Challenge #04903-M154: Scars on the Inside

A troop of marines had finally rotated home after a lot of... unpleasant experiences. Now, they planned to sit back, relax, enjoy their hard-earned retirements, and definitely enjoy the summer and all the fun that came with it. -- Anon Guest

After six months of trudging around in battle-ready armour, it was damned good to feel the air on hir skin. It felt even better to plunge into the open ocean and take the weight off hir feet and spine. Trooper Glyn still wore hir skins, even though this entire planet was clothing-optional. Ze didn't wish to be completely vulnerable to elements ze hadn't experienced in person for most of a year[1].

Glyn broke the surface out in the gentle waves, appreciating clouds in the sky instead of a permanent cover of smog. On the nearby beach, appreciating the breeze on all of his skin, was hir troopmate Sef.

"Aw, they'll let anyone in here," Glyn called. "There goes the neighbourhood!"

"I thought you had enough of being a wet blanket on the field," Sef called back. "How's the water?"

"Ah, it'll make yer todger even smaller," ze grinned.

He splashed in regardles, yipping and yelping before ducking under the waves. He found his way to Glyn's little patch of ocean and floated on his back. "Aw yes... I needed this."

"You'll get sunburn on it," cautioned Glyn.

"That's a Future Sef Problem." He took some deep, calming breaths. "Your therapy sesh is in like five hours and change. Word of warning."

"You asshole," chided Glyn. "Now I'm gonna spend the time worrying if I'm wasting it." Ze started towards the shore, but paused to voice hir thought, "You just wanna be free to pee in my spot of the ocean."

"Already too late," singsonged Sef.

Ze laughed in spite of hirself, lazily swimming to hir gear on the beach. It was good to joke after so long up to their eyebrows in serious business. Time to degauss from all of it was as vital as the visits to the therapist.

Ze threw on a sarong for the hell of it and decided on a stroll towards the therapy complex. Just enjoying the clean air, the green growing things, and the wide open spaces. Glyn was fine until ze had to enter the village complex. Nature had been good. Building, even the widely-spaced, airy and single-story buildings rose Glyn's anxiety to a peak previously unknown during R&R.

Between one blink and the next, Glyn was back in the tight, high-rise labyrinths of the Deregger Urban Crush, looking for survivors of the Ultimate Chief Executive's engineered famine. Watching and wary for the Ultimate's Enforcers trying to stop hir.

Hearing a baby crying.

There was always a baby crying, somewhere.

"Soldier, report. List off five things you can see."

Shocked by the voice, Glyn turned to see... A therapist in a black swimsuit with a useless red peplum. Beyond them, there was a boba place that also did cute cat-shaped cupcakes. That was three out of five.

Ze was grateful for Therapist Majd walking hir through hir senses until reality came back.

"There's a nice, comfortable bench in the ornamental gardens," Majd offered. "Quite a lot of our patients have issues with dense habitation zones."

"Yes," said Glyn. "Thank you."

Alliance Therapists really knew their stuff.

[1] The Galactic Standard Year contains ten months.

[Photo by Pedro Monteiro on Unsplash]

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