Posted by Lieutenant Commander Pilar Halcyone (Counselor) in Post Sim - Check-In with Counselor [tag Ensign Dawes]

Posted by Ensign P’Mala Dawes (Doctor) in Post Sim - Check-In with Counselor [tag Ensign Dawes]

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Pilar Halcyone (Counselor) in Post Sim - Check-In with Counselor [tag Ensign Dawes]
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Now that everything had quieted down. Pilar wanted a chance to meet with Dr. Dawes and get a sense of how she was holding up. She’d also grown fond of the half Vulcan woman and wanted to use the visit as an opportunity to chat with her.
=^=Halcyone to Dawes when you have a moment could you report to my office?=^=

Halcyone, Counselor

P’Mala had spent the morning of her off-duty day making calls and trying to plan ahead for what was to come next. Then she’d walked to the Mess Hall kitchen and made a thermos of plomeek broth for a late lunch. She was about to head to her quarters when the counselor’s voice came through on her communicator.

=^=Dawes to Halcyone, acknowledged. I’ll be there shortly,=^= she replied.

She snagged an extra bowl and packed them, along with her thermos and a container of rice noodles, into her knapsack and headed to Pilar’s office.

---

In front of the Counselor’s door, she pushed the doorbell and it blurted its signature two-beat tone. P’Mala was looking forward to seeing the Counselor and perhaps sharing a taste of home.

-Cadet P’Mala Dawes

Pilar ceased everything she was doing to go and greet P’Mala at the door. When it opened she smiled at the woman and held out her arm invitingly, “Please come in and sit down.” She did not go back to her desk where she had been working but instead, she walked to a small circular table with two modern-looking which she used for many of her counseling sessions.

P’Mala followed the counselor into the office and took a seat at the table.

“I was just leaving the mess kitchen I got your communiqué,” she said. “Things have been so busy, I haven’t had a chance to come in for an appointment since you joined us!”

After pulling out a chair and sitting she noticed the knapsack briefly and wondered what was in it. She looked at P’Mala and said, “I hope you weren’t busy, as this is not an official visit. I just thought I’d take you up on that chat we talked about during my medical exam.”

“I’m glad we both had the time. I was just making lunch, and I thought I’d share, since we discussed it briefly during your medical intake–homemade soup, if you have the appetite!” P’Mala said, unpacking the thermos, two bowls, silverware, and container of rice noodles in a neat stack on the table.

Pilar’s eyes widened, “No you did not! Homemade plomeek soup?” She anxiously watched her unpack the contents of the bag.

She clasped her hands together and said, “So tell me, what are your plans after you leave the Challenger? You have a ship assignment yet?”

Halcyone, Counselor

“You know, I haven’t heard anything yet. I hear Cadet Baptiste is going to the Ark Angel and my favorite nurse, NC Liu, is going to stick around here with the new CMO–have you met Dr. Rahm, yet?”

-Cadet P’Mala Dawes

“Ah yes..I heard Baptiste might join the Ark Angel. I also heard he may be stationed on the Asimov. I have a cousin, through marriage, who is the COO on the Asimov. Laila Dacascos, supersweet and will definitely take Baptiste under her wing if he decides to go there instead of the Ark Angel.”

“Whoever gets him, I’m sure they’ll do well with Ensign’s Baptiste. He’s a dedicated physician and did you hear that he jumped into one of my ongoing Victorian-era holonovels and wound up on a medical transport? I thought I was going to be cooking grouse and instead I’m in a cart in the middle of the woods in a corset.” P’Mala laughed. “It’s nice to get a chance to gossip a little.”

P’Mala set the bowls near the counselor. “So have you heard about the new CMO?”

Pilar grabbed a bowl and some silverware. “No, I have not met Dr. Rahm yet but I am told she is Bajoran. My best friend, Brey, is Bajoran. I met her at the Academy and she was there when I gave birth to my first daughter. My husband had gotten into a verbal disagreement with one of the male nurses during the birth, I was already under medical duress because of the hemoglobin incompatibility between my unborn child and myself, and she made him leave the room! Brey did not take no from him either.”

P’Mala laughed a husky belly laugh–sounded like her grandma’s. “Sounds about right!”

“Yep.” She agreed.

P’Mala poured two bowls of steaming soup from the thermos, and opened the container of rice noodles.

“I met Dr. Rahm twice in the Academy–she was guest lecturing on field medicine during her time in the Cardassian/Bajoran resistance–and that woman has stories, ” P’Mala said, admiringly. “She might terrorize the cadets if given a reason.”

“Oh…” she said laughing, “We should consider warning these poor cadets.”

She added a portion of noodles to her bowl, stirred them with a spoon so that they’d soften in the broth.

Pilar did the same, eager to taste this variation of plomeek that P’Mala had prepared.

Pilar shook her head “Don’t mess with Bajoran women, they can bite your head off if provoked. I can wait to meet Dr. Rahm. The medical staff better be ready.” She laughed.

Halcyone, Counselor

“I’m sure she’ll talk about smuggling the jewelry in her wooden leg,” P’Mala said. “She told us that one both times she lectured, but she tells it well. Changing the subject a little, how are you feeling about all the changes on ship, Counselor? It must be a little disarming for you, too. I still feel like don’t know what’s happening to me.”

Pilar snickered and said, “I must hear the jewelry smuggling story! And she has a wooden leg? Did she tell you how that happened? I bet she was a resistance fighter.” She said with a thoughtful expression.

P’Mala made a grave expression. “She didn’t tell us how she lost her leg, but I’m sure it had something to do with the resistance. I’m hoping to have lunch with her before I leave the ship. I’m feeling uneasy about leaving, to be honest.”

To address the question about changes, Pilar smiled and said, “That’s normal. To feel like you do. Me, however, I have seen many changes and Academy ships are prone to more changes than other ships in the Fleet. We only get to have the cadets for a few months. It’s hard not to get attached, but you do and it’s hard to see them go in the end. But then we began the cycle all over again.” She shrugged as she took a bite. ” I like change and was quite prepared for it when I was stationed here.”

P’Mala took a bite of soup. “It’s almost like home. There are so many variations on a plomeek soup–I always like to try new things, and why not rice noodles? What do you like with your plomeek?”

-Ensign Dawes, Medical

P’Mala smiled. “I shall have to adapt and take on your attitude. To be honest, I’m a creature of habit like a lot of Vulcans are. It’s funny. People think I’m different than my Vulcan relatives, but I see all the similarities. But you understand Vulcan nature better than most, Counselor.”

“Savid is very....” she paused then said, “Vulcan. He does not like variations of anything. Neither does his family. I conform to their ways when I am with them. Long story. I will have to share it some other time. So unfortunately I do not get to enjoy plomeek like this back at home.”

“Thank you for your compliments!” P’Mala said, tasting another spoonful of soup and noodles. “I love to cook, and replicated food is… not my favorite.”

“I will have to learn these plomeek variations from you so I can shock my husband and my inlaws.” she laughed.

She waved her hand over the table of food. “It’s delicious. I hope Spenser, Perseus, and T’shyri don’t turn out too Vulcan, are opened minded and want to explore customs and practices beyond the culture.”

Halcyone, Counselor

P’Mala looked at Pilar earnestly. “You know, my father is also quite non-traditional in his way, and my mother viewed exploration as an essential part of humanity. I turned how how I did because I was convinced by both of their logic–that being open to different only made me stronger. You have to tell me more about your kids. And about conforming. I try to conform…” she paused. “A lot.”

-Ensign Dawes, medical

Pilar nodded, “It is a female inclination, unfortunately, no matter the species.” she took a bite of her noodles and said, as she slurped a noodle in her mouth, “You know I heard there was a starship that was run by an all-female crew, different species. Isn’t that cool? I would love to be aboard it but I heard it hard to get in because no one ever leaves and there is a waiting list for assignment requests.”

“I can understand why,” P’Mala said. “I wonder if they function better than more traditional ships.”

She continued eating her soup, lost in a thought.

At the part about her kids she said, “Well if you are on Vulcan, in Shikahr, you will have to stop by, visit and see them.” She smiled at her and said, “I never asked you, who is the Vulcan? Your mother or your father? I am also curious if know how they met.”

Halcyone, Counselor

“I would have to say hello, the next time we’re both on Vulcan! As for my parents, they live on the other side of the desert from Shikahr, in the L-langon Mountains,” P’Mala said hurriedly, her voice getting more animated.

“My father, Latok, is the Vulcan and my mother, Samantha, she was one of his former students. They met while he was a teaching assistant at the Shirkar Academy and got together years later. That story.”

P’Mala smirked. It probably wasn’t the most ethical of ways to meet a spouse, but they were very much in love.

“They work together–sociologists,” she continued. “They write books, primarily about esoteric religious practices, as Latok & Dawes. They’re most known for their work on the monestaries of Vulcan. Maybe you’ve heard of them?”

She added more noodles to her broth and watched them twist. “For years, they’ve been working on a book about the community around the Shrine of T’Vet. Changing the subject a little, have I asked you about your husband? What does he do? It must be difficult to communicate long-distance with a family.”

-Ensign Dawes, medical