Destination Phoenix Nebula (Key-Tokki & Gatichan)

[Gatichan]

~ Destination Phoenix Nebula ~

 

In the year 3024, Planet Earth is no longer inhabitable. Due to several pernicious world wars, which decimated the human, flora and fauna population, polluted the planet's last water reserves and depleted nearly all natural resources, life as such is unimaginable. A small group of survivors, brought together by the United Nations and hailed as the few remaining humans capable of building up a new civilization, board the last star cruiser aiming for Phoenix Nebula. This galaxy is several lightyears away from Planet Earth and the last hope for the human race. Next to nothing is known of Phoenix Nebula, only that a testing probe sent there centuries ago recorded back promising data. Whether an alien race lives there, if the atmosphere remained similar to the one on Earth, if there are any natural resources there to allow the growth of a new civilization, whether the galaxy still even exists- no one knows.

 

This is the story of Nathianiel Powell, a techincal engineer, and Ethan Burke, a clinical psychologist, who are amongst the last humans to leave Planet Earth. Voyaing deeper into space towards an unknown und possible insecure future, the following annals record their life and hardships on the Star Cruiser Praxiteles.

[Key-Tokki]

 

Name

Nathianiel Powell

 

Age

23

 

Personality

Nathaniel is a rather quiet individual, he spends most of his time in the cock pit of the ship, or in his own quarters, tinkering with his gadgets. He is one of the four main tech engineers on the ship, handling all the ship malfunctions is his main job, he is not a main piolet but if need be he is also skilled in the basics on that area, with all these tasks he rarely socializes with other members on the ship, making him come off as rather rude sometimes though that is never his intention.

[Gatichan]

 

 

 

Name

Ethan Burke

 

Age

25

 

Personality

Ethan has something of a split personality. When he's tgether with other people, he's cheerful, optimistic, and always striving to make his counterpart feel at ease. He spends most of his time wandering around Praxiteles, searching for anyone who might need psychological help. When he is alone, however, Ethan is plagued by visions from the war that he lived through after having worked in the field. Needing to take medication to keep his diffuse and specific fears at bay, Ethan tries very hard to never be alone, since then the nightmares return to haunt him...

[Gatichan]

The Praxiteles had been in orbit above Planet Earth for three hours already. The flight crew was waiting for the last humans to board the plane and they were teleporting onto the star cruiser from the last five stations down on earth. Since there was little energy left, it was taking longer than planned and tempers were running high. Ethan could pretty well guess that the commanding deck was in an uproar- they ought to have left over two hours before. The delay was beginning to get to him, even though he’d already thrown in two pills. He could only guess what the others on board the Praxiteles had to be thinking.

 

Pushing off the desk inside his ship study, Ethan crossed over to the window, looking down onto the dying planet where he had been born on. Leaning his forehead against his arm, Ethan tried to take his fill, wanting to have as many memories as he could of Planet Earth, but the sphere he was looking at right then was a far cry from the old photos he had seen as a child. Instead of there been lush greens and vitalizing blue, all he saw was desert and murky green water, the result of century-long pollution. The Earth was a dying planet and Ethan would have died along with it if he hadn’t been amongst the lucky ones to be considered valuable enough to be sent to Phoenix Nebula.

 

Pushing away from the window, Ethan covered his face with his hands. Sometimes the task ahead of him threatened to become so daunting that despair filled him. He had been put in charge of supervising the mental health of all the humans on the Praxiteles. Of course he was trained for this…hypothetically. Yet could one person really uphold the ship’s morale? And what if they traveled the whole way to Phoenix Nebula…only to find that they had used their last resources to fly to a dead system? How was he, Ethan Burke, supposed to be optimistic and promote hope in his fellow travelers, when he himself had serious doubts that a new life would be possible in the far off galaxy?

 

Shaking his head, Ethan slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out his pill box. There were only three left over…when he had boarded the Praxiteles, there had been over fifty. This adventure didn’t bode well. But Ethan was close friends with the star cruiser’s doctor and, what was more, he knew where Samuel kept the key to the medicament cabinet hidden. Tossing back his head to swallow the three pills, Ethan made a face- the taste was disgusting. Well, it was time to head out and introduce himself to the crew members. Plastering a cheerful smile on his face, Ethan pressed the button beside the door and stepped out into the grey corridor of the lower first deck.

