ten_fwd | [Ten Forward]: Captain's Tea Party

Current Location: Deck 10: Forward

Entry tags:

[Ten Forward]: Captain's Tea Party | OTA

Captain's Log, stardate 45115.6: The Enterprise has been sent to Pacifica at the behest of Governor Delaplane and the Pacifican Council, to oversee the renewal of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the Federation colony and the planet's native inhabitants, the Selkies. The results of this redesigned treatise will ensure the continued peace of Pacifica for another one hundred and fifty years, and I consider it my great honor to oversee the proceedings.

In the week since the Enterprise docked in orbit around Pacifica, representatives for both the Pacifican government and its tribal council have been brought to the Enterprise as our distinguished guests, where negotiations have taken place without incident. Now, the negotiations shall move to the underwater city of hi'Leyi'a for the final week of our stay here, and as is customary among the Pacificans I will become their guest and dine with them tonight at a banquet where many of their local delicacies will be presented. I am very much looking forward to the opportunity...

"End recording." Picard rises from his desk and makes his way out of his ready room, leaving command of the ship once again in Commander Riker's capable hands. Lieutenant Worf is already in Transporter Room 3, making the necessary arrangements for Captain Picard and his small complement to be beamed to the planet's surface. Those from the botany lab engaged in studies on Pacifica have already gone down, along with a number of the ship's civilian life, which has been keeping both their transporter rooms and shuttlebays quite busy as requests are made to send people down, back, and sometimes back down again several times a day.

He sighs as the turbolift doors hiss shut behind him, and after a moment's pause requests: "Ten Forward."

As eager as he may be to dine on Pacifica tonight, the privilege for a captain is always accompanied by an obligation—a duty—to endure certain dishes that may not always be what one would consider... palatable. It is a small sacrifice every captain and ambassador of peace must make in the name of diplomacy, and for it he will need several bracing cups of tea.

It is an unusual sight for many, perhaps, but Captain Picard is occupying a table in Ten Forward with a full tea service set in front of him, and an entire table full of empty chairs. One might say that in itself was inviting company.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It happens to be another one of those similarly unusual occasions when Jackal's making use of Ten Forward. ...perhaps in part because with all the interest in the planet, the lounge isn't quite so busy as it can be while the ship is underway. Jackal, herself, has little to do still but keep up her training and study local history, and sitting in her quarters to do her reading becomes galling after a period of time, if only because she starts to feel nearly as antisocial as most strangers probably find her. She may not exactly have comrades available, but respectable people in a sedate environment are better than being a complete shut-in.

She doesn't spot the captain until she's making for a nearby table, obviously more than a little surprised to see him there. It doesn't exactly seem like his typical sort of setting, either. She can only assume he's waiting for company (especially gauging by the tea service), but since it's apparently not arrived yet, it's only polite to pay her respects, and she stops nearby, nodding in greeting.

"Captain. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

...of course, if the last time he saw her was on the holodeck, he might need to take a second look, as well. The red-tone camouflage fatigues, patrol cap, and combat boots definitely make for a wildly different sort of fashion statement from the (albeit relatively conservative) period dress from their little Dixon Hill drama.

How she'd gotten wind of it, hadn't been as important as the fact she had, and once she'd known there was no way Deanna was going to miss checking out this happenstance that had made it her way. After all, The Captain was a private and singular man, not often given to displays unless something pushed him to them.

Deanna could easily guess which of those it might be of the small assortment of options, but she didn't need to.

"Captain." It was quiet, but quite pleased, against the gentle flare of her smile.

Getting him out of his quarters, his bridge and his ready room were challenge enough. Finding him doing it, somewhere that encouraged the socialization of both his own crew and the transitional crew, which would undoubtedly create stronger ties with all of them, was not to be missed or misjudged in its important signs about him as it was about the impactfulness it would have on everyone else.

Galen knew the captain was in Ten Forward. It was one of the few places his probes worked - if only sometimes. And only vision and no sound. But Galen had done his research and knew what the captain looked like. And also knew he hadn't been seen in Ten Forward since Galen had arrived.

Galen wasn't used to not having the captain's ear. Nor was he used to no one knowing what a techno-mage was. But this was an excellent opportunity to speak to the man at the top.

It said something about the Picard's bearing and rank - not to mention all the other people in the bar - that Galen made no attempt to conceal his approach. He simply walked in normally and sat down, having seen no need to ask first about taking a seat.

"Tea. An important part of the civilised world."

Yoda often finds himself at loose ends. It's what happens when one goes from running the Jedi Order in the middle of war to... not. On the Charon and in Zelien, there was always the matter of survival occupying every moment. But the Enterprise was... pleasant. A strange experience after so long.

So he often wanders and ends up in Ten Forward. Why he steers his hoverchair over to Picard, well, any number of reasons. He's curious about the captain of the vessel. He's curious about what he's drinking. And perhaps he would like to not have the least hair in a conversation for once.

At any rate, he's arrived now. "Join you, may I?" Manners are still always important, after all.

(In keeping with your feedback, and how busy I know you are, only tagging in with Ayesh now, if you want my others, let me know. I am always happy to RP with you!)

Ayesh saw the seeming invitation and availed herself of it. She strode to the table and bowed deeply. Since she was indefinitely on leave, she was in her customary civilian garb - long quilted pants, long quilted jacket, both old and road worn, simple shirt under, knapsack across her shoulders. Her face, as it usually was, was neutral.

"If I may have leave to join you, captain," she requested formally, in keeping with the bow. She had wanted to speak with him for some time. When she had been assigned to the Enterprise, in what was apparently another reality, she had researched the ship and her crew. She had long since wanted to speak with the captain, and not being able to serve had made it less feasible until now to do so. She knew he must be quite busy, and would not intrude upon him when he was working or taking some time for himself and his own meditations. As this seemed like an invitation, she wished to have that opportunity.

There were many things that she wished to discuss with him, her position and training, fencing, archeology which she was sure would come up given how she was found, and primarily, music. From all she had learned, he played flute, and as he had access to more worlds in his career than she had over her life, she was hoping that perhaps he had come across some instruments that might be of interest to someone who no longer had a full compliment of ten fingers. Certainly Minotaurs could not be the only eight fingered race in the entirety of existence to appreciate music. She would admit, however, that given their lips, they were not disposed to the flute themselves. The point, however, remained.

Carolyn's actually in Ten Forward more often then not. Normally she's there drinking coffee and looking over various PADDs with different medical information. Well she'd have coffee as long as she could get the replicator to cooperate with what she wanted. Lately things had been a bit better with that, though there were times when she wanted to bang her head on a wall.

Stepping inside of Ten Forward, she had a PADD tucked under her arm and she was wondering if she should even bother with the replicator. But her attention was quickly caught by the man she recognized as the ship's captain who was sitting at a table with what looked like a full tea service. That was interesting considering that he was by himself.

She smiled slightly and though she had never so much as talked to him, she'd be passing by his table as she made her way to her normal one so she figured it wouldn't hurt to at least say something to him.

"Expecting a lot of company?"

Captain Picard, in a similar fashion, is sitting with his own PADD in one hand and his cup of earl grey in another. His posture is much more relaxed than normal, legs crossed and elbow propped on the armrest of his chair, but he is hoping, mildly, that his devoted attention to the dinner customs of the Pacifican people will discourage passersby from stopping.

This, of course, has not been working out to his pleasure thus far.

"Ah," he says, straightening instinctively at the young woman's presence and letting out a long, beleaguered breath. His smile is tight, but as far as he ever ventures into friendliness his expression reflects that warmth. "In fact, the bartender is a good friend of mine and always seems to be of the opinion that I need more company."

He suffers it kindly. He owes Guinan more than anyone will ever know.

Thankfully, or well, maybe nor so thankfully in the Captain's case, but outside of Medical things, she was really bad at reading people. Could have something to with her having her nose buried in her books when she'd been growing up. That or she just really sucked at people but she was trying to be a little better with that.

Sadly it didn't seem to working all that well because she didn't pick up that he was hoping to discourage people from stopping by.

"Well you certainly look like you have enough tea here to keep a lot of people happy."

One could say Captain Picard is accustomed to strong, friendly medical officers who are likewise accustomed to following their own social cues. If he is disappointed that Carolyn persists, he has the grace not to show it. He politely sets his PADD down on the table, and with only slight hesitation he gestures to one of the opposing chairs.

"Would you care to join me?" he asks. Without further prompting he sets his cup down on its saucer, and rises from his seat. "I notice you are without a beverage, and it would be a shame to let good tea go to waste."

She almost told him that she didn't normally drink tea, but.. Well, this was the Captain and she figured that it would be rude to turn down his invitation. She nodded, flashing him a smile as she pulled the seat out from across him and sat.

"Thank you." She hesitated for a moment and seemed to remember more of her manners. "I'm Carolyn. Doctor Carolyn Lam... I guess I'm one of your guests, but I'm sure you knew that part already."

Worf stood behind Shadow, his face, not given to expressing much in the way of joy, was its usual stoniness with some added disapproval for some spice. He considered putting a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder, but refrained. His infractions were relatively minor, however it had added to his work.

With the damage to the replicator, it warranted serious discussion, hence his decision to meet with the Captain.

"Captain," he greeted his commander. "We need to speak with you."

If the hand were placed on his shoulder, whatever minor infraction he'd have had against him would have easily become a major one. Worf was the type of person Shadow was most adamantly against spending time with. Bigger, meaner, at least by looks alone,and that made him nervous. He had no reason to trust any of the adults here and so far that was probably why he hadn't managed to make many friends. Nobody for him to relate to around here, at least in his eyes, so he spent most of his time alone, with his cats, or in the jeffries tubes.

Pretty sure he scared one of the engineers while in there, and that was funny.

Nope, he's just gonna let Worf do the talking, unless he says something egregious.

... Ah.

Yes. Picard has been expecting this. Not today, necessarily, but as his Chief of Security has apprised him of the young boy's misdeeds from month to month it has become increasingly apparent that he would have to have a word with him himself. Not because Worf has been doing a poor job, of course. But it would only be a matter of time before he tried to throw Shadow off the ship into deep space, and Picard would rather avoid the paperwork.

He purses his lips, setting his teacup down, and motions to the seats opposite him.

"Of course, Commander," he says, straightening up and eyeing the boy. He believes Q brings him children simply to try his nerves. "As I understand it, you have had some difficulties following our rules. What is the problem this time?"

He took the offered seat, indicating that Shadow should do the same.

He didn't expect much from the boy. In fact, he probably preferred him to be silent, despite his words. "He appears to have... 'graduated' from trespass to... vandalism," he answered for him, "A replicator has been... rendered inoperative."

"Rr." A low rumble is all Worf gets in response, but he decides to err on the side of caution and take a seat this time. The young felid isn't stupid enough to play it that stubborn, even if he wants to. He wondered if him playing nice that time Picard died in that stupid holo sim would give him brownie points? Okay sure, he showed up and fell asleep almost immedietly after the deductions began, but he showed up, and was nice!

Otherwise what has he done besides playing in the tubes?

"Heh... Maybe it was just a crappy replicator. It's not like I punched it or ripped it out of the wall or nothin'." And he could have.

"It didn't like what I told it to do, so it made a mess." Y'know, icecream everywhere sort of mess.

"I see," Picard says, both eyebrows arched. He leans back in his seat, fingers steepled before him.

He has been aware of the young man's various misdeeds for quite some time now. Since, in point of fact, the moment he stepped foot on Picard's ship. They were not given to many opportunities to interact during the holodeck simulation where they first found themselves in the same room together, but from the boy's answers now—from his chosen words to his body language—and what he has heard of him, it is enough to begin painting a portrait of the kind of man he is.

Youth is wasted on the young.

"And did you linger to clean up your mess?" he asks.

Picard calls them misdeeds, and if he said that alloud he might hear the boy scoff. The old man didn't understand what it was like to be young, he's been too old for too young. As if the old man never did anything like that when he was a kid.

"I teleported it away, if that's what you mean. I didn't do it on purpose ya know. But I dunno' now to clean carpets or nothin' like that." Nifty trick, just teleporting the rest of it away, although he was stuck in the mess as well.

Got a face full of the stuff. He shakes his head, crossing his arms. Meh. Lame. This is overkill. "It was an accident."

Worf seemed honestly more offended by the remark about the replicator than the growl at him. However, he was inclined to leave it to Picard to respond, not taking his eyes off the boy.

It was, in Worf's eyes, foolishness. Replicators don't 'like' or 'dislike', merely served whatever was requested of it or didn't.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ten Forward]: Captain's Tea Party | OTA

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject