River of Forgetfulness #89

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-={On}=- [Seras Station 14, near the Romulan NZ; Departure Terminal]

The bland tone of the computer called over the intercom system, "All incoming passengers must report to Federation Customs. Please have documentation ready." Two mellow bongs sounded just after, and the computer continued. "All outgoing passengers may locate their departure on access systems in the terminals, or through a PADD uplink."

That was little comfort to Bram Curry, who subconsciously tapped his foot. His arms were crossed and his lip bitten in frustration while he stared at the clear, light blue terminal LCARS that divided the waiting area from the banks of service desks. His eyes focused heavily on the one that was most important to him- 'Starbase 47 - Delayed'.

The cadet tightened his grip around himself, the fabric of his uniform rustling against itself. Bram resigned himself and turned around with a pivot of his heel. The alien man blew a breath through his hair and positioned himself in the molded chair of the waiting terminal. He briefly looked out the window into the space dock. His transport was sitting there in plain view, well-lit- mocking him. What could possibly be going on?

Seline slumped in the seat, the flight was delayed again. She was a bit older than the avarage cadet but she still had just as much (or little) experience. And with that experience she knew that when a trip was delayed there were two things that could happen, boredom and annoyance... most likely both of them.

A body fell into the seat one away from Bram, temporarily blocking his view of the transport. He naturally looked at it, noticing first the spots, the pulled back brownish hair and the perky nose. A smile crept over his lips as he consciously swept his eyes away and yet watched this woman from the corner of his vision. His arms hugging his frame laxed and he instead lightly gripped the armrest of his chair. He turned his head to her again, hoping to meet eyes with eyes.

Seline quickly glanced away as she saw the man looking at her, she didn't recognise his species but somehow he looked like a hybrid. Something in between Trills and Bajorans, she was quite curious but was able to resist looking back again, afraid that he would still be looking at her.

When Bram's eyes met hers, she turned away. That only made Bram smirk a small degree. He glanced at her attire- a slinky black tubetop. "Where are you heading, eh?" Bram asked, leaning in her direction. His voice was richly detailed with a difficult to place accent- almost a mixture of a diluted Scottish and Canadian.

Seline's eyes widened and she innocently looked to her side "Me?" she asked, frowning a bit, but she knew he meant her "Starbase 47... if the transport ever leaves" she sighed and looked away again, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her eyes from straying down his body.

A rather big Bolian also had enough of standing around, waiting for his shuttle to depart and found a rather nice place to sit down. Sure there were two younger people there talking to each other, but then agian they should've sat together in stead of leaving an empty seat. With a dull thud he landed in the chair and sighed "Damned transports... never fly in time..." he muttered more to himself than anyone else.

Bram locked onto Seline's voice like a Regulan Blood Worm, and was immediately up when the hefty Bolian sat between them. He bent down at his waist and retrieved a fake apple, an orange and a lime from the decorative table that separated this bank of seats from the next. As he did, he turned his head and flashed her a warm smile. "Same here, go figure." He commented with a shrug. Holding two of the fake fruit in one hand and one in the other, he tossed one into the air, briefly giving the Bolian a look as he stood in front of him. "What're you going there for?" He asked as the orange tossed into the air and he casually caught it with the same hand.

Seline looked at the man again, he was definately of Trill decent... although the spots were smaller than in most Trill... she shook her head a bit and answered the question "Cadet Cruise... Final year of the academy" she answered, she sounded a bit disappointed, but then again they had been waiting for over two hours now.

"You'll make it." Bram returned with a layer of cheerfulness. Immediately, he threw the various fruits into a single juggled rotation and then smiled. "Don't worry," he added, fluidly tossing one fruit- the lime- up and down.

"I do worry..." Seline answered "...it's what I do..." she stood up and plucked one of the fruits out of the air. "...and that's annoying" she explained with a small smirk.

As Selene snapped the fruit from his juggling, Bram stopped by catching one fruit in each hand. The alien was disheartened by her robbing him of his amusement, and finding his attempt to amuse her annoying but didn't let it show on his face. He turned around and put them back into the bland white bowl that he had found them in. As quickly, he returned to his seat and bent past the Bolian's gut. He looked at her again, "Have you ever asked yourself why you do that?"

Seline sat down again as well, tossing the fake fruit to the mysterious guy before answering the rather personal question "Almost as much as I worry..." she smirked a bit before leaning back in her seat "...at times even more."

Bram was practically leaning over the Bolian's lap at this point in his persistence, tossing the fruit given to him not into the bowl but under his chair. "Whats it usually get you then? A woman as beautiful as you..." He tilted his head and smirked in winning fashion, "Be a pity to mar that mouth with a scowl."

Seline blushed and immediately looked away from him, he was definately flirting with her "A place in Starfleet Academy appearantly..." she answered a bit hessitantly.

A bell rang, notifying them of another anouncement "All passengers for the SS Future, Destination Starbase Fourty-Seven, please proceed to the departures zone and get ready to embark... I repeat..."

Seline's attention faded off as a lot of noise and movement started, appearantly there were quite a few 'green' officer headed off to Starbase 47. She picked up her hand luggage and made way to the departures area, hoping that they hadn't screwed up her other luggage. She stood in line, hoping that the guy would be behind her... yet at the same time hoping that the Bolian was in between them again.

Unlike Seline, Bram had trusted that Starfleet would get his luggage to where it should be, taking with him only a light satchel with the white emblonization of Starfleet Medical's logo on it. He watched curiously as Seline blushed, rather enjoying the fact that he had made her do that. His teeth sunk into the corner of his lip as he shouldered his hard plastic satchel, shuffled behind the bulbous Bolian. Just before she disappeared in front of the man, "Well I'll see you on board then." He peeked around him every once in awhile, unable to contain his curiosity at this woman. He itched his nose, his eyes briefly shifting to her rear assets before the Bolian's weight also shifted and blocked the view.

Seline looked back and saw the big Bolian in between then, she was relieved but also a bit disappointed. Damn it was hard being her. She shuffled slowly along until she finally had gotten a seat in the Transport vessel, it was rather big, but then again there were a lot of cadets. She sat down and looked up, the Bolian immediately wanting to sit down next to her "I'm sorry this seat is taken" she quickly stated, last thing she wanted was that man sitting next to her. But what if he noticed that the seat wasn't taken? Why did she put herself into situations like this...

It turned out that the Bolian didn't even notice her speaking, hefting himself into the chair and immediately occupying both armrests. disappointed, Bram looked on at Seline in the aisle. But it didn't take long for a smile to break out over his mouth. He adjusted the strap of his satchel and moved out of Seline's immediate line of sight. She could her his soft Scottish-Canadian-like broge saying "excuse me," just barely over the chaos of Cadets and passengers jostling for position while they shoved their carry ons into the banks above.

Seline looked around a bit but couldn't find the guy, she sighed and sat back in her seat, leaning to the right, avoiding the arm of the Bolian. She closed her eyes a bit, hoping that this would all be over soon.

"So how far down down do they go anyway?" A voice came from behind her- a familiar one. Bram was shuffling into a seat directly behind Seline. He beamed at her, raising both eyebrows. Quickly he sidestepped to allow another cadet past him and into the chair one away from him. He then quickly claimed his own chair, but leaned forward to within an almost intimate distance from the back of Seline's head.

Seline opened her eyes and glanced to her side, seeing the guy coming almost awkwardly close. In reflex she pulled back her head and hit the side of the transport, a dull thud followed by a quiet "Auw..." she tried to think of an answer for his question "...what do you mean?" she asked, knowing full well that he meant her spots.

His eyes shot open briefly and he uttered a chuckle as she bashed her head. He even went so far as to half reach for the spot she bumped. "Nice one... does jumpy come with worrysome?" he asked. His breath was warm and sweet as he smirked, sunk a canine into the redness of his lower lip and then glanced at her spots, "Your spots," he said in a husky breath and a slow blink.

