Ic Arbrell
Science
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Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 24, 2021 5:34:19 GMT
[Ensign Ic Arbrell’s Quarters, Deck 12, Front Ear Starion, around 1700 hours]
There wasn’t much to unpack when he arrived at his quarters. Never had been. His mother had insisted that despite his birdlike tendencies to pick up things, that he leave behind as much as he could; given his obsessive tendencies, it was good for him to learn to let go. There’s only so much that can come along when you travel like we do, baby. So Ic took an ache with him in place of every trinket and treasure. He carried about a thousand in the synovial gaps of his hands, his wrists, his feet. He’d cracked his knuckles before opening the crate, ready to receive.
(There was more to unpack there, but he shoved it down with a softly curling fist.)
He peered into the single trove of his possessions in the cold and lonely room, finding only clothes and jewelry and favorite books. Only this to start a new life. It was ridiculous, but so was the fact that he was here at all. Starfleet. An Ensign, an officer, but only just. All his knowledge, his skills, this gift even, or whatever it was, reduced to a pip. He told himself it was a research assistant badge, but he felt it there on his neck, heavy. The unwanted, too, left its ache.
Ic took a breath and pressed that down as well. He pulled a length of sheer and shimmering fabric from the crate, and traded his uniform for the rest of the find without second thought—only this.
If he was going to survive on a station at the edge of the quadrant, he had to do it on his own terms. His own terms. Without Mother’s expectations or the Academy’s demands. That meant… That meant—
[Blue Beta, Promenade, Front Ear Station, around 1730 hours]
“Could I get, um, about a quarter shot of Romulan ale?” he asked from his seat at the bar, head tilted in such a way that he could speak to the bartender and hear them without having to meet their eyes. Hearing was even harder than usual in a crowded place, dangly earrings notwithstanding, and so, squinting with his nose wrinkled against the noise crowding him like he’d been buried in sand, he did the best he could, but it didn’t feel like enough.
“Or maybe a half, actually?”
He didn’t know what he thought he was doing, but the problem with boundless curiosity and enthusiasm (and a youth stripped of excitement) was that it didn’t matter. Until later, that was. And that was a problem for Tomorrow-Ic to solve. Tonight-Ic, however, deserved a good time for the first time in his life.
“Or a whole. A whole would be excellent.”
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32 
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 24, 2021 8:42:28 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] Whether the bar was quiet or busy, it still had a fun atmosphere and it was one that Leanna loved, whenever she was on shift. As much as the paperwork and the day to day running of her establishment took most of her attention, there was nothing better, than getting out of her office and serving behind the bar. Talking, laughing and having fun with her customers and staff was what made all of this worthwhile. So when she heard a gentleman ask for a shot of Romulan Ale, Lea was instantly drawn to him. She didn't even need her Betazoid senses as Seamus called them to know that he was likely new to the station, not to mention the slight indecision as he tried to adjust to the crowd around him. " Then a whole you shall have" she replied with a smile, noticing eyes that were almost identical to her own as she poured a full shot of the blue liquid and set it down before him.
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 24, 2021 15:59:03 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] Ic watched as his wish was granted in brilliant blue. Frozen, he stared. He hadn’t been expecting that. The woman— or who sounded like a woman, felt like a woman, therefore probably was, like a duck, a woman— didn’t laugh at him, didn’t jab or tease. There was no criticism of his indecision (his self-doubt, his absolute ignorance of his tolerance, his youth), nor any of it reflected back at him. If this new life was one free from social evaluation, it was either going to be very rich or very short. Or both, if it turned out he enjoyed Romulan ale. Hesitant fingers, slender and trembling, reached for the tiny glass. Was there a proper way to hold this? Some other students at the Academy had joked about something like lifting one’s littlest finger, but he’d heard the same about tea and Terran whiskey, which seemed sometimes to be drunk from the same cup? No little finger, then. But the shot was so small, how was he—? With a question on his tongue, Ic glanced up at the bartender, finally. His heart leapt to his throat when he started at the color of her eyes. Blue spilt on his thumb burned, but far less than the reminder that the one he saw before him was now so precious and rare— so like and unlike him. His cheeks were already red, the rest of him likely read, too, but altogether different. “You’re—” He realized now the liquor on his skin actually hurt, and moved quickly to lick it off. His eyes did not budge from the ones they matched. Hi.What a fool, he had no idea what else to say.
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 24, 2021 16:47:06 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] There was that hesitation again but as a Mother, friend and having the ability to be empathic. Leanna wasn't about to leave the newcomer, especially when she picked up on him wanting to say something. Only for him to spill some of the blue liquid as he realised that he was essentially looking at a mirror image. Lea knew most of the telepaths and Betazoids on the station, but already could tell that there was something unique about him. So when he stumbled with the realisation after getting embarrassed. Lea was quick to reassure him as she smiled warmly and spoke to him. " Yes I'm Betazoid too and Hi there, I'm Leanna".
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 24, 2021 19:38:59 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] His gaze fell when she spoke to him, dropped like ice misplaced in the blue so hard it could have splashed out on his skin again. It was his natural state to communicate with Betazoids by telepathy, but he supposed that she was right to use language. There were others around, after all. That, and he still needed to improve his communication skills. Playing "I Know What Boys Like" very loudly on one's listening device when attractive officers walked by had never yielded any success. (But who didn't like the Terran 1980s in music? Well, he knew who, and quite immediately with prickles on his arms, but it didn't make much sense otherwise.) "Ic Arbrell," he gave his name to Leanna in return, smiling broadly, bashfully, bright. "Um. Ensign. Sciences. I, um, just got here today. It's lovely to meet you, Leanna. How-- how long have you been here? Is it nice? Gods, I can't imagine living on a station, but here I am--"And that was the drawback of language. He never quite knew where to stop.
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 24, 2021 21:06:28 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] Leanna knew that many Betazoids preferred to speak telepathically and it was something that she also did. Mainly Riyo, family and friends, but at the same time used verbal speech as much as possible. Yet if he wanted to do that, then she would be happy to do so, especially when he then introduced himself and confirmed that he was new. " Pleased to meet you Ic and welcome to the station" she began in the same warm tone. " I've been here about 15 months and you'll soon get used to life aboard Front Ear"." I'm also happy to speak this way, if needed as I know what it's like to be new".
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 25, 2021 22:27:13 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] "Thank you," he returned in concordance with a sigh that stole the straightness from his spine. Shoulders collapsed, curling forward, turning his posture inward as if toward Leanna alone. Indeed, it was precisely what he was doing, little attempts to channel himself into one thing, to block out the rest. It rarely worked, no matter how keen he got with it; he could still feel someone elsewhere in the bar crushed by a breakup (redness beneath the jaw where the crying hurt most), frustration in engineering (the slam of a wrench against his ribs), joy at the furthest end (a laughter in his eyes). Ic tapped his index finger along the rim of the glass, shy and erratic and halting and lost. Priorities had shifted. "It's just easier for me, this way, so..." The rest of the thought closed down quickly when he finally tossed back the shot -- well, about half of it. A nice average of his asks, and still too much. He was absolutely certain she'd be able to feel the instantaneous pulse and reel of regret. Wow, the cadets were not joking, were they? "So! Fifteen months?" (He was grateful the certain wince in his voice had no place in his thoughts.) "You think you could do fifteen more? Academy was the longest I've been anywhere, but at least we had atmosphere to enjoy."Sure, he'd been away from Betazed for a year or two at a time once or twice before, but they'd never stayed in one station or ship for fifteen whole months. Not even when they went to visit his father. Then again, there were reasons for that, weren't there?
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 26, 2021 6:52:27 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] The moment that Leanna saw Ic begin to relax as he thanked her telepathically, she knew that she had done the right thing by offering to speak that way. She was never one to make another person uncomfortable and no matter the reason or the how, was always happy to help. " You're very welcome". It wasn't difficult to notice that he was doing everything he could to focus on her, as if he was blocking out the background noise. That was something that Lea herself was familiar with, but at the same time understood, that Ic was one of those rare Betazoid's and she found him endearing and someone she could get along with. Smiling as he explained why this way was easier for him, before he cut the thought short in order to drink his shot. His reaction she had seen many times before as he then continued their silent conversation. " Yes, although it feels longer and this is my home now, so I won't be going anywhere. I've never been to Earth, but I've heard things about the Academy. Tell me did you enjoy your time there?".
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 26, 2021 16:16:42 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] This is my home now moved like silver (like blinking sound and howling light) through a pinball table in his mind, moving from place to place he knew in his youth that was too recently gone or vacant. This was Leanna’s home as much as it was his now, and it silenced his cheekiness about atmosphere, lest this one change. He hadn’t meant to remind her. He didn’t want to make her upset. This was true for all beings, but especially another Betazoid, and uniquely, Leanna. Especially as it seemed— or he thought, maybe, out of the buzz across his cheek— that she might have figured out his unspoken not-so-secret. There had not been many in his life who had not met his eccentricities with resistance or worse. It was she, a bartender in a space station on the edge of the quadrant that wasn’t even their own, who was the kindest person in memory. Or was Leanna the only person he could think about as he tried to tune in, and the rest tuned out, as if underwater. Her next question sent a flare of guilt through him on the tail of his shamed retraction. He’d arrived in San Francisco only days before the Invasion. Though unaddressed, the feeling leaked in through unsealed seams. He could feel it in his own body, despite usually being so good at damming it all back. Honesty was one thing to Betazoids, but onslaught another entirely. ”Well, I certainly enjoyed the education. Two majors, two minors. Wasn’t my first choice—” He laughed a little here at the sudden absurdity of coincidence and curse of time and place. “But, you know, I don’t well, I don’t regret it for what it is. No one’s told me why they stationed me out here, though. Are there… temporal anomalies out here, that they’ve found? Sorry, I’m assuming you know everything, but isn’t that the adage, bartenders and hairdressers are the sages of the galaxy?”Oh god, how was he rambling telepathically, too?
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 26, 2021 16:51:55 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] There was a glimmer of realisation that Ic had figured out that she knew his truth, but unlike others who might take advantage or not understand, she was one to embrace it. Besides it what made Ic who he was and if he preferred to talk this way whenever she saw him, then that's what she would do. Reaching out gently when she felt the flare of guilt and shame, wanting to know it was okay before he answered her question. Listening with interest as he paused and told her about his achievements, the no regrets and the slight uncertainty regarding his transfer here. Smiling as he continued before she acknowledged what was said. " Having no regrets is always good and enjoying your education is the main thing. As for why you're here, they obviously thought they saw potential for you to come to Front Ear. You're not wrong either as I've helped the crew out a few times and we've certainly encountered some strange and unique things".
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 26, 2021 18:51:09 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] A blue veil settled over his mind, velvet heavy. He stared ahead at her, all his intensity stripped down to show the passionate, puppylike thing he really was. Softened at every edge, Ic blinked slow, unsure of the melange of her that warmed in his hands. He mimicked the gesture, receptive with awe. Leanna was the coolest. “You go on— Despite all that training in school and the mental rehearsal of potential scenarios regarding station operations and the potential for service upon the USS Mac, Ic struggled to recall the terminology for what it was such service was called. It was not a blanking of thought, but a stuttering through the options until he landed on, “—away missions?”Were they totally best friends right now? He was pretty sure they were best friends forever. “What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen?”
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 26, 2021 19:11:53 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] It was good to see Ic relax further around her as he looked at her and showed more of his true self. Finding him very endearing as he mimicked her. When he spoke to her and paused again, she understood why and could tell him the truth. " I was fortunate to go on one to the planet below, it was a survey mission". Lea loved his energy and awe, as he then asked what was the strangest thing that she had seen. " Dragon like creatures during that same mission, although I've also encountered aliens from a different dimension, when their ship collided with the station".
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 27, 2021 2:27:32 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] He was slower to react now, more a dawning than switch as the feeling reached his face, but the word dragon earned the full and brilliant lightshow of a picture-perfect sunrise— in its proper time, of course. Sure, such things had existed, at least they had done so on Earth (which he knew best after falling down a research rabbithole following the discovery of a strange song called "Walk the Dinosaur" that he still did not understand), but he'd never actually expected to be within two degrees of one. Dragons, as he’d learned from an endless database of encyclopaedic bliss, were far more fearsome. Fire and wings and mighty, mighty hoards of princesses and jewelry or something. He understood that. Ic had had a dragon feeling just half an hour ago or so when he looked into his own very meager treasure and decided there should be more, although princesses were very certainly not on the manifest of things. He’d heard from a professor or two at the Academy that fire and wings were things he’d already come close to possessing in fatal combinations, but he hadn’t understood that reference. The pity, though, he got. But the dragons, although able to contextualize them, were not the most interesting thing she would say in the same breath. Ic drew a slow, deep breath, but found that all else he could draw was a Romulan ale-blue polygon, a vague implication of a being. Immediately fond of the idea, he leaned forward against the bar, eyes wide and figuratively glittering in the lighting of the bar. “Leanna. What did they feel like?”He knew he probably couldn't ask her the technical questions and also remember what she said, but he made a mental note to follow up on the other side of this shot. (He wouldn't.)
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Leanna Mazal
Civilian
Posts: 1,728 Likes: 32
Position: Civilian
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Leanna Mazal on May 27, 2021 9:06:30 GMT
[Blue Beta - Promenade] Telling someone about some of the things that she had seen and experienced was always interesting as you didn't know how they would react to it. Up till now she had been fortunate to be able to share all of this with people who had encountered the same or similar things. However she would be lying if she wasn't curious as to what Ic might make of it all. Not that she had anything to worry about as she watched Ic closely and smiled as the information sunk in. When he then leaned forward and asked what they felt like, Lea understood what he meant. " They were only mildly telepathic but I was able to gain their trust, especially as we helped them".
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Ic Arbrell
Science
[TI33] [TI33]
Posts: 161
Likes: 21
Rank: Ensign
Position: Quantum Physicist
Species: Betazoid
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Post by Ic Arbrell on May 31, 2021 0:56:27 GMT
[Blue Beta, Promenade] Despite his brilliance in matters of science, it was mostly the matterless that mattered most to him. Exobiology was not Ic's strong suit (unless, of course, one counted the more logical areas of study -- but that was different entirely), and he wasn't sure if that was supposed to be usual for dragon-like or other-dimensional beings or if Leanna had had a most unique and life-changing experience. He figured, though, that she might have offered more if it was really that... adjective. (Deep. He felt endlessly deep.) That's what people normally did, wasn't it? He did. Often. Whether he meant to or not. Sure, people tended to walk away or roll their eyes but he'd always assumed no one liked Madonna or physics jokes, and certainly not when he combined the two. (Was it possible to feel heavy and light at the same time?) "Did you make friends with them? Or anybody else? I mean, fifteen months is a long time to just be here as a bartender. Or an ensign. I mean you have to know people, I bet you know everybody and everything about them 'cause of your job. Isn't it exhausting?"(--to be lost in a Dirac sea of everything and nothing at all?)
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