by Vol Tryst and Lara Valera Ryn
90225.00
Concurrent with Going Home
-= Vol Tryst’s Office, USS Serendipity =-
90225.00
Concurrent with Going Home
-= Vol Tryst’s Office, USS Serendipity =-
Starship design fell into the same category as flying for Lara. She was good at it. And today, that was a good thing because she was late. Well, almost late.
Leave it to a routine Starfleet shuttle drop off, which on any other day would have been on time -- even early. But today, her first day on the ship, and it was late. And that would have not been a problem except she had been scheduled to meet the ship’s counselor right after arrival, and if she did not hurry up running down the corridors, she was going to be late.
Not that she wanted to be there. The thought of such a meeting filled her with dread and anger. Yet another person to yak to about the things she did not want to yak about.
Lara was barreling around the corners so fast that she almost ran past the office of Vol Tryst. She stopped herself and backtracked a few steps. Taking a deep breath, she let out a long sigh, and then took a minute to get her breathing under control.
When she was almost calm, but before she had time to think about it, she reached over and tapped the chime to the door.
“Uhh... come in.” Lara heard, and without hesitation, stepped on in.
Into an empty Counselor’s office.
There was a sofa, some chairs, pillows and a replicator. Books a plenty and some select pieces of artwork , but no Counselor.
“Hmph.” Lara expressed aloud. So much for being late.
A Betazoid man stood...or rather, hung, just above and in front of the door she’d just entered. Upside down was the Lieutenant, with still perfectly styled in place and not free-hanging, and a book in his hands and a ridiculous smile.
Looking up to the ceiling, Lara saw the ropes attached to rings from which Vol’s feet were hooked into. This also accounted for Vol’s current attire, which was gymnastic through and through. Also, quite unprofessional and un-Counselor like.
Lara liked this guy already. There was something spunky about him and his choice of reading…position, something that made her briefly wonder if he liked shuttle diving. It was something that she had not done in ages, and right about now, it sounded like a lot of fun.
“G’day Lieutenant. Allow me to be the first to welcome you aboard the USS Sera, my name is Vol Tryst, Lieutenant, and I am the ship’s---”
“Counselor,” Lara interrupted, really trying hard to be polite to the first person she was meeting on this ship. After all, love or hate counselors, he was just doing his job. “Are you going to be up there for much longer?”
“Care to join me?” Vol smiled.
“...No,” Lara declined, wondering what in the alpha quadrant had20she gotten herself into.
Vol sighed. “Very well.” He snapped his book shut and with a short flick of his wrist gently tossed it part way across the room. It landed right on top of a pillow with a small plop. Clearly, it was a well practiced move, as was Vol’s swift and smooth removal from his rings. He gracefully stood up, though he took a moment to allow his body to reorient itself, especially as the blood was draining from his head.
Lara watched this entire process and briefly wondered whose benefit it was for. She decided both. Him because he must actually enjoy it. Her because he was trying to put her at ease. And she had to admit, it was working. He was no monster.
Vol walked over to the replicator. He looked over at her, but nodded his head at the replicator.
“Sure,” she said, cautiously walking over to a chair, but not sitting down. “Mint tea.”
He nodded again and then placed the order for her drink, as well as one for himself of the same order. Vol picked up both drinks and walked over to Lara. He handed her the tea and then indicated with his now free hand that she should find a place to sit down and make herself comfortable.
Choosing a chair for himself, he added, “I promise, there are no hidden microphones or scanners in here. Just me and my tea.”
Lara raised her eyebrows. “It’s nice to know that I am not paranoid or delusional, that she” Lara said, referring to the odious psychiatrist Alyce Haschen, “really did do such things.”
“It’s all in your record.”
“Which you’ve had time to read?” Lara had never seen the file, but she had to imagine that just from the last six months alone, it had to be a massive set of documents.
“Enough of it,” he admitted, taking a final sip of his drink before setting it down for the moment.
A beat passed without any more elaboration, which was not what Lara had expected. She titled her head before saying, “...and?”
“Sorry?” Vol set down his cup of tea from his lips.
“My record.”
“What of it?”
“You... you don’t have any questions, or comments.”
“What kinds of comments and questions were you expecting of me?”
“Everyone else wanted to know what happened. They wanted to pry into every detail of my life. They somehow thought that if they knew everything, then they could solve all of my problems. Poof. Gone. Just like that.”
“I’m not them,” Vol replied in a neutral, calm tone.
“So I have noticed,” Lara candidly admitted.
“And even if I knew everything, I cannot solve your problems. So I gain nothing by asking you, or even trying to order you, to tell me about things which you have no intention of revealing.”
Not sure of what to make of his answer, a perplexed look fell across Lara’s face. She looked down at her tea for a moment before taking a sip. Still looking into her cup, she asked, “Is this some kind of psychological trick to get me to talk?”
“Would you feel better if I said yes?”
“Yes...no.”
“Again, what were you expecting of me?” A slight smile crept on to Vol’s lips as he articulated the words he knew she was thinking. “That I would be a monster? That I would antagonize you?”
“But that’s what you do.” It was clear that she meant the profession and not him personally.
“It’s what they did, not what I do. It’s not who I am.” Although there was a gap between the two chairs where they sat, he leaned forward, making his next comment more intimate and less clinical. “I can only help you when you’re ready to talk about it, whatever it is, and when you’re ready to work through the pain, I’ll be hear to listen.”
Lara looked up from her cup and looked Vol straight in the eye as she said, “But that’s just it, Counselor, I don’t want to lose the pain.”
He nodded curtly and then replied, “Then let me give you one piece of advice. At the moment, there is nothing that I can do to make things better for you. All I can do is listen. But believe me when I say that the pain you’re feeling is not permanently attached to anything you believe it to be. Losing the pain does not mean losing the memories of whatever it is you are trying so hard to hold on to.”
“So, that’s it?” Lara asked.
Vol finished his tea and got up to replace the cup onto the replicator. “That’s it, unless you’ve reconsidered my offer to hang from the ceiling?”
Lara titled her head and opened her mouth to say something, but then didn’t for she really did not know what to say to such an offer. Lara got up out of the chair and moved to exit. As the doors hissed open, she turned back to Vol as she had a thought and an answer.
“If ever you decide to try playing racquetball, or something a little more adventurous, up there,” Lara eyes indicated the ceiling. “Give me a call, that’s something I’ll have to see... if not partake in.”
Vol smiled, and nodded. “Certainly, Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Vol Tryst
Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
and
Lieutenant Lara Valera Ryn
Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
and
Lieutenant Lara Valera Ryn
Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC 2012