#ofstarfleet

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. always accepting.

"...Worry?" Asa repeats, blinking as his head cants to the left. The young boy knows that the captain's words are true-- worry, anger, and fear are all swirling in their eyes-- but he's confused. He was always on his own back home and none of the Dreamers minded, so--

"You couldn't tell, could you?" he murmurs, remorse radiating from him and flowing into the surrounding air at the realization. Remembering that he has to be more clear, he continues. "That I was alright?... Back home they could. They always knew. They still do," he elaborates. The idea that people light years away know more about him-- his thoughts, his feelings-- than the crew right in front of him is so strange.

hands shoot up in front of her face, partially hiding a face splitting grin, the mischief which is dancing in every curve and sparkling glint in her features. it does nothing to quiet it in her tone, full of bubbling laughter and unrestrained glee.⠀ ⠀❛⠀⠀⠀hey ! i’ve got total faith in you.⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ she says, putting her hands down, one of them perching on her hip.⠀ ⠀❛⠀⠀⠀total and complete faith.⠀ ⠀ ❜

wording had the added benefit of sounding completely fake, while being the truth. christine trusted erica with her life, her secrets and even toplay her panicked friend when she needs to get out of a bad date asap. it is just...

❛⠀⠀⠀it is just... you don’t seem like the plant type, you know? are you really gonna remember to water them? twice a day?⠀ ⠀ ❜

fishing rod forgotten, almost slipping from between her fingers, christine props her chin on her knee, gentle gaze resting on joseph. endless curiosity, so often etched into her features is gone, replaced by something softer, a concern which does not demand answers or for the world to reveal itself, only a request — that she be allowed to understand, to care so that the burden doesn’t rest so heavily on his shoulders alone.

❛     you can't blame yourself for everything. it's not fair.     ❜    

it's rare that beverly takes a night shift, because there usually isn't anything to do. she mercifully hasn't had any patients and her sickbay is empty - which is also rare. at the very least she tends to have a stray ensign but they seem to be behaving themselves for the time being. but it had offered a respite from everything; she's still trying to get used to her own thoughts again, not being connected with jean-luc's since their depature from kesprytt's area.

without anything holding her to sickbay, beverly inevitably finds her way to ten-forward for an extremely late dinner, though she's surprised to find she's not entirely alone. of course guinan is there, but geordi is who she spies first and slides easy into a chair beside him.

Pavel arches a brow. "Do you expect to die before you are fifty, sir?" He would prefer not to think about losing anybody on the bridge crew, for their loss would feel like a deep wound that would never heal, but anything is possible out here in the black.

After all, he has stared his own mortality in the face numerous times already.

"Hey, it's okay," he soothes as he swiftly injects the medicine to a too-tense arm. Sam lays a hand over a fist clenched in a white-knuckle grip, brushing his fingertips gently over their knuckles. "I'm a doctor, alright? I'm here to help, and you're gonna be--"

His words die in his throat when @ofstarfleet opens green-brown eyes, a legendary face looking into his own-- his own, as confirmed by a brief glance at his reflection on the medbay wall.

"You will tell me about your plants even if I say no, Hikaru," Pavel teases, and that's as much invitation as he will get out of him.

Truthfully, he's not a plant person. He's never found them interesting beyond thinking a couple flowers looked or smelled nice, couldn't keep them alive to save his life, but Pavel would listen to Hikaru ramble about them for hours because it makes him happy and he lights up in this way that tells him that he really does enjoy this hobby of his.