The Hourglass (Open)

[julia]

Julia was so tired, and all she wanted to do was sit down and have some time to herself. Sure they had only been on the ship a day and most people had very little to do. But that wasn't the case for Julia. She had asked Jess, the doctor, to give everyone a "test" when they had their per-exam. She had to make sure everyone was mentally stable to be able to take the stress of space travel as well as the difficult task a head of them. Of course the government had preformed their own evaluation before hiring the people, but frankly Julia felt that if she didn't do it then there could be something that they missed that could cause possible problems in the future. She also, because she had done this before, knew that it was a good idea to get a good idea of who everyone was, since she was going to have to be giving them all psychological console through out the mission, which could possibly be years. She had already decided that they would all be required to have a season once a week, and every time after a "mission" was finished. Good mental health in a crew was very important.

Julia had thus spent the whole day going over the tests that she got back from Jess, making her "first impressions" of each person. Of course she would be able to get more accurate read off them once she talked to them personally. She was already starting to schedule who would be coming in on what day and when. Hopefully she wouldn't have any who protested to the consoling. There was always a few, but it would really make her job easier if they just went along with it. after all there was nothing wrong with talking to some one about things. Especially when there were only a few people to talk to at all. Of course because she would know just about everything about everyone on the ship, it was her job after all, she knew that it could distance her from the rest of the crew. People after that she would spill their secrets. But she had been doing this a long time and believe strongly in doctor-patient confidentiality. And just hoped that others would see that. Even more so she was a very nice person, very easy to get along with. (Which probably helped out with her job, people didn't mind talking to her.)

Julia made her way from her office in the medical bay back to the sleeping quarters where she changed into sweat pants, and a lose sweat shirt. There was no reason to be to not be comfortable at the end of the day. Then she headed to the "common room" stopping by the bathroom to wash her hands. After scrubbing them for a minute flat she continued on her way. Of course as a psychologist she noticed her OCD like obsession with being clean and washing her hands. But as far as she could tell at the moment it wasn't a problem. She didn;t let the obsession get in the way of anything, and she could handle it, so there was no problem to worry about it. Even if it was a problem she would get help. She was there to help others, not get help herself. When she made it to the common room she half fell onto a couch and let out a long sigh, glad to finally have some time to realize.

[karen1]

Mei's mind was whirling, and she wanted nothing more that to hole-up in her room and curl up on her bed in the dark. Then maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to soothe her raging thoughts. She'd spent the entire day staring at console screens, scanners and microscopes, and she hoped that some down time would help her relax. It was unlikely, but still worth the effort if it helped sharpen her focus for the following day.

But when she was finally in her room, dressed down in a worn pair of yoga shorts and an over-sized t-shirt, she found that she was just as restless as before. For only a fraction of a second she considered trying to sleep anyway, but she knew that would be completely hopeless. So instead she grabbed her current reading material and meandered out into the common room.

There was only one other woman there--the ship psychologist, Julia Elkins. Mei nodded to her politely before sitting down next to her on the couch, pulling her feet up and crossing her legs. She then flipped her book open to the page she had dog-eared and began to read. Before long, though, the letters began to blur together and the words made less and less sense.

After reading the same sentence for the umpteenth time over without taking in any more than the first couple of words, Mei sighed in aggravation and snapped the cover shut. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself, but it didn't help much, and in the end she found herself turning to Julia with an exhausted expression.

"It's been a hectic week, hasn't it?" she sighed, leaning back into the soft cushions of the couch.