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Aberrant: StarGate Atlantis - The Pegasus Couch


Dawn OOC

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Dr. Heightmeyer felt incredibly nervous. She hid it well as she straightened the pillows on her chair one more time, but she could feel it in her gut. It all stemmed from one source: Inoae.

It wasn’t just the fact that she was a Lantan. That would be unnerving enough; Dr. Heightmeyer was sure that no other human psychologist had ever attempted to treat a Lantan. But the psychosis that Inoae suffered from would be daunting if she were just a human. Trying to treat a Lantan for these kind of traumas made her feel like she was drowning, like she didn’t know where to start with her.

Still, she had to try. She’d do her best to inflict no harm, even if she couldn’t heal. Standing, she smoothed back her blond hair and stared at her pillow arrangement, lost in thought. Worry and doubt rose in her, but she tried to keep it hidden.

A soft sound caught her attention and Kate turned. She broke into a smile upon seeing the waif-like woman peering shyly into her office. “Inoae,” Kate called softly, “please come in. I’d like to talk to you.”

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Yseult Moreau had told her that she was going to see Dokter Hyt Myer who was a "shrink". She'd figured out most of the hive's language by now, but she wasn't sure what that was and since her Ysuelt Moreau didn't elaborate, she was left with the mystery. Dokter Hyt Myer was not an imposing figure, but as Inoae did not yet know her standing in the hive, the young woman entered tentatively.

Her tense stance eased a little as Dokter Hyt Myer told her what would be happening: she had instructions for Inoae and her Yseult Moraeu had given her to Dokter Hyt Myer for a time. It made her feel better, to be used and useful. So she bowed her head, eyes respectfully lowered, and waited for Dokter Hyt Myer's instructions.

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Kate studied Inoae for a moment as she lingered by the door. "Please, have a seat," Dr. Heightmeyer said. The girl demurely sat on the floor. Kate felt a moment of chagrin as she realized the other woman had treated it like an order.

Still troubled, Kate settled down in her seat. "Would you like something to drink?" Dr. Heightmeyer asked, her compassionate expression calm as she watched Inoae.

The hazel eyes darted up, looking to see if the answer was clear. After a moment, Inoae hazarded, "No."

Kate noted the furtive movements and the tension as the girl waited to learn if that was the 'right' answer. Kate went for the soft approach, to start. "What would you like to talk about, Inoae?"

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Inoue's brow furrowed and Kate could see the tension in her went up several more layers.

"I would like...to talk about...whatever it is Dokter Hyt Myer would be liking to talk about." Her words were slow and unsure, her eyes resolutely on the ground a few inches short of Kate's feet.

Inoue wondered what this was. Was this a test from the queen or from her Yseult Moreau? It didn't make any sense. She was supposed to be given directions, orders, not asked these strange questions she had no idea how to answer. Kate could see the slight shiver of Inoue's suppressed shaking. This wasn't an auspicious start.

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"I'd like to talk about whatever you'd like to talk about, Inoae," Dr. Heightmeyer said. Inoae began to shake visibly. "Would you like me to pick the topic?"

"I would like to talk about whatever it is Dokter Hyt Myer would be liking to talk about," Inoae said with more conviction.

Kate suppressed a sigh. She needed to think about this a little, but not right now. "How about we start with how your day goes? What do you typically do in a given day?"

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Inoue nodded, still tensed but easing up now that she had been given direction. "I am with my Yseult Moreau or her Ayden Ford or the Loo Tenent Kenning. Unless my Yseult Moreau tells me to be elsewhere, like here. Sometimes I am told to stay in my Yseult Moreau's rooms. Other times I am taken to the mess hall."

She seemed pensive about this, though her expression and tone of voice didn't show it; Kate was well trained at seeing that something more than words or body language. It is a test, Inoue thought and hoped she had reported satisfactorily. The fear of injury without the Gift to heal it loomed large in her as she waited for Dokter Hyt Myer's decision.

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Kate smiled though she really didn't feel it. She watched Inoae for a moment, thinking, as the waif tensed more. "Tell me what a typical day with... your old Hive was like."

