Zeral - Gone, But Not Forgotten

Posts regarding your character's life before joining the USS Malinche

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Zeral
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Zeral - Gone, But Not Forgotten

Post: # 2492Post Zeral
Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:36 pm

<<Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth, 2378>>

“All right, Doreit, give me all your…threes.”

“Nice try, Riley. Go fish.”

Biting off an angry oath, Riley reached for the deck of cards, adding one to his hand. Talia was next, leaning back in her chair with her feet propped up and perusing her hand with near-humorous intensity. “Nora,” she stated boldly, quirking a brow as she regarded the too-innocent-by-far-looking Betazoid. “Give me your fives.”

“Blast!” Nora exclaimed and tossed two of the flimsy cards Talia’s way. “I had high hopes for those.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Talia grinned unrepentantly. “I’ll take good care of them, though.” Laying down her newly finished set of fives, she turned her sharp gaze to Laaris. “Laaris, I don’t suppose you have any aces hiding in that hand of yours?”

“I’m afraid not,” Laaris responded calmly, setting her cards on the table with a placid look on her face.

On the other side of the table, it was clear by the way that Riley’s frown was deepening that he had had enough. “Would someone please remind me why we’re playing go fish, of all things? This is supposed to be poker night, for God’s sake.”

“Because you cheat, of course,” Doreit grinned.

“And because Nora always loses too much money,” Talia was quick to add, cutting off whatever angry retort Riley was about to make. “Too bad you can’t use that telepathy-empathy thing of yours for personal gain, Nor. You’d be a master poker player.”

Rolling her eyes, Nora sarcastically murmured, “Woe is me.” About to begin her turn, she suddenly stilled, eyes going wide as she slowly touched a hand to her forehead. Talia was the first to react. Of all Nora’s friends at the Academy, feisty Talia knew her best, and she knew almost immediately that something was definitely up. “Nora?”

Standing up so quickly she nearly toppled her chair over, Nora rushed across the room and headed straight for the door. “It’s Bron,” she called over her shoulder. “I think--no, I'm sure that he’s here!”

“Your brother? What do you mean, here?” Talia demanded, following quickly on her friend’s heels while the rest of the group watched dumbfounded before also leaping to their feet. “I thought he wasn’t due to visit for another two weeks!”

But Nora was already out the door, running now as she set a course for her own room. Her telepathic connection with all of her family members was very strong, and the feeling that Bron was suddenly and unexpectedly nearby had struck her like a slap to the face. Something was wrong, so very, very wrong, and she couldn’t shake the sickening weight of dread that was settling deep in her stomach. She found him, as she supposed she would, just outside her quarters.

He was crying.

Crying. Her brother, the perpetually smiling mischief-maker himself, was crying.

She could hear Talia and the others approaching behind her, but she could hardly spare a thought for them now. Without a moment's hesitation Nora threw herself into her brother’s arms, stunned by the shattering grief that seemed to emanate from the very depths of his soul.

“Oh, Nora,” he rasped, accepting her into his arms and embracing her tightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know I was coming ahead of time, sweetheart. Something…something’s happened.”

What? she demanded telepathically, her own dark eyes welling with tears. Is it Soren? Father’s heart? It's his heart, isn't it? Tal Zeral was a strong and healthy man, but his physician had warned him more than once to take care with his heart. A man of his age could never be too careful, and he certainly had his fair share of things to worry about. Maybe he'd had an attack of some sort...

Bron shook his head slowly, unable to hold back a choked sob. It’s Mother and Father, Nora. He tightened his arms around her and rested his chin on her head, but Nora could barely feel him at all. Her heart seemed to stop, and even before Bron could continue, she knew.

They’re gone, Nora. They’re gone.

TBC
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Commander Nora Zeral
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

Zeral
Senior Staff
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:17 pm
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Re: Zeral - Gone, But Not Forgotten

Post: # 2522Post Zeral
Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:55 pm

<<Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth, 2378>>

For as many people as there were crowding the common room of Nora and Talia’s shared quarters, the silence was distinctly unnerving. Bron had left with Riley for a few moments to speak with whatever administrator could secure Nora a leave of absence in order to…in order to…

Nora couldn’t bear to even finish that thought. She was oblivious to all that went on around her, barely even blinking as she sat wedged between Talia and Doreit. Sven and Erik had joined the somber group, discovering them in the hallway on their way to the group’s prematurely canceled poker night. Talia had been quick to press a glass into Nora’s cold hands, an avid supporter of all things alcoholic, even—no, especially in times of trial and distress. Nora had yet to touch the drink; she’d yet to do anything at all. She could only sit there, perfectly still and paler than anyone had ever seen her, all the life gone from her dark eyes.

“Nora. Nora, please…you’re scaring me.” Just how long she’d been sitting in silence, she couldn’t begin to tell. Blinking rapidly, Nora was unwillingly dragged back to the present by an insistent tug on her hand. It was Talia, of all people; Talia, whose green eyes were wide with worry that was quickly transcending into nothing short of true fear. “God, Nora…I thought you were going catatonic on us there.”

Nora smiled, weakly, her gaze falling to the floor. “Your grief counseling could do with some work, Talia,” she murmured, trying her very hardest to soothe her friends with a spot of humor. It failed miserably. No one there wanted to think about how real, how terrible it was for one of their own to need grief counseling at all.

Laaris appeared from Nora’s bedroom with bags in her hand. The Vulcan had obviously taken it upon herself to assist in the very logical task of packing some of Nora’s things for her imminent trip to Betazed. Nora’s heart jerked inside of her chest. Gods, it wasn’t a trip at all. It was a funeral, her parents’ funeral, and they were dead, they were dead…

“…join you on Betazed.” Someone was speaking to her again.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Her voice was so weak, so lifeless.

“I was just saying that we’ll all be coming for the...” Doreit hesitated, swallowing thickly. “For the funeral. But if you’d like some help, one of us to go with you now…”

“No,” Nora assured them all, pulling her hand free from Talia’s and forcing herself from the couch with a near Herculean effort. “No, really, it’s fine. I appreciate the sentiment, I really do, but everything will be just…just fine.”

Silence, again. Thick, unending silence that pressed in on her from all sides, swallowing her whole and squeezing her heart like a vice. She wanted, no, needed to be alone. She couldn’t stand the sympathetic vibrations radiating all around her, overwhelming her already shredded senses. “Just…give me a few minutes alone? Please?” Her bottom lip quivered as she turned away from Talia and Doreit’s stricken gazes, and she could feel the tears arriving now. She had wondered for a fleeting moment if her heart was simply too broken for her to cry. Clearly she had been mistaken.

But she would not cry in front of her friends.

“Please,” Nora said again, drawing her arms around herself in a futile effort to ward off the cold that had settled into her very bones. “Please, just leave.” One by one she could hear the shuffle of feet as her friends hesitantly granted her request. Talia was the last to leave, and Nora could sense her painful indecision on the manner. A moment more and she too had left, leaving the bereft Betazoid a chance to grieve alone.

TBC
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Commander Nora Zeral
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

Zeral
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Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:17 pm
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Re: Zeral - Gone, But Not Forgotten

Post: # 3817Post Zeral
Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:06 am

<<USS Venture, Guest Quarters, 2378>>

The siblings’ return trip to Betazed was somber and nearly silent for the first few hours. Nora and Bron (NPC) were very much aware of what was going on in one another’s head, but at the same time they kept their thoughts to themselves. For a long while, Nora was unsure what to think. There were no words to describe what she was experiencing. Pain, shock, disbelief, grief—such descriptors seemed to pale in comparison to the raw emotions that had fused together into a tight knot in her stomach. She was calm and quiet on the outside, but on the inside, those raw emotions struggled for dominance. Sooner or later, one of them was bound to win.

Bron had managed to secure very comfortable passage to Betazed for them both aboard a Galaxy-class starship that was already bound in that direction. He sat now on one of the couches in their guest quarters, casting worried glances behind him every once in a while to where Nora sat unmoving on a padded bench beside the window. She looked to the stars passing them by but saw very little. Then, as if suddenly snapping out of her reverie, she turned her dark eyes toward her brother and got to her feet. She was terribly tired but did not stumble, her footsteps sure as she approached Bron and sat on the couch beside him.

Her eyes bore into his, pain and anger stark in their depths. “Tell me what happened, Bron,” she demanded aloud, eschewing telepathy for the moment. Her tone of voice, though quiet, brooked no refusal.

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

Bron swallowed thickly and nodded, sighing as he collected his thoughts. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Nora would demand more concrete answers. She had been in what her friends had described as a state of shock for some time after he had arrived in San Francisco to give her the news. He had told her that their parents were dead and their ship was destroyed but little else, feeling it was best to wait until she was ready to discuss the grittier details. He was ready to give them to her now, unpleasant though they were. “You know that they were on Andaroth again.”

She nodded. It was not the first time their parents’ diplomatic services had been needed on that unstable world. Andaroth was not part of the Federation of Planets, and it was clear that neither of the factions agitating for power there had any desire to be part of it in any case. There had been war on the planet’s surface for decades, and like so many struggles, it was partially racially based. Finally the bloodshed there had become so extreme that one of the factions finally reached out to any who would help mediate the conflict. Tal and Renora Zeral (NPCs), among others, had actually volunteered their services there, having heard of the plight and already having distinguished themselves in their diplomatic and ambassadorial work through the Betazoid government for some years.

“Things are worse there than ever before,” Bron continued. “The stories I heard…” He swallowed thickly, pausing for a moment before he went on. “But when I last spoke to Father, he was convinced that there was still some hope, still some chance for peace. At the very least, he hoped for a temporary cease-fire. That must have changed, for as far as I understand, the violence came to a head and it was no longer safe for any foreigners to remain on Andaroth. Mother and Father boarded the ship and prepared to go home.”

“Then why didn’t they? Why didn’t they actually leave?” Nora suddenly demanded. She had heard pieces of the story but she still couldn’t understand why they didn’t leave when they had the chance. Didn’t they value their own lives? Didn’t they care for the feelings of their own children, who wanted nothing more than to be assured of their parents’ safety?

“I don’t know, Nora. I don’t think we’ll ever know.” Bron continued to speak gently, reaching out to squeeze Nora’s arm where it rested between them on the couch. “My best guess is that one or both of them had last minute thoughts. They probably hoped beyond hope that they could still help, could curb the violence somehow. Whatever happened, they had the ship turned around. They were returning to Andaroth when…when it happened.”

When their ship was blasted into oblivion, he meant.

Silence stretched between them. Nora had gone totally still, the color leeched from her already pale face. “You’re telling me…that they were fired upon by Andarothan starships? The very same people they had come to help fired upon them and destroyed them? Murdered them?” There was fire in her black eyes; Bron had never in his entire life seen his usually gentle sister so purely enraged. He exhaled shakily, his own share of grief making itself apparent even as he struggled to stay strong for his sister.

Nora recoiled when her anger and grief were met in waves by Bron’s own feelings. She was suddenly ashamed for not paying attention to her brother’s feelings, for forgetting even for a moment that he, too, had lost his parents and was now suffering the pain of such a loss. Wasn’t she supposed to be the kind and gentle counselor-in-training?

“I’m sorry, Bron. I’m so, so sorry,” she burst out, throwing her arms around him. “You don’t have to talk about it anymore if you don’t want to. Really, you don’t. I’m not angry anymore. I’m sorry for overreacting, truly I am.”

Don’t be silly, he chastised telepathically, afraid that his voice wouldn’t be steady enough if he spoke the thought aloud. He held her tightly, giving her comfort as much as she gave comfort to him. If ever there was a time to overreact, now is the time to do it. Our lives…they’re never going to be the same again, Nor.

Not without Mother and Father, Nora replied, her heart lurching painfully just to imagine a life without her parents’ love and laughter. When she realized that her silent tears were beginning to soak the front of Bron’s shirt, she pulled away with a watery laugh devoid of any real joy or humor. She stood and quietly excused herself, going to her bedroom to search for tissues and to pull herself together as best as she could.

It was there, as she sat on her bed surrounded by deep silence, that she decided that she must put aside her pain as best as she could. Her parents were gone—there was nothing that would change that cold, hard fact. But her brothers still lived. They were older than her, and ostensibly stronger, but she knew that they needed her as much as she needed them. What good would she be to them if she was nothing more than a sobbing mess? How could she help ease their own grief if she let her anger at the senselessness of their parents' deaths consume her?

Her tears finished, Nora solemnly promised herself to bear her grief as bravely as she was able. It was what her parents would have wanted, she decided, and that in and of itself was enough.

TBC
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Commander Nora Zeral
Executive Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

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