Evening Counseling Part I
Posted on Mon Jan 15th, 2024 @ 7:05pm by Lieutenant Vura & Ensign Millicent Ambrose
Edited on on Tue Jan 16th, 2024 @ 11:53pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: After 11 - Deck 11 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 1730 hrs
Milly had been given the rest of the day off, to get her quarters and personal details sorted. One of the things that she considered important to do ,was to set an appointment with Vura. A message was sent to Vura, stating: "Hi Vura, it's Milly. Um can I get a meeting with you tonight? I've got my schedule, and also Elen had given me the rest of the day to get things squared away. I begin work tomorrow so... I've got the time if you do, unless I am um going to be keeping you from personal time then I can uh, reschedule it."
AT about 1730, Milly's commbadge went off, =^= Milly, this is Vura. Have you eaten yet? I have finished my paperwork and we could grab a bite and talk, if you would like. = ^=
Milly's heart seemed to stop for a moment. She at first thought to decline Vura's suggestion, then her stomach growled loudly. Besides maybe talking with Vura away from the office may be a good thing? = ^= I've not eaten dinner yet. Uh, where will we be eating at? I've not explored the ship as of yet. = ^=
An audible hum of the Deltan could be heard through the commbadge. =^= Hmm. I don't think that you would want to eat in your quarters. You likely have roommates as an Ensign. I fear that my quarters would upset you and we would not want that. The mess hall and ten forward are likely crowded. After 11 has some nice nooks. Perhaps that would be private enough for you? =^=
Milly could be heard mumbling slightly as she looked through her padd, =^=After 11? After 11 oh there it is. I'll meet you there, uh uniform or civvies? What should I be wearing=^= Milly looking towards where she had some of her clothing all hung up. =^= I do like the sound of After 11. Something comfortable and also can have some private conversation. =^=
=^= Whatever makes you comfortable. Meet you there in 15 minutes? Or would you prefer more time? =^=
=^= 15 minutes will be good. I'll see you then. =^= Milly answered. Then she closed up communications, then wandered over towards her clothing.
Milly entered in the After 11, a hooded jacket over her layered look of a long-sleeved grey shirt under a looser fit of a dark blue T-shirt. To complete the ensemble, she wore a pair of flexible bluejeans and black combat boots which were midshin. The hood was up covering most of her hair, and Milly looked around to see if she could spot Vura.
Vura was not there when Milly arrived. Vura had decided to take a detour to her quarters to change. The problem that she had was that she wanted to dress nicely but not so nicely that Milly would be uncomfortable. Eyes were going to follow her regardless but she tried to determine what might be slightly more understated than her normal garb.
Ultimately Vura opted for a purple v necked dress with a white floral skirt pattern. She paired it with some simple black pumps and only one white gold bracelet on each arm, though one was fashioned as an entwined snake eating its tail at the clasp. In her ears were simple white gold hoop earrings with studs above them.
The thin Deltan started looking around After 11, trying to find Milly's magenta hair. Not finding it, she started to head to the bar when she saw a hooded figure. Ah ha! she thought to herself. She tapped the figure on the shoulder and asked, "Milly?"
Milly barely stifled a yelp of surprise, she hadn't heard Vura coming up, being sort of lost in thought. Placing a hand against her chest to try to ease her rapidly beating heart, Milly turned, the hood slipping down slightly to show the magenta-colored streak of hair. "Er hi," she meekly answered Vura. "Where shall we sit?" Milly's eyes glided down to Vura's outfit then glanced to her own, noting a definite difference.
Milly used to like to wear clothing like Vura's but, it had drawn too much attention to her, and Milly didn't want to have attention of that kind.
Vura noted Milly's glance, smiled lightly and said nothing about it. "I assume that you would like some privacy, so why don't we find a little nook." Vura glided by Milly, inviting her to follow without so much as a wave of her hand. There was something in her movement that was just inviting.
The counselor found a table that looked outside towards the stars. It was a window booth. How it was free, she did not know, but she was not going to challenge her luck. "We can come in here, I can just shut the curtains, and we can have this little place all to ourselves. Doesn't that sound nice?" As an aside, the counselor added, "They have real alcohol here, if it would help your nerves."
Milly's head whipped around to momentarily stare at Vura. "Real alcohol?" When was the last time I had the real stuff since well Alaric? I had gotten drunk and Rhys had to go get me from the bar before I did anything even more embarrassing besides singing while dancing on the top of a piano.
"Uh, maybe I should get some tea instead." Milly answered. "Unless you recommend that I do have a drink."
"No," Vura answered simply, mostly shutting the curtains, letting the wait staff know that they could come in and take an order. She then sat down gracefully and said, "Now, please sit. Make yourself comfortable and tell me about your day."
Milly gave a nod and took a seat, feeling rather relieved at not having an alcoholic drink suggested. "Well, my day was interesting. I went to report to Elen, to find out where I would be working. Funny enough, when I met her, I didn't know it was the chief engineer. I hadn't looked at her completely, then my brain clicked in later on in our discussion that I was talking to my boss." Milly's face turning light pink. "After I had spoken to her, I met someone I knew from academy. It was kinda awkward. He probably thinks I am nuts, its just well that whole conversation with him I, well I didn't know if he had heard of my being kidnapped, I didn't want to outright ask him. I wanted to run away from him, and not be in a conversation with him. I though felt that it would have been rude and so we talked."
