Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Holodeck 2- Cooking with the CNS

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Holodeck 2- Cooking with the CNS

Posted by Lieutenant Siennadye Nox (Counselor) in Holodeck 2- Cooking with the CNS
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Yes, you do,” Johann said simply. “Has anything happened with that paper? I mean, I know you’ve been focused on other things…”

He remembered that day on the Holodeck, the one where she had invited all of them to celebrate her achievement. The same one where The Captain’s Better Judgement failed him utterly, and every path forward could only lead to peril.

Peril turned out pretty decently, actually… he thought.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Vora adopted something of a mischievous smile as she gazed at Johann. Maybe she should pull out the pith hat again sometime. “Well, I do know my paper had been referenced in more recent work and I had set up some alerts if that was the case so I know there is a terraforming team that is actively trying to apply what I learned. It could be a long time before we see if there any results form that but it makes me hopeful,” she said, a flush of pride flooding her body. So many hours of tedious work had gone into her the work that she based her Masters thesis off of and it was wonderful to know that it was not wasted.

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences

Johann did take note of Vora’s smile, but decided it would be unwise to confirm his suspicion that it probably wasn’t actually about her paper, but the day she told everyone about it. Or, the day after.

Sienna had dedicated herself to eating as conversation flowed. Despite the heartache she felt every moment of every day, there was still good around her and she tried to soak that in even if it meant constantly reminding herself that Johann here was not her husband. She was mentally exhausted by it though and wondered if there would ever be an outlet for her. Looking around the table, she wondered if there would ever be a family for her again.

Feeling the heat sting her eyes, she stood and went to pour herself something from the refrigerator to give herself some time to get herself back under control without the scrutiny on her face. Tonight wasn’t about her anyway, even if she was inclined. Jerrin was her focus. Sienna took in a deep breath and turned with a polite smile and set her glass back on the table before sitting once more. “It is always rewarding to know that your work is being used and helping others. The ultimate in job satisfaction for a scientist I think?”

Nox, CNS

Probably, he thought with a bit of minor envy. He didn’t verbalize the thought, because he wanted to give Vora the opportunity to answer that particular question herself as someone who got to enjoy that out of her career in science. Then again, Vora had been smarter than he was, in that she never made the mistake of volunteering for a ground assignment…

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“It depends,” Vora said. “I mean, it matters on your area of study. There is significant value to studying science for science’s sake. And indeed in many areas, it’s the process of seeking abetter understanding of the Multiverse that is its own reward. But for me, while me research was very much driven by an idea, I knew early on it had the potential for direct application. So for me it is very rewarding to know it’s being used. But now that I’ve changed specialties, my focus is more on that pure research side of things, though you ever know what you’ll stumble upon that will spark a different research approach and application.”

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences

Meanwhile, Jerrin was happily eating the lasagna and it might have appeared at first that he was bored with the conversation but he was actually listening rather attentively.

~Jerrin

“In my other life, I made several break throughs in trauma therapy using a form of EMDR mixed with a zen philosophy. The results were really promising before I left.” She glanced at Jerrin and then to her plate, contemplating. She used a small part of the technique on him earlier to calm him. “Perhaps I should continue my research here and share the knowledge with this universe as well.”

Nox, CNS

“EMDR?” Johann asked. He hadn’t heard of that before. He had heard of zen philosophy, or at least what a lot of people would label as being zen philosophy. He didn’t actually know any Zen Buddists.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“Eye Movement Desensitizing and Reprocessing,” Vora said without missing a beat and then looked up, her pale yellow cheeks darkening. “We tried it when I was at the Academy. Made things worse, but then again it was a long shot with my particular memory ability,” she said nonchalantly as she stabbed her salad. The truth was that it had actually re-traumatized her at one point and given her a new bout of nightmares.

“Correct Vora. And I have to say I wouldn’t recommend it for you, no. That sounds awful to be frank.”

“How does it work?” Jerrin said with an almost wary curiosity.

Vora smiled, though it was tight and pointed to Sienna. She would let the counsellor explain more. Going there herself was a bad idea.

~Vora & Jerrin

She sipped her water and then turned to Jerrin, “It is a psychotherapy treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. During EMDR therapy the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus. External stimulus could be hand tapping,” She placed her hands on the table and demonstrated the movement before continuing. “Slow rhythmic sounds, eye movement when watching say, bubbles in soda water. The idea being that when someone is dealing with a traumatic memory, they will be ‘programmed’ to calm down or de-stress using the external stimuli and thus reconfigure the brain to calm more and more each time a memory surfaces and causes the patient distress. Eventually the brain will no longer call that memory to mind during times of stress. It will stay with all other memories that have faded in potency.”

Nox, CNS

“Wow,” Johann said a moment later. “Trying that with your memory sounds like a genuinely dumb idea. How isn’t that malpractice?”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Vora was quiet for a moment and then shrugged. “You have to keep in mind that I was and still am the only Tenraith in Starfleet. And there’s a part of me that wonders if it could have worked if I had been farther along in my recovery but I wasn’t, so it was just rather terrible an experience. But I can see how it could be incredibly useful for others. If there’s a way to signal to your brain that it’s safe when a trauma memory is triggered, it’s ultimately worth doing.” She smirked. “But as usual, I have to go about things a little differently. I’ve ruled out EMDR and exposure therapy as useful techniques, for me. But when I first came to the Federation, the relationship with my people was still fairly new. And when I joined Starfleet, even my physiology was not known well. I didn’t even know what the differences were. It was all something of an experiment and none of it was malicious. And post-rehab I was willing to try just about anything to make everything less intense. In the end the only thing that has truly worked is having time and distance from those events.” She cast Johann a warm smile. “That and newer and happier memories to push the bad ones away.”

Johann knew what that smile was about, and felt simultaneously happy for her and smugly satisfied with himself.

Jerrin meanwhile was eating his lasagna quietly. He wasn’t brooding exactly, but he was pensive. Vora noticed but for the moment let him be. If there was anything she had learned in the years since he came to the ship is that sometimes she just had to give him some space.

~Vora & Jerrin

“But anyway, it seems like it would still be worth trying for other people,” Johann said a moment later, pivoting the conversation slightly back to what it was originally about. “So that would still be worth following up on. I mean, people still work the same way in your universe, right?”

It was a question that wasn’t as silly as it sounded; there was some evidence that different quantum realities and other parallel universes had differences in human physiology that were also significant enough to induce differences in human behavior. Like in the so-called “Mirror Universe.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO