Plomeek Broth for the Soul

Posted on Mon Jan 16th, 2023 @ 7:56pm by Ensign Tobias "Toby" Dienstag & Lieutenant Thraxina
Edited on on Wed Feb 1st, 2023 @ 10:14am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Fool’s Errand
Location: Deck 5: Ensigns Dienstag and Delton's Quarters
Timeline: M1 MD08 (2268.23.05) 1641

Thraxina, balancing the silver coloured tray in one hand, a covered bowl on top of it, meant to tap lightly on the door and gently ask if she could come in, but it swished open automatically and she nearly dropped the bowl of plomeek soup in shock.

"Oh shit!!" she yelped. So much for gently asking to come in! The room inside was dark, lit only by the bright light of the corridor outside.

"Toby..." she whispered as she gingerly stepped in "Toby.. it's me... can I come in?... are you awake?"

"I am," Toby responded before sitting up. Mike had tucked him back into bed before he left. Toby was started to feel a tad better but he was still not right in the head. He was still clad in his matched green plaid pajamas.

The helmswoman steered her way gingerly toward his bed, scared of dropping the tray in the dark.

"I heard you weren't very well, and I remembered that you Earthers like to have this traditional Plomeek soup to make you better, so I made you some..." she whispered again, not realising it was a Vulcan remedy.

"Thank you," Toby responded with a slight smile, "It's a Vulcan recipe, but I do enjoy it." He sighed

"Oh!" frowned the Florence Nightingale of the star-ways. He didn't have to tell her she'd got it wrong! Still, this was about him, not her. She pushed on. "Awwww, how are you feeling, what's wrong, eh?" she pouted, doing her best sympathetic voice.

"It hasn't been a good day," he said, "It's been an overwhelming day in fact." He tapped the lamp by the bed which slowly came on to a gentle hue. The young man's eyes were still a tad puffy but he was no longer crying. His normally pale face was rather flush however.

"Oh no Toby, have you been crying?" she asked, pulling a sad face too whilst taking his hand and rubbing it "What's happened, chucky-egg?"

She was surprising herself at how good she was at this mothering thingy.

"I had a panic attack after meeting with Dr. Meddows," Toby admitted.

"Meddows?" Thraxina had to try not to laugh. " That loony?! Why?"

"He did some weird stuff during the session."

"Oh, he did all that to me, too. Started playing with this cat thing and lying down on the couch. But when he told me to sit in the 'big chair' I totally twigged it - bit of an obvious metaphor, isn't it? I just kept laughing through the whole thing. Ha! That cat!" She tried to be sympathetic, but well, really.

"He did more than that he did some sort of mock exorcism thing at the end of the session," Toby explained. "Thinking about it I overreacted but it did freak me out. Truth be told I wasn't in a good state of mind even before going into his office..."

Thraxina sat down on the bed and looked sheepish. "I didn't help did I?" she asked guiltily "I was beastly at breakfast, wasn't I?"

Toby nodded, "That certainly did not help," he responded, "You are scary when you get like that. I know everyone else didn't know how to react either."

"Oh, it was only Avis and that spotty woman. She's Comms on my shift now. Pox or Vox or something." she informed him dismissively. "It's you I care about, Tobes. Now, why don't you tell Aunty Thraxy what's wrong with you. You must be pretty ill or diseased or something to miss your shift. I was really worried about you."

"Well this isn't the issue, but I don't like how you dismiss me and treat me like a child, I'm 22 and a Starfleet officer," he said bluntly.

Thraxina, who was just about to feel his forehead, like she'd seen a picture of a nurse doing in the data library, withdrew her hand and pulled a pained expression.

"Oh dear, I'm overdoing it, aren't I? Sorry, Toby, I'm just not used to dealing with sick people. In Stratos, if someone becomes diseased or goes mental they're either transported down to work in the Zenite mines or chucked off the 'Embarkation Balcony'. 'Gone Surface' we call it. Either way you never see them again."

"And that doctor insinuated I had mental disorders that needed immediate treatment. I left there feeling I was fucked up and I have never felt that way before." His baritone voice was more than a tad agitated.

"Yes, but look, you can't just not turn up for your shift because some loopy trick-cyclist thinks you're as mad as he is. Not unless you want to end up being the oldest Ensign in Star Fleet. It doesn't look good on your record. Along with the other thing..."

She looked down at his bedspread in the half light of his lamp and then back up at him again.

"You're seeing Dr. Amato aren't you?" she asked. Not this time in her usual amused and dismissive voice, or even her unbearable mumsy demeanor, but as a friend who was truly worried about him. "I mean... is this serious? Is it just a bit of fun, the odd quickie behind the Synthesizers, or are you Soul Bonded... 'married' I think you Earthies call it."

"The Captain said I could take extra time if I needed," Toby responded. He paused for a moment and then sighed, "Yes," he admitted, "It's somewhere between there. We've been together for over a year now... We met at the academy, I was a junior, he was a med student." He smiled, "As silly as it sounds, he makes me happy," he said.

"It doesn't sound silly. I'm... I'm glad you have someone who makes you feel that way, but it does sound dangerous!" the girl sighed. "I mean, if someone who has a grudge against you or the doctor finds out, they could make an awful row about it."

She thought about it for a second.

"Well, you're completely lovable, of course, but what about the doc?" she asked "He's not the sort to go around the ship making enemies, is he?"

"Well that is why we are quiet about it," Toby responded, "Until things change its difficult for any Starfleet officer who wants a relationship with those they happen to find themselves on the same assignment."

"Happen to find themselves'"" Thraxina repeated with a note of disbelief in her cultured tones "Like 'of all the starships in all the galaxy, you happened to walk into mine'?" she asked, paraphrasing some terrible old Earth film someone had made her watch when she was on the planet. "Come off it, I bet your feller pulled a few strings to get you on the same ship: didn't you tell me that the Captain's dead sister is best friends with the doc's dead mother or something?"

"Well, like I say, as long as he doesn't draw anybody's ire."

"No, the doctor generally isn't the sort to run around making enemies... Unless provoked or if someone goes after me."

"Oh!" Thraxina looked mischievous "Well I'm after you, in a way. I want another chess match... when you've got your strength back up, of course. How would you feel about me teaching you Andarian four-dimensional synchronous mind-chess?"

"Ah sure," Toby responded with an embarrassed smirk, "I take it you haven't found anyone else to get you off? I'm not sure if Mike would like me servicing you..."

"Don't make it sound so disgusting... when I said it was our way of making love I meant, well... on a higher plane. It's not my fault if I can't find anyone else on the ship with the intellectual gifts and..." she frowned a little ".. well, has anyone ever told you that you are 'special'? And don't tell me that Doctor Amato calls you that all the time or I'll puke!" she warned.

"Sorry, it's my only frame of reference really... And I certainly am unfamiliar with it. Even the Vulcans require some form of physical touch," Toby commented. He paused for a moment, "No, not really," he said, "Other than the usual parental platitudes. How am I special?"

Thraxina shook her head slowly, creasing her flawless forehead with a frown. "I don't know. Just when we were playing, Raumschiff, or whatever you call it, your mental processes didn't feel like any other Earth human I've played with. Are you sure you're fully human?"

"Yes, I am fully human," Toby responded, lowering an eyebrow, "Austrian though... We Germanics tend to be rather methodical why we end up being good engineers and scientists."

The svelte girl nodded sagely. She decided she would go to the ship's data library when she had a chance to look up all about these Australians and what special characteristics they had. She had absolutely no idea about Earth Geography, having spent a whole year on the planet without leaving San Francisco and with people trying to show her some rusty old bridge every five minutes.

She might even try and learn Australian, so she could talk to him in his own language.

"Well, I'll remember that." she smiled quietly, "and if I start to get on your nerves ever, you just remember that I'm not. I get things wrong with Earth people... lots. Just tell me, and I hope that despite our differences Toby, you will find me a good and loyal friend."

She stood.

"I'll leave to to enjoy your soup. You get a good sleep and I want to see you bright eyed and bushy tailed and back on duty tomorrow, Mister!" she said as she walked back to the door.

Just after she exited, and he took the first slurp of the broth, she popped her head back in.

"Oh, by the way, it was a bit bland that soup, so I bunged some Carolina Reaper and Moruga Trinidad Scorpion peppers in to spice it up a bit!" she told him cheerfully. "Night!"

Toby's blue eyes grew as wide as the bowl and dropped the spoon which spilled soup all over the tray. A loud yelp echoed through the room as the door closed behind Thraxina.

 

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