Life Imitates Art

Posted on Thu Jun 28th, 2012 @ 5:37pm by Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad & Lieutenant Norval Tigan
Edited on on Thu Jun 28th, 2012 @ 6:02pm

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: The Nexus Club

On my own
would I wander through this wonderland alone
never knowing my right foot from my left
my hat from my glove
I'm too misty and too much in love...

Eli held out the last note, letting it fade as the music did as well. The applause swelled as as he took his bows and Jackson arrived on stage. With a smile, he patted Eli on the back and then took the microphone.

"And that's our first set, folks. Stick around for the second set with the lovely Janice Gree in two hours." Jackson replaced the mic and left the stage as the applause continued. Eli followed him off stage and made his way to the bar.

"Great set Eli." Vic smiled as Eli reached the bar and he passed across a glass of the ever-present lemonade.

"Thanks." Eli settled on a seat at the bar and took a long sip of the lemonade, curious when Jackson slipped out the doors to the promenade. Who knew? He swiveled his seat around to watch the dancers, relaxing after his performance.

Norval had been dancing with his favorite Security officer throughout Eli's rendition of 'Misty' and most of the rest of his set, but as the Cadet surveyed the floor now the pair had vanished. Eric off to greet another group of Oz's minions who were gratefully unattached to the Archadian conference and had gathered in a corner of the lounge, Norval off to secure another drink and... speak to Jackson? The Trill was left puzzled and confused, standing still for a moment as he approached the bar. It wasn't like Jack to leave the Nexus. Not before Vic was closing up.

Deciding to ask him about it later, Norval continued on, leaning into the bar and motioning to Vic for another. Arcturian Fizz tonight. The Lieutenant couldn't help but grin as he contemplated the drink's supposed benefits, though he had no real evidence it was better than any other cocktail for that purpose.

Turning to face the room while he waited, Norval inclined his head towards Eli next to him. "That was a great set," he complimented him. "We really enjoyed it."

"Thanks, Lt. Tigan. You two are good dancers. I enjoy seeing people having a good time. Where is Mr. Edwards by the way?" Eli glanced at Norval's drink and smiled. "Do those really do what they say they do?"

Norval lifted his glass to the singer before taking a sip and smiling. "I intend to find out," he answered, "and please, call me Norval. There are too many Mister Tigans, officers or no."

The Assistant Ops Chief's stare glanced over the corner of the room, Eric quite involved with his burly brothers and sisters in Tac/Sec. "And Lieutenant Edwards had some rounds to make. You must be used to that, spending so much time with Cadet Zeferino." The Trill started to take a drink before he stopped and suddenly chuckled. "But he doesn't go by his family name, does he?"

"Thanks, Norval. And no, he uses Conradi." Eli glanced over towards Eric a moment, then back. "I envy the two of you, you know." The admission slipped out before Eli could stop it. He gave himself a mental kick, then passed the lemonade back to Vic. "I'll have one of what he's having."

"And why would you do that," Norval wondered aloud. "You're young, the two of us are old and jaded." Even if Eli weren't a telepath, it would be easy to tell that Norval was playing, but there was some truth in his words. He didn't imagine that, at their age, Eli or Chance had ever really been hurt. As he sipped his drink, he watched the Enaran for signs of reaction, but he suspected that he and Oz's brother were plenty happy, despite any supposed envy.

"That's it right there. Well more the first part not the second. And not that you're old, just older. Thanks Vic." Vic placed his drink before him and moved on. Eli took a sip and smiled. "This is really good. What I mean is, you don't have anyone looking over your shoulder, angry at your choice."

"You could say I have seven someones looking over my shoulder at all times," he said, smiling as he set his free hand over his stomach. "But," the Trill added, sounding somewhat more serious with a tone of understanding, "that sounds like parental issues if ever I've heard them. Can't say I know too much about Enaran culture..."

"Well, given my political situation, and the fact that I'm considered evil incarnate back home, I hadn't expected to ever see them again. But they turned up here unexpectedly - at my quarters. I was working on a drawing of Chance, of him in the lagoon when we finished survival training. My father saw it and commented on how life-like it was but my mother was holding it when Chance got home and not knowing they were there, greeted me rather affectionately. Between that and the picture, she knew. Things went down hill fast and it was only Chance insisting they take some time away to think about things and meet me for dinner that kept it all just shy of explosive. She barely spoke to me during dinner and it was my father's insistence that they would lose me altogether that opened her up even slightly."

"A difficult situation... Among my species, sexuality is rather," Norval spent a moment searching for the appropriate word, "fluid. Particularly for those of us fortunate enough to be joined. Now, what you've come to realize makes you happy might not be wholly accepted on Enara, but I can tell you that it is quite wholly accepted in the Federation. A Federation you," he tapped a finger to Eli's chest to drive the point home, "belong to. One day, your world might too. And on that day, you'll go from social pariah to trailblazing hero.

"Not that I imagine you're doing this for fame, but if you asked almost anyone on this base to name a Klingon, I bet they'd say Worf, and he was in a situation very similar to yours. And, more importantly, if your parents love you, they'll come around long before Eli Ziyad is a name known across three quadrants." Stopping to imbibe, Norval went back to his usual smile. "I didn't know you drew. We should compare work sometime."

"That's a vast understatement, Norval. It's completely unheard of. I don't doubt it happens but back there, things that don't toe the party line can be dangerous, as I found out. You know...they won't tell anyone about this. They won't even mention that they saw me since I am something of an enemy of the state." He took another drink and smiled at the utterly delicious taste. "As for the drawing, I'd like that. Hey Vic, let me have that pencil?" Eli took it and pulling a napkin across the bar, he began to sketch rapidly.

"Mmm, we have an organization on Trill that people don't really want to cross either. It usually ends badly..." Norval agreed, before turning an interested eye to what Eli was doing with the bar napkin. The Lieutenant had to admit that he usually preferred more refined mediums, but then this was what was at hand. "I hadn't necessarily meant right now," he said with a chuckle, swirling his drink.

"Does your organization roast people alive in the town square while the rest look on, shouting insults?" Eli spoke as he picked up the pencil and began to cover the napkin rapidly with light, deft strokes.

"Ah... no," he finished lamely. Having to keep some of Laylun Tigan's secrets didn't seem quite on par with public execution.

Eli looked up at Norval's face a moment, then continued drawing. Now that he wasn't looking directly at Norval, another question came. "Do you love him?"

Norval very nearly choked on his Arcturian Fizz, somehow surprised at how forward Eli was being. Having to fight through the urge to cough, his surprised expression turned to Eli and then slowly drifted back to the corner where Eric was and softened. Did he? He hadn't really paused to just let himself consider that. Sure, he enjoyed spending time with him, and they had good chemistry, but they'd never really given much thought to the future.

"Yeah," the Trill found himself saying, a smile on his lips. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Good. There's nothing standing in your way, you should tell him. I don't think you'll be afraid to as I am." Eli spoke with the unaffected directness of a a teenager. He added one last detail to the drawing on the napkin and turned it around, pushing it to Norval. It wasn't Norval himself, but a startlingly lifelife rendering of Edwards, caught smiling at something unseen, the expression full of secrets.

Norval let loose a slow whistle as he admired Eli's work, his fingers holding down the edge of the sketched napkin. "You've got real talent," he said, "and I've got to admit, you're better at portraits than I am. I should stick to landscapes." The Trill grinned, turning his eyes back to the young man in front of him. Suddenly, he couldn't help but feel a little envy of his own for Oz's brother. "If you feel that way about Chance, you need to tell him. I assume you're in his head, so let him in yours. I doubt you'd be disappointed."

"I tried, a couple of times, but somehow it never came out. And I think he suspects but ...." Eli shrugged. "You're right, I am in his head, most of the time but he only picks up what I let him from mine. Maybe it is time." He reached for his drink and finished it off. "Maybe tonight's a good time, before things get crazy. Another please, Vic?"

"And how are things going to get crazy," Norval felt compelled to ask, even as he raised a pair of fingers to indicate two to Vic.

"I'm still a target Norval. And a week or so ago, someone broke into the quarters I share with Chance and turned the place upside down. Security didn't find anything, and noting was missing but I think they were looking for something."

The Trill's joined mind shifted gears like a well oiled machine. Whereas he was generally Norval plus baggage, he was suddenly Andam in a boy's skin... A boy that still had both his arms, Norval somehow forced the thought through. It stung his prior host, but it also served to rein him in.

"And do you know what it is they may have been looking for?" Norval asked, his fingers drifting away from the cocktail napkin. He silently hoped that Eric had not been aware of this, had not kept it from him. But Eli had said that Security was already involved...

"No, he didn't take that call, Norval. I have no idea what they were looking for. I mean...we're two Academy brats, what the hell could we have?" He knew full well that it wasn't associated with two cadets, but rather his own past. "But if anything else happens, I'll be sure to call him."

"No," Norval declared, somewhat shockingly, "if something happens, again," he emphasized, "you call Jackson. You might be amazed by what he can mobilize, on any part of this station. Like I told you, you're part of a family now." Norval draped on arm over Eli after their drinks arrived, tapping his to the Cadet's. "We look after our own."

Eli smiled and sipped his drink. "That's what Jackson said too. Thank you."

Norval smiled in return. "Good. Now let's both go find out if these actually work."

The grin as he quaffed his drink and led them away from the bar was full of mischief.

********
Cadet 4th Class Eli Ziyad
The Nexus Club

Lt. (j.g.) Norval Tigan
Finally off duty