Chaos at the Arboretum

Posted on Mon Dec 13th, 2021 @ 1:25pm by Lieutenant Myne Redal & Lieutenant JG Ryan Kade III & Ensign Edward D'Gracefull & Gavin Lovejoy & Skylah McBride [Lalor] & Lara Barclay de Tolly & Hendor Charles [Reece]
Edited on on Thu Dec 23rd, 2021 @ 5:27pm

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: MD12 0900
6957 words - 13.9 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

Looking at her PaDD again, Myne sighed. 'Alright dummy, you did agree to be a morale officer. So you should have totally seen this coming.' Looking over her order that came down straight from Super Garrett himself... erm, Captain Garrett the commanding officer of the ship, she sighed again.

'Lt. JG Myne Redal you are hereby ordered to take all civilian children aged 17 and below to aged 4 on an excursion of the multi-level arboretum. Below is a list of officers that you can ask for assistance.' The order read, followed by a few names. Myne had to laugh though, since she knew two of those names, one of which was her new brother or sorts, Damien.

Having posted this event on Elysium's message board to all the parents with children that fit the age criteria, Myne waited. She messaged Lt. JG Edward D'Graceful and Lt. JG Ryan Kade with a very long, but polite request to join her. As well as a 'Hey bro, drop down by the Arboretum before I turn off gravity in your cabin!' to Damien.

Though the piece of resistance was in her other hand. A meditation candle that belonged to none other than Lt. T'Kara, whom Myne had pestered into joining. Deciding in the end that falling back on old tricks such as blackmail have a higher chance of success. 'If you ever want to see your candle alive, come to the Arboretum.' That was the message she left her temporary roomie earlier in the day.

So, with all the messages sent ahead of time, Myne was swinging back and forth, holding her PaDD to her chest and humming a Super Garrett song to herself. Oh, she was definitely wearing casual clothes with a lavender sweater that had Super Garret on the front and back, with big, bold, gold letter above.

Somehow Alicia was coerced into this... fieldtrip. It was irrational. She desired to return to her quarters and attend to her studies. But now she had to spend it around the ship's lunatic. Not to worry. Alicia would wait for a distraction, probably from other on the field trip, and then slip away.

The first child to arrive was young Hendor Charles.
He walked 8n to the Arboretum, wearing tan cargo shorts, sneakers, a stripped, multicolored t-shirt and a grey hoodie, which he had pulled up to cover the left side of his face. He was walking, hand in hand, with his father, George. As they approached, George smiled and nodded to Myne. "Hey, Myne!" He said, a friendly smile on his face. "Thank you for organizing this little fun day for the kids. I know that Hendor could use it."

Hendor was shyly hiding behind his father's legs, making sure the left side of his face stayed hidden. The last time he had gone out to something that had other children, it was bad.

"Come on, Son," George spoke softly and patiently to his little boy. "This is Lieutenant Myne Redal, she is a very nice lady. I promise she won't be like your former teacher. Come on, come out from behind me and say hello."

Still unsure, but feeling a bit less so by his father's promise, Hendor slowly moved around to stand in front of his father's legs. He slowly extended his right hand. "Hello, Ma'am," he said in a soft voice.

Myne turned towards the newcomers and blushed, giving a nervous smile. "Ah, hey there! Thank you for coming. Not so sure about being a very nice lady, but I have been told I am funny at least!" She said taking the young boy's hand and giving him an awkward handshake. More like a Roman handshake, with hand on the wrist. Clearly, Earth customs, not her strong suit.

"No need to worry, just call me Myne and enjoy the field trip. Oh, and don't eat any of the plants, not sure how many of them are edible and to what species. Kinda weird when you think about it." She continued and turned to George. "You can stick around sir if you want."

George grinned and replied. "I'd love to, Redal. Unfortunately, I've got a stack of reports as tall as my boy here that I need to get through before Monday morning. But thank you for the invite." He then knelt down to Hendor’s eye level and hugged him. "Have fun!" He said, before kissing the young boy's forehead. "Remember, if you need to call me, just use the commbadge like I showed you, okay?"

Hendor nodded. "Yes, Papa. Love you."

"I love you too, son." George gave Hendor another hug and kiss, then released his hold and left, looking back and waving a few times, a smile on his face each time.

"Alright Hendor, come with me! Let's go group up with the new arrivals!" Myne smiled and offered her hand to Hendor.

Hendor took the offered hand and skipped along next to Myne as they moved to the other kids.

Alicia still had her arms folded in the back of the room. Wondering when this was going to be over. She decided to lean against a wall and begin to meditate for the time being.

Seeing the teen girl leaning against the wall, Myne waved towards her. "Hey!! You there!! Walls aren't really good for sleeping. We can find you a bed, a bench or something if you get bored and want to doze off. Might mean you get lost from the group, but don't worry. I have an AI programmed to keep track of everyone!" She said smiling at the girl.

Alicia responded. "I am not sleeping, I am meditating. I assure you, I am in complete control of both my physical and mental facilities." The young girl noted.

"Ain't that really the same thing? Sleeping and meditating? Best meditation is done while sleeping, right?" Myne asked, chuckling. "So, wanna group up here with the rest of us?"

"Very well." Alicia noted, with a sigh. It could have already been the Alindari version of rolling her eyes. "But one thing was for sure, She needed to figure out how to dupe the AI holding her leash.

The door opened and three teenage girls entered. Two blonds and one redhead. The Blonds were all but dragging the redhead and behind them came two children, aged 11. Who were laughing at the redhead's disgruntled look.

Kayla and Keira spotted the officers and smiled. "Here as requested." Kayla said brightly.

Raye rolled her eyes and her siblings, the two 11 year olds flanked her.

"Oh, hey there!!" Myne turned towards them. "Lt. JG Myne Redal here. You can call me Myne by the way. Should have more officers join us soon... if they remember to come or wake up. It's a fifty-fifty chance really. What are your names?" She asked the new group of kids that arrived, smiling cheerfully at them.

"Kayla"

"Keira"

"Raye"

"Koray"

"Celene"

“Alexander Jordan,” the son of Alice Jordan answered, “But you can call me Alex.”

Lara had her arms folded as she sighed. “Lara.”

“Amelia Tigan,” the daughter of Joral Bin answered. “Do not worry Lara. Alex and I have your back.”

“Not that,” Lara sighed. “Just wondering why we are here.”

“You need to stop calculating,” Amelia poked Lara grinning. “Just roll with it.”

Each child replied in order.

Gavin Lovejoy entered next, he saw Raye and her siblings. He stood silently as an officer he didn't know but heard her say her name was Myne Redal as she spoke to Raye and the others. As he stood there, his eyes went to Myne's sweater. Was that is dad's picture on the front of it with the name Super Garrett in big , gold letters? Just what did this officer think she was doing? Making fun of his father!?

The light sound of boots on carpeted floor transitioned to the more chunky and stiff clack of those same boots on the Arboretum's sealed synthetic hardwood entrance. A young caucasian man with brown hair, in full Starfleet uniform, had entered and was looking about the place. He nodded politely to the civilians until his brown eyes locked with the one who'd called him.

"Lieutenant Redal," He moved towards her. As he approached, the state of his attire became more clear. Crisp and clean folds went straight down the sides of the undershirt, beneath the vest, as well as the front and back of the pants. Spotless whites contrasted with the inkiest of blacks, never faded. The shoes and comm badge had been buffed until they shined to a mirror finish. There was a hint of vanilla in the air as he came close. "I came as soon as I was able," He offered her his hand, "I take it I didn't miss anything?"

"Oh?! Hey there!" Myne chirped turning towards the fellow officer and taking the offered hand in a Roman handshake. "You must be Lieutenant... erm... one of them, right?" She asked chuckling and shrugging. "Sorry, bad visual memory. Well no, that's a lie, I did not look your photo up when I got the list of proposed assistants. Come, help me with the group. Check on the bored teenagers for me? Especially that adorable one?" Myne nodded towards Alicia.

Turning back to face the gathered group she smiled widely. "So everyone. Not sure if we have to wait for more arrivals or not. So we'll give them a few more minutes. Until then, does anyone have any questions for me or the field trip? Aaaalso, please don't skitter, skadush, ski, dodge, evade or stealthily run away! I have a small, cute AI made just for this occasion to keep track of everyone and direct access to a transporter room." The Trill tapped her PaDD as she talked in a joyful tone. "Sooo, I can just beam you all back to me at the press of a button."

"So..." Raye asked curiously "Where are we going?"

Skylah slipped into the group and stood beside Hendor.

Hendor smiled brightly when his best friend arrived, giving her a big hug.

"Alright, I think we have everyone. If more come, oh well, the AI will track them down for me. So! Kids, today we are going to visit the Arboretum and look at pretty flowers, trees and other green or green like stuff. Maybe some people eating plants too if we're lucky. Some might be poisonous probably. Who knows really? Nature is weird. Alright, everyone follow me, stick together and don't eat any plants! I am proficient in first aid, but boy... am I not the one you want treating you if you're poisoned. So be nice and you get a Super Garrett t-shirt at the end!" Myne chuckled, turned and began walking to the Abortetum on the tour track she had prepared. Speaking and explaining stuff about plants and stopping only when they passed by an actually cool and interesting plant. Well... interesting for her.

Hendor followed the excited lady happily, his small hand holding onto Skylah's. He hoped they would have time to play on the big tree in the middle of the Arboretum.

Gavin followed the main group silently. He hadn't given his name nor had it been asked for. He watched the hyper officer chatter on and he sighed inwardly *What a chatty Cathy* he thought sourly. He wondered if she was some meds causing her to talk and talk. Barely able to keep from rolling his eyes he followed along to see just what next on this field trip.

'Ascendants have mercy on my soul. Deliver me from this mediocrity.' Alicia noted as she followed, her arms folded, wishing this would end. 'Super Garrett? More like Loser Garrett? Miserable, stuffed up, egotistical dullard.' Alicia continued to think to herself. She grabbed a rose nearby and was preparing to shove it into her mouth. All this boredom was making her rather peckish and she wanted to cause a scene.

A beep on her PaDD made Myne stop and turn to look at the group. Spotting Alicia holding the rose up to her mouth. Myne snapped her hands together to catch everyone's attention. "Hey everyone, something fun is about to happen!! Please turn your heads back towards our very own..." Myne stopped to check her PaDD and smiled widely. "Alicia! She is about to eat a plant called a rose, that has thorns and is sadly not poisonous. As far as we know!! So everyone let's cheer her up, maybe we get a medical emergency out of this!!" She chuckled and nodded to Alicia to go on and eat the rose.

"Of course it has thorns. We usually eat the flower on Sena Alindar, madwoman... Not the stem." Alicia popped the flower into her mouth. "Besides all of this Parliamenting is making me hungry. Is there anything more to eat in here?" Alicia smirked.

Vick Barclay walked in with his Aunt Tonya. Tonya says to him, “Your sister is right over there. Go have fun.”

Vick saw other children as well. “I will Aunt Tonya.”

Lara, Alex and Amelia walked up to Vick. Alex says to the little boy, “You want to go climb a tree?”

Vick replied smiling, “Sure.”

Amelia asked Tonya, “You think they will let us Lt. King?”

“Go ask whoever is in charge,” Tonya replied. “Lara, are you okay?”

“Oh just trying to find out the purpose of this exercise,” Lara replied, “Personally I love to climb a tree. They will give us a tour of the arboretum. Alex, maybe we can find one on the tour.”

Vick who was four replied saw one right away. “Look Lara. There is one.” Before he said another word, he darted towards it.

Chuckling Myne clapped her hands and nodded towards Alicia. "Alright kids, time to have some fun with the Senarian. Since she is hungry, everyone pick a flower and offer her to eat it! This will be even more fun! Ask a question with each flower you give her and she has to answer!! Fun time!!" Her PaDD beeped again and she turned to see a kid run towards a tree.

"Erm..." She sighed and waited a second before Vick was transported next to her, catching him before he can stumble forward. "Hey there little one. Where were you running towards?"

“I wanted to climb a tree,” Vick replied. “When you get to the top of a tree, you can see everything.”

"Sure, we can try some tree climbing next!! I don't see why not. What is your name little one?" Myne asked Vick smiling kindly.

“Vick,” he replied. “Real name is Victor Barclay de Tolly Jr. but you can call me Vick. My sister is Lara and my Aunt Tonya who was here a moment ago. What was your name again?”

