Posted by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) in Skeletons in the Family Closet (Tag Juliet)

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Skeletons in the Family Closet (Tag Juliet)

Posted by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) in Skeletons in the Family Closet (Tag Juliet)
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Juliet just took a moment to stare at Cas. Her thoughts were open and clear, she truly missed and cared for Juliet and that was plain in her thoughts. So was the fact she didn’t want harm to come to her cousin. But Juliet had lived life so long closed and scared and then completely shut off, she wasn’t sure how to just open up and let the woman in.

“Then I guess we are square there. I don’t have your name on mine, either.” It was said almost dead blank with no expression. If Cas searched, she would see, and hear the litany in Juliet’s head about finally finding family and on the brink of losing it again if she blew this. “I’m not gonna throw myself into your arms if that’s what you are looking for. My emotions were spent out and lost long ago. So unless I’m raging in a fight, I doubt there is much emotion left for anyone. But I believe you are my cousin and the one I remember from my childhood. I don’t know how we ended up here. And I can’t promise it’s gonna be any easier than being apart all this time.” She shook her head, a mental collapse of her anxiety almost audible in the room. “But I’ll try. I can’t do any better than that.” She hadn’t moved towards Cas though a small voice in the back of her head was trying to coax her to do it. But like she had said out loud… she wasn’t even capable of it anymore.

Juliet
…. here....

Casela nodded. “I wouldn’t expect you to, even if you felt you could.” And Juliet would hear the thoughts, I didn’t mean to, but I abandoned you, I don’t deserve your affection, even if you were willing to give it. I tried…I tried to find you, but I failed. She would also notice that her mental voice was too loud, painful, even to another telepath, but also that Casela was not intending it to be so. Casela glanced at the pictures of her arrival on Centurion, “There isn’t much of me left after that anyway.” Casela didn’t make any attempt to hide or shield her thoughts, not from Juliet, not from her, not after all this time. You won’t blow it, I’ll be here no matter what, or at least what is left of me. Casela wanted to make that step for her and for herself, but that wasn’t necessarily the right thing. She wasn’t sure what was the right thing. And a very confusing though would cross her mind, I hate this ship, it offers so much hope, but always out of reach…maybe, maybe this is just another trick of The Doctor, maybe it isn’t real. But she shook her head, the thought gone in an instant. She needed to get her mind focused and clear. Now was not the time to waiver. She was here, Juliet was here, and she was going to fight for it.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Juliet winced slightly, inwardly. Outwards, Cas may see the slight stiffening at the mental thoughts, but only if she looked. “I guess we both just have to accept this isn’t a joke or con and we need to make it work. You didn’t abandon me. They screwed up.” Her own mental thoughts would flit lightly over the name misspelling, the moving of her from home to home so quick and back to back at the beginning and the ineffectiveness of the Fleet to maintain such a simple thing as the motion of a single child.

She finally relaxed and moved to the computer to turn it off. “We will get thru this. I don’t know how. But I am sure we will.” She smiled, though it wasn’t quite her usual self. “We’re too stubborn not to, right? Besides, isn’t the best way to show them all we aren’t going to be controlled, to actually make this work, anyway?” It made sense in her head. If they were both plants to undermine the other, what better way than to not do it at all?

Juliet
Sec/RTF

Cas laughed, but there was no humor in it and a lot of self loathing and anger at them. “That’s why they sent me here, I never do what they want me to.” Cas wasn’t sure where to go from there. She’d wanted to clear the air, make sure Juliet knew she wasn’t there for her. That she was Casela, her cousin, her family. She didn’t have any doubts about Juliet. For her, for Juliet, she’d risked using her telepathy, so she would know, she could move past the ingrained, instinctual distrust. And now she was paying the price. The migraine was fast and immediate and powerful. If she hadn’t already been leaning against the bulkhead she’d probably be on the floor. The doctor told her it would take awhile for her brain to heal after Hampton’s little surprise, and she needed to behave herself.

Speaking of the doctors. “So, I don’t want you to think I’m avoiding you the next couple of weeks. I’m going to be on medical leave, so I won’t be around so much.”
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Force of habit from training, or perhaps years of growing up together, meant Juliet was still in Cas’ mind when the pain hit. Or own skull exploded a moment before she closed the link and instinctively took the couple strides to her cousin’s side. “CAS!” The word was full of concern, love and a tinge of helplessness.

Casela placed her hands on Juliet’s arms for only a moment, orienting herself from the dizziness and fuzzy vision.

It wasn’t till her hands were on the woman’s shoulders that she realized what she was doing. More shocked at herself than anything, she quickly let go as Cas spoke. “What’s wrong?”

The words were asked in a tone that beseeched more than merely the rhetoric she’d tell her other crewmates. This query held a desire to know the real reason… the underlying reason.

Juliet
Nope… still don’t like you
Lol

Casela wasn’t sure which ‘what’ she was talking about. “A few months ago I shattered a rib. The treatment I was given…has had some adverse side effects. It’s made me anemic and I’m showing signs of rejection.” There was a feeling of hesitation and resignation accompanied with the words. If it was the headache she was wondering about she’d have to ask directly, not because Casela was with holding but she’d assumed she’d asked about the medical leave.
Casela
I’ll wait till you do

Juliet frowned a moment. “Why the rejection? Would anything from a family member help? Like blood or…” she wasn’t sure what else she could give. But it was the first time she had openly acknowledged the family connection between them. Oddly enough, she hardly seemed aware of what she had said.

Making sure Casela wasn’t going to fall over, she pointed to the nearest chair and headed for the counter beside the replicator. She poured a glass of water from the pitcher there and brought it back to her cousin as she waited for the answer.

Juliet
RTF/Sec

Casela sat, which was odd. She wasn’t one to allow such things to show or to make anything out of them. She doubted Juliet would ‘tattle’ on her to Ryder or Knox, but if she felt it was bad enough she would do something about it. So she sat. She took the water and sipped it, more because it was offered. “I don’t think that would really change anything. I’m sure Knox would have mentioned it. But the previous doctor decided that instead of fusing and healing my ribs, that she would coat them in a layer of metal. My lower rib cage and sternum are metal. The metal is blocking the production of red and white blood cells. Hence the mild anemia. But slowly my body is attacking the metal as a foreign substance. Dr. Knox is going to totally replace the ribcage, sternum and anything else that is now metal. It was an experimental procedure,” this is said with a tone that Juliet it would know meant Cas disapproved and wasn’t aware, “and apparently only Betazoids had the best success with it. Whatever that means.” Now that she’d had some of the water she drank more. She seemed overly thirsty lately but she needed the water to go along with the medication Knox had given her.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS