Listeners Listening

Posted on Sun Jul 3rd, 2011 @ 1:32pm by Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn

Mission: The Fate of the Swiftsure
Location: USS Iapetus - Corridor, VIP Quarters
Timeline: MD2 1035 hrs

Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn walked out of the lounge after having met with the First Officer. She was feeling a bit better, even if only because the meeting had distracted her from what had only recently transpired. She most likely wouldn't deal with it at all until she couldn't avoid it any longer, and even then she probably wouldn't cope with it, she'd just replace him with someone else...

Liz was so absorbed in her thoughts that she hardly noticed the man, garbed in the mustard trimmed uniform, walking directly in her path of travel. The resulting collision sent both of them to opposite walls of the corridor.

"...the hell?!" Liz grumbled as she recovered from the jarring collision.

Jordan shot a glance across the corridor at the woman. Teal collar. That helped, it meant she was less likely to knock him out for a collision that was, more than likely his fault. She was cute, no denying that or for that matter the fact that she was part Klingon. Jordan took his right sleeve and rolled it up again, it had somehow slid down his arm when he had gone careening across the corridor.

For that matter, where was his PADD? For once, it wasn't some kind of mindless, droning report on the tactical scanner alignment but his book. He glanced around for it- nowhere to be seen. Great. She was probably standing on it.

"Sorry, Lieutenant." He said, regarding her rank insignia. "I was a little caught up in my reading material there."

Liz glanced down beneath her and stooped to retrieve the PADD, her hair cascading around her face just enough that she had to brush it back with her fingers when she stood up and handed it back to him.

"It's fine... I was preoccupied myself," Lt. Lynn admitted despite not really wanting to.

"Rough day?" Jordan asked. He could tell that she hadn't particularly desired to tell him anything but now that he was there, he might as well try to help. He took the PADD and glanced quickly at the screen. The page seemed to be in the right place. It was the little victories that meant the most.

Liz frowned, "Asking people about their day is my job, thank you very much..."

She didn't know why she was snapping at the man. He didn't say anything out of the way, and most likely had no clue she was the ship's Counselor. Maybe she wasn't coping with things half as well as she thought she could. That thought alone summoned a well of panic inside her that she was having equal difficulty controlling.

"Surely, Lieutenant," Gunning said with a wry smile, "asking people about their day is the responsibility of any decent human being?"

"Yes... yes, I'm sure it is..." Liz sighed, "I'm just not having the most spectacular of mornings... I didn't mean to snap at you."

The woman tried to muster her charming smile, but it came off rather halfhearted and she quickly dropped the expression in favor of a more neutral one that suited her moods.

"I tell you what," Jordan said, "I'll forgo putting you on the first turbolift to the Counselor's office if you let me get you a Raktagino or something and get it off your chest."

Being off duty had its benefits, he supposed but then so did being within the protection arc of an array of orbital weapons platforms. No one was going to need him and if they did, they could find him relatively easily.

The woman standing before him must have been new. Admittedly, he didn't have much knowledge of the personnel in medical and science. That was Acle's job and it was one that he didn't envy him but she seemed to be having a pretty hellish day so far and there was no reason to send someone who was on a downer back on their way to just coast through their shift.

Liz actually laughed at that. It was a pathetic kind of laugh that seemed to have a much deeper meaning than simply amusement at what he'd just said. She looked at his with glistening eyes, as if they were about to let lose a flood of tears and snorted.

"Would you believe I am the Counselor?" Liz asked. She was starting to feel every bit the part of an impostor acting the way she was. She knew better... it had to be this man's fault! She was fine until she ran into him. Maybe he knocked something loose...

"Oh. Well in that case, I'm ordering you to get it out of your system before you have to go and speak to patients." Jordan placed his hand on her forearm, sensing that she seemed to be close to an emotional outburst. He looked her in the eye and his lips curled into an impish smile. "We don't want you making people feel worse, do we?"

"Might make me feel better," Elizabeth countered, sucking in a calming breath, "Fine... one drink, but not the lounge, I just came from there and I don't want to seem indecisive..."

"Okay. Where's best for you?" Jordan knew the ship like the back of his hand but he was interested to see what the Counselor would suggest. The Ridge was one of the few places that it was possible to socialize without being entirely one-on-one and he didn't want to overstep the mark.

Liz looked at him upon hearing him ask that and couldn't even bring herself to make the obvious, flirtatious joke. Something was very wrong with her!

"Anywhere that we can be alone... I'd rather everyone on the ship not see me looking like this... I'd never be able to live it down..." the Counselor said finally, abandoning any hope of using the 'your place or mine' retort she would have normally fired off.

"Tell you what. There's VIP Quarters on deck two and they're bloody massive. They're worth seeing for one thing, they put our quarters to shame." Jordan held his hand out in front of him, guiding the Lieutenant towards the turbolift. "Although, this is going to make me feel like an estate agent."

Liz couldn't help but snort at that. She'd seen plenty of VIP quarters during her internship and knew first hand that they were more like houses than rooms. She wasn't sure whether he would be offended or not if he knew she wasn't going to be overly surprised, so she kept it to herself.

"We all have to make sacrifices," she said in the most cheerful voice she could manage.

"I never thought I'd be sacrificing myself to the Gods of Realty," Jordan replied with a wide smile, "an unforgiving deity if ever there was one."

They reached the turbolift and the doors hissed apart in front of them. After stepping inside, Jordan addressed the computer: "Deck two."

"My mother would argue that there was no divine being more unforgiving than your own soul," Liz recounted her mother's favored phrase from her childhood, "Leave it to a Klingon to believe themselves gods in their own rights. I suppose if you storm the heavens and kill your gods, you do have a bit of wiggle room on the subject though."

"Wiggle room that can be enforced by the edge of a blade." The tactical officer replied quietly.

"True, my mother didn't shy away from a good fight," Lt. Lynn couldn't help but nod in agreement, "But I suppose that too comes with being a Klingon."

Liz sank back against the wall of the turbolift and let out a sigh, "Maybe things would have turned out differently if I didn't take after my mother so much..."

"How do you figure?" Jordan asked, tapping his folded hands against the rail of the turbolift.

Liz looked over at the man, she hadn't realized she'd said that loud enough for him to hear her. She rolled it over in her mind for a moment, trying to wrestle bothering with an explanation or a simple deflection. She was rather adept at artfully sidestepping the conversation when she cared to exert the energy. The trouble is, the man standing next to her just didn't seem worth that expenditure somehow...

"I probably wouldn't have lost my lover of three years if I weren't so easily angered into throwing things across rooms," the woman finally confessed.

"Ahh, come on now Lieutenant." Jordan said with a smile widening across his face. He might as well try to cheer her up than just allowing her to dwell in it; although, from what he could tell, it seemed to be a pretty fresh wound. "Who hasn't killed their lover by throwing a plate at their head?"

"It was a vase, not a plate..." Liz corrected with a frown, "And I think it was my dressing down about feeling like the village whore for three years that probably drove him to leave... that was just a bonus..."

"I'm quite sure that you're no whore, Lieutenant. When did all this happen?"

"Which part, me screaming at him, or him leaving me?" Liz asked in an irritated tone.

"Both, I suppose." Jordan asked. He didn't want to overstep the mark but perhaps getting it all out in the open would help her. It's not like she would be able to speak to a counselor about her problems, he imagined she would see that as a sign of professional weakness.

"We had a fight a few weeks... maybe a month back... and he just broke up with me about an hour ago," the woman said briefly, her brow drawing tight as if elaborating would bring some manner of actual physical discomfort.

"An hour, huh? Jeez." Jordan exhaled as the turbolift doors opened. The VIP Quarters were just down the corridor, positioned close to the turbolifts for the convenience of the Iapetus' guests. "You could probably do with a stronger drink then."

"I'll pass," Lt. Lynn said abruptly, "Alcohol just tends to make my clothes fall off... and I don't think I could live with that in the morning..."

Jordan chuckled. "Better stick to coffee then." They reached the door of the first VIP suite. "Computer, over-ride lock."

The doors slid apart and they walked inside. The VIP suites were like plush apartments with many rooms and decor that slightly lacked the gravitas of the size of the rooms. They did- however- have a pleasant red motif which Jordan always found pleasing.

"It's no Sovereign-class VIP room, but I suppose not having to worry about living here, I can't be too critical of it," Liz said, sinking down in a nearby arm chair, "To think we'd have to make Admiral to rate something this lavish..."

"Yeah, keep dreaming." Jordan replied, crossing the room to the replicator. "Want anything?"

"My life back... think the replicator can make that happen?" Liz said sarcastically.

She might have said it with a slant of sarcasm, but she would have taken it in a heartbeat if it were offered to her. Granted, she knew Toreth wasn't coming back to her, and she knew the replicator wasn't the magical conjuring tool that made anything one could possibly desire, but it still seemed the right thing to say given the feelings she was struggling with.

"I'm fine..." Elizabeth said again after a momentary pause, "The quiet is enough for now."
_______________________________

Lt. Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Security

Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn
Chief Counselor