hello from the other side ( open )

[ethnobotany]

New Orleans Open

Nothing has really been good for Beverly in months. She's had patches of wonderful, good things, but overall, since the day she left sickbay on the Enterprise-E to the Borg, nothing has gone well. Not overall.

And now, just when she thought she was managing her flashbacks and nightmares again, she woke up one morning to find Fatima gone. So the guilt has set in. And the worry. And everything else. Fatima was like a daughter to her and Beverly misses her with every fiber of her being. A part of her is so angry with Q, beyond angry, Beyond something simple. She has never liked him. Not even once.

But right now? Beverly Cheryl Howard Crusher is 1000% done with Q. If he leaves them alone today, it would still be too late.

So, here she is in the holodeck today. Most people will come across her sitting by a trashcan of fire in the middle of a back alley. She's instructed the holodeck to make the fire big, so it's pretty much a bonfire. A contained bonfire, but a bonfire nonetheless.

Fire is calming to her. She loves the flickering lights, the way it smells.

Fire helps her cope.

Fire is real. Even when it isn't.

Orient Express Open

If New Orleans isn't the destination of choice, a visitor might open the holodeck doors to find themselves on a train. Right now, it's empty, but that might change. Beverly herself is on the train, with her back facing the front of it.

That may or may not be intentionally symbolic.

Whatever the case, she's curled up on one of the seats, her legs tucked up and her head resting against the window as she watches the world go by. On the seat between her and the wall is a PADD, the one she's been trying to use since Deanna made her suggestion. For now, it's enough to watch and think. Maybe she'll turn the actual story on sometime.

Five more minutes.

Five more minutes to mourn, to watch the back of the train, her life.

Five more minutes to feel guilt that she isn't there with Fatima, that she knows what Fatima will go back to but she isn't there to help.

Five more minutes to wonder about the version of Beverly Crusher who should be in this timeline and to feel guilt about that, too.

Five more minutes to feel numb.

Comments

[tript]

"Sorry to hear you have to send her off." He looked sympathetic. The way Q brought people here and then sent them away again did make things chaotic. Which seemed to be why he was doing it.

"Do you know where Q sends people, when they go?" He guessed Q wouldn't send them anywhere unsafe, but he didn't seem to be a very predictable person.

[ethnobotany]

"It would be easier if I knew she was going back to something nice." But Fatima isn't. Beverly knows exactly where in the timeline of Zelien it is that Fatima will return to, what she will have to deal with. With luck, whatever that man said was real and the remaining people would be able to fight their way back up and out of COMPASS' grasp forever.

She can hope.

"Supposedly back where they came from. I don't rightly know. Considering this is Q, I wouldn't be surprised if he chose somewhere else at random and started tossing people there just to see what would happen."

Her opinion of Q has never been very high at all.

[tript]

"Wouldn't surprise me either." Based on Q's actions, it seemed like nothing he did would surprise anyone.

"But maybe he took pity on her and sent her somewhere nice." It was a whole lot more optimistic and happier view. Trip preferred it. "Better to think that than worry that she's somewhere awful."

[ethnobotany]

It's nice to imagine, even if Beverly doesn't believe it. She knows Q, knows how he works. Having Fatima sent somewhere nice wouldn't be part of his MO.

"Maybe he sent her somewhere like Pacifica or Risa," she muses. "Somewhere nice where she can have an actual vacation and be pampered and not have to worry about food or shelter."

[tript]

He nodded. Those were nice sorts of places "She's probably sitting on the beach, watching the waves, having drinks with cocktail umbrellas brought to her."

[ethnobotany]

The corners of Beverly's lips tilt upwards as she imagines that. "Hmm, I'd be taking a walk, diving into the water, sunbathing. What would you do on a planet like that?"

[tript]

He stared at the edges of the fire while he thought about that question. What he'd done on Risa three years ago wasn't the same as what he'd do now. Especially without Malcolm.

"I'd be doing some swimming and scuba diving. Check out the local bars, make a few local friends. And then I'd get bored after a couple of days," he admitted, smiling. "I'd probably try and get a job working on spaceship or boat engines."

[ethnobotany]

If she had someone to go with her, perhaps things would be different. But only one person on board this ship would be close enough for her to invite and even then she likely wouldn't. Her relationship with Jean-Luc is far too complex for her to even begin to want to push and prod at it.

She chuckles lightly at his answer. "The first few days sound wonderful. After that, I think you're missing the point of a vacation," she chides teasingly. "At least I wouldn't have to order you down, like I've had to do with some people on this ship."

Not naming any names Picard.

[tript]

"I know the sort." He chuckled, remembering what some people on Enterprise were like about taking vacations. Namely Archer and T'Pol.

"Tinkering with engines is like a vacation. I just happen to do it for work." He shrugged. "Doing nothing has its appeal, but only for so long."

[ethnobotany]

"Well, as long as you enjoy it like a vacation and not just work, I think I can let it slide," Beverly teases easily. "I have a couple of hobbies of my own that I like to use as vacations, even if most people wouldn't consider them relaxing at all."

Botany and cybernetics to name a few.

[tript]

He smiled. "Everyone is different. One person's hobby is another person's nightmare."


ooc: I think we've come to the end of that conversation, unless you had something you wanted to add - I can't think of anywhere to go from here

[ethnobotany]

( ooc: sounds perfect to me :) )