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fandomweekly2022-11-24 02:20 pm
palian) wrote in fandomweekly2022-11-24 02:20 pm
Entry tags:
[#159] But One Life (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Theme Prompt: #159 - Memory
Title: But One Life
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating/Warnings: No mature content; but discussion of (mental) health issues, perhaps a bit of existential dread.
Bonus: yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Doctor Julian Bashir seeks the professional opinion of counselor Telnorri about a patient: Jadzia Dax is losing her memories.
"Kaga!" a Bajoran called out to the corpulent Klingon from his seat. "More racht!"
The chef shot him a smile and promptly got to work in his kiosk stall. Not many Bajorans come visit him on a regular basis: his food and drink is usually popular among visitors only, and Jadzia for that matter.
"Counselor Telnorri! I did not know you had a taste for Klingon cuisine," Doctor Bashir called out from down the promenade. He strutted over and eagerly sat down next to his colleague.
"Oh, Doctor." The Bajoran acknowledged Julian with a nod. "To what do I owe your presence today?"
"To be honest, a professional inquiry," Bashir answered and sighed, his jovial attitude quickly giving way to apparent concern.
"Doctor, you flatter me," Telnorri answered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but one that Julian could recognize as typical for the man. The counselor could easily come across as brash, but there was plenty of wisdom and professional skill of sixty years behind the rough facade. Some of his patients appreciated it, of course, but some others, like Chief O'Brien, decidedly did not. Telnorri was certainly someone to get used to.
"I would like to transfer one of my patients into your responsibility," the Doctor said. "A psychological concern that suits a counselor's eye more than mine."
"A formal transfer request would have been too mundane for you, Doc?" Telnorri snarked but quickly transposed his attitude into professionalism. He was particularly adept at keeping his personality and his bedside manner separate. "Now then, do you seek to give me your diagnosis?"
"Before officially transferring her into your care, I wanted to discuss the case with you. After all, as your senior officer on this station, it is my job to find a suitable professional to execute the therapeutic strategy in question, and I find personal interaction much more fruitful than reading a career file in that context."
"Her?" the Bajoran repeated and raised an eyebrow.
"Lieutenant Jadzia Dax," Julian said.
"Dax?" Telnorri murmured. "I sure hope it is not one of the many strange phenomena surrounding the mental state of joined trills."
"I am afraid it is. Do... do you want me to consider someone else for the assignment?"
"I need more information to answer that, Doctor. I am a capable counselor, and I recognize my weaknesses. Even so, I am the only counselor on Deep Space Nine right now, and if it is something that can help a patient, I would not dare shirk responsibility."
"As no doctor would," Julian answered solemnly. "Jadzia came to me around thirteen hundred hours, concerning an interaction she has had on the Promenade earlier that morning."
"Go on," Telnorri said. The Klingon chef, Kaga, approached the table with a bowl of fresh racht. Squirming and hot, it was an exquisite offering that the Bajoran thanked him for and placed on his table. "I am listening."
"She has met someone - an Axanarri called Nka - who she swore she had never seen before. However, while talking, the two of them realized that he was an acquaintance of Tobin Dax, her second host, who lived during the twenty-second century." Julian shook his head. "Axanarri can grow up to four hundred years old. When they met in the mid-twenty-second century, Nka was barely in the three digits, and now that he is on this station right now, he must be beyond three hundred years old."
"Interesting," Telnorri answered and dug around in his racht. Some worms escaped his hands, but they quickly found their way into his mouth, too.
"The point is, Telnorri, they were not just acquaintances. From what I understand, Nka was one of Tobin's closest colleagues throughout his engineering career. There is no way Dax could have forgotten about him, unless of course there was something blocking access to these memories."
"Joined trills do experience progressive memory loss with the age of the host. It is not uncommon to forget entire lifetimes as the symbiont grows old," the Bajoran acknowledged and wiped off his lips. "It must be terrifying to lose an entire life worth of memory: an entire identity. We can only imagine, for we only live one."
"One might say it's just a memory; at least that is what Jazdia told me when I asked her how she felt about the situation. Still, she seemed distressed about the entire ordeal. Distressed enough to warrant an exploratory talk, in my opinion."
"It is just a memory but it is not just a memory," Telnorri agreed. "Memories make up a majority of who and what we are: without them, we are just snapshots of our consciousness. Memory loss in single-lifespan people is concerning enough, but forgetting about an entire existence is a different beast."
"This is why it is so concerning for me. Someone has to help her remember, bring these memories back!" Bashir pled.
"Doctor, you must know that the recovery rate after symbiont memory loss is next to zero," Telnorri responded.
"I... am aware," Julian answered sullenly. "I just wish there was something we could do."
"Perhaps a trill specialist could attempt more, but the literature is quite clear on this. The proposed course of action should be to facilitate acceptance of the future, not to foster false hope for a cure that does not exist."
The bluntness of the counselor hit Julian in the gut more than he expected. Was there really nothing to be done? "I struggle to accept this," he said, but really, he knew Telnorri was right.
The Bajoran pushed himself up from his seat and threw his used paper towel into the empty bowl. "Tell Lieutenant Dax to meet me in my offices tonight. There is a lot we must talk about today."
"I see. Thank you, Doctor," Julian responded and swallowed. Telnorri went on his merry way across the promenade. Sitting alone in the noisy restaurant, only one thought repeated in Julian Bashir's head: "Will Dax forget me too?"
Title: But One Life
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating/Warnings: No mature content; but discussion of (mental) health issues, perhaps a bit of existential dread.
Bonus: yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Doctor Julian Bashir seeks the professional opinion of counselor Telnorri about a patient: Jadzia Dax is losing her memories.
"Kaga!" a Bajoran called out to the corpulent Klingon from his seat. "More racht!"
The chef shot him a smile and promptly got to work in his kiosk stall. Not many Bajorans come visit him on a regular basis: his food and drink is usually popular among visitors only, and Jadzia for that matter.
"Counselor Telnorri! I did not know you had a taste for Klingon cuisine," Doctor Bashir called out from down the promenade. He strutted over and eagerly sat down next to his colleague.
"Oh, Doctor." The Bajoran acknowledged Julian with a nod. "To what do I owe your presence today?"
"To be honest, a professional inquiry," Bashir answered and sighed, his jovial attitude quickly giving way to apparent concern.
"Doctor, you flatter me," Telnorri answered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but one that Julian could recognize as typical for the man. The counselor could easily come across as brash, but there was plenty of wisdom and professional skill of sixty years behind the rough facade. Some of his patients appreciated it, of course, but some others, like Chief O'Brien, decidedly did not. Telnorri was certainly someone to get used to.
"I would like to transfer one of my patients into your responsibility," the Doctor said. "A psychological concern that suits a counselor's eye more than mine."
"A formal transfer request would have been too mundane for you, Doc?" Telnorri snarked but quickly transposed his attitude into professionalism. He was particularly adept at keeping his personality and his bedside manner separate. "Now then, do you seek to give me your diagnosis?"
"Before officially transferring her into your care, I wanted to discuss the case with you. After all, as your senior officer on this station, it is my job to find a suitable professional to execute the therapeutic strategy in question, and I find personal interaction much more fruitful than reading a career file in that context."
"Her?" the Bajoran repeated and raised an eyebrow.
"Lieutenant Jadzia Dax," Julian said.
"Dax?" Telnorri murmured. "I sure hope it is not one of the many strange phenomena surrounding the mental state of joined trills."
"I am afraid it is. Do... do you want me to consider someone else for the assignment?"
"I need more information to answer that, Doctor. I am a capable counselor, and I recognize my weaknesses. Even so, I am the only counselor on Deep Space Nine right now, and if it is something that can help a patient, I would not dare shirk responsibility."
"As no doctor would," Julian answered solemnly. "Jadzia came to me around thirteen hundred hours, concerning an interaction she has had on the Promenade earlier that morning."
"Go on," Telnorri said. The Klingon chef, Kaga, approached the table with a bowl of fresh racht. Squirming and hot, it was an exquisite offering that the Bajoran thanked him for and placed on his table. "I am listening."
"She has met someone - an Axanarri called Nka - who she swore she had never seen before. However, while talking, the two of them realized that he was an acquaintance of Tobin Dax, her second host, who lived during the twenty-second century." Julian shook his head. "Axanarri can grow up to four hundred years old. When they met in the mid-twenty-second century, Nka was barely in the three digits, and now that he is on this station right now, he must be beyond three hundred years old."
"Interesting," Telnorri answered and dug around in his racht. Some worms escaped his hands, but they quickly found their way into his mouth, too.
"The point is, Telnorri, they were not just acquaintances. From what I understand, Nka was one of Tobin's closest colleagues throughout his engineering career. There is no way Dax could have forgotten about him, unless of course there was something blocking access to these memories."
"Joined trills do experience progressive memory loss with the age of the host. It is not uncommon to forget entire lifetimes as the symbiont grows old," the Bajoran acknowledged and wiped off his lips. "It must be terrifying to lose an entire life worth of memory: an entire identity. We can only imagine, for we only live one."
"One might say it's just a memory; at least that is what Jazdia told me when I asked her how she felt about the situation. Still, she seemed distressed about the entire ordeal. Distressed enough to warrant an exploratory talk, in my opinion."
"It is just a memory but it is not just a memory," Telnorri agreed. "Memories make up a majority of who and what we are: without them, we are just snapshots of our consciousness. Memory loss in single-lifespan people is concerning enough, but forgetting about an entire existence is a different beast."
"This is why it is so concerning for me. Someone has to help her remember, bring these memories back!" Bashir pled.
"Doctor, you must know that the recovery rate after symbiont memory loss is next to zero," Telnorri responded.
"I... am aware," Julian answered sullenly. "I just wish there was something we could do."
"Perhaps a trill specialist could attempt more, but the literature is quite clear on this. The proposed course of action should be to facilitate acceptance of the future, not to foster false hope for a cure that does not exist."
The bluntness of the counselor hit Julian in the gut more than he expected. Was there really nothing to be done? "I struggle to accept this," he said, but really, he knew Telnorri was right.
The Bajoran pushed himself up from his seat and threw his used paper towel into the empty bowl. "Tell Lieutenant Dax to meet me in my offices tonight. There is a lot we must talk about today."
"I see. Thank you, Doctor," Julian responded and swallowed. Telnorri went on his merry way across the promenade. Sitting alone in the noisy restaurant, only one thought repeated in Julian Bashir's head: "Will Dax forget me too?"
10/10
Re: 10/10
no subject
Really enjoyed this!