Trekkies United: Going Boldly

"Yes," Matrix giggled. "Strawberry trifle, to be exact." The pleasurable comfort and longing for family then mingled into thoughts of his father's cat, Spot. Matrix was one of the only people the picky feline actually liked, a fact which made him feel rather honored. He could almost feel her soft ginger fur, hear her purr...

Brianna suddenly jumped in surprise, her eyes snapping open to stare at her hand. "what the...?" she looked up and blinked at him. "you were  thinking of something furry...I could feel it for a second there..." she frowned and closed her eyes again to concentrate closer. "a...a small creature, and it's orange and purrs...did you have a tribble at some point?" those were all the details she could glean from him, but his instant amusement proved she was on the wrong track, though the image she had invented grew suddenly clearer.

Matrix started giggling again at her guess. "Not quite a tribble, no," he laughed. "A cat. My father has a pet cat named Spot. I happen to be one of the fortunate few people she enjoys the company of." He started thinking more deeply of his father, and of the violin he played. Mat had picked up the instrument, as well; his own violin was in his station quarters.

"oh, a cat. that does make more sense." she grinned at his laughing, glad to be making him happy even if she had been wrong with her guesses. she blinked a few times and closed her eyes again, starting to hum after a moment. it was a popular piece of classical music, the violin part of a tune by Bach. "does someone in your family play an instrument?" she asked after finishing the phrase, apparently unaware she had been humming at all. she had no idea yet that she would be completely unable to do this with anyone else on the station if she tried.

"Yes, my father plays the violin. As do I," Matrix said with a smile. "You're quite good at this. And you thought you had no telepathic abilities!" He then gave a slightly playful smirk, deciding to try and test her further. He'd never told her Acara's species, and Lycanarians weren't exactly well-known in the Federation, given that they kept to themselves for the most part, and Acara herself was the only member of Starfleet, so Brianna likely wouldn't know of them. He pictured the giant winged wolf-like alien, trying to make his mental image as strong and detailed as possible.

"well, maybe your circuits make you easier to read?" she teased, grinning excitedly herself. she closed her eyes again as she knew he was thinking of something else. wings...and fur? and teeth, sharp teeth...it was big...was this all a single being? her eyebrows furrowed deeply as she tried to resolve the snippets into a single image, and finally got a single clear flash, complete with a name. "wow! I've never seen anything like an 'acara' before! are they a part of the federation?" her black eyes sparkled with fascination

(LOL)

"I would think it would be the opposite, but perhaps," Matrix replied with humor, continuing to focus on his mental image. He was surprised, as well as rather amused, when she spoke up, apparently having gotten a pretty clear image from him. "No, 'Acara' isn't a species - she's an individual," he laughed. "I told you about her a bit - remember? She's one of my father's best friends. I just never told you her species. She's a Lycanarian, and no, they're not a part of the Federation. They like to keep to themselves - Acara's the only member of her species in Starfleet."

"oh...OHH!" she did remember him talking about an acara, but he hadn't mentioned what she looked like! she had understandably assumed she was humanoid at least, which was the norm. wow! she giggled a bit and grinned, not paying attention to the time anymore. "that was really clear, try another one!"

Matrix, who was a little more aware of the time than Brianna was, hesitated. "Well... I would, but... what time do you need to get back to class? I asked the nurse to let me know when she wanted me back, since she didn't specify, but I don't know if you have a schedule to keep."

"No, I said already my workload is done for today...but I suppose it is nearly dinner," she sighed, looking a little disappointed. "maybe we should stop for now, then. you did great! you were a really good helper." she beamed at him, also glad he seemed to be feeling a lot better. "I've been able to expand my range with practice too, so I can sense you all the way across the station now...I actually...huh..." I think you're the only person I can do that with...

Mat gave her a smile in return as she beamed at him, though it faltered slightly as he continued to hear her voice despite the fact that her mouth clearly wasn't moving. That wasn't right... What was going on?! ...Unless... His eyes bugged out at the thought, though he quickly tried to hide it. Surely not...? Surely he wasn't capable of reading telepathic messages? ...Perhaps he should say something... No. He didn't want to concern her.

"W-well... I'm glad I was able to help," he said, offering her another smile and hoping to the stars she wouldn't notice and ask why he was being so weird.

she sighed again, easily reading his panic but mis-attributing it to the current situation with the other cadet. "it's going to work out, Mat, don't worry so much about it," she soothed with a pat on his arm. "let's go grab some dinner, it's beef and barley soup again tonight." she got to her feet and offered her hand. physical touch had always been soothing to her as a child and usually made her father feel better too. hugs were best of course, but even holding hands could do a surprising amount.

Matrix was slightly relieved that she didn't question him about it, apparently attributing it to something else - he figured, by her words and what had been going on earlier, the situation with T'kilk. He was still on-edge, however, wondering how in the universe he was possibly hearing her thoughts, but he stood, glancing down at her hand as she offered it and hesitating a moment before taking it. Surprisingly, the physical contact did seem to soothe him a bit more, and he gave a quiet sigh, following her out of the room and toward the mess hall. He was concerned that something was going wrong in his positronic net to cause this aberration, and feared he might be damaged somehow, but he would have to wait until later to run any external tests; he didn't want to worry her. He was, however, already performing an internal scan, though he doubted it would catch anything. In his focus, however, he was fairly distracted, only aware enough of his surroundings to keep moving, avoid tripping or running into anything, and listen in case Brianna said anything.

Bri glanced at him once or twice as she led him to the mess hall and their usual table. he was suddenly being oddly quiet and not really looking around like he normally did. she got him sat in his usual chair and went to fetch food, requesting a cup of chamomile tea with her dinner to give to him. she knew, of course, it wouldn't really work like it did on humans, but perhaps just having a hot drink would help by itself. she set it in front of him as she sat down and started on her soup, staring right at him to see how long it would take him to notice. his green eyes were so pretty...

(LOL and it takes him like, five minutes to notice she's staring at him. Okay, no, but I'm tempted. xD)

Matrix barely noticed as they arrived, only coming to long enough to sit down before pouring every bit of his focus into his scan. He didn't realize as Brianna sat back down, and it took him a good ten seconds or so of blankly staring at the wall just past her to realize she was there and looking at him. He blinked in surprise, his eyes refocusing at last, and peered at her with faint concern, looking around for a moment a bit self-consciously before his gaze returned to her. "...What? What is it?"

"...are you sure you're all right? you were staring into space," she told him, carefully nudging the mug of tea closer to him. "you don't have to stay with me if it's too stressful, Matrix. you can stay in your room. I know familiar surroundings can help in times like this."

"...Oh," Matrix breathed, feeling sheepish. Here he was trying to keep her from worrying, and he was only making it worse! He shook his head. "N-no... I'm alright. Just a bit... distracted, is all..." he tried to assure her, glancing down as she nudged the tea mug closer. He stared at it for a moment before reaching to pick it up, taking a sip. "...Chamomile?" She really was concerned about him...

she nodded. "I know it won't really help you like it would a human, but...well, I don't know how to help you!" she said, clearly looking stressed herself. "and what do you mean, distracted? you've told me about your abilities enough for me to know it's basically impossible for you to be distracted by anything-you process it too fast for me to notice the lapse. so why were you staring at me like I didn't exist for almost 15 seconds?" her eyes were soft with great concern. "talk to me, please. you're my friend, Matrix, I want you to be okay..."

Matrix averted his gaze shamefully as she saw through his far-fetched explanation, desperately trying to come up with something else that would be more satisfying to her as well as keep his problem a secret. Finally, after a few seconds, he gave up, shaking his head. "It's... It's not something I feel comfortable sharing," he told her softly. "At least, not yet. Just... try not to worry too much, alright?"

"well..." she sighed, looking down. "all right, I guess. I wish you could trust me, but I understand. I hope...well, I hope you can feel comfortable enough to tell me what's wrong soon..." she looked a bit forlorn. she finished her soup in silence and stood to leave, giving him one more long, worried look before turning away to put the dishes away. I just want you to be okay...

Matrix winced noticeably at her forlorn look, guilt flooding through him. "I'm sorry..." he murmured as she turned away, feeling terrible. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell her his troubles... he just didn't know what to make of the issue and didn't want to scare her. He flinched again, even harder, as her voice rang out in his head once more, even louder than before. He quickly stood, returning his cup and practically fleeing the mess hall, returning to his quarters. Once there, he began a more intensive scan, hoping nothing was wrong, but at the same time hoping it would catch whatever was going on, if only to relieve the stress of not knowing.

Unfortunately, but also fortunately, it did not, leaving him in a bit of a frenzy. The scan said nothing was wrong, but there must be. How could he possibly be telepathically reading her thoughts?! He was an android, for stars' sake!

Not knowing what else to do, he managed to receive permission from the station for an outgoing message to his father, hoping the Enterprise was in close enough range that he could talk with him face-to-face.

surprisingly, it was close enough to contact the Enterprise in relatively real-time, though it was the middle of the night cycle on board. luckily Lieutenant Commander Data was easily woken from his dream program and was there in under a minute. "Matrix?" he frowned in concern. "What is wrong? you said it was urgent?" his gold eyes quickly scanned the information he had sent along with the transmission. "all of your diagnostics appear normal?"

Mat was relieved when his father answered so quickly. "Yes, everything appears normal, but something has to have gone wrong. I... I met this girl a few weeks back. She's half-human, half-Betazoid. We've become friends, but I've started hearing her voice, even when she clearly isn't speaking out loud. ...Could I somehow be detecting her telepathically? Is that even possible?" He shifted in his chair anxiously, his green eyes wide with nervousness.

"that is most unusual," Data agreed. "I do not find it likely you are detecting her telepathically. however, you did say she was half betazoid, much like counselor troi?" he blinked once. "Matrix, does this other cadet have telepathic abilities herself? could she be sending out her thoughts to you, even unintentionally?" he had another theory, but didn't want to trouble him further...and he needed to speak with counselor Troi...

(Now I'm wondering what his other theory is... xD)

Matrix nodded, swallowing. "From what I know of her, yes, it is possible. She seems to have telepathic abilities, but she was raised solely by her human father, on Earth, and he had no way of teaching her how to control her Betazoid abilities, so she is highly inexperienced. I don't know if she would even be aware if she were sending out her thoughts or not."