JP - Lt. Ceciri Ariadust & Tri’lea Doyoxo Polgonz- The Geometry of Legacies

[Wil Ukinix]

The emotions described in this sim are outstanding - not only from a feelings, but also a sensing perspective.  Well done @Zhanyt Lafizatar and  @Kivik .

 

((Lighthouse Restaurant – 3 hours and 30 minutes until midnight))

 

Ceciri had decided to attend the party, although she had already done her traditional end of year celebrations in one of the shared-religious spaces. When in Rome, and all that. She was dressed conservatively for her, but still in an interesting style for her. Her deep violet dress was actually cut to expose a good deal of her chest, but not a lot of it, as it was a diagonal cut from her right shoulder to her left upper chest, and was considered in style for some of the betazoids, and if it wasnt’ for the tail cut she had to do in the dress - carefully - and her cat like ears, she could have probably have bled into the small but growing crowd in some of the diplomatic and civil circles. 

 

.oO One day I’ll understand fashion. Oo. Ceciri snorted, finding that unlikely. She was too busy working on her doctorate - she found Planetary Terraforming fascinating -, being a Starfleet Offficer, and honestly, she liked her life. A life that was somewhat disrupted at the moment. Still..

 

.oO Standing and falling backwards never solved anything Oo.

 

Ceciri nodded to herself, and was waiting for her “date” here. 

 

Across the room, leaning against the bar, stood Tri’lea. She wore her poise much like she wore her dress, with much practice but little comfort. The glass in her hand held a simple, yet perfect martini - a half ounce of dry vermouth and 2 ounces of gin balanced with the sweet intensity of a lemon twist. Strong, bitter, and just a little sweet. She smiled at the thought that it somewhat reflected herself and wondered what sort of [...]tail Ceciri k’Ariadust would be…

 

oO Some sort of ritual wine.. Oo she mused. It felt as if she were compelled to drink, whether she liked to or not, as the result of some unfair tradition and the comparison seemed apt enough to amuse her.

 

She watched her quarry from across the room and took a sip from the martini. Tri’lea’s plus one - her attaché, Rei - was already mingling with the crowd as she’d been instructed. Her role tonight would be to meet some of the station’s senior staff, learn names, make connections. Tri’lea only cared about one connection that evening.

 

Already she found herself assessing what she saw before her. The picture she had been provided of Ariadust was clearly outdated. In fact, the woman before her in the violet dress was hardly recognisable to her - a disappointment. She was far less.. delicate.. than Tri’lea had been expecting. Perhaps Starfleet had toughened her up, though somehow the Betazoid noble doubted it. According to what little she knew of the woman, she had grown up working on merchant vessels following her mother’s exile. Tri’lea couldn’t imagine that life had been any easier.

 

She slipped away from the bar and made her way across the crowded room, keeping her eyes locked on Ceciri. She felt a little silly, like some sort of shark honing in on her prey. It wouldn’t do to spring the news on the poor girl without making some sort of introduction first - but for whatever reason Tri’lea felt compelled not to show herself immediately, not to walk up. It just wasn’t her way.

 

Instead, she walked elegantly behind the woman through the party, watching her movements, wondering at her imperceptible thoughts, until at last she could take it no longer.

 

Polgonz: Ceciri k’Ariadust?

 

Ceciri internally stiffened, but with some effort - some well learnt effort - kept it from more than a few micro movements, turning around to face the other woman - Betazoid, if she was any judge. Some interesting hints in bearing. Not enough for her to judge, but honestly, if she was asked now, she’d say that she was talking to a Betazed Noble. If anything, she had used the honorific in her name, the one that Ceciri had intentionally dropped years ago when she joined Starfleet. 

 

Ariadust: That would be me. I don’t.. recall meeting you, but have we met and I just forgot?

 

Depressingly likely, given how many places Ceciri had been in her youth.

 

When she had first laid eyes on Ariadust, Tri’lea had attributed her inability to sense the Cygnian’s thoughts and feelings to the liveliness of the party around them. As she had grown closer, she began to realize that the woman’s thoughts weren’t being drowned out - they were concealed. A fact that she found both intriguing and disconcerting. Nonetheless, she would have to rely on Ariadust’s body language to tell her how she felt; She seemed tense.

 

Polgonz: My name is Tri’lea Doyoxo Polgonz… We won’t have met before - but I do know you in a way.

 

That tiny alarm bell was joined by an entire chorus. Most people who knew indirectly of her would have done so through her family, and with a very dead mother.. Well, Ceciri rather hoped it was for her papers and work on New Galway. Besides, her date had already wandered off anyway.

Ariadust: Oh?

 

Polgonz: Yes. My mother and your Great Aunt were acquainted through business.

 

Ceciri’s alarm bells were instantly upgraded to red alert sirens. But still, she smiled a bit. She didn’t, for a second, believe this wasn’t also aimed at her, but she sipped her martini with a thought and turned to fully face Tri’lea. 

 

Ariadust: Ah, I see. ::Ceciri knew a bit to know that her Great Aunt did very limited direct business, leaving that in the hands of her many daughters. Mental tick up on noble, that.:: Pleased to meet you then. You must be a Daughter of a House?

 

Polgonz: ::Tri’leas smile wavered, for an instant:: Daughter Ascendant. My mother, Idrustix Doyoxo Polgonz, was a Daughter of the Twentieth House of Betazed. I’d not be surprised, nor insulted, to hear that you weren’t aware of us. There are many, even on Betazed, who know or care little about the House of Travelers.

 

oO For now. Oo She sipped her martini again and looked across the room to the other end of the party.

 

Ceciri did, actually.  She had even worked for one very briefly when her aunt was the lead of a convoy to a Betazed colony world. Still, the Daughter Ascendant? 

 

Ariadust: I’ve worked with your House before. Colony world of Shining Compassion, I think. ::Ceciri was a bit too direct there, since that was just a Cygnian thing to name their colony worlds after phrases, and a Betazed thing to name them after .. actually, if someone ever explained it to her, she’d understand then.:: I’m not surprised you would be out here.. :: Ceciri smiles a bit at the nebula, before turning back to Tri’lea.:: It would be a good thing to expand out here where far fewer species are arguing in the Assembly about colonies, and.. Well, if the Federation wants to have an actual foothold..

 

Tri’lea smirked. An enigmatic smile. oO At least she is not aloof. Oo Used to communicating with other Betazoids, she actually found it quaint and relaxing to converse with someone who could not read her own mind. Given her upbringing, Tri’lea had no interest in lying to Ceciri - but she also knew that it could ease the news she was bringing to conceal the details until they had gotten to know one another a little more. Or at least she hoped so. There was no need for any unnecessary unpleasantness.

 

Polgonz: You’re not wrong. I’m visiting for a few reasons, all to do with family priorities. We are called both to attend Betazed and people the stars. I also wanted to meet you.

 

.oo We. Oo. Ceciri was very unsurprised at that. After all, if this was just yet another ‘please meet our noble daughter, oh unmarried prospect of the Ariadust clan’,  it would be in the thousands. However.. Amity Outpost was months away. You don’t idly go that far without some motive, and she also noted that Tri’lea was being far too indirect.

 

.oO Goddesses above and below, I hope this isn’t what I think it is. Oo.

 

 

Ceciri had been warned that the telepathic suppressant she took wasn’t perfect - very strong emotion would begin to burn through it, and right now it was taking a bit of mental effort to keep from broadcasting or even emitting the anxiousness she was feeling. Also, she was beginning to wish she had worn a slightly less revealing dress, but she could name the last time she dressed up for anything. It was several years ago, in New Galway, when the ecosystem work was done. 

 

Ariadust: I am honored that you would think me interesting. :: she smiled a bit.:: Or at least worthy of note. I’m still working on earning renown of my own. 

 

Traditional Cygnians, and Ceciri counted herself as one of them, wished to be known for something. Ceciri had a bit of a black mark on her record - her mother being an attempted mass murdering terrorist didn’t help - but also, she remembed her other mother. And she wanted to be worthy of that legacy, of the ideas she was taught when she was a little girl. 

 

And if nothing else, it was a great diversion in her mind. That’s what the therapists said, anyway. Channel the pain and doubt into something useful.

 

Polgonz: oO Daughter of an exiled noble family. Merchant pilot turned Starfleet Lieutenant. Oo Oh yes, you strike me as an interesting person. oO Or at least, I hope to the Four Deities that you are.. Oo Are you here with anyone? ::Looking about, casually::

 

Ariadust: Ah.. no. I did come here with someone, but it was so she could try and get in with one of the Andorian zhens in the growing civil sector. Personally, I wish she’d go for it if only so they’d both stop moping, from what I understand. ::Ceciri’s smile turns a bit wry:: 

 

Polgonz: I see. ::Telepathically, to Rei:: ~~You can stop distracting the Andorian, Rei.~~ ::Back to Ariadust:: I’m not familiar with Andorian courtship customs. Betazoid customs offer plenty of complication on their own.

 

Spoken with a hint of laughter, but it was certainly true - oO And more relevant than she likely realizes… Oo

 

Ceciri had to think about that a second - she only knew one personally, and the other from when she’d show up to watch sessions. 

 

Ariadust: ::shrugs:: Only the flower’s bloom reveals it’s fate. But as the Earthers say, it’s the beginning of a new year, and I imagine that’s audacious for all sorts of endeavors, and it’s rather.. ::Ceciri felt for a word:: .. intriguing how much culture Earth has pushed into the Federation. .oO And somewhat surprising if you were sheltered like I was from the larger Federation. Oo.

 

Ceciri also rather hoped the other woman would get closer to the point. 

 

Polgonz: Indeed. Our traditions may complicate things at times, but I believe we still have an obligation to pay them respect. We can share the stars with our allies and still maintain our identities. I imagine you feel similarly about your own culture…

 

Tri’lea sensed that it was time. Ariadust seemed to be getting restless with the surface-level conversation, and in truth, so was Tri’lea.

 

Polgonz: While we’re on the subject of traditions and.. obligations.. there is another reason for my visiting. oO And for speaking with you. Oo I’m not sure there’s a sensitive way to share this, but perhaps you will appreciate it best reading the agreed-upon words written by your Great Aunt and my Mother.

 

At that, Tri’lea reached into her handbag and removed the letter destined for Ceciri. It was written by hand on paper – her mother had insisted on that, she was sure – and officially sealed. Tri’lea, of course, had received her own copy of the very the same agreement, written by her late mother, now sealed in her private desk drawer. She had not laid eyes on it since she had first read it. It simply brought out too much frustration.

 

Ceciri nodded, ears twitching as she smilingly accepted the letter. 

 

.oO Please let this not be what I think it is. Oo.

 

Ariadust: Thank you.

 

Ceciri looked at the letter - Salthian parchment, no less. Well known for more high class uses across the Beta Quadrant. She recognized the characteristic writing of her great aunt in the prescript, and took a deep sigh as her pale blue eyes scanned the document

 

Under the glow of the Mother of the Fairies, and in Their Glory,

And for the Glen of Our Honour

Affixed, this date of 2398-6-12 in the Common Era,

The Five Hundreath And Seventh Cycle of the Ascendant Fairies

I, Talichia z’Ariadust, Dame of the Roaring Icefires, Councilwoman of Cygnet

And

I, Idrustix Doyoxo Polgonz, Daughter of the Twentieth House of Betazed

 

Do Agree that our daughters

Ceciri Salriaoni k’Ariadust, daughter of Fairioni Ariadust

And 

Tri’lea Doyoxo Polgonz, Daughter Ascendant

Are to be Wed 

In a period not exceeding One Cycle of the Ascendant Fairies, and before the common year

2401.

 

 

Ceciri stared. And stared again. If she hadn’t known about the failing of the telepathic suppressant, she would have known now, as the rising anger-rage-despair was beginning to manifest as a very pungent ashy taste. And she rather suspected, given some of the looks she was drawing, that the other empaths in the room were beginning to detect it. 

 

However, all of that was superfluous. Even as her emotions began to erupt, she politely handed the letter back to the other woman, and put her hand on the reenforced railing they were near and inadvertently snapped it when she clenched her fist. Her anger-despair-bonedeep pain was still flowing, but then again, you’d hope so, given that her deep blue blood was beginning to pool around her clenched fist. You need that salrenaline to not notice blood, after all. 

 

Then, with a supreme effort, she clamped down on it, putting up what fragile mental shields she could to stop emitting it. No point in making other people uncomfortable at a party.

 

Ariadust: ::Very weakly:: Well. That’s a letter.

 

Tri’lea had expected Ariadust to be upset - angry even. She, herself, had felt indignant outrage when she had read her own copy of the letter. Arranged marriages were nothing unfamiliar to a Daughter of a Royal House of Betazed. Only that was just it. Tri’lea was not yet a Daughter of the Twentieth House, only a Daughter Ascendant - and her ascension came with conditions. Her mother was forcing this marriage and that was something she couldn’t excuse. Nonetheless, if she wanted to take her proper place, then this hoop required leaping through.

