Drunk Comms but Sober Heart

Posted on Sat Jun 22nd, 2024 @ 5:26pm by Jeassaho Kea (*) & Delaney O'Callaghan

Mission: Shackles
Location: Captains Quarters
Timeline: Jan 2398
2367 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Jeassaho did not quite know what to make of her conversation with Jax. It stirred up a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions about what could have been and what might still be in the future, leaving her feeling a mix of confusion and hope. Despite being slightly tipsy, she felt an urgent need to talk to someone who had been present in the future when she could not.

The idea of confronting the issue head-on seemed like a great plan in her current state of mind. She wanted to remind that person that she had a home to return to if she ever chose to come back. Glancing around her quarters, Jeassaho grinned as she saw Reuben sound asleep for once. His peaceful expression brought warmth to her heart, and she could not resist leaning over to kiss his temple gently.

With a final affectionate look, she quietly slipped out of the room and made her way to his adjacent office and the communication console. She pulled up the emergency communication codes they kept for urgent situations. As she input the code, she found herself hoping that the woman she needed to reach would be available. The console beeped and whirred as it attempted to establish a connection.

Oddly enough, far across the quadrant, on a planet that was a good deviation away from ever being on the Mary Rose's flight path, it was nearly time for breakfast. In specific relation to the person Jeassaho was trying to raise, this could have placed the time anywhere between 0800 and 1300 depending on a range of factors, mostly involving success rates in falling asleep at a decent time the night before, but in this particular instance, the time was roughly 0840. Far more of a surprise than the call itself was the fact that it was answered fairly quickly, and by a woman who, against predictable odds, actually seemed fairly put-together for that hour of the morning. Yes, she was still swaddled in an oversized robe and had yet to get out of her sleepwear, and her hair was piled up on her head more as a means to keep it out of her coffee, held firmly between two hands, but the inquisitive eyes that peered out from behind impossibly large frames were bright and alert and instantly full of confused interest as Eva recognised who it was that had interrupted the morning's routine.

"Uh...hi." There was a rustle of fabric as Rosie's ex-bar manager reassembled her limbs to allow for a better perch on the chair she'd slipped into in a hurry. "Let me just clear up the connection a bit." Several seconds later, the display stopped flickering and an almost imperceptible buzz that had offset the audio just enough to irritate without being obvious faded to almost nothing. "Sorry, there was a whole thing with some fruit and a diabolical pet turtle and, yeah, really need to get someone up here to fix the dodgy wiring. But hi. This is a nice surprise, I hope at least."

After what felt like an eternity, the screen flickered to life. The face that appeared was so much younger than Jeassaho had last seen her, but the eyes held the same sharpness and warmth. The woman on the other end of the line blinked in surprise at the unexpected call and Jeassaho could not help but smile. Jeassaho let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "I hope I'm not bothering you," she began, her voice a bit shaky. "I just... I needed to talk to someone but a pet turtle?" She wondered her brain sticking on that part.

"It's a long story," replied Eva, who for not unjustifiable reasons considered there to be a number of far more interesting questions in need of answering. "But you look like you have a few of those yourself. Not that I mind," the other Betazoid rushed to assure, "I just...didn't really expect to hear from you again." It was typical of the woman to speak with candour, and equally as apt that she managed to do so without sounding offensive. If anything, now that the unexpectedness was dissipating, Eva was left only with a surge of nostalgia and the retrospective reconsideration that she had made better friends than perhaps she'd realised during her time aboard the Rosie. It left her feeling immediately guilty for not reaching out herself. "What's up?"

Jeassaho snorted as she realised she had tried to avoid the subject that she had started by asking about a pet turtle. It was typical of her when she had things on her mind that were unusual and out there. "More weird stuff... I just... It made me think about you and I wanted to thank you." Jeassaho might have been tipsy but even her brain said throwing at someone that in the future they came and were there for your husband when she died was not normal and would likely scare Eva more than she needed.

When she recalled her time spent on the Mary Rose, Eva was the first to admit that it hadn't really been given the fairest of shots at impressing her. Near-death experiences tended to spook a person and she was no exception. But if she truly examined the events that lead to her resigning, it was hard to deny that she hadn't so much left out of fear of future calamity as she had found the strength, in such an unlikely place, to make some pretty big changes in her life to combat ongoing health issues. Since leaving, she hadn't drunk nearly as much or as often, and more astounding, she had actually found a team of specialists who were figuring out the mess that was her hybrid brain's total inability to grasp its telepathic potential. Given how utterly self-destructive her spirals had been over the years, it was no small thing to be considered a catalyst for such significant and enduring improvement. She hadn't thought about it quite so specifically but, seeing Jeassaho now, Eva realised that she missed the old ship and its parade of colourful characters. Whether they knew it or not, they'd been just what she'd needed, right when she'd needed it.

That didn't mean she had any idea whatsoever what the other woman was talking about, however.

"Well, if I knew what you were thanking me for, I'm sure I'd say you're welcome." Eva looked sceptical. A rushed recollection of anything of value she might have done didn't really dredge up anything obvious.

Jeassaho laughed and shook her head. "You do not need to understand, just know that I am thanking you and in the future, you might understand or you might not but just know that..." She glanced behind her as a man appeared shirtless but thankful in shorts and spoke. Jeassaho's expression turned guilty as she looked at the screen. She had not wanted Reuben to ever find out about this conversation but there they were.

"What are you doing, Imazdi?" The sleepy Russian's voice was deepened by the confusion of who she was calling. "Eva?" He wondered just as confused.

"Hey boss."

If Eva had been unexpectedly pleased to hear from Jeassaho then seeing the pair of them provoked a wave of nostalgia that she wouldn't have anticipated and probably would have denied was even likely had it not just occurred. Gregnol had a habit, or at least he had back when she'd run his bar, of wandering in when everyone else had gone to bed. He only ever ordered one whiskey but it was close enough to every night to count as a predictable routine and, though she was generally in the final stages of cleaning up and often preoccupied as a result, Eva had still come to realise that he used her as a sounding board for all the over-arching concerns he didn't feel like burdening the rest of the crew with. The conversations only ever lasted about half an hour but they were frequent enough to make her feel valued.

They were good people. She missed them.

"Actually asleep in your actual quarters," she teased. "Wonders will never cease."

Gregnol offered a sleepy smile to the woman on the screen before he looked at his wife and narrowed his eyes. What was she playing at calling Eva of all people right now after everything that they had been through? "I am trying to change my routine." He said finally crouching by Jeassaho. "Hey, Eva. This is a little odd?" He questioned. "Jeassaho called you?"

"Unexpected, I don't know about odd." Even across the vast distance between them, the large expressive eyes peering out from behind their ridiculously-sized glasses swung back and forth between the pair of faces with an expression of gradual understanding. She hadn't been a bar manager for nearly half her life not to recognise the signs of alcohol-motivated communication. "We were just catching up, I take it you guys are keeping busy as only you know how."

"Odd for us because of our situation, but it is not bad to see you." He said quietly. "And yes we are keep busy in our own way thing." He admitted turning away from Jeassaho to look at Eva properly. "But how have you been?" He turned the conversation from why his wife had called her to finding out more about how she had been.

"Actually, things are pretty good." There was a brief moment where eye contact was lost, hardly unsurprising because the bar manager had never been particularly good at talking about her personal issues unless it was a blunt recount that left not a lot of room for receptive sympathy. As she picked at something on her desk, Eva added, "Marginally less crazy than when I left, so that's movement in the right direction." Squinting upwards, she scrutinised the ship's captain for a moment and asked, "And you're good, right? I mean, you both look good."

"You were never crazy, Eva," Gregnol assured quickly before inclining his head to look at his wife before nodding. "We are good. Finding our way in the universe again." He said with a shrug. He would not tell her why or what but he felt that the ship was in a positive place since the timey whimey stuff. It was like the reflection had allowed people to move forward.

The familiar half-smile, which always came off as resigned with just a hint of rueful self-depreciation, was comfort enough that even successful treatment hadn't changed Eva all that much. Messing with her head, as she had put it at the time of departure, was not something she relished because she kept too many important things inside it. Evidently, it had been an unnecessary concern. "Well you know, if you ever find your way back in this direction, I probably owe you a drink or two for giving my ass that final kick it needed. Things are better than I expected," she admitted. "It's...it's been good."

“Well we aren’t planning to go that way anytime soon but Lei is.” Jeassaho declared throwing her brother under the shuttle in more ways than one. “His girlfriend and him are going home for a bit.” Jeassaho did not explain why but she will let her know. “I am sure he would love to see you looking so well.” Gregnol raised at eyebrow but decided that she could have said a lot worse things.

Eva raised her eyebrows. "I thought he wasn't big on the idea of returning to... Wait, girlfriend?" The brunette's eyes gleamed with a familiar mischief. "She's not some half-his-age-again survivor in need of a romanticised rescue, is she?" There was just enough of an age gap between her and Leiddem to brand their particular style of banter more a sibling rivalry than anything else. It seemed suddenly not the worst thing to catch up with the guy again, even if it was with the intent of teasing him mercilessly. "I'll send you my contact details to pass on."

"No, he has moved on from that I believe." Gregnol smiled as Jeasshao snorted into her hand as she covered her face. "but I will leave you and him to catch up around that." He commented watching Jeassaho succumbing to the booze she had been drinking. "I will pass it along to him as they should be making the trip in next couple of weeks."

"It'll be good to catch up." No sooner were the words out of Eva's mouth than she realised how accurate they were. The odd sense of homesickness wasn't confined to Leiddem's company, there were any number of crew that she would have happily gone out of her way to catch up with, the pair on the screen near topping that list. A glance to the side made her aware of the time, however, and Eva frowned apologetically as she said, "I hate to hang up early but I've got a string of appointments today and I've not even thought about a shower yet." Peering back at them, she added, "And you both look like you could do with some more sleep."

Jeassaho smiled more and Reuben just nodded. He did not need to answer that as it was obvious he needed more sleep. "No need to apologise. I just rang to thank you and ... I hope to see you in real life soon." Jeassaho said bringing the conversation back to her original point of calling to thank the woman.

"Come on you." Reuben said wrapping an arm around his wife before looking at the console. "Have a great day. Thank you answering." He added hoping it would help them both.

"Thank you for calling." The last flicker of image before the screen went dark conveyed an expression of genuine gratitude, and a thoughtfulness that promised to stick with Eva for the rest of the day. She'd met a lot of people in her life but not many of them took the time to reach out. It meant something, she'd just need to take a moment to figure out what.