"Wooow, that is a seriously long name. Never going to be able to remember all of that. Vick sounds cool though. You can call me Lt. JG Myne Redal. Just call me Myne, it's easier for everyone!" The Trill replied smiling.

Vick smiled back. Looking at Ryne’s Trill spots, he remarked, “Your freckles are nice.”

Looking at Alicia, Myne called out. "Plant girl! Let's find you something to eat up in a tree. What do you say?"

Alicia smirked. "Whatever you say, Madwoman."

As soon as Myne’s eye was turned, Vick started climbing the tree. Lara saw it from a distance, so she darted towards tree. So did Alex and Amelia.

The security officer sighed, grabbing Redal aside for a moment. "I was a scout before I joined the academy," Ryan began, "so I know most of these plants are relatively harmless to eat, but I don't think you should be encouraging children to eat them." He looked over at the others, then back to Myne, "Certain species might have minor side effects, and their guardians might not like it, either."

"Yelp!" Myne actually said the word yelp as she yelped while being grabbed aside, looking at Ryan curiously. "Well, honestly I was ordered to do this and plants are inefficient computing systems that decay way too quickly to be efficient in any way. I mean to say they are boring and the kids are bored. At least this way they can have some fun, laugh and hopefully I will get a nice reprimand and never get assigned to boring stuff again!" She replied with a very innocent smile, a smile that was genuine, honest and without any kind of malice or ill intent. Myne felt what she said.

Ryan swayed a little as he assessed Myne during her response. He shook his head, deciding to move on, "Why don't we just go ahead and tour the arboretum? You've got great energy, you just need to focus it on the plants and trees- not on lunch." He looked back at the group once more, "Assuming that we haven't lost them to chaos, already..."

"Yeah, sure, you can try to corral the teens maybe?" Myne proposed to Ryan and then waved at the group. "Hey everyone! It's tree climbing time!!" She called out to the rest of the kids, before winking at Ryan. "Try to keep everyone together, and let's have some fun!"

Hendor giggled excitedly as he squeezed Skylah's hand. He always loved climbing the rock walls of the caves he lived in back on New Canaan. This would be the first time he climbed a tree. "How high can you go, Sky?"

"High" came the reply with a smile. "I climb trees for fun."

ED walked in late, having taken the time to get his back pack replicated, it had climbing gear, a large ten person tent, 20 person first-aide/triage /trauma medical kit, camp-fire rations, which included ingredients, like "Smores", a weird chocolate concoction that according to the holo-vids, you burnt a white sugary substance to melt chocolate and put it between to piece's of sugary crackers. Giving all these small children that much sugar was a bad thing, mark his words... But he was not in charge... He had also packed spare small emergency blankets, and any other safety features that he could think of. Walking in he seen children everywhere, what a nightmare... so many things could go wrong. Ed looked around for Lt Redal, then headed towards them.

Approaching the large tree with the group behind her, Myne drew their attention. "Alright, listen up everyone just stay still for five seconds!" Tapping on her PaDD she nodded and continued. "Alright, transporters locked on the lot of you. So do not worry, if you wall you will be transported safely to the ground. Have fun climbing, help each other out and have fun!"

Lara who reached the spot where her brother was said, “Vick. I thought you might have been afraid to do this.”

“Not me,” Vick replied.

Alex added. “There is a ….” His hand slipped a bit but Lara caught him.”

“You we’re about to say there is a little danger in climbing,” Lara winked at Alex.

“Correct”, he sighed a bit because he felt embarrassed being rescued by a girl who was a few years younger than he.

Hendor continued climbing untill he could go no higher. Looking out around the branches, he smiled brightly. "This is the first tree I've ever climbed, Sky! How about you?"

"I climb trees all the time. When I skip school" Skylah grinned and joined him on the branch.

Tirielle, the almost seventeen year old daughter of Lieutenant JG Marcellus Sattine an Dasa walked in. She has had very few friends since coming on board. She sees all of them up in a tree. “Well this will be interesting.”

Gavin watched as the other kids swarmed the tree, climbing up it like ants. For his part he was content to watch. Looking about he saw Tirelle also watching the scene before her. "Hi." He said in greeting.

Tirelle blushed a bit. “Hi back,” she said in a charming voice. “Being that young is a blessing. Wish I had a childhood like them. I am Tirelle. My father is an Engineering Officer on board and my mother is an officer as well.”

Gavin looked at the kids climbing, laughing. "It is." He admitted, "No cares, just enjoy yourself. I'm Gavin, my dad is an officer as well and my mom is a civilian working in the diplomatic department."

“Come on Gavin,” Tirielle says as she saw a lot of flowers. “Couple of years I will be at the Academy. Let’s go make memories.”

"Sure. Just what did you have in mind Tirelle?" Gavin asked as he saw Tirelle glance at the flowers.

“Oh I just love the intoxicating aroma of flowers,” Tirelle blushed a bit.

Gavin just looked at her, not sure if he believed her or not but nonetheless replied, "Okay, lead the way."

Alicia was not interested in climbing a tree for whatever was up there. She picked up a shearing tool and placed it near a particularly large piece of fruit and snipped it. She suddenly grabbed it out of mid-air. Her mind calculating its fall pattern perfectly. "You think I am a barbarian, Madwoman? Climbing a tree for food. How primitive."

Her head turned to smile at Alicia, kindly and in a rather amusing manner. This girl was funny, and Myne liked that. "Well, not barbarian per say. Just, you know, tribal? The usage of terms such as Madwoman, Shaman, Chief, and other titles that reduce a person's value and existence to a singular trait is a sign of primitive mentality. Of course, primitive in a social sense, not technological sense. So while I do not think you are regressive and primitve in your social development, your behavior does strongly hint at that. With that being said... go on little primate, go up the tree for tasty snacks! I can even transport some bananas up there if you want?" Myne again talked without any ill will, sarcasm or any negative emotion. Her demeanor and tone were innocent, honest, and very straightforward, she believed what she said in an almost youthful innocent manner.

Alicia winced at her a bit. 'Touché madwoman. You may win the battle, but it is I that will win the war.' Alicia internalized while munching on a banana. She spoke to herself then looked around. 'Plants... good thing I am going into engineering. Who wants to be knee deep in shit all day long planting a tree that will just be consumed later. Technology is so wonderful.' She then stared at Myne. "How long is this going to take? I have other far more interesting diversions planned for today."

"I don't know. How long do you have before you have till night time comes for you? Also, now that I know you have more interesting diversions, I plan to make this last a whole day just for my fun!" Myne replied winking at Alicia. "So better do the monkey thing and climb up the tree!"

Alicia growled. "Ugh... I'm done with this foolishness. Getting a demerit from the commandant is way better than climbing a tree." She turned to leave.

Myne shrugged. "Yep, suit yourself, I am not going to stop you!" With that she turned to keep an eye on the children climbing the tree. Alicia would get about twenty meters or so from the group before being transported back to the group. Ad nauseum if she kept trying to leave.

Alicia walked up to a tricorder and picked it up. Punching a few commands into it, she generated a localized dampening field around herself to keep Myne from beaming her back. "Now to do something more intellectually stimulating. Idiotic madwoman." Myne's AI friend was going to have a hard time getting a transporter lock on her.

The tricorder began sizzling as soon as she left the allotted distance from the group. After its circuits fried Alicia found herself teleported back to the group, Myne looking in surprise at her tricorder. "Oh? Did it fry it? I swear I am going to tear this new subroutine a new one. The capacity to think at the nanosecond level, leaving it basically hundreds of years in its time to find a way to render that inert and it chose to fry it. Why are all the subroutines I compile such assholes?" Myne sighed at Alicia and turned back to watching the tree and the other kids.

Alicia walked up to Myne. "Let me leave, or I will slap you, and keep on slapping you until you relent. Madwoman."

Taking one step back, Myne smiled and tapped something on her PaDD then shook her head. "Yeah... added a nice note for your parents recommending counseling. Clearly, someone is several centuries behind in evolution when it comes to manners. Try to touch me, I do dare you." The challenge was there because Myne was a bit bored too. And she wanted to see the teen mid-swing reappearing a few meters away from her.

"I don't care, The Academy Commandant may give me dozens of demerits for slapping you. I want to leave." Alicia noted. "You are a lunatic, and you need to be committed. Keeping someone on your idotic field trip is even worse." The Jr. ROTC Cadet was ready to slap Myne into oblivion.

