Counseling, Part Two

Posted on Thu Mar 16th, 2023 @ 5:34am by Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Earth, Starfleet Medical
Timeline: 2305
882 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

As the Starfleet Counselor began looking over Andrinn's chart, they were smiling and said, "So, you're not fully Trill or El-Aurian, are you? It says that you're a mix of both species. Has that been hard for you?"

There was so much to that statement that Andrinn didn't even know where to begin. All that he could think back to were the several counseling sessions that his parents put him through back on Trill in the late 21st century after the loss of both his symbiont mentor and the other person that Andrinn loved, as well as being forced to join with the Orin symbiont quicker than he expected.

However, the counseling sessions only caused Andrinn more pain because of Dr. Fahn. During that time, there was still the stigmatism of being mixed blood and now that Andrinn had the Orin symbiont within him, he was viewed as a social pariah by people including Dr. Fahn.

Finally find the words to begin expressing some of his pain, Andrinn explained, "Well, I'm not going to lie. I hate counseling for a number of reasons that actually came from a bad experience back on Trill relating to that mixed heritage. I had a Trill counselor back in the late 21st century that used and abused me. Mainly mentally, but there were a few minor physical incidents that he helped to incite. It took me a long time before I could even tell my parents about everything going on because they were both diplomats that were trying to make my world a better place, and I didn't want to take them away from that for something that I thought I could fix myself. So, that has colored my experience and that's why I haven't been to a Starfleet counselor before. At least, until now, when it was this or the job I absolutely love."

The Starfleet Counselor was writing this all down, making notes to look into this at a further date. As he finished up writing, he looked back at Andrinn and replied, "I've read a little bit about you from your Starfleet file. But, it sounds like your childhood was a bit rough because of the biases that the Trill people had when you were younger. I've read that you even had a rushed experience with regards to your joining and once you were joined, you found out that your mentor was being mean to you because he had a liking towards you. Would that be correct?"

Andrinn looked down at his stomach, where the Orin symbiont was nestled before looking back up at the counselor. He just nodded without saying a word because he wasn't sure what would be enough to even help the counselor comprehend. A tear came from Andrinn's eye, down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away because he didn't want to seem weak. The counselor grabbed a tissue and handed it over to Andrinn before he finally spoke again.

"You know that it's okay to be not okay, right? There's a lot of stuff....a lot of traumas that we all go through, especially for a symbiotic species like the Trill. That's why I think you guys go through such a rigorous process to make sure everyone who gets a symbiont. There's just so much to you that makes you a wonderful person and I'd love to see that from you. Don't let what others have done or said about you tear you down, okay?" the counselor said, smiling and actually just taking a moment to talk to Andrinn directly instead of writing anything or doing anything besides just talking to Andrinn.

Andrinn tried to cover up the slowly creasing smiling on his face, but it was hard to do that because nobody outside of his family had said something like that since he was back in secondary school and was dating the one man that died in the shuttle accident. Truthfully, Andrinn was afraid of having someone like Dr. Fahn again because he didn't want to become more bitter towards the universe at large. Andrinn knew that he deserved way more than that and he was finally starting to feel as though counseling wouldn't be too bad.

Then, there was a knock on the counselor's door and when Andrinn looked back at the counselor, who looked confused. He got up from his chair and said, "Give me a few moments while I figure out what's going on. I'll be back in a few moments."

The counselor went out of the door and Andrinn could hear some talking behind the door, but couldn't make out who was there or what they were talking about. It made Andrinn a little bit nervous, even if it wasn't about him directly and he knew that probably wasn't. It still unnerved him though.

When the counselor came back and sat back down across from Andrinn, he had a look of distress on his face and didn't say much, as though they were trying to figure out something to say or was just lost in translation. Once the counselor finally spoke, the words he said haunted Andrinn for some time later on.

All the counselor said was, "I'm so sorry..."

[OFF:]

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium