Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Scientist) in Side sim: Milling about

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: Milling about

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Scientist) in Side sim: Milling about
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Solal sat in the middle of the floor of his quarters, a candle in front of him, in a standard Vulcan meditation pose. He’d been there for twenty minutes already and gotten nowhere. The longer he sat there, getting nowhere, the more the frustration built.

Then the candle sailed across the room, clattered into the wall, and joined a pile of broken candles on the floor. Frustrated and angry, Solal clenched his fists. The action of hurling the candle across the room served to mitigate little of the powerful emotions roiling within him. He stood and paced at a brisk speed back and forth across his quarters. A book was next to fly across the room, smacking the wall and dropping with a thud. Then the clanging of his fists against the small workdesk in his quarters. The continuous monitor Doctor Bonner requested he wear whenever he wasn’t stuck in sickbay would catch and transmit the bump in heart rate and blood pressure his emotional state caused.

Eventually, his emotions faded, at least enough for him to regain control of himself, and he sighed. He crouched by the pile of broken, partly crumbled wax candles and picked up the candle holder. He was going to need a new one. A large dent now adorned the side of this one. It had been one of the few things he’d brought with him from Earth. He set it back on the desk gently.

Solal was unable to calm himself enough to relax. His anger burning energy he didn’t have, he was the dangerous combination of frustrated beyond belief, and so tired all he wanted to do was sleep.

It had been a few days since he had encountered Achilleas. Maybe Solal should go looking for him? A quick walk to V’alura’s quarters confirmed his guess that she’d be sleeping. Where would he find Achilleas though? He checked the holodeck first. Then the Science section. Then he needed a rest, to catch his breath and regain a little energy. He got lost on the way to the arboretum, and banged a fist into the wall when he saw Achilleas was not there. The loud clanging sound gained the attention of several crewmembers. A small dent remained in the wall, a product of Solal’s Vulcan strength. The rec room, empty, another rest, then the mess hall, also empty. Solal had to stop and collect himself, again.

The very last place he checked, out of breath, tired, a little lost, and very very frustrated, was the psych wing. And that was where he found Achilleas, pacing the psych lobby nervously. He glanced around the lobby, as if perhaps nervous himself, and then took a seat in one of the chairs. “Achilleas.”

~ Solal

Achilleas had been pacing the lobby of the psych wing for nearly an hour. The nice lady manning the desk, Cherry, had asked after him several times but he gave a wispish smile and said that he was fine. Clearly that didn’t seem to fully ameliorate her because he then had a conversation with the holographic HARLEEN, though his response was the same and he continued to fidget and pace. It seemed the counselors were busy because none had been called out to deal with the clearly anxious person, but he was torn between feeling relieved that no one had and increasingly anxious because he wanted to talk to someone. So it was with great surprise that he heard a voice call out to him.

After giving a little start, he turned to look at who called out to him. His eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment. “Solal? What are you doing here?”

Sci Petrakos

“Looking for you. What are you…” He started and then realized it was a dumb question. “Unless you’re busy.” And he’d just spent ALL that time trying to find Achilleas in the first place! The plastic arm rest of the chair Solal had chosen to sit in was suddenly much more… Fist shaped rather than cylindrical.

~ Solal

“I, uh, am not exactly busy. I didn’t have an appointment or anything.” Achilleas said somewhat uncertainly. He looked around the lobby to see if anyone would say anything in disagreement but it seemed everyone else was busy with their own stuff. He looked back at Solal as he heard a creaking, crumpling noise but wasn’t sure what it came from. “I’m free if you need me for something. Anything really is fine.”

Sci Petrakos

“Do you… Need help? Talking to them?” Solal would rather not be here. He avoided psych checks like the plague. But if Achilleas wanted help Solal would help him get it. “Otherwise we can go.” That was the preferred option. He released the chair. The impressions he left behind were quite visible.

~ Solal

“I…” Achilleas was unsure on how he should answer. Should he say that being in this lobby made him want to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth while crying? Perhaps he could let Solal know that his rest period in his quarters was filled with insomnia and nothing resembling rest. Instead he nodded gratefully at the excuse to not be here and deal with his issues. “Yeah, I am happy to go.” He didn’t really care where, just anywhere but here.

Sci Petrakos

Solal wasn’t sleeping either - for a very different reason, but still. He got precious little sleep per night and it contributed to his constant exhaustion, on top of the general fatigue. He was still out of breath from searching what felt to Solal like the entire Ogawa for Achilleas, so it took him a minute to stand from his spot in the chair. Then he turned and exited the psych wing, expecting Achilleas to follow. He was not staying there longer than necessary. Then he considered where they could go. Not the lounge. Technically Solal shouldn’t even be here, it was a patient area. Too many communicable diseases. “Where do you want to go? Your quarters or something?”

~ Solal