Posted by Cadet Sharah Fayth (Doctor) in side-sim Gymnasium

Posted by Cadet Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in side-sim Gymnasium

Posted by Cadet Sharah Fayth (Doctor) in side-sim Gymnasium
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Ashlyn was deep in meditation when Sharah had tapped her shoulder, ‘We’re under attack!’ ‘Counter! Counter! Counter!’ ‘Protect the face!’ ‘Leaf on the wind! Leaf on the wind!’ ‘Initiate form five.’ A wave of rampant unintelligible screaming. ‘Someone please gag that.’ ‘I don’t remember form five!’ ‘We’re all gonna die!’ Ashlyn immediately twisted forward away from the cadet to create distance and took on a combative stance that wasn’t a part of Mok’bara, her sudden reaction getting everyone’s attention. ‘We’re alright, it’s safe.’ ‘They’re looking at us.’ ‘Way to go, embarrassing.’ ‘Quick! Recover!’ ‘Initiate apology.’ Ashlyn took a deep breath, “Sorry about that, I was pretty into the meditation and lost my sense of presence here. The shoulder tap caught me by surprise and I overreacted. It won’t happen again.” Ashlyn got back into the formation and paid close attention to Sharah as she showed her the correct way to move in the form. ‘Watch her carefully.’ ‘She might be dangerous.’ ‘We should strike first.’ ‘Why? There is no reason to attack.’ ‘She might be planning something!’ ‘Probably breakfast.’ ‘Executing Suspicion.’ ‘We should stalk her for a week.’ ‘We’re supposed to be making friends, not being crazy.’ ‘We already are crazy.’ ‘Not helping!’. The conflicting thoughts on the cadet’s mind clearly distracted her, the forms are still messy even when following Sharah’s lead. “Sorry, I think I just lost my center. Mind is a bit of a mess some days.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton
  Sharah’s eyes got wide. She was SO the WORST at self defense, following totally on instinct her telepathy kicked in, ‘I won’t hurt you. Promise. I really just wanted to help.’ Inwardly she cringed, twice in less than 24 hours. “It’s okay, I do that sometimes too. It looks like you don’t need Mak’bara though. You have more advanced skills than I do.” Sharah tried to smile, her adrenaline kicking up a little. “My mind is a mess every day.” Oh lord…why? Why did she say that? With the meditation broken Ashlyn’s thoughts were very strong and clear. There was no subconscious about Ashlyn. Everything was up front and it was over whelming. Sharah knew how that felt. She wished she knew how to help her, but she couldn’t help herself.
  Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Ashlyn sighs, her focus on the meditation was shot and it was time to move on now. ‘Perfect, now we’ve got to start over.’ ‘Maybe it’s time to go see Tandra and get the bed meds.’ ‘Wait! We can help her if her head is a mess.’ ‘We can’t even help ourselves.’ ‘Never know unless you try!’ ‘You know we have the box right, not like we’ve found the answer to our problem.’ ‘Compartmentalization is an answer.’ ‘How long will that last?’ ‘Uh…was I the only one that heard that?’ There was a long pause with silence from inside Trenton’s mind. ‘Odd, I thought I heard someone say I won’t hurt you.’ ‘I heard that too, wasn’t it the unknown cadet saying she wasn’t going to hurt us?’ ‘Yes, but I thought I heard it from inside.’ ‘No…no way…right?’ There was yet another long silent moment before all the thoughts uttered a simultaneous and panicked ‘Not good!’ Ashlyn’s mask cracks and her fake smile is gone, her eyes wide and on the edge of tears. “When we’re done here, I’m going to need you to come with me. The conversation we need to have shouldn’t be in public.” Ashlyn’s thoughts were frantic, running through one contingent plan after another from making a deal to as ridiculously extreme as using an airlock. The cadet was clearly panicked now and was desperately trying to hide it behind a neutral facade as she continued to try to keep up with the class.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton
  Sharah nodded, resigned. The idea of an airlock…well she just wouldn’t go into one. Nope wouldn’t do it. She was so going to be reported for this and kicked out of Star Fleet. After the class was over, Sharah waited for Ashlyn, more so Ashlyn would know she wasn’t trying to disappear on her. She moved into the locker room so she could change into her medical uniform before her first shift started. She checked the time and still had a few hours before she had to worry. Luckily the class was early. After cleaning up she turned to Ashlyn, “Where would you prefer to talk?”
  Cadet Fayth, Doctor

‘This is bad, this is so bad.’ ‘The counselor is gonna rescind the Scholarship!’ ‘No he’s not, he this isn’t a problem.’ ‘Just talk to her already!’ ‘She can hear us you know?’ ‘Just start talking already!’ ‘I have the box.’ ‘Don’t open the box!’ Ashlyn took a deep breath to get her thoughts back under control, as chaotic as they are. “I need you to be completely honest with me, how much did you see?” In her voice was fear, but also concern, she was worried for what Sharah may have been exposed to. “And please, be blunt.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Sharah took a deep breath, well here goes nothing. “First I will be totally blunt, second that will take some explaining, so please be patient with me.” Sharah sat down on a bench. The locker room was empty except for Ashlyn and herself. “I’m Betazoid. We’re telepathic. Most Betazoids can here purposefully atrictulated thoughts, some emtions, some both. I…I have a genetic defect, and illness. I was born being able to sense, everything. Conscious, subconscious, any living being. I was here taking the class hoping the meditation of the Mak’bara would help. I’ve been having a hard time since I arrived on board. Normally, I wouldn’t have intruded, but I think we both scared ourselves. And it’s not really see…it’s more like hearing. And to be blunt, I heard it all. ” Sharah totally tensed up waiting for the woman to either hit her, or run screaming from the room to report her.
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Ashlyn placed her hands onto Sharah’s shoulders, lowering her head to squeeze her eyes shut. Her thoughts were tumultuous and too loud to form anything coherent. “You can’t tell anyone about it.” The cadet lifts her head to reveal herself in tears, her mind still too noisy to clarify why. “Not your friends, not your family, and definitely not the Counselor.” Ashlyn is as frantic as the thoughts now, through the noise there is more emphasis on the investigation, her homeworld, and her family. “Promise me you won’t say anything. I usually wouldn’t ask this of someone, wouldn’t trust them, but I’ve no choice here. I have to trust you, so promise me you will say nothing about what you heard.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Sharah took her hands, feeling the overwhelming grief. “I promise, I’ll never tell, not unless you tell me to, in spoken words. Ashlyn please look at me.” Sharah tilted her head to look at her. “I hear YOU, all of YOU, I would never tell another’s secret. Mine is big enough to handle without making another decision for them.” Sharah smiled ruefully, “Besides you have a secret of mine. No one, well my DH knows, about my illness. It is as scary and explosive as your own.” She sensed that Ashlyn needed balance, if not total control. She offered the secret of her illness in exchange of Ashlyn’s secret. If that didn’t work she would offer Doctor/Patient confidentiality.

Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Ashlyn cringes and shakes her head, ‘How insulting!’ ‘That was rude.’ ‘How could she even think to say that?’ ‘She doesn’t know.’ ‘She doesn’t understand.’ ‘Give her a chance.’ “Don’t say it like that, please. This isn’t a quid pro quo situation and I would never do something like that. I’m just asking, well more like begging to trust each other to not say anything.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

“I know that. I’ve always been told that fast friends share secrets. I’ve never really had a friend. I…I was just hoping. I didn’t mean to offend you. But I would keep your secret anyway.” Sharah wanted to help, but she didn’t know how. “You said your mind can be a mess sometimes, me too. We share that, maybe we could build a friendship on that similarity?” Ashlyn was hurting, and Sharah couldn’t stand for anyone to hurt, but she didn’t know how to fix this injury. The waves of pain and panic were overwhelming, but she wouldn’t leave Ashlyn to deal with it alone, not when it was her fault for causing it due to her illness.
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Ashlyn let out a weak laugh, “Do you know how terrible it sounds that you want to form a friendship around our most defining flaws? No, that’s a terrible idea. However, I may have a better one. We can help each other. I can teach you how I compartmentalize to stay functional at work, while it doesn’t solve the problem, it will keep it at bay. Meanwhile, since you already know about it, I can talk to you about the traumas, dreams, and such. I’m always told talking about it helps, but I just can’t for the reasons I already explained. So how about it?” Ashlyn is getting control of herself again, the sounds of her thoughts putting cabinets and files back together again is rather humorous if still an accurate description of fixing the mess caused by the panic of someone else being in her head.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

“I like that idea very much.” Sharah’s own thoughts weren’t much better. Over exerstion mean the noise was much louder than normal. She wasn’t strong enough to turn the noise down so she had to try and focus through a very loud room. “What department are you in?”

Cadet Fayth, Doctor

“Security and I am just getting off.” ‘Ugg, those jokes are so bad.’ ‘I wish I had tomatoes for shift.’ ‘That is an insult to the tomato!’ ‘Would anyone really miss him?’ ‘We don’t murder people for being bad at comedy.’ ‘We can start.’ ‘No!’ “How about yourself before I let my imagination get carried away with the creative ways to stop a bad comedian.” Ashlyn relaxes a bit and finally let’s go of Sharah’s shoulders.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Sharah rolled her shoulders just a bit, imitating a shrug. “Medical. I go on in about 3 hours for my first shift. I need to eat before I go on duty. I’d offer lunch, but I only eat in my quarters. I don’t do well around a huge group of people in the mess hall,” Sharah admitted. “You’re welcome to come with me.”
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Ashlyn shakes her head, “I appreciate the offer, but I need to go into medical to get my medication so I can go to sleep. Perhaps another time.” ‘Save flirting till then.’ ‘You just want to flirt with everyone.’ ‘Nothing wrong with that.’ ‘Not everyone likes flirting.’ ‘I don’t flirt with everything.’ ‘I want some peanut butter.’ ‘I have a book to read in my room.’ ‘Tandra will be in Medical waiting for us!’ ‘Oh yeah, she’s fun.’ ‘Stop it, you’re being rude.’ Ashlyn stands up and offers the other cadet a hand up. “I work third shift, so let me know what works best for you and I’ll start teaching you how I compartmentalize. If things work out and I can find someone to program the holodeck, I’ll take you to Parkour next time and really show off for you.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton