trainingwings | (no subject)

Player Name: Alex
Are you new?: Yes
Character Name: Ezri Dax
Character Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

1. [Action]

[Hiding out back around the corner on the patio of HQ, sitting at at table with five half-finished drinks already shoved back, Ezri contemplates the glass of blue liquid in her hands. She lifted it and took a deep breath over the glass before wincing, and setting it down quickly before even taking a drink. She pushed the glass back with the others and frowned at them.]

Okay. Kali-fal, no. Romulan alcohol was a bad idea anyway, Ezri, what were you even thinking? Curzon was crazy, that's what I was thinking. I have to find something I can actually drink. Think, Ezri, you came out for a nice time, and you are going to enjy yourself.

Firewine. I'll ask if they have any fire wine.

[She sighs.]

No. We served that at Jadzia's wedding. I can't drink that. So. Maybe...Risan wine. Curzon liked it. Maybe I will. Curzon also like to look for jamaharon after drinking it. And then Arandis killed him. But I don't actually have a horga'hn, right? Maybe I can risk it. Besides, I'm not over a hundred, I'll be fine. One glass. That's it.

Okay, Ezri. Go in there and ask. They'll just think you can...hold your liquor. That's a good thing. Impressive. Or they'll think you're drunk and cut you off. Won't know until you try.

2. [Video]

Hello. Um. Yes, hello. Heh.

[She smiles nervously at the journal.]

My name is Ezri Dax. And, well. See, the thing is, I don't really have any kind of ability or skill that is, you know, immediately useful. Here. Not exactly. I mean, I've been an engineer and studied astrophysics and exobiology and exoarchealogy and been a test pilot and all of that, but it's not really, well, my thing. At all. I mean, I get spacesick in shuttles at warp, now, so I'm not exactly the greatest pilot. It's complicated.

Anyway. Um. So. I am, I was, a counselor. On a starship. The Destiny. Um. And, well. I thought that, maybe, since, well, I'm not really doing anything else, maybe I could, um. Offer to, you know. Talk, or something, if anyone wanted an ear. Listen. I mean, don't expect much, because I'm still new here. And new at this. I mean, I'm not even really a full counselor, just an assistant, but I've been training and studying. I had been, anyway. And, well, it doesn't seem like anyone is offering anything formal, and I really, really need to do something useful, so I thought that maybe...

[She breaks off and clears her throat.]

Right. So. I was thinking, maybe. Well, we could use one of the room in the dome. Make a private area, screens to block the viewing area, no fighting or anything. It would give us an hour to talk, if...if you wanted. Since, well. You might?

I'll stop talking now. Just contact me if you're interested. It's Ezri Dax. And I'm not going anywhere, so call anytime.

[Another nervous smile, coupled with a nervous laugh, and then she gets a look that says she knows she sounds like a total fool right before the video cuts off.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thanks. May I ask, why the...um. you know?

[She waved at the message. After taking the drink from the tray, she took a drink, and brightened a little.]

Hey, this is actually pretty good.

[She took another small drink.]

Sorry, by the way. About. Well. Me. Things have been kinda weird for the last few months. It's strange waking up and remembering being nine different people. At least I haven't introduced myself as 'Curzon' for over a month. It's a step forward.

[She lifted the glass and took a much longer drink.]

Mute. Can't talk.

[But yay, one happy person who likes the drink. Always a good step.

Ginia's lips purse as she wonders if she should press. Multiple personalities, or something else at play?]

Is that common, remembering being nine different people?

Oh. I see.

[Suddenly, some problems seemed small. Like not knowing if you are a man or a woman when you wake up in the morning. Minor, really. Still...]

Common? No. No, no. Trill spend years preparing for a symbiont. Most get cut from the program long before they come near one. Joined trill are the best our people have to offer, they represent the leaders in their fields, knowledge and capabilities we can preserve for generations. I mean, Dax has been an engineer, an athlete, an ambassador, a scientist, as an example. I'm the ninth host. Ergo, nine people.

[She began pointing at the unfinished glasses.]

That was Torias's favourite. Curzon was fond of it, too. He was also fond of that one. That one. That one. And that one. All of them, really. Jadzia shared a lot of his tastes. I don't. Obviously. But I remember loving each and every one of them. So I order it because Curzon always did, and then I realize that Ezri can't stand the smell of Kali-fal. Rinse and repeat. Just change smell to taste. Texture. Whatever.

Then you add in all of the extra memories of everything, and even stuff I used to like before I was joined, I can't stand anymore. I'm left handed. Until I was joined, I was right handed. It's really not going...smoothly. Or well. At all.

And I'm doing it again. Rambling, I mean. Something else I never used to do. Believe it or not, I was actually self-composed. I had a career in front of me, I was doing well in counseling, I had a path. Now I'm always slightly surprised to not see the face of hundred year old man when I'm in front of the mirror. After eighty years, you just get used to it. You come to expect it. Even eight years later after dying twice.

[With that, Ezri emptied the glass Ginia had brought her.]

[Ginia does her best to process everything as Ezri continues, focusing on key points.

She's a trill, which may explain the spots starting around her forehead and going down the side of her face. And they prepare for a symbiont, which is presumably transferred from one host to another.

That she can remember things from eight past lives, plus her own, is incredible to think about, yet overwhelming. Likes, dislikes, memories, feelings, all felt and owned without any ownership.

No wonder Ezri seems so confused.

Ginia gives her shoulder a gentle, comforting squeeze. The rambling is fine, who wouldn't be confused?]

The rambling is okay, honestly, I think I'd be pretty confused with nine lives to sort out on top of being in a strange village with wings.

Also how do you spell your name?

[Absently, Ezri pulled the glass still full of blue alcohol towards her.]

I mean, really? I'm not a centimeter tall. No one here is playing Wadi. This place isn't composed entirely of holograms made by a lonely old man, and it doesn't appear and disappear every fifty years. And it's hardly the first time I've dealt with temporal displacement. I can think of, oh, four, five times in the last six years.

And the wings? It's not the first time I've been surgically altered. Going on a first contact mission isn't so bad, but when you're doing a study of a pre-warp culture, it isn't really good to go bouncing around looking like this when they have a dozen fingers and horns or something. The wings aren't that bad. Almost cute.

[Without thinking, she took a deep drink from the glass. Immediately, she coughed and almost dropped it, covering her mouth with an arm until she recovered a bit.]

Sorry.

[Ginia takes the glass back and makes sure all the other ones are far away. If there's one thing to be said about Ezri, it's she's certainly lived through nine interesting lives.]

Don't worry. I need to take these glasses back, but I can come back and chat for a bit if you want. And bring another drink.