Posted by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) in Skeletons in the Family Closet (Tag Juliet)

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Skeletons in the Family Closet (Tag Juliet)

Posted by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) in Skeletons in the Family Closet (Tag Juliet)
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Casela, finally, leaned back against the bulk head, a relaxed posture, and crossed her arms across her chest, a defensive one. “I’m not worried about you saying anything. Either you will or you won’t, and I’ll deal with the consequences of either.” If Juliet was a plant it didn’t matter what information she got from Casela. She already had it or her superiors did. Casela had one of two paths to take, but the decision could not be made until she knew why Juliet was there. “Let’s get to the heart of the matter. Who sent you? And were you sent to break me or to kill me?” And deep down she wondered, but did not dare to hope, have the gods seen fit to return you to me. Have I finally paid penance for the deeds I have done? Though the thought was deeply hidden, Juliet would still feel the slight surge of optimism and hope against her questions.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

As Cas took a defensive posture, Juliet stiffened. She was in her own quarters, so she had weapons within easy reach. The question was, what did Cas have on herself that she could reach faster. When the woman proclaimed she didn’t care one way or another what Juliet did with the information, she thought the statement would be finished with because you aren’t gonna be in any shape to tell anyone. But then something shifted. Shifted in both tone, and miniscule posture tells in the woman across from her.

Casela had been living in a world of constant combat and she recognized the look of a person who was comfortable in their surroundings but wary of their opponent. Casela always had a weapon, even when she didn’t need it. It was past habit at this point, it was instinct. But she had no intention of physically arguing with Juliet.

And Cas asked if Juliet was there to break or kill her.

The reaction was so immediate, she couldn’t stop it. Sheer surprise and a stunned look filled Juliet’s features before she could school them quickly enough. Cas thought she was a plant. Was it a ploy? A way to get her to admit something cause she had been caught so off guard? Trouble was, she wasn’t either. So the question got a completely different reaction.

Juliet broke into laughter.

“Wait… you thought I was brought here to kill you? Why would I do that? You are on a ship that’s more highly guarded than anything I’ve ever seen. I’m here cause I’ve been booted to the ass end of the universe to a ship of hardasses who are waiting for me to screw up again so I can be sent to retirement without provocation. If anything, I’d think you had the scoop to watch me for instability or my first misstep in judgement and send me packing.” She shook her head and sighed. “I’m not here to kill you, or break you. I’m here to mess up cause I’m in an impossible situation.” She shrugged unable to think of anything else to add.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?” Casela wasn’t going to make guesses and ‘confirm’ whatever crime Juliet’s ‘boss’ gave her if that was the case. But it was Casela’s turn to laugh. “We all, here on this crew, are in an impossible situation. Why don’t you take a look at our roster, look at the history of each of the crew, as far as your clearances can give you. We’re all here to be thrown away because we pissed off the wrong person. But we’ve made it despite others’ expectations. Either your story is true and you have a friend somewhere. Meaning they thought you deserved a second change, but could only do so much, so they sent you to this ship of misfits. Or you’re a plant with an excellent back stopping, and we, the crew, have a much bigger problem.”

She had been told one more screw up and she was gone. When she got here, and glanced at the roster, she had two impressions. One was that she was sent to the most regimented ship in the far flung reaches of space, with no way out, because it meant she would do something horribly wrong in her first week. Or that this was the place screw ups were sent to be ‘forgotten’ as fodder. Used because they had to go ‘somewhere’, but not mourned if they were lost.

Juliet
(lost and on the edge)

“So I see this going two ways. You can either make the best of the team you’ve been given, or continue to be paranoid.” It was something that Uncle Jo’nar was fond of saying.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Too much of what the woman said was making sense. And that almost irritated Juliet more than the unknown. Was that all that had happened? Someone had sent her here to get her ‘off’ the radar and grant her a second chance to become someone the Fleet wanted and needed again? It didn’t make sense… yet it did.

As Casela asked if she was going to make the most of it or continue to be paranoid, Jewels crossed her arms and rocked to set one hip off center. “I don’t know. Are you gonna stop being paranoid?” She knew that if they truly were who they said they were. And there were here for the reasons Cas said, neither was going to stop being paranoid. But at least it would cease to be between the two of them. “No point in me saying I’m all good if you are still gonna keep worrying if the knife in my pocket is aimed at your back.” The last was said almost with a hint a sadness, that was swiftly erased from her face. She desperately wanted the nightmare of being alone to be over. But she wasn’t sure she knew what to do if it was.

Juliet
Errr? Lost.... still?

Casela grinned, “Totally stop? Nope, a little paranoia in our lines of work will save your life. But I’m learning, Juliet, that there are people worth trying for. And if there was ever anyone in my life I would try my hardest for, it’s my Sorellina.” She dropped her hands to her side and shrugged, palms open, “The knife in my boot doesn’t have your name on it.” She glanced sadly at the medical log on the screen. So many wounds, so many Knives that made them. “Knives to my back to scare me.” It’s the ones I should see coming, but don’t, that do. “I want that chance, but I won’t force it on you.”
Lt Synthi-er CNS

Juliet just took a moment to stare at Cas. Her thoughts were open and clear, she truly missed and cared for Juliet and that was plain in her thoughts. So was the fact she didn’t want harm to come to her cousin. But Juliet had lived life so long closed and scared and then completely shut off, she wasn’t sure how to just open up and let the woman in.

“Then I guess we are square there. I don’t have your name on mine, either.” It was said almost dead blank with no expression. If Cas searched, she would see, and hear the litany in Juliet’s head about finally finding family and on the brink of losing it again if she blew this. “I’m not gonna throw myself into your arms if that’s what you are looking for. My emotions were spent out and lost long ago. So unless I’m raging in a fight, I doubt there is much emotion left for anyone. But I believe you are my cousin and the one I remember from my childhood. I don’t know how we ended up here. And I can’t promise it’s gonna be any easier than being apart all this time.” She shook her head, a mental collapse of her anxiety almost audible in the room. “But I’ll try. I can’t do any better than that.” She hadn’t moved towards Cas though a small voice in the back of her head was trying to coax her to do it. But like she had said out loud… she wasn’t even capable of it anymore.

Juliet
…. here....

Casela nodded. “I wouldn’t expect you to, even if you felt you could.” And Juliet would hear the thoughts, I didn’t mean to, but I abandoned you, I don’t deserve your affection, even if you were willing to give it. I tried…I tried to find you, but I failed. She would also notice that her mental voice was too loud, painful, even to another telepath, but also that Casela was not intending it to be so. Casela glanced at the pictures of her arrival on Centurion, “There isn’t much of me left after that anyway.” Casela didn’t make any attempt to hide or shield her thoughts, not from Juliet, not from her, not after all this time. You won’t blow it, I’ll be here no matter what, or at least what is left of me. Casela wanted to make that step for her and for herself, but that wasn’t necessarily the right thing. She wasn’t sure what was the right thing. And a very confusing though would cross her mind, I hate this ship, it offers so much hope, but always out of reach…maybe, maybe this is just another trick of The Doctor, maybe it isn’t real. But she shook her head, the thought gone in an instant. She needed to get her mind focused and clear. Now was not the time to waiver. She was here, Juliet was here, and she was going to fight for it.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Juliet winced slightly, inwardly. Outwards, Cas may see the slight stiffening at the mental thoughts, but only if she looked. “I guess we both just have to accept this isn’t a joke or con and we need to make it work. You didn’t abandon me. They screwed up.” Her own mental thoughts would flit lightly over the name misspelling, the moving of her from home to home so quick and back to back at the beginning and the ineffectiveness of the Fleet to maintain such a simple thing as the motion of a single child.

She finally relaxed and moved to the computer to turn it off. “We will get thru this. I don’t know how. But I am sure we will.” She smiled, though it wasn’t quite her usual self. “We’re too stubborn not to, right? Besides, isn’t the best way to show them all we aren’t going to be controlled, to actually make this work, anyway?” It made sense in her head. If they were both plants to undermine the other, what better way than to not do it at all?

Juliet
Sec/RTF

Cas laughed, but there was no humor in it and a lot of self loathing and anger at them. “That’s why they sent me here, I never do what they want me to.” Cas wasn’t sure where to go from there. She’d wanted to clear the air, make sure Juliet knew she wasn’t there for her. That she was Casela, her cousin, her family. She didn’t have any doubts about Juliet. For her, for Juliet, she’d risked using her telepathy, so she would know, she could move past the ingrained, instinctual distrust. And now she was paying the price. The migraine was fast and immediate and powerful. If she hadn’t already been leaning against the bulkhead she’d probably be on the floor. The doctor told her it would take awhile for her brain to heal after Hampton’s little surprise, and she needed to behave herself.

Speaking of the doctors. “So, I don’t want you to think I’m avoiding you the next couple of weeks. I’m going to be on medical leave, so I won’t be around so much.”
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Force of habit from training, or perhaps years of growing up together, meant Juliet was still in Cas’ mind when the pain hit. Or own skull exploded a moment before she closed the link and instinctively took the couple strides to her cousin’s side. “CAS!” The word was full of concern, love and a tinge of helplessness.

Casela placed her hands on Juliet’s arms for only a moment, orienting herself from the dizziness and fuzzy vision.

It wasn’t till her hands were on the woman’s shoulders that she realized what she was doing. More shocked at herself than anything, she quickly let go as Cas spoke. “What’s wrong?”

The words were asked in a tone that beseeched more than merely the rhetoric she’d tell her other crewmates. This query held a desire to know the real reason… the underlying reason.

Juliet
Nope… still don’t like you
Lol

Casela wasn’t sure which ‘what’ she was talking about. “A few months ago I shattered a rib. The treatment I was given…has had some adverse side effects. It’s made me anemic and I’m showing signs of rejection.” There was a feeling of hesitation and resignation accompanied with the words. If it was the headache she was wondering about she’d have to ask directly, not because Casela was with holding but she’d assumed she’d asked about the medical leave.
Casela
I’ll wait till you do