Sight For Sore Eyes

Posted on Sat Sep 19th, 2015 @ 11:38pm by Lieutenant Ryan North & Lieutenant Commander Jean Reynard
Edited on on Sat Sep 19th, 2015 @ 11:41pm

Episode: Lost Property
Location: Corridor
Timeline: Following Breakfast Post

Ryan was pretty sure that he looked like a total fool in the mess hall. He was even more sure that Jean had no idea who he was. Still, remembering that night... Ryan shook the thoughts away. It was nothing more than a night of fun, nothing meaningful. They both knew that... at least he was pretty sure they both knew that. He was so lost in thought that he came around the corner and nearly walked right into a bulkhead, saved only when he made an abrupt turn.

Right into his path.

"Well, that's just great," Ryan muttered.

"Better watch out, I think that wall almost got you," Jean said, mildly amused.

Ryan let out an annoyed sigh. "Do you remember me at all?"

Secretly, Ryan hoped that Jean would tilt his head like he had seen some dogs do when they were confused or curious about something. Then again, if that were the case Jean would really think that he was totally insane.

"You're the chief science officer, right?" Jean asked. "Oh, and we met before at that conference on Starbase 173, didn't we?"

Maybe he would remember the conference and not just the night afterwards. If there was any higher power in the universe Ryan sent every once of goodwill its direction.

"Yeah, that conference," Ryan said.

"Well, then I definitely remember you," Jean said. "You don't run into a lot of science officers who are former MACOs, after all."

"I guess that's true," Ryan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I hope that this isn't going to get awkward or anything.... you know after what happened."

"What happened? Do you mean the spoo dinner, or do you mean that excruciating keynote speaker?" Jean asked cheerfully.

Ryan felt himself turning redder by the moment, all the more flustered that either Jean didn't remember it or he was toying with the former MACO. He tried to count to ten like his brother had taught him but he was speaking before he even realized it.

"I was talking about afterwards!" Ryan blurted out. "You know... the cargo bay... then your quarters, please tell me that you didn't blank completely!"

"Funny you should mention blanking," Jean said, increasingly amused. "But yes, I do remember that. It's funny how something only seems awkward when someone else says it is, isn't it?"

Ryan wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or just simply charge past Jean and be on his way to his quarters. However, he did seem to have a point.

"Look, its just that it wasn't that long after my husband had died and I don't normally do things like that... I mean you know with someone that I just met."

Seeing the other man was upset took some of the fun out of the deliberate ignorance routine. Sometimes flatlanders could be so weird. "All in the past, as far as I'm concerned," Jean told him.

"Really?" Ryan asked, narrowing his eyes at Jean. The longer that he stood there and talked to the man the harder it was for Ryan not to recall the events of that evening, in detail. He shook his head.

"You realize that you're blowing this completely out of proportion, right?" Jean asked. "And that if you'd said nothing I never would have even thought of it?"

Ryan sighed. "You're probably right. Tell you want, do you think that we can forget this little conversation ever happened?"

"I'd say it's forgotten already," Jean told him, "except now that you've brought up the conference, I'm wondering whether there was any progress on that pulsar study you were talking about."

Ryan shook his head. "Funding fell through and the Federation Science Council decided that it wasn't worth the effort anymore."

"Well, that's a pity," Jean said, hoping that by changing the subject the conversation could become about 90% less awkward for everyone concerned. "The Romulan catastrophe sucked up all the resources in your sector too, then?"

Ryan shrugged, relaxing and letting his guard down slightly. Maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as he was making it out to be.

"To be honest it wasn't really that interesting of a study anyway, we figured that they were going to end it sooner or later an shifted our focus toward a new adaptive phase sensor array."

"Now that sounds like it could be useful," Jean said, glad that the other officer didn't seem like he was about to explode anymore. "Come on, let's go to my office. We need to talk about the ship's sensors anyway."

"Ok...um sure, why not."

"Trust me, you're going to want get some input and see what they can do," Jean said. "This isn't a Galaxy class where there's more sensors than you cake shake a mugato at. Every department wants to use them at once."

"I guess lead on then."

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