Mind Full of Mindful

[Jylliene 0]

(Note: Events below take place very shortly after "Dabi (spanner) No More", and a full day before "Ghosts of the Past")

 

 

 

Jylliene’s mind was a mess.

 

Had she had a normal shift, the five hours of sleep she got would have sufficed. Instead, half the shift had been spent in interviewing, and it was, as she had told Commander Ramson, mentally draining. She needed to do something physical.

 

A thought flashed through her head, but she quickly pushed it down and chuckled inwardly, the slightest blush to her cheeks.

 

Instead, she changed and went to the holodeck. “Computer - Program Jylliene exercise alpha.” Entering, she stepped up to a padded floor, and greeted her trainer. They faced off, and, as they circled, Jylliene charged toward the other.

 

…

 

Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the holodeck, flushed but invigorated. She returned to her quarters and took a shower, put on pajamas, grabbed a sandwich and tea from the replicator, and flopped onto her couch. “Computer - music - program ambient one.”

 

She ate the sandwich fairly quickly, then cradled the teacup in her hands. A recharging night, it seemed. Jylliene finally let her mind return to the question Ramson had posed to her earlier - the one she would need to find a way to ask Nijil.

 

But how?

 

The door chimed, but she was not expecting anyone. Some loose end to tie up? The sound was followed by a muffled “Jylliene.”

 

She blinked. “Come in.”

 

It was Nijil, looking worn out and now with a glob of green across his cheek. “Jolan tru. I did not want to go to sickbay. Can you help me? I’m sorry to impose.” He stood just within the door threshold. It hissed shut behind him. The lighting overhead made the blood more noticeable. An eerie green where the experience is normally red.

 

She peered at him quizzically, then with worry as she saw the injury. “What in the world did you do to yourself?” Putting down her tea, she stood up, and hurried over, looking at his face. “Let me get a washcloth.” She fetched a clean one from the bathroom, dampened it, and returned.

 

“So - what happened? I don’t need to worry about Dabi following close behind you, do I?” she asked, half in jest, hoping to lighten the mood. “..Nijil?” Jylliene looked at him in increasing alarm. “Talk to me.”

 

“tr’Dabi won’t be bothering anyone else on this station,” he answered dryly. He was mad, but more at himself. “I made the mistake of naming a problematic microspanner after someone on the station I did not care for, but it struck me in the cheek. Then I showed tr’Dabi what a disruptor at close range does...poof.” He gestured both hands as if something was exploding between them.

 

Jylliene’s eyes turned from concern to slight amusement. “Just promise me you won’t refer to the former microspanner by name outside of our quarters. Don’t need the wrong person misunderstanding.” She dabbed at his cheek and looked at the wound. “A bit of a gash, but I don’t think it’s going to need a trip to sickbay. No doubt it could be fixed up faster there, but it’ll be fine regardless.”

 

“The real tr’Dabi was in sickbay so I was told, so I wanted to avoid any conflict. We are as bad as Klingons.” He wanted to shift the conversation. “Your day without injury I take it?” He sat down on the closest place he could see.

 

She nodded. “Yes. I’ll take the injury-free days as much as I can right now, given...right, as much as I can.” Jylliene paused, then continued. “Nijil...about when we retook the station...the woman you found that you knew...”

 

“Yes?” Not the shift he wanted nor expected.

 

“If there are more renegades...well...she might not be the only such surprise. I can’t imagine trying to prepare for that, but...”

 

Nijil frowned. “The pain of her turning against me was greater than her death. I did not want to see her get harmed, but I knew the kind of people she got involved with. I would have rather my heart be stabbed than go through what she did to me.” He turned his eyes toward the ground and not at her.

 

“I don’t envy you. My family and friends are far away from all of this.” She sighed. “I’m sorry.” Jylliene reached out and touched his cheek, glancing at it, and trying to see his eyes. “Can I get you anything? Tea?”

 

“Something strong.”

“I’m afraid you have the ale, not me. But I’ll make it a strong tea...?”

 

“That’s fine. Don’t worry about me on the station. I have to bury my past. It can hold you back like a gravity well.” He now looked up and gazed out the far window. Just a few scattered points of light.

 

Jylliene was indeed worried for a moment, as he started saying “station”, but thankfully, he hadn’t said anything more - and they were, after all, on a station right now. She retrieved the tea from the replicator - double strength - and brought it to him, sat down, and picked her own teacup back up.

 

“Ah... one of the universe’s great pleasures...tea. Nearly every culture on every planet has a variety or two, or thousand.” Nijil closed his eyes. Then he opened them after a bit of thought.

He looked her up and down and gave her a wide smile.

 

She took a drink of her tea and looked at him quizzically. “Hm?”

 

“Nothing. It’s nice to be amused every once in awhile.”

 

“I’m glad I could be of service..?”

 

He nodded simply then touched his cut cheek. The injury felt better and largely gone. Her mention of his deceased former love stirred up some feelings he had been holding back. Jylliene needed not to know. So much on her plate, for this upcoming mission. Around the other Rihans he felt a kind of weakness. A sort of “I’m not like the other” sense of self. Being an engineer in the depths of a ship or station helped keep his mind off of it. Any kind of mental pick-me-up was appreciated. The world around him faded.

 

She glanced down, and then finally noticed what likely amused him so much. Trill equines. She had on the Trill equine pajamas. Cute little Trill equines all over. Exaaaaactly the type of image she wanted to portray. Nooo, she couldn’t have been wearing the more grown-up plain ones. No, she went for the cutesy ones tonight. “Elements”, she muttered, blushing, and sunk her face into her hands. “I imagine we both need more sleep than last night,” she said, after a yawn interrupted her embarrassment. “You okay?” Jylliene looked up.

 

He did not hear the question for Nijil had dozed off himself at the edge of that wretchedly comfortable couch. It sucked the life force from him once more. He looked like he was in the middle of a painful dance move, but seemed to be resting comfortably.

 

She smiled. Pulling his feet up on the couch, she fetched a blanket and covered him. “Good night, e’lev.” After kissing his cheek, she had the computer turn off the lights, and went to her bed.