Housewarming (Part 2)

Posted on 03 Jan 2013 @ 7:08pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho

3,371 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 3, Cho's Quarters
Timeline: MD14, 1930 hours

[Continued]



"I see," Kiri smiled with a little patch of white teeth showing. The problem she ran into was that she didn't do very much outside of work. People that didn't find that interesting likely weren't going to find the other things she liked interesting. Since the hints had been dropped now and before she asked, "Are you reading a book at the moment?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," she said with interest. "It's called Deimos. It's set in the early day's of Earth's space travel, before warp or before first contact. It's kind of a horror and suspense story where the astronauts slowly lose their minds in space above Mars." She gave a shrug with her eyebrows. "It's actually pretty good."

Kiri didn't really like horror books. Bad ones were just cheesy and boring and good ones really scared her. She didn't like being scared and avoided scary films for the same reason. Both were something that she tended to do alone and that didn't help. Taking her first sip of tea she returned, "The last book I read was Renrey's Blaze. It is in the John Shoes series Kingsbane, its set in a fantasy feudal world with lords and princes. I quite like the series when I was younger."

Maenad inclined her head. "I've never heard of it, but I like to imagine what kind of people we would be in that kind of world. It's hard to imagine a life without any of our most basic technologies."

"Not for me," Kiri answered shyly, "I mean, my home has running water, plasma lights, my computer, but we don't have a replicator. We grow our own food and Chan the blacksmith makes tools. There are horses and animals, it is a lot easier but its not so very different." The rustic isolationistic village she spent almost all her life in was populated by people that didn't want to have much to do with advanced technology.

"I bet it's wonderful," she thought airily. "I have never been to China; I would like to see it some time. But I mean without the knowledge of these things, either. Imagine being born in 1200, for example. They weren't even capable of imagining our lifestyle and, in a sense, we're not even capable of imagining theirs. I would like to know what it was like."

It was different, Kiri never wanted for things as a child but she never asked for much. She had toys but most were hand made, some of the children at school at far better ones. The food was better though, rarely did she eat things from other place though. She still didn't know much about other races cooking. "I might be able to take you there one day, if you want. I'm sure there are holodeck programs as well." Kiri had still not used one but if it came to seeing things that didn't exist any more that seemed the way to go.

"Yes, maybe," replied Maenad to Kiri's offer to take her to her village. "I'll have to check the database for some medieval holosuites," she added. "Next time we get time off, perhaps. I get the feeling we'll be busy over the next few weeks."

Kiri smiled, it would be fun to do something together again. Like the beach that had been nice when it was just the two of them. Drinking some more of her tea before it got cold she nodded, "Not as busy as we have been I hope," Looking down into the greenish yellow water, "Would you like something else to drink?"

Maenad looked into her cup. "I still have some, thanks. I hope that it's not as... violent... as what you went through."

"At least I'm alive," Kiri managed a small smile. Several members of the crew on their last mission had not been so lucky. Whatever happened at least she was still alive, she didn't like to think about it.

"Agreed," Maenad nodded, then finished the rest of her tea. She smiled at Kiri. It was true that Kiri could have very easily been killed, but Maenad didn't want to think about that. Kiri's brush with death the other day had already proven too much to handle.

Silence fell as Kiri also finished her tea and paused, struggling for words. Finally she asked, "Do you do other things than read?" Shifting herself in her seat to try and get comfortable while still perching on the edge.

"I play piano," Maenad replied. "And the violin," she added while she unconsciously played with her fingers in her lap. It wasn't a question she was asked very often, so she rarely had to think about what it was that she actually did.

"I can't play any music," Kiri gave a small smile and tugged at her loose hair. She would have liked to have learned how to play the violin but had never found the time. She was never exactly good at music though, everything she tried seemed rather robotic and boring.

"Oh, that's too bad," said Maenad. She wouldn't know what she would do with herself if she couldn't play music. "I can try to show you, if you would like," she offered. "Although, I doubt I'd be able to help you. I'm not very good at teaching skills."

Learning how to pilot the ship, learning how to fight, learning how to be a big sister, was there time to learn something else at the same time? In her head she tried to rebalance her time, "I would like that but, it might have to wait a while."

"Sure," she said. Maenad really didn't want to teach her anyway; she didn't think she make a very good music instructor. "I can play for you some time, then," she said. Now that she could do without a hitch, and that she would enjoy too.

"Okay, if you are sure," Kiri could sing sort of okay but she didn't like doing it in front of people. It was something for when she was happy and no one else could hear her. If Maenad really didn't mind her hearing then it would be nice.

"Yes, of course I am," Maenad said. She wouldn't have made the offer if she were unsure. "So, if you don't spend time with friends or play any music or hardly have any time to read, what do you normally do with your time off?" Maenad didn't mean to sound so forward with the question.

"Um, lots of different things. I work on improvements for ships systems, unsolved mathematical problems, mathematical and logic puzzles. I review sensor readings in detail for things that might have been missed. I'm also studying star ship piloting, self defence and cooking but I am only just starting those." She knew that she might be able to do more but she liked spending extra time working in the Science department as well.

"Oh, you cook?" asked Maenad with surprise. "What kind of food do you make?"

"I can cook lots of different Chinese food. My mother taught me, she is much better at it," Kiri smiled and seemed more engaged, "Mor'an said I should try and learn things from other races for cooking as well, I haven't really started that yet."

"The cadet in operations?" Maenad asked.

"Yes," Kiri nodded. It was odd for her to think that way since Mor'an was a year older than her yet was still at the Academy. "Do you cook?" She asked rolling the cup in her hand and watching the swirling tea leaves at the bottom.

"Yes," Maenad replied. "Sort of," she corrected. "Well, not really," she admitted with an embarrassed shake of her head. "I suppose I never really found the time with all my studies in university. I took full advantage of replicators and never broke the habit," she explained. "Much to my mother's disappointment."

"Oh," Kiri didn't know what to say to that. When she was younger and even now a large part of her life was making sure she didn't disappoint her mother. To rely on the replicator too much for cooking would be bad, you would start to lose an important skill and way of life. That hadn't stopped her from mostly living on replicator rations for the last three years. There weren't kitchens at the Academy to use and she couldn't go home too often. But that was all she needed back then, she hadn't realised that eating could be such a social thing.

"Have you eaten yet?" Maenad asked, perking up a bit. She had already eaten, but if Kiri wanted to get something small she wouldn't have been opposed to it.

"I haven't yet, would you like something?" Kiri took that as a hint but that was quite okay. She didn't normally eat dinner until around eight in the evening since she didn't normally go to bed before elven. She motioned towards the replicator as she asked.

"I was only asking to see if you were hungry," Maenad shrugged off. "I just don't want to stop you from eating dinner."

"I, um, suppose I am," Kiri looked uncertain now, had she said something wrong? It was almost time for dinner anyway but she had thought that Maenad was half asking for something. She had already offered though and seemed to be turned down, she didn't know what to do and was starting to worry.

"What do you feel like?" Maenad asked her, wondering now if she would ask for something too.

"Zhajiangmian," Kiri wasn't sure if Maenad knew what that was, "Noodles with fried pork." A small bowl with some pork broth as thick as gravy would be nice before bed. It would leave her warm but not too full.

"Oh, that sounds good. I'll have a small bowl with you too, then," she said. "If you don't mind." She thought it was strange that Kiri was so culturally Chinese. She liked it, actually. "Do you speak Chinese?" she asked her with a pensive frown. She had never noticed an accent, but that didn't mean that she didn't. Maenad spoke her English with only the slightest trace of French that only appeared in some words.

"Most of the time," She answered, no one had questioned her that before. She normally spoke Mandarin unless she wanted to practice Romulan or English. Klingon was rather harder due to having to move and speak differently. The universal translator meant that it didn't mater what she spoke and the only real difference was how quick her words came from her mouth. Mandarin would always flow faster and more easily for her.

"I don't think I could ever learn how read the script," she said. "It amazes me how Chinese characters can be a language. It's just so hard for me to grasp it as communication and not just artful design." That was the beauty of the universe, thought Maenad. She could hardly understand part of her own race, yet she could understand so much else in space. And that if she had been raised in China, like Kiri, she would probably think the same about her own Latin script. Fascinating.

Kiri had grown up with it and to her the two languages were completely different. Chinese text were ideas while English was more like numbers, at least that was how she saw it. Walking to the replicator Kiri returned with two small bowls and sets of chopsticks, "I could try to show you some if you would like."

"Sure," Maenad said. She took the bowl and the chopsticks, but she smiled embarrassedly. "I don't know how to use chopsticks," she admitted with shame.

Kiri had cracked her own chopsticks open with a snap, "I can get you a fork if you want, or a hair tie." Kiri had never taught Trisha to use chopsticks when she was younger, it hadn't taken long with help.

"A fork will do," she replied.

Placing her bowl on the sofa Kiri went to the replicator to fetch a fork and returned, holding it out to Maenad. It was always faster to eat with chopsticks but she got paranoid when other people that weren't used to it were watching. Raising her own bowl to just short of her chin she asked, "Do you know Chief Warrant Officer Kiwosk?"

Maenad thanked Kiri for the fork and tried the pork noodles. It was quite good, she thought. "I taught him for a year at the Academy," she answered flatly. "A semester, actually. Why do you ask?" Kiri and Cyrus seemed unlikely friends, Maenad thought. But, by the sounds of it, Kiwosk had already tried to pick up Kiri too. Would he ever learn?

"He told me some things about then, that he did mean things to you," Then in a much smaller voice, "That you did mean things as well." The conversation had shaken her a lot, shaken her faith in the world she believed in.