 

- - - Updated - - -

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel leaned back in his seat, he was sitting in the cock pit, with the two main pilots and one another female maintenance pilot. He let out a low, almost relieved breath. They were supposed to take off a while ago but the people had been taking way to long, there was a lack of energy down there, as well as it must have been rather hecktake. A lot of people were afraid there would not be enough space on the ship so were trying to get to the teleporters first to avoid being left behind to die on the dying planet. Though Nathaniel found that rather ironic, for people to die on the planet that they themselves destroyed, it would have been bitter sweet justice in his eyes. He did not take any fault in that, he had practically grown up on ships, in fact he was even born on one. His mother was a maintenance engineer and his father was the main pilot on the Voyager, one of the most famous exploration space ships that there ever were. That ship had collided with an astroyed belt a long time ago though, and his parents had long since perished in that wreck. The main caption flicked open the switch that led to the decks and sub-decks so the crew could make sure everything was going fine, there was already two or three fights, but this was to be expected with so many people, and in such a stressful situation. His eye was caught by one of the smaller cameras, that was currently trained down at the earth, unlike most of the people on this ship he was filled with nothing but pity for the planet. An image flashed through his head, he saw those office buildings, broken down, and desolate, all alone. That made him sad, and even a bit angry at those whos selfishness allowed the earth to come to that.

 

The captain motioned Nathaniel to pay attention so he brought hism ind back to reality. "I need you to go down to the lower flight crew deck, make sure everything is set down there and bring us up some coffee Kid, let them know we will be taking off in 20 minutes exactly." He sighed as the other said kid, and nodded, climbing from his seat and hitting the botton for the cabin door to slide open, stepping through it he began to make his way to the lower crew deck, avoiding those people that saw his uniform, recognized him as a crew member and began hounding him with questions, as soon as he entered the lower deck he stretched out, relieved. "Hey, Nate! What are you doing down here?" Looking over Nathaniel couldn't help but smile as his oldest friend Ishmeal bound towards him with a big floppy grin on his face. "The captain sent me down here for some coffee, everything going fine?" Ishmeal nodded and rubbed the back of his head "My friend got cocked trying to break up a fight but other than that, it's all going fine." Nathaniel nodded as he listened and made his way to the coffee machine, waving his hand in front of it so the holographic selection screen would come up, and he selected normal coffee for the others and a mocha one for himself, since he hated bitter coffee. The buzz came on over the speakers to announce everyone to calm down and that they would be taking off in 10 minutes now, to which Nathaniel nodded, turned to his friend and spoke, "Oh, yeah, and there is also that." Ishmeal rolled his eyes and laughed, "You have the memory of a squirrel." Frowning in confusion spoke confused, "What is a squirrel?"

[Gatichan]

When the announcement came over the loudspeakers that the takeoff was expected to take place in ten minutes, Ethan let out a low sigh of relief. The sooner this journey towards doom began, the faster they’d know for sure that it had been a mistake to have left Planet Earth. Not that there really was an alternative. And it was psychologically understandable: it was better to continue towards insecurity than to remain standing and let darkness overcome one. After all, the first homo sapiens hadn’t sat down to watch the saber tiger gobble them up, but had either fought or run away. And since there was no one left to fight, humanity was taking flight.

 

Taking an elevator down onto the lower deck, where all the remaining humans had entered the Praxiteles, Ethan’s smile widened when he saw a group of females huddled close together near the elevators that led towards the sleeping cabins. Their faces were pale and fearful and upon seeing him, they automatically turned towards Ethan for guidance. There was something about him that inspired confidence. “Please, Sir,” the eldest female in the group begged him, her blue eyes wide. “Please, could you tell us where we’re supposed to go? A crew official came walking by here a few minutes ago, but he refused to tell us anything. Why haven’t we taken off? Is something wrong? Will we be forced to stay here and die?” she asked, her voice becoming higher and causing the other three women to whimper fearfully.

 

Ethan rolled his eyes. He could just imagine how one of the crew members, pissed off already at the ship’s delay, had probably either snapped at the newly boarded, insecure humans, or frowned in such a castigating way that he would have left the non-crew members expecting the worst. If he found out who that person was, Ethan promised himself that he’d give him a good talking-to. “There’s absolutely nothing to worry about,” the psychologist reassured the group with his therapist smile, softening his gaze and tipping his head a little downwards to create the sense that he fully understood the female’s worries, but didn’t share them. “I’ve just been informed that we’re set to take off in nine minutes, so I suggest that you take these elevators upwards and proceed to your cabins. I trust you have your keycards?” He waited patiently until all four women waved them, beginning to look hopeful again. “Perfect. Once you get there, you’ll receive further instructions. If there’s anything else you’d like to know or you have questions, do feel free to contact me,” he added, holding out a small business card with his name on it. “Just hold it up to the nearest computer terminal and you’ll receive instructions to find me. Welcome upon the Praxiteles,” he winked, chuckling to himself when the four females shuffled into an elevator together and waved at him happily. As soon as the elevator door closed, however, he frowned and turned around. Where was that uncooperative crew member, then?

[Gatichan]

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

*sorry!!*

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel and the other continued this conversation that was clearly going no where for another minute or so before they realized that any futher discussion would simply delay them both from things they really ought to have been doing. Nodding a simple bye to his friend he turned to head back up to the pilots cabin, in his mind he began going threw everything that could go wrong with take off, this was how he made sure everything had been done correctly to prevent any of these grim outcomes. In the back of his mind he remembered there brefing about this mission to be wary of stow aways, there was a virus going around on earth now, and in order to have been cleared for this flight the teleporters scanned your blood streem to make sure it was clean before teleporting anyone on board. However, the entire crew was warning ahead of time to be wary, if they saw any people on board that might look like they had the desiese they were to be quarenteed. The illness was rather new so no one knew the full effects of it, making it even worse. In all that he was worried about, that seemed to be the only thing that could possibly go wrong, everything else had been done correctly, this ship was safer than a car on the ground would be. He made his wa to the elevator and stood outside it after hitting the button, before the door would open he heard a sobbing from behind him, turning slightly to look over his shoulder he saw an elderly women and her daughter hobbling towards him, both seemed visably upset. Since the women was clearly old, she must have been born before the youth shots came out, now, shots were administered three times a year, and no one seemed to age a day since there first shot. He had recieved his when he was 19, so he still looked youthful as ever, however his best friend refused to get a shot so he looked a bit older than Nathaniel himself, claiming for moral reasons he would age as 'god saw fit'. He turned his attention backto the elevator, visably ignoring the two women behind him who had come to a stop. The elder women spoke "Please...my daughter things she forgot her medicine back at the loading platforms, she really needs them for her anxiety. Is there any way to delay the departure until we can retrieve them?" the obvious answer here was a simple no, however to avoid conflict the boy chose to simple stare, mutely at the elevator in front of him, waiting for the doors to open.

[Gatichan]

Ethan continued down the corridor. There was quite a hubbub going on around him as the last humans were teleported onto the Praxiteles. Some seemed greatly relieved to have made it onto the ship in time, yet others were crying, obviously as afraid as the psychologist actually felt, but thanks to the medication was keeping well in check. His arm computer beeped and touching the button to access the message that had been sent to him, Ethan groaned: it seemed that one of the humans who had boarded the Praxiteles over an hour before had been infected. Just great: he was going to have to pay a visit to the quarantine bay and that before they’d even taken off. So much for the technological advances and the reassurances that no infected human could get on. Yeah right, Ethan sighed, already beginning to develop a headache as he turned around and returned towards the elevators.

 

If there was one thing he hated, it was taking care of people in confinement. Forced to remain isolated- in the case possibly until the Praxiteles had reached its destination – if ever, at all – because there simply was no cure for the last virus infection that had befallen mankind, the person would have next to no contact to other human beings save for the medical crew and him, the star cruiser psychologist. This meant that the person’s alternatives would be reduced, the chances of his becoming depressive were higher, as well as the possibility of developing an anxiety disorder, not to mention suicidal ideation. Thank you so much for making my job one hell of a lot harder, Ethan grumbled inwardly as he turned a corner and appeared by the elevators again. Sobbing reached his ears and he glanced upwards, blinking in surprise as he saw one of the techies repeatedly stabbing an elevator button, seeming to be ignoring the two women standing close beside him, obviously seeking help. Any bets this is the asshole that other group encountered.

 

“Hello, can I help you?” he asked loudly, hurrying forward with his psychologist smile that promised security and comfort. Concentrating only on the two women, his face became concerned when he saw that the younger female had all the symptoms he knew so well from himself: shaky hands, shallow, yet rapid breathing, wide eyes that moved side to side hastily, shoulders pulled up near the ears. “Oh please, it’s my daughter,” the elder woman repeated, her eyes begging as she faced Ethan. “She’s lost her-” “Your daughter is about to have a panic attack,” Ethan interrupted her calmly, stepping right in front of the girl so that she could look at him. “You’ve forgotten your medication, haven’t you?” he guessed, taking a gentle hold of her shoulders. “I’m Ethan and I’m the Praxiteles psychologist. What’s your name, honey?” he asked. The girl continued to tremble. “C-Cornelia,” she stammered out, whimpering when a low humming from the ship’s engines was heard. “Cornelia, that’s a lovely name,” Ethan smiled at her warmly, keeping his voice calm and melodious. Looking into the girl’s eyes, he continued to talk to her, explaining where the noise was coming from and what was causing it, telling her that she had nothing to fear, what she should do in that instance to relax and that she could call him at any time if she needed his assistance. Only once did he shift his eyes to the side to look at the techie, hoping that the man would turn around and look at him.

@ Key-Tokki

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel heard the oncomming foot steps but ignored even those, he chose to continuously pray that the elevator would open. However, for some odd reason the machine was not cooperating with him. Then he realized until they found the person or persons that were infected the ship must be on lock down. He signed to himself, and gave a glance back at the man and two girls, just in time to catch the others eye. Thsi was definetly turning out to be a very eventful take off, if there was one the he was not skilled at it was chaos. If things were not by the book the boy simply froze and had no idea what to do, and that is exactly what he did when the lights went out. The entire ship darkened, cries and screams of fear could be heard, and a crash of the cups and the tray Nathaniel had been holding sounded when they hit the ground. The back up emergency lights flickered on, everything had been shut down and he had no idea why. Then the announcement speakers went off, and spoke in a calm, robotic voice "We are sorry for the inconvinience, but it seems that there was a last minute teleportation into the ship, and our radio transmission waves were not preparred for it, it will take us a moment to get back online with the lights, however we will be taking off in 3 minutes exactly, please, have a seat and say good bye to the planet earth, this will be your last time seeing it."

 

The speakers beeped twice to signal the ending of the message, and the walls around the ship seemed to fade off, so the outside could be seen like looking through veyr large windows. The younger boys white uniform shone rather brightly to signal that others could come to him in an emergency. However he was cetaininly not in the position to help anyone else. He very a very rational individual, however due to events that occured when he was younger, he could not stand the dark, at all. And the few moments that it took the emergency lights to come on, were enough to upset him a bit. However he relaxed as soon as he could see the earth, and though, again he held no personal connection to the planet, he was sad. Such a beautiful place that had given so many humans, homes, was now gone. With a dull hum the ship shook slightly, and began it's take off, which was a slow pace, and due to how space worked they seemed to only be floating, not really moving at all. However he knew that they were going fast, very fast. After a few moments, the captain must have decided the time for nostalgia was over, because the walls went back to there normal look, the outside was no longer projected onto them, and the lights returned to normal. So, as quiet as ever, as though nothing had happened, he bent down and began to pick up the broken cups that had shattered when he dropped them.

[Gatichan]

(

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

)

 

The tech engineer didn’t even look at him and Ethan frowned. What a jerk. Simple politeness would have made any human turn around and look at whoever had stepped closer. It seemed as if the other man had some kind of social phobia or anti-social personality disorder. As soon as Ethan had taken care of the young female patient, he was going to have to ask the other man for his name, or send a complaint to the technical engineer president. But just as he turned his attention back to the female, the lights flickered off. She and her mother screamed, making Ethan jump. Further down the corridor, more screaming was heard and coming from the elevator, the sound of something smashing. Tightening his grip on the younger woman’s shoulders as the voice overhead began to explain what was happening, Ethan stepped in front of her so that he remained in her line of vision. “It’s alright,” he repeated calmly as all around them, the walls of the Praxiteles disappeared to show the dying planet below them. “This is nothing to be worried about. Look around you- this is your last time to say goodbye to our home,” he told her, reaching into his pocket to pull out the small tube filled with emergency tranquilizing pills he kept for his patients. Passing it to the girl, he nodded for her to take it and then turned around to say farewell to Planet Earth as well.

 

The time to say goodbye was far too short, but perhaps it was better so. The deathly sheen coming from the planet that had once shone so vibrantly green and blue was but a fake imitation of what Ethan had once seen during his first ever interstellar vacation as a child. It was, to say the least, depressing to see what humanity had done to its home. And once again doubts began to fill him: why should they, who were responsible for having murdered a planet, be allowed to continue living and thriving, possibly destroying a further eco-system in a far-off galaxy? Wouldn’t it only be fair if they were to perish on the journey there? Shaking his head to clear away the fear that was threatening to take a hold of him again as the original Praxiteles walls returned, Ethan returned his attention to the female patient. She was still breathing a little too fast for his liking, but the wild, caged-animal look had disappeared. Passing the mother his small card, he smiled at the younger woman. “You’re going to be okay. Here,” he said, slipping her an emergency card. “You can use this to access the medical ward. The doctors there will check on you and then show you to your cabins. And if you like, you can come and see me whenever you want, okay?” “Thank you very much, doctor,” the elder woman said and Ethan nodded as her daughter quietly mumbled her thanks. Waving them off without correcting them – he had grown tired of trying to explain the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist – Ethan spun around to the techie, who had bent over to pick up the mess he had made by the elevators. Stepping closer, he raised an eyebrow. “Need some help there?”

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel focused on picking up the peices of the cup, so much so that he barely noticed the other until he saw his feet him into Nathaniels line of vision. He glanced up quietly at the other and chose to settle for a simple nod, not verbally acknowledging the other in the slightest. His slightly to long hair hung in his face as he silently groaned, he loved watching the ship take off and now he had missed it, inside of the pilot cabin all the lights went off, and there was so much commotion that always fascinated the boy. After he had all the pieces picked up and set onto the tray and straightened up and nodded to the other a thanks.

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel focused on picking up the peices of the cup, so much so that he barely noticed the other until he saw his feet him into Nathaniels line of vision. He glanced up quietly at the other and chose to settle for a simple nod, not verbally acknowledging the other in the slightest. His slightly to long hair hung in his face as he silently groaned, he loved watching the ship take off and now he had missed it, inside of the pilot cabin all the lights went off, and there was so much commotion that always fascinated the boy. After he had all the pieces picked up and set onto the tray and straightened up and nodded to the other a thanks, then in order to avoid being rude he spoke, "You are the ships psychiatrist right? I have meeting with you in about 20 minutes actually, they must keep you rather busy?" He was referring to the fact that the entire flight crew that had anything above a security clearance of a 3rd zone,had to go to mandatory meetings with the psychiatrist once every few weeks. He was never willing to go before and the last long voyage he had a break down when he became over whelmed when a large group of people trapped him in a corner to ask him why there air condition system was not properly working.

[Gatichan]

This techie certainly wasn’t very talkative. Inside Ethan’s head, he began making a list of possible diagnoses as he bent over and helped the other man collect the glass shards. The whole while he did, Ethan kept trying to catch the other man’s eye, but the techie continued to deny it to him. Interesting. As he slowly stood up, the other spoke and Ethan’s eyes widened slightly. “Ah…so you do?” he replied, trying to call up the names of the crew members he would be seeing later that day. But his memory failed him and instead he smiled, deciding to respond to the first part of the other man’s sentence. “No, I’m the Praxiteles’s psychologist,” he corrected, inwardly rolling his eyes- honestly, why couldn’t anyone understand the difference? A psychiatrist was a doctor, while he wasn’t. But he nodded, wishing the other would finally look at him. “Then I guess I’ll see you later,” he waved, walking off down the corridor. As soon as he was sure the other man couldn’t see him, Ethan raised his wrist. “Computer, what’s the name of my next patient?” he asked his wrist PC quietly. “Your next patient is Nathaniel Powell, a technical engineer,” the computer’s female programmed voice informed him. Ethan pursed his lips as he accessed another elevator. It was time he returned to his office and read up what else his files contained on this Nathaniel Powell.

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel made his way back to the are where he originally got the coffee from, this time he completely ignore even those who he knew so he could fill up new cups and get them upstairs. He was already going to get an earfull for taking so long. He made it up to the cabin and quickly handed out the coffee, ignoring the groumbles about him indeed taking his sweet time, then plopped back down in his seat. However he was only sitting a few moments when his color buzzed, the entire flight crew had colors that emmited holographic messages and alerts since they often needed both there hands. A holographic message came up on front of him that told him it was time for his appointment, to which he groaned quietly and stood. Adjusting his hair slightly and began the long treck down to where the others office was, he taped the door lightly and spoke "I am here for my appointment." His voice was soft, but very curt, it seemed to be even a little forced.

[Gatichan]

Nathaniel Powell, Ethan mused as he eased into his main leather chair, his eyes running over the medical report he had received. Something about the seemingly anti-social technical engineer had attracted his attention, even though he couldn’t exactly say what it was. Had been afraid of the dark when he was younger, spent most of his life up in space on ships, his parents had died on the famous Voyager while he had still been relatively young. Had had a nervous breakdown on the last star cruiser he had worked on. Interesting. So this was a potential candidate to go insane on this long mission that led towards insecurity. Ethan sighed when he heard the tapping against his door, closing the file. This didn’t sound too good, but his job was to look after everyone on the Praxiteles and he would. He pressed the button on the console in his chair to allow Nathaniel enter. “Hello- do come in,” he smiled, rising and offering his hand to Nathaniel. “Sit down- thank you for coming. We have a number of questions to go through,” he explained as he sat down again, making a mental note about the technical engineer’s handshake. Reaching for his black annotation block and pen, he raised his right leg to cross it over his left knee, using it as a table. “How are you feeling right now?”

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel stepped into the office, not even trying to smile at the other, he simply nodded a curt hello to the other and his hand shake was more of a high five, it lasted less than three seconds. He sat back on the couch, and flattened out his pants in an akward gesture to get comfortable. He brought his attention to the other, however his gaze only lasted a few moments, unwilling to linger on the others face, he chose to study the others office. It looked comfy enough, though it was clear that he had only jsut gotten here himself, his mind wondered to what this office might look like by the end of the journey after he had settled in. Then, we would have to unpack everything, and this office would have become all cozy and normal, would become empty as they spread out upon the new land, to once again destroy there surroundings like they did with earth. His attention was brought back when the other spoke to him as he responded, "I am feeling perfectly fine, how are you feeling?" He looked over at the other, avoiding eye contact and watching the wall behind the others head.

[Gatichan]

Hmm, this was interesting. Nathanial was refusing eye contact, volleying Ethan’s question back at him and staring around his office. The distaste was palpable in the air between them and Ethan eased backwards into his chair, making it swing slightly side to side. Perhaps a schizoid personality disorder? Perhaps even psychopathic? This technical engineer was turning out to interest Ethan more and more. “I’m fine, thank you very much for asking,” the psychologist smoothly replied, making a quick note for himself before sitting upwards straighter. The nice thing about his job was that he could ask anything he wanted and wouldn’t come off as nosy because it was part of his profession. “I see that you’ve taken an interest in my office. Is there anything that attracts your eye that you’d be more interested in it than looking at me?” he asked with a friendly smile, but there certainly was an undertone edge in it. Ethan could cope with a lot, but not with impoliteness. As he waited for the tech engineer to reply, Ethan paid a little more attention to Nathanial’s appearance.

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel could feel himself being watched and certainly did not like it, he continued to shift slightly on the couch, his back kept straight and his fingers where clasped in his lap. When the other spoke he looking directly at him, accidently catching him eye to eye and as a reflex he inclined his head back a bit and looked to the ceiling of the spacious room in a direct attempt at avoidance. Closing his eyes, he sighed and collected himself before he spoke his reply to the others question, "I think it is bland, if you have patients in here shouldn't you have some of those posters? Those motivational ones, that have that picture of the cat that says you are perfect. Something along those lines, or maybe an artificial flower, i've never seen a real one, but heard they die quickly, so wouldn't reccomend any of those." Though he did not talk very often, his voice was fluid, and unusually soft. He shifted once again and pinched the area between his thumb and forefinger on his left hand with his right hand, which was a nervous habbit he had developed when he was much younger. After he was satisfied that he had said enough, he spoke in return, "And, do you like your office?" His question held a hint of confusion, he was not sure what he was supposed to be saying really in this situation, after he finished he pursed his lips.

[Gatichan]

Ethan couldn’t help but snort out, laughing. “Posters? You mean you’d actually feel more at home with a poster of Sigmund Freud or of a traditional, ancient couch? Or perhaps of a rat from Skinner’s experimental days?” he grinned boyishly, but his smile hastily disappeared as he realized that Nathaniel wasn’t one for joking. “I don’t think much of such eye-catchers, because when you come here, the topic of conversation should be the only thing that my patients pay attention to. What kind of psychologist would I be if my patients came to stare at a poster and avoid voicing what worries them the most? This is the only room inside the Praxiteles where you can let down your guard and really focus on what bothers you. And since everyone is different, I want the room to take on the form that everyone is comfortable with. Over time, I’ve programmed my computer to add pictures that match my patient’s personalities, but first, I would like to get to know them without any biases,” he explained, making another note. Nathaniel’s soft voice had surprised him. After the rather rough and rude first impression, this sudden softness seemed out-of-place, yet at the same time fit the technical engineer somehow. The defiant, wary lip-pout near the end faintly amused Ethan as he cocked his head to the side. “Considering your records, I must assume that this isn’t your first time seeing a psychologist, but can it be that right now you’re unsure or…perhaps even…annoyed that you’ve been forced to see a shrink? You…really seem to feel uncomfortable here with me…or is it that you’re usually uncomfortable being around people?” he questioned carefully.

[Key-Tokki]

Nathaniel grew a bit annoyed at the other when he shot down his ideas on simple posters, it was a mere suggestion and the other felt the need to give him a monolog on it, though he did think the other starting out on a blank slate was a good idea, he still felt a simple cat poster was in order here. He inwardly groaned when he heard the other mention that he had located and read the young technitians files, knowing full well that his break down had been in there, he still remembered that very clearly. He has been trying to get up to the cabin when he had been swarmed, and someones worried father had grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him to the wall, there were so many people there, crowding around him, yelling at him, his head was splitting, his legs went weak and he collapsed against his friend the moment he got there. Looking back at it know, Nathaniel knew he must have looked like a weak little kid who was getting scolded, however he was far from weak. As quiet and withdrawn as he was, he always had an issue with being to stubborn. It had been a good three minutes since Ethan had asked him his question, and stuck in his own mind it took Nathaniel those three minutes to recollect the past incident then drawn back in his thoughts before he spoke again, choosing his words very carefully, "I do not like people, I like books, and mechanisms, stars, space, quietness, and things like that, but no, I do not like, nor am I comfortable around people. Nothing against you, but I do not like people who act like they care about what I have to say when in fact they are only doing there job." After he said it, he immediately regretted it, his tone was rather icy, however Nathaniel had really not meant to be offencive or rude at all, he was simply stating his mind. Though, because of his lack of communicational skills, it had come out the wrong way, but the small boy did nothing to take back what he said, rude or not he was going to stand by it. So he simply pinched his hand a bit harder, and chose to stare at his costume made, white shoes, keeping his gaze once more averted.

[Gatichan]

Yes, the techie was definitely schizoid. And an impolite bastard. Ethan could feel his own narcissism folding its arms and preparing for an attack to retort to the sullen patient across from him, but after he had taken a deep breath, Ethan calmed himself down and, instead, smiled cheerfully. If his own ego was acting up, it was obvious that something Ethan had said had annoyed the technician and forced him reply the socially-inept way that he had. “I’m afraid that you have a wrong conception of me,” the psychologist replied as he jotted some thoughts down. “I’m not pretending to care about you. I never would have become a psychologist if I didn’t, in general, care about humanity o believe that, in our cores, we are actually good. Listening to other people and trying to help them is my profession, it’s true, but I assure you that I care for each and every one of my patients. Now, you can believe that or not, but since you are sitting here in front of me and chose to show up for our appointment, you have decided to give me the benefit of a doubt and I will return your courtesy by trying to assist you and survive the journey to Phoenix Nebula as best I can.”

 

That having been said, Ethan picked up the first thing the other man had said. “I see- so your choice of profession naturally matches your personality. Being a technician means that you don’t have much contact with people and, when communicating with others, you can rely on technical, precise terminology instead of emotions which, if you’ll allow me to profess, are probably concepts that are difficult for you,” he ventured, nodding his head slowly. The technician’s illogical behavior of before- his having ignored the crying daughter or the confused and highly agitated group of women before now made perfect sense: their emotionality had probably overtaxed him and maintaining silence or by pulling himself back into himself, the technician had automatically been trying to protect himself. Ethan pursed his lips. “I take it something similar occurred during that “supposed” panic attack on the last ship you worked on? It wasn’t actually a panic attack per se, but you were probably bombarded from all sides by highly agitated people and didn’t know how to protect yourself from their emotions, could that be?”

[Key-Tokki]

Ethan heard the words from the others mouth, but to him they sounded like a drown of words that most people in his position were expected to say to there patients. He watched silently as the other began to jot down his notes, it took a visble amount of effort from the young boy not to lean back and sigh in annoyance. This would be annoying for him, however the other seemed at least nice, though a pit edgy, so maybe this would not be so badly? "I do appriciate your help, but I have been on ships for a very long time and most of my journeys, I am very successful and helpful to the mission at hand. This one, being that we will deliver everyone safley to the desired location, so I will do my job successfully and not hinder you, or anyone else on the ship." He spoke softly, however there was a hint of a plea to get out of these sessions with the other, though he knew it would be to no avail. But he could not keep from adding on, "As to that panic attack, it was not that bad, they made a big deal out of a little occurance so it's not that important and really doesn not exhibit anything about my behavors." Not that he would admit it, but that incident had emberessed him a very large amount, and it had almost happened a large amount of times. His best friend, Ishmeal, had helped him out numerous times. He always made sure to watch over the smaller boy, if he saw that Nathaniel was begining to act agitated, or show any signs of loosing it he would always step in and help. Ishmeal new a large amount about Nathaniel, how to calm him, what agitated him, they had been friends for a long while.

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

[Gatichan]

Ethan knew a lost case when he saw one and abruptly, he slammed his black annotations block closed. What the fuck? Here he was, trying to offer the other some help, giving him everything he needed to open up, feel comfortable and confide in him, but all he was getting was door after door slamming in his face. And what for? Was he gaining anything at all from this? No, exactly. So what was the point?

 

This reminded Ethan of his first years as a psychology student. Back then, he’d been enraged when he’d heard one of his most respected professors telling the class that he’d once come across a patient who had obviously had familial problems that stemmed from the man’s inferiority that he had tried to compensate for by hitting his wife. The wife had been the patient, but every time the professor had tried to show her options, give her ways out of her desperate situation, the woman had always replied with “yes, but…” And in the end, Ethan’s professor had understood that it was pointless to continue. “You know, if your patients want to remain living in a terrible way, then let them. A patient who isn’t motivated, cannot me molded during therapy. It’s a waste of your time and energy and if a therapist does more work than his patient, then something is wrong.” Although it had cost Ethan a lot of personal lost cases, he had finally come round to agreeing with his professor.

 

So what if the techie in front of him didn’t want to admit that he obviously had a social phobia, panic attacks, if not at least panic soupcons, and obviously was out of his depth when needed to interact with more than two people at the same time? Why should Ethan dedicate anymore of his precious time to trying to help someone who didn’t appreciate what he was doing? He had an entire ship of grateful patients and most of them would be in real, dire need of psychological help and thankful for finding it.

 

“Well, I think this is pretty pointless,” Ethan, ever the cognitive behavioral psychologist stated clear with a professional smile. “It’s more than obvious to me that you disregard me and think this session is a waste of time and, to be perfectly honest, I doubt my attempting to bond with you will earn me anything but hours of useless frustration. I suggest, therefore, that we stop this farce and you return to your work. You need not come to see me anymore, but I will inform the authorities that I believe you have some serious issues, yet refuse to work on them. This might have repercussions for your work, but until you come around to seeing that therapy might be helpful, it would be pointless forcing you to come and see me. So, Mr. Powell, I wish you a good day. My door is, of course, always open to you if you change your mind,” Ethan forced himself to add, even though in his head he was actually swearing profanely at the ungrateful bastard he had mistaken to actually be a nice, albeit schizoid fellow. He stood up and offered his hand as he pressed the button to open the door. His next appointment, a nurse, almost ran into the room, her facial expression betraying that she had issues…and that with a capital I. Well, at least this ought to be promising. Nodding at the technician, Ethan stepped aside, meaning for the man to leave.

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

[Key-Tokki]

Ethan was shocked, though did his best to keep any expression that may betray him from his face. He acted as quietly as he could for many reasons, but one reason that drove him to act like this was fear. He was very sensitive, when he tried to, he could help soothe people as well, he had a soft voice and very kind touch, but very few people ever had the opportunity to see that due to him being obviously avoidance of people. He sat back quietly as he watched the other slam his book shut, jumping just slightly at the loud noise it caused that seemed to echo in this overly simplified room. He had always pushed others away but very few times had he ever been told off in such a polite fashion, and it definitely unnerved him. As he watched the other walk towards the door, he parted his lips to call for the elder man to wait but stopped, remembered who he was, gathered himself together and stood. With a slight nod of him head he murmured out softly "Thank you for your time" As calm as he was trying to be, he knew how much trouble he could get into the higher ups found otu he was unwilling to comply with treatment, so he decided that he would have to convince the other to prolong hsi session a bit so he could at least keep Ethan from tattling on him, looking over more determined he opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when the nurse busted in, "I-" For a second he saw her rushing in and he visable stepped back in an unsure gesture at her. Because of that disruption he lost the focus and determination that he had gathered and closed his mouth once again, shook his head to gather himself, then stepped past Ethan, through the door without another word.

Please Register/ Sign In, in order to see the links.

Sorry it is so short D;