Foot-in-Mouth (Brody & Judy)

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office]
Brody wasn't sure what she was fishing for but he felt like his hobbies were all fine, so he answered.
"I enjoy reading and going to the holo deck, sometimes I also go to the air dive channel or do a climbing program. And the usual, you know. When I don't want to be alone I go to the local bars..."
In another setting he would have asked her now but he felt he was being investigated.

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

Judy nodded, noting his fondness of certain sporting activities.

"Do you use the holodeck with the safeties on, or do you do what soooo many Starfleet personnel do and choose to live on the edge?" she asked. "No wrong answer here."

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office Cooper]
"I leave them on." He was sure that this was what Judy wanted to hear. Plus he wasn't sure how to turn them off.
"There are people who switch them off?"
Maybe she mistook him for the Starfleet hero types.
"You might have the wrong idea about me because you met me on a mission. I'm a lab rat....I look at stones all the long and get excited when I get to fly to out moon to collect some samples. I don't fight on bars or switch off safety controlls. I'm not that dumb."

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

Judy raised a quizzical brow.

"So you're telling me that your life is boring, essentially?" she asked. "A lot of people tell me that. Many of them do that because they think if I don't consider them nice and boring, I'll consider them unfit for duty, when really, I think boredom is perhaps the biggest menace to our existence. Boredom is really the only thing quite like death that we experience in our lifetime. The bored are walking corpses."

She looked at Cooper after this speech, to see how he'd speak now.

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Npc Cooper Judys office]
"Far from it. My job is very interesting and I'm actually one of the specialists in my field."
He wrinkled his brow. "Why do you xall it boring. Just because I'm not crazy enough to jump out of torpedo launchers every day? I just don't have a screw loose."
He crossed his arms not very impressed with her assumptions.

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

A brief, slight look of surprise crossed Judy's features, but she then recovered.
"I'm glad you like your job. That's very important. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," she answered.

"Perhaps you'll allow me to explain why I'd slipped up. The phrasing you used, choosing to say that you 'study rocks' instead of saying you're a geologist. That phrasing drips of mundanity, if you'll pardon the expression," she explained. "Why did you put it that way?"

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office Cooper]
Interesting to see the psychologist apologize. Of course it didn't end there but raised new questions. This one was easy enough to answer.
"Most of my friends call it that, especially a girl I like. They like to tease me and it's easier for them to say it that way. If you want the precise field...it's called planetary geochemistry."
He eyed her with a little bit of annoyance now.
"Why are you really concerned, Judy? Ask me directly and you'll get a direct answer. I enjoy my job, I'm good at it and do it thoroughly. I have friends and fun....and I got very excited when I got asked to come on the recent mission but I didn't expect it to be as crazy as it was.....that's it. What's the problem?"

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

Judy shook her head. There was no easy way of saying this.

"Well, your superiors suspect you might have a substance problem. I'm not sure if they mean booze, or things one cooks up in a lab, or prescription drugs, but they do. If you do, I won't tell anyone anything, because my job isn't to be a narc, but I can help you. If not, then this was one big misunderstanding and we can call it a day."

Of course, Judy was aware of the real possibility Cooper would lie to her. That possibility was none of her business. She was not, in fact, part of the law enforcement system.

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office Brody]
His jaw almost dropped when the psychologist revealed what her real intentions behind her questions were. He could barely believe his ears.
Whatever she had heard must be false information or why would anyone suggest that? Were a few drinks considered Substance abuse?

"I think you got the wrong guy. Why would anyone think I do drugs? Who said so?"
This question was so far off the truth that he actually had to laugh.

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

"Well, it's not really my place to talk about those thought processes," Judy replied calmly. "The wall of confidentiality runs both ways, as it were, through me. What's more, as you say you're clean, then as far as I'm concerned, you're clean."

With that, Judy set this behind her.

"Now, is there something you're worried about in your life that you'd like to talk about, or would you like to call it a day?"

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office NPC Cooper]

"That easily? You say someone suspects I'm doing drugs, I say no, you simply close the book on that?" He wrinkled his brow in disbelieve.
"Well, I don't believe it's that easy and I want to know who shit on me like that excuse my language but I can't believe that one of my superiors said this about me. I've never even been late, I stay longer, work diligently....who said this?"
He would not be able to look his superiors in the eye anymore now.

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

Judy raised a quizzical brow at this outburst, but remained unfazed.

"Calm down, buddy. There's no need to get riled up. If they thought you were dangerous to other people, or slipping at your job, there would be a narc on your case, and I'm not a narc," she explained. "I'm a Counselor. My work comes in when there's a worry about how someone is doing with themselves, or sometimes in relationships. I'm not hunting for the truth like a detective, and I don't look for dirt on people. That's not what I do, and it's not what I want to do. You don't see me snooping around crack dens on the lower promenade with a blacklight, now do you?"

The image Judy had constructed with the last sentence was a clear absurdity. Her gentle wrinkles, manicured fingers, and pearls would look horribly out of place in a crack den.

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office Cooper]
Her words were calculated. It was Judys job to know exactly what she was saying to whom under which circumstance with what purpose. Brody was well aware. In this case she wanted to exaggerate to make the idea seem ridiculous and also deter his attention.

"You didn't answer my question." His green eyes stayed fixed on her now demanding an answer.

[Judith Eastman]

[Counseling Suite]

"I'm not allowed to answer your question, so I can't, and won't, answer it," Judy replied, calm in the face of the glaring. "My integrity rests on my confidentiality, so I take it very seriously. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

Behind her glasses, Judy maintained the same calm, steady look in her grey eyes. She didn't break easily, and Brody Cooper wasn't the one who'd break her.

"I think we've accomplished all that we will, young man. You're free to go, and I'll get back to my reading."

[Fells Halgerdur]

[Judys office Brody]

He wasn't happy with her answer but he understood that his time in her office was up. The way this had been going wasn't very satisfying.
As he got up he did not move away from her desk but placed his hands on it to make sure she knew he wasn't leaving just yet.
"What do you think? Do I have a drug problem?"
After all whatever she wrote would go back to the person, who enquired and was concerned about it.