STF

Jenga with Jarvis

Posted March 11, 2023, 4:55 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vanessa Slade (CNS) (Kate O'Neill)

Posted by Lieutenant Tom Jarvis (Internal Security) in Jenga with Jarvis

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vanessa Slade (CNS) in Jenga with Jarvis

Posted by Lieutenant Tom Jarvis (Internal Security) in Jenga with Jarvis
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Vanessa stood outside the holodeck waiting for Tom to arrive. While this was not technically a therapy session, it was also a therapy session. Tom was confident, smart, and excelled at his job. He did not need any help with that. What Tom needed was friends and a sense of belonging. Throughout all his years at Starfleet, he had not been able to make a lot of close connections and that was what Vanessa wanted to remedy. Looking at her clock she realized that Tom was not late but for once in her life Vanessa Slade was five minutes early.

Vanessa Slade CNS

Vanessa saw Tom round the curve of the corridor and, at his current pace, would be standing with her in front of the holodeck doors at the exact time they had agreed to meet.

“Good evening Vanessa.” Tom said with a smile and a slight bow, “What sights will you show me this evening? I’ve allotted for at least four hours.”

  • Khabal

“Good because this first quarter of the program has a time stamp of three and a half for even the most advanced enigmatologist.” Opening the door to the holodeck, the image Tom would see would be a vast landscape of green. Hedges rose to about fifteen feet tall with a large highly decorated entrance indicating Tom and Vanessa were going to try and solve a maze.

As with most of Vanessa’s out-of-the-box therapy sessions, this was pretty much on par with her matching the need of the patient to an activity that would reach results with far more interest than sitting on a couch. Tom was going to participate in maze therapy which was a learning process that involved circumnavigating a subject that was presented with a variety of false routes into a main one. The idea was that over time a patient would arrive at the end goal in the least amount of time because of applying previously learned knowledge. Tom was metaphorically trapped in a box of his perceptions about what could be. Vanessa hoped that going through all the dead ends would eventually open his mind to a brighter and more optimistic path.

The holistic feel of the program was calm and peace: Birds sang, the sun shone, and the sky was a perfect blue with wisps of thin white clouds. “Shall we begin,” she gestured into the room and towards the maze entrance.

Vanessa Slade CNS

“I’m intrigued.” Tom said, “Unless this maze shifts, I do have eidetic memory.”

Tom started stretching.

  • Tom

“It’s leaves that all look the same,” Vanessa let out a laugh as they stood at the entrance and leaned against the ivy wall watching Tom stretch. “Okay I know my holodeck programs tend to have people running for their lives or clogging sick bay but I promise there are no zombies or headless horsemen about to chase us down.” She could not help but wonder if Tom was stretching after hearing about the debacle in October with the Halloween party or if he thought this was going to be more than just a leisurely stroll.

“You know I am a counselor and as a counselor, I am only required to do a twenty-minute mile to pass my PT evals.”

Vanessa Slade CNS

Tom didn’t seem to understand that she was making a joke.

“I can run a nine minute mile, seven minutes if I really push it.” he replied simply.

The Halloween party was far outside Tom’s off duty comfort zone and so, he didn’t attend, but he heard plenty about it and wanted to be prepared if Vanessa had put any interesting twists into this program.

  • Tom

“Noted and if we have to book it somewhere, just start running and Jesus can help me because I would probably die of a cardiac arrest about two minutes in.” It was not that Vanessa was out of shape but more in shape for an average person who didn’t need to come running at the drop of a hat in an emergency.

Entering the maze, Vanessa took in the quiet beauty and perfect symmetry of the space. She kept the pace leisurely like a stroll as she just began walking. The maze was close to ten miles long so it would take them a good while to complete it. “So was it your idea or my idea to meet up,” she asked him taking a random turn not caring if it was correct or not. The entire place was green with no discriminating features yet. Any direction seemed fine at this point.

Vanessa Slade CNS


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