Star Trek: Theurgy

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
In the days following his wild date with Enyd, Alistair went through a rather broad spectrum of emotions. In the immediate aftermath (after sobering up somewhat), mortification was the dominant reaction. Alistair couldn't stop replaying key events in his mind; seeing Enyd topless, being thwapped by Klar's mighty member, the embarrassment of his erection being concealed by Enyd's skirt, only for it to be revealed to the world for all to see. The dances, the unabashed flirting, the shameless descent into mad lust...none of it was normal for Alistair.

Nevertheless, alongside mortification there were other emotions that followed, many of them positive. It was such a complex mess that Alistair was somewhat out of sorts the day after, though he eventually recovered his equilibrium. He was both desperate to see Enyd again and anxious about that meeting; what would happen?

The second day passed quite normally, at least to start with. Preparation for the forthcoming mission to Qo'nos that evening proceeded at a pace, even if Alistair himself wasn't assigned to it. He still felt a little sore at Captain Ives for excluding him, even if he could guess the reasons. A man with no supplemental combat or espionage training and a phaser range score of "adequate" would be of little use on such a mission. The four women were more than capable of succeeding without his bumbling assistance.

Besides, Alistair briefly imagined a Klingon recognising him from the show and decided that he was, in fact, quite content to remain on the Theurgy.

When lunch came, Alistair took a PADD from his office to the lounge, reading as he went, trying valiantly not to think about Enyd's cheeky grin, or the taste of her, or the feel of her ass in his hands, or the close-range view of Klar's mighty member...

"Stop it," Alistair told himself firmly as he stopped in a corridor. A passing ensign looked at him in surprise and he smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry, just...uh...talking to myself. Okay, that sounds weird. Never mind, I'll just be going now. Have a good day."

Rather red-faced, Alistair proceeded on his way until a few minutes later, he was sat down in the lounge with a salad in front of him, his eyes locked on the PADD as he slowly ate.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Diplomatic Department | Deck 2 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

“Thea, please locate Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt.”

[ Lieutenant Leavitt is in the lounge on deck 28. Do you wish me to contact him? ]

And give him a chance to run away? Not a chance.

“No, thank you, Thea.”

It was lunchtime, and she’d already made it through several world-rocking meetings this morning. At least these hadn’t been bitter as the one she’d had with Drauc. Enyd hadn’t intentionally put off the much-needed conversation with Alistair. Life had just happened since they’d returned to the ship after their mind-boggling date. She was curious if Alistair was still as shaken by the evening’s events as she was. Of course, she had the added angst of facing Drauc with the truth of their outing and then receiving his rejection boiling in her gut. And the pornographic dreams featuring both Drauc and Alistair that she’d had since her holographic adventure with Zark only fueled the need to have this conversation tout sweet.

With no obligations on her plate for immediately after lunch, Enyd left her office on the hunt for a certain time-traveling lieutenant.

[ Below Decks Lounge ]

She saw him as soon as the doors opened. It was as if the man had a homing beacon she could sense, and even though his table wasn’t in direct view of the door, Enyd’s gaze had instinctively moved to rest on his back. Enyd stopped at the bar to order a bottle of scotch, the real deal if possible, and two glasses, then added an order of a bowl of tomato soup with cheesy multigrain bread to accompany it. If he was going to throw food in her face, let it be liquidy. And if he wanted to toss a drink at her, let it at least taste good.

As she waited for her order, Enyd continued to study Alistair. He had a PADD on the table and appeared to be reading as he stabbed at his salad. From this distance, he looked like most other crewmen in the lounge, just someone who wanted to eat and relax between duties. Enyd hated herself already for the potential threat to his peace. She’d already hurt Drauc, potentially irreparably, and now she was on the verge of causing more pain and garnering more rejection. Just the dessert they needed for their lunch.

Enyd walked to the table with her back straight and shoulders squared. She would tell him everything and accept his response. She would not try to justfy or deny. She would accept and move on as he wished. Enyd nodded to herself and her inner mantras, repeated with every step closer to the man she’d very much love to kiss again, even with all the guilt still hovering over her head. She gave an inward sigh. It was looking more and more likely that she'd end up an old maid working the ranch in Montana at the rate of romantic idiocy she was exhibiting.

Shifting into his view, Enyd offered a cautious smile of greeting. “Mind if I join you?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
XamotZark zh’Ptrell?  Nysarisiza zh’Eziarath? As he read, Alistair ran the Andorian names through his mind, baffled by how to pronounce them. The service jackets didn't clarify, and it was unlikely to ever be a problem, but a part of his mind mulled over the names all the same. If all went well, he'd never need to meet any of the team anyway. They were certainly an eclectic mix; an Intelligence officer, a fighter pilot, a combat medic and a diplomatic officer. It was unusual, but Captain Ives evidently had good reasons for their choices.

Fully consumed in his work, Alistair veritably jumped when Enyd appeared. "Enyd!" he said as he got to his feet, smiling automatically. "Er, hi! Yeah, of course, I've been looking forward to seeing you again."

After Enyd sat down and he followed suit, Alistair looked at her properly. Memories of that wild night came flooding back with all the heightened feelings therein, but after a moment, Alistair saw more. Enyd was visibly tense, maybe even nervous, which the presence of the scotch only supported. It was such an uncharacteristic state for the vivacious and bold woman that Alistair leaned forward, frowning.

"Enyd, are you alright?" he asked quietly. "I'm pretty sure that I saw you more relaxed on the stage when...uh...you know."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd felt her heart surge with delight at the sincere warmth in Alistair’s gaze when he finally noted her and welcomed her to sit with him. She wanted nothing more than to drop the tray and crawl into his lap, asking if everything would be ok like a child with her father—though she certainly did NOT look at Alistair as a father figure. But Enyd knew so much needed to be discussed and confessed before she even attempted to touch him again. It was only right and fair for him to know everything and leave it to him whether he would welcome another handshake, let alone an embrace or “lap time” from her.

Enyd poured two drinks, figuring even if he didn’t drink it now, no doubt what she had to tell him would merit at least one sip. She wasn’t planning on draining it but knew she tended to speak more easily about things the more liquor in her system, so if her tongue started to gum up, she had every intention of loosening it. Because come hell or high water, she would level with Alistair today. Even if he tried to walk away mid-conversation, she would send him a missive with everything he temporarily refused to hear. And not because Enyd demanded he understand or accept or resolve and move forward, but because from where she was sitting, she would want the same forthright revelation from him if the tables were turned.

She offered him a wobbly smile as she readied herself for both meal and conversation. “I’m sorry our schedules haven’t coincided before today. I was also really hoping to see you sooner.”

Her cheeks warmed, and Enyd quickly busied herself with stirring the soup. His voiced concern was like a knife in her gut, and his follow-up jest had her snorting in mirthless humor. He wasn’t wrong. Enyd glanced up at him and then eyed the scotch. She needed something on her stomach before she tipped into that. Setting aside the spoon, Enyd picked up the bowl.

“Apologies, but,” she gave a half smile before she tipped the bowl up and drank half the soup. It was hot but nearly as scalding as her typical morning coffee. Satisfied with the amount of soup, she tore off a piece of bread and popped it into her mouth, chewing and swallowing more rapidly than was likely healthy. “In truth, I will need a drink for what I’m about to share, but I also don’t want to get sloshed right out the gate, so please forgive the momentary barbarity.”

She studied him for a few more chews of bread and gave a less nervous smile. “You look as devilishly handsome as ever, Alistair. Even with all the mess I’m about to drop on this table, I can’t help but admit I’m as attracted to you as ever, and when I walked through that door and saw you, all I wanted to do was walk up and hug and kiss you and tell you I missed you.” Enyd leaned back in her chair, dropping the rest of the bread onto the tray with a sigh. “And I have certain hopes for the future between us that may likely be dashed by the end of this conversation.” Reaching for the glass of scotch, Enyd saluted him before taking a small sip. “But understand, I do not expect anything from you or demand anything from you. Please listen and respond with all sincerity that resides within your gut, and don’t worry about my feelings. I waltzed into my mess, and I have to live with that.”

Enyd gave him another wobbly smile, then took a longer sip. She rolled her shoulders, cracked her knuckles, then leaned her elbows on the table so she was closer and wouldn’t have to speak louder for him to listen. With clinical precision, Enyd walked Alistair through the timeline of when and how she’d met both him and Drauc before moving on to the details of her outing with Drauc. Near fucking and all.

“He was the man I referred to on our date, who had been put into sickbay after kissing me.” Enyd’s face was schooled into a neutral expression. There were so many emotions she felt or wanted to feel, shame and regret being two of the strongest, but she owed it to Alistair to finish before she gave into the temptation to curl into a ball at his feet and beg for forgiveness.

Having learned from her conversation with Drauc that context for decisions was necessary, though it did not excuse selfish impulsivity, Enyd explained her reasons for withholding the details before their date. Again, she kept her voice neutral, not wanting to further mislead Alistair into thinking she was trying to justify her idiocy. She had to finish her scotch and pour another by the time she finished giving some non-intrusive details about how things went with Drauc. His story was not hers to tell, and knowing him to be a private person, she kept the focus primarily on the words stated by both parties and her responses and less on Drauc.

It was time for Zark’s part in this sordid tale. Realizing what she was about to reveal to Alistair, she drained the glass in one shot and then poured a third. It wasn't as strong as what she'd had on the planet with him days before or as strong as what she'd shared with Zark, but it was helping to loosen her tongue as she'd hoped it would.

“I was raised fairly traditionally, Alistair, so years ago, when I was in a dyadic relationship with Victor and Javec, I was nearly always in a state of confusion and self-doubt. How could I love two men so completely simultaneously and for such different reasons?” She didn’t start drinking the third glass, but roated the glass on the table, finding it hard to meet Alistair’s gaze at the point in her confession. “Then I come to this ship and it seemed like the same thing was happening, again, with how I felt, feel, toward you and Drauc. When I was talking to Drauc, I imagined you and him meeting up and bonding over your mutual hatred of me, and in a twisted way, that imagined thought warmed my heart. Because at least then he could have more friends, and you guys could, I don’t know, still be happy despite my selfishness.”

Enyd shook her head, giving a half-shrug. “Then Zark blew up my brain by painting a mental image of the three of us,” Enyd looked up and boldly met Alistair’s eyes with a wide-eyed stare, “you, me, and Drauc, having sex together. Before that, she’d conjured up images of both of you enticing me for intimacy, curious if my imagination would lead me to decide on which of you I preferred, which, as I say that, sounds so incredibly arrogant and selfish and oh,” she tossed back the third drink but kept her hands gripped on the glass to keep from pouring a fourth, “In any case, I realized in that conversation that I could imagine myself falling into a heap of similar useless nose bleeding giggles regardless of it was you or Drauc. But when the tables turned, and it was me seducing either of you, that was quite different. After that confession, Zark tested my imagination to see how I felt about a threesome. And,” her face was aflame now, but she kept very still, knuckles white as she clutched the glass like a lifeline. “It shook me to the core to realize I liked that image. I liked the concept of being about to make love to both of you, and to be loved openly by both of you, to have a freedom to love and be loved that I’d never had before... and if that’s not the most selfish bit of idiocy.”

Enyd interrupted herself by leaning forward with a groan. She pushed the glass aside just in time to knock her forehead against the table. Nearly everything was out now, swirling in the air between them, and it was a miracle that he hadn’t tossed the rest of her soup in her face already.

“Fuck.” She muttered against the table, still not raising her head just yet. She had more to say, but if a man had ever deserved a platform to respond, it would be Alistair. Twisting her head, Enyd kept her head on the table but glanced up through the mass of hair that had fallen over her face. “How are you holding up, Alistair? Do you want me to go?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Alistair, seeing what was coming, had the good sense to keep his mouth shut and weather the storm. Enyd's honest compliments and confession about how she felt inevitably drew a blush from him, and he smiled bashfully, looking around and praying that nobody had overheard her. Alistair briefly considered suggesting that they find a more private venue, but that seemed unwise. Enyd had plainly worked up a lot of courage to do this; disrupting her momentum and asking her to start again would be outright unkind.

And then, emboldened by scotch, Enyd began her tale. Alistair didn't speak, didn't react, didn't do a thing at all except slowly nibble his salad, paying close attention to every word. Enyd's deep vulnerability was a new side of her, a surprising one, and Alistair was determined to respect it. If anything, even as she spoke about Drauc in sometimes excruciating detail, he felt his affection for the baffling woman before him grow. She'd gained an extra layer, another dimension, somehow became more real and ever more fascinating.

Enyd's mention of Zark gave Alistair a quick shock, and he glanced down at his PADD, realising that they were likely the same person. That shock, however, was nothing compared to what he felt as Enyd described her fantasy. Alistair's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open a tad, barely believing Enyd's forthrightness. It shouldn't have been a surprise, yet the poor man was downright dazzled all the same. Finally Enyd came to the end, the end that she'd clearly been dreading, and it took Alistair a good few moments to recover.

"No, stay, please," he said faintly before taking the other glass of scotch. "I will be taking this, though." He winced as he took a hearty sip, gasping in the aftermath. "I...uh, I guessed some of that, based on what you'd already told me, so I'm not entirely surprised. The rest, though...wow. That's...that's a real whopper."

To quieten his roiling stomach, Alistair finished his glass in one go, his mind still racing over Enyd's confession. There was one priority, however. He reached out to gently stroke Enyd's hair, smiling softly at the adorable image before him, of Enyd's head resting on the table, looking up at him like an apologetic puppy. "I'm not mad, Enyd. Not even a little bit. I'm not angry, betrayed, offended or any of the thousand other things that you were afraid of. I promise, I'm alright, you have nothing to worry about."

Alistair took a breath, pulling his hand back and running it over his scalp. "I can't speak for Drauc, obviously, and if he's upset, I understand why. That's his right. I can speak for me, though. I don't mind that you didn't tell me. A first date is, for me, a sort of...introduction, an initial exploration, a...uh...field experiment, to judge the nature of the dynamic. Urgh, sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound so clinical." He facepalmed, took another breath, looked at Enyd and continued, "My point is, for me, this is the appropriate time to talk about this, after we've confirmed that there is something to...talk...a...bout."

Taking a leaf from Enyd's book, Alistair promptly took the bottle, filled both their glasses and took another deep sip. The growing warmth and lightness helped him keep talking, although he noted ruefully that this was the second time in three days that he and Enyd had drunk a copious quantity of alcohol together, a potentially troublesome sign for the future.

But...

"My point is...uh..." He took a another breath before looking Enyd in the eye, "I like you too. A lot, even though we've only just met, technically. You're...you're bold and unpredictable and beautiful and fantastic and sexy...erm...well, I've been thinking of you too, obviously, in that...uh...way." Not that Alistair was inclined to detail his own fantasies, not right that moment. "You drive me nuts, but I like it. It makes me feel alive. Maybe before everything that happened recently, I might've not...honestly, I would've chickened out. I'm not chickening out now. I want to live."

Then Alistair paused, thinking hard. He leaned back in his chair, running his hands over his face. "I can't believe that I'm asking this, it's...uh, a first for me, too. What sort of relationship do you want, Enyd? It sounds like a traditional monogamous relationship isn't what you want, at least, based on what you're saying, but we need to be...uh...specific."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge| Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Alistair’s hand on her head and the gentle strokes against her hair worked to unravel the knot in her stomach. She sighed, shamelessly pressing her head up against his hand like a cat demanding more affection, and was unaware of the petulant pout of her lips when he pulled back to run the same hand over his head as he gathered his thoughts. He’d touched her, and he’d told her he wasn’t angry. Two steps in the right direction. Not that Enyd even knew which direction to go. But at least Alistair seemed inclined to “go” with her instead of running “away” from her.

“Whopper is putting it mildly. If you’ve never had an encounter with Zark, prepare yourself. What you experienced with me is mild compared to what you might experience with her.” Enyd blushed, raising her head off the table and brushing her hair away from her face. “Minus the sexual bits. Though I won’t speak for her preferences.”

He was taking it easier on the scotch than she had, but it spoke measures that he was drinking at all. Alistair didn’t strike her as the type to nurse a drink at lunch as a habit, but she had just dumped this curveball into his lap, so she wouldn’t have faulted him if he’d tipped the bottle itself against his lips and drained it.

“Thank you for your forgiveness, Alistair. Your kindness.” Her hand twitched with the desire to reach out and cup his face, pulling him in for a kiss. But the conversation was only just getting started on his side; she could tell from his mannerisms that it would be best to reserve such affection for later. If there was a later. “After how south things went with Drauc, without hope so far of anything other than that southerly turn, I really didn’t know what to expect between us.” She chuckled as she pointed to her soup. “I ordered soup in case you were going to throw food in my face, and I like the smell and taste of scotch, so I figured if you were going to toss a drink at me, as was your right, it might as well be something I enjoy as well.”

Scratching her fingers over her scalp, Enyd leaned back in her chair as Alistair shared more of his side of things. She snorted as she waved away his apology for the clinical description; in her opinion, that was precisely the point of a first date as well.

“I agree with your concept of first dates, Alistair. Not to worry.” She watched him pour more scotch and slowly sipped at hers, knowing she was at least two drinks ahead of him while he worked out how to finish his feedback.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open marginally, much as he had when she’d spoken of the threesome at his open confession of still being attracted to her. The descriptive list he gave her, quite the glowing number of adjectives, had Enyd ducking her head over the drink as she brought the glass to her lips. Alistair was being open and vulnerable in return, which warmed her far more than the scotch.

“My grandmother also said I was tenaciously incorrigible and adorably frustrating.” She smirked over the rim of her glass at Alistair, darting her tongue out to taste the amber liquid. “Thank you for all that, Alistair. I didn’t even think about what you might think of me outside of wanting to throttle me for all the potential mess I made. It is,” she tipped her head to the side much like a Vulcan might at the moment, eyes darting across the ceiling until she found the words she wanted, “humbling and narcissistically pleasing to know I drive you as crazy as you drive me. And I’m glad you didn’t run away from this conversation or chicken out.” She winked before taking a long sip, her entire body thrumming with the heat of knowing he was attracted to her still, her anxiety melting away in favor of scotch-induced relaxation.

“I’m certainly no veteran to this sort of thing either, Alistair, so from my perspective, better we voice our thoughts, our concerns, our hopes, than keep them inside and festering.” His question had her draining her drink and then setting it aside, no longer tempted to pour more than that there seemed to be a path to take with him instead of away from him. “What sort of relationship? Well, from my ‘therapy’ with Zark, I realized I don’t struggle with the concept of jealousy so long as the affection between myself and my partnerS,” she emphasized the plural, “is shared or is well understood. I’d never considered that before, so that’s new and untried for me.” She crossed her arms over her chest, features pulling into a pensive frown as she continued. “I’ve never been attracted to other females, only males, so obviously, in the fantasy Zark painted, it was you and Drauc. And knowing myself as I do, I was only accepting of that concept because of the emotional and physical connection between us before the fantasy. I don’t think I’m the type of person to welcome just anyone ELSE into the relationship as the days went by. So perhaps I’m a little Andorian at heart? Not sure about quads exactly,” Enyd tapped her chin in thought, trying to imagine a fourth person she’d be comfortable sharing physical intimacy with beyond Alistair, but shook her head, “On the ship, in my life at the moment, the only people I am comfortable sharing physical intimacy with is you, Drauc—though that’s not likely to happen—and Zark.”

The last had Enyd chuckling. It was probably a bit mind-boggling to Alistair that she’d just said. On the one hand, she was only attracted to males, and then she said she’d be comfortable sharing a bed with Zark.

“I love Zark dearly and trust her with my life and my heart.” Enyd added with a smile, then ducked her head before adding, “As I would like to trust you and have you trust me in return. More so, if possible.” Taking a deep breath, Enyd slowly let it out before leaning her elbows on the table to ask her own set of questions. “What about you? Are you even remotely comfortable with the idea of sharing a bed with both me and another man? I know it may seem confusing, but my romantic loyalty can be fully committed to two people; I know that from experience, at least. But I know not everyone can handle that, and I wouldn’t want you to enter anything that made you uncomfortable.”

Enyd didn’t reach to refill the glass—noting that by this time, there was only enough scotch left for about two full glasses, and she didn’t want to hog all of it—but she pushed at her glass a bit as her thoughts moved in every direction. Looking back at Alistair, she smiled softly.

“Ultimately, Alistair, I want to be your friend. I want you to wake up with the assurance that I’m for you and with you, no matter what. Through thick and thin.” Her cheeks warmed as her eyes darted down to the glass again. “Obviously, I would like you to wake up and have that reassurance with me already tucked against you in bed, but I’m in no rush, and I won’t try to stake any claims.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Alistair leaned back, looking upward as if beseeching help from a higher power. Enyd kept throwing bombs at him, and he was juggling as best he could. The revelation that Zark was also a factor in Enyd's multidimensional affections added further complication...wait, Enyd said that she loved and trusted Zark, but wasn't attracted to other women? Yet she was comfortable sharing physical intimacy with Zark...what?

"Just, uh, give me a moment here," Alistair said before he exhaled, his mind racing. "I guess...I guess that what it comes down to is whether I'm happy to...uh...share you, in...every...respect. With Drauc, with Zark, with whomever. I've never thought about doing that before. It's wild, and...uh..." he trailed off as he looked at Enyd, and finally, a grin formed. "...and exciting. Is that weird to say? It feels like...I don't know, like an adventure, like beaming down to a planet for the first time. The idea of waking up next to you, sharing things, living a life together, it's honestly intoxicating. No pun intended. If there's another man there to share that with, or woman, or whatever...I'd need to experience it to be certain, but I don't see a problem."

Suddenly Alistair very much wished that they weren't in public, surrounded by other crewmembers. Setting aside the intimate discussion, he was increasingly aware of the pleasant sensation of being tipsy, the scotch having evidently had an effect. Contemplating Enyd for a long moment, Alistair allowed his addled mind to wander, tuning out the chatter and clinking of cutlery around them.

"Honestly, Enyd, thinking about it...uh..." he drifted off, still thinking hard, his face reddening with the lurid mental images flying through his mind.  "...I...think that I'm okay with a...uh...threesome. I'm imagining you and Klar...sorry, haven't met Drauc yet, so I need a stand-in. It feels like I'm fine with it. You, me and Drauc. Or...well, even more if you want, or another man if you meet one. I'm still not sure how Zark fits into this either. Obviously I need to meet Drauc and work it out this whole...thing, if he changes his mind and goes for this. On my side, though, I'm happy with this. Both...both in bed and out."

Alistair chuckled, shaking his head. "It feels so strange talking about this here. Er...there is one thing that we need to clarify. What about...erm...well, you see, if...I'm not the really the type, but..." Realising that he was babbling, Alistair stopped himself, then forced the words out in a ush. "What I mean to say is, are-you-comfortable-with-me-being-with-other-people-too?" He took a needed breath, fidgeting nervously with his empty glass, rolling it around the base's edge. "I mean, if, uh, Zark and I were intimate, for example, or me and...I don't know, another woman, or Drauc and me, would that be a problem? Is it just between the three or four of us in all directions, just me sharing you with Drauc, or just generally...well...open?"

Alistair sighed, fscepalming. "I sound like an idiot...I'm not the type of guy who just sleeps around with strangers. I need a connection with someone first, like what we made. I'm not asking for anything, either, that's not me. I'm in this even if you're the only person that I'm intimate with, no matter who you want to be with as well. I just need to know exactly what you are and aren't comfortable with. Please be honest about this; don't force yourself to accept something just because it seems 'fair'."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

When she needed to be, Enyd could be a very patient woman. So when Alistair requested a minute of silence to contemplate everything, she was happy to give it to him. Even when he tossed the reality-altering truth that he wasn’t opposed to everything she said, Enyd kept silent. Though her eyes widened, and her lips pulled back into a giant shit-eating grin. She had to grip her hands together to hold herself back from reaching for him. Beneath the table, Enyd curled her feet around the chair legs to further anchor her to this side of the table. The poor man had barely finished processing her honesty and likely had his own set of questions. Throwing the table aside and seductively mauling him on the lounge carpet was not likely to be helpful for long-term plans.

Her grin sobering just a smidgen, Enyd shook her head, “Not weird. I mean not any weirder than the fact that events brought us to this table for this conversation.” It seemed, so far, that he was of a similar accord as she regarding “needing more data” to form a solid confirming fact. “You have a clever tongue, Alistair,” she smirked at his pun and clicked her own tongue against the roof of her mouth, tipping her head back and to the side, wagging her eyebrows at him in feigned seduction. “Did I ever tell you I’m a sucker for puns?”

Enyd moved her hands from the table to hold on to the sides of the chair when Alistair continued. She hadn’t imagined Klar in any of her fantasies, but she could understand why Alistair would substitute the Klingon Adonis for an unknown Romulan. Klar had been a near-perfect specimen of manhood, Klingon or otherwise.

“I only mentioned Zark earlier because though I don’t see myself as bisexual, and I’m not sexually attracted to her though I acknowledge her stunning beauty, my affection and friendship for her is such that if she ever NEEDED physical intimacy with me, I would not balk at the sharing nor would I be ashamed of it and regret it.” Enyd gave a half-shrug, just as confused as Alistair likely was. “It seems my psyche is a very confident swimmer in the grey areas between expectations. And, uh,” she tucked her hair behind her ear, the slight point tinged pink at the thought of Alistair and Drauc meeting—that fantasy Zark had painted still haunted her, “I do not know how Drauc would treat you if you met up with him. He told me very plainly that he didn’t want to be manipulated into any relationship that wasn’t of his choosing, and I get the feeling that if you intentionally showed up just days after I ripped the rug out from under him, he wouldn’t take kindly to it or see it as a gesture of reconciliation or exploration.”

Enyd’s gaze also trailed around the lounge. Though the heaviness of their conversation made them feel a false sense of intimacy and solitude, the reality was that many people were having lunch around them. Whether they’d picked up on any details of the conversation was unknown, but knowing their luck, someone in this lounge had acute hearing and was experiencing indigestion already from trying to keep their confused shock to themselves. Alistair’s tumbled question had her gaze immediately moving back to study his features, eyes running over what she could see of his body. The mental image, not as vividly painted by Alistair as it might’ve been had Zark’s cunning tongue been forming the words, still intrigued Enyd.

In her mind’s eye she saw Zark saunter through the door wearing a skin-tight leather outfit that enhanced her bosom and loved hugging all her curves. She was beautiful. Even in her imagination, Enyd noted this without feeling a tug of sexual arousal, just the continued affection. Zark made a beeline for their table. After giving Enyd an affectionate peck on the temple, the Andorian did precisely what Enyd had wanted to do earlier. She threw the table out of the way as if it were a feather pillow. Without preamble, she straddled Alistair, pulling his face into the softened cushion of her bosom. Throwing her head back and mewling out a cry of passion, Enyd watched Alistair grip Zark’s ass as she ground herself against him.

“Uh-“ Enyd squinted her eyes, words not quite formed for an answer, when another errant mental image switched out Zark for Klar.

Tossing a flirtatious smile in Enyd’s direction, Klar used his grip around Alistair’s neck to pull the man forward, twisting until they fell together on the ground at Enyd’s feet, Klar lying between Alistair’s legs. With deft fingers, he ripped Alistair’s uniform top open with a grunt, lips curling back into a snarl. Raking these same fingers down Alistair’s chest, Klar’s hips bucked forward against Alistair, and the strangled sound of pleasure she heard should have come from the fantasy Alistair but, in reality, it came from her own throat.

Enyd smacked a hand over her mouth. Eyes darting around, she wondered if the sound had only been in her imagination or if she’d been idiotic enough to let it leak into reality. She noted her salivary glands had worked double time during her fantasies. Enyd had to swallow before she could clear her throat and try again.

“You don’t sound like an idiot, Alistair. You sound like someone who is also facing a curious conundrum. I am also not someone who sleeps casually. In fact,” she blushed but maintained his gaze, “I have only ever been intimate with one man. Javec. And I have kissed one handful.” She let go of the seat just long enough to hold up five fingers. “So even the term ‘threesome’ signals a temporary status whereas in my mind, at least what I think I’m imagining, is something more permanent. Not so unlike the Andorian quads.”

Enyd glanced at the scotch but mentally shook her head. She’d leave it for Alistair.

“And to answer your question,” Enyd had to take a deep breath, puffing out her cheeks as she held it a second, then sighed out her answer in one breath, “apparently-I-would-be-okay-with-it-if-I-could-watch-or-take-part.” She took another steadying breath, clenching her teeth as she waited for his response. “I didn’t know THAT about myself until today, either. So it seems we’re having a lunchtime therapy session.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Though they hadn't known each other long (indeed, this was only their third meeting), Alistair was quite accustomed to what Enyd looked like when she was aroused. Her roving eyes, the faint blush in her cheeks, her lips pressing together; all of it was very familiar by now. Alistair didn't know what was happening, exactly, as Enyd was quiet for a while and plainly occupied, but he was disinclined to interrupt her with his thoughts on Zark and Drauc. It just seemed...rude.

And besides, Alistair reflected guiltily, he very much liked to watch Enyd lost in her thoughts.

Finally Enyd seemed to move past whatever she was imagining and start talking again. Alistair just let her talk, although the revelation that Enyd had only been intimate with one person was (another) sharp shock. It seemed incongruous with recent events, both with him and Drauc, that this wonderfully bold and flirtatious demon didn't have a vast array of past victims. Nevertheless, that rather emphasised how special this must be for Enyd, which set a happy little flame alight in Alistair's stomach.

"What is it about huge apocalyptic events that make us learn these things?" he mused with a goofy grin of his own. "Honestly Enyd, I...I rather like the idea of you watching me, and I didn't know that before today either." Alistair's eyes widened in alarm as he looked around, praying that nobody had overheard them. "Er...anyway, we now have clear boundaries and expectations and...uh...both know what we want."

Oh boy, did they now know what the other wanted.

"Anyway," Alistair said quickly to get away from that provocative thought, "uh, I'll stay away from Drauc. You're right; he needs to come to terms with everything in his own time and come to a decision on his own. I would want that courtesy, if I were in his shoes. For now..." he hesitated, glancing at the rest of the scotch and his nearly-finished salad, before shrugging. Standing up, Alistair moved around the table and held out his hand as he smiled down at Enyd. "Shall we go somewhere less crowded?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

“Oh goody,” Enyd clapped her hands together like a child at the prospect of ice cream for breakfast, adding a wink, “Zark called me a closet kinkster or something along those lines,” she lowered her hands to her lap and shrugged, “so it is so delightful to find another of my kind so readily.”

The latent anxiety that Alistair would barrel off to talk things out with Drauc despite her warning released at his words, and she nodded. He was a survivor, had to be really, so his instinct would lead him to logically realize aggravating a Romulan was akin to poking a sleeping bear. When Alistair came around the table for her, Enyd looked to the scotch but again inwardly shook her head. She no longer “needed” it.

Feeling emboldened by the scotch but more so by the acceptance and returned affection, Enyd placed her hand in Alistair’s and used the grip to tug him close as she stood. The movement allowed her to shamelessly slide herself up his front in a similar fashion as she’d done on Qo’Nos. Holding his hand still, standing chest-to-chest, Enyd smiled as she leaned in to kiss his cheek, then tipped forward on her toes to whisper by his ear, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Enyd lowered herself to her feet and giggled at Alistair’s reaction. She used her free hand to playfully push at his chest so she could get around the table—that, sadly, Zark had not thrown—and they could get on their way. She had no interest in letting go of his hand and no care what others might say or think. Alistair had said it perfectly just a few moments before: apocalyptic events pushed people into decisive action. Of course, not all decisive actions had people contemplating having sex with two people at the same time, but it somehow didn’t surprise that the goddess of chaos would prod her into this precise position.

“You know, Alistair,” Enyd sidled close to his side as they moved through the lounge toward the exit, “I truly am sorry for all that you had to live through to get here,” with her free hand, Enyd gestured to the corridor and passing crewmen, “and I kind of feel like a selfish child for being glad that I get to hold your hand right now.” Enyd brought their joined hands up to her face to emphasize her point and placed a light kiss on the back of his hand.

A break in the passing crew inspired Enyd to shift to the edge of the corridor where one of the alcoves leading into a Jeffries tube was situated. It certainly wasn’t a private area, but it took them out of the main thoroughfare enough for her to feel confident in placing his hand on her waist while she looped her fingers around the back of his neck. The position had her chest arched up and forward, partially balancing on the balls of her feet. It was an intimate stance but nothing so risqué as to draw an inordinate amount of attention from anyone who glanced at them.

Even with all the craziness they’d just discussed and all that they’d already lived through on Qo’Nos, Enyd still felt the jolt of butterflies as she spoke. “I don’t know what your schedule for the rest of the day is like,” The pads of her fingers began tracing over the skin at the base of his skull as she spoke. “And boundaries established or not, I certainly don’t want you put on report for shirking duties. Wouldn’t want you to be a bad boy.” She intentionally laced her words with a tone of double entendre, her lips drawing up in a playful half smile. “But would I be too presumptuous to ask for a kiss before you head off to slay operational dragons?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Enyd's flirting, from her touches to her affectionate kisses, had Alistair downright floating on air with each step. He couldn't stop himself grinning like an idiot in the knowledge that this astonishing woman cared for him, wanted more of him, that this was just the start of their relationship, complicated though it would inevitably come. Enyd's confession that she was in a similar state only cemented Alistair's contentment as they walked the corridor.

When Enyd kissed his hand, looking up at him with those dastardly green eyes as she did so, he could only grin back at her with naked affection. Prompted by Enyd's reminder and the weight of the PADD held in his other hand, he thought back to everything that he had survived; Niga, the Borg, the Infested, Praxis. It all seemed so distant in that moment, like it had happened in another lifetime. Alistair briefly thought of Nadene with a guilty pang, but knew that she would only want him to move on, to live, just as he would've wanted for her.

After Enyd pulled him aside and made her request, emphasised by that criminally adorable half-smile and the touch of her fingers on his head, Alistair chuckled under his breath. "Well, under the circumstances,"he said quietly, his blue eyes gazing into Enyd's, "as your official committed lover, I think that I can oblige you with a kiss."

With Enyd thus warned, Alistair leaned in and pressed his lips upon hers. The kiss was light at first, gentle and sensual, before it erupted into passion. With one hand on Enyd's waist and the other supporting her back, Alistair focused on the sweet taste of her, his tongue meeting hers, leaning in to the point that he was holding her up. It was an all-consuming kiss, fueled by nerves and excitement, such that Alistair was slightly dazed after their lips finally parted.

"Okay, wow," he murmured, chuckling under his breath, "I'm looking forward to doing that again. Many times." After a moment's thought, he gently eased Enyd back up straight and let her go before glancing down at the PADD in his hand. "I don't think that I've ever wanted to be naughty more than now. Although..." Alistair hesitated, smiling with uncertainty, "I, uh, did a shift on the Bridge last night and worked all morning, so I'm not technically on duty...I mean, I have a mission to prepare for, but I only get started at 16h00...I was going to do paperwork, but..."

Alistair took a breath, his eyes never leaving Enyd's. "What I mean to say is that if you want me, I'm all yours for the next few hours," he said softly. "We could, uh...walk through the Arboretum...visit the holodeck...take steam..." Seeing Enyd's questioning look, he quickly clarified, "it's a tradition from my homeworld, where you sweat off what you just drank, something carried over from Earth. There's a sauna onboard, I think."

After a moment, Alistair grinned again as he took Enyd's hand in his own. "Call me selfish too, and...uh, maybe I am, but I want to be with you more. A lot more."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Once upon a time, they’d naively beamed to Qo’Nos to watch Klingon comedy, utterly unaware of all that would entail. As time had ticked by, they pressed onward even as they were made aware of the building tension of chaos. The slow burn to the explosion of the evening had been intoxicating, enticing them to return to one another’s side to see if it had only been the spell of the evening or if there was something more involved.

This kiss that Alistair laid on her was not so dissimilar from that evening. Her lips were already pulled back in a playful smile when he first pressed his lips to hers. She felt a mirrored affection in his touch and had not tried to hide the soft whimper of delight when it sounded in direct response. And then it happened. The click from simple to complex. Her hands went from a lightly clasped loop around his neck to gripping his shoulders and fisting the material of his uniform. When Alistair tip[ed her back over the supporting arm on her waist, Enyd’s legs shifted to help steady their new position. Feeling the brush of his knee against her inner thigh had Enyd whimpering again. As his tongue moved in and out, tasting her, Enyd clutched herself tightly against him, feeling for a moment as if they were on a ship. A nautical ship, at least, as her world rocked on its axis and remained spinny even after he pulled back from the kiss.

The fact that Alistair could form coherent sentences so soon after that intense of a kiss proved to Enyd that he was undoubtedly the more experienced of the two of them. She was still mute when he set her upright, though she wasn’t so slow in thought that she couldn’t smirk at his naughty comment. This helped to keep her brain engaged and tracking as he explained his freedom for the afternoon. Reaching up to push any disheveled hair back into place, Enyd smiled shyly at his choice of words as he suggested they spend more time together.

Her head gave a small shake before she verbalized her response, having finally rediscovered her ability to speak. “Perhaps NOT the arboretum. That’s where I first met Drauc, and I know he enjoys going there to find peace. I wouldn’t want him to feel like I solicited your support and we were cornering him into something he wasn’t keen on or ready for.” Enyd sucked her lower lip between her teeth and lightly nibbled before adding, “Drauc also enjoys the steam rooms.” Enyd’s eyes widened then, her hands reaching up to press against Alistair’s chest. “I don’t want this to feel like we are avoiding an ‘ex’ or anything because that is not it at all. I just really don’t want him to feel like we are pressuring him or rushing him. Even if he has rejected the concept of being more with me ,and with you through me, I still respect him and regard him highly.”

She leaned her head forward, knocking her forehead against his chest. They were barely twenty minutes into being “official,” and Enyd felt like she was already making a mess of things. Not willing to relinquish her hold of his uniform or step away for fear that he’d run away, Enyd turned her head till her cheek rested over his heart and blinked up at him.

“Could we simulate a traditional steam room from your homeworld in the holodeck as a compromise?” She broke eye contact as she wrapped her arms around his waist and semi-buried herself against him. Her voice was muffled from speaking through his uniform when she quickly added, “I also really want to spend much more time with you. Especially if you have a mission, and with how my missions go, I can only imagine that yours will also entail danger and chaos, and I don’t want to pass over an opportunity.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Enyd's concern for Drauc was very endearing, and Alistair gamely wrapped an arm around her back as she rested her head on his breast, instinctively sensing that she needed the close contact. It felt odd to be the strong one, to be one offering solace and comfort, but also...good? Warm? Enyd's grip felt desperate, urgent, as if she was afraid to let go. Lost in the feel of her and her scent (mixed as it was with the faint tang of scotch), Alistair just held her, hoping that he (and Drauc, if possible) would be enough. to make her feel secure He knew full well what it was like to be terrified of messing things up. Realising that Enyd felt the same way was surprising, yet also deepened his affection for her.

It was only the latest aspect of the ever-deepening complexity of Enyd Madsen to be revealed, and Alistair was growing ever more fascinated and enamoured with each new discovery.

At Enyd's next words as she looked up at him, he chuckled under his breath. "Uh, as much as I like the idea of you thinking that I'm such dashing hero," he said quietly, looking down at Enyd as he stroked her back, ignoring the chatter of passing crewmen behind him, "I'm really not. People like me don't do the hero stuff. I'm not even on the mission tonight; I'm just helping the people are, backing them up from up here."

Briefly Alistair remembered that Zark was on the mission, and he sighed, hating that he couldn't say anything. If all went well, not even the away team would know that he'd helped them. "I need to drop this PADD off and do a couple of other things, but I'll meet you in Holodeck 7 in...uh...ten minutes, fifteen at the most. My homeworld's specific style of steam rooms won't be in our databanks, though. it's a tiny colony out in the middle of nowhere...I might design a program one day, actually, try to distribute it throughout the Federation networks, there must be others who'd like to experience that..."

Realising that he was rambling, Alistair smiled bashfully down at Enyd. "Sorry. What I mean to say is, just load up whatever steam room program you like and get comfortable. I'll join you soon, alright?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Playing swatting at Alistair’s chest, Enyd clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Heroes like you keep the away teams informed enough to get them back alive.” She smoothed her hand over the area she’d swatted, hugging him tightly as she added, “Don’t discount the heroism of an apt mind for tech and strategic operations. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and, by necessity, need to be in more places than on the front lines. So, basically, shut up. You’re my hero.”

When he started speaking about his short to-do list, Enyd loosened her grip around his waist. She again nibbled on her lip in thought. It was up to her to design the program for them to enjoy. Although she’d by now had more than a few jaunts in the holodeck, namely thanks to Zark and Mickayla, she hadn’t yet designed a program. And that was when her eyes widened, and her cheeks warmed, listening to Alistair speak. While Enyd always found him attractive, there was something downright sexy about his aura whenever he spoke “tech.” He would also take on that assertive expression, his vocal intonations shifting.

“Can you promise to speak technobabble to me when we’re in bed together in the future?” Enyd’s cheeks remained warm with a blush as she pretended to fan herself, bright smile alight on her face. “What you think you should apologize for, I find fascinating, and you apparently have no idea how sexy you become when you’re talking about your work and expertise.” She quickly placed a spontaneous kiss on his cheek. “I’ll try to figure something out. Meet you at the holodeck on deck 8?”

She gave him another quick kiss before forcefully extracting herself from his arms and hurrying away. Since his list wasn’t overly long, Enyd knew she was limited in time to design something special. It took only a matter of minutes to stand outside holodeck 2, fingers tapping her chin as she contemplated the console. What type of program…

“Thea, please connect me to Lieutenant Zark.”

[You are now connected to Lieutenant Zark, Lieutenant Madsen.]

“Hey Zark, sorry to bother you, but I have a quick question.” Enyd sighed, shaking her head. “Well, maybe it’s not technically quick, but I only have a little bit of time to prepare.”

Zark is in her quarters wearing a T Shirt that's hanging off one shoulder and is doing a poor job of covering her. [For you, Enyd, anything, what's happening?]

Enyd chuckled, “One day I'll hold you to that remark.” She lowered her hand from cradling her chin and began swinging her arms back and forth as she continued. “As to what's happening, well, please don't scream, but Alistair is going to meet me in probably another ten minutes or so at holodeck 2 and it's my job to create a holoprogram to accommodate a steam bath."

Unbeknownst the Enyd, a shapely platinum eyebrow arches as blue-green eyes begin to narrow into dirty moons, and a smirk quickly forms on the blue face [I see. And you want to use the Lake House?]

"Only if that's okay with you, of course.” Enyd clasped her hands behind her back and rocked up and down on the balls of her feet. “I loved it so much, and I think Alistair would enjoy it too. Nessie and all. I just wanted your permission to use it first, and then, I needed to know the program's name."

Zark flashes a brilliant, if somewhat naughty smile. [Of course you can use it. The program name is XamotZark Jasper Lake House. Gimme a moment to give you access.] Zark quickly finishes typing a series of commands. [You should have access now. So are you planning on wearing a towel when he gets there and let him unwrap you, or are you gonna leave a trail of flowers to the steam room and act as if your birthday suit is the most normal attire in the universe?]

"Er, uh, I don't know.” Enyd blushed, eyes darting up to stare at the ceiling as it held the answers. “I hadn't even thought about what I'd be wearing or not wearing. I just wanted to create an environment first that was relaxing but not too blatant, you know?” Enyd smirked. Perhaps Zark DIDN’T know, considering she was Zark. “What would you suggest? I mean, I'm not trying to suggest that I want to bang him right out the gate. Just because we will both happen to be naked, or near so, doesn't mean that's the inevitable." Her statement sounded lame even to her own ears but she left the teasing if there was to be any, to Zark.

On her end of the link, Zark ives Enyd The Look. [Uh huh. And who was it that I last saw trying to leak her own brains out her nose when an imaginary hard muscular baldy was offering his hand to have a private swim in the pool?] Zark's expression softens. [There's no need to answer that. At least put on a swimming suit that says you when you go in, and you can wrap a towel around you as nice gift wrapping. Something relaxing. Well, I'd suggest a Finnish steam room, from Finland on Earth. Those ones are usually small and intimate. In fact.] Zark begins typing furiously under a time constraint. [There. I've attached a small steam room to the on suite of the master bedroom. I wouldn't suggest an Andorian steam room since the benches are usually made out of ice, and we use volcanic hot springs, so the sulfur can be overwhelming.]

"Guilty, but that wasn't me setting up the scene. You controlled that fantasy too." Enyd wagged her finger at the console as if Zark were residing within it. "Gift wrapping, seriously?" The flat of her palm briefly met her forehead then she shifted closer to the console as if to start accessing the program. "Finnish steam room, got it.” She dropped her hands back to her sides when Zark announced she’d already programmed it in. She really needed to get lessons from either Zark or Alistair on this tech stuff. At the mention of Andorian steam rooms, Enyd remembered her old classmates and smiled. "Oh yes, I remember going to a traditional steam room while on Andoria. I loved it! But you're right; it wasn't really conducive to non-Andorian intimacy building." Enyd glanced down the corridor, hoping Alistair wasn’t already arriving. "Okay, so, any other advice you'd like to give before I get this program going?"

[Uhmmmmmmm, make sure to bring herbal teas, juice, and mineral water. Light beer if you want alcohol in there. Drink often and light. No chugging, or you'll be running to the washroom often. I hope you haven't eaten too much; otherwise, the blood circulation to your skin is going to get crossed with your digestion, and it'll pull blood away from your brain, so watch out for dizziness.] Zark's salacious smile returned once more. [Or don't and just fall on him. Aside from that, make sure to bring plenty of towels. Much softer on the back in case you can't wait to make it to the bed.]

Enyd felt her ears warm immediately after the blush shot up her neck and tinged her cheeks red. "The absolute walking definition of incorrigible, that you are dearest. Are you certain YOU'RE not the goddess of chaos having a grand time tossing mayhem at me?" Enyd shook her head, chuckling at her friend. "Thank you for the tips, and thank you for your help. I'll let you know how things go." She shot a glare at the ceiling. "And by that, I don't mean I'm going to tell you ALL the details. You can watch the vid from Qo'Nos for clues in that case."

[Of course, I'm incorrigible, that's what friends are for, and I'll get around to watching the video at some point, maybe when I need to do something scandalous to myself. I'm sure I'll let me know what I think what details are appropriate. Have fun!] Starts to turn off the connection and pauses. [By the way, I'm totally serious about gift wrapping, you want an intimate setting? Make it fun! Add some anticipation and tension to it. Tease him.]

Enyd had a brief image of herself sitting naked with a bow on her head and matching ones tied around her wrists and ankles. "Oh heavens, I love you Zark.” She shook the image away and smiled. “I'll see if I can conjure up some tinsel and bows then. Thanks again.” Enyd cued the program but didn’t immediately go inside. “Talk to you later."

She heard Zark blow a kiss before ending the connection. The holoarch opened directly into the large living room Enyd remembered of the wooden cottage of her first outing with Zark. The same square couch that dually horseshoed around the raised granite fireplace greeted her with memories of tickling Zark and eating far too much ice cream. The wall of windows parallel to the living room displayed a sunset view of the snowy mountains, and after a moment’s observation, Enyd’s smile grew when she saw Nessie’s long head rise from the lake's crystalline waters at the bottom of the hill where the cottage rested. The evergreens bordering the edges of the cottage were still covered in a white dusting, though the program wasn’t showing active snow at the moment.

Enyd started to move toward the master bedroom, intent on getting into a swimsuit before Alistair arrived. But then she remembered Zark’s suggestion of a flower trail. Enyd looked around, then down at herself. It wasn’t a flower, but dropping an article of clothing every few steps could work, she supposed. First, a shoe by the holoarch, then a stocking near the edge of the couch, the matching pair spaced further along the route to the bedroom with her uniform jacket left hanging from the doorknob that led into the bedroom. Her trousers were left at the foot of the bed, her undershirt on the carpet between the bed and the bathroom, her underwear hanging from the bathroom doorknob, and her bra on the bathroom floor pointing, in a fashion, to the steam room itself.

Standing nude just outside the steam room, Enyd frowned. What kind of swimsuit matched her? She was still contemplating the puzzle when she heard the holoarch open and scrambled to grab one of the bathrobes hanging on the wall outside the steam room. Her efforts to hide under the material and prevent “peeping” was so thorough that Enyd quickly realized, with a groan, that the knot she’d made in her robe tie was so tight she’d need help to get it undone. She sighed and shook her head at the noisome knot before taking a seat on the edge of the granite bathtb. She didn’t want to go into the steam room until she knew it was Alistair who’d come into the program and not an overly playful Zark.

---

OOC: Thanks to @RyeTanker for Zark dialogue!

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
After Enyd scarpered down the corridor, Alistair remained where he was for a few moments, trying to process what Enyd had just said. He ran his hand over his face, frowning in befuddlement.

"Technobabble is sexy?" he muttered to himself in astonishmemt, heedless of a passing ensign who looked at him in askance before shrugging and proceeding on. "What? What?"

Still thoroughly confused, Alistair nevertheless got on his way, grinning upon entering the turbolift when he thought back to the kiss, the conversation, the commitment, all of it. Indeed, he was rather distracted as he dealt with other matters, only answering Selena's question about a diagnostic analysis after she repeated it twice. She likely wondered if he was ill so Alistair made an effort to allay her concerns, but he was still unusually chirpy when he left. Thrumming with excitement and anticipation, knowing that a beautiful and astonishing woman was waiting for him, his joy was bulletproof.

Upon finding the holodeck, Alistair hesitated before opening the door, his stomach roiling, more nervous than ever. Nevertheless, after taking a deep breath, he opened the big door and stepped over the threshold.

"Woah," Alistair said in a low voice as he looked around, the door closing behind him. The warm living room that he'd been deposited in was the definition of 'cosy', a strong contrast to the stark technological coldness of a starship. A fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, perfectly offsetting the winter setting. Even the fire's heat itself was comforting, enveloping, mixed with the homely scents.

Then Alistair spotted the discarded clothes; the shoe by his feet, the stockings, and the jacket hanging from a doorknob. "Alright then, Enyd," Alistair said softly, grinning, despite his own nerves. Deciding that it was only polite, he removed his own shoes and socks, setting them neatly next to the front door before moving further in. Alistair was momentarily distracted however, when, while walking across the room, he spotted an strange shape in the great lake outside. After spending a moment wondering at the huge long-necked figure in bemusement, he continued on, taking Enyd's jacket off the knob and setting it aside on a dresser.

Alistair gingerly opened the door, half dreading (and half hoping) that Enyd would be waiting naked in the room beyond...but no. Instead, more clothes lay in a tantalising line to the bathroom, with Enyd's discarded underwear leaving no allusions to what their owner was currently wearing. Tense from anticipation, Alistair opened the next door to finally see her, perched on the edge of the bathtub, fully enveloped in a comfy-looking fluffy white robe.

"Hi," he said quietly, a slow smile forming as he took in the view. Oddly, Enyd looked even more alluring in the robe than without, especially with her warm smile. "This place is really quite beautiful. Just...beautiful." Alistair's eyes never left Enyd as he spoke. Stepping forward, his toes caught on Enyd's bra and he looked down, eyes wide. "Oh...right."

Looking up at Enyd again, he grinned awkwardly. "So this might seem like an odd question, under the circumstamces, but...well...why is there a giant creature in the lake? I could've sworn that there was nothing like that on Earth, and this looks like Earth..."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Strange how bare toes could be so distracting, and yet Alistair’s were. From the moment he walked into the bathroom, a smile on his face, still dressed in his uniform aside from the bare feet, Enyd’s attention had been divided between the warmth of his gaze and his feet. She’d seen far more nude flesh, yet there was something intimate about waiting for him in the bathroom, clad in nothing but a robe. It was quite a domestic scene, and the combination of its simplicity and its implications set a blush alight on Enyd’s cheeks as her heart warmed still more with the burgeoning reality they were entering together.

Alistair’s question had Enyd giggling, hands remaining fisted in the robe's material as if she feared it would fly open with her laughter. “Zark designed this program. I spoke to her before you arrived, and she added on this steam room,” she gestured to the wooden door adjacent to the edge of the tub, “and knowing her, she probably added other little things here and there to surprise us both. But you saw the honest-to-goodness Loch Ness Monster down there.” Enyd gave an exaggerated head nod. “My first time here, Zark about buried me in an avalanche and then forgot to warn me about Nessie and, well, it turned out well obviously, but at the time, I wondered if it would be death by holographic monster. Turns out Nessie likes fish and not human flesh.”

Enyd’s eyes roved over Alistair’s still-clothed form before she stood and put her hand on the steam room door knob, “I’ll wait inside for you. Give you some, uh, privacy.” She laughed at how ludicrous that seemed, all things considered, but still left Alistair alone in the bathroom when she opened the door and was immediately enveloped in a cloud of steam.

The room had a piney scent, likely thanks to the wooden benches affixed at different heights along three walls in the room. Two buckets hung from fixtures on opposite walls, constantly fed with cold water from the lake below. Ladles bobbed in the churning water in case one overheated and wanted to be refreshed. A square table filled with heated rocks of various colors and sizes jutted up from the middle of the floor, and it was from this table that the steam emitted, giving off a comforting herbal scent as the steam wafted toward the ceiling. A few collected bunches of tree leaves were scattered on the different benches, and upon inspection, Enyd realized they were birch leaves. She remembered the oil in the leaf could be used for pain relief while the sting from whipping oneself with the leaf bunch could increase circulation.

Enyd quickly shucked off the robe and left it hanging from a peg near the door, retreating to the darkest, steamiest corner in the room. She took two bunches of leaves with her and held them in front of her body for some—silly—semblance of cover as she sat her nude derriere on the warm wood of a mid-level bench. While she continued to study the ornate wood carvings Zark had programmed to appear in the wooden walls of the steam room, half her mind was focused on the door, curious if Alistair would enter nude or follow her rather ridiculous suit and try to remain covered.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Quite distracted by the whole situation and Enyd's shameless eyes, Alistair took a moment too long to register the obvious, and he picked up a towel a rail. "Hey, don't you want a..." he said, stopping when he saw that Enyd had already gone in, "...towel. Ah. Okay. Yeah. Alright then." Glancing down at the bra left on the floor, he gulped. "Makes sense. Yep. Of course."

Abruptly realising that he was wasting precious time, Alistair then hurriedly got to work disrobing. He was nevertheless quite efficient and orderly about it; the jacket and shirt were removed first and neatly folded on top of a small table in the bedroom, followed in due course by the pants and (after a moment of marvelling at what he was doing) the underwear. Fully naked now, his heart racing, Alistair even picked up Enyd's bra and set it on top of his jacket, just to be courteous. The entire exercise couldn't have taken more than a minute, but it felt tortorously long.

Feeling thoroughly exposed (even more than on the stage, oddly), Alistair hesitated at the sauna door., weighing the option of following Enyd's example. It was tempting in an thrilling and outrageous way, but after a moment's thought, he took a fluffy white towel and tied it around his waist, smiling all the while. Enyd wasn't the only one who could play games; she would have to work to claim her prize.

Besides, the towel felt wonderfully comfortable in the sauna while simultaneously giving certain body parts room to breathe. It was a rare and cherished sensation.

Finally, fully prepared (and still not believing what he was doing), Alistair opened the door to be greeted by a blast of humid heat. After quickly closing the door, he closed his eyes and gasped in contentment, rolling his shoulders experimentally. Opening his eyes, he saw Enyd obscured in the far corner and grinned.

"Oh, this feels fantastic," he said, stretching his arms over his head. "Vulcan has a dry heat, mostly, it's just not the same." Glancing at the walls, he traced a finger along the carvings. "If you see Zark first, please thank her for me, and...uh, us. She has great taste. Oh, not that...er...I'm not planning to meet her, not until you're comfortable with that, but anything can happen, and...well...right."

With that, banishing thoughts of the mission that Zark was embarking on later, Alistair took the excuse of carefully ladling some more water onto the rocks, adding a bit more steam to the room. That done, he duly moved to sit across from Enyd, grinning when he properly saw her choice of "attire". It was an simultaneously erotic and endearing sight, one that Alistair immediately made a point to fix into his mind.

