Psych Eval

Posted on 08 Jun 2014 @ 2:25pm by Lieutenant Teth Miir & Lieutenant JG Kouta Jiang Ph.D.

1,551 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Miir's Office
Timeline: MD 02 - 1450 hrs

ON:

Teth was wearing his favorite periwinkle sweatervest. He felt the color was soothing and also complimented his eye color well. He was, as a counselor, occasionally afforded the ability to work in civilian clothing. Though he certainly didn't make a habit of it.

He was at last nearing the end of mandatory crew psychiatric evaluations. With only a handful or the crew left to evaluate, he was looking forward to holding normal counseling sessions again.

There was one new crewmember, however, who had rendezvoused with the Galileo from Deep Space 9. A human sociologist. One the counselor assumed to be of great importance to the mission. Otherwise, why would anyone bother picking him up in route to the haunted mining colony?

The Caitian replicated a cup of tea and sat down at his desk. He straightened the small fern and inspected it's leaves for signs of damage or dehydration. Dr. Jiang would be joining him at any moment and he always wanted the office to seem tidy and welcoming.

Kouta really had made the honest effort to be on time, and he'd swear it up and down if he had to. He'd even gone so far as to set 4 different alarms to try to keep himself on track; it was his general practice to make the extra effort when he first arrived on a ship to try to ease a crew into his perpetual lateness habits. Not that he was ever late intentionally, mind, but even he was aware his efforts were often fruitless - a prime example being how it wasn't until after the fourth alarm that he was finally rushing out of his quarters.

He proceeded to get lost twice, most likely due to his annoyed fussing with his uniform - damn, but did he hate having to wear these things - to pay attention to where he was going. And then there were the few occasions he simply got distracted by the Galileo herself, standing in admiration for a bit, or by the diversity of her crew. He'd barely been aboard 24 hours, and he was already fairly certain he would enjoy his stay.

By the time he'd finally arrived at the proper office, a quick glance determined he was clocking in late at an even 12 minutes. A look of mild dissatisfaction crossed his features for a moment as he reached to needlessly adjust his glasses. 'Well...' The thoughts rolled across his mind like a mental shrug, and he reached to tap the door chime. 'I've been later, I suppose.'

"Enter."

Teth secured the Vulcan word puzzle he had been working on in a desk drawer. His latest time sink for waiting the allotted fifteen minutes for late patients. He hoped that his patient wasn't having any sort of serious problem. He was already running behind, and some kind of crisis intervention would make it much worse.

Kouta entered without further delays. At first he seemed mainly interested in the room itself, looking at its different features curiously as he walked towards his destination. He'd seen the inside of a lot of these rooms in his time; he appreciated a comfortable setting like this.

He came to a stop in front of the desk, eyes settling on the Caitian seated there with a warm - and particularly apologetic - smile on his face. There was a slight pang of jealousy somewhere in the back of his head about that extremely comfortable looking sweater the Counselor was wearing while he was stuck in uniform, but it dropped off almost as soon as it had bubbled up.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade, Doctor Kouta Jiang, reporting." He inclined at the waist just slightly for a moment in something of a polite bow, loose locks slipping over his shoulder. Old habits die hard, as they say.

"Reporting late, at that. I apologize. It's something of a chronic problem." He let out a light, self-depreciating chuckle. "If there's some kind of file on me somewhere, I imagine it has that written in big red letters."

Teth returned Jiang's the bow with a curt nod.

"I'm Counselor Miir, please Doctor, have a seat."

The counselor motioned him toward an armchair with a grey plastic cube exterior, and a plush black satin upholstery. Teth thought it would seem more at home in a night club or a brothel, certainly not a Starfleet counselor's office. Though it seemed the interior decorators contracted by Starfleet felt differently.

"So, you're habitually late and you seem to be very comfortable with that fact. Would you consider that a part of your identity?"

"I see you waste no time, Counselor."

Kouta arched a brow seemingly amused, though after settling in the chair Teth had gestured to, crossing his legs and pooling his hands loosely in his lap, he gave a shrug and nod that seemed to say he couldn't help but agree. "Understandable. I imagine I've bitten in to your schedule, yes?"

He tilted his head thoughtfully; any time constraint would squarely be his fault, and he was more than willing to comply with whatever series of questions laid in store for him without argument in recompense. For the most part, anyway. "Mm, no. But I have become comfortable with it, yes, due to its frequency. I set alarms, reminders, similar things to manage poor punctuality, but I've only ever been able to 'manage' it, at best. Usually I do well enough that way."

Judging by his time aboard the Galileo so far, he was fairly certain he was going to do enough talking in the 'getting settled' period to last him a month. "Besides, I find it best not to worry too much about trivial things, unless they become seriously problematic. We all have enough on our minds as it is."

Leaning back in the chair, he crossed his arms loosely with another quiet chuckle as he continued. "Though... Admittedly, this was an especially poor example."

For all the advancements made over the centuries in psychotropic drugs and other forms of therapy, some people seemed to just be innately bad at judging the passage of time. The caitian suspected that it was usually a result of simply not caring about the passage of time to begin with. They can't be bothered to try.

"I am surprised that you're a sociologist. Do you often find yourself lost in thought?"

Oh, ouch. "I'd be a poor sociologist if I didn't spend much of my time thinking, no? Allow me to rephrase."

How fascinating, really. Kouta couldn't help but wonder if his lateness had really had such a poor effect, or if Teth was just particularly direct in general. "The majority of sentient social beings have minds full of thoughts unrelated or deviated from their direct purpose or goal at any given time. From stimuli with more immediate effects, like a change in the weather or judgment made on one's appearance, to those with a longer effects over time, like stratification, health and sexuality, or industrial growth."

He thoughtfully tilted his head again, looking up at the ceiling. "Not all are negative, of course, but typically stressors have the longer lasting impact on a culture, and a person. Naturally this is not a room where I have to explain what happens when those stressors build up too much."

He righted, looking back to the caitian with a good-natured smile. "In my case, I have missions and responsibilities that are too important to let my head get cluttered with worries about smaller things, like if my uniform is properly pressed or if I'm exactly on time. Not that I'm immune to worrying, obviously, but I do my best to keep my mind calm, and if I can't, I take steps to reach calm again. So, thoughtful, yes, lost, no."

"Ah. So you simply do not place the same value on time and punctuality that conventional Federation societies do." Teth said with an uncharacteristic smile.

"Is that a fair observation?"

"Very fair, yes." Kouta couldn't help but laugh at the summation, given how wordy his monologue had been. How delightfully concise the counselor was, it was a nice change in pace. But there was a small point of interest to him...

"I'm curious, though: why such a focus on my lateness?"

"You described it as a 'chronic problem' yourself just a few moments ago."

Miir wondered if he hadn't taken the remark too literally. In all his time with humans, it had always been difficult to tell.

"It seemed like as good as any of a place to start."

"Ah, I suppose I did." Kouta nodded, recalling his words. Admittedly he'd meant it more as a bit of self-depreciating humor to break the ice - not untrue, obviously, but better to ease into the situation that way than stand awkwardly. Though it had certainly led to an enlightening conversation, if nothing else.

"With that being covered, then, where would you like to go next?"

The caitian quietly considered the question for a moment, having not actually planned that far in advance.

"Was there anything that you wished to discuss today?"

[TRUNCATED]

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LT Teth Miir
Counselor
USS Galileo

LTJG Kouta Jiang
Sociologist
USS Galileo

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