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Girl Talk (Alex/Maya)
Topic Started: Jun 2 2011, 03:33 PM (320 Views)
Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
:: USS Renaissance ::
:: Day before Freighter departure ::

Preparations now well underway for the Renaissance to depart, and after ensuring her own department was as ready as it possibly could be, Alex found herself in her office eating chinese food and unable to concentrate on anything. Pushing away her plate she sighed, contemplating a visit to the gym before realising that she needed to talk. She needed advice.

Less than five minutes later she was outside of Maya's office, pressing the door chime. When she heard a familiar voice call out 'enter' she moved inside, "hey. I know you must be crazy busy... but do you have a minute?"

<tag Maya >
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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
Maya was methodically organizing her patients prescriptions and treatment notes so that they could be easily passed over to Doctor O'Connor.

She suspected that many amongst the crew would enjoy being free of their regularly scheduled appointments with the Counselor. However, it was now on the Chief Medical Officer to make sure all the lunatics were taking their pills.

When the door chimed, she half worried that he was on his way to bother her, but fortunately it was Alex.

"More than a minute, how's fifteen?" The Counselor replied, turning in her chair towards Alex and indicating toward the house. "Might be the last time we have to catch up for a while."

After Alex had taken a seat, Maya forced herself to put down what she was working on and focus on the scientist. "What's the matter?"
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Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
Naturally uncomfortable in the office, Alex tried to focus on the reason she was here. And besides, she reminded herself, she was here to talk to a friend more than to seek Maya's professional opinion.

"A couple of things," she answered, trying to decide where to begin. Her brow furrowed into a frown, and she sighed. "I guess I should do the professional part first. Ensign Millam. He got a little out of hand the other night."

<tag>

"Nothing too bad, he was drunk mostly," Alex said with a dismissive shrug, "and Scott appeared before it got out of hand. But it has to stop. A few of my staff have complained and nothing really seems to be getting through to him. And i'm guessing violence isn't a good strategy to change behaviours."

<tag >

Alex shrugged, "I'll leave it up to you and the doc, then. But the airlock would be my preferred choice, for the record."

<tag>

"The other thing," Alex began slowly, as Maya reminded her that she was here for more than one thing. "I need your advice. As a friend only. About our XO..."

<tag>
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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
"It appears that one problem is connected to the other," Dr. Takagi mused after a moment. "I have voiced my concerns to the XO about the serving of alcohol on a starship, when we should be providing synthehol with none of the detriments that would heighten anti-social behavior."

She shrugged. "That is not an excuse for the Ensign's behavior, simply an explanation for how our vessel may be failing in its intended purpose," Maya continued.

It wasn't correct to consider male aggression to be solely a "human" problem - it was a trait in many species across the galaxy - but Maya felt strongly that such antiquated and aggressive attitudes were unfitting of a Starfleet officer. Millman certainly had gotten enough chances - and if agreed to work things out in therapy, perhaps he could improve.

"Unfortunately, I won't be around to schedule time with the Ensign and discover if he is willing to work on changing his behavior," Maya told Alex. "And you can blame both Miko and Scott for assigning me away from my duties here."

"I'm not interested in leaving you in a hostile work environment, Alex," she explained, "So my official recommendation to Commander Freeman is to restrict Ensign Millman to quarters pending a review of his behavior. We can't court martial him without an investigation, we can't reassign him immediately as there is no Starbase in sight, and I'm unable to start working on solving the problem."

As she spoke, she typed in the recommendation and sent it to Freeman, noting with the Chief of Security, Commanding Officer, and Chief Counselor off-ship she also strongly recommended banning the use of non-synthetic alcohol.

With that out of the way, she sat forward and smiled at Alex. "Ok then, the other matter. You seem to have a record of attracting the wrong type of man. What makes you think the XO is any different?"
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Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
"That is exactly the problem," Alex sighed, leaning back in her chair. Trying to sort out what she wanted, and needed to say, in her own mind first. "I don't know what this is... and I'm not sure he does either."

She frowned, "I know this could go so completely and horribly wrong. For us both. And yeah, my record is almost as bad as his list of conquests. But that doesn't matter. Not really. But I am bad at this, relationships and me do not mix, or when they do it is with people I shouldn't be involved with or they turn into insane murderers..."

She stopped, sighed dramatically and added, "maybe I should just give up and live a life of solitude?"

<tag>
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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
"My professional opinion, as per our initial interview, is that you have a self defeating attitude about relationships. You'll continue to sabotage your own life until you overcome those prior traumas," Maya explained.

"But since you asked me as a friend," she continued, with a pause, "... I'll give you my honest opinion. As much as I find your attraction to him somewhat... disturbing, I don't think you should fight it."

"Instead of running away, why not take control of the situation and thus control of the relationship? You might think you're the one with all the problems, but you're not. You have more experience in relationships. I suspect that you can fix him more than he can you."

"Mr. Freeman claims not to care about anything, particularly when it comes to his career, but he's full of it. He has a knack for getting what he wants. If you resist him and try and push him away, eventually you'll slip up, fall into his arms, and he'll have you... on his terms."

It was not a particularly kind assessment of Scott's character, but Maya fully suspected that, even with the best of intentions, Scott was enjoying the melodrama of his relationship with the young Science Officer. Maya recognized that pairing these two up could be a pragmatic solution to their respective personal flaws.

"I suspect that things will go better for you if you set the terms of the relationship yourself."
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Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
While Maya spoke, Alex listened in silence. She was lost when it came to relationships and she did, honestly, both want and need her friends opinion. When Maya referred to her attraction to Scott as disturbing she raised an eyebrow, not entirely sure what to make of the comment. When the counselor was finished, she frowned.

"So, regardless, I should just let this play out," she asked, sounding a little unsure. "Since it would probably happen anyway?"

Before Maya could answer, Alex added, "but if his career is still important to him... which, lets be honest, none of us would be here if it wasn't... then why even start something? It's hardly gonna be something that looks good, is it?"



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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
"Things seem to work out okay for Scott. If getting shot in the brain didn't end his career, somehow I doubt you will," Maya replied, "My assessment is that Scott will go far in Starfleet, despite the fact that he thinks he's some kind of rebel. Recent promotions seem to confirm this, wouldn't you say?"

Unlike some of the other officers on the Renaissance, Maya had faith in Freeman's abilities as a Starfleet officer and leader. As for his off-duty antic, She hoped that his rebellious streak would eventually come to an end. The Federation could use a mind like his if put towards the greater good - Maya considered it part of her duty to get him there, and she suspected that if they came to understand each other well, they would be working together for quite some time. Alex could likely play a stabilizing role in Scott's life, and in fact would be making the Counselor's job just a little bit easier.

"So you'll benefit from being attached to a rising star, and he will benefit by hopefully thinking twice before jumping in front of the next Xindi phaser blast," she explained. "Or throwing a raucous party that will look worse on your record than his."

"On the other hand, if you're worried about what your fellow crew members think, half of them are in vaguely inappropriate relationships so they have no right to judge... and as for the rest of us," she paused, considering her words briefly, "It's not really any of our business, is it?"
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Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
At the comment, Alex grinned, shaking her head. Knowing she had said something similiar to their first officer when he was worrying about her, about her career and her reputation. But that was the last thing she worried about. She knew she could carve a life for herself outside of Starfleet, although she hoped it would never come to that.

"I dreamt about Mark last night," she confessed suddenly, brow furrowing in concentration as she tried to recall the dream. "I guess because Millam grabbed me like that, it must have made me think about him without really realising it but it was really weird..."

"We were on a beach and he just kept saying over and over again that he was sorry for all the things he had ever done, but that it wasn't him. That night. And then we were there. In that street. Both of us. But the face under the hood belonged to someone else, someone I didn't know -"

She stopped abruptly, flashing Maya an apologetic smile. "I guess it bothered me more than I thought. Probably just my imagination mixed up with everything that's happening. Wanting him to be the hero and not the villan."

Or maybe I'm just not ready to have my heart broken again, she thought inwardly.

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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
The Counselor listened to Alex visualizing her dream. "A very painful thing happened to you, but you're allowing yourself to be owned by it," Maya stated. "It's no way to live your life, but I recognize that you're having difficulty moving beyond it."

After a moment she wrote something down and handed it to Alex. "This is a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication. Nothing strong. It'll help you sleep better. Make sure to check with O'Connor if there are any side effects."

"I don't place the same emphasis on romantic relationships as you do. Thus, I'm not exactly a fountain of advice here," Maya replied, "More so, I can't fathom being in the situations that you've gotten yourself into up to this point... as I'm naturally granted awareness of what lies inside the inner thoughts and emotions of others. If someone puts their hands on me, it's because I allow them to. If I want someone, I'll go after them. I don't always get them, but I can't regret that I didn't try."

She shrugged. "At the very least, I can help you figure out how to better read people, to see what their true intentions are," she explained, "In the case of Commander Freeman, I've told you what I think."

"Setting proper boundaries, sticking up for yourself, and going after what you want - that's all going to be up to you."

"You're an attractive woman, Alex. Males of all species are going to be chasing after you until you're well into your 60s and your body starts to fall apart. Unless you want to be dealing with this for another thirty years, you better start figuring it out," Maya stated.

"Or start dating women," she added, with an inviting smile. "I hear the Captain is available again."
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Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
"Can I say no comment on that one?" Alex replied, grinning as she shook her head. She had spent barely any time around their commanding officer, but enough time to know she was better for it. "And I think our captain proves that women can be so much more work than men. And I definately prove it!"

She glanced at the prescription for a brief second before handing it back, "I'd rather not. Been down that road before. But if I need to, I'll stop by and see Dr O'Connor. I promise."



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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
"Very well," Maya replied, making note of the recommendation. "But if I come back in a few weeks and you're still going on about the same problems, I am going to take more extreme measures."

It wasn't entirely clear if she was kidding or not. "Until then, good luck," she concluded, smiling warmly. "I suspect you'll need some."

"Unless there's anything else that's troubling you... I suppose that's all."
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Alex McDonald
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Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences
"No, that was everything. Thanks for listening..." Alex began as she climbed to her feet. "Just make sure that you take care and are back here in a few weeks, okay? This mission, whatever it throws at you all, just stay safe."

She still wondered what Starfleet Command was thinking, and doubted she'd ever know the reasoning behind it. Splitting up the senior staff, sending one half off on a freighter that looked barely capable of holding together long enough to reach the station and the other half being sent into hostile territory before the ship was even properly repaired...

She pushed the thought away. Someone, somewhere, had thought it a perfect plan. Though what the plan was set out to accomplish might be another matter. Because divided, the crew of the Renaissance was undoubtedly more vulnerable.

And at the end of the day she considered Maya a friend. One of the few people on board she could imagine being friends with. Even though the counsellor knew more about the science officer than she knew of the counsellor.

"Wont be the same around here without you all," she added.


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Maya Takagi
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Chief Counselor
Lieutenant, Counseling
"At the very least, you seem to have grown comfortable and accepted the fact that you are here... and this is your home for the time being," Maya replied, "I, on the other hand, am still looking for a way out."

The Counselor started to gather up her things. "So if by some stroke of fortune I don't come back, don't hold it against me," she added. "Not that I wouldn't miss you."
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