This is a ficlet/Vignette to Eseme-mi’s suggestion, of Callista from my Addergoole:TOS serial after she leaves Addergoole. 

Callista had a hard time in school and an abusive boyfriend, which is glossed over but important in the story below. 

Also important: she has six arms. See her description here.

Decisions weren’t easy, which was how she’d ended up in college.

Rory had suggested it, Ioanna had seconded it, and she went to the same school as Io, pooling child care and sharing a big house off-campus.

It was a foreign land.  She hadn’t meant to end up in the support group but she’d misread one of the signs and there she was.

It wasn’t, she thought to herself, like she didn’t have her own stories.  She could even tell some of them, all six arms wrapped around her under her Mask.

She only told enough that they trusted her, but she listened a lot.  A lot.

When they started talking about self-care, she leaned forward in her seat so far she nearly toppled out of it.  Self-care?

She clutched the brochure the woman handed her to her chest.  That night, she read it front to back, then again.

Self-care?  After a great deal of deliberation, she asked Ioanna to pick something for her.  And then, telling herself it was an assignment, it was okay, she slipped into the scented bubble bath all the way up to her nose.

Next time, maybe she’d try the walk in the park.

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