The Siren and The Shrink (Anastasia Rade)

[Doctor Zendu]

Location: The Planet of Belasco, Belasco Skytower, Private Practice of Doctor Robert Zendu

Doctor Robert Zendu, M.D., licensed Psychiatrist, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a tweed suit with four or five pens jammed in the front pocket, whistled an upbeat tune. He had just reorganized his entire office for the third time that week, and not a file was out of place. If there was one thing the Doctor hated it was a messy office. Upon noticing the time, he realized he had another appointment he'd almost forgotten about. He grabbed the next patient file and looked over the basic details.

Name: Anastasia Rade
Age: Twenty-one
Occupation: Unknown
Species: Human or near-human

According to his notes, Miss Rade had booked an appointment with the Doctor to work on overcoming the pain of past traumas. He shook his head sympathetically. He was confident that he could help her if she came to trust him, but he would have to wear kid gloves at first. Trauma survivors often had trust issues as well. Perhaps he would have to start with basic details of her life before getting too heavily into the gory details. Clutching her file to his chest he opened up the waiting room door and peeked his head out.

"Anastasia Rade?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Anastasia had chosen to look into a therapist to help her with her past horrors. The diary helped somewhat but the diary couldn't talk back and give advice. Ana hoped that Dr. Zendu would be able to do that, give advice. She desperately needed advice on how to get over these hurdles. She didn't want her childhood traumas to dictate her future.

Clad in a yellow dress she waited patiently in the waiting room to be called for her appointment. Ana hadn't told anyone that she was coming here. It wasn't that she was embarrassed just this was something Ana needed to do on her own.

As her name was called Ana took a deep breath as she got up from her seat. Here goes nothing, she thought as she walked to the doorand went to the door. "Dr. Zendu, thank you so much for seeing me." She smiled as she followed him back to his office. On the outside Ana looked like a woman whom had it all together but it wasn't true. She knew bits of her past still haunted her and now she finally ready to talk about it.


[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

The Doctor smiled as he escorted his very attractive new patient into his office which sat on the top floor of a Belasco skytower. It was sleekly decorated with modern, angular furniture and softy lit, with expansive windows that looked out over the sparkling city below. "Would you like anything to drink, some water or tea? I can have my receptionist bring you something."

He then ushered her over to the area beyond the small kitchen where his desk was located along with additional patient seating and, of course, his Hover sofa. "Most of my patients like to sit here. They find that reclining helps them better gather their thoughts."

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, still clutching her patient file to his chest, and grinned. "Once you're all settled in, we can begin."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

"Some tea would be nice, thank you," she smiled as her eyes glanced around his office. She used to drink Whiskey to calm her nerves but had decided a few months ago that wasn't good for her. Ana needed a better outlet for her feelings than the bottle.

The office itself looked calming and inviting which she assumed was done on purpose. Sitting down on the hover sofa she leaned back and took a deep breath trying to relax.

Ana didn't know what to expect next. She figured he would probably ask questions about her past but she didn't know how deep he was going to try and dig. There were many memories that she had locked away deep inside her so that they couldn't hurt her anymore. Would he try to go after those? She was feeling quite anxious about this whole process.


[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

Doctor Zendu placed her patient file on top of his obsessively neat desk and grabbed a little black notebook. Seating himself directly across from her, close, but not overbearingly so, he took a pen out of his front pocket. His receptionist, a short Bothan man with an eye patch, brought her the cup of tea and scurried back to the waiting room.

His patient looked nervous and he wondered what else he could do to provide a calming atmosphere for her. He didn't want to push drugs on her, not yet anyway. But they might prove beneficial to her down the line. Modern galactic psychiatry had made such advances in the last few years with antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. The Doctor felt there was nothing wrong with a little bit of synthetic happiness once in a while. He'd put them in the water if he could.

He gave his patient a thin-lipped sympathetic smile. "So what brought you here to me today, Anastasia?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Good question, but she wasn't sure it could be simply answered. There were so many reasons why she was here. Ana needed to work on herself if she was going to move forward in her life.

"I had a horrific childhood and while I try to be strong in some ways it has broken me." Taking a sip of the tea she sighed. Admitting that she had issues was a tough. Ana prided herself on being able to deal with them herself. "I would like to work though those issues as I have a feeling they are holding me back now." Ana didn't expect miracles here but she hoped he could give tips or something to help her.

She was sure that he would want more information about everything as she was being quite vague. This was a starting point though.

"I have a question. Everything you write down is private, right?" Ana of course knew it was just maybe needed reassurance of such.

[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

Doctor Zendu hunched over his little black book and furiously scribbled some notes as she spoke. Then he dropped his notebook in his lap and raised his head to his new patient with a tight-lipped smile.

His brow furrowed. "I think it's crucial that you came to me for treatment, Anastasia. Trauma can spawn many other emotional disorders if not dealt with." He nodded his head emphatically. "Just remember what happened to you isn't a flaw in your personality or character. It's something that happened to you, not who you are."

"To answer your question, everything that we discuss in my office is strictly confidential. In the papers you signed when you checked in, it tells you everything. I will not share any information you give me, regardless of how illegal or immoral it may be"

Doctor Zendu suddenly put his hands out in a conciliatory gesture. "Not that you seem like the type of woman who would do anything illegal or immoral." Chuckling lightly, he picked up his notebook and pen.

"So what else can you tell me about yourself? Would you like to start with the past or the present?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Nodding she lightly smiled at his reassurance. It wasn't that she did illegal things more so that she didn't want certain people finding out. They would use it against her in some fashion if only to hurt her. "I think I'll start at the beginning and go from there. It will make more sense that way."

Pausing Ana took a sip of her tea before beginning. "When I was four my parents were killed while my brother and myself were taken into slavery. We were kept apart so I'm not sure what happened to him. I from there was used as a miner and as I grew a slave. One of the Graug leaders thought I was pretty so he took me. I would have been better off in the mines. As I'm sure you can imagine and maybe some things you can't they did terrible horrible things to me. I was experimented on, beat, used and abused in whatever way they saw fit. I was nothing to them but a rag doll, unloved, unwanted. I was rescued a little under a year ago."

She stopped talking, that was enough to throw at him for the moment. Ana was forthcoming with this information as now she was ready to get it out in the open. The young woman was ready for some help. She also wanted peace in her life and wanted to see if he had tips for that. "I now am looking for peace in my life."

[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

With his mouth pressed into a tight-lipped sympathetic expression, the psychiatrist listened intently, only breaking eye contact to write down a few more notes. Then folding his hands together on his lap, he addressed his patient.

"First of all, I congratulate you for having the courage to find peace." Doctor Zendu smiled widely, giving her a toothy grin. "The pace at which you find that peace will depend greatly on your own strength, Ana. The purpose of our therapy sessions are merely to support the healing power you already possess. Therapy won't completely erase your scars or promise that you will not suffer future hurt, but its purpose is to give you a way to use your energy to invest in the present and your personal growth." His serving droid rolled up to Anastasia offered to refill her teacup as he continued.

"One of the most important contributors to healing is having a good support system. Tell me about your relationships? Do you have people close to you that you can trust?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

She hadn't expected him to take all of her pain and heartache away. He could only give her tools she could utilize to help herself with her find inner peace. He couldn't make the nightmares go away, she understood that nor did she expect that from him.

"Trust is hard for me as well as understanding relationships. I'm not used to people actually caring about me. There are a few people in my life that I am close to. I do have a good support system. The man that rescued me is like my older protective brother. I love him and I trust him completely. I owe everything I have now to him." Her relationship with Az was easy and she believed that he would never hurt her, he only wished the best for her.

The other close relationship that she had was new. "There is also this guy I'm seeing. He makes me feel incredibly special. I trust him and he's very supportive of everything I do. He knows my past so that has never been an issue. When I'm with him all my pain seems to just fade away. It's just him and me." Ana knew how stupid that sounded but it was true. She wished she could see more of him but she understood how important his work was.


[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

Doctor Zendu jotted down a few more notes. "It sounds like you have a very good support system in place, Anastasia. Your older brother sounds quite special."

"Ah, and you have a boyfriend. Young love is exciting isn't it?" He smiled. The Doctor, a terminal workaholic, hadn't dated anyone since he was in med school, so at this point he was just imagining how exciting it would be. "Well, I can imagine that the young man is quite bewitched by you himself." The Doctor blushed, realizing that his compliment may have been too forward.

He cleared his throat and poised his pen for more note-taking. "So tell me a little bit more about this young man. Where did you meet him? what does he do?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

She nodded and smiled when he mentioned Cryax. If Ana was being honest with herself she did love him. It was an exciting scary thing for her. It's funny really, I was his client at first as he was looking into something for me. I wasn't looking for nor would I suspect it would lead to what it has. He is sweet, smart, loving, funny. She smiled taking another sip of her tea. Ana didn't want to tell him he was a slicer or anything. That she knew to keep under wraps even from her therapist. She could go on about him but she doubted that was what he wanted.

