Spilling the Cocoa Beans I

Posted on Thu Nov 24th, 2022 @ 3:20am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Ensign Mika Petrova
Edited on on Thu Nov 24th, 2022 @ 3:20am

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Cassiel's Quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 23 at 1630
2808 words - 5.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Another day, another sickening day in Sickbay. Ever since Brasken had given her the news she wouldn't be passing her course and, therefore, wouldn't be graduating, she had been down; quiet. Her sadness would have been obvious to her friends, but she was rather short on those at the moment. Most nights since it happened, she had cried herself to sleep. Still, she hadn't told anyone for fear it would get back to her brother, father, or mother. Sure, she would have gotten what she wanted, but certainly not the way she wanted. Finally, as her shift wound down and she awkwardly avoided the CMO, she knew she had to talk to someone. She could think of no one else besides the woman who had helped her discreetly in the past.

Following her shift, Mika went back to her quarters and quickly changed into casual clothes, much less stylish than her usual. She was depressed, and had been for quite a while. She popped on a pink tank top that failed to hide her bra straps and a pear of grey sweat pants, her hair was in a messy bun, and she wore house slippers. She was putting forth no effort at all. She stopped outside the door to the other woman's quarters, a green box open in her hand. She rang the chime and lazily reached in to pick her next choice piece of chocolate.

"Come in." Lyra called, mildly disinterested and much more focused on the large PADD propped up on her thighs. After her days spent on Anorra with Andrei, being on the ship was both welcome and not. Their vacation had been wonderful, insightful, and productive and truthfully they had gotten along quite easily sharing the space with each other. She was dressed down from her shift and was now wearing a black crop top and a pair of pink shorts both of which showed off her gorgeous figure. While she opted to wear the men's uniform for practicality, she had no problems wearing more revealing clothing - at least not now.

The doors opened soon after she permitted entry, and Mika walked straight in, not pausing in the doorway to wait for some additional pleasantry as she typically would. Instead, she went right for the couch and sat down on one side, folding her shapely legs underneath her and picking out another piece of chocolate even as she chewed the one before. Her eyes settled on Lyra for only a split second before looking back.

"Hey." she said between chews before popping another in.

For a moment, Lyra just blinked at Mika as if she were processing exactly what she was seeing. This was not the sweet, upbeat, vivacious girl; this was... a depressed teenager after her first boyfriend broke up with her. Blinking again and even slightly shaking her head, Lyra sat up and put the PADD down on the table. As she did so, she looked at the mostly gone box of chocolates, and then up to Mika.

"So... what happens when you run out?"

"Replicators are an amazing invention." Mika said, smiling slightly, though it didn't meet her eyes. "Though the past several days have taught me you can only eat so much before it has to come out. And I'll probably need to sleep, so I can't do it constantly."

Well, that would explain why Mika had been rather quiet during dinner. Lyra did a few mental laps to bring herself into the mindset she needed to be to deal with this. "Okay well, Mika..." She reached out and placed her hands on the box of chocolates. "Let's put these down for the moment then. Is this all you've been eating outside having dinner last night?"

“Don’t be silly, I’m a doctor.” Mika said, an unusual challenge in her eyes, though very juvenile and a bit dizzy. “I’ve had ice cream too, and some creamy chicken penne…and like…sooo much wine.”

At her own mention of her doctor status, her eyes fluttered shut and, when she opened them again, she looked totally defeated. She sniffed, but allowed Lyra to cover the chocolate.

Truthfully, Lyra was impressed that Mika had been able to pull herself together the previous evening to look and act completely normal. She certainly hadn’t picked up on anything amiss, and neither had her family. Granted, the night’s focus had been on Andrei and the dates both he and Kassandra had brought with them for the occasion. With that in mind, she supposed all Mika had really had to do was sit there, plaster on a smile, bob her head now and then, and add in a few giggles for good measure when appropriate; it was a self preservation act that women learned much too early on in life.

Lyra stood and evacuated the decimated box of chocolates from Mika’s reach, putting it on top of her liquor cabinet which she did not open to fuel the young woman’s current state. Instead she moved to her replicator and with a few input commands a large rectangular plate and two full glasses of some sort of frosty white drink shimmered into existence. She picked all of it up on the tray it had been spat out on for convenience and walked back over to the couch. When she put it down Mika would immediately see this was a plate designed to help with a hangover or to help sober a person up. It was laden with cheese, crackers, some cured meats, mango, pineapple, a small bowl of various nuts, and what appeared to be slices of a chocolate covered banana.

She pulled the two napkins from the tray and draped one onto Mika’s knee to encourage her to eat - it would be rude not too after all in high society and Lyra was preying on that fact though the intent obviously wasn’t malicious in the slightest. To further encourage her guest, she reached out herself and picked up a piece of mango.

“Tell me what happened, Mika.” She prompted instead of asking what was wrong.

Mika looked down at the tray of snacks and the drink and her nose turned up every so slightly at the offer. It didn't suit her taste at the time, and she had gotten somewhat used to only ingesting what she wanted. Nevertheless, she fingered a piece of meat and a piece of cheese and took small bites of them.

"You're very kind.." she said, looking nauseous for a moment. She then sighed, seeming to consider all there was to say. "My life is broken and I don't know how to fix it. It feels like I've done everything right and it still didn't work..."

Tears stuck in her eyes immediately and the highborn girl began to sob streams of warm tears. She was silent for a while, though didn't seem too hindered by the state, since it had been hers for so long.

"You remember I was telling you about that ridiculous assignment I had to complete for my final officer candidacy, right?"

Lyra studied Mika's face for a moment and then leaned back over the couch and reached under the side table for the garbage can there. She shook it out onto the floor and then brought the now empty bucket around to the front of the couch just in case. She didn't particularly want to have to deal with vomit on her couch or floor if she could help it - slaves would clean it of course but it would still be there until they did.

"Of course I remember." She replied lightly, watching Mika cry while her own face took on an expression of sisterly concern.

"I had my review with Dr. Brasken three days ago and I expected him to approve the paper. He said it was well written but...he didn't think I had genuinely explored the twists and turns of my psyche in it. I told him I didn't think it was in my best interest to reveal the most sensitive parts of my life to him or to anyone in a written document....it goes against everything I've ever been taught...." she trailed off then, her crying causing her to shake silently as her head went down into a cocoon built of her arms and legs on the couch.

"Shh... shh..." Lyra moved closer and sat down right next to Mika. She wrapped an arm around the younger woman and lightly rubbed at her back while keeping herself open enough that Mika could lean into her and cry if she wanted to. "I'm right here. Take your time. What happened next?"

Mika, ever sweet, leaned into the offered embrace and accepted it, placing her head on Lyra's shoulder shamelessly and crying for the space of a few more moments before she could collect herself enough to answer the question.

"I stood up for myself...told him I would say no more on the topic and complained it had absolutely nothing to do with being a doctor. He dug his heels in and said I'd be 'writing papers until I was back in the Alpha Quadrant' until I 'checked my attitude', and refused to pass me." she groaned, tears flowing out again. "First in my class at the academy to this....I...I don't know what to do..."

"Okay. Okay... shh... take some deep breaths." Lyra reached back and pulled a few tissues from the box on the side table and offered them to Mika. Her face read sympathetic and the way she cradled Mika against her bordered on maternal, betraying none of the very mixed feelings she was having in the moment. There was a small thread of disgust at such frivolous weakness, in the grand scheme this was so unimportant; but at the same time there was a level of understanding too. Failure was never easy. Mika was a sweet girl, but this blubbering was getting on her nerves; then she thought of the times she would cradle and comfort her own brothers like this despite what was happening in her own life. They needed protecting.

Just like Mika needed protecting.

She brushed a few errant strands of hair from Mika's face and just waited for her to calm down again.

Mika had spoken to no one about what was happening in her life for fear of what the repercussions might be for the doctor and for her own sense of self-worth, and she had just bottled it up inside. Underneath her sweetness, she was a very fragile person with a secret self-destructive streak. She steadied her breathing until she was silent, and then she lifted her head off of Lyra's shoulder, turning her swollen red eyes to the woman and sniffling pathetically. She was composed again though.

"Obviously, the next level of appeal is the Executive Officer, but...there are obvious problems with that plan."