"Nah it's more the Paranoid part..." Seline answered with a small smirk, knowing to well that it wasn't a joke "...and as for the spots... all the way" she added a seductive smirk, if ever she knew one.

Bram's eyes dropped to the seat's headrest and then back up to her line of sight. She flexed his brow and smiled. "Oh well, lucky you eh?" he said. he reached up and showed her his hands, his spots ending at the end of his pinky finger. "I'm less decorated."

"Are you Trill?" Seline was a bit blunt there, but it had been nagging her since the moment she saw him... and his spots.

Bram shook his head almost immediately, his bangs whipping over his ears and back as he did so. "Nope." he said. He immediately followed with a smile, sensing that the potential "game" was about to take place. The game where the puzzled onlooker tries to guess just what race he was then.

Seline quirked a brow "ok..." she turned her head to look at him again "...not even a little bit?"

Bram didn't say a word, his smile and eyes just widening as he whipped his head to the sides again. This time, a lock of brown became lodged on his eyebrow and he was forced to push it off with his finger.

Seline reached out and held his hand, letting her cold touch sink into his warm hands "Definately not Trill..." she smirked letting go again, leaving him with a somewhat colder hand. "...so what are you?"

Bram easily and casually rolled his shoulders to shrug, his hand subconsciously flexing to bring back a degree of warmth to it. "I have no idea actually. My parents found me in the remains a shuttle across the Klingon border," he admitted with ease. His blinked and shrugged with friendly grace, "And theres no record of anything like me in the Federation files, apparently. So Im unique." Bram seemed to like that notion as his face brightened.

"Just like everybody else..." Seline added in a whisper. "So why did you join Starfleet?"

Bram tilted his head and closed his eyes in a slight shrug to her truth. "Oh, well... to study medicine. My fathers a retired doctor in Starfleet." he smiled, "And I like helping people." He added. "What about you?"

Seline shrugged and looked at him shorlty before putting her gaze in front again "After being rejected by the Symbiont commission I reckoned this was the best things... if not the only thing... I could do."

"Ahhh," Bram said, "Craved the worm, did you then?" He commented. "Think about it this way. You're still you, not just part of you."

Seline shook her head "That's not how we see it..." she shrugged again as she looked at the guy "...it's the highest goal any Trill should have."

Bram teased his lip with the edge of his tooth, running it along the length of the skin that he could. "Can you reapply after your cadet cruise?"

"Only one person ever was granted a Symbiont after having been denied it in the first place..." Seline turned to look at him again "...I'm not even close to her... by a long shot."

Bram seized on that, inching a bit forward to lean his arm on the back of her headrest as he peeked to the side of it. "You never know until you try, eh?"

"Anyway, there is this other girl in my Family that has already been blessed with a Symbiont so... the pressure is off me really..." Seline didn't even react to him. She leaned away again and closed her eyes, this was probably going to be a long trip.

Sensing that the issue was likely one Seline wanted to drop, Bram let his pep talk of sorts go for a moment. It bothered him a great deal that Seline sounded as if she wanted to be joined to please her parents, and not necessarily for herself. If she wanted to be joined so badly, then he didn't understand why she didn't reapply anyway. But then again, he himself was sitting in this chair, off to his first posting. And he'd become a doctor to make his family happy.

Bram had never met a Trill before this moment, but he had learned about them in the Academy's xenological survey courses. And they of course had a fascinating physiology all their own that his professor had ranted about. But Bram couldn't help but recall that as a race, many Trill suffer from low self-esteem and think that a Joining will help them overcome that.

It was then that Bram realized he was lost for words. Already the gap between her response and his rebuttal was overdue, and he found himself staring at the back of the woman's head. Suddenly harmless flirtation had become so much more serious of an affair. "Well..." he tried to stretch the word as he blasted his brain for something uplifting to say. Two fingers slipped behind his ear and he softly scratched an itch there. "You've still got a lot ahead of you. Maybe once things get settled you can try." He brightened for a second, and tapped her upper arm with the back of his hand, "Hey, I'll even help you with the application, eh?" His eyes again sought hers to connote his seriousness.

