Star Trek: Theurgy

(2381) USS Theurgy: Got My Mind Set on You

March 30, 2024, 06:38:59 AM

[CPO Avandar Lok | Counseling Offices | Deck 13 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Juzzie
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Lok sighed as he exited the turbolift near the Counseling Offices on Deck 13. He wasn’t the most thrilled going to see a counselor once again but he did promise himself he would, plus his logic was that he needed to keep his head straight if he was going to deal with the current situation he found himself in. If he was honest though, he hated meeting a new counselor, it always felt like he had to start from the beginning, get to know them. He wasn’t shy, well he was in certain situations, but he preferred to know about someone else’s personality to determine what he should and shouldn’t share. Perhaps that was not the way to do therapy, actually Lok was certain it was one hundred percent not the way to do it, but it worked for him.

With a turn of a corner, Lok arrived outside the doors to the Counseling Offices; he took a moment to make sure his fur was ok in the reflection of a panel screen as well as adjust his pants a little. Since he was off-duty, Lok had slipped into his more comfortable civilian attire, which wasn’t much, a pair of baggy olive drab cargo pants that ended just below his knee, other than the belt to hold it up he wasn’t wearing anything else. He had considered putting on a tank top but having been forced to wear his over-constraining uniform today, he wanted to feel more comfortable. Naked would technically be his most comfortable state, but most other cultures, particularly humans, were not so carefree when it came to nudity like Betazoids.

Satisfied with his grooming, he entered the reception area of the office. The receptionist, a petite brown haired Trill, looked up from her console, her brow raised in surprise at the tall wall of muscle and fur that just walked into the room. Maintaining her professionalism though she smiled and greeted Lok, “Hi, are you Counsellor Wiliams’ 16:00 appointment? Avandar Lok?”

“Uh yeah, sorry I’m a little early”, he responded, rubbing his elbow .

“It’s alright, have a seat and I’ll let him know you are here.”

Lok shrugged and took a seat in one of the larger reception area chairs. Rhys WIlliams was the only counselor on the ship that had any openings at this particular time available. Lok hadn’t looked him up beyond just seeing his name on the appointment form; he was pictured an older man, human obviously, balding, perhaps a little pudgy in the midsection. Basically his last counselor from two years before. Probably a little unfair to picture the man he had never met as looking that way but he never encountered a young counselor who wasn’t a bright eyed friendly young woman. The males always seemed to be more academic, curious about how Lok’s mind worked more than listening to his problems. Though he always got the distinct impression that they were also just fascinated by a Kzinti raised by a Betazoid and Caitian, and how all that worked.

“He’s ready for you now, just go through the door on the right.”

That was fast, Lok thought to himself, standing up from his chair he hadn’t had a chance to even get comfortable in. Doing as he was told, he walked across the room and through the pair of doors that lead into Williams’ office. His movements were a bit hesitant as he entered the room, and his furred face showed his apprehension.

Re: (2381) USS Theurgy: Got My Mind Set on You

Reply #1 – April 08, 2024, 04:41:53 PM

[Lt. Rhys Williams | Counseling Offices | Deck 13 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @joshs1000

It had had been a quiet day. Rhys was always surprised when one of those came along. The Crew of the Theurgy was in a deeply stressful situation from the beginning, often made worse by other events. The Counsellors had busy schedules. There was always something or someone on the verge of crisis.

On this day however Rhys had seen at most three people. In some ways it could be good, he could catch up with paperwork, but it also put him on edge. The less confident side of himself wondered if he was being avoided, if the crew wanted to see the other counsellors and the shy weird guy. He knew it was nonsense of course he got just as many patients as everyone else. Sometimes, he got more because he tended to overwork himself. However, the feeling was always there.

He knew he had one more this afternoon, a Chief petty officer. Once he had seen the man he would head back to his quarters and try and relax, fail and end up doing more work. He knew the appointment was a Kzinti which was immediately interesting to him. The young Welshman knew very little about the Psychology of the Kziniti except from books. However, he was eager to learn and had spent the last few hours reading up on it. He’d even gotten some works for some before bed reading.

Rhys wasn’t sure of the specifics of why Lok was coming to see him, but that was often better. It was better sometimes to get the information direct from the horses… or in this case cat’s mouth. He however did see he had seen a few councillors in his time on board. There could be any number of reasons for that, personality clashes, if Lok found counselling a particularly galling process which some did maybe even something else entirely.

Eventually his assistant let him know that his patient had arrived. He informed her to tell him to come in, and he positioned himself standing in front of his desk.

It wasn’t often that Rhys felt small. Rhys was over six feet tall. He was well built with a body built for swimming and honed by his love of Rugby. However, before Lok, he felt like shuttle caught in the pull of a star. Rhys naturally shy, tended to stoop in a subconscious attempt to deflect attention however he found himself trying to straighten up. Not that it made much difference.

Rhys recovered quickly and offered Lok a small smile. “Hi, nice to meet you. Would you like to take a Seat?” He indicated a large comfy armchair… well large for a human probably still a little cramped for Lok. “My name is Rhys.” He was careful to avoid mentioning rank. Rhys had never been much for that kind of thing. He was counsellor first and foremost and mostly still saw himself as a civilian. As far as he was concerned his rank was just there in case something catastrophic happened to all the people above him and the people who had defeated them wanted someone to negotiate surrender terms with.

He immediately picked up on the tentative way Lok moved. It diffused a lot of the shock of how big and muscular he was. He was just another person who needed his help. He noted the casual appearance of the Kzinti. He was glad of that, he often wished more of his patients came to see him in more casual dress. Staying in uniform could subconsciously create a lot of tension in his experience.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” He said motioning towards his replicator. A small part of him was also noting there was something pleasing in the way Lok’s muscles moved. Regardless of Lok’s response Rhys moved to get himself a cup of tea and said in his soft sing-song Welsh accent. “How can I help you?”

Re: (2381) USS Theurgy: Got My Mind Set on You

Reply #2 – April 19, 2024, 05:34:08 AM

[CPO Avandar Lok | Counseling Offices | Deck 13 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Juzzie
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Lok’s keen yellow eyes fell on the shorter man and his striped brow raised in surprise. Not old, bald, or pudgy, he thought to himself, -no, young and handsome. He felt a tinge more nervous because of this. It was one thing to have a counselor you got along with, it was another to find one who, for him anyway, was pleasing on the eyes, and Rhys certainly was pleasing. Another form of nervousness struck him however, one that wasn’t his own, it was familiar, the kind he sensed everyday from those who didn’t know him, he almost filed it away without thought until he realized it was from his new counselor.

“Uh, sure”, he said at the offered chair, all the while he focused on the emotions that Rhys put out into the room, Lok was curious. As much as they would like you think, counselors, therapists, shrinks, they weren’t neutral balanced unimposing statues, but people who had emotions, sometimes quite strong in the midst of a heavy session. And while the counselor was studying Lok, Lok was in turn, studying them, not prying, most of the time, but merely gauging their reactions.

He pulled a couple comfy throw pillows from the plush chair to give himself a bit of room, setting one of the floor and one on his lap as he sat down. It was a bit of a tight fit but he wasn’t uncomfortable, though he did worry the chair might collapse under his weight as it gave several groans in protest. He also ended up tossing the other pillow aside as well, his propensity to unconsciously knead the fabric with his claws would end up costing the handsome counselor a pillow.

“Nice to meet you Rhys, I go by Lok rather than Avandar…just was always easier and faster, only my family calls me Avandar.”

He gave a soft kind smile to sort of ease any potential tension at him being Kzin; most people had a certain number of expectations of Lok on first meeting him, aggression and anger specifically.

