Posted by Lieutenant Commander Royal Sinclair (Counselor) in Pre-Sim: Doctor? Don’t mind if I do…

Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton/SARAH (Ships AI/Avatar) in Pre-Sim: Doctor? Don’t mind if I do…

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Royal Sinclair (Counselor) in Pre-Sim: Doctor? Don’t mind if I do…
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Her light laughed filled the room. “Me too, actually. I was just thinking when you mentioned whiskey earlier that it’s been a long time that I’ve had a good drink. Though perhaps we should be grateful, because with everything that’s happened to me, I might very well have become an alcoholic.”

“But it’s a bad idea to drink alone. Mind if I join you, even if my glass doesn’t empty?” Corinne asked. “I would like to give my congratulations properly, after all.”

~Corinne Dalton

“It’s a bad idea to drink alone? Love, I’m Scottish. It’s a bad idea for me to drink with others.” and he laughed. “And you are most welcome. I honestly don’t know who else I would like to celebrate with more, right now. And not to worry, I’ll make sure yours doesn’t go to waste.” and he leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the desk, holding his glass on his leg and waiting for Corrine to appear from the ethereal realm of the ship’s computer. He closed his eyes for a moment and chuckled. “I am so glad that is done.”

Sinclair, CNS

“Give me five,” Cori said, leaving him in silence. “Leave the door open.”

Slipping quietly through Sickbay, with her emitter in its usual place, Corinne moved through the corridors, her mind focused on the conversation she had overheard. It was strange how concerned Admiral Turner was about her hearing any of it, as if she cared. But moreover, Captain Welby had come after her via Royal and she wasn’t going to forget that. She had been honest about her fears and she understood that she had people supporting her, but how far did that go?

Meandering, the silky flowing material of her wide-legged black trousers floated. At one point, Corinne stopped moving altogether, her thoughts fixated momentarily. She took a couple minutes longer than it should have to arrive, but she nonetheless slipped into Sinclair’s office quietly, not bothering with ringing the chime.

Corinne adjusted the wide straps of her sleeveless top, an affectation that lingered from before. She gave him a smile as she sat down and lifted the glass. “To successfully completing the next step, Doctor Sinclair,” she said, grinning sincerely.

~Corinne Dalton

Sinclair lifted his glass in response and said “To being done with that absolutely horrendous step and being able to take a break… finally.” he said and took a long drink of scotch. “I swear I think they put hoops in front of people just for the sake of using up their hoops quota.” and he took another drink and then looked at Corinne a bit intensely. “So before I get too drunk… how are you? I’m sure that Welby’s comments were not exactly flattering to you. Even if they were completely off-base and entirely inappropriate.”

Sinclair, CNS

Cori had lowered the glass but she now carefully tilted it around in circles slowly, watching the ‘legs’ of the liquid formed by the minute evaporation of the alcohol within the distilled beverage cause it to change its viscosity and cling to the glass slightly before it slipped back in to rejoin the rest of the liquid. “He’s not wrong,” she said softly, repeating the motion and watching with all-too-vivid eyes. “How can he think otherwise? So many of the people who were on the ship when I was flesh and blood are gone. There are few people here who even remember the woman who worked in the science labs. Back then, it was still fresh and people of course stood up for me, wanting to believe their colleague wasn’t dead.”

Her hand stilled and she looked up to meet his gaze. “Now, I’m a new variable for each person that comes aboard the ship, or is off the ship and hears about me. What do they care about previous service records and even Doctor Sharise’s reports? Because you’re not the first therapist to work with me, you know. She was here when it happened and she helped me in the immediate aftermath. But all the people who were there back then are gone, save one and I don’t know where I stand with him right now. And I can’t exactly go ask until I sort my own feelings out.” She set the glass down and leaned over the desk slightly. “You think that defence was gruelling? Try having to do that sort of thing every day of your life, hoping you pass the invisible and ever changing test and they let you keep existing. So a jackass, Welby might be, but whoever his source is, knows just enough to make a judgement, inaccurate as it may be. And I don’t see this changing any time soon. Precedence or not, people get wary about things they can’t understand. Fear is a powerful motivator.”

~Corinne Dalton