Vura stifled a laugh. "Let me guess.... Ensign Connor Turner?"
"Oh, you know him? He is nice and maybe he and I can be friends maybe? I don't know though... what if I do something wrong? He said that he gets shy around pretty girls, but for some reason he managed to talk to me. Granted I wasn't making eye to eye contact. Am I even pretty? Sorry, that was a stupid question for me to ask. Makes me sound so very vain. Besides, who truly cares if anyone is pretty on the outside, isn't what's inside a person more important?" Milly nervously babbled on. "How a person acts towards another?"
This time Vura could not help herself and giggled pleasantly. "Oh, my, Milly. That was quite the mouthful. Maybe we should break this down a little at a time.... Yes, I've met Connor. Ensign Paisley F'rar introduced him to me and had him fix something in my office when I was just getting set up. He could not look at me and seemed very anxious to leave. So, it is quite impressive to me that he was able to talk to you. The fact that you could not make eye contact with him, was probably comfortable to him, as he would not likely be able to make it with you. Just sitting here, and hearing you say these things makes me believe that you probably have a great deal in common: both engineers and both a bit shy."
She relaxed into the booth and crossed her legs. "Now, which of the questions do you want me to handle first? Whether you're pretty? Whether if it is what is inside a person that is more important? How a person acts towards another? Or what happens 'if you do something wrong'?"
"Um, whether it is more important what is inside a person. Then how a person act towards another. Then what if I do something wrong." Milly answered, she didn't want to have the 'is she pretty question' answered.
"Interesting," Vura replied shifting her balance to the other side of her body. "You omitted whether or not you are pretty. Since you omitted that, I will answer it first. I believe you are pretty. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I knew a woman who thought that one particular guy was extremely attractive. I looked at him and saw the most plain person in the world. However, she thought he was gorgeous. So who is right? Both of us and neither of us, because it is all perspective," Vura answered simply. "Then, there are those of us who are cursed with pheromones that make others think that we're gorgeous and attract people whether we want to or not. At least Orions can have their overly insidious pheromones suppressed. We Deltans have no such luxury." The Counselor sighed, shrugged, and continued.
"At the end of the day, it is most common that people are attracted to their chosen mates or interests. Why? If they were not, biologically speaking, why would they want to propagate the species with them? But that's another discussion."
Vura then leaned in towards Milly and said, "This is a good lead into your next question. Is it more important what is inside a person? That depends on who you ask. I believe in Terran society there was a time one would have preferred to have a 'trophy wife,' I think it was called. But not everyone. Psychologically speaking, the healthiest relationships of any kind are built upon mutual trust, usually coupled with admiration and respect. So, if you want a shallow relationship, then maybe beauty is all that matters. However, before I get to your other questions, let me ask you this: How does another person find out what is inside you?"
Milly mused on that last part, "When it comes to me, I, well I watch people. I observe how they treat others. I well...uh... met Connor's girlfriend, wait, now his friend, back in academy, she was nice and kind. What was her name? Um.. oh yes, Holly. I had noticed both of them walking together. From the classes they looked like a lovely couple." Milly leaning back in her seat and folding her arms across her chest as she spoke. She reached up and scratched her cheek because it had an itch. "Anyway, observation and then talking with someone that is a good way to find out what lies beneath the surface."
Vura's eyes bulged when she heard that Connor had a girlfriend at the academy. Well, there's a surprise. Mr. Turner seems to be full of them today. Her face relaxed as Milly continued her narration, having taking in the surprise. "And you had a boyfriend that did not work out for you. Did you go through that same process with him?"
"Observing my ex, he seemed like a dream come true. He was so gallant, caring, treated people nicely. I watched him for six months even associated with him. We did charity work together. I found myself falling for him. Swept me off my feet and I was in Lala land. My friends had told me there was another side of him that I didn't see. I didn't believe them at the time. How could I be so stupid so blinded? Especially how careful I normally am." She placed her head on her arms which Milly had plopped on the table.
If Vura could touch Milly without risk, she would have patted her on the shoulders or head. Instead, she did the best she could. "There, there. It just goes to show you what infatuation can do. You could only see what you wanted to see. That's not unusual at all, Milly. However, it usually does not result in such drastic consequences. Your case is quite an exception."
She thought for a moment and tried to think of a way to explain this to an engineer. "Have you ever built something and thought for sure it was going to work and did not?"
Milly lifted her head to look up at Vura. "Or maybe thought I did everything right on a repair job? But I have built something, and it didn't work because I had a part in backwards. And I was very certain I had done everything right?" she asked straightening up from being slumped over the table.
"Exactly," Vura confirmed. "You thought you did everything right but somehow something was off. It just means going back through everything and figuring out what went wrong so you can rectify it. So, that's sort of what we're doing here, Milly. We're just going to look at why you put in a part backwards and make sure that we correct your process so it does not happen again. Does that make sense? If so, I can go to your other questions."
A Joint Post By
Ensign Millicent Ambrose
Engineer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
RSS Feed