Myne shrugged and did not look impressed. "Kinda crappy of you to join a trip like this open for all ages and then act out the way you do. Arboretum by itself is a rather boring place, logically it would be a boring trip. Then all ages means children under the age of ten, which need more childish entertainment and are more wonderous about the world around them. Again, logically boring for someone your age. I am responsible for a large group, with only two aids that are more or less overwhelmed by the number of atandees. Thus I am responsible for your location and safety, logically. Keeping you here keeps you safe as per your guardian's wishes, thus doing my job. If I am lunatic for tending to my duties efficiently, then yeah, huuuge lunatic here. Meanwhile, you are aggressive, impolite, vulgar, you lack any self control whatsoever, conflictual and overall kind of a mean and bad person, you know? Plus, honestly speaking now, I may have four centuries ahead of you in dealing with little bratty kids. My solution is brilliant and without any risk of injuries. If you want, I can just let you rest in the transporter buffer till the end of the trip?" Myne's flurry of words were kind, open and without any trace of being upset or angry or hurt. She was offering honest information to the young teen.

"You demented maniac." Alicia noted. "You cannot keep a pattern inside a transporter buffer indefinitely. The maximum amount of time, given the federation's primitive transporter technology, is five minutes until you effectively murder me." Alicia noted.

"Yes, you are right young one. Five minutes at a time, which means I can daisy chain you through buffers for a while. Now, how about you stop acting like me two centuries ago, and have some actual fun for once?" Myne proposed patiently and smiled.

"I am so over this." Alicia noted.

Tirielle kneeled on one knee as she smelled the roses. “Gavin, these flowers have more uses that the aroma and beauty they possess. Some of them have been bred to fight cancer, mental illness and skin care.”

Gavin knelt beside her. "I hadn't really thought about all that." He said honestly and feeling very stupid. "I mean, I know you can take the seeds of some and as you said use them for truly beneficial means. It just isn't the first thing that pops into my head when I look at a flower." He admitted.

“True,” Tirelle blushed a bit. “Roses one feels romance, carnations feel friendship and elegance.” She leans down as she sees a carnation as she plucks the top of it and fastens it to his shirt. “Friend.”

Gavin was touched by Tirelle's simple act of friendship and thoughtfulness. He reached down and did her one better, picking up a carnation and a rose. He attached the carnation to her blouse and repeated what she had told him. "Friend." Then smiling, he handed her the rose. "To whatever the future holds Tirelle."

Tirelle felt the connection right away. She was at a lost for words but then she responded with one simple word, “Indeed.”

Gavin's face split into a huge grin. "Exactly." He replied simply, looking right into Tirelle's eyes as he said it.

Up in the tree, Vick was swinging like a monkey.

“Vick,” Lara says to him firmly as she recalled a few years back, she was up to the same hijinks, “Key thing is when you are having boisterous fun, “Keep an eye on what you are doing.”

Amelia kept blushing a bit. She whispers to Lara, “Alex keeps giving me that look like he wants to kiss me.”

Lara looked over at Alex as she whispered back to Amelia, “No secret he likes you. I am three years younger than him and you are only one year. Plus we are kids.”

All of a sudden Vick looses his grip as he slips a bit but he was quickly caught by Alex. Alex says to Vick, “You almost fell.”

Vick grinned. “Almost.”

Lara gave Alex a nod for helping out.

Ed started towards the big tree everyone was climbing up and set down his backpack. After pulling the first aid/trama kit out, he had to pull the tent out. The giving up, he dumped everything out to get what he wanted. Which of course was on the bottom of the bag. Grabbing an emergency crash pad, decided to auto-inflate to stop a falling person from injuring themselves. Ed tried placing it under the tree where the majority of the kids were clustered, but the kids were all over. He looked over to Lt Redal and said, "It must be a nightmare having kids, they have no self-preservation instinct?"

"Oh, hi there spiderboy!" Myne chuckled as she turned her head to see Ed next to her. "You're late! Brought a tent and everything with you, sweet. But the inflatable thing is not needed. They've all been tagged by the transporter system and I have a subroutine managing to keep track of them. If they fall, they'll be safely transported down." Looking at the tree and the children having fun, Myne's usual cheerful smile turned a bit nostalgic. "It is actually a wonderful experience, I do recommend it."

Ed shuttered, then spoke," Of my siblings, we were always at the med-center for treatment of cuts and abrasions, broken bones, strange objects ate, and other assorted other treatments. If were had not been in there at least once in a month, the doctor would make a house call to check and see if we were still alive or if we had killed each other. I still have the scars." He stopped pulled his hair back on his head exposing the top of his forehead, where scares were visible. " I was chopping firewood, for a campfire, and my brother decided to set the max pressure and speed settings to attempt to convert our hydraulic press into a wood splitter. He had made an auto feeder for it. He was not that mechanically inclined. Pieces of wood went everywhere. Dad would not let him near his tools for a year."

"That sounds like it was a fun childhood." Myne nodded smiling a bit more cheerfully. "You know the docs can fix those scars, right?" She asked looking at the scars on his forehead. "Though I cannot say I do not envy your father. Had a few wonderful children myself, but I was a mother only twice. Being a father seemed so much easier honestly."

Ed was confused for a second, "Father, were you a single parent?", Something was nagging on his sub-conscience, he was missing something big, he would probably be putting his foot in his mouth, but he had to know. "Umm, are you a life form that produces offspring a-sexually? Err umm, something like that?"

Staring at Ed in disbelief for a moment, Myne laughed out loud and shook her head. "No silly, I am a Trill." She pointed at the dots going down her temples to her neck and under her uniform. "I am actually a Joined Trill. As in I have a symbiont inside of me who's merged its memories and personality with mine? I am Myne Redal, the tenth host of the Redal symbiont. So basically that means I have lived nine previous lives. I am the third female host basically. So I have been a man seven times and kinda have been a parent during each lifetime. I might have some ample experience at being a parent from both sides." Myne explained as if eager to start another verbal waterfall.

Ed shook his head, then said " So you live forever! Wow, how do you not get bored. Once you have done everything, what then?"

"Well, not forever. At one point Redal will grow too big to be able to be Joined. And he is big-ish already. I heard of a symbiont that lived up to a thousand years. So I don't know how long Redal has until he will be too big to fit anymore. And yeah, no, not getting bored. Each new host comes with a new joy and yearning for life. It's like starting over again and again but you get to keep all your experience and abilities mostly. Like one of those Earth games on the computers. You know, the ones from before the holodeck." Myne explained eagerly.

ED looked at her neck, the spots, and said, "So are the spots a warning, saying this person is really clever, and don't engage with out back up. Or is it more like camouflage?"

Myne raised both of her eyebrows and tried to stifle her laughter, failing obviously. "Haha, woooow, that I never heard. Camouflage?" She asked touching the side of her neck where her dots are. "Yeah, both. Warning that you are dealing with a smarty pants as well as serving as awesome camouflage. Against what? No idea!"

ED looked at here spots, "Weeeellllll, are you a combat expert? " Ed started slowly edging backwards. Unlike his brothers, he did not like aggressive women, that could kick his but... not that he had a thing against a woman holding her own, he just had enough problems getting picked on by guys due to his short stature, and adding the other half of the human race to those who seemed to have license to mess with his head. But she did not look like a coiled snake, ready to strike. But like the saying goes, you never judge a book by its cover, and that other one, it's the quiet one's that you have to watch out for. They explode with little or no warning.

"Combat expert? Not in this host. Used to be, but right now I am honestly paper-thin when it comes to combat." Myne nods down to herself and her rather clearly lack of muscles and more lithe form. "I like to, let's say find folks who are stronger and bigger and just take cover behind them. Safety first and all that jazz. Well, my safety first." She chuckled at his reaction. "You are also such a scary cat for someone working Security."

Ed looked down at his play clothes. He was not wearing his standard Star-fleet engineering coveralls, as he needed more pockets, than they allowed for. He was wearing his Solarian guild standard utility engineering coveralls. The Utilitarian Grav harness, that carried his equipment, did look like the security combat harness. He had loads of pockets and attachments, but nothing looked like weapons... Except for maybe the end of his collapsible hyper spanner, sticking out of his leg side pocket. That could be mistaking for fighting sticks, and in a pinch he could use it as a Boken fighting staff... Then there was the type three duotronic probe, that did have a handle sticking out of it's pocket, that did resemble a handle for a type four phaser... Then there was the phase decoupler, it did look like the photon grenade / mine that the ships self defense force practiced with. He looked back at Lt Myne, and said, " Well..... Let me introduce my self. I am LtJg Edward Garnla Gnomomer Chel'Sata, from the House of EL, line of D'Graceful, I am an assistant officer in Engineering. I am a Solarian, mostly human." Ed did not remember introducing him self, and started mentally kicking himself for not following standard human etiquette or communication protocols.

Myne paled for a moment and looked stunned at Ed before shaking her head and slapping her forehead. "Oh gosh damn it! Ed, right! Damn it, sorry, for some reason I kept confusing you with Damien, a guy from Security. Sorry, my brain is really scattered today."

After a second, Ed said, "So wait....Do you have a cricket, as your guide, or conscience? Do you ever get into arguments, And what happens if they get mad and decide to not speak with you for a decade or so? Is the silence deafening, when or if that happens? And if you need skills that a prior host had, is it like pushing a button and suddenly you have access that knowledge? And when you go to use said skill, if you don't have the kinetic memory for your muscles, how do you do something that your present body has never do? Is it like your rusty at trying to play a instrument, and fumble for a bit until your muscles learn and or adapt to the neural impulses there receiving?"

Alicia responded. "I will never understand humans."

Ed looked down at the child and said, " That's OK, I don't understand them either, most of the time! You don't look like a Vulcan, are you emulating one? or are you just naturally logical? I understand machine better than people, the rules are simple and easy to understand. Humans... not so much! Humans, they are messy, complicated, and chaotic under the best of times..."

Laughing Myne shook her head. "No no, nothing like that. It is kind of like your reincarnation religion back on Earth. But you actually keep all of your memories and instincts mostly. That sort of thing. Not really voices in my head, just instincts, feelings and things like that do not really belong to me, the current host. But to the hosts before me." Myne explained warmly.

"And yes, if I want to do something that a previous host could, it is like accessing a old memory. But a bit better than I understand you Humans can. As for muscle memory, with this body, yes it does feel like I need to catch up. You know? Like my old host was larger and a guy, so I there are times when I try to do things like Sudra did, but I realize I am either shorter, or my reach isn't that long. That kind of thing."

Alicia looked at Ed. "I assure you I am not a Vulcan. I am an Alindari." She noted. "And we do not practice Logic. Instead, we spend our lives learning to master our emotions. Not suppress our emotions." The girl noted. "Though I am beginning to have my stoicism tested by the lunatic that would put me into a transport buffer just to exercise her authority. I'm currently pondering ways to simultaneously evade the AI she has as my chain... and escape her grasp here in the arboretum. Choking her with some vine from one of these florae is not off the table, but if I did that... i would be dooming another Trill somewhere when her lunacy is implanted into them. It is not my people's way to torment another living soul. But of course I am running out of viable options to escape this insanity."

Ed looked over at the small child, thought for a moment, then asked, " Do you like taking things apart to see what makes them work?"

"That's it..." Alecia noted. "I am finished with this human, juvenile, regressive nonsense." She mentioned as she picked up something sharp. Walking towards Myne... "If your AI beams me back one more time!!! Or if you put me into a transporter buffer. I will first stab you, then I will stab the parasite in your abdomen." Alicia noted as she walked off... Perhaps it was better just to... give the Alindari girl space.

Watching the gaggle of children climbing the big tree and reaching the top or falling down had Myne's attention captivated. The falling children of course were caught by the transporter before being in danger, brought back safely on the ground. It was a cheerful sight to say the least.

As Alecia approached her and made her threat, all Myne could do is raise an eyebrow and do the Vulcan greeting hand sign. "Live long and stop being so stuck up I guess." She said to the girl as she walked off. With a sigh, she tapped on her PaDD and Alecia dematerialized after she left the allowed range, rematerializing in her own cabin. A note was sent to get guardians or parents, Myne offering the recording of their conversations as an attachment, and made sure to have a submind monitor that her message would not be deleted or hidden by the girl.

//OFF//