"He works as an executive for some fancy organization which means he's always busy. I don't get to see him as much as I would like. Something is always popping up at work but I guess that happens when your important." She sighed a little as she thought about it. The fact that they didn't spend that much time together made the little time they did get that much more precious.

"We go on adventures together which which consist of getting out of binds a lot of times. I would for once like to just go somewhere peaceful to relax. Run away with him for a few weeks or something just to get away from it all. Do you think that's a good idea?"

[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

Doctor Zendu smiled widely. "Ah an executive. A company man." He wrote down a few more notes. The Doctor could tell that Anastasia was hiding something about her boyfriend's profession. Not only was he a keen reader of body language, but she seemed to be using too many euphemisms to describe their life together.

"Anastasia." He leaned forward and removed his glasses, looking at her directly in the eyes. "Is your boyfriend a criminal by any chance? If he is, I must stress that as your Doctor, I am not here to lecture you on morality or turn your lover in to the authorities." He placed a thin hand on his chest "I'm merely here to help you heal from your emotional trauma."

He then continued. "The only reason that I stress this is that if I don't effectively get the whole story, I can't fully help you."

The Doctor placed his glasses back on his nose and drummed his hand on his notebook. "I also think that running away somewhere with him sounds like a wonderful idea. Vacations have been scientifically proven to promote creativity, strengthen relationships, and most importantly in the case of your boyfriend, prevent work burnout. I'm happy to recommend a few five-star resorts here in the galaxy if you decide to go ahead with it."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Sighing she nodded realizing that she couldn't hide from the Doctor. Normally Ana was good at hiding things but she had to remember he was used to working with people like her. Yes, he is part of a criminal syndicate. I hired him to look into my past and than I was training him to properly use a blaster when he kissed me." A smile crept on her face as she remembered that time. He's a good man, I love him." The criminal side of him was what the galaxy saw but behind closed doors she saw something else.

"It would be lovely if you could. I'm thinking I could put some brochures under his pillow as a subtle hint of wanting to go away." She could than leave it up to him to plan some romantic getaway. It was the perfect plan.

Ana could go on and on about Cryax but she did wonder how that would help her. "I'm curious, how does knowing the relationship between myself and my boyfriend help?"



[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

"As I said before relationships are a huge part of the healing process Anastasia. I do have to express some concern for your personal safety here. Let me ask you this. Is your boyfriend dragging you into dangerous situations on a whim? If so, that bears the mark of a sociopath. Other warning signs are poor impulse control and a lack of responsibility for consequences affecting the people his actions hurt."

The doctor let out a light sigh. "Anastasia I'm sure he loves you. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but dating a sociopath might not be conducive to your your healing process." He jotted down a few more notes and then folded his thin hands in his lap.

"It's just something to keep an eye on as we go through our therapy sessions. Do you understand how it might be concerning to me as your doctor?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

"No, no he's not sociopath. He doesn't drag me places it's more like I volunteer to come with him. I'm better at handling weapons as I have been trained by my elder brother, the Manda'lor. I'm a Mandalorain so my training is better. " The fact that her brother was such brought on its own set of problems. The whole galaxy was also watching her that she too had the weight of the Galaxy on her. She doubted her would like her lifestyle too.

"I feel we both at times do things on a whim. It's thrilling and we have fun together. I understand how that would be of concern though. Would it be better to plan things out?" She acted as a teenager would a lot of the time instead of the adult she ought to. If she needed to grow up to fully heal than that is what she would do.

[member="Doctor Zendu"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

The doctor nodded, but it was obvious he was dubious about her boyfriend's intentions. Still his job was to help Anastasia, not break up young love.

"I'm mostly concerned about how the stressors present in dangerous hijinks with your boyfriend might trigger you to dwell on your past, and create a cycle in which you never actually feel like you're free of your trauma."

Neatly placing his notebook on his lap, Doctor Zendu furrowed his brow. "I'm afraid that our session for today is up, but I would like to continue to see you Anastasia. I believe that you are closer to a breakthrough than most new patients that I see. That's why it's crucial that you keep coming back to me. We've only just scratched the surface today."

He stood up and gave her a wide, toothy grin, putting out a thin hand so that he could help her up off the Hover sofa.

"Same time next week?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]