Star Trek: Starbase 777

The food stand was quite traditional, serving snacks common to circuses: churros, potato twisters, cotton candy, popcorn, and all sorts of other snacks. The people manning the stand were dressed like cartoony chefs, with dark mesh fabric obscuring their faces. They were jovial though, greeting everyone with happy voices.

Caleb spotted a food stand that sold popcorn. It was one of those old-fashioned, twentieth century carts; there were red and white striped hiding the popcorn popping mechanism, and, best of all, he’d gotten there so early that there was no queue. The menu certainly was extensive. Caramel, salted, toffee, buttered, gagh… He shuddered as he saw a marmite option. No way in hell was Caleb going anywhere near that. He very politely asked for a large portion of completely plain popcorn - not even salted - which both he and Bear could have. The person serving him, face completely covered, was more than happy to oblige. Caleb felt a little bad for asking for an entirely fresh batch, but he supposed it wasn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. Popcorn acquired, Caleb moved away from the stand. He wasn’t entirely sure whether or not he’d enjoy a night out at the circus, especially with how busy it most likely would be. Still, he had Bear with him, and if he panicked or shut down at all she’d be right there to take him back to their quarters. One thing she was trained to do was to take him home if he ever dissociated or shut down badly enough that he couldn’t function, and he was lucky that it had, so far, only happened twice. Caleb picked up a piece of popcorn and showed it to Bear. “Bear: release,” he said. “Playtime!” Bear zeroed in on the piece of popcorn in Caleb’s hand. She reversed and slid into a play now, facing Caleb. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth in her equivalent of a grin, and she wagged her tail. Caleb threw the piece of popcorn in the air, laughing as Bear leaped into the air to eat it with a single, loud, snap of her jaws.

Scarecrowrio (ok, never doing that again, I swear) had stopped their gawking to make their way to the food stand, feeling awfully like those cartoon characters that drifted on air at the smell of a delicious pie. They paused, glancing over the menu with a hum of consideration... Ah. Kirio soon got themself a potato twister (something they'd never seen before, but were very curious to try), stepping aside only to have their attention drawn by a dog jumping and catching a piece of popcorn! They almost clapped, before realizing they couldn't do that with the potato twister in hand, and held the stick in their mouth briefly to do so before taking it out. "Cool trick!" they said brightly, approaching the pair. May as well socialize just a little, if they weren't opposed?.. "I think the best my sister's dog could manage was trying to eat a fly out of the air." ... Okay, maybe not the way to start a conversation, but we're rolling with it!!!!

Caleb threw Bear another piece of popcorn, which she jumped backwards to catch. She ran around his legs in a tighter circle, weaving through them when he took a step back. He threw another. “Oh, no, she eats flies too,” Caleb laughed. “When she’s off-duty I swear she’s more bin than dog.” Bear huffed at him, barking quietly through her closed mouth. Caleb tutted, raising his hand to indicate for her to sit. He gave her the command to lie down, to sit up again, and to high five him, and she did all of the above without hesitation. Her reward was another coveted piece of popcorn. “Good girl, stinky,” Caleb said to her, rubbing her ears with his free hand. “Don’t be rude.” (edited)

Kirio beamed at the handful of tricks, one after the other in quick succession. Definitely well-earned popcorn! "Aww, I don't doubt it. Muffy almost ate a bee one time, just about gave my sister a heart attack. He didn't, thank god... Just barely missed it. At least, I'm pretty sure." Ah, right! "I'm Kirio, by the way!" They straightened the straps on their patchwork overalls. "Muffy is my sister's dog— uh, duh, maybe you figured that from context clues... I don't have him on board, but I have plenty of pictures on my PADD." They patted their too-large pockets. "Which. I didn't bring. Okay!" Damnit. It was probably fine, they wouldn't need it for anything anyway. "Uh, what about you? And your friend here? Unless her name is actually stinky..." Which. Probably wasn't true, but it very well could be. They met a cat named Fart once. It was apparently short for something else, but they could only remember Fart. Maybe they should call the owner to check up sometime... Hmm. "She's very smart, for a Stinky, in that case."

Kirio the scarecrow seemed lovely, if a little bit scatterbrained. Caleb liked it, honestly. They seemed fun. “I’m Caleb,” he said, and made an aborted movement with his right arm. He’d automatically gone for a handshake again, and remembered that it wasn’t the done thing on the Starbase. He really was going to have to train himself out of that one. “This is Bear. She’s the smartest dog I’ve ever met. I will just clarify that when I call her stinky it’s a term of endearment. I love her too much.” Bear clacked her teeth, the biting motion clearly indicating the fact that she wanted more popcorn. Caleb took a handful and threw it away from him, and Bear delightedly began to snuffle around to snarf it all up. “Normally she’s on-duty, but I figured she deserved a little bit of a break. And some popcorn! She’s never had it before, so I’m glad she likes it.”

