Trekkies United: Going Boldly

"wow..." she breathed again, food once again forgotten and barely half-eaten. "you must be as interested in biological organisms as I am with you," she mused, barely hearing herself speak. "everyone encouraged me to go into medical too, or science at the very least, but I just can't stand being around people that long. I can't stop their emotions from affecting me, for better or worse. my dad didn't understand how to help me and I never learned to block it out. I don't even know if I can, honestly. so I picked engineering. not only are machines as fascinating as they are different from people, but you really don't have to ever work with or around others, and that makes it a lot easier on me. I'd rather not keep dealing with headaches like this morning, y'know?" she tried to offer a small smile, wanting to be friendly. because his emotions were so different, and sort of milder too, for her, it made him tolerable to be around, and coupled with how fascinating he was as a person, she honestly felt herself wanting to be actual friends with the android cadet.

"Perhaps so, yes," Matrix agreed with a small chuckle, nodding in understanding as she spoke of her chosen field. "It was exactly the opposite for me, amusingly enough - when I first applied for the Academy, Starfleet tried to encourage me to take courses in engineering. I suppose they thought I would be better at dealing with broken computers than dealing with 'broken' people." He frowned slightly at that, wondering for the umpteenth time if they had been right. Oh, he loved healing, of course, and was very skilled at remembering treatments, but despite that, he wasn't a biological organism. A big part of being a doctor was having empathy for one's patients; how could an android empathize with sick or injured people when he didn't know what it was like to be sick or truly injured himself? That's what those who had opposed his entry into medical had argued, and he often found that he wasn't sure of the answer himself. In any case, he could certainly identify with Brianna's frustrations regarding what was 'expected' of her, given her abilities and heritage, and he certainly couldn't blame her for not wanting to deal with people, given how they affected her. As she smiled at him, he gave her a small smile back, reciprocating her friendly feelings. She was the first cadet who had shown such interest in learning more about him or even just spending time with him, and he appreciated it greatly.

"so...have you ever eaten food? I know you don't have to, but surely you've been curious once or twice about taste and texture..." she blushed a bit. she didn't even know if he could taste! what if it wasn't built or programmed for him, oh no, she shouldn't make assumptions about him, about things she didn't know! she let out a curse in a breath, much too low for the average human to hear. "sorry, I...I need to learn to watch my mouth. I shouldn't really make any assumptions when I don't know you..."

Matrix, once again, was amused, as well as slightly puzzled, by her obvious embarrassment, as well as the curse his sharp ears were able to pick up. "There's no need for you to use profanities," he told her with barely-disguised laughter, "and no need for you to be embarrassed. As I said previously, you won't offend me. I know that I am different, and must be very intriguing and probably baffling to you." He paused for a moment before answering her initial question. "Yes, I will occasionally eat, though only for the sensations, and also sometimes to make others who are eating feel more comfortable around me. As you said, I have no need for sustenance." He chuckled again. "I clearly recall an incident when I was very young. I went through a bit of a 'phase' where I would put nearly anything in my mouth out of curiosity, and once, after spotting a lemon amongst some other fruits, I stuck the entire thing in my mouth before my father could stop me." His eyes glimmered amusedly. "I just thought it was pretty, so it must taste good, but I quickly realized this was not so. I couldn't spit it out quickly enough."

(aww poor baby XD at least it was a whole lemon, it probably would have been much worse if it were cut open!)

poor brianna turned beet red as he informed her that he had clearly heard her curse, and slightly bit her lip to keep from doing it again. he was...amused at her, not offended, and quite happy too, to share things about himself. thank goodness. and how refreshing, too. she relaxed and started giggling at his misfortune as a child, imagining a toddler version of him stuffing a lemon in his mouth. "my dad let me eat a chili pepper when I was two without warning me it was hot first...I was inconsolable for an hour, sobbing from the pain and laughing at the same time because of course he thought it was downright hilarious." she rolled her eyes and grinned, not noticing the bell that signalled the end of lunch time.

(XD I assume he probably bit into it, though, so there's that. But still, probably would've been worse cut, yeah. )

"Oh, dear," Matrix giggled back at her own similar story of misfortune. "Well, I think I was probably more fortunate than you, then - at least the sourness didn't last too terribly long, though I must say that on that day I began to understand the human concept of a painful moment feeling like an eternity. My father was struggling not to laugh at me, too, as was everyone else present." He giggled again at the remembered scene of Acara, Geordi, and Data laughing at him as he frantically searched for something else to mask the taste, drooling profusely on everything in the process. It hadn't exactly been funny to him then, but it certainly was now, even if he could remember the taste as if the incident had just happened.

He raised his head, on alert, as the bell sounded, his face falling a little in disappointment. "It's time to return to our posts," he announced sorrowfully, looking back to her after a moment and giving her another small smile. "Perhaps we shall do this again sometime soon?" he ventured, hoping she had enjoyed their visit as much as he had.

"if they're going to give you the same breaks as everyone else, then why don't you join me at meals? I won't peer pressure you into eating like somebody else might," she teased, reluctantly getting up and sighing a little in disappointment at the fact she hadn't nearly finished her food. she was going to be downright starving by dinner, she was sure of it. "I'll uh, see you soon, cadet. if anything breaks up in medical, let me know, eh?" she turned to leave, still smiling. he was so easy to be around, a genuinely happy person for once...it was like a breath of fresh air to be able to focus on him alone for a few minutes. "oh," she turned around at the door. "sorry, I just remembered--could you look up information about betazoids for me? I really don't know much about that half of my heritage besides what I've experienced for myself. I have to assume there's some way to control my empathy..."

Matrix nodded, standing as well. "I believe I shall do that," he told her warmly, only then noticing that she hadn't finished her plate. "Ah, I'm sorry... I distracted you from your meal," he apologized, his cheeks flushing slightly with sheepishness. She was still smiling, though, so he tried not to dwell on it, and nodded. "I will. And... thank you for the conversation. It was nice to just be able to talk to someone for once." He smiled, turning to head for another door, as they were headed in different directions, when her voice caught his attention once more. He tilted his head. "Of course. As soon as I have some time, I will look into it." He gave her another small smile. "See you soon." And with that, he headed for the door once more.

she nodded and left for herself. surprisingly for her, she wound up seeing matrix before dinner as she had to escort one of her classmates when they got injured using a tool improperly in class. "come on, you're okay, just keep talking to me julie," she soothed, struggling to keep the other girl from going into psychogenic shock from the pain of her injured hand. "it's just a burn, you'll be okay in just a minute." they arrived and she looked around for the head nurse but spotted matrix instead, waving him over. "could you take a look at this?"

julie, the other cadet brianna was escorting, immediately recoiled distrustfully from the android, giving him a very angry dirty look and hiding her injured hand from him. "julie..." brianna said in a warning tone. "let him help you."

Matrix was busy studying some fascinating microorganisms under a microscope when he heard footsteps approaching the medical bay. He looked up, surprised to see Brianna once again, accompanied by another female cadet, who appeared to have a badly burned hand. He glanced rapidly around, searching for the head nurse, but she wasn't present, busy treating another patient in a different room. He quickly headed over, but halted abruptly at the furiously dirty look the other cadet shot him. His eyes widened, a feeling of shocked dismay settling in the pit of his stomach. He had never encountered anyone this distrustful before... but, then again, he'd never worked in an Academy clinic treating patients before today, either.

"Easy... It's alright, I know how to help," he reassured the injured cadet in a soothing tone, pulling out his tricorder and quickly scanning the burn before hurrying back across the room to grab a dermal regenerator. "What happened?" he asked as he returned with the tool, glancing between Julie and Brianna, though he suspected Julie might not respond to him.

"she grabbed the wrong end of the thermal coupling tool," brianna informed him, holding julie's wrist so she wouldn't pull away again while she was being healed. "it's a pretty common mistake when you're not paying attention. I've done it myself." she gave the cadet just as dirty a look as the girl had given matrix, furious and frustrated at her immense distrust and disrespect of the nice young man just because he was an android. once she was healed, brianna let her go. "dismissed, cadet. get back to class, I'll follow." the girl practically fled the medical bay, shooting one last dirty look at matrix, though it was less hostile than before given he had healed her.

brianna sighed. "sorry about her. I guess that's more like what you expected of me?" she could tell he was hurt by the encounter and more than a little taken aback. "I promise she's not the norm." she looked ashamed of her classmate. "I should go. hope to see you at dinner..."

the head nurse came out a moment later. "cadet, is something wrong?" she asked her student, noticing he wasn't still at his station as she had expected.

Matrix nodded, giving Julie a sympathetic if wary and still slightly sad look. "Ah, yes. Of course," he mumbled, averting his gaze and focusing on her hand instead. It didn't take long to heal, and he watched as the cadet fled, flinching a little at her final look to him.

He looked over to Brianna as she apologized, shrugging uncomfortably. "Well... I'm never quite sure how any given person is going to react, true, though I must say I've never encountered someone as... passionately distasteful… as she." He shook his head. "Don't apologize. You are not responsible for her behavior, nor anyone else's, for that matter." He nodded. "I will see you later."

He watched her leave, feeling rather crestfallen, then turned at the sound of the head nurse's voice from behind him. "Ah... no. Well... perhaps... in a manner of speaking," he admitted. "Another cadet was brought in with an injured hand - burns from a thermal coupling tool." He hesitated, feeling it may not be proper to mention said cadet's vile attitude towards him.

"and as she is not still here I assume you handled the situation?" the nurse asked, quirking an eyebrow. "so what else happened? I might not be the best at reading your face yet, cadet, but I can see you're reluctant to mention something. I want a full report." she set her hands on her hips but looked rather motherly. she wasn't nearly as friendly as Dr Crusher was, much more brusque and businesslike, but she still had a soft spot for her students and that certainly included this one too, android or not. "come on, now. did they insult you? disrespect you? did they try to injure you at all?"

"Yes, sir," Matrix nodded, then lowered his head slightly in embarrassment as she continued, blushing a little.  Though he wished he were harder to read, he wasn't good at hiding what he was feeling.  He'd gotten better at it over his five short years, but certainly not enough for his liking.

"Well..." he began, shifting on his feet, still hesitant.  "She was... distrustful.  More distrustful than anyone else I have yet encountered during my time at the Academy.  She gave me several rather... harsh... looks, and practically fled the clinic once I had finished treating her."  He refrained from sharing his concerns regarding his ability to have enough empathy to properly treat patients - it wasn't something he openly shared, and he tried not to think about it himself - but was concerned she might read his hesitance again and press further.

the woman's gaze softened as he explained. "some are more distrustful of machines than others, cadet--though I think she must be in the wrong line of work if that's the case." she reached out to gently pat matrix's shoulder. "I wouldn't dwell on it. there are some species that don't trust me to treat them properly due to my gender. it happens sometimes." she nodded to the microscope. "back to your station, cadet. you'll be off for dinner as promised."

(okay I had some ideas for brianna while I was at work yesterday. she has a couple of genetic disorders. the first is hemochromatosis, which means her body absorbs way more iron than it needs, so she has to give blood no more than every 3 months, and eat an iron-poor diet as well to keep it in check. then of course she doesn't have most of her necessary reproductive organs, such as ovaries, so she needs weekly hormone shots to get her through puberty successfully. so she's basically in and out of medical pretty regularly.)

Matrix, though still a bit troubled with his unspoken worries, cheered a little at the nurse's reassurance.  "Thank you, sir," he murmured gratefully, following her nod toward the microscope and nodding himself, returning to his work.  He still had his concerns, but pushed them away for the time being.

When dinnertime rolled around, he headed back down toward the mess hall, hoping Brianna would be there again.  He didn't see her present yet, so he sat himself down at the same corner table as before to wait.

(Sounds good~  I would think they might have a cure for hemochromatosis by the 24th century, but I don't know much about why it happens, so there's that. xD)

(it's genetic, so I kind of doubt it, but eh, what do I know?)

the class that day ran a few minutes late due to the lengthy safety briefing the instructor had chosen to have after julie's injury. brianna was surprised to see Matrix already seated in the same place she had sat at lunch, waiting for her. it warmed her heart a little to see, honestly. she got her food and sat down, poking at it as usual. she'd better eat, or tomorrow morning would be rougher. she never wanted anything to do with food right after getting her hormone shot...sometimes it even made her sick. "so...did you find anything interesting in your microscope?" brianna asked, looking up at him as she took a bite.

(Alright, that's fine)

Matrix noticed quickly when she walked in, having been keeping an eye out for her. His eyes brightened and he gave her a small smile, waiting patiently as she got her food. After she sat down, he watched as she picked at it, but didn't say anything, just gave the slightest of frowns, wondering if she was feeling unwell.

"Nothing too spectacular - I was studying the growth of a species of bacteria. It is harmless to humanoid species, but can cause a deadly infection in certain Andorian insectoids," he told her, tilting his head slightly. "Did you do anything interesting in engineering?"

she shook her head and had another bite before speaking. "we got the safety lecture of our lives after the cadet's accident. otherwise it was pretty much all theory and review for today. I expect the next week will be pretty dull for me, to be honest." she kept eating this time--after all, she was starving--but the food didn't really taste any better than before. well, it tasted all right, just...off, somehow. she couldn't put her finger on it. "oh, ah...I will be seeing you again tomorrow. in medical, I mean," she clarified.

"Well, that doesn't sound very interesting," Matrix remarked, frowning sympathetically. "I suppose my day was probably better than yours in that regard, then." He paused, frowning further, this time in puzzlement and slight concern, at her next words. "Why? Is something the matter?" he asked. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, but..." He trailed off. Brianna hadn't seemed very comfortable in the medical bay earlier in the day, either time, so there must have been a fairly serious reason that she needed to come in tomorrow.

"oh, yes, everything's fine. it's a routine thing," she assured him. "every week I'll have to come in for hormone shots to make sure I stay on track with puberty, which, believe me, is fun enough on its own." she sighed. "if you haven't had the opportunity to study human adolescence I suggest you do. but basically my body lacks the glands that make the hormones that push you to adulthood, so without regular shots of those missing hormones I wouldn't mature correctly. perhaps not really at all." she went to poking at her food again, now because she was feeling a bit depressed. as if it wasn't bad enough being a half-breed with all the issues that naturally came from that, she had to be a freak of nature by itself too. that was far from the only thing wrong with her, even.

Matrix frowned further at that. "...I see," he murmured, nodding. "Yes, I am familiar with the stages of human growth, as well as those of many other species. ...I'm sorry you have had to deal with that," he added sympathetically. Seeing she was looking rather depressed, he gave her a small, slightly sad smile and tentatively offered, "You know, I was never able to have a childhood. I lack any hormones at all, as well as any other ability that would allow me to grow. I have stayed exactly the same height and weight for my entire existence." He suspected she might be feeling a little out-of-place, and hoped his own oddness would help her to feel better, if only a little.

her head snapped back up at the new information. she knew he was an android but...that fact had escaped her. she immediately thought back to their conversation at lunch and snorted, starting to giggle and turn pink. that must have been far more amusing for his caretakers, for a fully grown adult-looking person to behave so like a baby or young toddler! "um *giggle* I guess that didn't really occur to me before," she admitted. "wait...then how old are you now?" she hadn't realized it would be impossible to tell, and sort of assumed they must be about or at least the same age...

(Lol poor "baby" Matrix xD)

As she started to laugh, Matrix giggled a little as well, his cheeks brightening a bit, though it was hard to tell. "I wondered if perhaps you hadn't," he told her, blushing a bit further as she asked how old he was. "Actually, I'm only five years old. Well... five years, 3 months, 10 days, and 7 hours, to be more precise," he added, feeling a little sheepish. How strange that must seem to her! "I have grown much mentally and emotionally during that time, even if I haven't grown physically. I started life very... well, very childlike, in many ways. I didn't understand much of human behavior at all in the beginning - everything was logistics and statistics to me. Even though I am certainly no expert now, I have learned a great deal."

"I can tell," brianna said warmly. "you seem to have the maturity of someone at least my age, about 16. I'm afraid I can't be more precise like you," she added, looking a little more red. "time dilation with space travel when I was a baby, and all." she went back to eating, realizing she didn't have much time to finish her food. "I get free time for about an hour after this, do you?" she hoped so, but being as they were in different tracks, their schedules might only sync up for meals and sleeping. it was possible.