(Test Run) Waking Up After a Very Long Night

[tasha_yar]

Normally, she awakens quickly from habit. Today, she feels foggy...like she's been dried out from some weird drug. Damn it, she hasn't felt this bad since the day after the Tsiolkovsky incident. That's not worth examining while she has this head and body ache.

What happened this time? she thinks thickly. And how bad is it going to get?

She blinks a few times slowly. There was this dream. Deanna in a crashed shuttle and this...oil slick? Maybe. The damn thing laughed. Taunted them. Blocked their path to Troi and the injured crew. She tried. What did she try? Whatever it was she was floating afterwards, or flying through the air; like the dream shifted or something.

"The landing wasn't smooth," she murmurs with little mirth, rubbing her head.

She must have fallen asleep in her uniform again. Her head will clear with some coffee and food. Then, her sense kicks in. If she had been drugged, she needs to go to sickbay with as little intervention to herself as possible. If she's having a new form of intense nightmare then she needs to check in with Deanna. A large part of her wants to know she's okay anyway after that weirdness.

She chooses to forgo the shower in the same spirit as forgoing food and head out of her bedroom to check in with the first place her feet take her.

Comments

[tasha_yar]

"You came to the right place," Tasha replies, summoning her most professionally friendly smile from somewhere in her aching body. He must be new and she's just not recalling whom his parent or parents are. That's...not like her. Damn headache.

"Where is it you need to go?"

[just_be_quiet]

She gets a slightly concerned glance from Andrew. Is she really okay? Something about her reads like the nights following a case that went weird on his Uncle John. When he breaks out the stuff his Aunt calls 'paint thinner' even if it really isn't.

"Section Four, room 742." She may recall that those are guest quarters. That means the by must be visiting the ship with his parents, right?

No one would leave a young boy unattended.

[tasha_yar]

No. No, she's not, but she fakes being completely together very well.

People need to take better care of their children. They're insanely careless. Not that she lets that show. It's often not worth arguing with self-absorbed or work-obsessed ambassadors.

"Right this way." It's not too far away.

[just_be_quiet]

"Thanks," he says in a false-bright tone. Her mood is kind of battering against him. He doesn't know why she is irritated, just that she is.

"I'm still not really used to the ship. It's..." He pauses trying to find the right words. "A bit much for me."

He can't get over how big the ship is sometimes.

[tasha_yar]

She's irritated because she's not at her best. There is a nightmare to shake off, a healthy dose of pain she's covering for, seeing children alone sets her teeth on edge and it's better, at least in her mind, to latch onto irritation rather than fear. Anger isn't always useful, but it can pull you through quite a few fights.

"That's alright," she admits. "It took me awhile to settle in, too."

More than a week to mentally map everything down to the Jeffries Tubes. Dealing with people was always harder.

[just_be_quiet]

Andrew isn't able to pick up on the full range of feelings that Tasha is dealing with. He would have no idea she was in pain. Just that her feelings might just be more complicated than most people allow themselves this early in the day.

"I wasn't even supposed to be here," Andrew sad feeling a good a proper sulk trying to work it's way forward. He doesn't say why he shouldn't be here he just moves right along.

"Summer vacation. It just started back home." Which tells Tasha very little. Just that the boy isn't in a happy place right now.

[tasha_yar]

"Maybe you can convince your parents to take you to the holodeck." Yeah, right. She tried not to envy the kid. Summers when she was his age meant the blessing of more wild food to potentially gather from the encroaching foliage of parks and abandoned homes. It meant less need to stay in bulky clothing that protected you, but made movement slightly more difficult. But it also meant many of her hiding places underground became flooded with spring runoff mixed with some sort of toxic sludge which burned her nose just getting near it.

She found herself visibly shaking off the memory. Great. She was doing that again. She was looking...Well, obviously different.

"Or you can reserve time to go have a summer in there. Just ask the computer to schedule you."

[just_be_quiet]

That is the moment when the wind is knocked out of Andrew's sails. He doesn't really have parents anymore. He can pick up on feelings of envy but really, he has no idea why anyone would envy him. His Dad doesn't really care about him anymore and he isn't even sure if he will ever see his mother again.

"I don't have parents." There is a faint crack to his voice. "And... I'm one of the people Q kidnapped. I'm sure you remember. A bunch of people swept up by a weird.... prank? All of us stuck on your ship."

He doesn't cry or sniffle. He is sad though because he misses home. "I'm from your past. Kind of. He's been yanking people from all over time and space."

He gives Tasha a sad glance finally. "All I have from home is my dog Bernie. I miss my Uncle John and... my Aunt. I don't think even the holodeck could fix that. It can't really simulate how a farm really smells."

[tasha_yar]

That shocks her into a kind of battle mode that may be hard for Andrew to process. It's almost feral, but well-trained and honed to a point sharper than diamonds. Why the hell did Worf or Lt. Collins wake her if Q was here?! Her phaser slips into her hand.

"Where is he? Where is Q now?!"

Because, no, she doesn't remember this happening. Not a thing.