triangularity | Open RP post!

She has no intention of ever lying to her charge. Hadand answers honestly, "No, we didn't stop. This room, your room, has a containment field around it, because your abilities might interfere with the ship's operations until you get them under control. That's what Lieutenant Tuvok will help you with. As soon as you have more control, you can go anywhere you'd like on the ship. For now, we need you to stay here. Is that alright with you?"

Hadand can also teach her something akin to meditation, but movement-based, if Sky is interested. Going through Odni forms does calm the mind, once they've been learned well enough to be a part of habitual muscle memory.

On the one hand Sky wanted to see more of the ship. She felt very interesting energy signatures from various decks and she wanted to look at them. But she didn't want to cause trouble, which she figured exploring might cause if they had to shield her room against her own abilities, "This room is mine!? It is so much bigger than my stasis pod. I didn't expect to get so many things. I don't even know what many of them are."

She looked around the room, her energy waning a bit as the rest of the statement sank in, "I have to stay in here? But I wanted to see more of the ship. The warp field felt different from the information I was given while I was asleep. Will Tuvok and the others visit me?"

Hadand laughs. "It's yours. I didn't know what some of them were either. We had less technology available on my planet." The learning curve was steep, but she was so used to having every minute of her day filled with work, official or not, that Hadand picked things up very quickly.

"For now you have to stay here. Of course people will visit you, especially Lieutenant Tuvok. And as soon as it's safe for you and the ship, you can go exploring. In the meantime, we'll find things for you to do in your quarters." If Sky has any questions about the ship's functioning or the warp core that Hadand can't answer, she'll get B'Elanna or one of the ship's engineers up here to explain things. And they'll try any activity Hadand can think of, to see which ones Sky is actually interested in.

"No, the technology I understand. At least, I know what they do," Sky had wandered around a little, to see all that was in her room. "I don't understand this. What is it?" She was pointing at the bed.

"Do you know how long you think that will take?" While this room was much larger than her stasis pod, the ship was much larger than this room. It also had much more interesting things. Plus a lot more people for her to meet. "What am I to do until I can go out into the rest of the ship? And what's that smell, I like it."

The girl is, as expected, nothing like any child Hadand has met in terms of her knowledge, but her curiosity and eagerness to try things is the same. "That's a bed," Hadand explains, no disbelief in voice or face. "It's for sleeping in. The blankets on top keep you warm if your room gets a little too cold to be comfortable."

"I'm not sure how long it will take to get your abilities under control. A lot of that depends on you, and on Lieutenant Tuvok's ability to help you. Do your best in your sessions with him, practice in between those, and it should shorten that time. I'll practice meditation or anything else I can with you, if you want me to." That entails asking Tuvok for lessons of her own, or to sit on on Sky's, but Hadand has never shied away from a little extra work.

But all practice isn't a good life for a child, especially one who can't get outside, or even to a holodeck simulation of outside. "We'll try a lot of things until you find some you like to do. Games, books, art, music."

"Environmental controls are voice operated? And a neutral environment on this ship would be bad. Why would you need a blanket?" Sky understood the use of 'blankets' on the surface, neutral environment was a little too cold at night.

"But... you don't need to control genetically designed weapons systems. Why would you need to meditate?" Sky understood from Mr. Tuvok his species had a history of volatile abilities like hers, only they evolved naturally. She was curious what other people meditated for.

Sky smiled at the list of offered alternatives to try. "Really? I would like that." She did like the idea of trying new things, everything she tried was a new thing. "What are games, books, art, and music?"

That's something Hadand hadn't really considered until just now, but she answers, "I think a lot of people appreciate the sensation of being covered up while they sleep. The blankets aren't heavy. They only make a small difference in terms of temperature."

She smiles. "Meditation can be used for a lot of things. It helps clear the mind and manage emotions. For some people, it's a part of their traditions or belief systems. It isn't a bad thing for anyone to learn." Hadand has already learned from Chakotay, since they exchanged traditions some time ago, but she would want to see what differences there were in the way Tuvok instructed Sky before working with her on it.