"So..." he said with amusement as he relaxed, "normally, here, I see people wearing towels, or light clothes, or...well, nothing. The leaves are a new one for me, but I like them. You look good with wearable foliage. More than good, actually."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Alistair entered clad in a towel, bringing a smile to Enyd’s face. It seemed he hadn’t had the wardrobe malfunction she’d had, and he’d thought to take a towel, whereas she’d been in a sure-fire hurry to get settled before he joined her. His first comment about Vulcan brought back fond memories, and nodding, Enyd gave the leaves a subtle rustle as she shifted the bunches to a new position before responding.

“I enjoyed the dry heat on Vulcan. Did you ever make it out to Eridani Beach along Lake Yuron? I often rented a bungalow there during my breaks, and the owner was a tea fanatic because all the bushes, trees, and flowers around the garden could be used to make tea. They also had patterned sand patches that could be used for meditation and a wooden gazebo where I liked to sit and write or read. It had no modern technology, so everything was very traditional and exactly what my soul needed.” Enyd glanced down, wiggling her toes a moment, before smiling shyly back at Alistair, “Once this is over, if you’d like, I remember where it is, and I still have the owner’s contact information. I could take you there.”

Enyd chuckled at Alistair’s verbal diarrhea, marveling that they both tripped over their words so easily. That they were still so shy around each other was also amusing.

“Alistair, you have duties and responsibilities on the ship that will require you to meet with many people. I don’t claim ownership of your socialization.” She crossed her eyes at him and stuck out the tip of her tongue. “I actually think it’d be great to get you two together. She’s already heard so much about you, and now you, much the same. If anything, it might help things move forward more smoothly.”

Enyd moved one set of leaves to shake in the air at Alistair when he teased her about them, careful to keep the others in front of her, blocking most of his view.

“I had a wardrobe malfunction. I was in such a hurry to get the robe on that I tied the knot too tightly and completely forgot about the towels. So I had to take it off over my head before you came in. If I put it back on, we’ll have to work on that knot together; otherwise, it’ll go on the same way it came off.” She pointed the bunch of leaves toward her head and shrugged. “Have you ever used birch leaves in a sauna? The oil is anti-inflammatory, and the light whips from the branches increase circulation.” Enyd glanced around the sauna, realizing she’d taken all the leaves to use as clothing. After a moment’s thought, Enyd smirked back at Alistair, subtly widening her legs a little and using one leaf bunch to point to the bench where her feet were resting. Indicating he move to sit in front of her. “If you like, I can massage some of the oil into your shoulders. Sitting at your console so long can add tension there.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Increasingly relaxed amidst the penetrating heat, feeling himself already starting to sweat, Alistair simply sat back and relished the sensation. Enyd provided a tantalising view, ever so carefully concealing herself, giving him only glimpses amidst the steamy dim light; the curve of a breast, the outline of a thigh. When Enyd opened her legs with that mischievous smirk, Alistair's eyes widened, but her suggestion was innocent. Well, relatively speaking. Well, not so much; the mental image of Enyd running her oiled hands over his body (and thus being unable to hold the birch branches as an added bonus) downright made Alistair's mouth dry.

Still, he couldn't help a smirk of his own. Enyd wasn't the only one who could play.

"Good idea," Alistair said as he stood and took a small bottle of oil of a shelf and moved to the bench that Enyd's feet were resting on. There clearly wasn't enough space for him. "Ah, would you mind...er...opening up a bit more?"

After Emyd obliged, Alistair stepped over the next bench to stand between Enyd's legs. Their relative heights and the closeness of the benches brought his towelled waist directly in front of Enyd's eyes for a moment before he promptly sat down. They were so close that Alistair's knees touched Enyd's thighs, the contact and close proximity sending an electricfying rush through his body.

"Still, I think that you could use this more than me, so it's only fair that you go first," he said quietly, looking into Enyd's eyes all the while. "I know you've been busy lately, going on places, walking a lot, and that must be hard on your feet, right?" Very slowly and deliberately, Alistair hooked his hand under Enyd's knee and raised it before guiding her foot onto his lap. Squirting his oil into his palms, he rubbed his hands together before starting to massage Enyd's sole, moving slowly and sensually. Alistair glanced up at Enyd on occasion, gauging her reaction.

"It's been a while since I've done this to someone else," he said quietly as he worked, progressing upward. "The Ops station on my first posting had no chair, so I had to learn how to take care of myself properly. Standing a combat watch for twenty hours straight can really be hard on your feet. You have beautiful feet, by the way.  Nicely shaped and cute. Not that I...well, not that I usually pay attention to that."

After a minute or so of thorough massaging, Alistair progressed to Enyd's calf, rubbing oil up and down with his firm hands.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd’s eyes widened at Alistair’s intentional approach. Here she’d been offering to help him with stress relief, and the man had gone and flipped the coin on her.

“Oh, um, sure.” She accommodated his request, shifting one bunch of leaves down to rest in her lap while she clutched the other bunch against her chest as if it was a lifeline in a sea of uncertainty.

Enyd gulped and briefly averted her eyes when his bare torso blocked her view of anything else. It lasted but a moment, but it was enough to have Enyd’s heart rate increase and the sheen of sweat on her skin resulting from the sauna and her hormonal response. If Alistair was as “perturbed” with the proximity change, he didn’t seem to give off the same amount of nervousness as Enyd knew she was. His eye contact was constant, and his words even, the offer for a foot rub, sincere and beyond considerate. She had thought little about how much she’d been on her feet or needed to remain on her feet in movement until he brought her attention to it.

“Um, sure, thank you, Alistair. That’s very kind of you. I hadn’t really thought much about it.” Enyd spoke in a highly distracted tone, her eyes riveted on his hands as he moved them over her skin, placing her foot in his lap for a moment before he began the massage itself. “I wouldn’t have known you were out of practice if you hadn’t said anything.” She broke her fascinated stare at his hands on her skin by looking back at his smiling face and winking. There was no reason she needed to be so on edge with him. It was no longer an “if” they were going to become intimate but a “when,” and this continued anxiety was a wasted use of quality time spent with him. “I’ve been consistently on my feet for a few missions before, but I don’t think it was ever twenty hours without some sort of sitting, be it by being kidnapped or hogtied in the process of accomplishing the mission.” She chuckled at her own joke that wasn’t too far-fetched considering recent missions.

Alistair’s comment about her feet had Enyd raising a single eyebrow in curiosity, gaze moving from his face to study her own feet, namely the foot cradled in his hands. She’d never given their shape much thought. She had average-sized feet for her stature, and growing up on the ranch meant she’d often been barefoot. Enyd stated as much to Alistair as his fingers worked up her calf, keeping her leg fully supported in his hands.

“If you ever think about getting out of ops, I think you have a fairly good chance of making a living as a massage therapist.” Enyd pulled the one leg from his grasp and wiggled her other foot in front of him, eager for more and equally eager to give him some attention in return. “Of course, I am terribly biased at this point.” Forcing herself to relax against the wooden wall behind her, Enyd kept the leaves close to her chest but didn’t clutch them nearly as tightly as she had been earlier. “So, when you aren’t seducing diplomats with foot massages, what do you typically do to relax and reset? Do you recharge best with large group settings, smaller, more intimate groups, or more one-on-one or alone?”

It struck Enyd as rather odd that they were having this line of a conversational topic after having seen each other virtually naked and nearly engaging in coitus more than once. Yet, they lived in strange enough times that sometimes the cart did, in fact, go before the horse.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
As he began working on Enyd's other foot, Alistair chuckled self-consciously at her question, looking away briefly. "Ah...well, you might as learn this now." Looking at Enyd with a sheepish smile as he rubbed, he continued, "I'm terrible at relaxing. Awful, really. In my second month at the Department of Temporal Investigations, my supervisor cancelled my overnight and weekend access when he realised how often I was staying beyond my regular hours. He actually spent four straight days taking me around Vulcan with his wife, trying everything you can imagine, until he was satisfied that I had learned how to relax properly."

Still smiling at the memory, Alistair rolled his shoulders as his thumbs worked Enyd's heel. "I did a few things on Vulcan. Hiking, coding tournaments, watching the local racing; the technical side of air-racing is fascinating. Here, though, on the ship? I'm still working things out. The gym is great for unwinding, and otherwise I try to spend time with people that I like, in an intimate group or, well, one-on-one, like this."

Alistair laughed softly, shaking his head; the wondrous penetrating heat really was doing a number on him, with his body bearing a distinct sheen. "Okay, not exactly like this, but...uh...you know what I mean. Counselor Rhys Williams and I get along great, if you ever meet him, he's very sweet. Azrin Ryn too." Working Enyd's calf, Alistair was quiet for a moment, the cosy confinement of the sauna even more prevalent than before. "What I mean to say is that if you ever see me not relaxing enough, you have free license to drag me somewhere and beat the relaxation into me if necessary. Preferably with more clothes than now if we're with other people."

Finally Alistair finished, and he grinned at Enyd with a distinct sparkle in his eye. "All done. Hope that helped; I'm always happy to do more in the future as needed if you want. Now, what does a diplomat do when she's not seducing innocent and helpless Ops officers?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Rolling her eyes, Enyd shook her head, “Alistair, that is relaxing. Some folks relax by staying occupied, and it sounds like you’re one of those. Lucky for you, so am I. Even when off duty, I’m still strategizing over the puzzle of relationships and find that by staying busy on other projects, I can often come up with ready solutions. So that’s why I am a Renaissance woman in that I am knowledgeable of many things and have obtained many skills, but I’m not exactly an expert on any one thing. So you won’t get much of an argument from me about that. If anything, it may prove helpful for us to strategize together, discuss some of our challenges, and offer feedback or insight.” Enyd reached up to tuck steam-moistened hair behind her ears, smiling affectionately at the handsome man rubbing her feet. “Sometimes, in telling someone else about your successes and failures, they act as a living vault of intel on you, and when something new crops up, they are almost faster at reminding you of how you faced something similar before and how you got through it. That’s what I appreciated about my relationships with Javec and Victor. While they didn’t respond the same and assuredly didn’t give the same type of feedback, they functioned similarly, and I think that’s healthy and likely part of what a functioning relationship does.” Chuckling, Enyd was quick to add, “And, as I told you earlier, anytime you speak technobabble, I’m enthralled, so you never have to worry about boring me. You may have to worry about keeping your clothes on, though.”

The mental image of Alistair rubbing Rhys’ feet in a sauna like he was now with her had Enyd laughing. She’d met Rhys briefly at the concert some days before and knew very little about him besides that. The Welshman had seemed soft-spoken and kind, perhaps a little uncertain about things as well. Enyd didn’t know if the gentle giant of a man would welcome a foot rub from Alistair or Enyd more but set the mental thought aside to explore more later. Everyone on the ship needed more friends, and maybe he would enjoy some of their future adventures.

“Speaking of beating relaxation into you,” Enyd commented when Alistair finished, pulling his hands from her calf, “it helped immensely, thank you, and now it is my turn.” She motioned for him to turn around so she could scoot forward, legs falling on either side of his hips as she sat behind him. “Well, contrary to how often you’ve seen me naked, or nearabouts, during our acquaintance, I am not a nudist, and neither do I prefer being nude. And if you claim innocence or helplessness one more time, Alistair, your nose will grow like Pinocchio.”

Enyd waited until he’d settled himself between her legs before she pulled the leaves away from her lap and scooted closer. Instead of using the oil from the canister along the wall, Enyd utilized the ancient methods and began tearing the leaves off the branches, crushing them between her fingers, then rubbing the broken pieces of leaf with oil over his skin. After working through an entire bunch of leaves, with Alistair’s shoulders and upper back covered in leaf bits and shining oil, Enyd kneaded her fingers into his neck muscles. She would work her way down from the neck to just below the shoulder blades, fanning out from the spine to both the left and the right. She was not silent through this process, taking the time to move through her list of hobbies.

“Anything outdoors, which should be of no surprise, considering I grew up on a ranch in Montana. So trekking, camping, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, cattle wrestling, gardening, you name it if it is outside, I’ve probably tried it once and loved it or would be willing to try it again. Then, for the indoor side of life, dance and gymnastics, martial arts, and swordplay. For the more sitting still type of stuff, if you can manage that for me, reading and writing, research on cultural ceremonies, history, and on occasion, silent meditation. That one is very rare, though, I’ll admit.”

Enyd was suddenly struck with a memory of the conversation with Drauc. Her fingers were still just long enough to lean forward. While she was aware of how her nipples brushed against his back, Enyd was more focused on asking than paying attention to how such a touch may derail Alistair’s ability to concentrate on an answer.

“What are non-negotiables for you, Alistair? I mean, we all have our own internal moral compass. So by what non-negotiables do you operate?” She chuckled, placing a quick kiss beneath his ear before shifting back and resuming the massage. “Not to make you sound like a robot, but I hope you know what I mean.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
By the time Enyd asked her question, Alistair had been successfully reduced to sentient putty. Fully aware of Enyd's intimate proximity, he allowed himself to simply enjoy both the massage and the conversation, far too relaxed to worry about anything. Remarkably, Alistair was enjoying the conversation so much that. unlike in Saq'wa City, he was in no rush to pogress to the inevitable next stage of their relationship. There was no tension, no uncertainty, just comfort and ease. It was a state of being that Alistair had not experienced in a very long time indeed.

"There's nothing wrong with robots," he pointed out, glancing over his shoulder with a grin. "I like robots. They're predictable, logical, reliable, resilient...there are worse things to be compared to." Feeling quite daring, Alistair placed a hand on each of Enyd's thighs, rubbing them slowly. "Moral non-negotiables...that's a big question to ask a man as you're making him feel this good. Uh..."

After pondering for a moment, Alistair finally said softly, "I don't do...uh...dishonesty. Obviously there are times when we have to lie as part of our job, or conceal the truth, and that's especially true at the DTI. Off-duty, though, I try not to hold secrets or lie, especially to people that I care about, even if the truth is hard or painful. That's important for me. If you ask me a question, I'll answer. There's a historical basis for that, if you ever want to know the details."

Continuing to rub Enyd's thighs, Alistair continued, "The rest is...uh...obvious, I guess. Treat violence is a last resort, hold respect for all life, uphold the Temporal Prime Directive...never be cruel, never be cowardly. Never give up, never give in. Just be kind." Alistair chuckled derisively. "I make it sound more dramatic than it is. Most people in Starfleet are like that. It's the main reason that I joined...and, well, because time travel and positronic computing are really cool. But also the moral thing."

On impulse, wanting to look Enyd in the eye as he asked his own question, Alistair turned to sit sideways on the bench, his thigh resting horizontally on the seat. His blue eyes immediately found Enyd's, not distracted by her nude form for even a moment, and one hand went to her side as the other rested on her knee. The towel, defying the odds, stayed firmly tied.

"And what about you, Enyd?" Alistair asked quietly with a gentle smile. "What do you believe in?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

“Oh yes, I love robots too. I grew up watching and reading old stories that featured machines that could morph their shape and appear more human-like, at least in the nature of having arms and legs and a discernable head. They would fight against each other sometimes and one faction was more pro-human than the other.” Enyd paused in her massaging as she tried to think of the name of the story series. “Have you seen anything like that? I can’t recall the name right now, but it was one of my favorite story series and in the vids,” Enyd tipped her head forward, leaning her forehead against Alistair’s shoulder, “the voice actor for the main hero was very good. Had a wonderful voice. I am unashamed to admit my first crush was on a robot as a result.”

The warmth of Alistair’s hands traveled through his touch on her thighs, with the comfort from his touch warming to the quick of her heart. She resumed her work on his neck and shoulders as he verbally mulled over the answer to her question. It had been a very serious question to ask in what should be a relaxing conversation, but Enyd had trusted Alistair to rise to the occasion, and he had most certainly done so. His list was clear, mature, and assuredly a list she agreed with. Enyd hummed on occasion as she worked and he spoke to signal she was listening and affirming his sentiments. Her hands fell away and her mind paused in thought when Alistair shifted, turning to face her.

His gaze was open. His touch was unhurried. There was still the affection and attraction obviously felt between them, but it was more comfortable now, especially since they were discussing real things. Not that physical intimacy wasn’t real. But these were the building blocks to a real relationship that went beyond the bedroom and into a solid future. Enyd brushed her fingers over his brow, smoothing away sweat droplets and steam condensation before it could trickle down his forehead and threaten his eyes.

“When on duty, I recognize that many things have to be put into perspective and the needs of now and the needs of then, the desires of me versus the requirements of them, all weighed and measured. Sometimes that means glossing over the truth. And sometimes that means stripping naked and dancing on a table to create a diversion.” Enyd responded while keeping her fingers busy, tracing rivulets on his face and then along the arm extended over her thigh, his hand firmly placed on her waist. “But the motive is important to me. If there is a justifiable reason for someone to do something, even if it is something against me, it helps me process and helps me persevere through the consequences. That’s not to say we can excuse deplorable things with a good lawyer. But deplorable things can be more easily lived through when motive and context are understood clearly.”

Enyd paused a moment before she pushed lightly at Alistair’s shoulders. Before he could protest or question, Enyd moved off her bench and shimmied her way against him until she managed to sit between his legs with her back against his chest.

“I also don’t play games or ‘do’ dishonesty outside of what is required when on duty.” She pulled his arms around her like one might wrap a towel around their shoulders, keeping her hands over his as she drew his arms crisscrossed over her chest and placed his hands just under her breasts. She wasn’t trying to initiate anything or even change the subject, but considering the depth of the conversation, she felt the need to be closer and acted on impulse. “The needs of the many outweigh my own in basically every scenario I can concoct. I truly believe that. I exist not to live only for my pleasure and past times. My time is not my own to spend in mere frivolity. There is a purpose for life, even for the pains of life, and I must always work towards that purpose. I live a finite life, but my efforts and influence can have an infinite impact, and it is up to me if I want that to be for the betterment or detriment of those I love and those I believe in.”

Her head lying on his shoulder with the solid warmth of his chest against her back, Enyd tilted sideways enough to glance at Alistair’s face. She smiled at him, leaned forward to press a light kiss against his jawline, then settled herself more firmly against him.

“Your turn for a serious question.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Amidst the blissfully numbing heat and humidity, it was wonderfully easy to just sit and listen to Enyd talk. Alistair reflected with contentment that he could cheerfully listen to Enyd talk for hours. Her smooth voice, trained eloquence and joyful approach to life were enamouring him more and more with each moment that they spent together. What had begun as bemused confusion to Enyd's teasing (and, Alistair realised in retrospect, obvious flirting) had blossomed into a fierce attraction that transcended the physical. With each layer of the Enyd Madsen mystery that was revealed, that attraction and fascination grew.

As another aspect of Enyd revealed itself, Alistair felt himself becoming even more smitten. This wasn't just a woman to marvel at, to laugh with and to enjoy; this was a woman to connect to on a fundamental level. On that basic heartfelt credo, they were remarkably alike. As Enyd settled herself against him, her warm body enveloped by his larger frame, Alistair reflected on something that he'd suspected for a while, but was becoming ever more certain of.

Enyd wasn't just a dangerous woman. She might just be the most dangerous woman that he'd ever met.

After Enyd planted an affectionate kiss on his jaw, Alistair smiled softly down at her, his thumbs lightly rubbing her stomach. "What sort of question can possibly follow up that?" he mused in a whisper amidst the complete silence around them, both lovers being impossibly comfortable in that moment. "You are amazing, Enyd Madsen. I suspected it before...hoped, I guess...but now I know it."

After a moment's thought, his eyes traced her head lazily, noting every detail in the dim light of the sauna. Alistair wondered idly if her ears had a slight point...was it just his imagination since she'd used a Vulcan proverb? And what was that media that Enyd had described? It sounded achingly familiar...21st century? 20th? Maybe 22nd...changing robots...it had to be one of the shows that he'd watched at university...

Not the time, Alistair.

"What do you want from your life?" he whispered into Enyd's ear, the words (for once) coming without filter. "You know...personally, just for you, not for anyone else. What do you dream of?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd blushed, eyes darting up to the wooden ceiling, “I’m not so amazing. If anything is amazing about me, it is because I had amazing parents and a fantastic grandmother. We are each of us the summation of all those who invested in us leading up to this point.” She sighed in contentment, eyes drifting shut as Alistair idly brushed his fingers over the sensitive skin of her stomach. “I’ve always been aware of one’s legacy. Not that it was unhappily drilled into me by my family, but it was a ready factor growing up.” Eyes still closed, she reached out and tapped the tip of her ear. “Something tangibly recognized. There were, or are, certain elements of my ancestry that even I don’t know, still tied up in classified files from ages past, but I do know that mingling with my human blood is that of Vulcan and Romulan.”

Enyd opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at Alistair again. “The whens and hows of that occurring are muddled at its origin, and I know more about the Vulcan side than the Romulan, of course. But I think that foundational aspect of my past is part of what made, or makes, me so vulnerable to Drauc. And what keeps me curious about every Romulan or Vulcan I come across. Thankfully, Valyn didn’t toss me out on my ear when I peppered her with questions, and we’re now great friends. And Hirek,” Enyd sighed, closing her eyes, “as much as he annoys me and grates on my nerves, I’ll grudgingly admit, has been intriguing to get to know.”

Enyd moved her hands over the back of Alistair’s hands, lightly tracing up his forearms. His question had her pausing. Images of the ranch came immediately to mind, intermixed with imagined vistas of alien planets. Squeezing the back of his wrists, Enyd smiled.

“To leave a posting better off than when I found it, for the time I’m in the service. Preferably to advance in my career and become an ambassador posted on a frontier planet for a time. Then return to the ranch in Montana and develop it from a working ranch as it is now to be someplace where war veterans or refugees or other marginalized individuals of any race may go to either work the land and with the animals and find some healing, or just stay on the property in some semblance of controlled isolation until they can stabilize again. My grandmother and I had talked about this in letters while I was on post-war Cardassia with Javec. Then,” Enyd closed her eyes and huddled closer to Alistair, “once I was released from the Director and given clearance to communicate back home again, she was gone. She’d died in her sleep about two days before I was rescued. The poor woman died not knowing if I had been lost like my parents.” Enyd suddenly sat up, turned to face Alistair, and unceremoniously straddled his lap and burrowed her face in his neck as she hugged herself against his chest. Her voice was muffled when she continued. “I know it is irrational to feel guilty about any of that, but I’ll admit I have fought against it from time to time. And fulfilling our shared dream is still strong in my heart. But at its proper time. For now, improve the area around me with my skills and time. Work towards an ambassadorship and then the ranch.”

