Finding Calmness?

Posted on Thu Jun 29th, 2023 @ 12:37am by Lieutenant Lily Marlow & Lieutenant Commander Angus Murphy

Mission: A Day In The Life
Location: Massage Therapy Room
2367 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

It was evening, and Lily was now in her massage therapy room. Lily glanced around the room she had acquisitioned awhile ago for the various therapies she would be using for healing.

Attached to the ceiling were two parallel bars, hanging above a massage table. On the left side of the room were some shelves which contained the oils and ointments needed. Also there were her accupuncture needles in sterile containers, and a small table nearby. This was at the far left of the room.

On the right side of the room was a large screen, which looked like a window overlooking a view of a forest with a stream nearby. The lovely babbling sound of the stream, with the intermittent sound of birds, could be heard. The sound of a breeze dancing amongst the tops of the pines rustling the needles. An aroma emitter with essential oils lightly scented the room, with the natural scent of the forest. Not too far from that area were some comfortable chairs, which sat on either side of carpetting which was dark green in color, soft and nicely cushioned comfortable to be enticing to barefeet.

Not too far from there, was an area for some Tai-chi exercises. Even though there was a room for that purpose, Lily felt that a more quiet area for part of therapy would be better. In pots there were several plants, Basil, Rosemary and Peppermint. Towels and cloths, to clean the hands, as well as sheets to cover the patient, as well as the massage table.

Lily was dressed in flexible, comfortable clothing. Her shortsleeve tee-shirt was a medium blue, her active wear pants, black. She was barefoot, on the Tai Chi mats seriously thinking she was going to need to make a box with real grass growing in it for another sort of therapy called grounding. That will have to wait though. Tonight it will be a sort of therapy conversaton between herself and Murphy.

Murphy had no idea what to expect from the session -- or the room -- so when he entered wearing his typical yellow-trimmed duty uniform, he felt immediately out of place. He paused when his gaze fell upon Lily and her attire. "I should probably go change?" He questioned uneasily, as he thumbed toward the door. "Or maybe we pick this up another night."

Lily did a literal facepalm, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. " Sorry Commander er Murph." They were off the clock. "Well, you are here and I should have mentioned having you wear something comfortable, like Civvies. You do have a choice of going back to your quarters and changing into something different, or you can ask the computer to provide something for you to wear. I do have a changing area." motioning towards a door which led into a changing room.

Murphy gave a hesitant nod, but relented without argument. He still believed in the merit of what they were trying to do, even if it meant giving up some of the armor of the uniform. He stepped into the changing room.

When he stepped back out several minutes later, he was tugging at the snug fit of the plain black sleeveless top with a scooped neckline far lower than he was used to and black workout pants that also fit more close than was comfortable. He held out his arms. "I guess this will have to do."

"Just as long as you can move easily in it with enough give to it." Lily remarked. "However, lets have a seat on the chairs, or can sit on the floor, its rather comfortable." Motioning towards the carpeted area. She walked over towards the chairs and took a seat on one, moving it to where it was sort of angled to look out towards the scenery. "Right now its just you, me and getting to talk about something that we both find uncomfortable but it needs to be spoken about." folding her arms about herself for a moment.

Does it really need to be talked about? It seemed easier to push it down and try to forget it, that had been his plan so far and that was not working exceptionally well. Murphy sat in the other chair and crossed one leg over the other, jaw unconsciously tensing. He knew she was right. It did need to be processed. It had caused too much pain already, and had already left something of a scar on he and Patrick's relationship.

"When you were on the station..." he began slowly, carefully, not exactly looking toward Lily at all, but finding some random point in the nature decor to focus on, "were you alone or with others? For me, it was Patrick and I together and... I think... that was worse than being alone for me. I was afraid because of him. Terrified something was going to happen to him."

"I was with others, and they started disappearing. We were thrust in a horror film sort of set up. Vampires, Werewolves. " Lliy shivered and closed her eyes as the memories came to the forefront. "I was bitten by a Vampire.." her breath started quivering "and.. and Lhaes... he pulled the monster off of me. " Lily had to stop there. Working to keep the emotions from welling upwards. "I can understand your worry about him. I experienced the same worry for the others. " she cleared her throat. " I saw Sommers die then disappear. " Lily unconsciously reached up to rub the area where she had been bitten.

Murphy did not know Lily particularly well, but the body language showed her clear discomfort of the memories. He wanted to stand up and move to her, to wrap her up on his arms and tell her he understood her fear. He wanted to comfort her as a friend and be her rock, but he was no rock himself. As irrational as nightmares were, as unrealistic as holodeck stories could be, the brain did not know the difference. Their fears were real. Those things really happened.

"We--- it's so hard to remember," Murphy said in the quiet moment that followed her story. "I've done everything I can to forget it and now the details are so hard to remember, but we went aboard and something happened. He needed a payment. I was wearing my old wedding band and he wanted that. I remember thinking it strange, but also somewhat fitting that the one piece of payment I had with me was a symbol of an old relationship and that I was trading that symbol in to have a good time with Paddy. I remember thinking of symbolism of letting go of the old and embracing the new. It was supposed to be a fun trip and we were looking forward to it, we were still dating. So I gave it away to the... hologram. Willingly. And then we were transported somewhere, completely naked, defenseless..." His voice broke.

That snapped Lily out of being lost in her own memories. She was up out of her chair and over to where Murphy was, wrapping her arms around him. She may have had a harrowing experience, but she had people and she had weapons, he had nothing, no one except for Patrick. "Oh Murphy, I am so sorry." tears were coursing down her cheeks, just thinking of what he may have felt. She was crouched at the side of the chair, just giving him a strong embrace.

"From there... I just.." He shook his head, unable or unwilling to remember or recite the details. The hug anchored him and had it not been for that, he would have been on his feet and pacing or fretting. "What was the point of it?" he asked her quietly as one of his hands found one of hers and he put it atop it. "Vampires and everything you went through. For what? Some kind of sick, twisted amusement?"

"Supposedly that station was to be a place sort of like Disneyland or an amusement park run solely by holograms and some human staff members. Something happened to Adna. Maybe she gained some sentience, but went crazy. And put those who were supposed to staff the station, into a transporter buffer. She wanted to be a real person, and thought she could take dna from people to create a body. It wasn't going to happen though, but she thought she could." Lily said softly. "I found that information out from another of the sentient holo people. I am just glad that Adna got shut down, permanently." Just being able to talk to Murphy about this, was helping a lot. Lily was hoping as well.

"It's... sick," is all Murphy could say about it. "I can't even trust holograms anymore. Do you? He asked, peering over at her with a raised brow.

Lily released Murphy from her embrace and adjusted her position to where she was seated upon the carpet right next to Murphy's chair. Her shoulder was touching his leg as she looked towards the trees. "I am not certain I would completely trust a hologram, but those holo people the ones who helped us, I trust them to a point. They helped us get out of that situation, heck Gwendolyn helped to heal my wounds." Lily gave a little bit of a sigh, then crooked her knee as she turned to gaze up to look at Murphy. "To me, with what I have seen, those who have gained sentience, I guess I am trying to say much like the same I would view people, there are good people then there are the rotten ones. There are good holograms, and then there are those who are bad?"

"I see them as people even though they are just bits a pieces of light. Almost like a new race. However, I would rather deal with people who are flesh and blood. I think I am mainly confused and perplexed. Would I be willing to go to a place that is just run by holograms I don't know. I would be rather nervous, and scared." Lily stated.

"They're not people," Murphy assured her softly. "They're tools, meant to help people... the human-looking interface is supposed to make it more comfortable for people. But we shouldn't forget they are a pile of code and light emitters. That's all they are."

"And yet they have developed their own personality, maybe learned those? Either way, this can go into a rather interesting direction that, I don't think we want to traverse. I will be glad to get them to their home, wherever that maybe, and to T'Seng the woman that we saved, they kept her company and they are her family, the ones that kept her from going insane." Lily said softly. " Be they bits of pieces of light and data, they to her, are family."

"You're right. I don't want to debate this with you," Murphy agreed, clear that his opinion of the subject was vastly different, and he'd probably admit also not entirely healthy. "Has this talk been helpful at all to you?" he asked aloud. "For me, I don't know... probably... maybe. I suppose maybe it will help me process my own emotions on the subject better."

"This talk has helped me a bit, Murphy. It truly has, I felt more at ease talking with you than anyone else. I don't know why that is, unless its because you are an engineer? You remind me of my brother, in a good way." a twinkle in her eyes, and an impish smile dancing across her lips. You just have that feeling of family, a kinship. I don't know if I have asked this, but can I adopt you as my brother?" Lily's smile turning into a grin as she looked up at Murphy.

Murphy chuckled and nodded, "Of course. I have three sisters already though, but they probably wouldn't even notice if I snuck you into a family dinner. It's a little crazy when we're all together." He nodded again, "But you don't really remind me of any of them. You're actually a nice, relatively sane person," he laughed softly.

That caused Lily to raise her eyebrows, in surprise. "Relatively sane. Oh good you've not termed me completely sane." giving a laugh and playfully nudged tMurphy with her shoulder. She placed her hands down upon the floor swinging her legs around to get up from the floor, rising to her feet, and stretched. "It would be interesting to sit at your family table." giving a laugh. "Okay so now what. Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" looking at Murphy. "Got something i can help you with engineering wise?" giving a full on grin.

"Unless you know how to calibrate a plasma control sensor, I don't think so, I have 44 of them to check." Murphy smirked and shook his head. "Trying to learn my job and put me out of work, I see."

"Nah you've got that covered in spades but.. I can always lend a hand, I'm not afraid to get dirty." another smile tugging on her lips. "Oh just for your information, we do have some new people who may want to meet you. Or you meeting them? They are in operations. Um.. Lieutenant Siora Carberos she's the chief of operations. Lieutenant Camelia Zamfir of operations and an Ensign Kit Atkins. What do you say? Probably a good idea to meet them due to well the ship in general."

Murphy gave that a moment of thought, but then nodded, "If you think I should. I'm not trying to be elusive, I suppose."

"Well I think you should, but I don't think you are being elusive either. With all that has happened so far, at times a person can get to where they are worried about making any type of connection with someone, then... the person leaves. If I am wrong on my perception, then hey let me know." reaching out to place a hand upon Murphy's shoulder. A gentle squeeze and then Lily left, feeling a lot better for talking with Murphy. "I'll talk with you later on."