Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-khellian﹢lt-sanders

Lisa was at her desk in the common area. She had a little easel set up on it, a cloth under the easel to stop paint getting on the desk. She had a medium sized canvas on the easel, PADD with a reference photo set nearby. She had her paints out, neatly set up where she could reach them. She missed her big room where she had plenty of space to paint. She had to paint out here now. It felt more exposed out here. Which wasn’t great for the woman who had been stabbed not once, not twice, but three times on three separate occasions. And two of those times she had been stabbed in the back. But it was okay. She channeled everything into her painting.

[D] Coming back from work, Rilek was dressed in her trousers version of the uniform and walked through the automatic doors of her quarters. Stepping into the room, Rilek was greeted by-- the sight of their roommate painting. A single eyebrow raised as their eyes drifted from the canvas to their roommate and then to the little set up of paints. "Jolan tru," Rilek greeted the woman with a bow of their head, bright yellow eyes peering at their roommate. The cadence in Rilek's voice was unusual, even through the UT it was clear they had an unusual way of speaking. "You must be my roommate?"

She looked up from her painting (which was of the ranch she had stayed at on shore leave), and saw Rilek. Rilek must be her roommate, she thought. The cadence of their voice was strange, she thought. She hadn’t met anyone who talked like that. But she didn’t want to ask, that’d be rude. “And you must be mine. Lisa Sanders, patrol officer here. You’re Rilek Khellian, right?” She pronounced their name perfectly.

Rilek took a few steps towards the centre of the room, walking around to the front of the sofa and plopping down. She leaned back and crossed her legs in a reclining position with a curious gaze fixed on Lisa when she gave her name. "Yes, it is nice to meet you Lisa," Rilek said with a sly smile and little wave. It was a surprise the two hadn't met earlier, although Rilek had been quite busy with work and they usually stayed in their room when they were home. "You did your research. I see you like painting? What are you painting?" Rilek sat up and leaned forward to get a better look at what their roommate was painting.

“I always do my research whenever I’m being shuttled around to a new posting. Force of habit really, I don’t like being unprepared.” Maybe that was why she and Rai got along. They both needed to know about where they were going before they got there. Except Rai was a fair bit more afraid of being stabbed than she was. She wondered what Rilek did around here. From the red uniform, she was guessing Command. They seemed like the type. Back when she was on the Abyssal and the Peridot, both times they had put her with a Science officer. And back in the Academy she had the same aspiring botanist as her roomie for the entire time. Starfleet seemed to like putting her with scientists for some reason. Or it was just coincidence. “I do like painting. I’ve done it for a long time. Since I was about three or four actually. I’m painting the Piñon Ranch, I stayed there at shore leave so I’m painting the place to give to the Lowell family, they own the ranch.”

"You would be surprised how few officers think like that," Rilek said with a tilt of their head before their gaze drifted away from Lisa and towards her painting. They hadn't been on many Starfleet postings, but they were surprised the variety of roommate combinations there were. On her last posting she had been paired with another command officer, but it was equally likely to be paired with anyone else from another division. It was those little things that made Rilek feel happy they had made the switch to Starfleet. There was... A lot less variety within the Republic and even less in the Free State. "Oh, it is nice to have such a lovely hobby," Rilek said as they reached into their pocket to pull out their PADD and placed it on the table. They thought they had brought a set of pixmit cards, but it seemed like they had left them somewhere, maybe the mess hall? "Lowell Family? Is that the house you had visited? What did you do there?" Rilek thought the name sounded familiar and that's when she remembered-- Randy! Rilek subconsciously lifted their right hand when they thought of the funny cowboy-themed outfit the human offier was wearing. As they lifted their hand they clicked their metal finger guards together, all five long extentions made a very satisfying click as they did this motion. "I danced with a Randy Lowell at a club on Luna during shore leave, what a funny guy, hmm."

“Really? I think a fair few officers do their research. At least, all the officers I know did. My friend T’Asha made a whole damn folder of everything about 777 and gave it to me to be “more adequately prepared”. I don’t think she knows I had one made since the Winter Ball.” Lisa sometimes went with the flow, but she did need to know shit. She was too old to go into something and not know the plan. “Yep, the Lovells. Very nice people. Their ranch was beautiful- they have a whole damn distillery with the best bourbon I’ve ever had. And they’ve got some friendly horses, too. I rode, relaxed in the pool, painted, did some hiking, and went to visit family. I met Randy though, he was definitely funny. I’ve been to Luna before. What club did you go to, I might’ve visited it.”

Rilek raised an eyebrow to that and let out a soft laugh. "Mmm, do they? I know a few Romulan officers who used to do that, but... Hmm, they were overly paranoid about even the tiniest thing," Rilek told Lisa with a shrug. She understood the paranoia, but it was possible to take such fears too far to the point where one couldn't even enjoy basic daily life. "I enjoyed dancing with Randy. He did some pole moves which was amusing," Rilek looked away from Lisa to briefly lose herself in thought. "I can't remember the name exactly, but it was pretty diverse. The atmosphere was nice even if it was overwhelming at times," they stretched their arms and legs out and the tilted their head up. "A whole distillery of bourbon? How was that? Oh and do you like Romulan ale? I only ask because I have an extra bottle. I'm not much of a fan outside of social situations," Rilek stood up, prepared to fetch the ale if Lisa said that she would take it. "No special blend, just normal ale, by the way."

“I wouldn’t say I’m paranoid. Just prepared. I’ve been stabbed a couple times, so I’d say I’ve paid the price a couple times for being unprepared.” She picked up her paintbrush again. She was working on the sky, a bright blue with a few clouds. It looked very realistic, that was Lisa’s style. She always went for realism. One day she hoped she’d get to photo-realism, but that would take a bit more practice. She didn’t let paranoia consume her life, either. She just needed to plan big things in advance. Like changing postings, for instance. She didn’t understand how anyone could “go with the flow” for something as big as that. “Sounds like the club I frequented back in my Academy days. They always had the absolute best taste in music. And yep, a whole distillery. The bourbon was great with coffee, though. And I do like Romulan ale, I’ll take a bit if you don’t mind.”

"Stabbed-- oh I would love to hear this story, well, if you're comfortable sharing it," Rilek's eyes widened ever so slightly when she heard it. Light yellow eyes looked the security officer up and down, noticing the plethora of scars that covered her body. In stark contrast to Lisa's scars, Rilek had no visible blemishes. The only imperfection was covered up by her metal finger guards. When Lisa said she'd like some Romulan ale, Rilek made their way to their private bedroom to grab the bottle. It only took a minute or so until they were back with the tall curvy blue bottle. "Here," Rilek placed the bottle on the coffee table that sat between the two sofas. "May I see what you're working on now?" She asked as she took a few steps closer to Lisa. As they did this they held both hands out in front of them, palms up. It was an old habit from their Free State days where one had to do that or else be suspected of hiding weapons. Rilek's left hand was normal, but with their right hand palm up, the slightly different colour of their prosthetic fingers was obvious, it was only their middle and ring fingers that were fake, the rest were organic. (edited)

“I’ll tell you the most riveting of all of them. It’s been four years since this happened, I barely even notice the scar now. So, I was on the USS Peridot, and we were due to have a shuttle with a shipment of temperature sensitive and fragile cargo dock. So the shuttle docks, and instead of cargo, it’s just a shit ton of pirates crammed in there. I had my back turned at that moment, and one stabbed me in the back. I should’ve been looking, so it was partly my fault, but that hurt like a motherfucker if I do say so myself. So I turn around, kick the guy in the shins, my buddy pins him and gets him sent to the Brig. Made a mad dash for Medical, got it regenerated, and went right back out there to round up the stragglers. One of those slit my throat as well, but she was kinda shit with her aim and missed everything vital. Still scared me shitless but I got lucky. Damn that posting got crazy sometimes. Our ship was nice as hell, makes sense people would want to take it.” She sounded a fair bit nonchalant about it all. It had been a while, and she was quite fine. As for her scars, she thought taking the scars away would be denying that part of herself that went through it. She also thought it was a fair bit vain, and she was done with looking perfect and youthful. Whenever she started to go grey, she wasn’t going to do anything about that too. “Yeah, sure.” She turned her painting around so Rilek could see, it was just sky at the moment. She went over to the coffee bottle to pour herself a bit of ale. She was already starting to like Rilek.

Rilek listened to Lisa tell her tale, reacting with little nods or smiles here and there. Pirates? Now that was something Rilek was surprisesd to hear about. Her eyes widened and she clasped her hands together. They thought they had bizarre adventures within Starfleet, but at least the only had to fight snakes. It was probably just as scary as pirates, but at least snakes had no hands, no stabbing. Biting, yes, but certainly no stabbing. "Soundscrazy, but I am glad you're alright now," Rilek said in their typical unsual cadence, emphasising random words and pairing those with clicks of their finger guards. Approaching where Lisa was drawing, Rilek leaned over to see how the painting was progressing. Lisa was quite good at what she did, something Rilek greatly admired. Rilek themself could not paint, but it was a good stress relief from time to time. "The painting is lovely, what are you going to do when it's finished? We can display it in our quarters if you'd like," Rilek was not entirely sure what to add to their shared space, they had some nice scarves or Romulan crystals, but they wren't sure if Lisa would like that.

“I’m alright now, don’t worry. But I wanted to ask, what’s up with your voice? It’s definitely unusual, not bad or anything.” She asked politely. She wasn’t rude about it. She was raised to have good manners after all. “Thanks! I’m going to give it to Randy when it’s finished as a thank you for letting me stay. I can do a couple paintings for our quarters though. What’s your plan for decoration here?”

Rilek was taken aback by the very direct comment. She had gotten a lot of questions from her Starfleet colleagues, but this was certainly a first. Rilek switched languages to Standard, a language she was fluent in, but with not nearly as much command over as her native Rihannsu. "I was trained from an early age to enunciate my words and with the UT not always being one hundred percent accurate, I like to try and make its job easier," Rilek attempted to explain as best she could, although frankly, she wasn't exactly sure why he cadence was the way it was. "I am my family's matriarch, by the way. Even if I am a Starfleet officer, I chose to continue my position as my family is quite small and... A little unstable," Which was quite an understatement. Little did Rilek know, her own cousin tried to take over the entire station nearly a year ago. "Oh, I am sure Randy will like it," Rilek switched back to Rihannsu as she was not a big fan of hearing her accent in Standard. "Hmm, I have some crystals and a few artifacts. Don't worry, none are cursed. Just some tablets and I have a copy of the Vulcan Kir'shara, it's good to keep around I hear," Rilek said with a smile, clicking her finger guards as she opened and closed her hand. "Would you be alright with that?"

“Oh, I get it. The UT can be annoying as all hell. It’s got this thing where it’ll usually translate Terran sayings into Rihannsu, but it gets translated literally and just makes everyone confused. Though I think that happens with every language in that regard. Still, totally annoying.” It didn’t make Rai’s job understanding the annoying nuances of Standard any easier, that was for sure. She wasn’t even sure about all the rules of Standard, she was just a native speaker and didn’t know the rules by heart because she had been immersed in it since she was born. “Must be a fair bit of work to try and juggle both of those jobs. My family’s not got much drama, thankfully. Though two of my cousins usually start a fight about the best way to make pie every Thanksgiving. The whole kitchen devolves into chaos every time.” Thankfully Lisa wasn’t as good at cooking as some of her family, so she wasn’t on kitchen duty. She got to listen to the arguments from afar whilst setting the table. “As long as they’re not cursed, I’m fine with them. I’ve already decorated my quarters with cute kitten pictures and landscape paintings and whatnot. The decor out here will be a team effort.”

"It is certainly difficult," Rilek agreed, with a slight tilt of their head. They were fluent in other languages due to their own curiosity in other cultures, but that wasn't the same for everyone of course. "It can be quite the hassel. I don't have many family members to manage, but the ones I do are.... Hmm, not the nicest," Rilek didn't know how to say 'some of my family did war crimes and I have to deal with what that does to our reputation' but it was probably not the best to say during a first meeting. "Best way to make pie? I'd love to hear that debate. And what is Thanksgiving?" She knew quite a bit about other cultures, but she had never heard of 'Thanksgiving'. It sounded like a celebration? Or a festival of some sort if it included pie. "I will go get the items then," Rilek said before rushing back into their quarters and returning with a box of exactly what they had stated. The crytals were all colours of the rainbow and by far the biggest item in the box was the Kir'shara. It was a pyramid-shaped object made of metal with Vulcan script engraved on the outside. The item opened up to project passages from Surak's teachings. It was a replica of course, the actual Kir'Shara was a Vulcan treasure. Interestingly, Rilek was Romulan, who seemed to fully embrace their emotions. Especially when all the other items in their box were colourful and vibrant, the Kir'shara seemed incongruous.

