Ventu/Early Life
| Cmdr. Lily Ventu Commading Officer Starbase 118 Operations |
Lily's Life |
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A Childhood of Imbalance & Indecision
Aresee Lily Ventu was born to Jarin Ventu and Matilda Tayler in 2352. Matilda had been warned earlier in her life that she carried a genetic marker that made a neurochemical imbalance almost certain in any children she might have, and so the couple decided, early on in their marriage, not to have children. Lily's was an accidental pregnancy but, even knowing the risks, Jarin and Matilda went ahead with the birth.
Although Lily's condition is a unique, familiar genetic condition, similar to 5-alpha reductase deficiency, its closest analogue in current medicine is bipolar disorder.
At age five, Aresee is first diagnosed after rapidly cycling through multiple moods, leaving her extremely hyper one moment and nearly catatonic the next. She is misdiagnosed as depressed and begins seeing her first counselor, by whom she is labeled bipolar. However, further genetic tests reveal that she (and her family) carry a unique genetic marker for the disorder. She is put on a daily regimen of meds and begins her "normal" childhood.
When she's ten, Aresee experiences her first violent mood swing at school, destroying some property and breaking a boy's arm. She flees the scene and is found a mile away, curled and apologetic, having drawn so far into herself that all she can say is, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She undergoes a three-week intense session of counseling, during which she's withdrawn from school at put on even more medications. She refuses, following the incident, to return to school, and is home-schooled until high school
, sometimes staying at home with her father, and sometimes traveling with her mother aboard her ship.
When she enters high school, Aresee eschews her first name, citing an inborn hatred for its forced ostentatiousness, and chooses to go by her middle name, Lily.
High school is mostly uneventful - Lily stays under the radar for the most part, achieving good marks but really living for after school, when she's left to herself. She doesn't make many friends, though this frustrates her - her operant thinking is not that she wants to be alone, but rather that she hasn't/can't meet anyone worth inviting into her life.
As graduation nears, Lily is pressured to choose what to do after high school. Her mother, who is nearly retirement, wants Lily to take over her merchant vessel, but Lily doesn't have much interest in doing that. Throughout her life, the only people who have been omnipresent, besides her family, are various counselors, and she decides in her senior year that she'd like to pursue a degree in counseling psychology.
Attending the Academy For the First Time
A perfect marriage of both the careers suggested to her and the ones she's considering presents itself in the form of Abby Roberts, a senior at Starfleet Academy who contacts Lily when she expresses interest in the Academy. The whole affair is very congenial - Roberts answers all of Lily's questions, up to and including her sitting the entrance exam. However, a few weeks later, her failing results are returned.
Instead of turning Lily inward again, the failing score strengthens Lily's desire to leave her home town and make her own life, and she whirlwinds about, applying to over a dozen schools. She's accepted at four, and is making her final decision following her senior year when she's contacted again by Abby Roberts.
The now-Ensign Roberts urges Lily to re-take the exam, as her scores were a single point below the acceptance cutoff. Lily allows Roberts to sign her up, but she doesn't intend to sit the test. Instead, she turns to selecting one of the Earth-bound universities. Increasingly, though, she finds her mind wandering to the stars, first to her mother's offer, and then to Roberts's suggestion. The day of the test comes, and Lily's among those taking it.
This time, she passes with good scores, and as soon as the acceptance comes, she turns down the other schools and marks the move-in date on her calendar.
Lily's first days and weeks at the para-military Academy are very different than anything she's used to. However, Ensign Roberts is a cadet liaison, and she serves in a further capacity as Lily's don. Lily continues to see a campus counselor, and gets to know the Medical Services staff very well, as she's in at least once a week for prescription refills and general check-ups.
Perhaps the most exciting think to happen to Lily during her first trimester was meeting Nick Parks.
His background of being a loner was similar to hers, though he came with an indecisive air rather than a genetic disorder. However, the two became friends and, by the end of November, more than. At eighteen, Nick is Lily's first boyfriend, but - free of the strict roles of her high school and expectations of what she knows - the relationship blossoms.
Lily continued at the Academy for another two years. Classes grew harder and her amount of free time decreased. Ensign Roberts received a promotion and an offer to serve as a tactical officer aboard the Starship Martel. Nick and Lily stayed together, but both were feeling the happy pressure of still loving each other but having settled down with their first.
When Nick breaks up with Lily between the first and second trimesters of their junior year, she goes off many of her meds, ends up depressed, and misses at least a week of classes. Her mid-trimester marks reflect the absence, and they show she's failing nearly everything. Veering to the extreme, Lily applies immediately for a medical leave of absence, and though it's granted, she leaves the campus ten minutes after submitting the paperwork.
Lily returns home, but at the last moment, as she's walking up her drive, she pictures her mother and father and all the people she went to school with. Still not completely re-adapted to her meds, she panics and nearly hyperventilates. She runs the other way, towards the hangar for her mother's ship. Completely confident with the controls, she activates the newly-retired ship, disables the transponder, and heads to the stars.
Alone in the Borderlands
- 2376 - Two years hence, Lily finds herself on the edge of Federation space, in the region known as the Borderlands. For some reason, she's drawn to the region. While there, pragmatism wins out over aesthetics, and Lily becomes Aresee again, using her old name as a kind of alias.
- 2378 - Aresee spends two years in the Borderlands, making various contacts and enemies. During the end of her stay, she discovers an eleven year old girl - Alexa, no last name - and, like her attraction to the Borderlands themselves, finds herself inexplicably drawn to the girl. She convinces the girl to come with her.
- 2379 - Aresee is chased out of the Borderlands by various enemies. She and Alexa return to Earth. Matilda and Jarin formally adopt Alexa.
Returning to the Academy
- 2380 - Aresee spends several months at home, reacclimating to the Federation standard of life and helping her new sister adjust. To her dismay, she finds that her mood swings have returned in full force. Aresee returns to the Academy. She does an extra semester of catch-up. While there, she steers clear of romantic contact, and though she has a few acquaintances, makes few friends. She does not attempt to track down Nick, nor does she return to using Lily as her first name.
- 2382 - Aresee graduates from the Academy.