Chatting Up the New Girl

Posted on Sat Oct 29th, 2022 @ 10:21am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga (Hel) Lowe & Ensign Theilani Mo'naa & Chief Warrant Officer Jemner

1,038 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Storm
Location: Sickbay

ON

Helga was bustling around, checking that the cabinets were stocked up on supplies and humming to herself, when she noticed a new face in sickbay. "Hello," she said cheerfully. "Can I help you?"

Theilani had only just reported to sickbay then, eager to meet her new colleagues and hopefully her new boss. When the attractive blonde walked up to her and took the initiative to offer help, she couldn't help but smile a dazzling, pearly white smile.

"Name's Theilani, and I'm the new head nurse." She replied in her (now habitual but no less genuine) smooth, sweet Risian service voice. "And who might you be, lovely?"

"I'm Helga. Helga Lowe." The blonde smiled. "I assist and tidy up. Doctor McCabe is on emergency leave and Doctor Newmark is on the planet and on call if needed. Have you met Dr. Newmark yet?"

"In fact, no, I haven't, but I'm sure I will soon. I've only just arrived aboard." The mocha-skinned woman took a few moments to smoothen her uniform free of any crinkles (where there were already none, really) before continuing with a cheerful "Well! Do you know where I could get started?"

"That is always the question." She laughed softly. "Sickbay gets busy. But right now, things are slow." She looked around. "I can show you around so you can see how the doctor has set things up."

"I'd like that." Theilani smiled a brilliant, pearly white smile. "Slow is good in my opinion - gives me time to properly learn the ropes, eh?"

"Da. Slow times around here are always good." Helga gave Theilani a quick tour, beginning in sickbay and ending in the storage area. "Doctor McCabe is very good about knowing what we have available. The staff is small for a ship this size, but we seldom need more."

She then showed the other woman the nurse's computer. "You are already in the system. Good. That will make it easy for you to see the shift rotations." Helga pulled up the list with all the medical personnel. "The counselor's office is close by if we need her." She chuckled softly. "I hope you like hugs."

"I [i]love[/i] hugs." She responded with a bright, beaming pearly white smile. She'd met enough varieties of people in her time on Risa to know that sometimes all it took to cheer someone up was a hug, or some kind of touch. "Let me guess. She gives them out on the regular?"

[She is quite fond of them.] The automated voice was programmed to be both soothing for a soft tenor. [I have not experienced them myself but I am told they are heart filled." The hands moved through the sign language to be threaded through the Universal Translator of Jemner's Com-Badge.

Jemner had a polite grin on his face as he 'Spoke'.

"I am Nurse Jemnar." His hands continued. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance." He completed and put his hands together and then bow politely.

Thank god for translators. Theilani admittedly did not know a single word of sign language. She didn't know why this (surface level at least) human had chosen sign language as his mode of communication, but she would respect the decision nonetheless until she found out why. "Pleasure to meet you too, Jemnar." She replied with that same pearly white smile. "Well, it looks like we'll be working together a lot. Anyone else on our band of nurses that I still gotta meet?"

"Crewman Juranne Doltsy is also a nurse," Helga replied. "So, you are aware, Jemner has no vocal cords, so he uses sign language. Fortunately, the ship's translator helps."

Confession time: she hadn't heard of any species that was completely mute by way of biology, much less a humanoid race where having a voice to communicate was usually quite essential. Perhaps his people had their own complex sign language back home, she reckoned; coming here and adapting to the lifestyles of his colleagues who were on the complete other end of the spectrum in terms of communication must've been quite jarring. "I see!" She said with a warm smile. "I can't wait to work with everyone. I promise I won't be that harsh as head nurse..." She couldn't say that without grinning, and then breaking into a giggling fit. Her, a crusty old head nurse as she'd previously had as a cadet in training? Naaaah. Couldn't be.

"Good. Then you will fit right in." Helga smiled. "I should probably let you know that we usually have cookies or pastries in the break room. That way, if a patient needs a snack, we have something sweet and if not, they are for us."

"Do we! That's wonderful!" Theilani beamed. "I can't wait to sample them - after offering them to our patients of course!" Confession: a sweet tooth was one of her weaknesses. God or other applicable deific entity save the world if she were anything but Risian fulsomely giving.

"Excellent. I'll show you where it is." Helga smiled. "It's the best policy to meet staff, too." She took a look around sickbay and nodded. It was slow enough that Jemnar could take care of any new arrivals.

"Please do." Theilani followed her colleague eagerly. Crew lounges were amazing places to meet others, indeed - which was why they were among her favorite places in the world.

Helga laughed. "It can be an oasis. And there are always treats." She led the way through the back doors, past the nurse's station and storage room, to the staff lounge. Sickbay was given a fair amount of space because it could get busy. "In here," she said, walking through the door into the room. There were two couches, a table, and cookies, along with a pot for tea on a counter.

[It is very serene.] The artificial voice of Jemnar relayed. [I look forward to sharing time here.]

Helga stepped aside so the others could enter. "Take the time you need to get settled in here. I'm sure we'll be busy enough before long." She smiled at Theilani. "Welcome aboard, ma'am."

____
OFF

Ensign Theilani Mo'naa
Head Nurse

Chief Warrant Officer Jemner
Nurse

Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga "Hel" Lowe
Nurse

 

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