Awkward Examinations (Part 2)

Posted on Fri Aug 23rd, 2024 @ 1:00am by Lieutenant Naoe Kanno & Lieutenant Minerva Zephyrin

1,130 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Season 1, Episode 0: "A Time To Heal"
Timeline: After 'Awkward Examinations (Part 1)'

Previously, on Star Trek: Yorktown:

"Not feeling anything abnormal, which is good." Minerva pulled the stethoscope from around her neck and breathed on it to warm it up a fair bit, then began to press it to Naoe's back, "Just breathe in and out normally." Several breaths later, she switched to the front over the heart and listened intently for several more seconds, "Lungs and heart sound fine, though there's a sound from the heart that's just on the very edge of my hearing. You can go ahead and get dressed while I make my other scans, if you'd like."

Nodding, Naoe proceeded to pull her uniform back on, grateful that the humiliation was finally over.

And now, the continuation:

Minerva took her time, very pointedly not paying attention to Naoe getting dressed, getting the feeling that the young woman was a bit more sensitive to her looks than some others. Besides, she wanted to nail down what she'd thought she'd heard in the stethoscope. "You know, just out of curiosity: Did you injure yourself recently? I mean, the bandage on your cheek is there, and if it's just an abrasion, we can get that tidied up for you in no time."


So, the issue of the bandage was finally brought up...

Naoe turned to face the doctor.

"I'll tell you what I've told all the other doctors:" She said. "When you get arrested and sent to prison and get injured in a prison riot, then we can compare scars. But until then, the only thing you need to know about my scar is that it's on my left cheek and it's about 5 cm long."

The comment had come with the harshness of a snarl, even if that wasn't there, "And now I'm aware that it's a scar." Minerva stated simply, making an open-handed gesture to show that she was unarmed and not intending any hostility, though her expression didn't change one whit, "I meant no offense, only trying to make sure that it wasn't an injury needing seen to." The corners of her lips turned up slightly even so as she brought her right leg up and shunted down the sock on it to reveal a ragged three inch by two inch scar of her own, "Scars aren't something to be ashamed of, mine was from a volcanic eruption back when I was an apprentice medic at fifteen. We responded to Vesuvian erupting near New Pompeii, yes, I'm aware of the hilarity of that coincidence, when there was a secondary eruption that sent lava bombs out. I got splashed, but kept this as a reminder." Her eyes held no guile, no judgement, "It's the only one I kept, not the only one I had."

Naoe scoffed.

"At least you have the ability to cover your scar with a sock." She said. "With the location of my scar, that shit's on display 24/7. This is how I'm able to look at myself in a mirror without being reminded about how much of a piece of shit I was."

Minerva took a breathe in to respond, but just let it out slowly. 'You aren't a counselor, Minerva, you're a doctor. Clearly she's got issues that she needs to work out with herself. You take care of the outside, you can't solve everything.' The internal monologue was very quick and she reset herself with her own smile, "We all have our own demons in our past, and our own ways of handling them." Then she changed the subject back to the examination as she made a final review of the vitals, "I'm giving you a clean bill of health and just wondered if you had any questions for me?"

"Actually, there is one thing..." Naoe's lips curled into a smirk. "I couldn't help but notice earlier... Was that a Yellow Rider video you were watching?"

“That it was,” Minerva confirmed, “I tend to read while watching videos when I’m idle and the Yellow Rider amuses me rather a lot! I feel sorry for the medical personnel that have to deal with her whenever she wipes out.. I know it doesn’t happen often, but it’s gotta happen here and there and… Ouch. I can only imagine what it feels like, or even looks like!”

There was a reason why the Yellow Rider had never posted an outtakes compilation: Not like it mattered much anyway, as the only real accidents Naoe had was spilling pizza likely after taking a corner too fast when forgetting that she had a whole stack in the back. Once you cleaned pizza sauce and cheese out of the carpet of your rear cargo area, you learned to distribute your cargo more evenly to prevent spills.

"Well, the Yellow Rider is a good friend of mine." Naoe said. "If you want, I can speak with her about sending you something autographed. I can't guarantee it'll be anything more than a poster, but she's usually pretty good about getting autographs to her fans."

"Actually, while I think I'd enjoy something like that, maybe a plushie of some sort would be better," Minerva smiled, "If you could instead ask her to send something autographed to my niece, Lavina? She's also on board Yorktown with us and she's a true fan of the Yellow Rider. In fact, she's the one that got me watching her, but she's been trying to be the first to watch any new drops that the Rider makes."

Naoe paused for a moment as she pondered the request. Her Twingo plushies normally weren't something she would autograph. However, for a fan that was also on board the Yorktown? She might be willing to make a one time exception...

"Send me her quarters number." Naoe said. "If I can talk her into it, I'll make sure that autographed plushie gets delivered."

Minerva picked up her PADD and made a few rapid notations on it, then pressed her thumb to it to verify the data, "I know for one hundred percent fact that she'd absolutely love it, thank you Miss Kanno, truly. In other news, I'm giving you a complete clean bill of health, not that I doubted it for a minute, but official is official, no?"

"Official is what's going to allow me to pilot us out of here." Naoe nodded.

"Then I suppose we can get underway." Minerva smiled brightly, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Nope: If we're done here, then I have a call I need to make." Naoe said.

Posting by

Lieutenant Naoe Kanno
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant Minerva Zephyrin
Chief Medical Officer

(OOC Naoe: We'll need a title before we can send this out)color>

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