Star Trek fiction: "Not With Envy"
Nov. 6th, 2009 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eliyesTitle: Not With Envy
series: Andorians
summary: Wong checks in on Shallan.
Lieutenant Commander Glenn Wong wandered into Sickbay with his hands clasped behind his back, looking as innocent as a devil that just kissed the Blarney Stone. Glancing around casually, he saw a nurse point towards the Chief Medical Officer's office discreetly, never turning to face Wong. Fixing a thoughtful look on his face, Wong strode toward Doctor Shallan's inner sanctum.
He was barely through the door when he came staggering out again, whooping with laughter.
After a moment, Shallan herself strolled out far enough to lean against the frame, arms crossed. Her face was set somewhere between irritation and amusement as she watched her Human friend laugh himself silly.
Her hair was bright green, instead of the white natural to Andorians, which colour it had been the day before. Shallan shook her head sadly as Wong looked at her and dissolved into a fresh paroxysm of hilarity. It was tragic, really tragic, how easy it was to bring such a high-ranking member of the Galaxy's command staff to his knees, beating his fists futilely against the deck.
When he finally wound down and got some of his wind back, she hauled him to his feet.
"Let me guess, let me guess!" he demanded, wiping tears of mirth from his flushed face. "H'rov decided you really needed a new look!"
"Wrong."
"Cultural festival or ritual!"
"No."
"Unexpected side effect of your new shampoo?"
Shallan made a thumbs-down gesture that had Wong snickering again, knowing where it stood in the repertoire of insulting Andorian gestures.
"Ahh," he sighed happily. "Then you've done it just to make my day."
"What's that Human saying N'Darie told me? 'Laughter is the very best medicine'?"
"Except if you have a gut-wound. Yeah. Wait, that's not really it, is it?"
Shallan assumed her patented 'confused alien' face, so Wong smacked her arm.
"C'mon, spill. Or I'll cite 'concern for your mental state owing to a sudden, unexplained change in behaviour' and order Jhæss to tell me."
Shallan sighed and rolled her eyes, waving for him to follow her into the office. "I doubt he could explain." Pouring a tumbler of syrupy, chilled yuya from the pitcher she habitually kept on her desk, the doctor again fell silent, antennae churning slowly as though her spouse wasn't the only one who'd have trouble with this explanation.
Wong waited her out, accepting his drink with a nod of thanks and easing into one of the guest chairs.
"We spoke to Ftathsril's parents last night," Shallan told him finally, staring into her glass as though reading the words off the bottom.
Wong's first instinct was to crack a joke about Shallan's in-laws suggesting she dye her hair, but his brain caught up to his tongue in time to stop it. She rarely used the full personal names of her spouses; this was obviously a serious matter. Her lips were set in a not-quite-frown, but her antennae were positively droopy.
"She'd warned us, but I guess I was unprepared for just how conservative they are."
Wong blinked.
"Sril's parents are conservative?" he asked incredulously. Shallan nodded glumly. Wong blinked again. "...So, I guess she rebelled?"
"Oh, yes." The doctor sighed, or possibly swore under her breath. "She spurned the bondgroup they'd arranged when she was a child, did you know what? They're not happy with us she's chosen. In particular, they hate me." She threw back the rest of her yuya then gazed gloomily at her feet.
Wong thought about it. He'd known his friend was somewhat nontraditional, and that bondgroups that came together completely by choice weren't the norm. It was just that Sril was so wild, such a... a free spirit, that it hadn't occurred to him that she was reacting against a restrictive upbringing. In hindsight, of course, it made perfect sense, but --
"...That still doesn't explain the hair."
"Well, I had to express myself somehow," Shallan told him acerbically. "I can't very well go on a rampage through Sickbay, smashing everything in sight. My patients and my staff would be perturbed. Although," she added reassuringly, "Jhæss and I have booked a fighting simulation in one of the holodecks for tonight. That should help."
"But why green?" Wong asked plaintively.
Shallan shrugged. "It's the colour I associate with conflict and anger."
"Really? I usually think of red there."
"Yes, because that's the colour of your blood," she said matter-of-factly. "You see it when you're wounded, hence conflict, and also those of your species who are less rich in melanin redden when suffused with a passion like anger or lust." She looked suddenly, wickedly amused. "So, because of the Human circulatory system, the rest of us have to deal with 'red alerts'."
He snorted. "I suppose. But your blood is as a blue as your skin --"
"Ah, but Orion skin is green, as is Vulcan blood, and the association goes back at least as far as their respective borders meeting those of the Andorian Star Empire. Possibly further, for all I know." Shallan poured them both more yuya. "You know, humanity is lucky the Vulcans encountered Andorians first. They must see you as comparatively moderate, I think, whereas all they had to compare to us was their own savage, pre-logic history. Really challenged the wisdom of 'infinite diversity in infinite combinations', I bet, having to deal with us jumped-up throwbacks, and meanwhile we thought they must be the most treacherous creatures in the galaxy."
"Suddenly, I'm seeing your interactions with Vulcans in a whole new light," Wong told her, a bit dazed. "Let me see if I have this straight: Sril's parents ticked you off so badly that you felt compelled to dye your hair the colour of anger so that you'd be expressing that anger all day, in a way that doesn't freak out the patients?"
"Basically."
"Right." He stood, and confiscated the pitcher of yuya and both their glasses. "You don't need more caffeine, Shall. I'm going to warn the Captain."
"Spoilsport." But she let him go.
It was only in the turbolift that Wong realised Shallan hadn't included H'rov in her plans to blow off steam in the holodeck later, which meant the devious little computer technician was finding some other way to cope.
Yes, he definitely needed to warn Captain Mekh-nii.
.
series: Andorians
summary: Wong checks in on Shallan.
Lieutenant Commander Glenn Wong wandered into Sickbay with his hands clasped behind his back, looking as innocent as a devil that just kissed the Blarney Stone. Glancing around casually, he saw a nurse point towards the Chief Medical Officer's office discreetly, never turning to face Wong. Fixing a thoughtful look on his face, Wong strode toward Doctor Shallan's inner sanctum.
He was barely through the door when he came staggering out again, whooping with laughter.
After a moment, Shallan herself strolled out far enough to lean against the frame, arms crossed. Her face was set somewhere between irritation and amusement as she watched her Human friend laugh himself silly.
Her hair was bright green, instead of the white natural to Andorians, which colour it had been the day before. Shallan shook her head sadly as Wong looked at her and dissolved into a fresh paroxysm of hilarity. It was tragic, really tragic, how easy it was to bring such a high-ranking member of the Galaxy's command staff to his knees, beating his fists futilely against the deck.
When he finally wound down and got some of his wind back, she hauled him to his feet.
"Let me guess, let me guess!" he demanded, wiping tears of mirth from his flushed face. "H'rov decided you really needed a new look!"
"Wrong."
"Cultural festival or ritual!"
"No."
"Unexpected side effect of your new shampoo?"
Shallan made a thumbs-down gesture that had Wong snickering again, knowing where it stood in the repertoire of insulting Andorian gestures.
"Ahh," he sighed happily. "Then you've done it just to make my day."
"What's that Human saying N'Darie told me? 'Laughter is the very best medicine'?"
"Except if you have a gut-wound. Yeah. Wait, that's not really it, is it?"
Shallan assumed her patented 'confused alien' face, so Wong smacked her arm.
"C'mon, spill. Or I'll cite 'concern for your mental state owing to a sudden, unexplained change in behaviour' and order Jhæss to tell me."
Shallan sighed and rolled her eyes, waving for him to follow her into the office. "I doubt he could explain." Pouring a tumbler of syrupy, chilled yuya from the pitcher she habitually kept on her desk, the doctor again fell silent, antennae churning slowly as though her spouse wasn't the only one who'd have trouble with this explanation.
