[open]

[dancingmd]

who: Beverly Crusher and you!
what: Amnesia Event: Beverly is slowly going to be losing the memory of her native language - ie English Federation Standard
when: August 12-16
where: Most anywhere around Riverview you'd like to run into her, really
warnings: none



August 12-13
It starts innocently enough. A few words that dance on the tip of her tongue, just out of reach.

"Could you hand me the ah..." With a small frown, Beverly gestures at the scanner sitting on her work table across the room. Scanner's not right. What’s the term... Tricorder?, her nurse suggests. "Yes, the tricorder! Thank you!"

Not enough coffee, Beverly thinks, shrugging it off as overworking. Except when she stops by the cafe the next morning, coffee escapes her as well. "One…” She searches for the right word. “Raktajino, please." The barista stares. The word is too specific to Klingon for the translator to pick up and Beverly flushes. Her eyes dart up to the menu, zeroing in on what has to be the right word. With a nervous smile of apology, she tries again.

Shaken, she takes her cup of coffee - coffee, coffee, coffee she tries to remind herself - back to a small table by the window. She doesn’t drink. Something is very, very wrong here.

August 14-15
By now, she’s heard about the spores, run into other people suffering memory losses. It’s not… comforting exactly, but it is something. At least she knows it’s not just her. And maybe she can do something to help. If she doesn’t lose all her words first, that is. She’s found she can supplement some things with bits and pieces of other languages - the Klingon she’s picked up from Worf (Unfortunately, she mostly learned what she knows from martial arts classes with him. It’s not too often one needs to bring up kicks and punches when dissecting a plant. Fortunately, Klingons have an almost artistic appreciation for cursing, which she finds is coming in very useful) or Betazoid, even a few Vulcan. It’s a haphazard linguistic mish-mash, but whatever magic Riverview uses as a universal translator seems to be able to take on the job for the time being.

Having her on regular rotation at the hospital right now is out of the question, of course, so she can be found mostly in the research labs or even at Gramarye or the hydroponics garden to see what other people are working on.

August 16
Eventually, she’s opting to stay silent around people. More often than not, she babbles when she speaks, to her endless frustration. So she seeks solace in the library, sitting on one of the big comfy reading chairs with her legs tucked under her and a children’s picture book propped in her lap. Each page has an illustration from everyday life where big bold letters tell you what you’re seeing. Tree. Fireman. Cat. This she can still do, the alphabet and sounding things out, her forefinger underlining the syllables. Images of Wesley come to mind, of her guiding his tiny hands across the page, of him grinning up at her when he figured out a really hard word. Hydrant.

With a sigh, she turns the page. There's a map. Where, she doesn't know - the shapes are all wrong. "Is-land," she reads out loud. No, that's not right is it? "Eye-land." Better, but even though she remembers for the moment, no doubt it will slip away like the others.

Comments

[scholiast]

Yeah, that sounds plausible... (it's a really good idea, actually. She's impressed.)

We can sit down and hash it out together.

[dancingmd]

(She smiles, pleased that Lucretia thinks this could work.)

The ah...

(Right. That was the first word to go. So she pulls her tricorder out to show Lucretia.)

There should be a dictionary in here, to help.

[scholiast]

(Her eyes light up appreciatively at the sight of the tricorder. Excellent, she's been coveting a go with this thing.)

Fantastic. Um– we should... (her voice trails off as she makes a face at her busy desk.) Find somewhere else to go, probably.

The library will be quiet.

[dancingmd]

(Beverly laughs softly.) Okay! Wherever is best.

[scholiast]

(She smiles tentatively in return, made a little bashful by her smile.)

Gotcha. Um, follow me, I guess.

[dancingmd]

(Oh Lucretia, you're too cute.

Beverly stands and gestures for Lucretia to lead the way.)

[scholiast]

(She's a mess.

They find a little spot in the library to settle down and Lucretia, ever mindful of an opportunity to take notes about language, lets her journal fall open on a blank page so she can write as she goes. This is so exciting to her; she has to keep reminding herself that Beverly is not so stoked about the circumstances.)

Okay. May I see the tricorder?

