People Repair Modules
People Repair Modules
Summary: Rhea seeks some professional advice from Eve.
Date: 22 ACH
Related Logs: Can't Stop Falling
Players:
Rhea..Eve..

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Psychiatry Office Genesis - Deck 13

22 ACH 6735 Souls


This room is decorated in a deep, rich green color. Some plants are in pots here, including one climbing Ivy on a small trellis which stretches up the side of a wooden bookcase set against one wall, filled with textbooks. There is a desk in front of a few file cabinets in the corner of the room farthest from the door, while opposite the bookshelves there is a comfortable looking leather reclining setee with a large leather chair next to it with an unobtrusive table nearby with a box of disposable tissues on it.

----< Condition Three - Duty Area >----—-
Contents: Rhea

Exits: [O] Out
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Eve comes in from Sickbay.
Eve has arrived.

Rhea has no appointment, but she comes knocking briskly on Eve's door anyhow. "Lieutenant Sloan?"

Eve glances up from a file, closing the cover of the manilla folder at the knock and immediately a warm smile is forming on her lips as she stands from her chair, "Major Zimmermann. Come in, please."

Rhea returns Eve's smile, though it doesn't quite touch her eyes. There's a tiredness about the ChEng. But, she keeps her manner brisk. "I didn't want to interrupt if you were with a patient. I was hoping I might have a word with you." She adds, "It's not a personal matter. At least, not directly. The most pressing bit is professional."

Eve gives a brief nod of her head, gaze quickly filtering over Rhea's features as if already looking for hints. "Of course. I'm free at the moment. Have a seat where ever you're comfortable." She offers, though a glance is given to the couch as a gentle suggestion. "Close the door if you like, so we won't be interrupted. Coffee?" She asks congenially, motioning to a coffee pot she was able to finagle out of general supply.

"Please," Rhea affirms, as to the coffee. She does close the door behind her, going over to stand behind Eve's setee. Arms leaned against the top of the couch. She doesn't sit, though. "One of my snipes is recovering in Sickbay currently. Petty Officer Mopsus Doe del Boccyo. Have you…spoken with her?" She tilts her head to regard the shrink. "I'm not prying. If you have, that's between the two of you. But I wanted to make certain something'd been done."

Eve pours a cup of coffee, as well as tops off the one she was previously drinking from. The white porcelein mug is gripped by the handle, offering it up to Rhea black, assuming the woman would have asked for it to be doctoring otherwise. "I need to wait until I get clearance from Zaharis. I can't interrupt her physical recovery, but I assure you, its a top priority."

Rhea lets out a breath. Relieved. More than she probably meant to show. "Good," she says simply, taking the coffee black. And drinking it as such. Her tongue is attuned to unaltered Navy swill. "She's been very distraught I…I didn't notice properly. Not like we all aren't distraught right now." She looks down at her coffee. Idly swirling it. It's a beat before she says, "Can I ask you for a bit of professional advice, Lieutenant?"

Eve's smile softens as she takes a perch on the edge of her desk, her coffee cup is dragged into her lap, resting the bottom of it on the meat of her thigh. "Of course. I'd be happy to help if I'm able."

"How do you…fix it?" Rhea asks. After a pause. As if she's struggling to put foreign terms into things she's familiar with. "People." She smirks, realizing how that sounds. "I don't mean prying open their heads with a wrench or anything. But…how do you approach it. Everyone's going through so much. My snipes, my friends, my son…" She trails off for a moment at that last. Clearing her throat. "…I want to help them. I want to…fix them, in whatever little way I can. But I've never been good at that kind of thing."

Eve raises her free hand, the other still balancing the coffee cup. She starts rubbing at her bottom lip with the curve of her forefinger, contemplating how to answer such a question. "You listen. Through all the tears and the rage, and the ranting, because eventually they'll take a deep breath, and that's when you talk. You give them hope, you help them find their purpose. This isn't an end, this is a beginning. Comfort can be found in a joke shared, a hug given.." She smiles a bit, adding. "Or a cup of coffee."

"Yeah, maybe…" Rhea murmurs, holding her coffee cup between her hands. As if absorbing the warmth of it. "I've just never been good at sitting there. My life's sort of built around active repair. Something catches on fire, you don't just give it a pat and let it burn. And Reece, my son…when I had him, I told myself if I succeeded at anything as a mother, it was going to be making him feel safe. How the frak do I do that now? He's just a boy, and his whole world is gone. His father is almost certainly dead…" She looks down at her coffee for another beat. "…there has to be more to it than just listening."

Eve shifts slightly, lending more of her weight to the desk by turning sideways a bit. One foot lifts off the floor, and Eve shifts the cup of coffee to her lip, taking a sip that has the corners of her eyes wrinkling. "The truth is, Rhea, no one we know has ever had to go through anything of this magnitude. At this point, we're making it up as we go along. There's not a lot of safety to be found, or security. But your son has you, and you're as strong a woman as I've ever seen. You can't make promises at a time like this, but what you can do, is try your best. Give him a routine, build him a new world. Get him wrapped up in the future, and the ache of the past will subside. By listening, you let them know that they aren't alone. Share your tears with him, but don't coddle him. Its going to be tough. There is no bandaid we can put on this, no miracle cure, I'm afraid. Its going to take time, compassion, and understanding."

"Strong. Yeah," Rhea mutters with a snort. She seems dissatisfied with Eve's advice. She probably came here for something more along the lines of a People Repair Module. "I'm trying to spend as much time with him as I can. Give him things he can do to be productive. Things he can control. I'm luckier than most. I understand that." Or she keeps telling herself that, anyway. "So many mothers don't have their children anymore…I can't even imagine. It'd absolutely destroy me if something happened to Reece."

Rhea wouldn't be the first Evelyn has failed at giving proper advice, this isn't something they necessarily train you for at medical school. Evelyn's thesis was on multiple personality disorder, not the reprocussions of near human extinction. But still that comforting smile never leaves Evelyn's lips, "There are a lot of uncertainties to life, the trick is not to dwell on the what if's or they'll consume you. You're as strong as you want to be, Rhea. You wouldn't be the officer you are now, if there weren't some truth to me calling you that. But make sure you take some time to be weak, too. There is no shame in feeling the weight of loss. You have your friends, take some solace with them as well."

"I know," Rhea says softly, when Eve mentions her friendships. "I've had more luck in that area than I probably deserve. I just…so much has been dumped on everyone right now. I don't want to add to make anything messier for anyone." She looks down. Sipping at her coffee before speaking again. And switching gears abruptly. "I never saw myself having kids, you know. Or a family at all, for that matter. My marriage…it just kind of happened. Then the kid happened. And…it was the only thing I ever built in my life that meant anything. I just…I wish I'd taken better care of it."

Eve curves both hands around the coffee cup, craddling it in her lap as she quietly but unobtrusively studies Rhea's face, noting the change in subject but doesn't comment on the switch, of course. Instead she rolls with the direction Rhea's mind wants to take. "How do you feel you've failed in that regard?" Uh oh. She's asking questions now.

Rhea's face is strained and tired, but she manages to keep a leash on it other than that. Her eyes stay focused on her coffee, though. She doesn't seem to notice Eve's probing. Sneaky shrink. "I suppose it's no worse than how we make little messes every dya in our personal lives. Everything's just brought it to mind, now. Ephraim and I…" Her husband, presumably. "…we weren't perfect people. We loved each other. We really did. But…you're with someone for thirteen years, you learn how to push their buttons where they're most sensitive. I just…I wish I'd been kinder to him. I wish I could go back and re-do every decision that was about my career instead of him. I wish I'd spent less time fighting about stupid, petty shit. I wish I hadn't fantasized about other men. I wish I'd been less selfish. It's nothing every person who's been in a relationship deeper than a high school crush doesn't wish but…" She trails off, shrugging.

Eve eyes lift up to try and find Rhea's gaze. "And how do you think life would have differed, were all your decisions different?" Surely there's a connection with Rhea's focus on work, and the fact that she and her son were fortunate enough to make it onto the list of survivors instead of the unknowns.

"I don't know," Rhea replies, honestly. "Maybe I'd be dead and Reece, too? Is that what you're getting at. Maybe. But I would've had more time with the things that actually mattered to me." She sighs. "I was going to go back to Picon, you know. After Ephraim's tour with the Perseus was up this year. Get a teaching position at Fleet Headquarters. Go to the spawn's Pyramid games. Wake up in the same bed with my husband every morning…" She sounds wistful about it. "…it wasn't a compromise I was making. I did that once. Martyred myself for my marriage. That was the only thing that *really* almost wrecked us. Well, I learn from my mistakes, at least. It wasn't something I was doing *for* him. It was what I wanted. It just took me ages to figure that out. I just got smart and now…" She shrugs.

Eve's face almost cracks for a moment, almost giving in the urge to be /human/ instead of clinical. Its there, just in the slight frown of her lips, that she crawled into the memory with Rhea instead of holding herself back objectively. Evelyn has to clear her throat before she can continue. "Its an adjustment. An abrupt one. But I'm confident you can see through this. I'm not here to tell you what you need to here, that's what your friends are for. I'm here to make you realize the reality of the situation, and that you're able to cope. We'll find a way through all this. Together. And I'll be happy to speak with you, whenever you wish. Nothing said to me passes these walls."

Rhea blinks. As if she just realized she got on the subject of her personal life. She frowns. Downing the rest of her coffee in a gulp. "Like I said, Doctor, this wasn't a personal call. I was worried about my snipe. You've got that handled. I wanted to know if I was doing right by my son. I guess there's not much more I can do. As for the rest…well. We don't have much choice but to go on, do we? Anyway. Thanks for the coffee." She sets the empty cup down. "I should leave you to your real work."

Eve shifts to her feet, "Anytime. Its better than the swill down in the mess hall. Feel free to come in an nab a cup whenever you like." A brief pause, "One favor, before you leave, if you'd oblige, Major?" A shift back to rank instead of name.

"I'll…think about it," Rhea says, after some consideration. As to raiding the shrink's coffee again in the future. "Thanks. And shoot, Lieutenant. I'll try and oblige you back."

Maybe coffee is a metaphor. Evelyn is sneaky like that. "I couldn't help but notice your book collection on your bunk one day when the curtain was open…"

Rhea grins at that, a crooked, rather wicked little smirk. "I'm going to assume you don't want to borrow my copy of Modern Hyperlight Theory. I'll share. Just wipe them down when you're done." It's hard to tell if she's joking or not. "What's your poison? 'Tides of Love'? Or maybe 'The Unmasking of Lady Loveless'? Classic trash."

Eve's smile shifts into a bit of a lopsided smirk, setting aside the coffee cup. "I'll trade you 'Apollo's Mistress' for any random one. Doesn't matter. Its a little slow at first, but eventually there is less dialouge."

Rhea winks. "I don't know why half those things bother with dialogue. I sure as hell don't read them for the nail-biting plots. I'll dig you up something special and leave it on your bunk."

Eve smiles. "Thank you, Major." Is said quietly, without a hint of blush on her cheeks as she moves around her desk to retake her seat behind it.

Rhea laughs. "It gets lonely out in the black, Lieutenant. Trashy books are *far* less messy than the alternatives." With that, she exits.

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