"A few, yes." More than Mika was probably aware of, actually. It was in Lyra's keen interests to keep Brasken in one piece and well away from the ire of Andrei or his parents. If something happened to him, the next in line was a spurned lover who she knew very little about, but needless to say Lyra could clearly envision her life becoming very short should something happen to her that would have required medical attention in that scenario.

"Do you want me to try and speak with Brasken?"

"I do." Mika said, not bothering to play modest on the issue. "That is, if you think you can talk some sense into him without involving Andrei or my parents.."

"I suppose that depends on what you want me to do." Lyra looked down to Mika with her dark, unreadable eyes. "Are you wanting me to try and fix it for you, or do you want me to talk to him and try and find out some information that might help you to figure out how to fix it yourself?" If she could help it, Lyra didn't want to strip Mika of her own power in this situation. She needed to learn how to deal with this kind of thing herself.

"I did everything I know how already. He's being completely unreasonable. This assignment is pure bullcrap." she said, frowning and offering an expression somewhat close to anger. "I don't know what his game is; what he really wants in this situation, but I'm afraid it's leverage over me. What do you think?"

"I don't know. I'd have to talk to him." Lyra replied and managed to keep the amused note out of her voice but she certainly did feel it on some level. It wasn't malicious in the slightest, instead she just found herself musing how Mika looked like an angry kitten trying to learn how to hiss. "But that doesn't really answer my question."

Mika looked at Lyra and sighed.

“I’ve only wanted one thing for years, and now this man is standing in my way for no apparent reason.” She said, and then her breathing smoothed a bit. “I’m going to get what I want this time, damnit. One way or another. But I’d like to try it the easy way first. Any information you can get me would be helpful, Lyra. Then, if that doesn’t work, I will have to learn to live with what will happen next.”

“Then I will talk to him, but listen to me, Mika.” Lyra took one of Mika’s hands and held it in earnest in an attempt to focus her. “I know it is the hardest thing in the cosmos to do in a situation like this, believe me I do, but you must exercise patience and not act out of turn here. It would have consequences for everyone on the ship, not just you and Brasken. It is easy to stomp one’s feet and charge in, but that usually makes quite a mess of things whereas if one had simply exercised a bit of restraint and patience, it turns out better for everyone in the long run.”

In truth, the moment was Lyra hoping that Mika was not like her brother on this front and if she was that she might be able to be reasoned with. Andrei was impatient and when he grew impatient, his temper would trigger, and when his temper would trigger, he wasn’t exactly reasonable; the last time it happened, he had strangled a woman with his bare hands and the time before that, he had chopped off another man’s hand. In the end, if he couldn’t be taught some level of control, his impatience would likely doom not only him, but his family too including his baby sister. She would never give the thought voice, but Yana had failed her son in this respect. In the game Andrei wanted to play, patience and careful maneuvering were key as was the ability to gracefully recover after a setback.

Mika looked at Lyra as she spoke, her eyes moved back and forth between Lyra’s own eyes and her mouth, observing every word. She nodded her understanding when she was done.

“I think I can do that.” She said, her brow furrowing at the intensity of the moment. Her tone was more babyish and whiny now that she was drunk. She blinked slowly. “I’ve waited this long without doing something…extreme. I don’t see a reason to start now without it being planned. That’s why I came to you, anyway.”

The tone of Mika's voice was mildly grating, but Mika was drunk so it was understandable and Lyra just moved past it; it wasn't like she was doing it on purpose. "I'm glad you did." She said genuinely and gave the young woman a slight smile. "As it happens, I was going to be having dinner with Brasken soon, schedules allowing, so I will talk to him then. Now," She pulled the small platter of food a bit closer to the edge of the coffee table. "You should try to eat something."

Mika eyed the food tray with a mixture of disinterest and mild disgust, but wasn’t rude. She had been trained well at Court and in the palaces of Russia and she knew common courtesy as well as the next lord’s daughter. She pulled the tray toward her and picked up a piece of cheese. She paused, however, before she popped it into her mouth and looked at Lyra.

“Dinner with the Doctor? But, I thought..” she paused to think and inadvertently put the cheese in her mouth. Realizing her mistake, she attempted to talk around the morsel. “I thought you were dating Andrei.”

TBC