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Side-sim: Tea, scones and obsessions

Posted March 20, 2023, 8:49 p.m. by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Scientist) in Side-sim: Tea, scones and obsessions

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side-sim: Tea, scones and obsessions

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Scientist) in Side-sim: Tea, scones and obsessions
Posted by… suppressed (24) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Achilleas had finished checking in with his department head and while he felt he handled himself well, the whole experience left him frustrated. So in the hopes of clearing his mind and making amends to Solal in a way, he found himself searching him out while carrying a little basket of goodies. His first stop was going to be Solal’s quarters since he stayed in a lot with his deteriorating health. If he didn’t find him in his quarters then he’ll locate him using the computer since he wasn’t going to go on a wild goose chase. So with a spring to his step he finished walking to Solal’s quarters and pressed the chime.

Sci Petrakos

Solal was there, and simply pressed the button for the door to open without getting out of bed. It was either Bonner, V’alura, or Achilleas, and he wasn’t particularly worried about any of those three seeing him this way. Achilleas had already been there during an episode of breathing trouble, Bonner was his doctor, and V’alura knew how sick he was because she was too.

When Achilleas entered, Solal’s quarters were just as messy as they’d been the day before, except instead of being wadded in the corner, the wrinkled blankets were pulled up over him, his head rested against a pillow. When he saw it was Achilleas at the door, he waved him inside and then plopped his head back into the pillow. The lights were dimmed and he wasn’t looking at anything on his PaDD, though the device sat next to him, screen off. He looked exhausted, pale, and sickly. He peeked up one more time and looked at Achilleas, spotting a basket in his friend’s hand. His voice soft and tired, he said, “What did you bring?”

~ Solal

Achilleas cheerfully lifted the basket as if to show it off. “I brought tea and honey flavored scones. Freshly made and still very warm. It should be easy on your stomach.” His voice was a little concerned for the next part of his statement. “I noticed you didn’t eat a lot last time we had a meal together so I’m hoping this goes in a little easier. Did you want to try some from bed or would you rather sit at the table?”

Sci Petrakos

Solal took a deep, tired breath. “Kidney issues cause nausea, lack of appetite.” He sat up, slowly, and then waited a moment on the edge of his bed. Then he stood carefully and moved to the table and sat down. “What kind of tea?”

~ Solal

“A nice ginseng oolong. Both good for the stomach and a restorative for the body.” Achilleas said as he likewise moved to the table and set the basket down. He then went into the kitchen to grab a couple of plates, cups, and butter knives before returning. He opened the basket with a flourish then pulled out a big thermos, individually wrapped scones, and a dish with sweet cream to put on the scones. He poured the tea into the cups then looked to Solal. “Do you want your scone plain or would you like some cream on it?”

Sci Petrakos

“I’ll take some cream,” Solal said, not wanting to be rude. He took a sip of the tea. It was good, if a little strong. He set out the two plates for Achilleas. “What made you decide to bring scones?”

~ Solal

“Well I have fond memories as a child of my grandmother making scones for the family on the occasional weekend. One summer I was particularly sick, though not bad enough to need medical intervention, and I remember her bringing me a scone and some tea and it just made me feel a bit better. I was hoping that my doing this for you would let you feel a little better too.” Achilleas said as he cut two of the scones and applied a light layer of cream, one for his plate and one for Solal’s.

Sci Petrakos

There was a slight smile on Solal’s face he was trying to hide. “My parents would make… A breaded pastry with chocolate in the middle. It was an old family recipe. They’d pretend it would cure anything.” He commented as he took a bite of the scone.

~ Solal

Achilleas chuckled. “Good food and especially chocolate can most certainly cure anything, though I’m not a doctor so don’t use what I say for medical advice.” He took a hefty bite of his scone and then a sip of the tea. “So… my meeting with Kane was interesting.” He began the conversation that they would inevitably come to. “I was so confused by what exactly he wanted from me. He was going on and on about what I brought to the table and when I answered with my list of expertise he told me to pull the stick out of my backside and tell him why I was in Starfleet. What a confusing man.”

