"Anger Issues"

Posted on Thu Mar 4th, 2021 @ 8:47am by Lieutenant Commander Adonudo Tlanuwa
Edited on on Thu Mar 4th, 2021 @ 9:14am

1,829 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Where do we go from here?
Location: Ready Room

__***"Anger Issues"***__
Joint Log of
Lt. Cmdr. Jehane Bescoine &
Lt. Cmdr. Adonudo Tlanuwa
SD 202103.03

. Adon finally noticed Jehane stalking him. He smiled at her and called, "Commander! I've been meaning to chat with you!"

. Jehane stroded up to him. "And I need to talk with you too, Adon." There was a slightly hard edge to her voice that seemed to have been growing there for several weeks.

. Adon's smile faltered only slightly. He said, "Yes, I'm sorry, life's been a bit hectic around here." He glanced around, then waved towards a quiet corner of the Bridge. "Let's go over there and chat, while we have the chance."

. Jehane stayed where she was. "I think we need to go somewhere more private, with all due respect."

. Adon tilted his head in acknowledgement, then turned and called, "Captain, may I borrow your Ready Room for a few minutes?"

. But, the Captain was busy speaking with someone else and didn't respond. Not getting a "hard no", Adon led Jehane towards the Ready Room and stepped through the door.

. Once inside, Adon glanced around and said, "Well, it isn't exactly the Counselor's office, but ...," he pointed to the sofa, "Care to have a seat, Jehane?"

. Jehane sat on the sofa and reached into a satchel she carried with her. From it, she produced four wax dolls, all with pins sticking out of them. One of the dolls was nearly decapitated as its neck had been pinched so thin.

. Adon eyed the dolls, his mouth going slack. "Are those ---?" he turned his attention back to Jehane. "Jehane, this is dangerous to play with."

. Jehane put up one hand, "They are not activated according to the old lore. But it's how I've been trying to cope with things short of taking a spacewalk without a suit."

. Adon looked at the dolls again. Though they were crudely fashioned, they were decorated and dressed in distinctive colors. One was clearly the Captain, a female in a red uniform with four pips; one was apparently Cmdr. Queen, a male in red uniform with three pips; one was likely Cmdr. Morgensen, tall, dark haired, in a gold uniform with three pips; and one was obviously Adon, in a blue uniform with a rough hawk on its forehead. It was the female whose head was nearly severed.

. As Adon examined the dolls, he found that the one that looked most like him had pinholes going through the hands and feet, but hardly any place else. Morgensen's doll had pins shoved into the region of his genitalia and lower gut. Queen's doll had a number of pins stuck in his chest area. But, it was clearly the Phoenix doll that had Jehane's focus. There were pinholes scattered all over it, with clusters all around the chest area. And, there was the neck.

. "Jehane", Adon started, then paused to calm himself, "this," he gestured at the dolls, "is dangerous stuff. I know you say they aren't activated, but still ... dabbling with this sort of thing isn't for the unwary." He studied the dolls, then added, "But clearly, we have some issues to work out." He smiled at her.

. "I know," she told him, sounding slightly contrite. "I've tried to be careful so that no one would be injured by them but, yeah ...," she trailed off and then started again, "I've been trying to get in touch with you to talk, but everything seemed to get held up one way or another. So ... that's when I started resorting to the dolls to keep from getting physical with people."

. He smiled at her, "Well, at least you didn't get physical." He glanced over the dolls again and then said, "But, let's stop using the dolls. I don't want to risk creating some kind of energy that might get out of your control. So ... I gather you have issues with the chain of command, or rather ... with the change of command. As I recall, you were the Acting XO when Captain Gat took command. Now you're ... what? A Medical Officer under someone with less rank than you? That has to have you feeling somewhat less than worthy, doesn't it?"

. "That's an understatement," she answered him quietly. "I was about ready to get the boffers out and go after people in the gym ... maybe slugging it out with the PVC and foam would help lessen everything, I don't know." She paused, reflecting, and then added, "I don't want to hurt anybody, but it was either that, the dolls, or myself," her voice lowered a notch, "Since she proved by everything that I'm apparently worthless to everyone, and especially worthless to the ship."

. Adon studied her a moment. "You know, that might not be that bad an idea. Well, sort of. Maybe a holodeck simulation of a boxing match or something might allow you to blow off some of your frustration. It won't change the real world any, and won't solve the underlying problem, but ... it might be a way to get that energy out of you without causing any real harm or ..." he glanced again at the voodoo dolls, "risk unintended consequences or backlash."

. He raised his gaze from the dolls back to her face and looked her in the eye. "And having this discussion directly with the Captain might be the only way to address it in the real world. And that won't be easy. First off, she's a busy woman, and secondly, I can tell you frankly, she isn't necessarily easy to talk to."

. Jehane grew frustrated. "She apparently wants everybody to be team players, but DAMN IT ALL TO HELL, how the heck does she expect someone to play for the team when she keeps them on the frapping bench all the damn time and not let them rise to their potential?" Her voice had risen in both volume and pitch to where she was almost shouting. And the whole time, she was stabbing the Phoenix doll with the pin and punching it in the face.

. She drew a breath and lowered her voice back to a normal level, taking up the Queen doll. "It doesn't help that she made that weasel, Queen, XO when the Viking didn't want it anymore." She was now hitting on the Queen doll, pummeling it like it was a loaf of bread dough ready to go in the oven.

. "Jehane", Adon said quietly, calmly, but with authority in his voice, "Stop. Stop poking and punching these dolls. Like I said, it's dangerous. Even if you think they aren't 'activated', the energy you are pumping into them could carry through, and I know you wouldn't want that to happen. Why don't you let me take those dolls and you try the holodeck therapy?"

. She looked up at him and said, "I've tried going up against Klingons, Romulans, Gorn, even SCA's Inman McMoore, one of their best fighters ever on the Holodeck, and it doesn't work. I've tried boffers, I've tried rattan, I've tried blunted Real Steel, none of that works."

. He looked at her carefully. "Counselor sessions are strictly confidential, under doctor-patient privilege, but ... I could speak to the Captain for you if you want. But ... I think it should come from you directly."

. But she wasn't really hearing him. Her shoulders had slumped as she felt dejected. But then she took a breath and continued, "I tried bottling up everything to let nothing out telepathically, but it's about to explode, I can feel that." Her voice lowered, "And I'm scared."

. Adon reached out one hand and placed it on top of hers. "We'll get through it ... together. But, not with those dolls! You need to talk to the Captain, woman to woman. And until you can get that taken care of, talk to me. And beat the hell out of her in the holodeck if you need to." He grinned at her. "Hell, I might try that myself!"

. Adon turned and looked around a moment. They were in the Captain's Ready Room, not the Counselor's office. He turned back to her and said, "But, we need more sessions, and in her own office isn't really the place. Let's try to meet again in the Counselor's office after duty. Right now, we need to get to our posts before we reach that weird Barrier out there."

. Jehane stared at him, then gave a curt nod. She picked the small doll with the hawk on its forehead. Now that her quarrel with the Medicine Man was pretty much settled, she didn't need that one anymore. She gave it to the Counselor. Then she picked up the one of Morgensen. She'd been really PO'ed at him for knocking her from her position as XO, but ... he was no longer in the picture, at least that way. So, she'd let him go. She handed Adon that doll.

. Then she picked up the Queen doll. Her face contorted into almost a snarl as she gave the doll a final series of punches to the face and gut. But, she'd gotten it out of her system, for the most part, and handed Adon that doll.

. But as she picked up the Phoenix doll she stopped. She looked up at the Counselor and said, "Sorry, Midew, I'm not able to let go of this one that easily." Tears had welled up in her eyes and began dripping down her face. "There's still too much emotion tied up in it." She squeezed the wax figurine into an almost shapeless lump and stuck it in her pocket. "I know you want me to hand it over, but if I do, I'll just make another one and things might go wrong then." Roughly, she wiped the tears from her eyes.

. Adon accepted the three dolls, nodding at her with the last one. "You can hold on to that one for now. Let's get back to our duty stations, shall we? We'll talk again later." He stood and waited for her to regain her composure.

. She nodded, wiped her eyes again, and stood herself and they approached the Ready Room doors together and stepped through. Outside the door, she reached out and lightly bopped him on the back of the head with her open hand, a small smile on her face, before hopping back a step, out of his reach. "Gotcha! Counted coup, Midew!"

. "Counting coup" was an ancient Native American tradition in which warriors could win prestige against an enemy or competitor. Touching an enemy or rival with an open hand and escaping unharmed won the highest prestige.

. Adon stood open mouthed a moment, then smiled and said, "No witness, doesn't count!"

. She grinned back at him and gestured at the whole Bridge crew, some of whom were looking their direction. "You were saying?"

. Adon just stuck his tongue out at her and returned to his seat. She laughed a little as she turned and headed for a Turbolift to get back to the Wellness Center.

 

RSS Feed