(open)

[hischair]

When: 19th
Rating: TBC
Characters: You!
Summary: A shindig at the beach for the best navigator in Starfleet.
Log: 

[ OOC: Feel free to assume your character has received an invite to the party via their inbox or word of mouth for Chekov's birthday! Everyone is welcome except you, Khan and presents are mandatory for the Enterprise's young navigator. Please tag under either section to keep the party somewhat ordered, and have fun! ]

Comments

[chakotay]

[ chakotay shakes his head a little as he shapes one tower of a new area. it's times like these he wishes he could go into details about his tribe and the maquis. it would make this whole conversation go so much better. the beach wasn't part of his childhood. sure, his homeworld had beaches, but his tribe hadn't made sandcastles by the shore and even if they had, he never would have participated. he hadn't wanted anything to do with his tribe's traditions when he was growing up. not until a few short years ago. ]

My people lived farther inland. The beach wasn't a place we visited often and even if we had, I doubt I would have enjoyed it.

[ it's a huge admission for someone like him, but it's a work in progress, a slow and steady way to explain to spock why he might have been acting so uptight. ]

[logistical]

[Spock takes it at face value. He honestly has little need to know the context, he was just concerned something about him was concerning Chakotay, but if it needs to be teased out, string on a ball of yarn, then he'll accept the situation and proceed logically.]

Temperature? Or other discomforts?

[He figures it's a safe question.]

[chakotay]

I was a bit of an outsider in my tribe, the child who wanted to be starfleet more than listen to his elders speak of the land and the spirits.

[ a complete opposite of the person he is now and rather telling, actually. he pauses for a moment longer to pat sand around the base of his section of the sandcastle before he continues. ]

I was once a very angry person. It often takes extraordinary circumstances to change people and even then... it's difficult to forget some of life's twists.

[ he's got a point to this, he promises. ]

[logistical]

[It's a story, and one would expect Spock not to care very much for them, as he takes only facts and observations, strings them together to form a coherent whole. Yet, stories are woven together from threads, and if one isn't aware of all of them, the entire foundation is unsteady. The forest can't be understood if one refuses to see the individual trees when necessary.]

[He nods.]

Extraordinary circumstances tend to make one unpredictable.

[He's hedging. It's only to indicate that he's listening, and following, waiting for Chakotay to get to the meat of it.]

[chakotay]

[ he takes a moment. as much as he tries to encourage kathryn to talk about her troubles and issues, it's hard for him to talk about his own. and this is a big one, one he doesn't normally address, let alone to someone he barely knows. ]

Even more so when you continuously find yourself being betrayed by people you thought you could trust. [ which is the real problem here. ] It has a tendency to taint your future encounters, even to the point of offending someone you barely know without even realizing it.

[ this is a roundabout apology here and he gives his part of the sandcastle another firm pat before looking up at spock. ]

What I mean to say is... I never meant to offend anyone, least of all you. [ which means kathryn told him about that whole thing, the vibe he's been subconsciously sending spock. ] If it's all right with you, I'd like to start over. Maybe I can learn to ignore past grievances.

[logistical]

[Spock gives him the time he needs, expecting a different end to the story, or at least, some more elaboration. He didn't see this coming (how could he, it was a series of facts and he didn't have the context to properly appreciate how it followed from A to B and then to C and D).]

[What he does note is Chakotay's mention of continuous betrayal.]

I was under the impression you were uncomfortable with my half-human heritage.

[He didn't mention that to Janeway, but it's clear some other message got to Chakotay and that wasn't Spock's intention at all.]

As I conveyed to your captain: I am not offended. I merely wished to ascertain the source of your discomfort [which she hadn't told him] and alleviate the problem.

[chakotay]

[ the first statement is met with a slow shake of his head. ]

If anything, it's that you're a Vulcan. One of the people who betrayed me was a Vulcan, someone I had never thought would be capable of deception like that. It's made me... wary, but I realize it isn't fair to hold that over you, subconscious though it was.

[ truce? ]

It's hardly anything you've done and it isn't fair to place you in with him.

[ just casually not going to mention that tuvok was working for kathryn. ]

[logistical]

[A nod.]

No doubt due to the assertion that Vulcans cannot lie.

[As for whether he has done so, he deceived Khan by omitting the truth, didn't he?]

[And he's casually going to assume that this betrayal happened while Chakotay was first officer, being ignorant of the whole.. Maquis affair.]

It would not be logical to place me in the same category, no.

[chakotay]

It never was intentional. [ for what it's worth, the whole thing was subconscious. ]

Maybe now we can start off on the right foot, so to speak.

[ forgive him his grumpiness. the man holds grudges, but at least he's trying. and y'know, at least he likes vulcans more than cardassians... or vidiians. ]

[logistical]

As humans say, a truce. However, there was no war.

[Just so Chakotay knows Spock doesn't blame him at all.]

[chakotay]

Not an intentional one. For what it's worth, I'm enjoying talking over sandcastles.

[ and he really is now that they've gotten that issue squared away. ]

[logistical]

I am gratified.

[He finishes a tower and pats it.]

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with what humans do for small-talk. Perhaps you have a few ideas?

[chakotay]

[ well, he'll try. ]

We could focus on the sandcastles. Is this your first time building one?

[logistical]

[A nod.]

Yes. [He gestures to a lone tower in the distance.] My first attempt.

[chakotay]

Then that's something we have in common.

[ well this is awkward. ]

Admittedly, I'm not very good with small talk with people I don't know very well. Maybe we could talk about our interests and some of our experiences.

[logistical]

[That and they're both First Officer to two very stubborn captains. Spock counts this as a tick in the Similarities column.]

As Science Officer of the Enterprise, my interests lie in the field, especially physics and computing.

[chakotay]

[ that is a very good point. ]

My interests were always more anthropological. I find space exploration fascinating mostly for that reason. [ mostly, but not entirely. ]

[logistical]

Would you mind elaborating on what you find particularly fascinating?

[chakotay]

The people you can meet and things you can learn from them. I enjoy the differences in cultures now, more than I did when I was younger. Sometimes another culture can help you better understand your own life.

[logistical]

[Spock doesn't quite smile, but it's there in his eyes. Knowledge is an important pursuit to him. Points for Chakotay.]

How many member planets are there in the Federation, in your time, if you are permitted to tell me?

[chakotay]

I don't know if I am, but let's just say there are quite a few more now.

[ like the klingon home world, but he is so not touching that. ]

There are plenty more that aren't and we've seen quite a few of them in the last few years.