Sci Petrakos

“What a most illogical question.” Solal commented, expression puzzled. “You are a scientist. A good and talented one. Is that not what you ‘bring to the table’?” Solal being raised on Earth, knew the saying and what people meant when they said one had a stick there and that puzzled Solal as well. Achilleas had been quite a fair department head, Solal thought. A logical one. Or as logical as you could expect from the typical human. Not like Doctor Bonner. “What does your reason for joining have to do with your ability to work, I wonder?” He shook his head, “One cannot always apply logic to intensely illogical people. So, are you able to return to work?”

~ Solal

“Uh, not quite yet.” Achilleas said with a slightly embarrassed expression that he covered up with another sip of tea. “I still need to finish my boarding psych eval and Kane wants me to write up six experiments that I want to run with full procedures and controls in place. The write-ups I can do easily enough but the psych eval has given me pause. I mean I was fully cleared before coming back to the Ogawa but protocol is protocol I guess.”

Sci Petrakos

“Get it over with,” said Solal, not recognizing the hypocrisy in that statement. “You were already cleared once, you will be again.” He shrugged and took another bite of his scone. It was about half gone. “Then you can work again.” He took a drink of the tea and then yawned a big yawn. “Boarding evals are fairly basic anyway.”

~ Solal

“Yes but…” Achilleas mulled over his next words carefully. The full extent of his mania wasn’t known to many. He certainly hadn’t divulged everything about it to Solal, it was mostly the ‘expected stuff’ that would keep one isolated for about a year. There was some very dark moments where he wondered if he was ever going to be ‘normal’ again. “I don’t feel like this boarding eval will be in any way routine. My profile has surely been updated before my transfer back and whoever does my eval is most likely going to have some very uncomfortable questions. I just wanted a little more time to adjust before delving back into it.” He looked down and spoke quieter. “I’m afraid of what might happen if they learn I attacked you. Maybe getting sent back to Earth would be better so I can’t do that again.”

Sci Petrakos

“Then don’t tell them,” said Solal as if that were the most logical answer in the world. He shrugged, “I’m not scared of it happening again. I could’ve defended myself easily. I just… didn’t want to accidentally hurt you in the process.” Suddenly he was staring at his plate. He didn’t want Achilleas to be sent away again. “It will go fine.” Maybe he had to believe that.

~ Solal

Achilleas looked at Solal with a wry smile. “I wasn’t going to just tell them but sometimes when they go digging and wheedling for answers it can be hard to obfuscate things.” He snorted lightly at Solal’s remark of defending himself. Maybe he was a bit stronger with being half-Vulcan but also being pinned on the ground and off-guard would make the outcome less sure. He looked over as Solal looked down both physically and emotionally. A desire to comfort grew in his chest so he slid closer and wrapped an arm around Solal’s shoulder. “You’re right. I’m sure it will go fine.” He said quietly in response.

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded. Counselors had an irritating ability to pick apart what one said. There was only one Solal had ever liked verbally sparring with. Otherwise he avoided them. He glanced at Achilleas when he snorted. He had gone very easy on Achilleas when Achilleas attacked him. The attack had been his fault. Achilleas didn’t deserve to be hurt over that, and Solal was already all too aware of what his full strength could do to a human. He glanced at Achilleas, “It is your check in. Should it not be I comforting you?”

~ Solal

“This comforts me.” Achilleas said as he maintained the side hug with Solal. “Though you’re not a counselor it still helps to talk about my worries and concerns with you. If nothing else I can get them off my chest to someone I trust and every once in awhile you have sound advice. I hope you don’t mind that you’ve kind of become my emotional support. As ironic as that sounds, haha!”

Sci Petrakos

“Then I hope you will continue to do so and I will continue to fulfill that role for you.” Solal replied, letting Achilleas continue the side hug. His parents would be proud someone saw him that way, as an emotional support. He’d never really been that close to anyone. He looked down at his food. About half of a cup of tea remained and half of his scone. But he wasn’t sure he could make himself eat anymore. “I feel nauseous.” He commented, not wanting Achilleas to think he hadn’t liked it.

