An Aenar Walks into a Bar

Posted on Sun Jun 13th, 2021 @ 7:58am by Raven Mattel & Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth

Mission: The Gauntlet
Location: Deck 5 - Little Caesar's

Hungry, Aenardha decided on taking in the barcade she was informed about in the stead of the restaurant this time. Though she preferred a quieter and more laid back environment and though she had heard that the barcade was loud with a lot of action, Aneardha did not want to be known as the crewmember that never frequented the place. At least one visit every now and then would keep the gossip at bay.

Entering, Aenardha wanted to get to the bar for some food and refreshment. After her training session with Cailus, she was still sore and needed something to help with that. But she entered on the floor with all the arcade games. It was definitely loud and Aenardha worked to not attend to the noise. She wanted to make her way through and around everyone caught up in their games to the staircase leading to the next floor with the food. With just about everyone gluing their eyes to the screens, public vision gave her nothing but pixelated images, bright and flashing lights, large monkeys, really fast centipedes, and drifting cars to name a few. One person’s eyes dilated at the sight of a strange demonic character ripping his defeated opponent’s head off complete with a grandiose spurt of blood. She figured that person was going to be a future mass murderer before she pressed on toward the staircase.

Forward motion was slow as she could only guess at where she was in relation to everyone else. There were few eyes not looking at video screens so she had little to nothing to help guide her along her way. Bumping into a few people who only ignored her and continued along in their pixelated quests, was a bit awkward but everyone appeared used to it all. When you put this many people into a space with such large devices, bumping elbows was a given.

Finally, Aenardha reached the stairs and managed to navigate them without fault.

The next floor of the barcade proved less noisy and more open. There were still games but not of the video kind. Aenardha’s telepathic vision showed her hands of cards which she immediately disallowed herself from seeing any further, various ball games, something she could only describe as air hockey, and, of course, there was the bar. Her sense of smell, taking in the preparing food, was already pointing her in said direction before public vision did.

As some people just looked about as they relaxed, on top of already being spread out a little more than the arcade, Aenardha was able to navigate her way to the bar without awkward incident. Finding a seat was no problem at the bar. Aenardha slid herself onto a barstool there and awaited being served.

Appearing from seemingly no where, Raven Mattel popped up from behind the bar and slapped a coaster onto the surface in front of the Ensign. "A new face?" She declared, her tone sparkling with interest. "What'll it be, darlin'?"

Aenardha found she rather enjoyed that salutation. It was better than some of the alternatives she had grown accustomed to. “Yes,” she said, “a face you will see more regularly,” though she was unsure of that. This place was still a bit on the loud side for her taste. “A glass of water,” it was nearly a question, “if you will. That and…” Aenardha was unsure what this place had and certainly did not want to order something bland. She was once told to be adventurous during her time away from Andor. Drinking only water was certainly not adventurous. Too late, she felt, to go back on that now. “An order of baked eelpout.” She was wondering if she should order more. “And, a salad?”

"My goodness, you're hungry." Raven remarked, swinging her long black hair across her shoulder. She started entering the order on her PADD, biting her lip as she concentrated. "Ice in the water?"

Aenardha nodded and then decided to expand on that. “Please make sure the ice is frozen brine. And the water,” she hope she was not being too complicated, “fortified with trace amounts of liquid oxygen.”

The cups of her antennae turned inward toward each other. Doing so proved to have no effect but it showed that Aenardha was trying to mitigate the visual and audible stimuli of the place. There was, almost, too much, public vision as well as hearing melding together into a chaotic smattering. She tried to focus solely on the bartender before her, looked her right in the eye with her own white in white eyes.

“And yes, my physical trainer says I need to eat a little more than I am accustomed to.”

"Some rocks in the ocean, I got you girl." Raven replied with a nod, as she danced a little to the synthetic beats playing in the background. "What kind of salad?"

It took Aenardha a moment to fully realize the woman’s mannerisms, her way of speech, her body language. Raven did not seem to care what others thought of her. She was very comfortable with who she was. The telepathic over stimuli about the place was almost too much and Aenardha had a little trouble making a decision.

“Whatever you recommend,” she said, “will suffice. I try to be open to new things.”

"Hmm. Let's go with the namesake and try a Caesar salad." Raven replied with a smile. She served the water first; the glass was so cold to her touch it was almost burning her finger tips. She placed it down onto the bar in front of the officer as quickly as possible. "So how come I haven't seen you round here before?" She asked, moving over to the replicator.

