A Burgeoning Friendship

Posted on Fri Jan 11th, 2019 @ 5:54pm by Cadet Freshman Grade R'Maia
Edited on on Fri Jan 11th, 2019 @ 5:56pm

Mission: The First Step...
Location: Academy Grounds
Timeline: 2388/08/26 0602 (August 26 2388 6:02am)

R'Maia placed one foot in front of another as she pounded the pavements around the Academy grounds. Perhaps it was part of her heritage or perhaps she was just odd but the Caitian loved to run. When she could she went out twice a day and regardless of the fact that she had gone out yesterday evening too, she was up bright and early and at it again.

The feline humanoid moved with grace, her whole body moving with fluid beauty as the early morning sun began to flood campus and she freed her mind of all thoughts. She was still very down and low and missing home but running meant that at least for a while she could forget about it all and the surroundings here on campus were simply beautiful.

Rounding a bend in the track, she saw a lone figure sitting under a tree reading from a PADD. It was the cadet from the shuttle yesterday. Adonai.

Slowing up a little she reduced her pace to a jog and said politely "Good morrrning."

The Nygean teenager looked up from the PADD he'd been reading and he saw the familiar sight of his transport friend, the Caitian named R'Maia. "Oh hello," he greeted her in return. "Sorry, I was just reading. I didn't think there would be many people awake this early. How are you doing?" Adonai asked.

"I'm fine." R'Maia replied with less conviction than she felt, "Just taking my morrning rrrun." she smiled, "It helps to clearr the head." she added as she dropped down on the grass beside him and asked "What arre you rreading?" Despite their shaky start the day before and despite the fact that Adonai had reacted badly at the sight of her, R'Maia was eager to gather as many friends as she could around her to help rid her of the aching loneliness in her heart right now.

Adonai handed the Caitian the PADD for her to see for herself. "Just some medical texts from your Federation library. I have four weeks to study for my entrance examination. I know it's the first day but I thought that I should get started right away. I'm sure that there is a lot of material for me to cover. I don't think Liam would have appreciated me studying in our room at this hour."

"Why not?" R'Maia asked, "Rrreading isn't noisy." she added, unsure why the other cadet would take offence to it.

"Well, to be honest... I didn't want to wake him up. I have a habit of reading out loud," the Nygean admitted. His cheeks reddened a little bit. "Liam is a bit... strange so I want to maintain our good relationship."

R'Maia smiled, her eyes twinkling with amusement at the admission before she asked "Why is he strange?"

The Nygean ran his fingers through his dark hair and then scratched his head. "I suppose that I just don't understand his reasons for coming to the Academy. I don't think he knows what he wants to do with his life."

"Surely if he's here he wants to become a Starfleet Officer?" R'Maia frowned, figuring that Adonai was right. Why be here if you didn't want it?

"I'm not quite certain he is going to make it that far," Adonai replied honestly. "I hope he will prove me wrong. However, I think he is expecting that it'll be... an easy ride from point a to point b. Did you know that he has no knowledge of which course he's enrolled in?"

"He doesn't know?" R'Maia looked at Adonai incredulously, "How can you not know? Is he not all there?" she asked, thinking that the whole notion was crazy.

Adonai shrugged. It was certainly possible. "I haven't had the chance to perform a psyche profile on him as of yet. Mind you, that isn't really my specialty."

"Do you know yet what you might specialise in?" R'Maia asked Adonai, eager to hear what a fellow med student had planned.

"I haven't really decided yet," admitted the Nygean. "Although I think that I would be best suited for something like critical care paediatrics. A lot of the medical things I've done so far in my life involved simply helping others through the difficulties they were having. The healer I helped would give me minor tasks to accomplish but as I was never professionally trained I was never allowed to do the more complex things. What about you?" he then inquired, wondering what the Caitian was planning to do.

"Definitely trauma and orthopaedics." R'Maia smiled, "I want to be good at first response, fix people up when they're at their most critical." she added then shrugged and said "I want to be on the front line."

"That is brave," Adonai said, obviously impressed with R'Maia's drive to be involved. "I'm certain that you'll do well. Now that I know you, you seem to have a very friendly face. People should respond positively to your help."

Friendly face? R'Maia sighed wishing that the Terran cat wasn't so popular. Her species always seemed to be compared to them and deemed 'cute' by many other races. "Thanks." she managed to say as another pang of home sickness hit her, "Though a doctorr needs to be morre than just a frriendly face you know."

"Of course," Adonai agreed. "They need to be sympathetic and good listeners too. Every now and then you run into a patient who has an interesting story to tell you. It's what makes the whole experience more worthwhile in my opinion. A friendly face goes a long way though.. it builds that first connection of trust."

"I guess." R'Maia conceded as she looked out over the campus grounds, "So how is the studying going anyway?"

"Some of it is easy. Some of it is more difficult," he replied while looking over to the Caitian. "Much of the basic principles and guidelines are very similar though. I am anticipating that most of the problems I will face will be linked to your technology. I am not used to using your tools and gadgets."

"Oh it's all pretty user friendly." R'Maia smiled, "If you get stuck I can help you if you'd like?" she suggested.

"I would appreciate that," the Nygean replied with a smile. "Compared to this, the methods that I am used to would seem archaic to you and the others. We used plants for medicines and the like."

"Even today many medicines orriginated frrom plants." R'Maia replied, "It's not so different." she smiled and reached over to pat the back of his hand for reassurance.

"But do you still use things like... a britomysida to help cauterize wounds? It's like this big red and yellow swirly thing with many tentacles," he explained using his hands.

"I...uh...don't have any clue what that is but it sounds kind of weirrd." R'Maia replied as she held back a giggle.

"It is a pleasant creature, found in the seas of my planet, although my first experience with one didn't start off very well. Someone had suffered a serious cut to to their leg and I was sent to retrieve it. Unfortunately, I mishandled it and the britomysida latched onto my face!" Again, Adonai used his hands to explain everything to the point where he was now covering his face with both of them.

The giggle finally broke free and R'Maia laughed "I would verry much have liked to have seen that."

"Me too if it was anyone else but me!" the Nygean replied, laughing as well.

"Did it leave a marrk?" R'Maia asked, still wracked with giggles.

"It did!" Adonai stated and he made a diamond outline around his nose. "I had a big red mark here and it lasted for about a week. I had to put a paste on it to soothe the burning sensation."

R'Maia fell back on the grass and clutched her stomach as she laughed, her mind filled with images of Adonai with a big red mark on his face.

The Nygean laughed as well. While he didn't find the ridicule he suffered at the time to be particularly amusing, he knew that his friend didn't mean any ill will towards him so he didn't take it seriously. "You have a nice laugh," he finally said once they'd managed to catch their breath.

"So do you." R'Maia replied gulping air. There had been something very therapeutic about laughing and for a while she had forgotten about how lonely she was. "Thank you." she said softly as she looked at him.

"For what?" Adonai asked. He was certainly unsure as to what he'd done.

"Forr making me laugh." R'Maia replied softly, "I haven't felt much like laughing lately so it made a nice change." she added with a smile as she watched him.

"Oh!" Adonai replied in surprise. That did make him wonder about what the Caitian had said though. "Why haven't you felt like laughing?" he then asked.

"Oh it's just me being silly." R'Maia replied, grabbing her tail and playing nervously with the tuft of fur on the end as she added "I'm rreally homesick. Everryone else herre seems to be getting on rreally well and all I can think of is home."

"I think about home all the time," Adonai admitted. "I miss my family too. I've never been anywhere without them. You're not the only who is... homesick," he said as he returned R'Maia's gesture from before and placed a comforting hand on hers.

R'Maia nodded silently, unable to talk for fear of it coming out sounding like a sob. Blinking a few times she looked around at everything other than Adonai, embarrassed that she was being so weak.

Being the observant teenager that he was, Adonai could see that his friend was still feeling down about the prospect of being away from home. He had to do something about it! "Would you like to eat dinner with me later?" he asked.

A smile lit up the Caitian's face and she replied a little shyly, "I'd like that and perrrhaps I can help you study at the same time?"

"That would be great!" Adonai replied with some enthusiasm. "Seeing as I have so much to do, it will probably help me get through it faster."

"Plus I took the test so I can tell you the kinds of things that they asked us." R'Maia smiled, feeling pleased that Adonai had taken her up on her offer.

"Oh yes, that would be most helpful," the Nygean agreed. "Do you think that they would change the questions because of that? So that I wouldn't have the advantage of knowing what to answer beforehand?"

"Oh I'm sure that it will be differrent." R'Maia replied, "But at least you'll get a feel for the kinds of things that they ask."

That made sense to Adonai. "Yes, that would be helpful," he surmised. "Thank you for offering to help me."

"My pleasurre." R'Maia smiled at him, starting to feel a little less alone, "Besides, it'll give me something to do. I need to be busy rright now."

"Why is that?" the Nygean asked. "Because of your feeling homesick?"

"Silly I know." R'Maia nodded, looking suitably embarrassed and feeling weak minded because of it.

Adonai stopped himself from replying right away so that he could think of something good to say to try and cheer up his furry friend. "Well, I'll just have to make sure to keep you really busy," he finally offered.

"Deal." R'Maia smiled, holding out a furry paw for the Nygean to take. Despite their shaky start, he really was a nice person and she hoped that in time she could call him friend.

Returning the smile, Adonai met with the Caitian's paw and he shook it gently. "I will meet up with you later then?"

"Laterrr." R'Maia nodded, getting to her feet, "And thanks." she added softly before giving him a wave and heading off again to finish her run.

Adonai laughed softly to himself and shook his head. The Caitian he'd originally met on the way over to this planet was certainly growing on him. So much so that he considered her a friend. He certainly hadn't expected to meet someone like her at the Academy. Maybe it was just the first of many surprises that awaited him on his path to becoming a Starfleet Officer. If that was the case, then Adonai was eager for what was to come. The future was looking bright.