Her jaw fell a bit as she jerked her head to face Kiri in one sharp motion, then brought her lips tightly together. Her jaw clenched. Her eyes went hawkish, like a bird of prey who'd just found its next meal. Kiwosk used to tell lies as though it were a bodily function, but to learn that he was still up to his old games. His gossip. His rumours. He might have been a 'rough n' tuff' sleaze who thought that he could do whatever he wanted, but god be damned he was not going to involve her in whatever distorted realities he had invented about her past. And then to share with her staff, her assistant, these slights against her personality! "Tell me what he said," Maenad ordered, the incredulousness in her voice was far from distant.

Lowering her bowl Kiri looked rather afraid, this was one of the things Kiwosk had said about her. That she would get angry if anyone questioned her, did that go for bad things said about her as well? Her voice a little shaky Kiri tried to recall it all. "He said that when he didn't do homework you, shamed him." That part was okay to her, Kiri had never missed a homework in her life. Then, "He said you punched him in the stomach, that there were other things as well." Kiri was starting to lose herself now, she didn't want to repeat these things.

"That I shamed him?" she shrieked. Maenad set her bowl down on the coffee table, but didn't sit back again. She was now perched over the edged, barely sitting anymore. "That I punched him in the stomach!" She was busting now. She put one hand on her chest. "That I. Punched. Him. In the stomach?" She moved her hand to press her temples, shielding her eyes, and held it there for several seconds as she breathed through her nose. Finally, almost like she twitched uncontrollably, Maenad brought her hand down to her knees. "Do I look like I can punch somebody? Do I look like I would punch that son of a bitch?" she snapped. "Does he honestly think that I cared whether or not he did his homework?" It wasn't her place to tell Kiri that she never marked his homework because he never submitted it. She didn't tell Kiri that she didn't shame him because he never went to class. She was never anything to him because he was never there. She was furious with him because when he did go to class, he didn't listen and he lounged around like an idiot. The few times she had scolded the dolt was privately after class and once in her office. He had only been allowed in the class because he practically begged her during his misleading representation of himself. All of her questions to Kiri were rhetorical, and she left little time for the shaken young woman to respond.

"What else did he say about me?" she pressed. "Tell me everything that he told you, lieutenant." Her features were demanding and dark. She sounded like an impatient interrogator with torture on her mind. And that she was dressed the way she was, in her black top and black and white polka-dotted skirt, appearing indifferent and laid back, like she should have a long cigarette between her fingers, only made her fury more disturbing.

Kiri had placed her own bowl down and slipped away from the small sofa. Clutching the chop sticks in her hand at her side she backed away slowly as Maenad got louder. She was afraid, she was scare and everything that she had been told started to appear that it could be true. Swearing, she hated conflict, she knew even less what to do than she normally did. Shaking with tears welling in her eyes she wanted to run away, hide herself somewhere. It was an order though, "I, I, I don't, I," She back away further now, raising her free hand across her chest, "I just, sorry." She shouldn't have said anything at all.

The fear in Kiri's eyes unfazed her for the moment. As far as she was concerned this was all Kiwosk's fault. The sight of the young woman, damaged as she was, was exactly what Kiwosk did to people. She recalled PO Darwisch's scolding words to him at the beach, the words that she had brushed off. Well, she shouldn't have. They were all true. She should have stood up beside the angry young woman and slammed him alongside her. Kiri's watering eyes, seeing her standing there away from her now... Maenad shook her head. "You're sorry?" she asked. "You have nothing to be sorry for," she said sternly. "Take it from me. I do not lie, Kiri," she said, standing. "Kiwosk does," she said as though she were observing a simple fact like there are stars in space, that the Earth is round, that she was angry. She held a long rigid finger in front of her own face, "You stay away from him," she snapped, like she was her mother.

"Thank you for the soup," she said. "I am sorry that I need to cut our visit short, but I have to go set the record straight. If he gives you any repercussions from this, call security to remove him." Her voice became ominous. If a psychologist were in the room, they might have thought she was plotting murder. Without another word, Maenad left Kiri's quarters on a fuming, unblinking, beeline to wherever the hell Kiwosk was lounging himself.

She had been having fun. She had someone to talk to and now maybe she had ruined it. Why did she have to say anything at all? Alone now she tried to take a deep breath but it broke into jagged gasps. Placing the chopsticks down on the table she huddled herself on the sofa. Bringing her knees to her chin, now she was alone she cried. Kohl was gone, Brayden was gone, Maenad was angry and hated Kiwosk, so much that she couldn't be friends with both of them. Liyar was a Vulcan however much she liked him, Athlen she still didn't know along with a host of others. What sort of progress was this? That only left her Theron and Mor'an of everyone on the ship, that wasn't fair.

Kiri was lonely and wanted so much to have company, to talk to someone to learn how to do so. Right now she wanted to crawl to one of her few remaining friends. Thoughts of eating made her sick as her ribcage shook. Next time she wouldn't say anything, it was stupid, why had she asked? Why did it matter? Sobbing she rolled her cheeks across her knees, sniffing. They had talked about being close to people, how could she ever manage that if she couldn't cope with having friends?

[OFF]

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Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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