[video/action]

[candothat]

Enterprise? Do you read?

[A curly-headed boy, almost certainly not out of his teens, frowns at the screen. His words are rendered somewhat incomprehensible by a thick Eastern European accent in spite of his obvious attempts to annunciate.]

Ensign Chekov to bridge. Uhura? Sulu? …Mr. Spock? Chekov to engineering. Mr. Scott, can you hear me? There may have been a... ah, a malfunction with the teleporter.

Can anyone hear me?

[He sighs and fiddles with something on his device. The video feed distorts momentarily before returning to normal. When the teenager speaks again, his tone is low and words less painstakingly produced as if he’s speaking himself.]

Ai, what is this? There shouldn’t be interference this far out from the magnetic anomaly. Eto piz`dets…

Comments

[likeboudica]

I can Change. Become another person.

[ Tessa is torn between sadness that Doctor McCoy is no longer in the City and happiness at the memories. ] We believed, during a curse, that I was his daughter. Even after that, he was like a father to me.

[candothat]

[He doesn't sound surprised. Fascinated, certainly, but not surprised.] You shift shapes?

[McCoy as a father, however, gets a smile. And maybe a stifled giggle.] Was he a good father? Sometimes, I think, he would make a good father, and at other times I think he finds me very irritating. It was different here, maybe?

[likeboudica]

It is more than that. I can truly become another person, know their memories and thoughts. [ She does not sound too happy about this. ]

He was a good father. [ And when she smiles this time, it's happy, almost mischievous. ] He mentioned that he is grumpy without coffee, so I made sure to make him enough of it.

[candothat]

Ah! I have heard of this--empathic shifting? It is not a bad ability. I think you would use it well.

He is grumpy with coffee, as well, but his job is a hard one and he worries too much. Worrying makes him more grumpy than usual. [another quick switch to serious] Do you have other family here?

[likeboudica]

Emphatic shifting? I have not heard it called that. [ A beat. ] Thank you.

He was not so grumpy here. He taught me to make pancakes, and we went horseback riding. [ Looking away. ] There is one person from my world and time here only. I have little family left, even in my world.

[candothat]

[conversationally] I do not know if that is the correct name for it. That is a better ability than some.

Ah. [Chekov can't imagine McCoy making pancakes, but he will keep this to himself.] That is difficult. This person from your world is a friend?

[likeboudica]

It is called Changing in my world, as far as I know. [ pausing. ] Most find it a useful ability.

Will is— I do not know. Perhaps we are becoming friends. I would like to call him a friend. [ Very quietly: ] I thought that I loved him, for the longest time, but he has not always been kind to me. [ Rarely, in fact. ]

[candothat]

Do you find it useful?

[very seriously] Friends should be kind, always.

[likeboudica]

I understand why others consider it to be so. I would prefer not to have it.

[ Nodding slowly. ] He had his reasons, though they were no excuse for his cruelty. Yet, I think he is changing, a little.

[candothat]

Can you choose to not use it?

[skeptical] Do you have other friends, if I may ask that, also?

[likeboudica]

Yes. I do not use it very often.

Jem, I would say, but he is not here. Tim. [ In as far as a guy that sometimes kisses her for no reason can count as a friend.

p a u s e. ] I spend a lot of time in the library.

[candothat]

Good! I had a friend at the Academy--she was not human--and she had a kind of power, but could not choose not to use it. Very inconvenient.

[He purses his lips thoughtfully.] I would like to spend time in the library too, I think.

[likeboudica]

What power, if you do not mind me asking?

[ smiling again. ] It is a beautiful library. You liked it, last time you were here. Shall I show you? [ The again goes unspoken. ]

[candothat]

Ah... her species has an affect on human males. Pheromones? Male students were very attracted to her, but I was young enough that it did not bother me.

I am sure I will like it again! [He hesitates.] I should, perhaps, find where I am to stay first.

[likeboudica]

Oh. [ She has no idea what pheromones are, but she gets the general idea. Queue slight blushing. ]

If you do not have a place to stay, you could simply pick an apartment, or stay at the Youth Center. [ pause. ] Doctor McCoy's former apartment is still uninhabited.

[candothat]

Would you be bothered if I were to occupy Doctor McCoy's quarters? [Hoping, of course, that the good doctor might have stashed something useful in his apartment, as Chekov didn't come with much of use.]

[likeboudica]

No, of course not. [ Pause. ] He left me his equipment. Perhaps you would be better suited to take it. I cannot even begin to make sense of it, after all.

[candothat]

Thank you, Miss Tessa. Are they difficult to locate? His quarters?

[hesitantly] I would take it happily, if it is not sentimentally valuable to you. Or, if you would like, you might visit it...?

[likeboudica]

Where are you at the moment?

It is quite all right. He left me other things as well, that I will keep. [ Recipes tucked into books. She's still finding new ones, once in a while. ] Though I might at times wish to visit the apartment, rather than the equipment.

[candothat]

Eh... by the fountain. [excitedly] Your chief of police is showing me his car! I have never seen a vehicle so old in person!

Then I would like to see what he has left, please, and I would not mind having you visit.

[likeboudica]

Shall I tell you the way, or would you prefer that I show you? [ A beat. ] You could also ask the chief of police. It is [ apartment number ]

[ Considering for a moment. ] I will bring it by once you have settled in?

[candothat]

I should not inconvenience you. [There might be an implication that he wouldn't actually mind inconveniencing her.]

Thank you, but I cannot ask you to do that. Should I find you, Miss?

[likeboudica]

It would be no trouble.

I live at the Youth Center. [ Bowing her head a little. ] Simply Tessa would suffice. Unless— [ unless he would rather she did not call him Pavel. Was that too forward? ] unless you would prefer otherwise.

[candothat]

Then I would not mind being shown to this apartment.

Tessa! Yes, Tessa--I will call you that if you will call me Pavel, please.

[likeboudica]

I will be at the fountain soon.