How come you aren’t at the ball

Posted on Tue Jul 18th, 2023 @ 11:02am by Maras (*) & Laurier Cami

Mission: Fractures
1546 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Maras was relieved to have the ship almost to herself apart from a few stray crew members who she had barely met before but it was the woman who was sat in the mess that intrigued her. Everyone on the ship and not going to the ball had seemed to be disenchanted with the planet or just wanting some time alone but her but she had thought that Cami would have gone from the impression she had gotten.

“It is Cami right?” She was sure Cassie had introduced them a few days when the woman had come back to the ship.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Sorry, I don't think we've had a chance to talk. You're Cassie's kid, right? From way back." Cami responded on instinct, not really thinking about what she was saying until it came out. "How are you doing?" she added, by way of avoiding having to backtrack.

That was a reaction that everyone had when she introduced herself. It was hard for Cassie's crew mates to get their heads around the fact that in the past Cassie had, had a child or at least someone had used her genetic material to create children. She had grown up fully aware that her grandparents were three people. "Grandchild but yes that is me, Maras." The woman settled into the seat correctly and smiled. "Not bad. Getting my head around it all." She shrugged a little trying to think of how to put a positive spin on the last couple of weeks.

"Still deciding whether to stay? With your...grandmother?" It was a strange thing to voice, but it was the reality of the situation. Maras looked probably only a few years younger than Cami herself. Perhaps, with the Vulcan side, even older.

"Let us just call her Cassie," Maras begged in a small voice. it was a hard concept to grasp for her and she had years to know about it let alone try and get others to understand it all. "I am staying for now it is more figuring out where I fit into the crew. I cannot freeload forever."

"I think family can probably get away with it, but yeah, after a while that might be true." Cami flipped a hypospanner in her fingers. "What are your skills? Maybe we can put you to work. Or an apprenticeship?"

Maras never wanted to freeload on Cassie’s generosity or the Captains. “I'm a first-year history student.” She revealed quietly. “Not to exactly much use out here. An apprenticeship could work but not sure exactly where her skills could fit. It was a conundrum that she had not even started to sign through.

"History, huh?" Cami pondered, still twirling the tool. "So, not likely to have seen the inside of a warp coil. Or shaken down a Nausicaan crook trying to smuggle fifty different pieces of contraband..." She pouted a little. "What about bar work? Lots of people tell me that's one of those jobs everyone does at some point or another."

"Afraid not. But maybe I could try those things out. I have never done bar work. Not much of that as the Vulcan Humanities Center." She admitted thinking of her pre-university studies. "But it cannot be that hard right? Have you done bar work before becoming a..." She looked her over. "Engineer." She recognised the tool and worked out that the woman was an engineer.

"Me? No...I was never the academic type." Cami smiled to herself at the thought of what might have been, had she been given the opportunity to attend a good school or pursue any of those sorts of dreams. "My education came on the job, out of necessity. Maybe you'll find that's the same for you?"

“Maybe.” Maras was not at all sure where her skill set outside of archeology and history was but she was more than willing to give it a shot and figure it all out. “What about before learning on the job what were you doing? You must have grown up on a ship?” It had always intrigued her people who had grown up on ships.

"Ships. Plural. Hard to settle down, but when you're a kid it's easier to stop yourself putting down roots." Cami fiddled with the tool in her hand. "I was supposed to end up at a monastary on Bajor, but thank the Prophets that didn't come to pass. I'd have made a terrible Vedek. Yuck..."

“You moved around a lot?” Maras asked gently. Maras had never moved until she moved from Vulcan to Earth. It was not something she had considered until the point she had needed to do it for potential Starfleet. “Yes. I am can imagine you as a Vedek. Can I ask why you were on that path?” It was intriguing to find out why people went the paths they went.

"That's a long story," Cami chuckled. "Grandparents were super into their religion and insisted I get a 'real' education. But there's a human word...'wanderlust'? I hated being stuck there, trying to follow their rules and never being quite good enough. So I decided to bail as soon as I could." She shrugged. "It's not that I don't believe in any of that stuff or anything, but...me and the Prophets kinda have this deal where I do my thing and remember to shoot up a prayer every now and again, and they keep me out of the worst of it, you know?"

Maras found herself relaxing as the listened to the other woman. Maras knew the human word very well it was something that she was experiencing herself if she was honest deep down, meeting T'Pauk had only heightened her wanderlust and losing him in the accident and stirred it into something she could no longer ignore. "It sounds like a good deal." Maras conceded. "Prior to the Time of the Awakening, Vulcans were religious. Surak's teachings have become the primary focus of Vulcan but we do have huge monasteries and people still join them despite the vast majority of people thinking it myths and legends."

"There's a difference between being religious and being spiritual," Cami pointed out. "I always figured Vulcans for the latter; getting in touch with inner calm or whatever. Bajorans...well, for most of the ones I've met it's usually a lot more 'holier than thou'."

Maras nodded. “I guess you could call Vulcan’s spiritual. I prefer to learn about the myths and legends though.” She admitted. “Holier than thou? I do not understand the phrasing.” She admitted inclining her head still trying to think on what it could mean.

"Oh you know. Like they're somehow more superior than you because they understand the writings better, or have more time at the monastery. People who think they're more special." Cami shrugged. That had never been a particular problem for her. Though she was starting to realise a lot of the Vulcans she had met in her life were just the same; using their logic in a slightly arrogant way. But Maras didn't strike her as being like that. Instead, she appeared more curious than anything. "I don't know much about Vulcan legends. Any fun ones I should know about?"

Maras thought back to the bedtime stories that she used to be read by her father. It was a time where it had just been them and stories and human sides could come out without judgement of wife or mother despite her obvious acceptance of such things. "Vulcan mythology stated that all creation arose from a place known as Sha Ka Ree. I like to believe that somewhere out there it still is."

"I think I've heard that one," Cami nodded. "It's funny how everyone has these origin legends and myths. All of them seem to end up with a place that's lost, and we can somehow find it again one day by doing a certain thing or acting a certain way." She put the tools down. "My philosophy these days is to try to live in the moment a bit more. Chasing after dreams is a waste of your life."

"So how are you living in the moment hmm?" Maras wondered quietly. It had been someone she had gone into over the years studying humanities and history so it was one of her favourite things about her father's input into her life and pushing her towards her dreams and not what was expected of her.

"By not following ancient traditions, for a start," Cami remarked with a faint smile. "And how many Vedeks do you think can drink a Nausicaan under a table?" She flexed an arm, for show. "Life's more fun when you stop caring so much about the rules and what people tell you to do."

Maras nodded. It was a very interesting input that she had stumbled into. "Cannot say I can drink a Nausuciaan under the table but I am sure I can drink a human... That is a start right?" It was a start and exactly what she needed.

It went without saying that a Vulcan would have no trouble outlasting most species in a drinking contest, but Cami didn't need to bring that to light. "Gotta start somewhere," she grinned, stowing her tools.