Then I Heard Your Heart Beating, You Were In The Darkness Too (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 20 Oct 2018 @ 9:02am by Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.

1,611 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Counseling Office
Timeline: MD -170 - 1300 hours

[ON]

The edge of his fork sliced into the carrot cake, cutting off the perfectly decadent bite. In a fluid motion, he scooped the chunk of cake up in the curve of the fork. As he raised it to his face, Lake ir-Llantrisant could see the ratio of cake to cream-cheese-frosting was impeccable. He had just closed his lips around the bite of carrot cake when the chime to his office chirruped at him. At that moment, the LCARS tone sounded particularly strident. Lake chose to savour the sweet morsel; to chew and swallow it to completion, before he called out, "Enter," to signal the Computer to unlock the door.

"Hello!" exclaimed Tuula, quickly pushing herself through the now-open door and into the office. With her black hair and teal highlights held back with a spiked headband, her decidedly non-regulation neck tattoo and multiple ear piercings were on display. "I'm here for yet another mandatory, Starfleet ordered counselling session," she added, in a tone that was chipper, albeit laced with a hint of sarcasm.

For the briefest of moments, Lake hissed out a, "tt," between his teeth. He dropped his fork on the plate of cake, carelessly enough for the metal-on-porcelain contact to be heard by all. Shaking his head, he said, "Only in the medical division do you invite a guest into your home, and she says she's here under duress." Since she wasn't here to play, Lake got right into it. "What does it mean to you," he asked, "to attend a Starfleet-ordered counseling session?"

"Generally, it means we spend about a half hour chatting about things like why black is my favourite colour, the trials and tribulations of being in this chair, or the appropriateness of body modification as a hobby and creative outlet, before I convince them that I'm sane enough to get back to my day job of cutting people open," explained Tuula, her tone becoming a little lighter as she did have some sympathy for the poor counselor. After all, she had to deal with many a macho security or Marine crewman who thought he was too cool for a physical. "You know, the usual," she added.

"Ah," Lake said tonelessly. He nodded twice. "Hm," he added, tilting his chin up as he studied Tuula with his eyes. "Okay," he tacked on. Lake pushed his plate of cake to the side, starting to remove the physical barriers between himself and Tuula. And then he said, "How about, instead of all that, we start with who made your counseling sessions mandatory and why they hate you?"

"I can't imagine anyone could possibly hate me," replied Tuula, leaning fowards slightly and giving a doe-eyed look, albeit behind some dark eyeliner. "I mean, except for maybe those mean Klingons on Kreanus. Or an evil conspiracy masterminded by my horrible ex."

When Tuula spoke up, Lake had risen from behind his desk. He started to make his way around the desk, to remove the distance between himself and Tuula, until she mentioned an evil conspiracy. "Did you--" Lake started to ask, but his brain couldn't catch up with his mouth. The abrupt changes in his posture, and in the angles of his face, revealed how sharply his interest was piqued. "Are you saying...?" he tried again. Lake braced a palm against his desk and he stood right where he was, when he asked, "Was Captain Lirha Saalm your horrible ex?"

"I knew it!" exclaimed Tuula, Lake's outburst indicating to her exactly why she was here. "I knew she had something to do with this!" she added, before glancing up at the baffled counselor. "No, she's not my ex. I don't go that way, not that there is anything wrong with that, of course. Though, if I were interested in women, I think there could be something there..."

"Are you saying," Lake asked slowly, "you don't know who make your counseling-attendance mandatory? How were you informed?"

"I suspected it was her, though there were a few others on my suspect list," replied Tuula nonchalantly. "Regardless, thanks for the confirmation." Pausing for a moment, she instinctively gripped the wheels on her chair. "So," she continued, "shall we get down to business? I have lots of tattoos, my favourite colour is black, I own a bone saw, and I like saunas, long rolls on the beach, and kinky stuff in bed. Not only is that my dating profile, but it's usually a good summary of what counselors like yourself tend to focus on."

Tuula's words evoked a pained wince on Lake's face and that wince evolved into a full-blown frown. He squinted at Tuula, trying to determine the source of her pantomime approach to counseling. Striding out from behind his desk, he didn't immediately lower himself into the armchair close to his patient. Instead he went to stand on the other side of his desk, close to his slice of cake. "No," Lake said, quite emphatically, and he shook his head while he said it. He chewed on another forkful of cake, while he said, "No, we're not going to do that." He shook his head again. "Let's go back to why Captain Saalm hates you."

"Well, perhaps she is concerned," mused Tuula, realizing that she couldn't be evasive forever. "I mean, we did kind of have a rough mission recently, and a lot of crew, myself included, were hurt badly..." Thinking back to Kreanus, Tuula shuddered a little. "Or perhaps she just doesn't like my neck tattoo," she added, an attempt to change the subject to something lighter.

Pursing his lips, Lake squinted at Tuula and tilted his head to one side. "I haven't yet met the patient who needed to speak with a counselor because of a tattoo," Lake remarked, "and today is not that day." He stepped away from the desk and lowered himself into an arm chair that was facing Tuula. "What did it mean to you," Lake asked, "to be hurt badly at Kreanus?"

"I... we..." stammered Tuula, the anxiety welling up deep inside her as her mind flashed back to the torture chamber where she was interrogated. "I... don't want to talk about it," she continued, her heart palpitating and a bead of sweat beginning to form on her brow.

Lake nodded at Tuula's reluctance to tell him what he wanted to know about Kreanus. In response, Lake only vocalized an, "Mmm," at first blush. It wasn't the most sympathetic noise in the world, but he wasn't dismissing Tuula's wants either. Lake stared at Tuula, unblinking. He crossed his legs, raising his right ankle to rest on his left knee. Lake continued to stare at her. Then, Lake's gaze shifting to her neck and he pointed an index finger in the same direction. "Your neck tattoo," he asked, "how did you design it?"

"Oh this," she said, brushing her hair aside with a wave of the hand, "It is an old runic script from my little corner of Earth. Roughly translated, it means resilience. I think it's appropriate, given some of the things I've been through." She smiled at Lake for a split second before continuing. "Plus, I think it looks cool."

Pivoting his neck to the left, Lake searched one side of the compartment with his gaze. When Tuula said that, he looked back at her. "It does look cool," he said; "There's no denying that." Looking left again, Lake stepped out of his chair to fetch a widescreen PADD from out of a drawer. "Do you think--" he started to ask, and looked back to Tuula as he grasped the PADD, "Do you think I could pull it off? On my neck or maybe my right flank?"

"Well, I'd hope you find a piece of art that means something to you, rather than just copying my ink," replied Tuula, her eyes following Lake as he walked across the room. "I mean, remember how embarrassing it was in high school when you ended up showing up to class wearing the same shirt as one of your classmates?" She smirked for a split second, before furrowing her brow and placing a finger on her chin, thinking back to high school for a moment, where only a very small number of her friends from math class shared her fashion sense. "Or at least, I assume that would be embarrassing. That never actually happened to me; for some reason most people don't share my fashion sense."

"That's a good point," Lake replied. He frowned as he considered his earlier request, while his head bobbed with a long nod of agreement. He said, "I hadn't thought of it like that. The imagery on your body is so personal. So intimate. Only you can define it for yourself." Clasping the PADD in one hand, Lake swept his fingertips over the display to activate the LCARS interface. He tapped on the display a couple of times as he closed the distance between himself and Tuula.

Firmly, Lake said, "I can understand why you wouldn’t want to talk about what happened on Kreanus. It’s a common instinct for people. Really, it’s even a common instinct among this crew especially." --He proffered the PADD to Tuula-- "That’s why I’d like you to draw it for me. How would a new tattoo tell your story of Kreanus?"

[OFF]

To Be Continued



Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

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