Seline shook her head "I'm over it..." Seline responded, she didn't mean it and he knew it but she wouldn't admit it, she had to move on. "...Ah Finally" she then uttered as the engines of the transport started up and got ready to start the trip to Starbase Fourty-Seven.

That signalled to Bram to drop it entirely, and he decided to lean back in his chair as soon as the thrusters began to fire. "Finally, yeah." He settled into his chair, placing his arm on his rest and squeezing the cushioned end. For some reason he couldnt pull his eyes off the back of her chair, however. It was a frustrating feeling to say the least.

Seline was wondering what the guy thought of her now, he probably knew more of her than most of her family members. But she was probably going to work with him so that he would her new Family... no more absurd pressures, no more disappointed fathers and mothers just because of who she was. She closed her eyes again, really wanting this to be over.

Bram settled back into his chair and closed his eyes for awhile, enjoying the feeling as the umbilicals uncoupled from the stardock. there was a gentle sway to the ship as it did, not unlike a boat pushing away from a dock, except it wasnt just to the sides, it was slightly down. space travel was something Bram enjoyed immensely and he smiled smally at the feeling.

He nuzzled the back of his mophead into the headrest and peeked open an eye. The girl hadn't moved and he wondered why. She looked a little frozen in place. "Space travel bother you then?"

Seline opened her eyes slowly again "Nope... can't say it does..." she looked back a bit "...I didn't even have much trouble with the zero G training" she added, proving that she had earned her space legs in the academy.

Bram smirked a touched and pushed his head back against its rest, "Well, if the station ever gets magnetic mined, you're our girl then." He joked, his mouth widening.

Seline smiled a bit and shook her head "I reckon that by the time they send the diplomatic corps in that sort of situation they will be really desperate."

Bram immediately seized on that and grinned ear to ear, "Magnetic mines attached to the hull aren't a desperate situation then?" He played.

Seline shook her head and laughed a bit, even surprising herself "You know what I mean..." she answered, she looked back a bit again "...They'll first send in some Security lads... then some engineers... then some marines... some more engineers... some Ops people... and if then the situation hasn't been resolved then they send in the diplomatic corps..." she now fully turned in her chair and l sat her knees on the chair, looking over the backseat "...either that or we have already done our jobs and that was the reason for the mines."

"Oh good," Bram joked again, blinking his lashes. "Doctors don't even make the list. Maybe we're too important. I mean what could a guy thats good with hands do with a mine after all?" He shrugged playfully and wiggled his fingers in teh air, faking a frump before leaning his head way back, "I think they should send the Diplomats in first. Try to convince them not to go off. That it has so many more half-lives to look forward to if it doesn't."

Bram opened his blue eyes again and pursed his lips, "Heres hoping you're a good diplomat then."

"I'm only a Cadet... I don't think I'll make much of a difference..." Seline smirked a bit "...but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Well, rule one of being a good diplomat... believe in yourself and your position. If you do that, theres less weakness that they can probe, right?" Bram commented back. "Do you play poker? Its an Earth game."

"They tried to teach it to me in the Academy..." Seline leaned her chin on her arms, looking at the guy in the seat behind her "...didn't get much of it... but I hear there is a Casino on the Starbase."

With a simple shrug and stisking his lip out for a second, Bram let that idea pass. He wasnt very good himself. He was too enthused about his cards and it generally showed. He shuffled in his seat, backing his rear more comfortably to the side. Leaning down he fished itno his satchel and pulled out a deck of cards. Immediately he unpacked them and with his free hand pulled down the table that was built into the back of Seline's chair. "Depending on the game... its five cards... or seven. Fives easier..." He began shuffling. "This'll be like the blind leading the blind, but here we go..."

-={Off}=-

Post played by:

Cadet 4th Year Seline Galin (NPC) Diplomatic Cadet Starbase Ronin (SB47) (As played by Caelen LaBrie)

Cadet Bram Curry Medical Residency Cadet Starbase Ronin (SB47) (Played by Will E)

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