[After the Flicker....]
An instant later, the three Romulans find themselves in the WildStrike's bar
again; Rylan sitting on a bar stool, DT laying down, passed out on the floor
nearby with Katara kneeling beside him and holding his hand, and the Khensia
looking right at home standing behind the bar itself.
"Ie!! Better!!" Rylan grins widely, and reaches over the bar pulling up a
bottle. Opening it he nodded to the Khensia standing in front of him, "THIS
is what I'M talking about!" Downing the liquid fire quickly, he drains the
container then opens another. Turning around on the barstool, slowly as his
leg still hurt like Areinnye, he motions to DT on the floor and addresses the
councelor, "He still needs medlab though...." he casts a charming grin her
way, then downs the second bottle quickly before anyone got any ideas about
stopping him.
"Ie..." she answers, then pauses just a moment to watch the boy gulp the
forbidden liquid down; already too late to stop him. "Well if I could leave
the room and go to the medlab, I would."
Rylan sets the bottle down and turns to Katara, "Well, that leaves au. Au'rh
about the only io that can walk at this point I believe." he shrugs, "I
could crawl there, but that would take too long."
"Well....how do I get to a deck with na power or life support?" the girl
questioned, completely at a loss.
Rylan grabs another bottle then suddenly gets an idea, "Wait!! Go look for
Emni. She knows how to get in to DT's quarters I believe. That io...." he
nods to DT on the floor as he opens his thrid bottle, "Has all sorts of
gadgets and gizmoes in his fvadt lab coats hung in his closet. Tell her the
problem, and she'll come with the stuff."
That only served to confuse the barmaid further, "Who is Emni?"
"The Medical Assistant." Rylan explains absently, "Just go out the doors, and
head left. About eight or so doors down."
"Ie..." Katara nods, then runs out of the room to search for this 'Emni'
person.
The Khensia sits on top of the bar in a very provocative way, hoping to get
Rylan's attention. But at the moment, Rylan only watched the barmaid's exit
with a concerned expression, "That's na just another hologram out there is
it?" he asked the Khensia, not yet looking at her, "'Cause we went out there
once before, then had some huge rharit...." he stops in mid sentence as his
eyes had suddenly shifted to fix on the Khensi sitting before him. "Au
know...." he begins with a sly little smirk, "I seem to remember this from
before....Na fair pulling me over the bar this time. My leg's busted, that
wouldn't be too much fun." he winks at her, then takes another drink.
"That was before I was reprogramed." she reminds him, but leans in just a tad
closer to him all the same, "And since I can't leave this room...what's out
there is na a hologram."
The first sentence of hers hung itself in his brain for a moment.Rylan
lowered the bottle suddenly and protests, "Hey! I didn't tell him to
reprogram *that* out of au!!" he fixes the unconcious boy with a glare,
"That figures....."
"Well..." she gives him a seductive smile, "it's na all gone..."
Ry grins as his attention shifts back to her, "Ie....?" but the grin
suddenly dies as he remembered something else, "Ah, well...for me it will
have to be..." he pauses slightly, "For now."
The Khensia lays the Sythe on the bar gently and crosses her legs, "Ie." she
nods in agreement, "I know what happens in all the holodeck programs
remember?"
Rylan, who had not known this fact at all, looked back at her curiously. "Au
do?" then at the slight nod of her head, he looks away, focusing his
attention to some random thing, a breif flash of disappointment behind his
eyes, "Ah..." he utters before taking another drink from the bottle.
Just as D`Tarik groans out of pain in his unconsious slumber, the Khensia
states flately, "By the way, stop that."
Rylan finishes the bottle, then looks at her with a brow raised, "Stop what?"
"Stop drinking." she says in that same flat not-to-be-argued-with tone.
"That does na help. Especially au."
Rylan grins at that, "Na...actually it helps plenty. And au..." he points a
finger at her, "are only a hologram...so there. Not waiting to hear whatever
else she has to say on that subject, he reaches for another and opens it.
"As long as this leg is busted, I'm going to have io." he nods, drinks a
little from the newly opened bottle then motions towards DT, "And when that
io wakes up...I bet he'll want io too!"
Too fast for him to be able to see it coming, the Khensia picks up the Sythe
and hits the bottle out of his hand with the end of it, sending the bottle to
the floor where it shattered in a spray of glass and the forbidden liquid.
"I said, stop it!" she pouted almost angerly.
"Oh, come on! What are au, my mother?" Rylan yells angrily back at her, "I
don't have a problem! What the Areinnye did he do to au anyway?" he shakes
an angry finger her way, "Au were *much* more fun in ninte original program!"
"Ie, well au wanted me, so au got me." she shrugs with a faint flutter of her
wings, "And I want au to come see me once the holodecks are working again.
And anyway...I have a right to tell au what to do. I did save ninte life, au
know."
"Na...I didn't want au." his eyes narrow slightly, as he sarcastically
informs her, "I wanted the you-from-the-bar. The io that let me have drink
and pulled me over the counter. *That's* the program *I* wanted. My mistake
was in wanting to put a brain in that empty head of ninte-a. I don't need
au." he protests in anger, pointing a finger at DT, "I wanted to make a
Khensia for him!" Trying to change the subject entirely, he casts his
infuriated eyes to the door, "What the Areinnye is keeping her, anyway...."
"Ie, I see....au are going to be fun to cure."
"Cure ninte own fvadt self! I don't need ninte help, I'm fine!" he shrugs in
apparent indifference, "At least I would be if every io would just leave me
the Areinnye alone!"
"Au are na fine. Au would na be getting so angry if au were." she smiled
gently, "We really need to talk more often....au need to talk about it. If
au don't want to, I have na right nor can I force au too. But I was programed
to help....and in my professional opinion, au need it."
"Au want me to talk?" he asks with a rueful smile, "Au get me drunk enough
I'll talk about anything au want. Maybe. Other then that, I'm na talking.
Na now. Na ever."
"Look...." she smiles seductively at him again, "just concider it. I want to
help...as does ninte friend."
"Na. Au don't want to help. Au just want to find that little something that
au can use against me. That isn't going to happen."
"Interesting..." she nods slightly, opening the palm of her hand. A second
later, an isd appears, and she begins to type some notes down. Rylan, who
had looked slightly confused by her remark, sees the note-taking and shuts up
immediately, looking back to the doors again and wondering for perhaps the
hundreth time since the barmaid left just what was taking her so long to get
back.
Trying to get him to open up to her, the Khensia says gently, "I know about
ninte parents, Rylan. I have access to all the files on board that are na
classified. This..." she glances down at the empty bottles he had set on the
bar, "is na way to deal with it. But we shouldn't talk about this here.
He..." she nods her head towards D`Tarik, "might overhear. I'm willing to
help, if au are willing to talk. Maybe au should concider doing that before
those who care for au such as the barmaid and ninte friend D`Tarik....."
"It doesn't matter if he hears or na," Rylan interrupts her with a shake of
his head, "because I'm na talking anyway. And au know na-thing. Na as much
as au think au do."
"Well then, tell me so I can help au..." she tries again.
"And as for them 'careing about me'....that will soon change anyway. What
difference does that make?" He shakes his head again, and casts a mistrustful
glance her way before looking back to the doors again, "Na. I'm na talking.
Just leave me be."
"Na." she shakes her head this time. "I can't. It's against my
programing..."
"Fine then." Rylan painfully hops off the barstool and begins to drag himself
towards the doors, using the bar for support. Even if he only got so far as
the corridor outside those doors, then at least he wouldn't have to listen to
it anymore. The Khensia couldn't step out of the room, she had said so
herself.
Quickly reviewing his files that had been downloaded in her mind, she tries
to stop him with, "Then au must be afraid to get better. 'The Great
Rylan'....scared!" a soft little half-chuckle escapes her as she shakes her
head, "What a pity...."
"Get another tactic sweetheart." he grins angerly, still making his way
slowly and painfully towards the door; still using the bar to help him along,
"That will work on children...na on me!"
"But au *are* scared." she states matter of factly, "And au are going to end
up losing that girl who likes au so much if au don't try something soon. I
know au don't want that." she pauses a moment, then adds gently, "Au don't
want to lose another io, do au?"
Rylan stops and closes his eyes, trying to push back the memory of Llunih's
face. "Ie...well if this io chooses to leave then that's her choice.
Llu...." he stumbles on her name, "Llunih didn't leave me. She died. Big
difference, baby." he glares back at her then tries to pull himself along
once more.
"Ie. But she died without au ever telling her how au felt." the Khensia's
words stopped him again, "Do au want the same thing to happen again?" she
asked gently, taking a very small step towards him. "Forgetting Llunih is na
what she would of wanted, I'm sure. Nor would she have wanted au to drink
her memory away..."
Rylan had been about to cave in, but the Khensia's last remark brought back
the anger instead, "Well she's dead now! I hardly think that what she would
or would na have wanted is a problem for me now!" he again drags himself
along the bar, almost reaching the corner of it.
"What did she do that makes au want to forget her so desperately?" the
Khensia gently questioned, stepping closer to him once more, "Why are au so
angry at her, Ryl.....?"
Desperate to make her shut up, he screams it at her, "BECAUSE SHE NEVER EVEN
LOOKED MY WAY BEFORE SHE LEFT YOU STUPID SUSSE-THRAI!!"
"Maybe she did." the Khensia stepped closer, and smiled softly, "Maybe au
were too drunk to remember."
Rylan shakes head, and casts his eyes to the floor, "Na. I was sober. I
hadn't had anything at all." he shrugs, and adds, "And even if I had been
drunk then, I would've noticed. I noticed everything about her from the
moment I saw her."
"Tell me Rylan..." she said softly, a low lover's whisper, "Why do au think
she would of done that?"
Silence hung in the air forever, but he answered her quietly all the same.
Shaking now, but whether because of the pain from his injuries, or whatever
he was trying to bury deeply in his mind again she couldn't be sure. "Because
sooner or later everyone hates me. Na matter what I do to please them...they
always end up hating me. And that's all I'm going to say..." he reaches the
corner of the bar finally, and pulls himself around it. All he had to do
now, was reach the wall, then use that to get to the doors.
"Does he hate au?" she questions, motioning towards the still unconcious
D`Tarik, trying make him listen to reason.
"He will..." Rylan answers snidely, "Just give him time."
"Well...that's io thing we need to work on." she smiled and shook her head
again before continuing in a more commanding tone, "Because au seem like the
type of guy who needs to hear it, I will be blunt. Au are an alcoholic, au
have a low self-image, and au suffer from paranoia...."
"Me and the whole fvadt Galae!" Rylan tosses out sarcastically, still
dragging himself closer to his goal, "Hann'yyo for the diagnosis....As soon
as I can get out there, I'll call 'next' for au!"
"Sad, sad, sad...." she shakes her head, but smiles the soft smile again.
Seeing someone enter the bar, she finished with, "If I had any power on this
ship I would demand that au come see me. Why don't au ask ninte girlfriend
about it?" the Khensia suddenly disappears.
Not having noticed that the Khensia had left, Rylan angerly yells back as he
keeps pulling himself along, "Au know...I did ninte job before when DT was
acting so strange!! Why don't au focus on someio that *really* needs ninte
help!!" he pauses, as he finally looked up to see the object of his anger
wasn't there. "Great.... disappeared! Dumb susse-thrai...." Sweating now
from the exertion and pain he had put himself through with trying to get out
of the bar on a broken leg, he pulled himself onto the nearest barstool and
reached for another bottle.
Katara stands quietly at the door with an odd look on her face, not exactly
sure what had transpired while she had been gone. Since Rylan didn't seem to
notice that she was in the room, she began softly, "Umm....are au going to
see the Khensia again?"
Rylan shakes head and says firmly, "Na."
"Why na?" Katara approached him, continueing when she stood along side him so
she could see his face, "She seemed to think au needed to. Maybe she is
right. Would au concider it for me?" She batts her eyelashes at him and
smiles, hoping that her ploy would work.
Beginning to get angry again, Rylan tries to keep his voice level, "Na.
There is na-thing wrong with me." he turns to the girl then smirks at the
eyebatting thing, "And that's na gonna' work either, so forget it!"
"Ie, well everybody seems to think au need somebody to talk to but au. Surely
the opinion of the group is right, don't au think?"
Not having an imediate arguement for that, Rylan sighs in frustraition and
looks away from her. Then, in a flash of insperation, he puts his best
'this-is-kinda-embarrasing' look on his face and shrugs, "Well...are au sure
au want me talking to her? I mean...I programed her ...au know... before I
met au."
Already seeing where this was heading, she points to D`Tarik and asks,
"Actually, didn't he program her?"
"Well...he helped." Rylan agreed in a low conspirator's tone, "Just don't
tell Emni that, okay?" he shrugs again, "She'd get upset....."
"Oh! I couldn't find her, by the way." she announces, remembering the reason
she had returned, then quickly changes the subject back to the original one.
"But au really need to concider talking to that program. She's just a
Khensia, I won't mind at all. All she can do is help au."
"Ah! Au don't know what she is for real then, do au?"
Katara shakes her head, "I heard au and D`Tarik in here talking about it
before. I do listen to the conversations that take place around here. It's
just a Khensia program. Nice try." she narrowed her eyes slightly, "Maybe au
really do need help if au are trying to get out of it by sinking that low."
Rylan grins and shrugs at that, "Good ears....can't blame me for trying."
"Oh, ie I can." she answers seriously, "I think au should talk to her. If au
want, I'll go with au for support, but au seem to have a lot on ninte mind,
it will do au good to talk to her." she smiles "I can tell things like that.
Au learn a lot about people from working in a bar."
"Doesn't matter." he answers with a shake of his head, "I'm still *NA* going."
"Fine! Don't do it for me then!!" She pouts, "See how much au care!"
Rylan shrugs, baffled by that. "I don't get it...why does every io insist
there's something wrong with me?" then asks angerly, "What the Areinnye did I
do to tick every io off?!"
"We're worried na angry." she tries to explain then frowns again, "Au jsut
dont get it....I mean for all I know au might na care about me at all. Maybe
I'm just a fling to make au feel better." she turns away from him, "If au
cared au would get help, so I would na worry."
Rylan starts to counter the first point she made, but his mind gets trapped
on the second. Looking confused he asks, "What do au mean au'rh just a
fling to make me feel better? Is that how feel about me....let's all help
poor ol' drunken Rylan?"
"Na!" she looks back, I think 'poor ol' drunken Rylan' just wants me to make
himself feel better temporarily. Au won't even take my advice!" a hurt
expression crossed her features before she hurridly turned away again, "I
knew I was worthless...I can't even help somebody I care about..." then she
adds a sniffle in for good measure.
"That's na it!" Rylan protests, concerned that the girl might just burst into
tears at any given moment again, "There's just some things I rather na talk
about. Somethings are better left forgotten, okay. That's all. I just
don't talk about stuff that's in the past. Just because I keep my mouth shut
doesn't mean there's something wrong with me."
"But some things shouldn't be just tossed aside and forgotten. They should
be dealt with." she turns back, that same hurt expression still on her face,
looking about ready to cry, "I don't want au to just...forget me if we ever
have problems!" she shakes her head again and turns away, heading for the
door, "Forget it! I obviously mean na thing to au!"
"Na! Katara..."
"What?" she stops, but doesn't turn around.
Shaking his head, he sighs in frustraition, "All right, all right.....if it
makes au happy, I'll go see her...." then he adds defiantly, "It doesn't
mean there's something wrong with me! I'm only doing it to please au!"
"Really??" she squeals in happiness, "Hann`yyo!!" then plants a big kiss on
him.
Still frowning over what he had just promised her, Rylan changes subjects,
"Just... see if au can find Sprink then. He should still be in DT's room."
"Okay." she smiles happily and nods, "I remember where that is...."
"Great." Rylan says without much conviction, "Sprink should know where
everything is. Just tell him to bring a bone knitter for sure, this thing
hurts." he motions to his leg, then remembers the fight with Valak, "It's
even the same fvadt leg as before...."
"Okay! And I'm so glad au'rh going to see the Khensia, Rylan!" she hugs him,
"That really makes me happy!" she practically bounces out of the room.
Rylan watches her bounce away for a moment, a sly smirk on his face, then
opens the bottle of rhennish that he'd been hiding from her view all this
time, and starts to drink it down.
D`Tarik finally opens his eyes for a moment, and of course sees this.
"Ry...lan.... Stop that...."
Rylan smirks, still holding the half-empty, "I'd like to see au try and stop
me, DT. Katara went to find Sprink by the way..." he adds, before finishing
the bottle.
"It's na helping........ah!" DT grabs his leg again in pain.
Rylan opens another and holds it out to him, "Want io?"
"NA!" DT yells angerly, "And au put it down...hanh!" then passes out again.
Rylan shrugs at that, "Alright...." he puts the open bottle to his lips and
chugs it, then sets it on the bar. "There. It's down." he smirks at the
unconcious boy.
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