Getting To Know The Roomie

Posted on Mon Jan 7th, 2019 @ 2:33pm by Cadet Freshman Grade James Corrigan & Cadet Freshman Grade Tarik Varen
Edited on on Mon Jan 7th, 2019 @ 2:33pm

Mission: The First Step...
Location: Cadet Dormatories
Timeline: 2388/08/25 1620 (August 25 2388 4:20pm)

'Remember son, they're going to be different than we are here. They aren't going to shield away their emotions because it's impolite. You and your sister had better be proactive about your shielding or you're going to fall apart. Don't disappoint me." It was those last words of his father before he'd left Betazed that had echoed in his mind the entire trip here. His father had warned him that this could be hard, but Tarik had not expected this. The sheer unshielded emotions of all the humanoids that were here were draining his shields faster than he could reinforce them. A pounding headache was the aftermath of just a few hours of being among them. Escaping the pressure was his only thought at this point and he walked as quickly as was socially acceptable towards the quarters he'd been assigned.

James was more thoughtful than truly excited as he approached his quarters. He didn't know the young man that had been assigned as his roommate, but he expected the worst; he always expected the worst. Thanks ever so much, Dad. he thought bitterly in response to that realization. As he neared the rooms, he brushed by someone else and glanced toward them. "Oh, sorry." he murmured somewhat distractedly as he passed, not rude enough to just pass without apologizing but not realizing whom he'd bumped either.

The brush combined with the emotional output of the other boy was enough to stagger young Tarik. His uniforms slid to the floor as he tried to shake the dark mistrustful feeling. Tarik drew on the bond to his sister to recenter himself and was rewarded by a wave of affection from his twin. Talia was wellspring of support for him. "Pekh!" He swore as he knelt to gather his clothing.

James, hearing the curse, stopped and looked back up the corridor. He hadn't realized he'd brushed the other guy that hard. Feeling bad about having caused this problem, he returned to the other and squatted down, picking up a pair of socks and a shirt that had scooted away from the rest of the clothes when they had fallen from the bag. Handing them over, he offered, "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to knock into you."

A smile hovered briefly at Tarik's lips, taking away from the incessant headache for a bare moment. "I am not damaged, do not worry about it."

James grinned. "Good." he said. "Still, I'm usually not such a dumbass." he added with a chuckle, the other's smile lightening his mood a bit.

Tarik chuckled softly "It would not be a logical course of action to assume that you were, after all you are here. The difficulty of securing entry to this location automatically eliminates the term 'dumbass'."

James was momentarily caught off guard by the other guy's laughter. Usually Vulcans, and even most half-Vulcans, had no observable sense of humor; but this guy did. After the moment of shock, he chuckled too. "Yeah, I suppose so." he acknowledged. "But sometimes even we do a pretty good imitation of it." he joked.

"I suppose so. I am called Tarik, you are?" Tarik answered as he hefted the bag again. He headed down the corridor in step with the other young man.

James stood as Tarik did and moved back down the corridor toward his room, the original intended destination. "James Corrigan." he offered in response to the introduction. "It's nice to meet you, Tarik." he added as they reached his door, stopping and turning to offer a handshake in proper greeting.

The Vulcan boy laughed again and took his hand, to shake. He winced a little at the increase in emotional output but shook the other boy's hand anyway. "Well, James...It seems that we are roommates. "

James wasn't stupid; he knew Vulcans were touch telepaths. He just hadn't thought about it when he'd offered his hand. Dumb! But there wasn't anything for it now, and he was glad that Tarik hadn't seemed put off or put out by it. At the statement, James looked at the door then back to his companion. "Oh..." was all he could think of to say at first; he hadn't really expected to run into his roommate quite so literally. A blink and a shake of the head later, he opened the door, stepped aside and grinned again, friendly. "Well then, Roomie, after you."

"Roomie" he repeated, trying out the word as if he'd never heard it before. "Interesting term that." Tarik proceeded into their room and turned around in the center of it. This is larger than I had been expecting "Do you have a preference for a room side?"

James followed Tarik in, eyes flicking over the room before answering. After a moment, he shook his head. "Not really."

"Excellent" he said softly as he placed his things on the bed that was on the window side. The sun would wake him well before any alarm would need to do so.

James really didn't mind that Tarik took the bed by the window. He hated that early morning sun in his eyes anyway. Dumping his bag on the other bed, he unzipped it and began taking his clothes out and folding them into the drawers built into the wall at the foot of his bed. "So what's your field of study?" he asked by way of getting to know his new roommate.

"Medical, perhaps with a focus on genetic engineering. How sentient beings get put together fascinates me. The idea of why one culture or set of attributes is stronger than another...wondrous. Yours?" Tarik answered with a greenish flush, embarrassed at having rambled on like that.

James paused as he listened to Tarik's answer. Somehow that field made sense for a Vulcan, he thought. Too much Latin to learn for him though. At the return question, he shrugged. A realization struck him as he opened his mouth to answer, and he chuckled a bit. "I guess we both like to know how things work." he commented. "My main is Engineering; my Secondary is Flight." He finished with his clothes and pushed his bag carefully under his bunk. Then he turned and sat on the edge of the bed. "You planning to do Command School?" he asked, curious.

"Nope, that's Talia's thing not mine. My twin, Talia is also here, she is studying command, and gets the shudders at the idea of medicine."

James chuckled. "Then what's her secondary? Just curious."

"I don't know that she's chosen one, probably Tactical if I know her at all, she's...clever. She hasn't mentioned it to me. Nor have I heard her thinking on it." Tarik grinned at the idea of his twin being in command of Him!

James was still getting used to this, a Vulcan who smiled at all, not to mention so readily. "Oh." he finally answered after a moment's thought. "Why would she hide that though?" he mused more to himself than as a question to Tarik. In fact, he had not meant to say it out loud at all as it was only a continuation of his own thought process regarding what Tarik had just said.

"I think its more of that she hasn't been thinking about it. There is lots of opportunity here to make choices." Tarik shrugged as he pulled a rectangular base out of his personal bag that was designed to hold a tiny fountain.

James blinked. "Hm?" A pause as his mind told him he'd said that out loud. "Oh, sorry." he offered a bit lamely. "I didn't mean any insult. Hell, that wasn't actually supposed to exit my head." he added with a slight chuckle. "What's that?" he asked curiously, motioning toward the rectangular thing... and desperately trying to change the subject from his screw-up.

"Its a fountain, or it will be when I get the damned thing put back together. Its one of my favorites from home. You don't mind the sound of water do you?"

James shook his head. "Nope. It's soothing, actually." he answered. "Is the fountain a replica of somewhere or just an artistic fountain?" he asked curiously.

"Well, there is a bigger version on the Clan's villa on Vulcan. It's an ancient structure so the singular water-source for the place is both functional and beautiful." Another shrug accompanied his words. "It was my favorite place to be in the whole enclosure"

James tilted his head. Vulcan was a desert, so he could definitely see how such a fountain would be a nice place to get away from the oppressive heat. "I imagine it could be a good place to meditate?" he mused aloud, the thought coming out as a question since he wasn't much of a meditator. Maybe he'd be less of a head-wreck if he learned that skill though, he thought.

"It can be. I use it most mornings for precisely that reason" He put a slight emphasis on most because a lot of times his meditating wasn't as successful as it should be. Mostly because of the press of minds on his. Vulcans and Betazoids- full blooded ones- were much more polite about their mental spillover. Not that humans could help it of course.

James thought about that for a moment. "Have you ever tried to teach someone else to do it?" he asked about meditation.

"I haven't...but I could give it a shot if you want to learn." Tarik answered with a smile.

James considered the other cadet, then the replica. He knew he had issues, and maybe meditating would help him work through some of them without the Counselor. He shrugged. "Sure. It could only help me, right?"

"Indeed" he answered as he lay back on his bed. It was comfortable, and more than adequate for his needs.

James nodded, turning to lie down on the bunk and think. So far, so good. he thought, closing his eyes for a few minutes.



Cadet James Corrigan
Starfleet Cadet
Engineering and Flight Control

&

Cadet Tarik Varen
Starfleet Cadet
Medical