stuff had already been moved but she found it difficult...not sure why. She thought it might have been because Markum wasn't there...she was moving into his personal space and although he's insisted and spent time persuading her it still all felt so surreal.

Realising that her thoughts her starting to trail off, the counsellor forced herself back to the here and now. "What makes you feel like you are lacking in compassion? I normally find that when a person looks deep enough it does exist to some extent. It's then up to the person themselves to mould and make use of what they've found."

Emmarie picked at a loose string on her bedspread as she considered the best way to answer the other woman-- no, she corrected herself, the counselor-- without getting into too much detail. "I have a hard time giving people advice because I just don't care. I have a hard time in relationships because I don't get attached enough to be monogamous, despite what they might have thought."

"Who knows, though..." she trailed off. Maybe one day she'd find her place. She shrugged, "Starfleet is the only place I've ever found for myself in the world, you know?" So she devoted herself to work. To duty.

Turning away from the folded clothes, a light blush was settled on her cheeks as she looked over to her new roommate. The woman seemed open with her answer but in hindsight the counsellor realised that given this was just two people meeting for the first time, perhaps she had let her work head overrule for a moment. "I apologise, that question was a little intrusive. My mind is elsewhere at the moment and sometimes it's easier to just centralise myself in what feels safe, work. Please feel free to just tell me to back off next time."

Emmarie shrugged. "It doesn't bother me any," she said. "I tend to be a pretty open person-- too open at times-- so I don't think I'd ever consider you an intrusion." She paused for a minute, gauging the best way to ask her next question. "Is there anything I can do to help? With whatever is on your mind, that is?" Her instinct was always to help people, but she didn't want to appear nosy.

Dru couldn't help but smile at that before shaking her head. Moving over to her bed, she sat down on the edge before running her hands across her face. "I'm meant to be packing I guess....a friend...well he was a friend...asked me to move in with him so he could help me out...be close with everything going on...then he was moved to another ship for the games and I guess...I guess now I'm second guessing myself."

"A male friend," Emmarie said, remembering the earlier mentions to this individual. "I mean this in the nicest possible way, men seldom just want to 'help you out.'" She lifted her arms to make air quotes over the last three words. "So even knowing nothing else, my inclination is that your second guessing may be entirely justified, much as you clearly don't want that to be true."

Dru laughed as she placed her hands in her lap and looked at them clasped together. "Markum isn't like that....I mean it's never how he's shown himself to me both now and during the last two years of our friendship. I mean I know on the surface it looks odd...two wives...a child with each...two divorces...."

"On the surface, that looks like how my life would be if I'd have ever gotten married," Emmarie replied with a laugh. "But not every relationship is made to pass the tests of time, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But... he is a man, and you're attractive, and clearly smart..." Emmarie trailed off, because her meaning was clearly apparent.

Dru stared at her hands as she tried to put two and two together to figure out the hidden meaning behind the trailed off sentence. "Oh...." As awareness came over her, she started to laugh a little before looking over at her roommate. "I don't think I've ever been a woman to take advantage of a man in order to achieve....um...sexual pleasure....Not that he isn't good....Well I mean...."

The counsellor looked back down at her hands as she tried to focus on her last sexual encounter, the one with Markum, and not the one before that. "I don't think I could be that kind of person...."

Emmarie gritted her teeth a bit as she thought back to her own past. The Academy, after her fiance had died, when she'd wished to do anything that stopped the pain. Then again when Hayden had chosen not to come with her to Galileo, and she'd found her solace in the crew of the Galileo. "Not everyone is," she said.

Emmarie sat up a bit on her bunk, so that she could look Dru in the eye, on an equal level. "So you mentioned what caused other people to potentially have a poor perception of him, but what is the biggest doubt in your eyes?" It was funny how a person who had a terrible track record with relationships often found herself counseling others on them. Then again, the closer one was to a circumstance, the harder it was to be objective.

"I...." Dru stopped as she felt the tears threatening at the back of her eyes which were centered on the dark depths of the Orions. Moving her hand, she rubbed her eyes hard as she told herself to stop crying. What kind of counsellor was she if she couldn't even stabilize herself. "I'm pregnant and he's not the father."

"Oh honey," Emmarie said, getting up from her bunk. She was always the physically affectionate sort, and she hoped Dru didn't mind as Emmarie wrapped her arms about her. "And I assume he doesn't know?" she said softly. It was a bad situation to be in, Emmarie knew, but it wasn't necessarily the worst. Dru still had options. It wasn't as though it was hundreds of years ago and a child outside of a relationship was a disgrace.

Dru laughed as she shook her head at the question, leaning into the hug as she recognized it for what it was, a genuine offer of a support of sorts. "He knows, he came to the viability scan with me....Funnily the first time he asked me to move in was before either of us knew, it was the first time we'd seen each other in nearly two years. We both knew there's always been something there but before...there was others involved. This time I guess his singular thought was make up for lost time..."

Laughing as she pressed her hands to her damp eyes again, Dru remembered the events that had only been weeks and days ago. "He has a way of dragging things out of me and one day when I threw myself at him like a wanton woman...he knew it was out of place and pushed back until I told him."

"He sounds like a good man," Emmarie said quietly. The sort of man who took responsibility for those he cared for, and who was above silly social conventions. "And it sounds like he really does care about you, which counts for a lot. Realistically, he's showing that he has what it takes to get through the hard times, which... not a lot of people can say about their relationships."

Emmarie certainly couldn't have said that about her previous relationships, but that was more an indicator that those circumstances weren't correct than anything about her or her former partners. "Has he given any reason for you to think he's holding back?"

Dru shook her head as she felt the tears threaten to overflow again. Realising she was on the brink of slobbering all over Emmarie's shimmery short sleeved shirt, the counsellor moved to her feet as she searched for some tissue paper. "No...in fact he's done everything to try prove I can trust him. He insisted on no sex until I felt ready....He even slept in the same bed with me in his skirt when I asked because I just needed him to hold me....He was pushy about me moving in but I think that's just because he wanted me close. He even offered his daughter's room so I would have my own space."

"So... I think the root problem is that you don't feel like you're good enough for him," Emmarie said. Though she wasn't a counselor, she had a rather good handle on sexuality and relationships, and she'd seen many friends before in the same sort of situation that Dru had found herself in. "And if that's the case, you're being too hard on yourself. You're a counselor. You've got to be a good person you help people all the time."

Dru hesitated at this, counseling and her career was all that was keeping her grounded right now. If she admitted that the woman's words were wrong than she'd be admitting to herself that she couldn't do her job. "It's not that....its...I feel like used goods...that I don't have a right to find and enjoy something good with another man."

"Oh, hon..." Emmarie said. Those words cut rather close to Emmarie's own core. "That... I can understand it, I definitely can. But when you find a man who says it's no thing, you've got to trust that he knows his mind. Because you'll regret not doing it far more than you'll ever regret just making the jump."

"This is our second chance....The first time around things weren't meant to be. He met the woman who became his second wife and I...I was involved with someone who would fundamentally change my life and views on life." As Dru felt the tears dampen her eyes again, this time she didn't reach to try wipe them away. "Part of me loves him....always has because of the friend he's always been to me but part of me is scared to admit to anymore....How will he truly feel if I give birth to a part Reman child, conceived in a rape? How will he truly feel when he holds that child for the first time? Or...how will he view me if I just terminate the pregnancy."

"He's going to look at that child, and he's going to set aside the circumstances of his or her birth, because that child is part of you. And it sounds like he really, truly loves you. But if the child is born, and he rejects it, or rejects you, then he doesn't really deserve you. Not at all." Emmarie didn't know Drusilla very well, but she already had the feeling that the other woman was a good person. She stepped away for a moment, grabbing a glass of water and some tissues from the replicator before returning to Dru's side. "Here," she said, handing over both items. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

Dru was a little shocked at how nice this woman was being to her. They barely knew each other a few minutes but yet here she was, crying her heart to the Orion. Taking the offering, she swipped at the tears on her cheeks with the tissue. "Thank you....I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dump on you like this...."

"Nah, it's good," Emmarie said. "It's keeping me distracted from my own problems, so in a way, you're doing me a favor." She sat down beside Dru once more, noting that her roommate did seem to be improving in demeanor somewhat. A good hard cry often had curative properties, though Emmarie was always the sort to get mad, rather than sad. "Besides, we're roommates for now, which means you're my responsibility!"

Dru couldn't help but smile at this as she looked down at where her hands had begun to shred the tissue they held. "What does that responsibility involve? I don't think I've ever had someone proclaim themselves to take on the task of looking after me."