Inwardly, she winced. She needed to stop phrasing those requests as statements that might be seen as orders. It was done though, and she braced herself for Inoae's description. It was probably going to be very, very bad.

"A day with who?"

Kate paused. "I'm not sure who you spent your days with. Pick your favorite... person; tell me about what your day with them was like."

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Inoue bit her lip and tentatively said, "There are no days or nights in the hive. Days and nights are for outside and for culling planets."

Kate took another steadying breath. "That's okay, Inoue. It doesn't have to a real day. I just want to know how you spent your time in the hive, starting with your favorite...person." The waif nodded and stared away in the room for a moment, a habit Kate was beginning to identify as Inoue's thinking/memory state.

"The Keeper gave me to her males most of the time. When I was with her, she would punish me for failing her. Fingers and toes for small offences, hands and feet and legs and arms for more serious failures. Sometimes the ribs, but usually when she was angry at one her males. Sometimes she would braid my hair or tell me a song to sing. Sometimes she would dress me in different garments to decide her favorites. Sometimes she would tell me a dance to dance. Sometimes she would wait to see how long I could keep from failing her with my weakness of needing constant hibernation."

Her eyes flicked from the corner of the room back to the place just in front of Kate's feet. It was a furtive look, the first inkling that Inoue possessed any vestige of a separate personality from the brainwashed and broken slave of the Wraith. She continued on, her voice softer, almost a whisper. "When the Keeper would give me to Ghost, he would talk to me, ask me questions about the other males. He let me keep my clothes, even the ones he didn't like as much as others. I would stay with him when he would leave his rooms, usually. He let me see the hive with him so long as I kept quiet and didn't fall behind or get lost. He'd ask me other questions, too, about strange places and people, but I didn't remember the answers. He didn't punish me for that; he's kind. Sometimes he would even put cloth on the floor for me so I had a warmer place to hibernate when I finally succumbed to my weakness. When he took me for sex, sometimes it was pleasant, more than with most of the others. He only punished me when I deserved it, and he always gave me the Gift as soon as I had learned from my mistake. He...he would protect me from Pain and Void when he could. He would make sure I wasn't killed and that I was given the Gift before I was returned to the Keeper. Ghost said once that he was the one who found me, who rescued me and brought me to the Keeper..."

Her voice trailed off, her eyes still far away. She had spoken of the Keeper first, showing that she at least thought that the Keeper had to be identified as her 'favorite person', but she spoke longer about Ghost and without prompting. The truth wasn't hard to grasp.

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Yep, that had been bad. Kate kept her face still; she was trained to deal with PTSD and this was clearly that. "Ghost sounds like he could be very kind," she said, managing to not choke on the words. Ghost was still a Wraith, still someone who would eat Kate alive. She pondered the wisdom of this question, then asked, "Do you like it here? When you first got here, you wanted to go back to your hive. Do you still want to return?"

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She frowned. "This is my hive now. This hive was stronger....my Yseult Moreau took me and I am here now." The question obviously made her nervous again, and confused.

Kate leaned toward the girl, catching on the strange phrase. "Your Yseult Moreau? Is she yours? Do you feel that she belongs to you?"

Inoue's eyes widened and she looked up at Dokter Hyt Myer for the first time. She was horrified. How could Doktor Hyt Myer think that she would be so arrogant? Had she said something or done something for such a dangerous idea to have been perceived from her?

"No no no no no! I belong to my Yseult Moreau. I am hers. She took me! I am hers!" She was shaking visibly now, her mind splintering in terror at the punishment she would be given for such a question have been asked of her. How could she have failed so miserably? This new hive was strange, and her best effort to understand, to please her Yseult Moreau and this hive simply wasn't enough to do her duty and know her place.

Tears were streaming down the distraught girl-woman's eyes; her arms were wrapped around her legs and her head was tilted away from an expected blow.

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"I'm not upset, Inoae," Kate tried to assure her. Frowning, she rose and sat down next to the girl. To her surprise, this seemed to agitate the young woman even more. Inoae flinched as Kate settled and repeated her assurances. That didn't seem help; if anything, it confused her more.

Kate sighed, which made Inoae feel she'd failed even more. "Why don't you go, Inoae?" she said, standing up. She didn't try to help her up but went and opened the door.

Lt. Kenning peered in, his shoulders sagged as he saw Inoae's state. "Guess the session didn't go well?" he understated.

"Not really," Kate muttered. More loudly, she said, "You can go, Inoae."

When the door was closed behind them, she picked up her notebook and scrawled her notes. Then she turned to her laptop and opened the email program.

Quote:
To: weire@atlantis.gov

Subject: Inoae Amara

Dr. Weir,

I had my first session with Inoae today. It was not what I call a success, though I believe that I have made inroads into understanding her. A full report is attached, but I wanted to request that Sgt. Moneau be included in further sessions, at least for a while. Inoae has a fixation on her and I believe that the sergeant will be a good bridge between Inoae and myself. When Inoae is better, I'll excuse Sgt. Moneau from further sessions.

Please let me know who I need to talk to so that Sgt. Moneau has time cleared in her duty roster to meet with us bi-weekly.

Sincerely,

Dr. Heightmeyer

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Quote:
To: heightmeyerk@atlantis.gov
Subject: RE: Inoae Amara

Dr. Heightmeyer,

I've already arranged things with her superior. If you have any future concerns or time needs for Sgt. Moneau, feel free to talk to Major Sheppard directly.

Keep me informed on Inoae's status.

Dr. Weir
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  • 2 weeks later...

In retrospect, Dr. Heightmeyer wished she'd know how much Yseult would resent being pulled into the sessions. It made an already difficult task that much harder, and it meant that she had two women's trust to win.

Still, she didn't know that at first. She was hopeful when Yseult and Inoae arrived for their first scheduled session.

At the knock at her door, she rose and opened it, waving the two women in. "Yseult, Inoae," she smiled in greeting. "Please make yourselves comfortable and let me know if you want water or anything." She moved to her chair but remained standing; she waved at the two other chairs across from her for her guests.

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Putain de Merde! Yseult hadn't enjoyed being forced to endure Therapy after her father had died, and she more than expected that she wasn't going to like it with a submissive, clingy Lantean hovering around her either. She wasn't sure whose fault all this was, but she dearly wanted to thank them... with a fist.

At the appointed time, the brawny woman strode quickly for the shrink's office, able to tell herself that Inoae was straining to catch up rather than purposely dogging her heels, but she knew it for an illusion. Inoae always seemed desperately uncomfortable walking at her side, much preferring to follow a measured step back or preceding her like herald.

Yseult rapped brusquely on the door, greeting Dr. Heightmeyer's smile with what she thought of as an impassive expression, but to anyone else revealed abject annoyance and irritation and barely concealed hostility. "If you could tell Weir this isn't necessary, that would be magnifique," Yseult said curtly with a bitter smirk.

Yseult swaggered to the chair she found to yielding for comfort and sat down with her long legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles, thickly muscled arms folded beneath her breasts. The surly soldier stared straight ahead with wintry eyes under dark, lowered brows. Her tight smirk portrayed no inclination to talk.

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Inoae kept her appropriate place after her Ysuelt Moreau, keeping her expression blank as her Yseult Moreau and the Doktor Hyt Myer interact. Her Ysuelt Moreau was obviously annoyed at the situation, but she had been ordered by the queen's male Jon Shep Erd. Keeping her musings to herself, she settled in a Ysuelt's feet, far more comfortable than she had been in the room alone with the doctor.

She leaned her head slightly to her side, her long blonde hair draping lightly over her Yseult Moreau's legs.

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Kate's smile slipped. "I... see." She blinked, cleared her throat and said to Yseult, "I agree that it isn't necessary for you. But Inoae has some issues that need to be worked out, and her connection to you means that you can help me help her. Instead of fighting with her to make any headway, she'll be happy to do as you ask. And the sooner she finds her own self-confidence, the sooner she’ll become her own Keeper.”

Letting that sink into the Canadian’s head – and all the implications that Kate had just made – the psychologist turned to Inoae. “Last time, we spoke about your life in the old hive,” she started, smiling. “You spoke of two… people, the Keeper and Ghost. You said that they were your favorites.” Inoae started to panic at the realization that Doktor Hyt Myer had thought that she’d put the Keeper and Ghost both as favorites. “It’s ok, Inoae. I meant to say, the Keeper was your favorite, and you seemed to like Ghost next. Is that what you meant?” Inoae nodded, relaxing.

Kate paused, reflecting what a landmine dealing with Inoae was. Still, it was her job and she kept her professional demeanor as she pushed forward. “I’d like to talk about how they made you feel – what your feelings were when you were in their presence. Can you tell Yseult and I about that, Inoae?”

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Inoae blinked and waited for the (exasperated) nod from Yseult; then looked away into a corner of the room. Her thoughts were still skittering today, so she was trying to pay close attention to what was said and asked of her, but only some it made it through the haze. "What...I felt? I served my Keeper. My Keeper gave me everything even though I am nothing. My Keeper kept me from being made food and kept her males from killing me."

She blinked again and gave the doctor an enterprisingly direct look. "To be near my Keeper...it is all fear and all wonder and all everything. She was my Keeper." She leaned more firmly against Ysuelt, "And now I am belonging to my Yseult Moreau. It is the same, except where my Yseult Moreau and my....she who had been my Keeper differ. What am I to feel about these things?"

"Why would my feelings matter?" she whispered in confusion to herself.

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"Your feelings matter to me," Kate said gently. She glanced sharply at Yseult and shook her head as the Canadian started to reach for the girl. "I'm curious about them. They may not matter to your former Keeper but they matter to us. If nothing else, we'd like to know what your feelings were regarding your Keeper and Ghost."

She was absolutely going to be sick after this session. If she wasn't more of a professional, she would have already left the room to throw up. The treatment of this girl was beyond replusive and Kate had to violently smash down the scared voice in her head that said she might not be up for this task. She had to be the one to do it - she was the senior psychologist.

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"Ghost?" Wariness tinged her words as her eyes ducked away into a corner again. "Why would my feelings about Ghost be of interest? Ghost was the head of m- of the Keeper's guards, but he is a male. I would not be alow-I would not have any feelings for one of the Keeper's males unless instructed to do so."

The strain between the 'proper' answer and her ineptitude at telling lies left a hiccup in her words. She glanced up at Yseult, "Are there feelings I am meant to be having? This one begs forgiveness for the weakness of asking." She lowered her head again, tensed for both harsh words and violent actions.

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Yseult gritted her gritted her teeth, hands clutching her elbows to prevent herself from yanking Inoae to her feet and throwing her into the other chair. The way shook looked up at her, hazel eyes wide and docile, then ducked her in anticipation of a beatdown made the strong, fierce woman almost want to vomit. She just couldn't understand such... passivity. Where was the fire? The will to fight back, to go down kicking and screaming? Fuck, there wasn't even a hint of Inoae biding her time, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Breaking her self-imposed vow to stay silent during this nonsense, Yseult growled, "There's nothing you need forgiveness for. And don't beg! Merde de Fuck! Stop cringing, I'm not going to hit you!" The muscular woman balled her hands into fists and pressed them against her thighs, resisting the urge to beat Inoae until she did start defending herself... or not. "Get up and go sit in you own chair! You're not a dog!"

Yseult sighed, slouching in chair, a handing rubbing her head. "You're supposed to feel whatever you want to feel, you dumb bi- Inoae," she said tiredly. "No one can tell you want to feel, they can only threaten you on how you act on your feelings. Then it's up to you what you are willing to do and willing to endure." Yseult glanced at the delicate blonde, muttering under her breath, "Vous avez enduré trop, je pense."

She shook her head, dark hair swaying like a tail, then placed her hands on the arms of the chair, poised to get back to her feet. "This was a bad idea, I should go, let you deal with... her."

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Her mind was still skittering, flotsam in an ever churning storm, but it caught onto something. Words her Yseult Moreau had said. The Keeper had never lied to her, so Inoae had no reason to believe that her Yseult Moreau would. The words stuck this time; a rock that didn't move in the chaos. I'm not going to hit you!

Her expression full of wonder she whispered, "You're not going to hit me?" There was an intensity to the question, and importance to it that meant something beyond the immediate moment.

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Getting to her feet, the tall woman paused, hearing something in Inoae's voice, and looked down at the ancient girl still huddling at her feet. Yseult closed her eyes briefly, a deep breath squeezing through her tightly pressed lips. When she opened her eyes again, she reached down and pulled the slight Inoae effortlessly up to her feet, lips bent in a twisted grin.

"I'm not going to hit you, Inoae," Yseult reiterated in a low, firm voice, bending down to meet her eyes directly. She jerked her chin at the other chair. "Go sit down and I'll stay a while longer."

Yseult gave a shudder, whole body quivering with rage and a pity she hadn't meant to feel, then slumped back in her chair, resuming her cross-armed-legs-extended-and-crossed-at-the-ankles post. Her icy eyes dared Dr. Heightmeyer to say anything about her reversal on the issue of staying at the session.

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Kate nodded at Yseult. She didn't want to have to explain it to the woman, but that interaction had demonstrated why she'd wanted her here. Kate didn't approve of the emotional tie Inoae had established with the soldier, but it was there and hopefully Kate could use it to break Inoae's need for it.

Hopefully.

"No one in this room will hurt you," Dr. Heightmeyer assured Inoae. "We're trying to help you, ok?" She waited to see if Inoae would gain any relief from those assurances.

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"Help me?" The girl-woman's awe turned to confusion when faced with another incomprehensible riddle from her new hive. "Help me to do what?"

She glanced furtively between the two women, not sure what to do or be anymore. There was a sort of center to her now, and she wasn't sure what to do with it. "Am-am I to have duties in the hive now?"

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"Do you want any duties?" Yseult asked. "I'm sure we can find something for you to do. Maybe teaching the Lantean language to start. Gods know not knowing the native tongue back home has fucked us up more than once."

Yseult's tone changed to something that could almost be qualified as empathy. "We're trying to help you become the woman you want to be - maybe the woman you were - instead of what the putain Wraith have made you. You don't need a 'keeper'-" Yseult invested the word with sneering disgust, "- to make your decisions for you. You can make them yourself."

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  • 2 weeks later...

She blinked and only cringed back a little, which was nearly a miracle for her. "But...I am...not....without my Keeper. I have no place, no....purpose except to be food then." Her voice had been been quiet to begin with and faded into a whisper now. "Perhaps to be food would not be so bad."

She glanced up from her lowered gaze, her voice still soft. "What other duty could I have? I am either my Keeper's possession or I am food. Those are the only choices."

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Yseult's tanned face grew pale, guts churning as if she was ready to vomit, before flushing deeply with renewed fury. She was pissed with what the Wraith had done to her, and pissed that Inoae had so little self-worth. In the end, if you couldn't value yourself, you couldn't value anything.

Yseult leaned Inoae from her chair, strong fingers cupping the slender blonde's chin and tilted her head up, forcing her to meet her gaze. "You. Are. NOT. Food. Don't ever believe that, Inoae. And you're no ones slave either. Your 'purpose' is what you make it."

Inoae's vivid hazel eyes stared meekly into Yseult's icy blues. The muscular woman grunted as she saw no belief, no comprehension, no spark or fire, just a submissive yielding. Yseult had the distinct feeling if she backhanded the girl across the face, Inoae would thank her for it. The urge to vomit rose again and she ruthlessly suppressed it.

"Maudit sacrament! There's lots of other duties you can have, if you want them," Yseult growled tiredly. Dealing with Inoae was more will-sapping than drudge work. "You can start with teaching me Lantean. I'm tired of hearing the Athosians or anyone in this galaxy yammering in a language I don't understand."

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"I...teach you?" The girl-woman's face wavered between the pale of fear and confusion and a touch of wonder at the thought that she might know something her Yseult Moreau did not. She recovered herself, though, and bent her head in acquiescence. "As you wish, Ysuelt Moraeu."

It wasn't exactly a victory, but it wasn't the teeth-grinding constant defeat of her helplessness either.

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  • 3 weeks later...

"Well, that's quite a bit of progress," Kate said into the pause that had followed Inoae's statement. She looked pleased, though neither woman was sure why. The psychologist set up another appointment for them in a few days and shooed them out the door.

Then she sank against it and shivered - how could she help such a broken psyche? Tears rose in her eyes as she considered just how helpless she felt.

After crying out her self-pity and fear of failure, Kate wiped her face and got up. Clearing her throat, she grabbed some kleenex, blew her nose and grabbed her reference program. She couldn't bring her physical library, but she had a full electronic library. Grimly, she started to research.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The next session started much the same, though Yseult seemed more resigned than she had - at least on the outside. Inoae seemed just as skittish and Kate drew a deep breath in reaction. "So it's been a few days - how are the language lessons going?"

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"Slowly," Yseult growled, folding her muscular arms and crossing her long legs at the ankles as her glacial eyes cut toward her 'teacher'. Inoae flinched, hunching her shoulders, knowing she was failing in her Yseult Moreau's command to her teach her.

Yseult tensed, then relaxed her taut posture with a resigned sigh. This gentle, lovey-dovey, pussy-footing method of training wasn't the method she was accustomed to. But anything hard-edged or aggressive was turning out to be counter-productive with Inoae, even if she did seem far more comfortable with it.

"Inoae is... reluctant to correct me, to point out any of my mistakes." Yseult looked over at the slight blonde. "You're allowed to tell me when I'm wrong, Inoae, I won't get angry."

The strong, statuesque woman grimaced as she recalled one incident. She was a native French speaker, she should have been far more experienced with conjugation and exceptions to grammatical rules. "Okay, I do get angry. But it's not at you, Inoae, it's at... the circumstances. But you have to keep telling me what I'm getting wrong, else this is just a waste of time. Whatever you think about your - about me, I can be wrong."

Yseult snorted, then turned her attention back to Heightmeyer. "Fuck. You think having her crack my knuckles with a ruler would help her grow a spine? I would probably help me learn this bloody language."

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  • 2 weeks later...

Kate chuckled, allowing herself a little smile. "Inoae, I understand that you don't want to discipline Yseult." As the buff Canadian scowled at her choice of words, Kate added, "Look at it this way. If you don't correct Yseult, she'll learn the language improperly. Then she won't be able to speak it or understand when its spoken to her. She'll be at a disadvantage or even in trouble because she could communicate. I don't think you want that, do you?"

It was a risky approach. The best outcome was that Inoae recognized the truth and changed her reaction appropriately; the worst was that Inoae melted down. The latter was common enough that Kate was willing to risk it anyway.

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Inoae paled at the thought of failing her Yseult Moreau so badly that her Yseult Moreau would be punished for it; she had thought that Dok Tor Hyt Myer was higher ranked in the hive than Yseult Moreau, and the threat made that perfectly clear. This task of teaching (teaching!) her Yseult Moreau was an important test, then, and she couldn't fail. If her Yseult Moreau would be punished for failure, then she would be punished even more greatly she knew. There was something in her mind that said maybe that wasn't quite so, but it was a confused voice that couldn't say why, so Inoae hushed it to silence.

She nodded gravely to Dok Tor Hyt Myer, "This one would not be wanting that. This one will be looking at it this way from now on." Two steps forward, one-point-nine steps back, but at least it was something like progress.

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Yseult glanced at Inoae, dark brows narrowing over her blue eyes. There was just something about the way Inoae acquiesced that bothered her. It's something, I guess. "Good. And while you're at it, you can stop referring to yourself in the third person, Inoae. No more 'this one this' and 'this one that'. Only douche-bags talk like that. Use 'I' and 'Me', okay?" Though she didn't phrase it as a command, her voice was irritable and Inoae took it as one. "You're teaching my your language, let me teach you ours. Shouldn't be hard, you're doing better than I am."