“New to the crew,” Aenardha said. “Still warming up to the place,” she said, knowing the saying and the irony it possessed when coming from an Aenar. “I am the new Intelligence Ensign.” She paused for a short second. “Uh…Aenardha Sh’vastarth. Are you a member of the crew?”

"Please to meet you, darling," Raven replied, not even attempting to pronounce that name. "My name is Raven Mattel, I'm part of the civilian services onboard. I bar tend, host, and perform here at Mindo's. And I help run events for the ship from time to time."

Aenardha found some gladness in Raven's lack of attempt at pronouncing her name and the replacement with 'darling,' though Aenardha felt that might have been a blanket term for all of Raven's customers. Still, it was better than the alternative. "So, you do MWR? That is, Morale Wellness and Recreation. Sounds like an important job. Especially for a crew out here in the Expanse."

"Oh honey, tell me about it." Raven snorted. She was busy moving about the bar preparing the Ensign's dishes with a distracted lightness. "These folks get mighty stressed out there. But... they do also know how to have a good time, too. It's a bit of a guessing game to figure out what mood they're currently in."

It did not have to be a guessing game with Aenardha. She understood all the same. Those without telepathic or empathic abilities would have to guess. Especially amongst a crew made up of many races; all who tended to show their respective moods in differing fashions.

Aenardha knew that her humor was generally more darkened than most. She certainly did not consider herself depressive and did not possess a doomsday complex, but was also not as open and giddy as many whom she encountered. She was not on par with Raven.

The place, however, was still populated with various members of the crew and all seemed to have been having a good time. “A guessing game you seem to have much practice in.” She allowed herself to open up a little and performed a mental scan of the area. “With much success I might add.”

"Oh this is a good place to hang," Raven replied, as she served the Ensign's meals onto the bar in front of her. She noticed the officer taking a moment and titled her head curiously, "And to make friends."

Aenardha recalled her friendship-making while at the Academy. It was pretty much nonexistent. She did have friends however, none that she felt she would ever see again. Mostly because none of them were Starfleet. All of them, however, were the kind most parents would want their offspring to steer clear of. Aenardha’s parents, had no idea.

Now being a permanent member of the crew, “I am confident I may make a few friends,” she said to Raven. But she was not sure any friendship-making would occur in this place. It was simply too loud and too busy for her tastes. Too much mental stimuli. Certainly not a place she would want to ‘hang’ for long. “Thank you,” Aenardha said as she used Raven’s vision to look at her food. She committed it all to memory as Raven looked away. There was enough public vision about for her to not lose track of where her food was located, how much was left, etc. “This certainly looks delicious.”

"I'm with you on the salad, the eelpout not so much." Raven remarked as she served another officer a cocktail. She kept looking over the the Ensign in between each step, not wanting her to feel forgotten. Her job was to serve drinks, but to also entertain and engage the crew; she felt a responsibility to ensure the new officer was feeling welcomed. "So tell me, honey, where do you come from?"

As though the antennae did not give it away. “Andor,” she said. “The polar regions of Andor…that is…where the Aenar are from. I hail from the southern polar region. We…do not leave the homeworld very often.” And, even though Raven’s vision proved her to be human and her mental pattern definitely matched that of the rest of humanity, “and you? From where do you hail?”

"Earth originally." Raven replied. "A little town called New York. Then spent a few years on Risa, that was a blast. Now I'm sailing with the Pandora, checking out the Expanse. I'm guessing your folk haven't travelled much into this area either?"

“There are not many Aenar,” Aenardha replied. “At any given time in our history there have never been very many at all. In fact, it was not until just some years before the formation of the Federation that the Andorians themselves thought of us as more than a myth.” She thought quickly of the events that lead to her leaving Andor. “And for any of us to leave the homeworld…well, it is a big undertaking.” It was one way she could put it. There were other ways Aenardha could have stated it, but that would only lead to questions she did not wish to answer.

"You're a pioneer then." Raven laughed, "Just like me." She made herself a drink and raised the glass, "To us!"

Aenardha was confident the Raven actually chose to become this pioneer. It was not exactly the scenario for Aenardha though. Still, she raised her glass, mirroring Raven.

OFF