Follow Up

Posted on Sat Nov 26, 2016 @ 3:04am by erie'Riov Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

1,839 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: Amia's Office

Rianni left from her Aunt's quarters hurriedly, realizing a few feet out of the door that she was, in fact, very late. As she rushed to sickbay, she found herself stopping by a mirrored window of a shop on the Promenade, grabbing the hair tie Aunt Isha had slipped her on the way out the door, ~Very subtle, Isha.~ She laughed silently as she pulled her hair into a large bun on top of her head, smiling at her reflection, ~Still pretty. That's good.~ Giving herself a final once over she walked through the double doors of sickbay calling, "Chelse... Dr. Telamon, are you here? Sorry I'm late."

"Hello Rianni, how are you feeling today?" Amia greeted her patient. She hadn't missed the slip of her predecessor's name but that was totally understandable, lots of people had been here for so long that they remembered a lot of the history of the station and its staff, current and previous. Amia would have liked to know more about the Dunhams. She wondered what advice they might have had for herself and Cade. Marriage within the Fleet was never easy it seemed. Yet other couples, with one civilian partner and one Fleeter did seem to also have problems of a different kind by coming from different angles of station life.

The half BaKu, half human, CMO let all these thoughts fleet across the horizon of her mind as she pulled up the latest PaDD on Rhianni's care and progress. Life was always a mixed bag, whichever angle you approached it from and no-one ever really knew what it would be like to walk in another's shoes or situation.

Amia's eyes scanned the PaDD as her ears listened to Rianni's reply.

"Feeling a little better actually, Doctor." Rianni answered as she sat down across from the half-BaKu woman, ~She's lovely, even if not quite as pretty as Chelsea.~ She decided quickly, reminding herself just as quickly that her vote was at the very least a little biased, "Just came from seeing my aunt, pleasantly surprised by the results of your work, by the way, I was expecting..... well, I wasn't expecting a good result."

"It's never easy as a new arrival, attempting to convince everyone that whilst you can't presume to walk in the footsteps of that someone they liked and respected who's moved on, that you haven't arrived with only the ability to make do with 6-thumbs!" Amia laughed very well aware that this was a quote that Mai'ya Weston had made to her, bemoaning the difficulty of following Amia herself after she had left the Nimitz.

"Oh, Doctor, please understand that was no slam on you or your skills." Rianni was quick to explain, not wanting to hurt the other woman's feelings, "It's just.... I woke up during my surgery, several times actually, and I heard Lena Parseghian commenting on how I was going to be permanently disfigured and so I was expecting, you know, a mess...."

"Two problems with that." Amia said with a frown of concern. "One that you shouldn't have been so badly managed with anaesthetic that you were aware at any time, let alone several; and two that Lena should have been spending more time monitoring how you were doing and if you *were* aware, rather than making unhelpful comments on something she clearly knew very little about!" she sighed. "Even Centuries ago in the 21st, they knew enough about what they called 'plastic surgery' to reconstruct damage, especially to faces, with acceptable cosmesis refinement. Now, 400 years later, we regenerate and there's not even any need for cosmetic surgery as such because we just rebuild what we need over the main bone structure. Lena should know better and if she doesn't she should keep it buttoned. I'll not have that sort of lapse gossip in my Sickbay. It just scares people and it's born out of pure ignorance!"

Running a med scan over Rhianni as she explained, Amia added "I have plenty of training in cosmesis, if we should need to fall back on it and if we should happen to struggle at any point, my aforementioned successor at SBO80, May'ai Weston, is an AI specialist who can build faces from scratch if we get to that point. Not that I believe we will need her, but she's a back up for the 'worst case scenario' so that you won't need to worry about it."

"I see Superbitch made her usual great first impression." Rianni laughed, "That mouth of hers is why she works for my Grandfather in, what does she call it? Oh, yes! 'The broom closet on the SS Rustoleum.' Nobody else will hire her. I don't know, I guess Papa thinks she's still young and pretty or something." She decided then and there that she liked this woman, "And don't feel bad about feeling a little off coming in behind Chelsea, she's a tough act to follow, but you're good, I mean, you kept me from making a living in the sideshow, so that's good. It was just, she was like family you know? Kept me from dying when I....."

"You don't have to tell me if you'd rather not? If it's a sensitive subject" Amia said softly, not wishing to intrude on something that was seeming to make Rhianni suddenly sad.

"When I tried to commit suicide." Rianni finished, "I... I was depressed over losing the woman I had just proposed to to some scumbag Klingon who never deserved her. So, I.... Well, you already know this, it's in my medical files. I mean, when you worked on me, not the first time I almost died in this sickbay, more like the third. Um, hey, could you do something for me?" Rianni asked, wanting to change the subject pretty quickly as she was making herself sad.

"That must have been a dark time for you. It was good that you had a friend to support you" Amia had been hearing stories about Chelsea ever since she set foot on this station. It was true that she was a tough act to follow, just as Rianni had said.

"Yeah, it's not on my list of favorite memories." Rianni sighed, then laughed, "Rick's lucky he got to her first though, Chelsea is great. But, hey, you and me might get along just as well." Rianni felt bad now, this woman had enough pressure on her already following behind Chelsea and she was making it worse, "In fact, if you wanted to have lunch at my Uncle Theo's cafe one day it'll be my treat."

"That's very sweet of you. I'd like that. Thanks!" Amia replied, grateful for someone who seemed to want to make friends. "What did you want to ask of me? You just asked if I could do something for you? What do you need?"

"Umm, it's really just a petty thing, but...." Rianni began, then stopped to laugh, "My Aunt, Captain t'Vaurek, she always remarked about how much she hated how I'd 'mangled my beautiful ears' with the earrings that ran through the cartilage on both sides. I've had them for years, but I decided it was time for a change, so I took them out, kinda like the holes sealed up." She shrugged, "Like I said, stupid, petty thing, but, change is good."

"Were you thinking you'd like them regenerated good as new, as if it never was done? Or were you thinking you'd like the holes back as if you'd never let them grow over? ORRRR... do you want something completely different this time?" Amia grinned.

"Something completely different?" Rianni asked, an eyebrow raised, "What could that mean?" She was definitely intrigued, might be fun.

"There are all kinds of tribal patterns you could look at for a different type of effect?" Amia suggested. "Or you could just put in one, shaped ring, and change if for a larger one, fraction by fraction, until you had an ornamental hole in the lobe? Of course, these days we would just seal that back up when you got tired of it. Otherwise you could try something like a Bajoran Earring, with a securing hole up high in the cartilege and another, larger anchor for it on the actual lobe. Then there are all kinds of combinations of all kinds of shapes and patterns of metallic studs or even some body art with earrings or studs set into the picture to enhance the contoured effect. What do you think you might like?"

"Show me some pictures." Rianni giggled excitedly, she'd just found a new playmate for her extended teenage years, "Then we'll decide."

Amia grinned and went to the monitor, setting it up to search for a wealth of possibilities. She picked a few choices and put them into a composite for Rhianni to look at and see what she liked.

There were ears of every shape and size and decorations with tattooed or henna patterns, all kinds of jewellery from as simple as a tiny jewelled stud or flower, to as complex as Bajoran double anchored, convoluted chain joined combinations. There were large heavy studs, small pretty ones, holes in every shape and size, all either in the pattern or looking random.

"It doesn't seem like your pretty little ears are going to be big enough to take more than a few of these, so we'd better choose the most flexible, the most interchangeable and the most innovative, don't you think? Do you want a theme? Do you want them to fill the whole cartilage or just parts of each? We could even do them differently to one another?" she suggested.

"You know what? Go nuts." Rianni said with a huge smile, she definitely liked Amia.

"Nuts? Are you sure? I don't want to get us both into trouble." she laughed, picking out some sweet, pretty bejewelled studs, a couple of rings, a linking chain and two patterns for henna between one group and another, across the cartilage in a swirly pattern that fitted snugly into the shape of her pretty ears.

Rianni peeked slightly at what the Doctor had gathered and smiled, yep, she had definitely found a new friend, "When this is done, let's go grab some lunch and do some shopping." Rianni stated, "Today seems like a good day to have some fun."

"I love that idea. Let's do that." Amia agreed very happily indeed. She had found it hard to fit in on this station, she had to admit, and Rianni was just the breath of fresh air she needed in her life.

"All right then!" Rianni grinned, "Finish my ears and let's get our shop on!" This was something she definitely needed, to start getting some new friends to fill the holes in her life, and Rianni had a feeling Amia Telamon was a great start.

"Sure" Amia agreed and set to work.

tbc.....

A JP Between:

Rianni Monteros-t'Khellian
CO, IRW Dhelan/Pleasant Patient

and

Commander Amia Telamon
CMO - DS5

 

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