Posted by Cadet Robert Sharpe (Security Officer) in Counsellors office - Cadet Sharpe Initial Psychological Evaluation

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Hilo (Counselor) in Counsellors office - Cadet Sharpe Initial Psychological Evaluation

Posted by Cadet Robert Sharpe (Security Officer) in Counsellors office - Cadet Sharpe Initial Psychological Evaluation
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Cadet Sharpe, Robert, first in his family to join Star Fleet and having just arrived to his initial posting as security personnel aboard the USS Challenger knew things were only just starting for him. Like all other security personnel in Star Fleet, before he could be cleared for duty, he must first check in with the ship’s counselor to conduct and initial psych eval. Sure all personnel get one before leaving for the ship, but that doesn’t mean they are fully cleared. These are all just formalities and protocol for security personnel.

Sharpe was standing there in the docking bay of the USS Challenger, looking bewildered and a little lost. He knew he needed to head to the ship counselor’s office for his boarding psych eval…but where was the office located? He stopped one of the yellow shirts in the docking bay and asked for directions after introducing himself as “Bobby Sharpe”. He was a nice man but seemed already preoccupied with whatever it was he was doing. After explained to Sharpe how to get to the counselor’s office, and briskly continuing on with his duties, Sharpe made his way through the winding halls of the ship till he found the counselor’s door. Strangely there weren’t many others outside the door, perhaps he was late arriving to the ship? He caught the earliest shuttle he could, eager to begin his new career. He checked his PADD for the time and sure enough, he wasn’t late, but rather early. A whole day early!

Knowing there wasn’t anything wrong with being early normally he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to regain his composure. He stood in front of the door and raised his hand to knock but then stopped himself just before his hand made contact with the door. He forgot that on a ship, you use the comms panel to the side of the door. He winced, hoping no one saw him nearly make such a silly mistake in the crowded hallway, but as he began to reach for the panel to chime in, something…or rather someone stopped him.

“Ah, you’re early!” came a bright voice from behind Cadet Sharpe. Approaching him with long strides was a tall man with tanned skin and pushed-back brown hair. A small circular symbol sat on his forehead, indicating that he was from Risa. In his arms, the man carried a rather large pot of dirt. Seated directly in the center of this dirt was a singular potato, reading to be planted. “I’m Hilo! Please, come in!” The man kicked a leg up to smack the comms panel with his foot, which caused the door to slide open. Hilo led the way into the room, assuming Robert would follow him.

The room inside was of decent size by dimension, but was filled with an assortment of furniture, art, and lots and lots of plants. In the primary space, a high-backed armchair sat facing a loveseat couch, both adorned with a warm brown cloth fabric and designed for comfort when sitting for extended periods. The loveseat was flanked by two intricate end tables made of dark wood, each of which had an arrangement of little statues, candles, and a tissue box. A hemp rug bridged the space between the two seating options.

There was a desk pushed up against the far wall, but it was almost obscured by an indoor jungle’s worth of potted plants on that side of the room that hung from the ceiling, stood in large vases, or sat on shelves with dozens of other specimens. The plants, in combination with the earth tones of the furniture and the slightly yellowed lighting in the office gave the space a tropical atmosphere. Indeed, the plant life might even make the air feel be a bit more fresh, to those with keen senses.

The counselor squatted to set the pot on the ground, then stood and stretched his back. “I’m about to begin my first foray into agriculture,” Hilo rattled excitedly. “None of my other plants bear fruit… but look, I got a native earth plant to experiment with!” He pointed for emphasis at the singular potato.

“I heard you’re rather good with the more rural arts, would you mind giving me a hand getting started?” Hilo motioned Robert forward and again squatted to consider the pot and its contents.

(Lt. Cmdr. Hilo, Counselor)

OOC: Welcome aboard! So sorry again for the delay in reply to this thread. I loved your first post! You’re obviously a strong writer and I love your characterization! I’m looking forward to getting to know more about Robert in this thread. I have two notes for you real quick:

1.) We end each post with a character signature, which consists of the character’s rank, name, and department/position. This helps people immediately know who’s talking and helps when threads get longer or their are multiple people. For you, it might look like (Cadet Sharpe, Security)

2.) I appreciate the invitation to be spontaneous at the end of your post! However, in STF we try to be very careful about not assuming the actions of other people’s characters (within reason). It might have been best to say that he rang the chime and “hoped that the counselor was inside” as a hint that it might be fun if Hilo wasn’t yet. Because I could have wanted him to be in his office, and then the thread would go nowhere! I hope that makes sense

Ben

Sharpe was startled by the man who had come from behind and greeted him, but merely smiled and nodded his head in the typical Texan way of greeting strangers. This man was of a species not yet seen by him and frankly Sharpe was fascinated by the adornment on Hilo’s forehead. Sharpe had learned about Risa in school, and heard stories of the ‘Utopia planet that never rained’ at the academy but never imagined their people looking this serene and…for lack of a better word, beautiful. He noticed the rather large pot the Risian was carrying and followed Hilo into the room after stiffling a chuckle watching him kick the comms pannel to open the door.

After taking a look around the forest of a room, and quite odd choices of decoration in Sharpe’s opinion, squatted next to Hilo to look at the sad little Potato in the overwhelmingly large pot. After listening to the counselor exclaim his journey into agriculture, and seeing all the green plants with no fruits and few with flowers, Sharpe knew nearly immediately why the poor counselor struggled.

“well, if I may offer a suggestion to help you with your potato experiment sir? The simple answer is the air on this ship is to dry. See, Potatoes in particular require either very moist ground to begin growing, or the easier way, would be to slice the bud of the potato out and placing it on a plate under a damp cloth.” He pointed to the part of the potato he was referring to and motioned with his hands as he explained.
“Many plants also have different growing requirements as far as soil acidity, nitrogen content and well…the humidity of the air as well.” Sharpe explained.
“Also, might I suggest a smaller pot to begin with. If you start a plant out in too large a pot, the roots wont be able to grow a large enough area to gain nutrients from the soil to grow.”

Hilo nodded in thought. “Yes I see… I’ve managed the soil of my other plants carefully considering they are from many different worlds, but I was under the impression that the potato was a hardy specimen. I suppose I can take it to Lieutenant McMorran to look at…” He continued to mull over what Cadet Sharpe had said.

Sharpe smiled the whole time he was explaining, and looking around the room reminded him of his mother’s greenhouse back on earth. He looked towards the chair and made his way there to take a seat. the smile slowly disappearing as he stood up.
“I hope you dont find this offensive when I say this sir, but, its it true that your planet is a true utopia? I mean, I’ve heard and read about Risa, but I’ve never been. and the prospect of a planet that controls its weather, seems a little…” He paused to find a word that wouldn’t make him sound ignorant from his lack of understanding. And at the risk of sounding xenophobic, didn’t want to make a bad first impression.

Sharpe joined Star Fleet to ‘boldly go..’ and experience life off of Earth. thinking to himself that learning about new cultures and accepting them was going to be difficult to say the least. But without first cracking a few eggs as his grandfather put it, he wasn’t going to learn very fast. Sharpe continued with his question having taken his seat on one end of the loveseat.
“A little destructive to the delicate ecosystem and nerve structure of the plants?” he decided to word the end of the question. Its true that Sharpe was well versed in the science behind agriculture, and it is also true, that he cared very much for all plants and foliage.

Hilo beamed at the mention of his home planet. “Ah yes, Risa is indeed a paradise! And you must visit, I insist! Maybe there will be time between your graduation and your first assignment to make a stop by… if you get the chance, you have to take it.” The counselor’s sunny demeanor clouded over ever so slightly at the cadet’s question though. “Oh, I’m sure the plants don’t mind. In fact, we’ve had many new species develop around the globe after we started the process. A tropical climate is a great one for biodiversity, after all,” he answered flippantly.

Sharpe picked up one of his legs and rested it on the other knee, reveling that, instead of wearing standard issue Star Fleet uniform boots, he was wearing his black decorative ‘cowboy’ boots that he’s worn of that style for many years. The black dyed leather shiny like the issued boots from Star Fleet, but the neck having beautifully intricate thread work showing his Texan pride.
“And if I may also ask, what made you interested in the art of horticulture?”

(Cadet Sharpe, Security)

OOC: Thank you again for accepting me into this community. I greatly appreciate having someplace to be able to roleplay again in a story book like structure to help get me back into writing. I also would again like to apologize for my accidental attempt at powerplay/meta. It is no secret that its been years since i’ve last RPd in a setting like this and somethings I just have to remember in time. I look forward to many more threads and meeting everyone.

Hope you all are ready for my expansive imagination HAHA.
-Tyler

Hilo settled into his armchair across from Sharpe and gave a small smile of amusement. “And here I thought I was the one who was supposed to be asking you the questions.” He chuckled. “I’ve always found starships to be a bit… stale.” He motioned to the forest behind him. “I’ve tried to bring some of home with me, and although Risa isn’t an agricultural world, I thought a plant that serves some productive purpose past simply being aesthetically pleasing might be a rewarding endeavor.”

Turning the question back towards Sharpe, he asked: “How are you adjusting to life on the ship? Did you bring anything from home or become fast friends with any of your crewmates? I like your boots, by the way!”

(Lt. Cmdr. Hilo, Counselor)

Sharpe smirked and looked at the counselor, who seemed to have and answer for every single one of his questions. He took a breath and simply stated in a calm demeanor that he was enjoying the ship so far. “The only thing seem to have an issue with is navigating the labyrinth of halls and sections between each deck. Aside from that, life on a ship ain’t that much different from living in a small ranching town I reckon.”

Sharpe shifted his legs. He was thinking about how he would answer all the questions and exactly what the point of a psych eval really was. “And I didn’t really bring much with me from home. Star Fleet has provided me with just about everything I need. I can say though the only thing I miss from home is my Pepaw’s ‘Southern Tradtion’. That stuff is like a little bit of comfort in liquid form” He said assuming that is what the counselor wanted to hear.

Hilo nodded encouragingly, then rested his chin in his hand in thought. “The replicators might be able to concoct an estimation of the drink… but you can always tell when it’s not the real thing. Replicator food and drink just tastes too… perfect. Soulless, I suppose you could say. But might be worth a try!”

Sharpe started to shift in his seat trying to get comfortable, but he knew it was a little useless. His discomfort wasn’t from the furniture in which he sat, or the room where they were, but rather this is the first counselor he’s really ever had to talk to that could make or break his career in Star Fleet. He tried his best not to telegraph his discomfort, more than likely with little success; but he also wasn’t sure exactly how these sessions worked. Is it just a random series of questions that he has to answer? Is there a right answer? A wrong one?

“So, doc, listen…why exactly are psych evals required? And I apologize for all the questions. I guess it’s how I tend to learn. Hope you don’t mind?” He asked in passing, hoping to gain some ‘brownie points’ with the counselor. Sharpe never really knew why he acted this way, or why he always needed people to like him, but it’s part of how he was growing up he supposed.

Sharpe looked off to the side, staring in at the plants, but not really focusing on a specific thing, almost as if he was staring into the abyss of space. He was waiting to see how the counselor would retort to his questions and answers.

(Cadet Sharpe, Security)

Hilo flashed an easy smile. He leaned in slightly, and spoke in a mock whisper. “Honestly, they’re not as important as people think they are.” He chuckled and leaned back into his chair, folding his hands in his lap and sighing. “If you’ve gotten this far, I have little reason for concern. Unless you had a psychotic break in your last couple weeks back planet-side, you’ve obviously had the mental fortitude to complete your courses, to work well with others, and you’ve been determined to be ready to take your cadet cruise. You wouldn’t have made it aboard if there was anything pressing to worry about.”

The counselor shrugged light-heartedly. “I consider myself to be more of a guidance counselor than I do a psychologist counselor. Of course if you have deeper concerns I am more than happy to address them with you, but mostly my job is to make sure that you feel supported as you make the transition to being a real Starfleet officer of a real Starfleet crew. It’s a big adjustment, and having to fend for yourself in a high-speed, stressful environment in which you don’t know anyone and you have to worry about your ranking officers, training, missions, and your own mental health… well, that can be overwhelming. You can think of me as a guide, a resource, a listening ear, whatever you need to help with that transition.”

“So,” he said with another smile, “I suppose all that is required of this evaluation is that we address any concerns you may have. And of course I hope this isn’t our only meeting while you’re aboard. You are welcome to come back in the future and check in. But for now… is there anything I can do to calm your nerves? Or anything we can talk about to help you decompress a bit?”

(Lt. Cmdr. Hilo, Counselor)