New Beginnings

[physicalstimuli]

Saval doesn't really know which part of this new assignment is more unsettling. There's the fact that he knows he's been chosen for it due to his lack of seniority among the doctors in his unit, none of whom wanted it, and then there's the fact that he's going to be spending the next several months as pretty much the only Vulcan on a starship, and

Comments

[elizabethdehner]

Elizabeth had come to the Enterprise after the Romulan event. They hadn't put any unnecessary personnel on the ships at the time of the distress from Vulcan and so her trip had been delayed. Looking back, she was actually happy she missed all of that as her place in a starship was rather useless in a crisis since no one has time to sit down and talk about their feelings when they're fighting for their lives and the lives of the people on Earth

[physicalstimuli]

Saval has always been an extroverted sort of person, capable of endearing himself to people in social situations--at least, among Vulcans, where he knows the rules. Even then, it's a superficial sort of charm, good for making friendly acquaintances, not actual friends. Here, among humans, all of the rules of polite and civilized society have gone entirely out the window, and he doesn't even know how to be superficially charming anymore. Even in the sickbay, his new human colleagues come across like a pack of wild animals. Loud, raucous, laughing, pushing, groping, swearing animals. At least they do him the courtesy of trying to tone it down when they see him watching, but it doesn't make them seem very much less uncouth

[elizabethdehner]

Oh! He's polite. How darling. She isn't sure what to expect from him, exactly as her interactions with Vulcans has always been rather brief. Spock isn't the same as the rest of him, given his stronger understanding of Human norms, but that's no reason to assume that this one doesn't at least get part of it. The problem really is her ability to ramble on about seemingly nothing in a way that makes even her fellow humans uncomfortable. And that's on her, not them.

"I'm psychologist, specializing in research and human behavior," she answer, a bite of her salad on her fork, but she can wait. "And you're the new medical ambassador?"

Elizabeth, even with her quirks and insecurities and... well, more troubling quirks she prefers not to disclose, is capable of putting most patients at ease, however, he is not a patient and his psyche doesn't work the same. That is not stopping her from acting just as she would otherwise. She finds no use in hiding her feelings or personality. It doesn't do her any good in the end.

[physicalstimuli]

The mention of her profession doesn't provoke the same wariness that it might from a human. Psychology is just another branch of medicine, after all; the mind needs as much maintenance and treatment as the body does, if not more. Human psychology and Vulcan psychology must be very different, but that's just one more reason why it doesn't occur to Saval to be wary. Someone accustomed to studying the workings of the human mind has no reason to be discomfortingly insightful about a Vulcan's thoughts.

"I am, yes," he says. "I am Dr. Saval." It doesn't occur to him that this probably seems impolitely brusque to a human; it's polite by Vulcan standards. He's discreetly looking for a rank signifier on her clothing, though if she's a psychologist, it's probably most proper to address her as 'Doctor' as well. "And your name is?"