Ensign Dylan Bryce: Silent Reaction

[Kait]

(Ivory Tower, StarBase 118))

For a moment, Dylan lost the thread.

Not entirely. Not enough to stumble or freeze. Just enough that the room seemed to slide a fraction out of focus, like a familiar word heard one time too many.

She drew a slow breath and let it out again, grounding herself in the physical details first. The floor beneath her boots. The ambient hum of the Tower. The measured cadence of voices nearby. Everything was still where it should be.

Still, something felt… distant.

Emotionally, if she had to name it. As though the weight she usually carried so carefully had shifted without her permission. The concern she expected to feel wasn’t gone, exactly. It just wasn’t landing with the same clarity.

Dylan frowned faintly, more in thought than reaction, and adjusted her stance. She checked herself the way she always did. Fatigue. Distraction. Context overload. All reasonable explanations.

She told herself it would pass.

The sense of misalignment lingered anyway. Not sharp enough to demand attention. Not dull enough to ignore. It left her feeling slightly behind her own responses, like she was arriving a half-step late to emotions she knew she should already be holding.

Dylan stayed quiet, letting the moment move on without her comment. Whatever this was, it didn’t feel like an emergency.

Just… unfamiliar.

She kept her hands relaxed, her expression neutral, and her attention outward, even as she made a quiet note to herself.

Something was slipping.

...TBC/TAG...
Ensign Dylan Bryce
Counselor, Starbase 118 Ops
Writer: A238909RJ0
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."