Mess Hall -- Day 46 (afternoon) -- [private]
The mess hall was unusually crowded this shift. Saval sat down at a table with a cup of strong black coffee to ponder why that was. Maybe there was some work being done in other departments that required more exertion and burned more calories than average, making more people hungry right now. Or perhaps there had been some slight shift in the
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Lost as he was in idle non-academic pondering, Gaila's approach took him by surprise. Most people didn't voluntarily choose to socialize with Vulcans. If he wanted to chat with someone, he had to seek it out himself, and there was always an awkward balance between saying something stiffly scientific and logical and having his crewmates think of him as a pretentious ass, or saying something friendly and accessible by human standards and feeling like a sellout, like some kind of v'tosh katur. It was nice to have someone making an overture.
"Certainly not," he said, moving his tray aside to accomodate hers. He was certain of her name now, retrieving it from his memory as he recalled the file.
"You are Lieutenant Gaila, are you not?" he said, with a polite Vulcan salute. "We have not met, but we share the dilemma of having very few other representatives of our races aboard the ship. I am Dr. Saval."
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"That's me," she confirmed, "but I prefer just Gaila off duty." She wasn't really surprised that he knew her name even though she was sure she didn't know his. She had an excellent memory for names, and almost never forget them. He courteously noted that they hadn't met and introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you, Doctor Saval. Are you a medical doctor?"
She picked up the fork and started on the chocolate cake first, even though it probably meant she'd end up getting another one afterwards. Terran desserts are absolutely fantastic, certainly some of Earth's best inventions.
"Orions and Vulcans are both pretty rare on the Enterprise," she agreed. In fact, she sometimes forgot that there were other Orions. David was raised on Earth and Marla was a being she preferred to think about as little as possible. The only other Vulcan she'd seen on board was Spock. "And in Starfleet, for that matter. Is it difficult to live among so many... illogical beings?" she asked, genuinely curious.
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It was going to take Saval a long time to be comfortable with his crewmates insisting on first-name terms. That privilege was considered much more intimate among Vulcans, and even after four years in Starfleet, he still had to remind himself that people weren't being intentionally disrespectful when they addressed him casually by name. Back in Shi'Kahr, the only people who hadn't called him 'Doctor' were his wife, his mother and his childhood best friend. It always felt like an egregious breach of etiquette not to do the same for others. But it would be ruder not to address Gaila the way she preferred.
"Yes, I am. I am a surgeon, though I usually find myself practicing more general medicine. It has been...enlightening, given the aforementioned rarity of people with physiology like my own." At least he could count on Orions, with their reassuringly normal green blood, to usually react to medication in a way that he was familiar with.
He nibbled on one of the crackers that had come with his still-untouched soup, pondering the most tactful way to answer her question and still be honest.
"I believe the term 'culture shock' is applicable," he said thoughtfully. "Prior to joining Starfleet, I had never left my home province, let alone traveled off-planet. I knew very few non-Vulcans. I will admit that it took me a significant amount of time to adjust to living among 'illogical beings,' as you not-inaccurately put it." By now, though, Saval had adopted enough human mannerisms to quirk the very faintest hint of a smile.
"However, there are many whose company I enjoy. It is no longer as difficult as it used to be. Do you find the cultural disconnect equally problematic?" he asked. She was a long way from home, too.
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She shook off the thought and listened to him explain his cultural experiences, quirking a smile when he used the phrase culture shock. The smile grew when she noticed the faintest hint of upturned lips. Vulcans can smile after all, she thought, pleased. Mentioning it seemed impolite, so she kept the thought to herself.
"It was," she confirmed when he asked if it was problematic. "I had the advantage of having interacted with a lot of non-Orions before coming to Earth, but human society has so many social rules that I didn't expect. I honestly have no idea how humans even make sense of each other. And though I learned Standard as a child they still use expressions I don't understand sometimes." She took another bite of the cake. "But I've also become rather fond of many of them. And they make fabulous desserts."
She'd certainly had her share of cultural mishaps, but at least she'd had some exposure before Earth. "I'm impressed that you joined Starfleet without having ever left your home province. What made you decide to join?" she asked, genuinely curious. In spite of that, he seemed more social than the few other Vulcan's she'd met - or at least better at casual conversation. "Actually, Doctor, if you'd prefer to call me Lieutenant it wouldn't bother me," she added as an afterthought. It didn't really make much difference to her, and it might make him more comfortable.
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Her question was a perfectly reasonable one, and it wasn't the first time he'd been asked, but it wasn't his favorite thing to talk about. Saval hadn't considered his decision particularly impressive at the time--he still didn't, really. It hadn't been his idea to join the fleet, and though he'd never admit it to any of his crewmates, he'd always regretted it. Saval wasn't cut out for the military. But then, had he not joined, he would most likely be dead now. It was only because of Starfleet that he'd had the good fortune to be off-planet at the time of Vulcan's destruction.
"My wife persuaded me," he said, idly stirring his soup around. "It was her opinion that Starfleet would offer more and faster opportunities for career advancement than the Shi'Kahr medical community. On Vulcan, even with outstanding medical-school grades, good recommendations and connections in the right places, it was extremely difficult to secure a position at a well-respected hospital." He'd been willing to attempt it anyway, but T'Paya had been more ambitious on his behalf than he'd been.
Her offer was quite kind, and he did find it reassuring. "Thank you," he said, with another one of those tiny almost-smiles. "I will still endeavor to call you Gaila, as you prefer, but I will probably forget with some frequency, so I hope you know that I mean no offense by it."
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