Emmarie shrugged, grinning. "Whatever you need. Unless it's weird. Or interferes with duty, obviously. Seriously, a good roommate is a powerful asset. I'm glad that you're about to have the opportunity to learn that." Emmarie hesitated. "Or, I mean, until you move in with Mr. Awesome."

Dru smiled wearily at the last comment as she surveyed the boxes which were scattered throughout the room. "He's away at the moment with the war games...do you mind if I hang around here for a little bit longer? It's hard to be in a persons personal space for the first time without them being there...."

"No worries, it's your room too. And... you can totally kick me out if you need to. I know sometimes the best company is your own, you know?" Emmarie had experienced that far too many times in her Starfleet career.

Dru laughed as she shook her head, "There's a handful of places throughout the ship where I can retreat to if I need space but you...ah..." Dru remembered what Lirha had been like at time in relation to companionship and...more. Given the nature of Orions, she could only assume that her roommate was serious. "If you need the room to yourself and I'm hanging around just say and I'll ensure to give you space."

"Thanks, I really appreciate that," Emmarie said, rather unabashedly. Though no one had caught her fancy quite yet, she wagered that it was only a matter of time. "What places do you recommend around the ship to meet people?" Being extremely extroverted, she really needed to find some new friends.

"Um...well I guess that the oblivious three would be the mess hall, the Arboretum; and of course Callisto Bar which is located down on deck 7. I guess it depends on which situation you are more comfortable in. The mess hall can be rushed, people grabbing food between shifts. The arboretum can be full of scientists on duty but also people just looking for a breath of fresh air of sorts. And then Callisto Bar...that would be the place in which the crew can let their hair down a little." Dru subconsciously rubbed her hand up and down her arm as she wrecked her memory from the time she had been here before.

"I didn't realize there was an arboretum!" Emmarie exclaimed. "We definitely didn't have one of those aboard the Trinity." She could see herself spending a lot of time there among the green things. The bar sounded like a good hangout, too. And, Emmarie realized, the ideal place to go to try and meet new friends. "It sounds like despite the size of Galileo, there's still a good amount of things to do."

Dru gently shrugged her shoulders as she wiped away the last of her tears with a small smile. "The arboretum is there for the various experiments which science need to carry out in various flora in a space environment but asking as the crew follow some small rules they allow it be used for general use also. I guess on a cramped ship they need to find some ways for the crew to be able to clear their heads given that personal use of the holo decks is minimal as we only have the two."

"So holodeck hours are the preferred form of currency around here, is what you're saying?" Emmarie replied with a grin. There was always something aboard a vessel that was held to a higher importance than other items. Aboard the Trinity it had been real baked goods, which had made her rather popular among the crew members.

Dru shrugged her shoulders a little, "Between the lower grade crew members I believe so. I think it works out that each individual has between 2-3 hours a week in the holodeck which can be scheduled together or divided between days. Departments obviously get priority due to training exercises and such."

Emmarie nodded, filing this information away for later. It would do her well to be mindful of how many hours she ended up using. "Anything else I should know while we're on the subject?"

Pausing for a moment, Dru sieved through the information in her mind as she tried to think of anything else. "Not that I can think of....A few crew members also have pets onboard but I think that there is strict rules regarding the animals being onboard so you shouldn't be finding yourself run over by a dog or such in the corridor. And there is also some children."

"I have a cat," Emmarie said suddenly. The animal must have found a place in their quarters to hide. "I hope that's not a problem. She's pretty well-behaved. She mostly just wants to sleep and get petted..." Her eyes flitted about the room before finally settling on a high shelf. "There you are!" Reaching up, Emmarie procured what looked like a mass of white fur. As she lifted, legs, nose, and eyes materialized from within the fur. "This is Sadie."

Dru stared for a moment as she tried to figure out where the furrball had appeared from. It's not that she was against cats, or any animals for that matter, it was more so that she used used to animals being so quiet that they went so easily unseen. "Um...hi Sadie?"

"She's good at blending in," Emmarie said. "For the most part, her only fault is falling asleep everywhere." The ragdoll cat stretched a bit as Emmarie put her down on the floor near Dru, before sniffing the new human. Meanwhile, Emmarie waited with bated breath, hoping that Sadie wouldn't do anything to make Dru kick her out.

Dru watched the cat carefully as it seemed to give her the once over and try to decide if the counsellor was a friend or a scratching post. "So she's a housecat essentially?" As she spoke, Sadie bumped her head against the woman's leg causing Dru to hesitate a second before leaning down and scratching the feline gently behind her ear.

"Pretty much," Emmarie said. "Though not a very good one. While staying with my family on Earth for a time, she laid there and watched as a mouse came up to her bowl and started eating her food. So... she's somewhat more of a lazy fat cat." She paused for a beat before asking, "So where's home for you?"

Dru smiled at this, as her hand moved to pet Sadie's head with more certainty. "Ireland back on Earth...it's been a very long time since I've managed to get back home."

"I grew up in France," Emmarie said. "I always wanted to visit Ireland. I've heard it's very green, very pretty." She paused, considering. "Maybe we'll have some sort of mission that takes us back to Earth at some point. Can you believe there was a time, not so long ago, that people stayed on the planet they were born for all their lives?"

Keeping her eyes on the cat, Dru took in the other woman's words with some confusion. "I guess though that as foreign as it is to us to confine ourselves to one world it was as foreign to them to imagine a day that they could explore their own universe...How was it that you found yourself in France? It's a strange place to find someone of Orion decent."

Emmarie took a deep breath, "Well, uh..." She took a deep breath collecting her thoughts. "The easy story is that I'm an orphan. I was on an Orion pirate vessel as an infant that attacked a Starfleet vessel. The Orion ship was destroyed, but not before I was placed in an escape pod. Starfleet took me back to Earth, and I was adopted by a family in France."

Dru smiled at this recollection as she tilted her head a little in order to look over at the Orion. "We all have something in our lives which influences who and where we are now. Some events are just older than others."

This pause was a lot more obvious. "There's... there was something more recent," she said, her voice sounding small and hollow in her own head. She screwed her eyes tightly shut, debating whether she wanted to go through this right now.

Dru's hand moved away from the cat as she turned her body a little towards Emmarie and studied her for a moment. "You loaned me a shoulder when I needed it...if you ever want the favor returned I am here."

Emmarie bit down on her lower lip. "So I'd never met another Orion before. Not until about six months ago. And... two came and tried to kidnap me from Deep Space 9. I guess my mother was some Orion Matron with 180 slaves and her sister had inherited them on her death. Well, when her sister died, it was mine to take over." A cold, sick feeling spread in her stomach. "They think... that my genes make me... I dunno, more capable at running a slaving organization than another Orion."

Dru's hand moved to take Emmarie's in her own as she squeezed it lightly. "And how do you feel about the situation?"

"Conflicted," she answered quickly. "I thought-- I hoped-- that one day I'd find out my family isn't affiliated with the Syndicate. That we were their prisoners. But this..." she shook her head, reaching for the tissues. "What if they're right? What if I am more "worthy" to run a slaving empire than most? What if one day I start doing all the horrible things my parents did?"

Squeezing Emmarie's hand, Dru smiled a little at the woman's words. "Only one person has control over their decisions and their future...you. You are the person you make yourself and deep inside you know you are different to your parents. You just need to believe it...."

She nodded slightly, "Yeah, it's just hard. So many of the things I do, people attribute to me being Orion, so I wonder if they're right, and there is some genetic component to being a terrible person." Emmarie took a deep breath and let it out slow in an attempt to center herself a bit.

Dru thought this one over for a moment, "A psychiatrist would know that better then I would, they focus on the workings and formations of the brain and how the brain influences our thoughts and reactions. I can look into it if your like and see if any studies have been carried out on the Orion species and if hereditary influences can cause what you are describing."

"Would you?" Emmarie asked, somewhat surprised. "I... thank you. That would mean a lot to me," It was difficult for her to know some things about herself, having no basis of experience and no friends who had grown up within Orion territory.

Dru squeezed the other woman's hand gently as she managed a genuine smiles "It's no bother...after all don't roommates look out for each other?"

Emmarie smiled through her tears, and squeezed Dru's hand back in return. Then, her Orion impulses taking over, she pulled the other woman into a tight embrace. "I want things to work out with you and your man, but if you move out I'm totally going to miss you."

Dru found her breath momentarily taken away by the hug before she moved her hands to return the embrace, laughing lightly. "Well whatever happens...this is a pretty small ship so I'll always be easily found if you need me. Who knows what the future holds."

[OFF]

Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Assistant Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG E'ma'ra
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

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