 

She had not, however, expected such a reaction. The Cygnian woman looked different from her picture, but more than that - she was different. Her feelings had broken through whatever guard she had put in place, and Tri’lea found herself awash with Ariadust’s emotional outburst. She had steeled herself against anger, but was entirely caught off guard by her destruction of the railing. Wide-eyed, Tri’lea stared at the blood running from Ariadust’s hand - but her pragmatic Polgonz instincts wouldn’t let her gawk for long.

 

Polgonz: ~~Rei, Lady k’Ariadust is injured. Fetch a medical officer, if you can – quietly.~~

 

She shot her attendant a sharp look, to reiterate the urgency of the matter.

 

Polgonz: ::To Ariadust:: I understand your anger. This arrangement is.. well, let’s leave it at that for now. May I see your hand?

 

Tri’lea was no field medic, but any proud member of the House of Travellers would count it as a grave character flaw to find themselves entirely helpless in any situation.

 

Ariadust: ::distractedly:: Why do you need to see it?

 

Ceciri was trying to get herself under control a bit, and she was still very upset over sections of that letter.

 

Polgonz: You’re hurt.

 

Ariadust: Oh. ::Ceciri looked at her hand, unclenching it to see slivers and deep cuts in it.:: So I am.  ::Distantly, a part of her mind was yelling at her that she was going to feel all of this once the salrenaline wore off.::

 

Polgonz: This isn’t going to mend itself. I understand that our meeting has been under unusually straining circumstances - but please, let me help you.

 

Ceciri nodded. She was fairly qualified for some field medicine courses, but was .. probably not in the right mind to administer it to herself at the moment. And as angry as she was at her great aunt, she wasn’t really angry at the other woman. If her luck was any guide, that’d come later.

 

.oO I really should cultivate a more optimistic look at life. Oo. Ceciri thought to herself. She was beginning to get back under control, but - and most distressingly, as she tried to drink something to wash the taste of burning ash out of her mouth - her suppressant was thoroughly shot and she could taste the mixed emotions of the party, which felt like nine delicious dishes poured into a swamp, mixed thoroughly, and served. She also felt worry, which she had actually managed to describe once as a tangy-pepper feel with an afterfeel of a cold breeze dancing on her neck. It wasn’t even a good tangy-pepper feel, so she rather disliked it when people worried about her. 

 

Tri’lea could sense the shift in Ceciri’s distress. It was as if she were speaking with… well, with a child who had not yet learned to control her abilities. She seemed overwhelmed by her own emotions - and the thoughts and feelings of those around her at the party. 

 

Rei approached with a disquieted look on her face at the sight of Ariadust’s injured hand.

 

Rei: ~~The Chief Medical Officer is in attendance, Daughter Ascendant.~~

 

Tri’lea: Hold the formalities please, Rei - and let’s speak aloud, for her sake. ::To Ariadust:: Will you come with us? We can get your hand tended to.

 

Ceciri nodded, nodding her thanks at switching from telepathy to normal conversation. She wasn’t entirely looking forward to explaining this to Wong - sometimes she wondered at the energy of that man. Also, even she could hear him. He was exuberant in his emotions as he was in life, and she could feel the headache coming on. Would kinda wish that she would be treated as an adult, but then again.. Ceciri’s hand was bleeding pretty heavily. 

 

Tri’lea felt Ceciri’s hand in hers and, looking down at it, wondered at what an omen the bloodied mess might be. At the moment, the two of them were locked into a future neither of them had planned. One which would strain their loyalties to their family and tradition as well as to their own independence. She hoped that, in time, the situation could be mended - like Ariadust’s hand could be mended. But if that were happen, and they were to get along, much would need to change.

 

Ariadust:Would make sense. I’d rather not wait for it to clot to stop bleeding. 

 

Tri’lea: Then let’s find the Chief Medical Officer and get you looked after, shall we?

 

oO Four Deities watch over me. I hadn’t realized this hoop would be set on fire before I had to jump through it… Oo

 

Ariadust: I can feel the headache already. ::dryly:: But let’s. I’ll have to file a report, anyway, as I’m pretty sure the prospector is going to take exception to me breaking her railing. Hopefully not to the point of banning me. I’d like to come back and see the countdown tonight...

 

 

Lt. Ceciri Ariadust

Helm Officer

Amity Outpost

C239112CA0

 

and

 

Tri'lea Doyoxo Polgonz

Daughter Ascendant,

Twentieth House of Betazed

V239806K11