Wong waited her out, accepting his drink with a nod of thanks and easing into one of the guest chairs.
"We spoke to Ftathsril's parents last night," Shallan told him finally, staring into her glass as though reading the words off the bottom.
Wong's first instinct was to crack a joke about Shallan's in-laws suggesting she dye her hair, but his brain caught up to his tongue in time to stop it. She rarely used the full personal names of her spouses; this was obviously a serious matter. Her lips were set in a not-quite-frown, but her antennae were positively droopy.
"She'd warned us, but I guess I was unprepared for just how conservative they are."
Wong blinked.
"Sril's parents are conservative?" he asked incredulously. Shallan nodded glumly. Wong blinked again. "...So, I guess she rebelled?"
"Oh, yes." The doctor sighed, or possibly swore under her breath. "She spurned the bondgroup they'd arranged when she was a child, did you know what? They're not happy with us she's chosen. In particular, they hate me." She threw back the rest of her yuya then gazed gloomily at her feet.
Wong thought about it. He'd known his friend was somewhat nontraditional, and that bondgroups that came together completely by choice weren't the norm. It was just that Sril was so wild, such a... a free spirit, that it hadn't occurred to him that she was reacting against a restrictive upbringing. In hindsight, of course, it made perfect sense, but --
"...That still doesn't explain the hair."
"Well, I had to express myself somehow," Shallan told him acerbically. "I can't very well go on a rampage through Sickbay, smashing everything in sight. My patients and my staff would be perturbed. Although," she added reassuringly, "Jhæss and I have booked a fighting simulation in one of the holodecks for tonight. That should help."
"But why green?" Wong asked plaintively.
Shallan shrugged. "It's the colour I associate with conflict and anger."
"Really? I usually think of red there."
"Yes, because that's the colour of your blood," she said matter-of-factly. "You see it when you're wounded, hence conflict, and also those of your species who are less rich in melanin redden when suffused with a passion like anger or lust." She looked suddenly, wickedly amused. "So, because of the Human circulatory system, the rest of us have to deal with 'red alerts'."
He snorted. "I suppose. But your blood is as a blue as your skin --"
"Ah, but Orion skin is green, as is Vulcan blood, and the association goes back at least as far as their respective borders meeting those of the Andorian Star Empire. Possibly further, for all I know." Shallan poured them both more yuya. "You know, humanity is lucky the Vulcans encountered Andorians first. They must see you as comparatively moderate, I think, whereas all they had to compare to us was their own savage, pre-logic history. Really challenged the wisdom of 'infinite diversity in infinite combinations', I bet, having to deal with us jumped-up throwbacks, and meanwhile we thought they must be the most treacherous creatures in the galaxy."
"Suddenly, I'm seeing your interactions with Vulcans in a whole new light," Wong told her, a bit dazed. "Let me see if I have this straight: Sril's parents ticked you off so badly that you felt compelled to dye your hair the colour of anger so that you'd be expressing that anger all day, in a way that doesn't freak out the patients?"
"Basically."
"Right." He stood, and confiscated the pitcher of yuya and both their glasses. "You don't need more caffeine, Shall. I'm going to warn the Captain."
"Spoilsport." But she let him go.
It was only in the turbolift that Wong realised Shallan hadn't included H'rov in her plans to blow off steam in the holodeck later, which meant the devious little computer technician was finding some other way to cope.
Yes, he definitely needed to warn Captain Mekh-nii.
.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-06 07:17 pm (UTC)...but ahahaha, H'rov! Run, Commander! Run while you still can!
I very much like that even serious stories get much delicious humor in the mix. :3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-06 07:42 pm (UTC)Wong was initially just going to warn Mekh-nii because he didn't want him surprised by the hair at the senior staff meeting. But H'rov... could be a problem. Especially since, when he blows off steam, it's always so damned hard to pin it on him!
This actually started out as a purely comedic story, but Shallan's reason for the dye-job changed that. I like it better this way, really. ;3