On the First Day of Counseling

Posted on 14 Apr 2020 @ 2:29am by Lieutenant Commander Tivan & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

1,018 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Sentience
Location: Counseling
Timeline: MD 3 || 1500 Hours

It had been a little over twenty-four hours since Camila had last seen the back of Lieutenant Commander Tivan and if she had a choice, she would have made that the last time. Instead, she had struck a bargain with the Captain and she'd keep it. However, there was a difference in seeing a counselor and being counseled. To her, she didn't need counseling; she had everything she needed.

Now the Lieutenant Commander Chief of Security left her office after securing her console and turned the Security department over to the Beta Shift officer and made her way to Counseling. She repressed the urge to curl her lip in disgust at what she was doing but she had to put on a Targ and Sehlat show for the Captain. That didn't mean she'd given Tivan a thing, but the record would reflect she was going to a counselor.

When she reached the counseling offices, she looked at the directory and pressed the chime for the Vulcan's office and waited with her most inscrutable face on.

Places. Positions. Players. All theatrical performances required everything to be just right without the appearance of being meticulously planned. Tivan knew Camila would be a tough nut to crack, even more so after the ale bottle fiasco, but in the end Tivan had gotten precisely what she wanted.

But wasn't that a foregone conclusion? Tivan couldn't help but wonder. If fate could be controlled and manipulated, was it really fate at all or something else entirely? That in part was something Camila and the other survivors could be the key to determining.

"Greetings, Commander," Tivan said, opening the door with the lights, furnishings, and refreshments already positioned just so. "Please enter and make yourself at home."

"I'd rather not, Commander," the ombre haired woman stated as she looked around the office and chose the most uncomfortable looking of the chairs there and sat on the edge of it, her face neutral as a synths.

Tivan smiled as Camila took a seat. "I understand we have some trust issues between us, but I would really like to get past all of that. You see, I already know you, Camila. Perhaps better than you know yourself. Observe." She took out a handheld black light and projected its dark grayish hue on the ceiling over the ombre haired woman's head. Invisible lettering began to appear with a soft phosphorescent glow which read as: "Camila Will Sit Here."

"I regret that we got off on the wrong foot, but I would like for us to make amends and begin anew," the Vulcan said softly. "How can we make that happen?"

"Now go shine that light over the other seats and when you're done, I can think of something else you can do with it," Camila said, unimpressed the Vulcans tricks.

"Fascinating." The look that Tivan gave Camila was outright amused. She pocketed the light and took a seat across from the other woman. "I remember how mistrustful you were when we first met. You rightly reached out for help, but you weren't ready to receive it. Please allow me to apologize for trying to force you into a course of treatment for which you were not ready. That was my a misjudgment on my part and I own it. We don't have to do anything here that displeases you, just so long as I am able to observe."

"Accepted," the Security Chief said but declined to comment on anything else.

Pleased that the introduction had gone so well, Tivan settled in for the long haul. "So, is anything on your mind today? Anything at all."

"Nothing you have the clearance to know about," Camila said.

Tivan cracked a smile at the subtle dig against her, particularly in light of her taunt the previous day regarding Camila's insufficient clearance. "I see. Perhaps something more mundane then. Have you seen any interesting holovids?"

"No," the ombre haired woman said flatly.

The terse reply made Tivan arch her brow. "I see. What about books?"

"No," came the reply.

"Live performances?"

"No."

"Romantic encounters, whether sexual or asexual?"

"No." Camila quit bothering to look at her and let her gaze travel around the room.

"Criminals?

"Only one," she said.

"How fortunate." Tivan smiled. "How did that make you feel?"

"Feelings aren't relevant to doing my job, Commander," the Security Chief said.

Tivan smiled. "I'll just put down in my notes it made you displeased."

"What part of what I said led you to believe that, Commander?" Camila said. "Because I clearly did not say displeased, pleased, thrilled, overjoyed, sad, depressed, or anything else you think you may have heard. If this is the way the sessions are going to go, I'm just going to sit here for the rest of the session before reporting you to Gamma Command for being inadequate as a counselor, a proven liar, and worthless to the well being of the crews mental health."

"I'm sure your assessment will be taken under advisement." Tivan fought back a condescending smirk. "'Doubly displeased,' at that," she said, making an additional note. "I feel like we're making some headway, truly I do. Let us pretend I am Admiral O'Connell." She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. When she spoke, her voice dropped an octave though became more nasally. "Hello, Commander. You had something to report regarding your experience with my personally assigned specialist?"

"This session is a farce and you aren't fit to wear that uniform," Camila said as she came to her feet and headed for the door.

"Somehow I doubt you would truly speak to an admiral that way," Tivan said slyly, "although, given your recent behavior, perhaps I should expect precisely that sort of irreverent candor."

Instead of replying, the Security Chief simply released the door and exited without a word.

Tivan took a breath as she watched Camila go. As she slowly released it, she teased out the first syllable of the word she had come to use regarding Camila so often. The instant playback began inside Tivan's mind almost immediately.

"Fascinating..."

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