Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Joseph Rainns (Incoming Chief of Security) in Side Sim- A private stroll

Posted by Cadet Sharah Fayth (Doctor) in Side Sim- A private stroll

(snip)

As she leaned on him Rainns looked around to see if anyone was around, and seeing nobody there, leaned over and kissed Fayth on her forehead. “I’m glad you feel that way about me, you’d be surprised at how few people feel that way.” He gripped her hand and stared forward at the nebula. “Who is this Commander Ballaris? You’ve mentioned him before.”

Lt. JG. Joseph Rainns- COS

Sharah didn’t want him to be uncomfortable and straightened her stance slightly. Night shift would be coming on soon and the halls would get full of people in about half an hour. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, “No, I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s how I got into trouble my freshman year.” she said tapping her head. “But since I know how they feel I despise when people lie about what they think and feel. Your honesty is very attractive.” She laced her fingers through his. “Oh Cmdr Ballaris…yeah. He was the doctor put in charge of making sure I didn’t loose my mind while at the Academy. When I moved to Earth to attend my doctors on Betazed contacted him to determine who would take over my care. He’s the ranking neuro-psychiatrist at the Academy. I had appointments with him 4 to 5 times a week. It was his job to make sure I was handling the huge influx of information and that I was separating what were my own thoughts and feelings from everyone else. It’s a unique type of counseling. You have to talk about yourself, and then talk about everyone else. He’s the one who contacted Andrew half way through my sophomore year.”
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Rainns gripped Fayth’s fingers. “Do you think he did a good job overall?”

Lt. JG. Joseph Rainns- COS

“I think he tried really hard. Medically he understood what was going on, but,” Sharah shrugged again. She looked Joseph in the eye and thought, ‘he couldn’t be here in my head with me and understand. I guess my doctors on Betazed could have, but they never did. It’s hard for them to understand what they have never experienced.’
She began speaking again, “It helped, I guess, to be able to have someone that forced me to talk about all my own fears, concerns, thoughts, what have you, and then try to process all the other information. I learned a long time ago how to recognize my own feelings from those of others, but it’s harder to actually separate them when it’s really overwhelming. He helped me practice lots of…coping techniques is what he called them.” She didn’t sound convinced of Cmdr Ballaris’ success. “Like I said, he meant well and truly wanted to help me, but…”
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

A small frown formed on Rainns, ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ He thought. ‘I hope the fact that I am able to do this helps you.’ Rainns turned to Fayth. “Well, I’m than happy to fill in that role while you are on this ship, and hopefully I’ll have a better track record at the end of it all.”

Lt. JG. Joseph Rainns- COS
Sharah shrugged stoically. “It’s my life,” she said aloud. She looked out the window one more time before walking again. ‘You help more than I can express,’ she thought. ‘It’s still a little shocking to me how you were able to do that. I would love to take you up on that. Your rational way of looking at things has already made a difference for me.’ Sharah stopped walking and looked up at Joseph. “Physically it is very quiet down here. Most everyone is…” she tipped her head to the side callculating, “at least half a corridor away or a whole other deck. I don’t think I’ve seen the ship this quiet yet.”
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

‘Anytime Doc’ Rainns responded in his head. Following Sharah down the hallway. He stopped when she did. “What do you mean? How can you tell?” He asked in a puzzled a tone. “Can you sense the proximity of other’s thoughts as well?”

Lt. JG. Joseph Rainns- COS

Sharah nodded, “It’s not exact. So if I’m in a room and I concentrate on what people are thinking I can tell which thoughts are from which person in the room. So let’s say if you are in a crowded room, with lots of conversation, if you concentrate on what one person is saying, you can hear them. Or if you are looking for one specific person you can focus on the sound of their voice and follow it across a room. If someone raises their voice, or laughs you can pinpoint with your hearing where it came from.
Telepathy can be used in a similar way. But with so many voices I have to really concentrate to filter the noise by distance and location. Another way, and I don’t like doing it, is to consciously listen to what they are thinking. Such as: I really wish engineering would fix my door chime. There are other subconscious thoughts attached to that one. Like the image of a friend standing outside the door for several minutes without answer, or looking at their door from the outside and the image of the corridor becomes part of the thought. To me that is very invasive and I really feel....unclean doing that.”
Cadet Fayth, Doctor