Rhys offered to get him a drink, to which Lok responded without any hesitation, “Coffee, black..uh if you tell it Kzinti size, it replicates a much bigger cup of it.” Then came the question that essentially boiled down to “why are you here”.

“Well”, Lok started, his ears folding back a bit as his yellow eyes, originally intently, perhaps uncomfortably, focussed on Rhys, looked away to anything in the room the large man could speak his thoughts to rather than the handsome counselor himself. He spied a model ship, just over Rhys’s shoulder, a rather well done one, clearly not replicated, he could spy the tiniest hints of glue and the tell tale signs of brush strokes when the light hit the paint just right.

“Well I just thought, with everything calmed down, I should see someone…I was in cryo-stasis for six months and went back to work about an hour after I woke up like nothing happened, from what I understand that isn’t exactly healthy…or normal.”

He tried his best to inject some humor and casualness into that opening statement, but now that it was made and invisible filled the space between the two he could turn his gaze back to the counselor. To help focus his own empathic abilities but also just to study the man’s movements, how he carried himself. His mother always told him that most of the time one didn’t even need to sense an emotion to tell what somebody was feeling. He continued.

“I’ve done these before and the talking helps…I guess it’s just finding the motivation to come down here is the first hurdle. So uh yeah, that’s why I’m here, just to talk some things out I guess about what’s going on.”

Re: (2381) USS Theurgy: Got My Mind Set on You

Reply #3 – April 22, 2024, 05:29:15 PM

[Lt. Rhys Williams | Counseling Offices | Deck 13 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @joshs1000

Rhys’ mind was always a whirl of activity. It was one of the reasons he sometimes had trouble sleeping and had to tire himself out. Normally this involved, runs, swimming or maybe an intellectual exercise of some kind. Had Rhys known that Lok had some empathic he might have been more nervous. Empathy and Telepathy had always made him uncomfortable as Rhys had no confidence that his own thoughts would show him in a good light.

Within Rhys’ head there was a sense of attraction, curiosity and sympathy directed at Lok. Rhys’ emotions were as subtle as a fireworks display, but his face remained politely impassive. He felt a little sorry for Lok, everything in his office seemed a bit small for him. However he was happy the Kziniti felt comfortable enough to dispose of the pillows. He was also comfortable enough to want to be on first name terms. This delighted Rhys. He always made the suggestion to patients but some felt uncomfortable and liked to hold on the levers of formality as a security blanket.

Rhys noted that Lok had a very appealing smile. His body language indicated to Rhys some form of placating behaviour, which made sense if Lok was at all apprehensive about how his size and species would be viewed by others.

Rhys had been about to just order black coffee when Lok made his suggestion. Rhys nodded “Ah of course apologies.” As was typical of the young Welshman he apologised as if he himself had designed the replicator to automatically provide human sized containers. There faint embarrassment that it hadn’t occurred Lok’s requirement had to be pointed out to him.

He replicated a black Coffee and ordered a cup of tea. He took the Lok’s coffee over to him holding it in both hands for fear of spilling the large cup, before taking his own drink before taking a seat near the Kzinti. He listened politely his curiosity being peaked by his patient’s words. Rhys fidgeted a little while listening, not out of boredom. There was instead a nervous energy to him, an eagerness to help maybe an over eagerness.

Rhys took a moment to think about what had been said. He was clearly supressing the desire to immediately begin talking but was just about restraining himself. Letting himself think about what hew as saying before he said it. He was aware of a number of conditions and issues that came with coming out of a long period of cryosleep. However, it was important not to jump to any conclusions on that score. “It can be unhealthy.” He said finally. “But what is normal for others and what is normal for you may not be the same.” He sipped his tea thoughtfully all the while feeling a little sorry for Lok and resisting the compulsion to give him a hug.

“Do you feel being in Cryo for so long has affected you and if so how?” It was important to establish immediately that what mattered was not what other people felt was healthy and normal but what Lok felt was healthy and normal.