Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Sharah Fayth (Chief Science Officer) in Trenton Park - Parkour (open to all)

Posted by Ensign Tabris Asam (Engineering Officer) in Trenton Park - Parkour (open to all)

(snip)

Sharah smiled. “Hey Tabris, there’s no reason to panic. It’s going to be okay. No one knows how to be a parent the first time. We can only do the best we can.” She cast around trying to find a way to reassure him. And before these thoughts might have made her panic herself, but not anymore, she wasn’t afraid. “Look at me. My parents had my brother first. But I’m unique and so was he. What works on one child isn’t going to work for another. And we won’t always get it right. My parents tried lots of things to help me. But you know, I always felt loved, even if they messed up. I never doubted that, and I was happy. Just love him Tabris. Even when it’s hard. That’s all you can do.”

Tabris smiled a little weakly as he listened, “I know Sharah that no parent ever gets it, and you’re right that I’m sure both you and Andrew were uniquely challenging, but they did adapt well and I’m glad you always felt loved.” He sat thinking of each letter he had received from Neltus over the last little while and he knew they were mostly positive, a few weird things he mentioned had happened. His roommate Vedi for example had a broken leg that just wouldn’t heal and no one could figure out why, but beyond that the tone was always encouraging. He was used to the boy calling him ‘dad’ over the course of the letters and he said, “I keep coming back to a moment when I snapped at him. It was right before I transferred here I went back for my second visit and he had gotten involved in a project, shirked his chores and ignored repeated requests and I raised my voice, had to take away what he was working on, and told him to get his chores done or he wasn’t going to keep working on this. He just glared at me Sharah. I mean later I went to see him and he needed to be comforted. That was the first time he ever called me Dad. It really made me question if I was the right person for him.” He said as he gulped “What if in the last month he’s changed his mind?”

Sharah looked at him. “Has he said that? He called you Dad! I don’t think he’s changed his mind. Kids need someone to be their parent, not their best friend. And yeah, maybe he was surprised. I’m sure a lot of people go to orphanages and try to be their friend so the kids like them. He’s empathic right? So I’m sure he’ll know that you still love him.” Oops.....Sharah couldn’t help it though. It was so obvious and flowing right out of Tabris. He already really loved Neltus and she was sure Neltus loved Tabris because if he didn’t he wouldn’t be so worried about him and how good of a father he was going to be. “You can only do your best. Has the hearing already happened? The kids get a choice. If the judged approved it Neltus had to have said yes.”

Nodding Tabris said, “I know your right and I I’m sure he felt the disappointment I felt and that’s why when I went to see him he was in tears and didn’t want me to ‘not want him anymore’ I told him that, ‘Neltus I know we are building our relationship, but I want to be your father, I want to be your dad. Sometimes that means I’m strict, that doesn’t mean I don’t want you. It means I want the best for you’ and I can only hope that I will do my best.” He said as he exhaled, “Yeah the hearing as happened, I know the judge approved but I haven’t heard from Neltus in a few weeks and that worries me.”

After making sure he was okay she stood up. “Computer, create one child’s standard bedroom.” And then she proceeded to have the computer create the room she had described. When it was done she looked around. “What do you think? You could have the computer save images and then you could send them to him and ask. He can make changes and then when he gets here, the two of you could build it together.”
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

Tabris looked around and appeared to almost be a dear in the headlights with amazement. “Sharah this is amazing. I love that idea! I don’t know if they have computers that can render these on Delotha but I’ll do what I can.” He said as he ran his fingers through his hair looking around, a few tears welling up as he was starting to feel overwhelmed. “This is going to be wonderful” He said quietly as he turned to Sharah. “Ok, lets run some rounds to work this out of my system, he isn’t coming today or tomorrow so I think I have some time.” Turning to the room he said, “Computer, would you please send snapshots of this room to Neltus Omad, Pied Piper Orphanage on Delotha. C/O House Mother Karra. Thank you”

Turning to Sharah he said, “I’ve got some questions for you about being empathic, but let me work out my anxiety by stumbling and such first before I ask.”

Tabris Asam, Eng

Sharah nodded, “Computer, reset to Trenton Park, Beginner level hallway run. Configuration Beta.” The holodeck changed and Trenton Park appeared once more. The hallway was set with a series of blocks leading up like steps and back down. The highest being 4 feet up, but the steps were no more than 12 inch different in height. “We’ll run this one. It’s like going up and down stairs. We’ll do it over and over and try to increase your time. So start slow and get a feel for it.” Sharah took off, and brisk walk at first ascending and descending the stairs and kept repeating, Tabris following after as she increased her speed letting him decide how quickly he wanted to increase his speed on the course.
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

Tabris cleared his mind and watched as Sharah started the course and attempted to follow. He stumbled a few times on the incline, but nothing too bad as he started to move faster and faster. “I think I’m getting the hang of this!” He said with a smile as he tripped and nearly landed on his face. “Ok, starting to get the hang of this…”

Tabris Asam, Eng

Sharah had reached the end and turned to watch and started to go back and help but he caught himself before he fell fully. “Hey that’s pretty good. You tripped but didn’t fall. You’re getting it. Just don’t worry about conversation. I can’t talk and run these things either. Let it take your concentration and distract you for awhile.”
Lt. jg Fayth, CSO

Tabris chuckled and said, “Gotcha, glad you see that I’m improving! Like I said before today the last time I did any parkour was before the year 2000 on Earth!” He took a breath in and exhaled as he said, “Alright, time to just focus” And started to run the beginning course again and again, working to improve his time by fractions of a second, trying to make sure he was getting the right momentum and angles. Where there falls? In the 5 times he passed he tripped and stumbled at least 6 times but he was trying to improve his time as best as he could.

Tabris Asam, Eng