"Music is sounds, arranged in rhythms that are good to listen to. We could sing something, if you like. Singing is making those sounds with our voices, but music can also be made with objects, called instruments." Of course, Hadand is now mentally running through the songs she knows, trying to think of any that won't raise more questions than Sky can possibly get out before Hadand forgets where the questions started.

Sky accepted this as true, because there was no reason not to accept it. Even if she didn't exactly understand the concept herself.

"But if emotions don't have an adverse effect, why do they need to be managed. They seem fun," Sky you broke a tricorder because Tom Paris told a joke. It wasn't a very good joke, and you didn't understand it. "But I don't understand traditions, so maybe I should understand those first."

"Are we singing now? How is it different from talking?" Technically there was a rhythm to speech, it was random and not very good, but it was there. Sky considered the idea of instruments and walked over to the replicator. She looked at it for a few moments before it activated.

And made a kazoo.

"Emotions are usually good," Hadand agrees, proof that she isn't always on the same page as Tuvok. "They can have an adverse effect if they're too strong, and if people behave poorly because they put their own feelings ahead of other important things."

Hadand grins and demonstrates, a wordless series of notes. "That was singing. Sometimes it has words and sometimes it doesn't." And she watches curiously as Sky works with the replicator.

Stepping closer, she examines the kazoo. "This looks like it goes in your mouth, and you blow into it somehow. Why don't you try it and see what sounds you make."

"So too much emotion, or too much focus on emotions?" Still, she very much enjoyed feeling things. She couldn't understand being without such experiences the way Mr. Tuvok seemed to prefer things. "And if I feel too much ship's systems are adversely effected."

Sky listens in awe to the wordless noise, very pretty noise, but it doesn't have a function to her mind. Not like the hum of a calibrated warp core, or the meaning attached to the signals inside of the gel packs. Still, it is very pretty.

Sky took the kazoo, put it between her lips, and it made a noise, a meaningless one that was a different sort of pretty from Hadand's singing. Naturally it needed a tempo, so she gave it the same tempo of the noises in a functional turbolift. That is the right way to do this isn't it?

"Both, but more so the latter." And Sky's feelings have had adverse effects through no fault of her own, unlike people who choose to allow their feelings to rule them and cause harm. "No one expects you to develop the same distance from emotions that Lieutenant Tuvok has. Your feelings aren't a bad thing. We just hope that you can learn to control the effects of those emotions, so that eventually you can be happy or sad or angry without affecting any of the systems around you."

Not everything has a purpose, though Hadand's singing usually does. Her people sing their history, because their native tongue has no written language. (There are, of course, records in another language. They aren't confined only to songs they remember.) She was just hoping to explain music without prompting a cascade of further questions, hence the absence of lyrics.

The sound is such a surprising one, like no instrument Hadand has ever heard, that she can't help laughing. And then she recognizes the rhythm of the turbo lift, and that's just as surprising. She grins at Sky.

"I don't want to break anything! Except... I'm supposed to have adverse reactions on certain types of technology. Isn't that why I exist?" Sky's purpose was to cause adverse reactions in Borg technology. The systems connected to this task were not fully under control, either due to a fault or due to Sky's incomplete aging parameters. And until they could develop a way to safely correct or augment Sky's bioelectric systems there wasn't much they could do.

Sky giggles, she clearly did something right if Hadand is laughing. The lights flicker, half a glass of milk (half the glass, a full container's worth of milk) appears in the replicator, and Sky realizes she shouldn't giggle without thinking about her abilities. The rest of the ship is protected from her, but her quarters are at her whims in such ways.

"I still don't understand, they are very nice noises, but what functions can they serve?"

"Ideally," Hadand says, "you would have conscious control over the effects you have on technology, rather than causing malfunctions spontaneously anytime you feel something strongly. I don't think anyone intends for you to completely eliminate that part of who and what you are. But you can have other purposes, ones that you choose for yourself. I had to find a new one, when I left my own world and everything that had been planned for me."