"It's nice to meet you, Caleb! And Bear. This is definitely the place to kick back on break time," Kirio agreed, taking a moment to look around— at the circus tent in the distance, at the small attractions scattered here and there, at the people everywhere. The sound of laughter, the smell of fair food... Kirio peeled off a bit of their potato twister to pop it into their mouth. "Man, I'd hate to be working while the circus is around. I mean, I guess patrolling wouldn't be too bad..." They inclined their head a little, watching Bear snuffle and snarf away. "Have you been to one before? A circus, I mean. I went to a couple festivals when I was a kid, but I haven't been to a circus circus since I was knee high." Little Kirio was terrified, and would cover their eyes every time the acrobats got a little bit too high up. The death-defying fall always made them queasy. They wondered if the Starbase did events like this often. It'd be the first time they attended something so big. Were there festivals? Full-blown fairs? They couldn't help but wonder. They'd have to look it up later.

“Not for fun,” he said. “I had an emergency call to a circus once. A clown had a heart attack. It was a very strange experience. Six other clowns were watching me and trying not to cry.” He thought back to that call. The clown had survived, and had been very grateful. When he and his partner started to bundle the clown into the ambulance to take him to hospital, the acrobats had started to warm up in the empty tent. He remembered seeing the contortionist warming up, and shuddered. Outside of a circus, if Caleb ever saw anyone in positions like that he’d be taking them straight to the hospital. “What’s that?” Caleb asked, gesturing at the food on a stick Kirio was picking at. A lot of festival and circus foods tended to come on sticks, he’d noticed.

"Oh! Oh no!" Kirio frowned. Instinctually, a hand was raised to pat pat Caleb's shoulder, but they stopped halfway to it. Right, should probably make sure he's actually comfortable being touched first. Their hand moved awkwardly to their side again. "I really hope he was okay. I hope this one goes well, too, so you've got a chance to actually sit back and have a good time." They'd never been on duty during something so fun and whimsical. Granted, they'd never been given the chance to be— they were only an officer for so long, after all— but the idea made them just a little sad. Necessary sacrifices and all, they guessed. "Hmm?" Distracted from their train of thought and snacking on their potato thingy, they waved the stick in question. "This thing? It's a potato twister, I think. I'd offer to let you break off a piece 'n try it, but. Unsanitary." They did have the stick in their mouth to clap for Bear, so. "I've never had one before. I was curious, and it looked like it'd be good." They chuckled. "You can't go wrong with potatoes, there's a million different things you can do with them. I just didn't know cutting them up like an accordion and putting it on a stick was an option. I wonder if I can try to make it sometime.." Hmm. "Is the popcorn any good? Bear sure thinks so."

“Oh, mate, I love potatoes. ‘Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew’,” Caleb quoted. “I’ll have to try one of those swirly potato things. Popcorn’ll do for now, though. It’s completely plain so that Bear can have some, but if it were just me I’d have so much salt on them. Salt’s not really good for dogs, though.” To punctuate his point Caleb tossed some more popcorn in Bear’s genera direction, one piece at a time in rapid succession. She seemed to love it. “I’d offer you some, but - unsanitary,” Caleb said, gesturing between Bear and Kirio’s potato stick. “Dog fur gets in literally everything. I don’t even know how she has that much bloody fur.”

Kirio laughed at Caleb's potato poem— a loud bark of a laugh, though it didn't linger so long as to be awkward. "I usually get the popcorn mix with a bunch of sweets, myself. If I make it, it's like..little chocolates, pretzels, and popcorn. But plain popcorn tastes alright at least." "Oh, look at her go!" They were absolutely delighted, grinning with a lopsided smile. "I'm sure she appreciates you sharing all the same... And yeah, really, it's like you touch them for two seconds and come off completely covered. Do you think— hm." They considered for a second. "Would it be okay if I tried? 'salright if not, I don't wanna ..overstep, or anything, so it's cool if not—" Okay. Stop talking, probably! They shoved some more potato in their face to shut up.

Kirio perked up at the sound of the scream. "Oh— shit, I have to go, but we should talk again sometime!! It's nice to meet you!" They felt bad, but they had a job to do!

Caleb was about to give Kirio some popcorn to chuck at Bear when they ran off after hearing a scream. Caleb tensed. This was exactly what he’d feared. He’d been so scared of going to a big event with so many people in case something bad happened, just like Nottingham. He’d been so -scared-. Screams in crowds were bad. Screams in crowds meant someone was hurt. Screams in crowds meant a vehicle accident, or a stabbing, or a heart attack, or - or - or - He looked around, panicked, and his breathing picked up. Tachypnea, his medic brain told him, and he brought his hands up to rub at his eyes. He scratched at his jaw, then clawed, and felt something butting at his leg. It was Bear, he knew, but he couldn’t react to her. His body wouldn’t let him. All he could do was panic and scratch and try not to suffocate. Caleb hiccoughed, unable to breathe out. He blinked, and then he was against a wall. Bear released his jacket sleeve from where she’d dragged him, and butted at his leg again. When he still didn’t respond, and when he kept scratching at his face, she rose up on her hind legs to lick at his face at hands. Caleb wasn’t a short man. He was very nearly 5’11”, actually, because he checked every birthday. When Bear stood on her hind legs, though, the German Shepherd towered over him. She easily cleared six foot standing up, and she could well have been as tall as 6’4”. She put her paws on Caleb’s shoulders and pushed, still licking at Caleb’s face and hands. Caleb crumpled to the ground. His knees gave out under him, and he folded like a house of cards. His lips and fingers felt fuzzy, and he was only vaguely aware of Bear situating herself in his lap. She leaned her entire weight against his chest, tucking her head into his neck. When he still didn’t acknowledge her, Bear licked her nose and stuck it in Caleb’s mouth.

16:52

It was wet and cold and gross, and Caleb spat to clear his mouth out. But it had worked; he’d acknowledged Bear was there and he’d stopped trying to hurt himself. She put her head under his hands, and Caleb gripped her tightly. He buried his face in her fur and tried to remember how to breathe.

Vara'l, his son and Elohae initially approached the food stand together. That was until Vara'l spotted the human. The human who clearly seemed to be in distress but also seemed to be being looked after by a Service dog. When he saw that, Vara'l asked Elohae to take his son and go get food somewhere and if necessary, to go out of the circus to find some. He'd wanted this to be something for him and his son to enjoy, this wasn't something he wanted them seeing. Elohae understood that and Telim trusted him enough that this wasn't something that was questioned as they headed into the area of the food stand. Once there and once sure his son and Elohae had headed off and away, Vara'l headed over to the human and his service dog. Headed over and once he happened to be close enough, proceeded to kneel down as he cleared his throat quietly in a manner he hoped ensured both knew he was there in a way that caused the least disruption. "Hello, I'm Vara'l tr'Hara, I'm a Starfleet officer." He greeted the other softly. "I can see your service dog's helping you out right now, is there anything you need from me?" Vara'l inquired, unaware if he was heard by the other as he visually searched the dog for any form of harness or anything that indicated what sort of service dog it happened to be. As he searched he used one hand as he pulled out his combadge from where he'd stashed it and clicked it on to the undershirt he'd elected to come in. He'd not wanted to miss any of the time in the circus he and his son had so had met him from the event with Elohae and stashed his uniform top before they'd headed to the circus as a group.

Caleb swallowed a sob, embarrassed that someone had caught him mid-breakdown. Bear readjusted herself on his chest, licking gently at his neck. The feeling made him twitch, but it woke him up enough that he could answer the question. “‘s grand,” Caleb choked out. He had no idea how long it had been since Starfleet over there had asked him the question, but he answered it anyway. “Bear’s got me. All good. Cheers.” He hoped he didn’t sound rude, but with how gritty and monotone his voice was it may well have come across that way. He flushed, face burning. All Starfleet had wanted to do was check in on him and he’d had to go and be rude to them. He tried again. “Thank you. Very kind of you to look in on me.” Caleb thought briefly about getting some food. He’d had popcorn, hadn’t he? When he looked up to see where he’d put it, he realised in his panic that he’d dropped the carton and there was popcorn all over the floor. He groaned and shoved his face back into Bear’s fur.

"Understood, good to hear." He responded as he watched the other and started to identify as he observed them to him what seemed remarkably like a PTSD related episode. Something he'd not really observed in many humans, he'd been around Romulans more than he'd ever have liked, but he'd seen it in some. Not that he assumed this is one, just idly observed that that was what it reminded him of before he mentally pushed the observation into its own little file to be reviewed later if it happened to be something that needed his going over. * "Its alright, just wanted to make sure you were okay." *The Romulan responded then, a idle motion used to conceal his attempted move to hide his implants. Some people seemed uncomfortable about them and if there was even the possibility that that would be something that happened here, they needed to be concealed."Would you like some more popcorn sir?" The Officer then inquired when he noted their look and also stepped back a bit so Caleb happened to have a bit more room around them. Did so as he looked around for where Elohae and Telim were briefly, a decision considered and then made. He still remained sure he in no way wanted the two over here yet, he needed to let 'Bear' work uninterrupted. But well, letting them know what had happened and what he was doing via sign language seemed appropriate.

Elohae and Telim had both headed further into the food stand area away from where the duo presently were. Telim had wanted food, Vara'l had wanted him away from might have ended up being the sort of situation that wasn't for his eyes at that age so..Elohae had oblidged. Seeing then though a gesturee from Vara'l he glanced over to them briefly. Watched the sign then nodded once. Nodded then coaxed Telim along as the two ordered food. He knew the situation now, if Vara'l needed him, he'd come over. For now, his focus remained elsewhere.

Caleb swallowed, then turned his head out of Bear’s fur so that he could breathe. “‘s all good,” he said. “I’m just mad I made a mess. Bear’ll scran it all, maybe, but I still feel awful.” Hearing her name, Bear chuffed softly. It was one of Caleb’s favourite sounds, and even in his panic-addled state it made him smile. He closed his eyes, trying his best to breathe in deeply and to orient himself. He was safe. Bear was with him, curled up in his lap, and he was surrounded by Starfleet officers. If something -did- kick off, he’d be absolutely fine. As a civilian he knew Starfleet would protect him, even if it went against his instinct. He was going to be just fine.