“We all have the one family member that embarrasses the rest with how shitty they are. Or multiple family members. As for the pie, yeah it gets wild. They argue over which kind to make. When they agree, then they fight over the recipe. Then they fight over whether to use the pre-made crust or to make it from scratch. Meanwhile everyone else is trying to make the rest of the food. Sometimes I wonder if my extended family should be let into the kitchen in the first place, it always turns into chaos in about two minutes. Thanksgiving is a holiday where a family comes together to have a big dinner, maybe watch sports and play games, and generally catch up with each other. I don’t really know why though. I just go along with it, it’s nice to catch up with everyone.” She wondered why Rilek had the Kir’shara amongst all the cute colorful things. It seemed out of place. And Rilek didn’t seem too logical either. She knew Surak followers and Rilek didn’t exactly act like them. “Those crystals are beautiful. I’m no geologist, but I do like precious gems. I have nice earrings that I can never wear on duty because they dangle too far down to be safe. Though I have to ask, what’s with the Kir’shara?”

"Oh, it's much more than that for Romulans," Rilek paired her words with a light laugh and a shrug of her shoulders. The image of a bunch of humans fighting amongst each other was amusing though, it was probably less violent and passive aggressive than the Romulan equivalent. Or maybe not? After their time on the Lux, they learned never to underestimate humans. "Oh that celebration sounds nice though. Not too different from Romulan celebrations. We love having banquets, but they usually end with some strong words and maybe a few death threats," Rilek said with a nod when Lisa explained human Thanksgiving. "I am curious to watch a human fight, I hear Waffle House is a good place to watch brawls," Was that secret knowledge? Or was it just a rumor? "Thank you, they're from Mol'Rihan," Rilek explained as she plopped the box down on the coffee table and began to scan the room with her eyes to see if there were any good spots for the crystals. "Do you have a favourite colour? The crystals are glow in the dark," They added, holding up a dark red crystal and slowly turning it around so Lisa could se ehow it shined. "Oh the Kir'shara, well," Rilek paused, wondering if she should tell Lisa. Hm, it was on public file, that was the one thing they didn't like about Starfleet; having to put one's species, all species, even if it was a miniscule amount. "I'm a little Vulcan and I get migraines because my Vulcan brain cannot properly communicate with my Romulan body. I have medicine to treat the migraines, but I find mixing modern and traditional methods works best. Reading the teachings of Surak helps me calm down," Rilek explained as she placed the Kir'Shara in the middle of the coffee table and touched abutton to turn it on. A little light show dance above the pryamid with a steady stream of Vulcan script written vertically appeared. "There's a standard version too."

“It’s not Thanksgiving without strong words, but no death threats. As for fights, I’ve never seen any at the Waffle House, and I go there at least once every two weeks.” The only guaranteed fight she knew about was on Thanksgiving at the Sanders family home if more than four people were in the kitchen at a time. And no punches were thrown. One time a glass got broken but that wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was mostly words. “I’m a fan of light green and light blue. I like some dark green accents too. It’s nice they glow in the dark though! I also get migraines every now and then, they’re awful. Please, do whatever works to get rid of them, and if you need anything just tell me.”

"Oh, what a pity, but that's what makes Romulan family events so fun," Rilek attempted the terran form of 'sarcasm', but even adding a little laugh didn't do much to convey their point so they just decided to clarify. "I mean it as a joke, I don't really care for many family events. I do not like crowds," They admitted with a slight frown and a sigh. "Green and light blue," Rilek repeated the words and put the crystal they were holding back into the box. Soft rustling and clicking of stones together echoed throughout the room as they attmepted to find all the green and blue stones. There were a few they had, although they were a bit small. "Thank you for being so understanding, Lisa. If you are ever curious about Surak, feel free to ask," Rilek placed a few stones on a nearby shelf, arranging them in a neat triangle shape with two blue and one green. "Will you stay here longer and paint? I think I'll take a nap before my next shift."

Lisa chuckled at the joke. She certainly didn’t want to be part of a Romulan argument, that was for sure. She didn’t even like being a part of human arguments. Too much drama for her, and she was always called upon to de-escalate the situation. Which she did, of course. That sort of skill was very much needed to be a Security officer. “I’ll be sure to ask if any questions pop into my head. I’ll keep painting till I finish the sky, then I’ll stop for the night. Enjoy your nap Rilek.”

Despite her poor delivery, Rilek was happy that Lisa still got her poor attempt at sarcasm. There were a few more green crystals in the box so Rilek placed those around the room, making sure they were in spots that would catch the light. After that was done, she waved to Lisa, with her right hand, the one with the metal finger guards. "Thank you, hope your painting goes well, I'd love to see the final version when you're done," Rilek said before heading into her private bedroom to have a good long nap. A long nap being 12 hours, probably.