Just For Fun
Posted on Thu Aug 20th, 2020 @ 9:56pm by Lieutenant JG Ezrin Ezee & Lieutenant Commander Flora Hazeline MD
2,036 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Joint Logs
Location: Potemkin Arboretum
Timeline: Set a few days after Broken Bridges
Flora lay with her back against soft green grass, almost dozing in the shade of the tree. Almost. And it was almost shade, being artificial lights that lit it, but it resembled and reminded her of naps beneath the tree on Earth.
A soft giggle floated towards her from off to the right, as Ezrin happily grubbed about in the dirt.
Flora lazily raised a hand, waving at the giggle, but not yet opening her eyes. They had been acknowledged and she was still feeling very relaxed. Although she could feel something creeping over her other hand, she knew it was probably just one of the ‘locals’ and didn’t mind.
“Is bridge-doctor-friend napping?” A bright voice asked, suddenly from close by.
One eye opened, followed by another and Flora stretched, before sitting up. “No Ezee, just relaxing and resting my eyes” She patted the grass with a smile “You’re welcome to join me, unless I’m in your way?”
Ezrin folded their legs, the ankles resting atop their thighs and back ramrod straight. “Ezrin is not on duty, bridge-doctor-friend. Ezrin is Ezrin for play, and Ezrin is Ezee for work.” They declared happily.
“Then I am not bridge-doctor-friend either, I am Flora for play.” Flora answered, picking a stalk of clover and chewing on it gently. “Are Ezee and Ezrin different forms of your name, or different parts?” she asked, curiously.
“Ezrin is not certain we understand?” Ezrin answered, tipping their head curiously. They were also quite filthy; dried mud encased their trousers from ankle to knee, and fresher mud glistened wetly from fingertips to elbows. “But we do not understand Federation naming anyway, so this is not a new confusing thing.”
“Well, I can’t speak for all humans, but at least most humans on Earth have two or more parts of their name. Their first name, in my case Flora, and a last name, in my case Hazeline. We can also have a title like Mr, Mrs or Doctor in my case. So I am Doctor Flora Hazeline, and I also have a middle name, which is Jane, making Doctor Flora Jane Hazeline. In practice, most people don’t use their middle name unless its legalities or formalities. In official situations, we usually use title and last name, or rank and last name as a rank is a form of title. In off duty or personal situations, we usually use first names, or sometimes nicknames which are shortened forms of first or last names, or even unrelated names. Some humans in some area’s of Earth however, use the last name first and the first name last, as the family is considered more important than the individual and they are part of more collective than individual cultures. Then you also have for instance the humans living on Vulcan, also known as Vulcans, who often name males with a name starting with S to honour Sarek, who was important to them, and women often have their name start with T and a comma, followed by a name. I think that’s also in honour of someone but I can’t remember who I’m afraid. How does your naming convention work?”
Ezrin blinked at the verbal deluge of information, only really understanding a bit of it. Then they shrugged. “Ezrin is Ezrin Ezee, but those are our work-and-play names. It is what we use to refer to ourselves in speech, but it is not usually how others refer to us, except in strange-ways-Starfleet. We refer to other beings by places we know them from, their purpose in those places, and their relationship to us. You are bridge-doctor-friend. There is captain-being, but they are from all of ship-home so would properly be Potemkin-captain-being, but this is too long to say during work so they are just captain-being. Using work-play-names to refer to other beings is very strange to us.”
Flora smiled at that. “You can use anything you are comfortable with to refer to me. What do you prefer I use for you?”
Ezrin smiled, once again showing off sharply pointed teeth. “Ezrin knows of strange-ways-Starfleet. Bridge-doctor-friend may call us Ezrin for play, and Ezee for work. This is easier for strange-ways-Starfleet, as it is easier for Ezrin to use bridge-doctor-friend instead of their play-name-Flora.”
Flora nodded quietly. “You look like you’ve done quite the playing.” she nodded at the dirt.
Ezrin grinned unabashedly, bouncing in place a bit despite the strange way they were sitting. “Ezrin *has* been playing! Bridge-doctor-friend will come see what Ezrin has made?” They asked hopefully.
“Of course. Show me!” Flora responded, enthusiastically.
Ezrin leaped to their feet with so much energy it hardly seemed like there was a transition between seated and standing. Then they skipped off, leading Flora to what appeared to be a small patch of mud next to a little pond. On the edge of the mud patch was a little ‘castle’ made of mud, currently drying out.
Flora looked around, amused. “A bug house?” she guessed, with a smile. “Or is it a fairy castle?”
Ezrin grinned back. “Ezrin wanted to play with mud today. We did not know what we were going to make until it was made.” They declared happily, kneeling in the mud without hesitation to begin gouging out another wet lump.
Flora smiled. “Well I’m sure whoever comes to live in it will love having a house of their own.” She sat down next to Ezrin, and poked at the mud, unsure how to start. “I miss it sometimes. Just ...being until I found a place to stay.”
Ezrin looked across at Flora, an emotion in their eyes that was difficult to categorize. “Bridge-doctor-friend is here now, with Ezrin, and there is mud to play with.” They answered bluntly. “This is how to be where you are.”
Flora nodded and started slowly shaping mud, her creations neither delicate nor well crafted...yet. “It’s grounding.” She smiled sunnily at Ezrin “Have you ever heard of henna? That’s the mud I like playing with.”
“Ezrin wonders what ‘henna’ is?” They responded cheerfully, digging a little moat around their castle.
Flora copied Ezrin and dug a moat. “It’s a specific kind of mud, we grind it from leaves. It leaves a delightful stain on Sol Human’s skin, I don’t know what it would do to yours. But I’d be intrigued to find out. It leaves a brown stain, and it wears off as the skin flakes off. I ...sometimes use it to remind myself of beauty out there. I’m not very good at doodling with Henna but ...If you ever want a temporary reminder of something….”
Ezrin smiled back. “We would be happy to play with ‘henna’ with you,” they declared. “It is a good thing, to do fun things only because they are fun. Happy-fun-things are for pleasing yourself, not for being good at.” They struggled to explain.
“Let’s play with clay and mud for now.” Flora answered with a smile, dripping more mud on a fairy house….a very arcane, witchy fairy house. With a crooked roof. She smiled. “Sometimes I need reminding of that Ezrin.”
“All beings do, sometimes.” Ezrin answered cheerfully, watching as water slowly trickled into their moat from the pond.
Flora grinned “When did you get wise?” she asked, lighthearted and serious at the same time. “I used to think good of everyone, everything. I miss that. “
Ezrin’s hands paused, then continued forming as perfect a ball of mud as possible. “Ezrin is not wise. Ezrin just knows that right now is all important. Days-before do not matter, days-coming do not matter. Thinking of them beyond initial lessons only distracts and does not help.” They looked directly at Flora then. “You can still think good of things, bridge-doctor-friend, while remembering lessons of days-before. But now is still all important; forgetting this fact is what leads to sad or angry.”
Flora nodded sharply. “Living in the present and not judging based on the past. I used to be good at that. “ she formed a hilltop cave, almost having a roof...maybe? “I need to get back to that. I need to learn to trust again. To love again.”
“If you knew before how to love, to trust, then you still know it. It is not a thing a being can forget how to do.” Ezrin responded simply. “Being caught all up in pain and hurt can make a being lose sight of it, but it is there still.”
“Of course,” Flora answered, crafting crude dwellings. “After all you can’t change base personality, or so said T’ple. “ She paused. “I’m not in pain though Ezrin, not in hurt. I am ok with what happened. I had all the counselling session.” She smiled. “Things happened and I put it behind me.”
Ezrin’s chuckle was more cynical than their usual. “If this was true, then bridge-doctor-friend would not be needing Ezrin to remind them how to play with mud, or informing Ezrin that they needed to find love.”
“Wait, when did I say that? I have plenty of love! … “ Flora paused. “Look, just because Nydia has other lovers does not mean I’m without love.” She looked down at the mud in her hands. “After all, Teagan loves me in her own way, as does Serena, and I am respected by enough people in sickbay to know I am well regarded. “
“If you believe that, then why say to Ezrin that you have trouble trusting, and loving?” They carefully squished their mud ball, grinning at the feeling between their fingers before starting to reform it into a ball. “Ezrin thinks bridge-doctor-friend *needs* to be okay, and so denies when they are not okay.”
“I know I am loved. I know I am trusted. “ Flora answered stubbornly. She eyed the other being “Did you train in psychology or something?” she asked, a little disconcerted. She smiled. “I’m fine.”
“Ezrin is not for psychology,” they denied, the words not making much sense, “Ezrin just tries to understand beings around them. Bridge-doctor-friend needed reminding how to play with mud. It is not other beings’ trust or love in you that you doubt.”
“Hmpf” Flora continued building her row of tiny houses. “But….. oh esteemed one, you have a but there. “
“Ezrin does not understand?” They replied, very confused by this response.
“It sounds like you have more to say, to elaborate.” Flora answered, stubbornly. Her house fell apart and she set about rebuilding it, enjoying the slip and slide of clay and sand in her fingers.
Ezrin looked at Flora for a long moment, trying to understand, then just shrugged, looking back at their ball of mud. “Bridge-doctor-friend said that they missed trusting. That they needed to go back to it, like they had been absent from it for so long the pain is something apart from them.” They looked back at Flora, meeting her gaze evenly. “Fear of further pain belongs to days-before. It can happen again, yes this is so. But closing off and refusing to trust again will destroy your inside-being far more quickly than the pain of the betrayed.”
Flora set about molding tiny houses anew. After all, lords and ladies had castles, but the wee folk had houses. They needed houses. She pondered that. “Acknowledged. “ she answered, almost curtly, but with a hint of kindness. This took more than a few moments to consider. She had a paradigm and integrating any new concept, be it the concept of everyone being human, or ...well, whatever this was, took time. But she missed her younger self. And she would think, no, meditate on this
Ezrin smiled at her, then began helping her make tiny mud houses, chattering away about unimportant things, suddenly seeming like a small child again.
Flora went with the flow, making small mud houses and made a mental note to think about what Ezrin said. And to evaluate Ezrin’s mental processes, as on file. Although, she noted, maybe that wasn’t necessary. Maybe only if her….their….advice proved off.
Yes,only if there was a problem, she decided.
~End Log~
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