Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Like We Always Did
Casela worked at the bag for hours, eventually leaving the tonfas and using bare hands and feet. The heavy canvas, ripped fibers, and sand doing a number on bruised and scrapped knuckles and feet. The Jem’hadar soldier holograms did nothing to help. She beat them bloody but it was an empty victory. Beating up a hologram, beating up the real thing, was not going to give Juliet her life back. It would bring her Aunt and Uncle back either or the other families in the village that hadn’t fled into the hills and caves.

She knew Juliet was exhausted from before their horrid encounter and so she stayed away. Juliet wasn’t even sure she wanted to see Casela. And Casela had absolutely no clear headedness for this. She was emotionally involved, she knew it. She went and talked to Ziecast on Gamma shift. They talked, for awhile. This was something not within the section’s purview so she could talk all she wanted. In the end Ziecast agreed that Cas had to try or she’d never let it go, and it would haunt her. But Ziecast was concerned that she shouldn’t ignore Cobb’s advice either. Well she’d told Cobb she couldn’t avoid Juliet, but she wasn’t going to be her counselor. Someone else needed to do that and Remington or Cobb was going to look into everything else. Cas, too much, wanted her to be there just because she was. She should have told Cobb what happened. Actually, in the state she was in she wanted to talk to Ryder. He was always so frustratingly calm, but she needed that and he had a way of looking at things from odd angles that helped her think. The problem was his position and hers on the ship. And now that it was in the open they were dating she…she growled softly....she didn’t know if she should talk to him before it was worked out....why was this so complicated?

Instead after her next shift she put Niven in charge of a first aid review for the team and stayed away. She headed to the shuttle bay and Valkyrja. She stepped up and opened the door. “Miss Casela! Are we going out? I hadn’t seen anything on the ship’s manifest for it?” Alfred was obviously doing his job to make sure she wasn’t being impulsive.....She was going to have to get rid of him or change his program. If it was necessary for her to leave she couldn’t have him stopping her. “No Alfred I just came to get something out of the cargo hold.” She retrieved a small leather bag. She took one item out and tucked it into the inside pocket of her tactical coat, slung the bag over her shoulder, and locked Valkyrja back up.

Minutes later she was standing outside Juliet’s quarters where the computer had indicated she was. But she hesitated, gathering her resolve and then hit the chime.
Lt. Synthi-er

Her first shift haff been relatively easy. Learning the layout of the ship and those areas shed need in an emergency. She was glad because after yesterday, Juliet’s head certainly wasn’t all there when it came to work. She’d come back to her room and alternated between throwing things, thankfully mostly packing materials from her personal crate and hard objects that wouldn’t break, and crying. She’d slept little and been more quiet than she usually was while working.

After work, she’d come back to her quarters, showered and grabbed a snack. Now she was moving about the small rooms putting things away. Thankfully, she had a single small room to herself. If she’d had to deal with a roommate last night, she’d probably be in the brig right now.

In the bedroom setting a few things in the dresser, she heard the chime. Figuring it was her supervisor come to check on her first shift, she didn’t think twice about calling out.

“ENTER!” She called out from the bedroom. At the whoosh of the door, she called out with less force. “I’ll be out in just a second. Hands are full.” She was a slight lilt of awkward laughter at the end and soft sound of drawers moving.

Ensign Juliet Anders
“Jewels”
Sec/RTF