[dancingmd]

(Frustrated as she is, Beverly can still appreciate Lucretia's excitement. She hands over the tricorder with a knowing smile.)

You've been dying to get your... ghIt (Hand) on this, haven't you?

[scholiast]

Maybe.

(She scrunches her nose at Beverly, and takes the tricorder in both hands, turning it slowly over.)

Where do I start?

[dancingmd]

Ah, let me show...

(She leans in closer to Lucretia to look at the tricorder. While language is failing her, the rest of her knowledge remains intact. Operating the tricorder comes as second nature to her now. Explaining everything impossible, but she can certainly show Lucretia the functions - how to pull up the universal translator (which is currently turned off so it won't interfere with the Quarantine magic), set it to Federation Standard to Klingon or Vulcan, and to pull up word lists for those languages.)

I'm sorry I don't have a uh... (She draws out a rectangle with her forefinger) Little flat computer.

[scholiast]

(She watches carefully and with great interest, completely immersed in the process as Beverly shows her exactly how to work the device.)

Oh wow, (she breathes, setting the language back to Klingon and scrolling through the list of words, trying to find any that might contain even a lick of meaning for her. What an amazing resource. She can only imagine how helpful this would personally be for her own mission.

Klingon is delightfully alien; Lucretia can't understand one bit. Good. She adores a challenge.)

A phone? That's fine. I don't need one.

[dancingmd]

(Frustrated, she frowns.)

Ghobe’. Bigger than a phone.

[scholiast]

Tablet?

(Poor Bev. She hands her the tricorder to let her pick from the list of words.)

[dancingmd]

HIja’! (Yes!) A tablet!

(She scrolls through the tricorder looking for words to construct a sentence of sorts.)

A tablet ngeD laD. jIH tIn.

(A tablet be easy to read. Monitor be big.

Beverly wrinkles her nose, aware of how clunky that sentence is. Klingon tends towards adjectives as verbs, making it difficult to do a direct translation.)

[scholiast]

(It's so interesting to watch her switch back and forth between languages. Lucretia watches her pick out the little words, nodding and copying them down into her own journal just out of interest.)

I understand. It's alright, I can make do with what we have.

[dancingmd]

I should have... mmm... (She looks up another word.) ’Ij (Listen) more in language class. When I was young.

[scholiast]

I dunno, I think you're doing pretty well all things considered.

(She chuckles, and returns to the tricorder, scrolling through with a fingertip.) Are there many different languages, where you come from?

[dancingmd]

HIja’! Thousands and thousands! The Federation alone is 150 planets.

[scholiast]

Wow. What's the Federation?

I've been lucky enough during my mission to run into people who more or less speak a language that I am handy with.

(There have been a couple of exceptions of course, but they've always made due just fine.)

[dancingmd]

It's our government... A uh... Democratic group of planets.

[scholiast]

An group?

(She pauses scrolling to give Beverly her full attention.) How does that work, exactly? Wouldn't it be easier to let each planet govern itself?

[dancingmd]

Voluntary membership.

(She works her mouth thoughtfully, then decides to let the tricorder do the explaining. After pressing a few buttons she hands it back to Lucretia, where it's displaying something like an encyclopedia entry:

The United Federation of Planets (abbreviated as UFP and commonly referred to as the Federation) is an interstellar federal republic, composed of planetary governments that agree to exist semi-autonomously under a single central government based on the principles of universal liberty, rights, and equality, and to share their knowledge and resources in peaceful cooperation, scientific development, space exploration and defensive purposes.)

ooc:from here

i just noticed 'an group' in my previous tag and lost it hahahaha

[scholiast]

(She nods as she reads, dutifully impressed by the concept.)

And I suppose your ship falls underneath of this government's rules?

Shh we will pretend

[dancingmd]

Mmm. We are members of Starfleet...the ah... Diplomatic and research fleet for the Federation. Defense, if needed.

ty ♡

[scholiast]

Sure.

(It all fits. Pulling the dictionary back up, she finds that she's stumped on where to begin exactly. There's a lot of data here.)

Any idea of where it would be best to start?