In the midst of the Citadel, on the planet Selen, the 7th annual AstroMedica convention was being held. Upon entering, a smaller entry room consisted of many droids of which waited with pamphlets, and a series of light snacks and drinks were up for grabs, displayed neatly for the guests attending.
Past the entrance room, Inside the large convention room, heavy chatter filled the air from demonstrators and consumers alike. Rows of booths lined the large room, each with different displays, signs, and technology.
Stepping through the entrance room and into the convention room, Esen inhaled, calming her pounding heart. She managed to snag a protein bar from the droids before entering. She took a small bite, attempting to calm her excitement.
Flipping open her pamphlet which promptly displayed a list of what each booth had to offer, and a visual of its location in the room. She of course, could have settled for the pamphlet to be sent directly to her datapad, but something about physical ancient parchment felt… so much better.
This was day two of the convention, of which she attended the day prior, proudly displaying her research, from her short time on Solyiat in the Haevan Research Facility. Her research consisted of a new beta drug, which is still currently in the testing phase.
She gave a wide grin to Nathan Breeze, her relief for the day, allowing her to go explore what the other displays had to offer. Nathan sat mildly uncomfortable behind the table. He gave a small wave back, before turning his attention to the Hapan that had just stepped up to discuss.
Esen turned, snaking her way through the rows of booths, stopping occasionally talking with returning consumers from the day prior, watching demonstrations, or asking questions about displays that had piqued her interest. Her end goal was to make it to the NeuroCore Systems booth. She was always in the market for upgrades for her trusty backpack droid, Vox. but… why not peruse along the way?
So, this was the Citadel? Since being accepted into the ranks of House Galeres’ Field Medic Corps, he’d heard of it, but he’d never had the time or reason to visit it. Joining the clan at a tumultuous time, near the climactic end of the years long saga officially dubbed “The Pretender War” left little time for Tagrei Sula to visit Clan Arcona’s seat of power. There had been so much death and destruction … so many lives thrown into chaos and thus, a mountain of work for himself and his fellow comrades with which to occupy themselves. It had been nearly a year since the Battle of Brimstone, and he was only just now feeling comfortable getting out again. Although he’d come to the AstroMedica convention so he could stay abreast on the latest breakthroughs in medical technology and thus could better treat his patients back in Korda, it still felt like an outing to him; he’d much rather be at home enjoying a glass of whiskey.
Tagrei kept his hands in his labcoat pockets as he strolled down one of many aisles within the room. The Citadel was much larger than he had anticipated. This room alone had easily two-hundred people in it, and it didn’t feel that crowded. The first booth that caught his attention featured a slideshow of various arthropod species, some of which he recognized as being native to Selen. “Novel Treatment Strategy for Virellian Chromaplasmosis …”
Now, that sounded interesting. V.C.P was a congenital degenerative disorder that, while rare, was debilitating and highly resistant to current treatment modalities. What made this new one different?
Tagrei began in that direction, eager to speak with the Weequay man presenting his research to a small group of people. But when a blur of motion zipped by him and forced him to hop away to avoid being struck by the oversized poster board the person carried, he snapped his head toward a much smaller Zeltron woman whom he bumped into and nearly knocked over in the process.
“My apologies, miss. Are you alright?” He knelt down to pick up the pamphlet that had fallen out of her hand, then stood up to hand it to her. “I should watch where I’m going more.”
“-oh. Y-yes quite all right. -oh thank you.” She said as she tucked a loose strand of hair, that had fallen out of her bun, behind her ear.
A deep red blush started to bloom on the apples of her cheeks, she had been completely tunnel visioned on heading to the next station, to the point she hadn’t noticed her surroundings.
“Are you alright? I didn’t notice the poster board. Heh.” She huffed a small awkward laugh, She grabbed her elbow behind her back with her right arm, before realizing that he was trying to hand her the pamphlet!
Quickly changing to grab it, although gently, she reached for it. Her fingertips brushed over his as she reclaimed the parchment. Her blush spread farther to her cheeks.
“O-oh I’m Esen by the way. Esen Dulle.” She swapped the pesky paper to her left hand, and held out her right as a greeting.
When he saw the way her cheeks flushed with a deeper red, like the way the horizon shone with scarlet near the end of a long day, it gave him pause. Transfixed was a better word – captured by her effortless beauty. And he didn’t snap out of it until he heard her introduce herself.
A smile appeared on his face. “Esen … what a pretty name,” he said while shaking her hand. His accent was similar to the standard accent spoken by many devaronians born on the planet Devaron, but something was different about it. Only someone familiar with the language was likely to pick up on the difference, though. “Tagrei Sula. Is this your first convention?”
She stood transfixed on his beautiful smile, the two rows of perfectly set teeth with slightly enlarged incisors. He really was quite good looking. Firm handshake. Strong shoulders. Solid build. Wearing a white coat… her brain went spiraling.
“This isn’t my first one, but I don’t go to them often, Mr. Sula.” She returned the smile.
“Although I was here yesterday. I- I have a booth here, but a friend is covering for me. Just browsing today.”
She tucked another strand behind her ear as she looked to the ground.
“Anything I can help you find? I- I have most of the booths memorized, and for those I don’t -“ she waves her voucher awkwardly,
“…map” A small, awkward, closed lip smile, the blush now spreading to the tips of her ears.
She really was a stumbling mess. Evident she hardly leaves her lab anymore. At least in the military she could follow orders. Didn’t need to talk much.
“Oh please,” he said with a chuckle, “Mr. Sula makes me feel old. Tagrei is fine.
"Oh, wow. You have your own booth? So, you’re a researcher, as well? What’s your area of focus?”
He was already interested, but now he was even more so. Once they were both on their feet, he folded his hands behind his back and started to walk to nowhere in particular. Just strolling.
“Tag-rei” she said, splitting his name into two, giving him a shy close mouthed smile.
She wrapped her blazer jacket in on herself, adjusting it when it had not needed adjustments. She ended up crossing her arms, tucking her hands into her armpits. The paper crumpling slightly in her hand.
“Uh- heh yeah. W-well my friend is covering for me today. S-so I can..
-# ..convention.”
She was rambling. She noticed she was rambling. She also realized she has already said that!
“I-I recently moved, and got entangled in a research facility. I’ve been working on cures and treatments for different diseases.” She adjusts to rub the nape of her neck.
“The beta drug I brought here was an experiment I discovered in my research to increase cellular production, specifically targeted for the enamel of teeth.” She seemed to relax slightly as her head tipped from side to side as she spoke a little faster, less awkward. Excited to be talking about her research she had been spending countless hours on.
“However, while I did get it to the point where damaged teeth would repair themselves, there was a slight… cosmetic side effect.” She kind of shrunk into her shoulders.
“While some people might not like it, this did lead me down another area of research to branch off to. The issue and side effect with this beta drug is it specifically targets the incisors and they… grow a little. Like fangs.” She was hesitant to explain more.
“While I know some might not care, I want to specifically develop the drug more to get these incisors to be… retractable? I haven’t gotten there yet. Although I’ve only been at Haevan Reserch for two months….”
Okay this time she was really rambling.
“I- sorry,” she rubs her elbow with her other arm, and released a slight awkward chuckle.
With a gentle smile, Tagrei lifted his hand to dismiss Esen’s apology. “No need to say sorry to me. It all sounds very interesting. I’m curious, though: why the focus on enlarging the incisors?”
As he awaited her reply, he considered the details of her research. His perusals of the holonet in recent weeks had informed him that there was a large subculture of people who chose to express themselves through complex, and often expensive, body modification. Perhaps, she was interested in this as well?
“The main focus was to develop a way for the enamel of the teeth to repair itself, and -well, the growth of the incisors, was an unaccounted for side effect. However, I am increasing my research on this to hopefully develop a way for them to become retractable. So people who just want self healing teeth with no large incisors have have them retracted. Whereas, others who want… fangs - can have them. F-for cosmetics.” She gave another slight chuckle.
She rubbed her elbow again, “Y-you mentioned you’re also a researcher? What is your research of expertise?”
“That’s fascinating,” he replied with a smile, “If you have any breakthroughs with your research, please keep me updated.”
“Oh, uh … my areas of focus are in cell and molecular biology, genomics, and cryology. A few other things. Mind numbing stuff, really.”
“Oh I’d love to hear about it if you wish to talk about it. Anything you are studying specifically at the moment?”
She tried to bite back the burn of her overshare and his… not sharing much.
“I also study cellular and molecular biology. Maybe another set of eyes would go well with my studies,” She glances at him.
“Mostly in cellular regeneration, manipulation of pluripotent stem cells to induce their transformation into varies cell types; i’ve recently been focused on recreating old techniques of tissue replication for the creation of viable organs in the absence of donors. Things like that.” He smiled politely.
Although he typically he didn’t like sharing his research due to fear of oversharind, and thus making the other person uncomfortable, he felt much more comfortable doing so with a fellow researcher. And it being her made it even more natural; she was so easy to talk to.
“Oh, sure. I could take a look sometime. I’d love to help out with your research … if you wouldn’t mind, of course.”
“Organ regeneration and creation is a noble cause. I applaud you.” She enjoyed listening to someone who shared a similar passion.
“And this cryology? How does that fit in? You freeze the stems cells? The organs? Both?”
Tagrei nodded. “Right. Allows for long term storage and transport. People can’t always have these kinds of procedures done right away, so researching how to better preserve living tissue without damage is really important.”
“That is quite interesting. How long does it take to fully grow.. lets say a liver from start to finish? I assume it’d be longer to grow hence the preservation process.”