"Don't we all?" Tiraa smirked and then sat back in the chair to a more comfortable, natural position. Latinum was a great motivator when connection simply wasn't there. She decided to address the unspoken topic early. "You're half Betazoid, aren't you? Or at least have some Betazoid blood?"
He gave a nod, watching her closely. Not surprised, exactly. Her eyes gave her away, as much as that instinctive recognition Betazoids seemed to have, the sense of something familiar under the skin even when the rest of the person did not quite match. She would have got the same from him, most likely, perhaps more if she was trained or talented enough. “Yes,” he said, not going into any deeper detail than that. “Despite the eyes.” His mouth twitched faintly. “And you as well...I believe.”
"Yes. Cursed with the eyes though, I'm afraid." She touched her fingers to the side of her left eye, but still wore her smile. "It does make things a bit more difficult from time to time, but I find in the end people rarely end up caring all that much. Where are you from?"
“Somewhere extremely boring,” he said, his voice lowering as if trying to be mysterious. But he knew his accent, his mannerisms, even his bone density pointed one way, so there was never much point lying about it. “I’m from Earth. What about you, ma’am?”
"Somewhere terribly predictable, I'm afraid, given my complexion." Tiraa chuckled softly and took a moment to briefly look around the room. "Do you miss Earth? Many who are from there seem to have this wistful tone when they speak of it... you lack that."
“I don’t miss it,” Ragnar said, and finally reached for his tea. He sipped it, then tilted his head slightly, considering the flavour as if the replicator had presented him with a minor philosophical problem. His eyes met hers again over the rim of the cup. “Earth might be considered a place of many different people and cultures,” he said, careful rather than bitter. “But you can still be alien to them, even in a utopia.”
"I find humans are one of the most contrarian species I have ever dealt with." Tiraa crossed her long legs and draped her arm over the back of the chair. "With so many species, you at least have an idea of what your might expect, but humans are so different from each other. It is a wonder they learned to work together at all."
Her eyes drifted down to his glass. "How's the tea?"
“Cardassian,” Ragnar said with a small chuckle, taking a moment to smell it before he risked another sip. “Decent replicated version of red-leaf, to be fair to it. Could have been a lot worse.” He considered her statement for a moment, turning it over in his head and wondering where it fit, though his eyes stayed on her now, on the easy sprawl of her posture and the way she made comfort look like another kind of control. Dangerous, still, but not careless. “Probably explains why so many humans leave Earth,” he said in light observation. “Hard to feel special in a species full of people determined to be the exception.”
“Perhaps. They do make quite a deal out of that, don’t they? It’s a shame so many chase that feeling when all they really need to realize is there is only one of them in the universe… barring unfortunate transporter accidents, I suppose.” She chuckled softly and shook her head. “What about you? Why did you leave? Chasing that ‘special’ feeling?”
Ragnar gave a quiet huff of amusement and looked down into the cup as if the replicated tea might offer counsel. “Adventure, obviously,” he said, with a small grin that made the answer sound easier than it was. “Glory, strange worlds, questionable company, the usual recruitment-poster nonsense.” His eyes lifted back to hers, the humour still there, though something quieter sat beneath it where the joke did not quite reach. Adventure was what people called it afterwards, when they were clean, fed and far enough away to turn survival into a story. “Truth is, there wasn’t much left for me where I was. Seemed as good an option as anything else.” He took another measured sip, watching her over the rim. “What about you? It’s...clear you’re a different calibre than most people I’ve met out here.”
"Oh I love to feel special." Tiraa flashed another grin with her perfect white teeth. "The Gamma Quadrant offers so many new opportunities for people of every walk of life. How could I say no to such a novel and attractive experience?"
It was of course only part of the truth, but it was the truth. She rolled her shoulder then deliberately tossed an errant strand of her black hair back behind her again.