The Improvised Counselor

Posted on Mon May 23rd, 2011 @ 10:01am by Lieutenant Xylia Lischka

Mission: Shore Leave 2; Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Various
Timeline: Sometime after "Bar Brawling With the Best of 'Em"

= Deck Five; Corridor =

After sleeping for hours without interruption and seeing to her dogs, Xylia showered and changed into some civilian clothes. She felt like a million bucks now, mentally kicking herself for not taking the doctor's orders seriously when he first issued them, but on the flip side of that coin, she didn't take orders from most people. Surely, that would land her ass in hot water at some point, but for now, she planned to enjoy some downtime. There was no way of knowing how long it was going to last, but she planned to take full advantage.

The Lieutenant walked out of her quarters, then looked up and down the nearly deserted hall save for those who were brought on board to fix the Arizona up. Her fellow crewman were either at their duty stations, or hanging out on board the starbase. A lap in the pool sounded like fun, but so did heading off of the ship. She had never been to Starbase 900 before, so the chance at partaking in something new won out in the end. There would be one difference now as opposed to her time on Pacifica. She wouldn't be pranking the Commodore this go around, but that didn't necessarily mean the rest of the crew would be safe from her antics.

Moving through the corridor on deck five, Xylia decided it was time to make a brief pit-stop before heading off of the ship. "Computer. Locate Ensign Marcus Schenk."

"Ensign Marcus Schenk is on deck two. Mess Hall." Came the curt response from the computer's female voice.

Making her way toward the closest turbolift, the Lieutenant stepped inside. "Deck two."

= Deck Two; Mess Hall =

Ensign Schenk sat at a table in the Mess Hall, looking down at the plate of food in front of him. It not only looked upappealing to him, he found that his stomach was less than pleased at the sight and smell of anything that might invade its private domain. A growl and other noises came from it and he pushed the plate back. "Okay, okay...no food. God, what did I do last night?"

He had gone to the Starbase to find Commodore Cowell and ended up drinking with him at The Salty Ferengi. That memory came back to him as well as a taste in the back of his throat that reminded him of nothing like the human drinks he usually imbibed. "Ugh. No more..no more. I swear on my uniform."

Moving into the Mess Hall, Xylia paused at the door and looked around, spotting the person she sought out. He looked like someone beat him with a stick, and that was putting it nicely. She made her way toward his table and cleared her throat, but that wouldn't be what got his attention. Her words certainly would do the trick. "So, who did you piss off?"

"Hrk?" Marc tried to get out words and failed as he looked up to see his former ACOS. Swallowing, he pushed his plate off to the side to give her room if she wished. "The Salty Ferengi.... Klingons. Me and the Commodore fought Klingons" He indeed did look like he had been beaten with a stick and lost the fight. A dark five o'clock shadow covering his face, his hair still in disarray and his eyes were bloodshot. "Please...have a seat, Lieutenant."

The woman settled down in the offered seat and cocked her head to the side, studying the man a little more closely. Scratch being beaten by a stick... upon closer inspection, the poor man looked like a bag of battered ass. "I'm going to assume that The Salty Ferengi is my kind of place based on your current appearance." She pulled a flask from the back pocket of her jeans and opened it, pressing the opening to her lips for a sip before offering it to him. "You look like you could use this."

His face paled visibly at the sight of the flask, but the look on her face told him that he needed something; besides, food was definitely not an option. "Yeah...was there with the Boss Man for a while. Not sure what happened after we started drinking with the ugly bastards." Taking the bottle, he upturned it and poured a generous portion down his throat. His face flushed as the whiskey hit his system and he set the flask on the table. "Woah...damn."

Taking another swig from the flask when she was done, she screwed the cap back on and slipped it back into her pocket. "The times when one can't recall what they did after spending an evening drinking are the best. You likely used the Old Man as your wing man. I'm fairly certain he hasn't seen a woman naked in... hell... a long damn time. Between you and me, I think if he got some ass, he'd be shitting rainbows and pissing sunshine."

Marc couldn't help but laugh, the visual strong in his booze-soaked brain. "Might do him some good...but he's not a bad guy. Just got a lot on his shoulders." He gave a wistful look at the flask as she put it back in her pocket. "I need to get some of that...tastes a lot better than whatever the hell I was drinking last night." He tried to organize his thoughts. "Needed it, though. As long as I don't live in a bar, like the Commodore told me. I think it was him, anyway."

"No, the Commodore is definitely not a bad guy, and I wasn't implying that he was for the record." She stated, pulling the flask back out when she saw the look on his face. "This is from my personal stock. Have it." Leaning back, she continued to eye the man settled across from her. "So, there was a reason for my tracking you down. I wanted to thank you for being at the right place at the right time. I'm not entirely sure how long I would have laid there before someone found me."

He took the flask, but paused as he listened to her words before shaking his head. It was a move he regretted and he took a moment to compose himself. "It's what anyone would have done, Lieutenant. No, he isn't a bad man. He helped me see things from a different view, and I realize that I owe you an apology for thinking that you were a callous bitch. I'm sure a few people think that I'm an asshole because of the way I've been."

Xylia laughed and shook her head. "I've been called many things in the past, but I do believe 'callous bitch' is a new one. Oh, don't get my wrong, I've been called a bitch plenty of times, but never with something else." She leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. Her eyes turned serious then, locking on his. "While you're here, if you ever, and I do mean ever, decide you want back in Security, let me know. I'll fight like hell to get you back there. I was a bit shocked to find out the Old Man moved you, but I never question his actions. There's always a method to his madness. But.. I wanted to let you know that I have your back if you want to move again."

"I appreciate it, Lieutenant. If I hadn't been so damned nosy as a Investigative Officer for Security, I doubt that he would have moved me to Intel. I took two years of Intelligence at the Academy, too." He paused and took a drink of the whiskey before offering the flask back to her. "It really was an honor serving under you in Security and if he'll let me, I'd gladly serve under you again if you needed me." He leaned back, trying to figure the woman out. "I have a personal question, if you don't mind. You don't have to answer, though."

"If you don't ask questions, how will you learn anything?" She asked in return. "Go ahead."

"Are you really a bitch, or is that just a cover? I'm not saying that you can't handle your job because you obviously can. I tried being hard, but it just isn't working."

"It's not a cover. I am a bitch, but only when it's necessary." Xylia replied. She thought back to that day he found his friend. Perhaps she could have handled that a bit differently. "I'm sure there are situations I could have handled much differently, but there's no point in letting it drive us crazy now. It's happened, and no matter how much we'd like to, we can never change it. If we could, I'd go back and change quite a bit. Just use it as a learning experience, Marc. Don't base yourself off of how I handle things. You'll be sad, miserable and alone."

"It isn't like I have a lot of friends, anyway," He shrugged. "I keep having dreams about finding her and I don't know what to do. I'm really trying not to let it affect my performance, but I feel that it is." He paused and sighed. "I should have expected that I'd be dealing with death on a regular basis when I got assigned to the Arizona. I think that if I do get used to it that it will be time to hang up my uniform once and for all."

"You'll never get used to it. I'd be a bold faced liar if I said it didn't bother me, and it does, I just handle it a lot differently from everyone else." She stated. "As for friends, keep doing what you're doing and introduce yourself around. I guarantee, you'll be the most popular person on this ship."

"I doubt that. Enough of this doom and gloom. I need to get my mind off of this before I end up a statistic myself, but I have no idea what to do." He wanted to ask if she wanted to go to the Starbase, but he would tell a Klingon that they were pretty first. He shrugged. "Maybe I'll go hang out in the Lounge or go work out. Who knows?"

"I'd suggest a shower and sleep it off. It does wonders." Xylia stated. "Me, on the other hand, I'm going to head to the Starbase and avoid any run-ins with a certain doctor."

"You mean the Commodore?" He asked, thinking that the Starbase might be a good idea after all, but he decided that her advice was probably the best advice. He didn't want to seem like a stalker, and she clearly wasn't interested in him. He mused for a moment further, but shook his head. If he said or did anything, she would be avoiding him next.

"No, not the Commodore, I meant Kar'G. He's... something. He pissed me off last night, and I kicked his ass." Xylia said, trying to shake the images from her head when they popped up.

"You mean that big Klingon in Medical? Wow. Remind me never to pick a fight with you. The ones that we fought on Starbase 900 were brutal. The Commodore saved my ass more than once in the fight." He laughed. "I think that he should be the one to avoid you."

The woman returned her flask to her pocket. "Klingons are quite persistent, so we'll have to see how that goes." She got to her feet and gestured with her head. "Come on. I'll buy you a drink on the Starbase."

He hesitated for a moment, then got to his feet and picked up the tray of forgotten food. "That sounds good to me. Let me get a shave in, then we can head over." Taking his tray to the disposal, he emptied it and returned. "Thanks, Lieutenant...it means a lot."

"I'm pretty sure I mentioned this before, but when we're not on duty, you can call me Xylia. I won't bite you for it." The woman said, just before she disappeared out of the door.