The Family Arrives - Part Two

Posted on Mon Feb 24th, 2020 @ 1:56am by Commodore Siaxx "Bluemoon" Dvald-Vaxx MD & Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan

Mission: Mission 10: Holding on and Letting Go
Location: Various Locations - Starbase 400
Timeline: 1300Hrs - November 10th, 2389

T"You had other folks do your work, while you sneaked around and played in the holodecks?" Phoenix asked very directly, her normal hand shaking in rage.

"Why do you care about what I do with my life? You never really wanna hangout with me. It's Mom an' Dad you wanna spend time with," Aryssa countered just as angrily. "If I wanna become a professional Quidditch player, I can an' you don' tell me what to do."

And then it was a tense, staring contest. To learn her own flesh and blood was illiterate because of some fantasy sport fixation. If looks could kill, Phoenix would of murdered Aryssa ten times over.

Siaxx raised an eyebrow as she finally put her foot down. "Guys... enough." she growled, dark menace implicit in her tone. "This is not the time or place for this..." she turned as she tapped the call button of the turbolift they had been standing at the fir last two minutes.

Moments later the doors opened, the five of them went inside in silence as Siaxx called the destination and because Phoenix didn't say anything, the lift hurtled downwards to its destination. Mostly due to the fact Phoenix was beyond livid with Aryssa. It took all her willpower not to beat the girl to a pulp.

Minutes later they were in Siaxx's quarters which was coloured in pastoral greens and blues, generally warm and welcoming colors. "Now... lets try this again... Aryssa... how do you come to have such weak reading skills?" Siaxx inquired. "I'm not quite getting it... your parents are university professors..." she commented.

"Computer reads everything to me on my digital media player," Aryssa shrugged. "Makes it much easier for me to train when I don' have to read things... An' the 'rents thought I was letting the computer proof my stuff so they never knew."

"Hell I wish I had one of my parents with that skill.... maybe then I would have gone into another profession then medicine which is where everyone in my family goes..." Siaxx growled loudly, this was quite possibly a whole new side that Phoenix had never seen before.

"I do care about you," Phoenix finally spoke when she had regained some self-restraint. But she as well was eying Siaxx. Aside from Dorothy, Siaxx was also one of the most educated people Phoenix knew. "And you, Mom. Why didn't ya see this?"

"You leave your mother out of this, Jillybean," Blake warned in a manner that suggested a valid, but private reason Aryssa fell through the cracks.

"Mom's been puking a lot, past five years or so," Aryssa answered very defensive as she stood in front of Dorothy. "You'd not know that though, with you being here. It's why we came to see your station doc so she can fix Mom."

"That's enough, Aryssa. Go sit our bags down and sit on the sofa and keep you mouth shut," Blake barked out irritably.

The result was Phoenix looking to Siaxx with a dumbfounded expression, while Aryssa set the duffel bags down and plopped on the sofa, put her headphones in, and attempted to mellow out.

Why would her folks keep her from knowing about Dorothy's illness? And why would Aryssa rebel in such a way, as to take advantage of that illness to do as she pleased?

"Once she passes out for the night, we will explain everything," Dorothy promised. "But had we known she was putting her extra circular ahead of her education, she would not be at the crossroads she's at now, Dear."

"I would like a stiff drink, Siaxx," Phoenix noted just barely on a calm tone. "Should we fix drinks for the rest of the family?"

Siaxx nodded. "A good idea..." she responded. "I obtained a few bottles of Orion Whiskey from various people, two bottles of Chateau Picard from Torilla and one bottle of the Emissary's Vintage from Bajor." she explained as she looked from Phoenix to Dorothy.

Suddenly it hit her. "Where is she getting her education from?" she inquired as she took note of what Dorothy looked like as she very quickly realized the real reason that Jill's parents where here today as she silently poured four drinks, and she handed one to Phoenix, she handed the other two out and kept the strongest for herself. "Well dinner is in the oven, are you guys ready to eat now or later?"

"I wouldn't mind sitting at the table and and chatting," Dorothy smiled brightly. "An' I'd not take Aryssa so personally. She's been irritable and dour since she was turned down by the enlistment board... I'd of tutored her through her grade school years, really, if the Warden hadn't put me in charge of the prison's produce gardens."

"So she was schooled by the colony's tutors?" Phoenix gently prodded as the adults all had a seat at the dinner table for a chat.

"We did want to send Aryssa to you a few times, but your mother thought that would create more problems than this family could handle at the moment," Blake spoke very apologetically.

"Aint damage that can't be repaired," Phoenix spoke after a long sip of her booze.

"She don' want help. Don' see the need in it," Blake countered. "An' she's an adult by Federation law."

Phoenix looked again to Siaxx with lost eyes. She truly had no idea how to help Aryssa, or her mom for that matter.

"At age Seventeen, no she ain't" Siaxx responded evenly. "As for this Warden character I keep hearing about..." she paused as the look on her face spoke volumes. "Well.... you get the idea." was what she said instead.

"Trick is getting her to want to go back to school... which she don' want," Blake added, looking back at Aryssa to see the girl playing something on a small hand-held holo projecting game.

"How the hell does Torilla do it... handle children I mean... I've seen her handle everything from scraped knees to skinned shins, from crying infants to men with broken hearts.... and she makes it look so easy.... I've known her for less then five minutes and I'm already angry...." she sighed. "that's gotta be a record for me."

"I think my pissing the Elf off beats yours," Phoenix teased.

"No... Normally she's the angry one... I'm the happy one." Siaxx responded evenly as she polished off her drink as she felt the booze instantly go to work on her. "I've had people complain that I never get angry..." she paused. "You could enroll her here in the Starbase school system.... I know people who would be willing to help her."

"It's like AA, Dear," Phoenix spoke as she gently took Siaxx's hand into hers. "Aint gonna do much good if it's forced."

Siaxx raised an eyebrow. "Megszakad a szivem" she sighed softly. "You might not have a choice." she commented. "she'll never get a job anywhere with that level of reading..."

"Let's wait until morning then before we tell her the good news then," Phoenix winked devilishly.

"Oh I have no intentions of telling her anything whatsoever.." Siaxx responded evenly as she proceeded to pour herself a second glass as she smiled. "She'll try Starfleet and they'll turn her down... it'll piss her off even worse or it'll break her." she added. "she Needs to get her education.."

"I'll enroll her in the morning, while your mother is at the doctor's office," Blake promised.

"Siaxx can do the school physical," Phoenix suggested with a small grin, knowing Siaxx was finally understanding why Phoenix feared being a parent. Teenagers were mean and stubborn by majority.

Siaxx nodded. "It won't take me long at all... five minutes..." she commented as she was indeed seeing why Phoenix disliked children in general. "I hope all goes well with Doctor Brislan..."

"Well regardless of the outcome, we want to stay here a while so Jill can spend time with us," Dorothy noted a bit sadly. "It's cruel we hadn't seen much of each other. But I am happy that she has you to support her. Jill needs all the support she can have."

There was a secretive look she shared with Siaxx, before Jill interrupted, "I aint a pathetic puppy dog."

Siaxx noted the response. "Jill doesn't need any support really... she's one of the strongest people I've ever known and while she might not be the most popular person on the base... she is respected because she isn't the Wing Commander for nothing." Siaxx explained. "Aryssa needs to come to terms with who Jill is... she got here through damned hard work, proving her critics wrong... and there are a lot of critics who tell her it can't be done... I tell her otherwise.."

"You think this attitude of hers stems from her being used to being an only child?" Phoenix blinked as she took in Siaxx's comment.

"Its possible but then I'm only guessing.." she sighed. "I've never had children of my own and no prospects either... I can't stand being around pregnant women in general... I don't think I want to be around me when I become pregnant." she paused. "also the living conditions had a big part of that. She could see herself as a victim of circumstances outside her control."

That comment made Phoenix feel worse. The matter in which she gulped down her glass confirmed it.