Yseult folder her arms, turning back to Doctor Heightmeyer. "So, anything else we can do to get Inoae standing on her own, Doctor?" Doctor Heightmeyer hid a smile from the surly woman. Just two sessions ago, Yseult's tone would have added emphatically unsaid, 'so I can get rid of the damned girl?' Now, though still irritable, Yseult appeared to want to help the abused Lantean, in her own way.

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Kate suppressed a relieved smile. Having Yseult’s cooperation, freely given, would make this so much easier. “The lessons are a good start. I think I need to know more about your decisions, Inoae. Do you decide what you eat? When you sleep? What you do? How much of your day to day choices are made by you, without input of any kind from Yseult?”

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"I am taken to...eat...several times a day," 'Eat' was said with a half-suppressed mix of disdain and anger, and 'day' with only a slight hesitation to remember the new term. "My Yseult Moreau has other duties in the hive and I am sent to be with her males, Aydan Ford and Loo Tenant Ken Ing, when I am not to be with her. Aydan Ford teaches me chess and poker and blackjack and go-fish. Loo Tenant Ken Ing mostly stands outside; my duty to him is to be quiet and stay in the room until I am unconscious."

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"Until you are...?" Kate looked at Yseult, her eyes going wide.

"She means asleep," Yseult said, having known that Kenning had her for the night watch and worked out what that meant to Inoae.

"Oh," Kate said, looking visibly relieved. "Well, do you choose what you eat? Or do they choose for you?"

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"They aren't my males," Yseult muttered sourly. Sure Ford was fun in the sack, but the inference of... ownership truly rankled her sensibilities. "And I'm going to have some words with Kenning. You're not a prisoner Inoae, you don't have to spend all your time in our quarters."

Yseult glanced back at Dr. Heightmeyer, lips twisted in wry smirk. "We still mostly have to fill a plate for her. Merde! I don't know what the hell she ate when the wraith had her, but she looks at everything we have as if it was scraped off the bottoms of our boots. True, some of it doesn't taste much better, but still..."

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Inoae shrugged and stated, "I did not eat. Eating is what food does." She nodded to herself at the rightness of that and continued, "I served my Keeper and her males and they kept me."

She looked away, into a corner again, her eyes far away as slightly mended memories meandered across her mind. She said softly, "If this one was to choose, this one would never eat."

Her eyes snapped back to the present and she regarded her Yseult Moreau curiously, "Do those two males belong to the queen, then? Aydan Ford would prefer to be your male. Perhaps you could ask the queen to give him to you?"

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"Maudit sacrament de tabarnak," Yseult swore tiredly, rolling her eyes and craving a cigarette. "Inoae, I am telling you, people, they are not belonging to other people. Some just are having higher ranks and have to be obeyed, but only to certain extents. In our society, there are being some things that cannot be commanded."

Turning her hard, pale blue eyes back on Inoae, Yseult sighed, then smirked, though she shot a fleeting glance of warning at the shrink. This was an isolated mission team and she didn't want to hear anything about fraternization. "Me and Ford, we are having fun, Inoae, but that is not meaning I want a relationship. As for Weir 'giving' him to me..."

The well-built woman barked with rough laughter. "... that might make things easier, but Weir has no right to 'give' any man to any woman. She can reassign postings, to a degree and with reason, but fuck! Ford actually outranks me, Inoae... It just doesn't mean much off-duty or in b-" Yseult bit off the rest of the word, an amused, sarcastic glint in her eyes.

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"The... difficulties of human mating rituals are complex and nothing like you experienced in the hive. Each woman is her own Queen in that regard; she can pick males, and if they like her back, she can have him. Or them." Kate looked a little uncomfortable with the topic, but Yseult appreciated that she was keeping the judgmental holier-than-thou attitude out of it. “In this society, we don’t allow people to command a sexual relationship with another, as Yseult said.”

Kate tilted her head. “So if Lt. Ford wants to have a relationship with Yseult, he only needs to court her,” the psychologist added. “I know that’s not what you’re used to, but Dr. Weir can’t command anyone to have a sexual relationship with anyone else – nor would she. It’s a violation of her code of ethics.”

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