She takes a nearby towel and sops up the milk spilled at the replicator, offering Sky the much shorter than usual glass. "Here, drink this."

"Music doesn't have to serve a purpose. My people's songs had words and were used to tell stories from our history. But music is also just for enjoying. If you like it, that's all it needs to do."

"But how would I choose a different purpose? I am very good at the one I was designed with. I do not know what else I have an equal skill for," Sky was very young, younger than she looked, and this was a moment where it showed more clearly. She wanted to be the best version of herself she could be. And to that end she had to pick the right thing to be. She was not a very good anti-borg weapon, as she did not have enough control over her natural abilities.

Sky took the glass and drank it without question. The replicator made it without Sky tripping any of the security safeguards. Clearly it was safe to drink. She checked, all the security systems were still intact. She ran a diagnostic to be sure.

"So things can serve a very simple purpose... like minor temperature adjustements without having to access the room's environmental controls?" She means the blankets.

"I've been wondering that too," Hadand says softly, not having expected to find this particular common ground with Sky. It makes sense, though, with both of them coming aboard and suddenly thrust into an entirely new situation. "I was trained for fighting and for being queen someday, but now that I've left my planet, I'll never be one. I think that being security officer on Voyager is my purpose for now, and later I'll probably add more, like raising a family, or finding a new place to call home if the ship's crew ever part's ways."

She reached out to rest a hand on Sky's shoulder, giving a light and hopefully reassuring squeeze. "As we try new things, pay attention to what you enjoy. What you're interested in, what you want to learn more about. We'll work from there, and you can talk to me or the other crew members about it. I think that we both have a choice here, on Voyager, that neither of us would have had before."

Her brow furrows in confusion for a moment at the talk of temperature adjustments, but then it smooths again as she realizes what Sky must mean. "Some people's purposes seem much bigger or more complicated than others', but the important thing, at least for me, is to have one. A real one, one that I can feel strongly about."

Sky crossed her arms and considered all the words Hadand had used in her explanation of what she wasn't, what she should be, and what she was now. Finally deciding on which word was the most important to ask about, "What's a family?"

"So... I don't have to pick now?" Sky had a skewed sense of time, and a skewed sense of everything really. But it seemed reasonable, trying things and deciding. She had to be allowed out of her room, but figuring out that would be first. Maybe she can work on the problem of her systems interfering with the ship's sensors so they can get a better understanding of how she works, to fix her. "How will I know what I like? I seem to like everything."

Sky that is not a problem most people face.

"A family," says Hadand very quietly, thinking of her mother and Aunt Ndara, Inda and Tanrid, Evred and Kialen and Tdor and Joret... Not all of them are blood relations, but they were always an integral part of Hadand's life and her purpose. She decides that for all of her loyalty to blood relations like her father, for all of the times she's focused on her ties and duties to people in spite of their flaws, there's only one definition she wants to give Sky.

"A family is people who care about you. People you love. People who are loyal to you, and who earn your trust in return. People you can rely on. I had one on my own planet, but I'll never see them again. It's important to me to have a family, though. I'm finding a new one here on Voyager."

She'll circle back to that other question eventually.

Several of the concepts she understood. As a weapon the definitions were pertinent. Loyalty, trust, rely, care. She had a few bits of Borg terminology in her mind, to know her enemy. And words she learned from Tuvok and Tom. "Do they stop being your family when you exceed a certain proximity?"

"What's love?" That was a word she had heard before, but in multiple contexts. It got very confusing. Tom said it a lot. But it was always in setting where it would be inappropriate for Sky to ask what it meant, as he was talking to somebody else.

"They don't stop being family, but they stop being able to support me or communicate with me or let me help and protect them. I need people in my daily life to fill that role. People who are with me." That's what bothered her most when she first came aboard, Hadand thinks. She was lonely and purposeless. Hadand isn't a solitary person. Having people to care about and protect is incredibly important to her.

"Love is a feeling." And it's one that's hard to define or describe. She knows that words won't be adequate, but Hadand will do her best. "It's a very strong positive sentiment about the most important people in your life. When I love someone, I can't help but smile more when they're with me. I value their well-being above my own. There are very few lengths I wouldn't go to make them happy and protect them. I like to demonstrate love physically, with hugs and kisses, but some people don't. The way you feel is the important part."

"So a family is like a maintenance crew? They are important but only if they are close enough to provide support?" Sky that is not a good metaphor, you don't know what metaphor means. Stop that.

"So my well being is of less value than most people, I love them?" Sky was a weapon, she was meant to be of value, and her value ended with the lives of those around her. Certainly the efforts went into protecting her meant she was loved by the scientists that died. But the concept still seemed incomplete. "But... if your feelings are shared, wouldn't they also put your well being before theirs?"

Hadand shakes her head. "My family will never stop being important to me. Not when I'm on the opposite side of the galaxy, not when I know I'll never see or speak to them again. They're so important to me that my life feels empty without them unless I let my family grow. I need to find other people to love and share my life with, or I'll be sad and lonely for the rest of it."

And if that first comparison made her miss home, the second nearly breaks her heart. "Your well-being is no less important than that of any other person on board. Captain Janeway doesn't believe in sacrificing anyone, you included, whatever the reasons were for your creation. And this crew is a lot like a family already. They've gone through a lot together." Before Hadand joined them, and after.

"If I love someone, I try to keep them safe, and if they return my feelings, they do the same. We take care of each other."

She considered the idea in terms she could understand. Information was valuable, it continued to be valuable even if the exact parameters no longer applied. And you constantly needed to find more or else you would lag behind and suffer for the loss. Sky would feel empty without it, "So family is important in the same way energy consumption is? It is a need?"

"But if that is the case, when a situation requires someone to take on the greater risk, who does it?" Sacrifice was a part of any dangerous endeavor, and the idea of trying to minimize damage was one thing. But how do you decide who takes the greater risk if everyone is attempting to protect everyone else. No one person becomes the obvious choice.

"On this crew, we're pretty stubborn. We don't want to sacrifice anyone, and we'll fight against impossible odds to keep from doing it. Captain Janeway even moreso than the rest of the crew. But Voyager has come through some really awful things intact, so I think the strategy is working." Stubbornness is not so much a strategy as a lack thereof, but it pushes them to come up with some innovative and, frankly, crazy ideas. So far, those ideas have worked.

Fortunately, Hadand is every bit as stubborn as the rest of the crew. She fits in nicely.

"That goes for you too, now. No sacrificing members of our crew, not even the new ones."

"But the math does not work. Why would you take a path with the highest chance of failure and the greatest risk of assets?" You are attempting to explain stubbornness in the face of danger to a weapon designed to face a swarm of angry robotic bee people. She understands Borg practicality to counteract it. To force their losses to be the greatest possible.

"If I am the most logical choice, and the probabilities are in my favor, I shouldn't put myself in jeopardy of being lost? Even if the alternative is everyone? Wouldn't I be sacrificing everyone for myself?"

Hadand has always been good at equations of cold practicality. She was willing to marry her brother's murderer because she had no proof and held her kingdom and her duty as more important than herself.

"I don't think there are many people on board who wouldn't sacrifice themselves for the sake of the rest of the crew. But it isn't fair to anyone to make that choice too soon."

Sky is far more grounded in logic than any other child Hadand has known, and she thinks helplessly that perhaps she's making a mess of this and Tuvok would handle it better. But no. Sky should learn to understand emotion as well as logic, and to make choices based on both. She forges ahead. "I think that it's possible to get too caught up in probabilities, and to underestimate your own importance to the people around you. Yes, sacrificing someone is sometimes absolutely unavoidable. But don't give up until all avenues of creative thinking have been exhausted. It's likely that we won't always agree on what odds are worth facint. That happens."

Open RP post!

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You thought you'd seen the last of me, but I was biding my time. Mwahahahaha

Re: You thought you'd seen the last of me, but I was biding my time. Mwahahahaha