~ Solal

Achilleas smiled at Solal’s kind of promise to continue being support for him. He didn’t think that relying on him was a bit of dependency and likely unhealthy for both of them, but just a sweet gesture of a friend being willing to help. At the comment of being nauseous he grew concerned but tried not to show it. “Do you need to lie back down? Should I call Dr Bonner and have her check on you? Can medical not give you anything to help with the nausea?”

Sci Petrakos

Solal shook his head, “I don’t need Doctor Bonner. I could ask for some dimenhydrinate, but I didn’t want to bother medical with unnecessary requests. I’ll be fine. I just need to wait for it to pass.” Hopefully this time it wouldn’t take too long. He didn’t want to lay down yet. He’d barely gotten up and only because Achilleas had come.

~ Solal

Achilleas narrowed his eyes at what he perceived to be a flimsy excuse. “You didn’t want to bother medical with unnecessary requests? How many calories have you ingested since I was here the day before yesterday? You need to keep your body well supplied with energy to keep its normal functions going. You’re going to waste away to nothing if you have no appetite or desire to eat.”

Sci Petrakos

“You sound like a mom.” Solal said, not answering the question of how much he’d eaten since the last time Achilleas was here. “Medical is very busy. I can’t go complaining about everything when I’m sick enough there is always something wrong.” In fact right now there were two somethings wrong, ignoring the inability to sleep and lack of energy: the nausea and a headache, the reason he had the lights dimmed.

~ Solal

“You are much too old to be my son.” Achilleas joked but caught on to the evasion of his question. “But you clearly need someone to fill a similar role. If you’re not going to bug Medical then I will on your behalf. I don’t care if they’re busy. You are a patient and as such it’s not complaining when you don’t feel well. You’re not psychosomatic, there really is something wrong with your body. This isn’t being needy or being a nuisance. You need to have something to feel better so that you can optimally maintain your health. It’s simply illogical to not manage your nausea so that you can’t intake enough calories to function.”

Sci Petrakos

“I know I am, that’s why I said it,” Solal replied, “I don’t need a parent. Particularly not one younger than myself.” He sat forward in his chair as the feeling of nausea got worse. Was he acting illogically? He didn’t think so. The needs of many other people outweighed his, and even though Doctor Bonner was assigned his and V’alura’s case, she had more important things to do than cater to his every whim. “I’m doing okay. I… I don’t want them to think I have to stay in medical.” Wait, what? Had he said that out loud? That definitely was not logical. Ugh.

~ Solal

“Is it ultimately a matter of age though? You may be older but I’d like to think I have a fair amount of maturity and besides I disagree with you. Well to a point. I agree that you don’t need a parent but you do need someone. Since I’m your best friend that someone will be me.” With Solal shifting into a forward position on the coach Achilleas couldn’t continue the side hug, so he settled for slowly rubbing Solal’s back. Sometimes that helped with nausea and he wanted to do something to help. “Oh Solal you don’t need to stay in medical, but if you keep losing strength because you can barely eat you might end up there. Wouldn’t it be better to get some help now that requires very little effort on their part or later when they’ll need to regularly check on you and provide an intravenous supplement?”

Sci Petrakos

The slow motion of Achilleas’ hand on his back was somewhat soothing but did little to settle his stomach. Solal nodded, it was preferable to an IV treatment. He’d needed a hydration supplement the last time he was in sickbay for a kidney treatment. And he would probably need another one next time if he didn’t drink a lot more. His failing kidneys made it difficult to stay hydrated. “I suppose so.”

~ Solal

“Good, good.” Achilleas said with a happier tone as he continued the back rub. Trying to convince Solal of anything when he was so clearly set against it was like pulling teeth at times. “So what do you want to do now? I could walk with you to medical to get checked out and the various meds or whatever that you need.”

Sci Petrakos

“I want to sleep.” Solal yawned. “But I guess we can walk to medical.” He made no effort to move. He was tired, and sort of comfortable, and Achilleas’ back rub was making him more tired and comfortable, though the nausea and the headache detracted from that. He looked up at Achilleas tiredly, “I’m sure you have better things to do than hang around medical.”

~ Solal


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