Loyalty, Love, Fanatism

[Sombs]

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ID: Sombra Hookier
Location:
Subject: Counseling
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Hello there, Miss Camillo!

Captain Vertiga told me you're bored enough to do some counseling sessions with me? My therapist on Curacao took her leave when they announced the Carcassonne in Cortez, so I'm looking for a new one. Ezrael mentioned you, so I wanted to ask whether you're available.

Sombra Hookier

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ID: Lindsay Camillo
Location: Omicron Kappa
Subject: RE: Counseling
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Hello Miss Hookier!

Captain Vertiga is right, I have plenty of time for you. I just talked to the Captain and he told me you are the woman who brings us supplies with a Zoner Whale, so I thought we could combine this and have you stay a little longer on the Apahanta when you are already around. Although the Captain doesn't like it when other people enter his ship, he agreed with this, so I guess I will see you soon. I'll attach a PQ to this message and would like to ask you to fill it in and send it back to me before we meet, so I have a rough idea about you. That will help me preparing myself for you.

If you have any questions, shoot right away. There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers, so don't worry. I'm looking forward to meet you in person!

Lindsay Camillo

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January 9th, 825 - Omicron Kappa

The cup of tea on the little table infront of Sombra was steaming, the liquid slightly reflecting the warm light of the room. To her very surprise, the quarter of Counselor Lindsay Camillo looked less spartanic and more like a normal room in some flat on a planet. It was nice, a decent surprise. It felt comfortable. She was used to less comfortable rooms on space ships. Ezrael for example had no fluff in his personal room, close to the bridge. It was like a secondary commanding room and security office. Not comfortable, but somehow interesting.

Her look moved up from the steaming cup of tea to the almost sleepy smile on the face of Lindsay, who sat in a seat on the opposite side of the table, welcoming Sombra with a smirk. "Make it yourself as comfortable as you want. Most therapists don't want their patients to lay down during the talk, but if you want, the couch is yours."

"I'll just sit for now, but thank you." Returning the smirk, Sombra shifted a little on the couch, making sure her black dress was fitting perfectly. Her hands were in her lap, held by her closed legs. It didn't look like she was relaxing. More like as if she was trying to be as respectful as possible. Lindsay however sat cross-legged in her seat with a PDA in her own lap. She wore one of those black Apahanta suits that were pretty shape-revealing, so Sombra saw how thin Lindsay was. It made her wonder whether she was borderlining shortweight.

"If you say so. It is nice that you're here. I rarely get to see new faces here on the ship, and I heard already so much about you, even before the questionaire." Lindsay had a very quiet and soothing voice, filled with positivity. Sombra liked that. "Thank you for sending it back to me. That makes things easier for me. Just to make sure I understood everything right, I'll ask you about a few things you wrote. Note though that this counseling will only help much as long as you feel comfortable with it. If there are topics you don't want to talk about with me, please say something and we change the topic to something else. Okay?"

Nodding, Sombra replied. "Okay."

"First of all, I would like to ask you to formulate verbally why you think you need this counseling. You mentioned you already have been in therapy on Curacao with another therapist. I would like to know what you were aiming at back then and how you felt about it, and what you expect from this. One question after another, though."

"Okay," Sombra sounded again, this time more thoughtful. She actually had no idea what she was expecting and in her mind, she tried to think about all of it, and how to formulate it. She wanted to articulate herself as best as possible to not make a dumb impression on her. "I've been in therapy now for multiple years. It was mostly about escorting me through my life with stress-relieving talks, but also some activities, sports and such. I don't really feel the concrete need for therapy. I think the word itself isn't fitting in my case, at least not anymore. I do like the talks, though. There are people who listen and give their opinion, and there are qualified people who listend and give qualified advices. When I go to a counseling, I get my little package of attention without any negativity. At least that is my experience so far about it." Lindsay smirked at Sombra, looking at her PDA then, which was recording what Sombra said and at the same time created a transscript of it.
"Do I need it? Maybe, maybe not. Do I want it? Yes. Does it hurt if I get it? Very unlikely. So here I am, talking to a person I don't know. A person who listens. Back when I needed it, years ago, it was to stabilize myself. I went through a very rough change, both in body and in mind, from a suicidal, fat and ugly girl to a slim, athletic and pretty woman. My childhood wasn't nice. Kids aren't nice to fat and ugly kids. I was an outsider and it got worse with each year. And just before it was too late, your Captain stepped into my life. During college. He was there as teacher for biology and phsyical education and specifically for surfing. He helped me to fix my issues, but he on his own didn't have the time and the training to help me with my mental issues. That is when the therapy started."

There was a certain smirk on Lindsay's lips as Sombra mentioned Ezrael. "So the therapy back then was mostly consisting of therapeutical talks?"

"Majorly, yes. At least the professional aspect of it. Anything else was sort of guided by Ezrael." Sombra herself smiled sheepishly when mentioning it.

"What exactly was anything else?" the counselor asked her interested, watching Sombra's body language very closely.

"He organized funds for a lipectomy from Orbital Spa & Cruise. His family had a sub-company of OSC back then, so he had his connections. Within a short time, I lost massive weight and now I look like I look now. He also made sure I wouldn't hide myself all day, taught me how to like my own body, how to eat correctly, what sports I can do, how to be more sovereign in my appearance and all that. After class, we had this surfing club, where I also met Leon, your chief engineer."

"Ex-Chief engineer," Lindsay corrected her with a nod.

"Ah, yes, right. Well, Ezrael made sure I would treat my body better and suddenly I had friends and looked forward to have social interactions instead of hiding myself in the neural net. All thanks to him. I think that answers the questions, right? I feel very happy about it, which is why I don't want to give backfire any chance."

"That is indeed a wise attitude," the counselor commented with a smirk. She grew silent for a moment, smirking at the table without any focus.

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