A Brief Interlude

Posted on Sunday, 24 May 2020 - 2:58am by Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD

Mission: Operation: Recall
Location: Vashti

Once the supplies were unloaded, there was still work to do. Patients to be treated and medication to be distributed. The nuns seemed to have the latter pretty much under control. Ryan had been seeing patients for a couple of hours, and was just getting back from taking a quick break for the restroom and water. He was about to get started again when he spotted a Vashti child, sitting a bit away from the main group. He grabbed a few supplies, then headed over. He sat down close, but not within the child’s personal space. “I’m Ryan.” He introduced.

The child looked up at him, but didn’t speak. She didn’t run though, so Ryan counted that as a win. ‘challenge accepted’ thought Ryan. He grabbed a drawing pad from his bag, as well as some vegetables and fruit, which he put on a paper plate on his side, closest to the child. He looked around for inspiration. There really wasn’t much to see. Sand. Well, with sand came reptiles. Ryan remembered spotting what he would describe as a lizard earlier. Considering his audience he went for a more animated approach. Giving the lizard a cricket in one hand and a handful of micro greens in the other. He casually reached over and pushed the plate closer to the child, and angled the work in progress so she could see.

The white haired Caitian appeared and drew some kids attention, but the Ensign seeing what the Doctor was up to thought she'd settle in next to him. She had heard him from afar tell them his name was Ryan. "My name is..."hmm Lu'Sura doesn't roll off a child's tongue easily nor does Assisi she thought. She paused for a moment.

A child made the first move. "Kah'tan" the child said. Ensign Lu'Sura knew it as the Romulan word for her species. She nodded "Yes, I am. You may call me Tani" she said the them "TAH-nee" she repeated twice so they could hear her.

Ryan looked to the child he'd been drawing for. She seemed to have warmed up to him. She crawled into his lap as the group approached. He tore off the page with the cartoon lizard, and offered it to the child, then started on one with a cartoon Lu'Suru. Drawing with his dominant left hand, but sneaking a small handful of greens with his right, and offering them to the child. His gaze to Lu'Sura slightly mischevious.

Ensign Lu'Sura with her feline grace leapt onto a nearby boulder and struck a pose lying on her side, her tail moving about in annoyance of the heat. She would be glad to be off this hot world. "Draw me like one of your Betazoid women" she said to the Doctor with a playfully mischievous purring.

Ryan smirked. He couldn't exactly draw her naked in front of a group of children. Had it felt remotely sexual he would have balked and blushed, no doubt. But he knew a playful jab and an old cinema reference. He gave her cartoon form a large purple jewel though.

She stayed posing for a while until he was finished. When she came down from the boulder, she admired the man's artistic work. "You captured my good side very well, Doctor. I guess that steady surgical hand hassss" she said in a seductive hiss "mmmany of talents" she added and purred something fierce.

At that Ryan did blush a bit, offering her a deprecating smile. He also handed her the paper.

He managed a few vaccines for some of the braver kids, trading pictures for them staying still for a hypo.

The Caitian nuzzled against some of the children, holding them like they were her own. She purred the pur any Caitian would to calm their child, lulling them for Ryan to load up a hypo and give the little dears a fighting chance. "Have you ever thought about having some of your own, Doctor?" asked Lu'Sura in reference to children.

"No." He answered simply. With the last of the children handled, and an empty notebook later, Ryan stood, grabbing two bottles of water from his bag. He offered one to Lu'Sura. "Thanks for your help. That went smoothly thanks to you."

"Ah" she replied and accepted the water. "You just seemed so good with the children. You're welcome, Doctor. It's a lot easier to press a hypo to a child when there's entertainment."

"It is indeed, and I love kids. I just don't want my own." He clarified. "When I get tired of traipsing around the galaxy, I'm sure I'll settle down with a nice pediatric center and breed border collies. You were great with the kids yourself. Any little Caitians in your future?"

She shrugged. "At this point, Soral may get more than me and that's saying something. Believe me, it isn't for lack of trying" added the Caitian. "Speaking of he who has a stick up his ass, we should get back to the shuttle."

Ryan held in a snort, rather poorly. He really had to stop thinking of the XO with a stick up his ass, or he was going to say something in the man's range of hearing and get himself in trouble. Ryan nodded in agreement. "You're right, we should head back." He settled his bag over his shoulder. "I can't wait to get off this planet, it's like living in a dry sauna."

 

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