Starbase Epsilon-Day 33-Evening (Open to all who came on the Enterprise at the starbase)

[green_psyd]

David had walked by the karaoke bar that he'd seen a few times and even sung in once or twice in these last few days. It was full of people, many from the Enterprise, he noted.  He'd watched from the doors for a while before walking away. Instead of lingering in a highly populated area he decided he needed to clear his head. He found an observation

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[charliemathers]

Anything to get off Earth. Anything to do more than what she'd grown up doing. More adventure, more fun, more experience, more exploring. She'd seen every inch of Montana and she'd seen more of Las Vegas than she wanted - or any person should see - but now there was a whole galaxy to explore. She could put together her love of adventure and tough girl attitude and found her way into Starfleet. Not that she knew this is where she'd end up. Her original ideas weren't exactly going into space, but hey, this is where she was and she was going to enjoy it.

Charlie was standing around, arms folded over her stomach, feet shoulder width apart and being extremely stoic. She hated this space station. It didn't go anywhere. People always said she was too active to be on one ship for so long, but she figured that at least a ship will move and travel. She'll have chances for away missions and there were holodecks, right? She'd have something to do.

She overheard someone mutter 'five years,' and she laughed to herself. "Five years..." she repeated to herself. That was quite the chunk of her life. She'd make it just fine.

[green_psyd]

David smiled as he heard the echo. He turned around and pinpointed the source. There was certainly a lot of body language to interpret. The solid stance was bellied only by the restlessness that he read otherwise. She wasn't looking at him so he turned to fully faced her. He was also able to just look past the fact that she was incredibly attractive. He would soon discover that the Enterprise was a wealth of highly attractive women and men.

"Five years?" he asked, holding up his hand and then tilting his head to the ship outside.

He was an extrovert. And while he certainly needed time to reflect, he could always do with the distraction of meeting someone new.

[charliemathers]

She looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. Charlie was by no means an introvert, so the interaction wasn't a problem. She eventually smiled at him, noting that he was looking just as excited as she was. "Five years," she parroted back at him. "Excitement, travel, adventure, not being on Earth. That's why I'm going." Not that he at all needed to know any of this. She was perfectly content on her own and she'd never needed anyone else to make her feel like she would belong. Oka, now she was just getting off track.

"What about you?" She asked, figuring at this point they were already talking, so she may as well be friendly. She could use at least one acquaintance on the ship.

[green_psyd]

"It's a good thing you said something else or we might have been saying 'five years' for the duration of the conversation," he said with a laugh.

"Me?" he said and glanced back at the ship. "Five years of...all of what you said," he agreed with a nod. "It wasn't exactly a plan. Let's just say that taking on this mission was strongly suggested to me. And when I say strongly I mean everything but physically pushed in the general direction. I guess the best laid plans are often negotiable." He grinned.

"David Tinny, by the way," he said holding out his hand. He decided to hold off on telling her what his position would be. Starting off a conversation with 'Hi, I'm a counselor,' was sometimes met with discomfort.

[charliemathers]

He was funny, too. Well, sort of. She watched him, having to look up since he was incredibly tall. She listened to his reason for joining and when he said that he was all but forced she felt grateful for her own choice. She didn't have to worry about who she was leaving behind or what was expected of her. She was on her own - even with her whole family back on Earth. She smiled back at him.

"Charlie Mathers," she responded, shaking his hand, "it's nice to meet you, David." The crew of the enterprise, as she was quickly learning, was a collection of many different kinds of people. She loved that part of it already and she couldn't wait to get on board, doing what needed to be done. Doing what was going to crave her hunger for being in the thick of it all.

"So, by no choice of your own, you are out here, then?" she smirked at him, mostly teasing.

[green_psyd]

"Nice to meet you too," David said. And though Charlie was a good deal shorter than he she was tall enough to not make him feel as if he should slouch to talk to her. He leaned against that strip of wall between the observation deck windows as she questioned his motivations.

He smiled to her smirk and nodded, "Mostly. I have to admit that it's not without some sense of wonder. I've never been on a ship before. I hadn't even been on a starbase before I came here. I guess you could say I'm green behind the ears but even I can't tell a joke that bad. Then again, I've had serious criticisms made about my witticisms so maybe I can.

"So what's your position on this expedition? What primary color are you adopting for five years?" He chuckled.

[charliemathers]

She chuckled - because Charlie did not giggle - and nodded. She could agree that it was slightly scary going out into the unknown, even when there were some of them that did know at least what it was like being out there. She was going in blind. "At least I'm not alone," she tilted her head, "I've never been out here, either."

His bad jokes, she could put up with. He wasn't too bad. Then again, she had brothers that told horrible jokes and made stupid comments. This wasn't nearly as bad. When he asked more about her, she was proud to answer. She stood a little taller and smirked up at him, "Security. It's a good think I look good in red." She laughed to herself, the smirk turning into a smile, "What about you?"

[green_psyd]

"Really? It's just that I assumed the confidence I was picking up from you was from having served elsewhere. That desperate to get away from it all?" David guessed. It was the only other reason he could think of to account for the willingness to do something completely different. But he didn't sense any bitterness when she'd talked about not being on Earth. Restlessness, maybe.

And David would have been able to relate to having brothers. Well, he probably was one of those brothers if he'd had a sister. Cousins tended to substitute.

He watched the show of pride with a fond smile. "It is! I look terrible in primary red. Like Christmas threw up," he said mirroring her smirk. "I'm a counselor. Hopefully they'll let me wear my suits." He indicated to the suit he was wearing now. It was cobalt blue and tan. "In case they don't, I'll be in blue. Maybe I could convince them that a counselor position needs a different color. I suggest plum.

"So, what got you into security?" he asked.

[charliemathers]

He seemed surprised by her confidence and this only made her puff up more. Of course she was confident! This was the Charlie Mathers and if he didn't know her yet, he'd know her soon. "I needed something knew. I've gotta find new things to make me nervous and thrilled all at the same time." It was precisely why she was an outdoorsy, daredevil. She liked excitement and she figured that after Vegas wore out its charm, this would be the next leap. Maybe not great logic, but she was okay with it.

She did laugh when he mentioned looking like Christmas. He really would and part of her hoped that he'd celebrate it only so she could see him in an ugly sweater. Note to self: Have an ugly sweater party. "Tall guy like you? Yeah, you look great in a suit," she complimented him, having a fondness for tall men - that wasn't the point. "Counselor... like a therapist or..." It seemed vague to her. She may as well ask.

In response, though, she knew exactly why security was her calling. "I can't imagine sitting at a console running reports and reading fluctuations in space and... blah. I needed something that would be physical. Something that would require movement. If I'm staying on a starship, I've gotta find some way to keep active."

[green_psyd]

"No, I completely understand that desire," David said, relating. "I guess I've calmed down a little bit, but when I was a kid...if I stopped moving I stopped living. Now all of that passion for physical activity has sort of been focused into my job."

And that, my friends, was the most direct flirtatious statement David had ever received. But, to his credit, he didn't show one lick of surprise on his face. "I hope I look good in a suit. It's all I brought with me," he said with a smile. "Therapist is a good word. I have my masters in psychology. But I'm not a psychiatrist. That means I can't prescribe medication. It's a fairly new concept having a counselor on board a ship. I think after all of the trauma that's gone on recently they want to make sure everyone's doing alright. I don't blame them. I still remember seeing the smoke from the academy from my apartment. I can't imagine what it must have been like to witness the destruction first hand."

And when she explained her choice for security, "Now why doesn't that surprise me? Maybe you and I could eventually coordinate somehow. I think I'll go stir crazy if I don't have a chance to do something active."

[charliemathers]

Charlie was flirty for a girl that had no concept of girly things. She was the kind of girl who would kick a guys ass at some sport and rub it in his face and then say it was all flirting. It wasn't exactly the most conventional way of going about it, but she was just fine with it. At any rate, he took it in stride and she laughed again at his response. Okay, he was actually funny. He explained what he was going to do on board and she nodded in agreement. She couldn't imagine being so wrapped up in all of it and her expression grew solemn for a moment. "It sounds like you will serve a much needed purpose," and that was his second compliment of the night.

"I guess it all depends," she replied, a smirk on her face, "how do you feel about rock climbing?" She was teasing, mostly. Her favorite thing to do was rock climb, but there were plenty other activities she enjoyed. "I've already got some holoprograms scoped out. I've gotta keep myself busy or I get pretty nutty myself."

[green_psyd]

"I, uh, was actually counseling at the academy a little while before I was offered this position. They were searching local counselors and I decided to take a leap. This is, admittedly, the last location I thought I'd land," he said. "And I appreciate that vote of confidence. I doubt everyone will see it that way."

He laughed at her question. "I used to like climbing rocks by the shore. But I was more of a surfer than anything. Surfing, hover boarding, skate boarding, long boarding--y'know--anything with a board. But I'm game for a challenge. I've actually never been in a holodeck before," David admitted. They were a relatively new invention and David was always at the backside of a technical revolution.

"I sort of doubt their ability to mimic as well as I've heard they do. I find it hard to believe they'd have the details to really make me believe that I was, say, on a beach or in the middle of a tube." He shook his head, skeptical.

[charliemathers]

"At least now I know you aren't--" she paused, almost using the term 'greenhorn' and instead waved a hand in the air, "you'll be fine. People are afraid of shrinks because they can tell them all the things they are trying to forget about themselves. It's not you that's the problem, but their denial." She shrugged. That was very 'shrinkish' of her, she thought.

However, his mention of 'anything with a board' had her beaming. "Surfing? I've done it a couple times, but never enough to be really any good. Skateboard and snowboarding are what I love," she was still smiling brightly. Anything active made her happy and she'd try anything twice. If it scared her enough, she'd do it until it didn't.

"Think of it this way," she interrupted his distrust of the holodecks, "you are going to be floating out in space. If I can get anything that resembles a rock out of one of those decks, I'm stoked."

[green_psyd]

He did laugh as she faltered on continuing. He assumed it had something to do with his skin color. People usually paused awkwardly like that when they thought they were going to insult him. David, though, had ownership of every single green joke that had been thrown at him and some that he'd made up himself.

"Mmm. Repression, denial, projection. But what they don't realize is that I don't want to tell them all the things they are trying to forget in casual conversation. I'm not going to lay a psychological smack down on them when I first meet them. I don't have time for the 'paperwork,'" he replied, the term paperwork being a colloquial term rather than literal.

"Oh, I don't claim to be good at any of the sports I do. I mean, I'm not bad. But I've wiped out more times that I've ridden a wave, that's for sure. I haven't tried snowboarding. I'm not great with cold, actually," David said, being the understatement of the year.

"Good point. Let's make a deal then. I go rock climbing with you if you go surfing with me," David said.

[charliemathers]

Did he just laugh at her? He laughed at her. She narrowed her eyes, but they moved on quickly in the conversation and she let it drop. She wasn't going to let that happen too many times. "I guess you wouldn't, but think of it this way. You are having a casual conversation with me now and let's say I end up in your office and something in what I've said now triggers something in an actual session, or whatever you call them. Now, everything I've said could potentially be used on me later," she ended all that with a quick nod of her head, like she'd just made the point of the year.

The prospect of having someone to go rock climbing and surfing with sounded awesome. She was more excited than she really cared to admit at the moment, but there was no use in acting ridiculous around him over all that. It wasn't worth it, because the poor man would probably back out, but there was always the fact that she just didn't give a damn.

"You've just made yourself a dangerous deal, David," she smiled, "I grew up with three brothers. I could always kick their asses." Pardon her French.

[green_psyd]

"My job and my relationships are bound to intersect. It's an issue I've been forced to focus on more intently," he said, seriously. "I know I'll make friends on the ship. I might even make close friends. But it's my responsibility to be neutral in a session. I'm not gathering ammo from casual conversations to use in therapy. Besides the way I run a counseling session is by asking questions. I'm not telling you what to do, what's right and wrong. And I would never use what you've said to me while we were conversing as something to prove or disprove something revealed to me in a counseling session. I probably wouldn't even recall the pertinent information. But it will be difficult when I start making friends on board." His face even showed the concern he had in this. He'd even considered not making any close friends. But being on a ship for five years without one person he could talk to in a casual environment was going to be impossible. For an extrovert, it was a death sentence. But perhaps he'd lay off on getting too close to anyone. (He would, of course, eat those thoughts when he met Gaila.)

"Mmm. I was one of those three brothers. I think I might be able to hold my own. Not that we ever said this was a competition," he added, with a smile.