Hands stroking up and down  his sides, lips leaving a soft kiss against his neck, Enyd sighed before tossing the question back into his court, “What about you, Mister Time Traveler?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Alistair held Enyd tight through it all, listening intently as she bared herself to him. He didn't say anything, didn't interrupt with questions even though he yearned to know more. He didn't even react when she straddled his lap except to hold her secure against his chest, aware though he was of her intimate proximity. Enyd's breasts pressed against his pectorals as she sat directly on his groin, his member ever-so-slowly engorging, but Alistair didn't react. Instead, he lightly kissed the imperceptible point of Enyd's ear as she spoke, stroking her back steadily while paying close attention to every word, to the love and loss. In their tiny hot sweaty bubble, they were completely naked to each other in every respect.

At her question and tender affection, Alistair chuckled under his breath. "Would you believe that I have no idea?" he whispered, planting a loving kiss of his own on Enyd's shoulder. He leaned back just enough to look down at Enyd with a sardonic smirk. "Really, I don't have a clue. I've spent the last ten years of my life dedicated to joining the DTI. I worked, I sacrificed, I even fought a war, all for that goal. Your dream is to make the universe better, to help people. Mine? It was just selfish ambition, nothing more. Anything that happened on the way, any good that I did...it was incidental."

Alistair sighed, his eyes shifting away even as his hand lightly stroked the base of Enyd's spine and the other lightly cupped her rear. "And after all that, after I accomplished my dream, it just feels...empty. It's just a job. I love my job, I really do, but if we won this war tomorrow, I'd go back to the DTI and feel...incomplete. It's not enough. I need more." Looking into Enyd's vivacious green eyes, he smiled before kissing her forehead. "Maybe it's a triadic relationship with you. Something real. Maybe it's making a real difference, helping people more directly. Maybe it's both, or something else...I don't know. After everything I saw in the future, I just know that my old life is not enough. Not remotely enough."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

“Well, I mean, not everyone has to have their life mapped out like a Vulcan.” Enyd giggled between sighs, thoroughly loving Alistair's affectionate kisses left on her shoulder.

Just as he had respected her with an attentive silence, Enyd did the same in return. Listening to his heartbeat and feeling the vibrations of his voice through his chest, Enyd tracked the myriad of emotions Alistair glossed over. There was much left unspoken, and yet so much implied with what had been spoken. For all his talk of accomplishing his dream job out of selfish ambition, Alistair was a humble man. He did not see himself as a hero and would balk at anyone’s efforts to do so. She could empathize with the desire for “more.” That drive was part of what kept anyone alive and thriving. Though, with that drive, it was also good to have a sense of contentment. And it seemed Alistair had rarely felt that up to this point in his life.

“I’d warn you about selling yourself short, Alistair, but I’d be a hypocrite for doing so.” Enyd raised herself off his chest. Something itched at her side, momentarily distracting her and looking down, Enyd saw a few leaves still stuck to her skin. Enyd smiled at the little indentations they left behind when she pulled them away. Still holding the leaves between her fingers, Enyd leaned forward to playfully trace them over Alistair’s forehead and cheeks as she spoke, “The wanting more is a good thing, in my opinion. That want for more is what brought us to this point as a species with all our accomplishments. Same goes for other species as well. But it is possible to be content and burn for more. That strange paradox is possible, and perhaps that’s something you’ll find.” Enyd suddenly dropped her hands to the tops of her thighs, eyes nervously darting away. “With me. With anyone else who enters the picture.” She took a deep breath, let it out through pursed lips, then returned her gaze to study his features. “And no matter what, truly and completely, you’ll always have a home at the ranch. I can say that with all sincerity already. I have a mental test I run through with new acquaintances, and if I can imagine them surviving a dinner with my grandmother AND get to the end of it having made her crack half a smile at least once, well, they’ve got a home with me in Montana.”

Enyd’s smile faltered a bit, one hand coming up to trace along the edge of Alistair’s face.

“She would’ve liked you.” Her hand going still, cupping his cheek, Enyd’s smile remained warm. “I’m pretty sure my parents would’ve as well, but my memories of them are from when I was a kid. It is hard to imagine what our relationships would’ve been like as adults so,” she shrugged, dropping her hand again. She was acutely aware of her state of nudity but was not yet ready to pay too much attention to that fact. Not yet. To distract herself, and perhaps Alistair, Enyd reached out and began to draw designs in the water droplets covering his upper chest. “What about your family?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
When Enyd made her offer, heartfelt as it was, Alistair felt his breath catch in his throat. He didn't know why Enyd's invitation to her ranch mattered so much, why it caused that little tickle in his breast. He just knew that it did. The idea of a home, a real permanent home, a permanent relationship, even if their love affair failed and simply became friends...it was an unexpectedly powerful allure. Enyd's own regard of him, that she believed that her own family would've liked him and accepted him, was the cherry on top. Entranced, Alistair tilted his head into Enyd's hand, wishing that he could meet the extraordinary woman who'd raised Enyd.

Sure, it'd be a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive, but it'd very nearly be worth it.

Enyd's next question was to be expected, and Alistair sighed, allowing himself to enjoy the touch of her finger of his warm skin. He glanced down between them at Enyd's own sweat-slicked chest, but with his thoughts far away, there was no reaction of nervous arousal, merely the thought that Enyd was astoundingly beautiful.. His manhood remained (much to the relief of its owner) obediently at half-mast, still effectively concealed by the towel.

"My family are all...uh...still around," Alistair said delicately, one hand remaining on Enyd's hip as the back of his other hand lightly brushed her stomach, his knuckles exploring her belly. "I'm from a tiny colony, on the rimward frontier: Khajit. My parents are...uh, pretty normal, I guess. My mother manages the colony's exports, dad is a manager in the mines. They'd good people, great parents, leaders of the community, all of that. They had big expectations for us, hopes, but they tried not to pigeon hole us too much."

Alistair's knuckles began stroking further up, to the shallow valley between Enyd's breasts. "You'd love my sisters, no question," he murmured with a goofy grin. "Emilie, my older sister, she's is the wildcard. She always teased me for being too insular, too cautious...she'll go berserk when she hears about what we did on Qo'nos. Last I heard, she was on a civilian exploratory vessel in the Gamma Quadrant, probably getting up to even more crazy shenanigans than we are." Alistair's hand moved further upward still, his knuckles slowly stroking Enyd's collarbone. "Audrey, my little sister, she's more reserved, has barely ever left home. She's married, works as a surgeon. If she saw us now, she'd be warning me to take you out of here soon to avoid dehydration."

Which he very much should do, Alistair knew, but the last thing that he wanted to do in that moment was move. "I was always supposed to get educated then come home, get married, have lots of kids...serve the colony. Mom and Dad were supportive when I joined Starfleet, though...disappointed, obviously, but supportive. They joined the colony effort to be independent, they said, so they respect that Emilie and I are doing our own thing. Honestly, I don't even know if I'll ever do the marriage thing, or kids. It's just...never seemed like a viable option. I like the idea, but it's always seemed...um...unobtainable, foreign, as illogical as that must sound."

Taking Enyd's hand in his own as he looked into her green eyes, Alistair bit his lip and continued in a hesitant whisper, "So...uh...what about you? Not necessarily with me, obviously," he added hurriedly with a nervous chuckle, "I mean, we're just at the beginning of this, we don't know what's coming, but...um...just...in general?"

As he waited for an answer, his heart beating furiously, Alistair glanced down at Enyd's hand and his eyes narrowed as he spotted something. It was barely perceptible in the dimmed light and steam of the sauna, but without a sleeve to cover it, he finally noticed the scar around her wrist. He frowned in concern as he looked up at Enyd, but rather than say anything, he merely brought Enyd's hand up to his lips and left a lingering kiss on her wrist before letting it go.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd quirked an eyebrow, leaning back and smirking at the man beneath her, “What’s with the initial hesitation, Alistair? When was the last time you saw them? Is there some sort of deep-seated drama I should know about? I mean, if I’m trying to figure out something special to get you for your birthday, who would I contact?”

His descriptions of the family once he started brought a smile to Enyd’s face. They sounded like the type of people she’d enjoy spending time with, learn from, work with. For many reasons, it really was a shame that she had no family to share with Alistair in return. Of course, she had some cousins and aunts and uncles, but it had been a long time since she’d communicated deeply with any of them. As it was, she couldn’t remember a single birthdate of any of them to save her life.

“Your sisters sound delightful, and your parents as well. Thank you for sharing them with me. Or at least details of them. And we can go shower off and drink tea in just a few more minutes, eh?” She wiggled her rear before pressing against him like a cat stretching. “Going back to the colony, does living there and helping the community sound too small still? Too simple?” The way he’s spoken about going back to the colony, of the traditional expectations that had been put upon him, made Enyd wonder if her future dreams were also too simple for him.

She sat up as Alistair took her hand and nibbled his lip in thought. Enyd was already smirking with a mixture of anticipation and amusement when he stumbled through his question. She was tempted to playfully retort, keep things light, but then he’d kissed her wrist, right on the scar she’d kept from her time under the Directorate’s “care” and Enyd realized now was as good a time as ever to lay all her cards down. She’d alluded to past experiences before, more so regarding Javec than Victor, but Alistair deserved, no, needed to know the “gory” details of her life if they were going to be successful as anything more than a mess in the coming days.

Enyd drew her opposite finger over the scar Alistair had kissed, “I kept these scars,” she held up the other wrist as she spoke, “as a reminder of what happened on Cardassia with Javec. I didn’t want to make the same type of mistakes, endanger more people that I loved, and keep a tangible reminder of why creative problem solving is necessary, even at the detriment of my position.”

She shifted in his lap just enough to hoist her left leg closer to her torso, opening herself to his view, but with her attention on the scar she had on her ankle from the same experience. Blushing once she realized how she’d been so open to his view, Enyd resumed the more casual straddle.

“I’ve spoken to you of Javec, and Drauc, but I haven’t really spoken of Victor much.” Enyd rubbed her hands up and down her arms, not at all cold, but fighting against a case of nerves. “Not sure if you’ve met him,” she smiled at his look, “he’s on the ship actually. Didn’t know that until after my first away mission after my transfer. We were both surprised at the unintentional reunion, but it was a long time coming.” Enyd sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Finally have some resolution was something my soul needed, his too.”

Enyd grew quiet a moment, studying Alistair’s features, before taking in a deep breath and walking him through the chaotic history. How she’d met Victor on Vulcan during her master’s program, their near-deathly first date, the years-long correspondence that saw her through her officer’s training and that led to a long-distance engagement. She spoke as vaguely as possible about Victor’s preferences for physical intimacy, not wanting to speak too deeply about his own private nature, but still finding the detail important to allude to considering how things developed with Javec. Enyd faltered a bit before she soldiered through how she’d come to the decision to break things off with Victor, hoping to save him from himself if things went south on Cardassia—which, they had indeed, gone very south very quickly after she’d severed ties. She then once more danced through how things had blossomed, then ended with Javec before falling silent.

Glancing down at her hands, which lay softly on Alistair’s stomach, Enyd sighed again, “Again, I realize you didn’t exactly ask for all that but it is connected to your question in that even with all that, I still see marriage as a beautiful friendship, a permanent partnership, and I am keen on getting married someday. But, at the same time, considering my past experiences of loving two dramatically different men at the same time, and our present situation of my still having feelings for Drauc but also having feelings for you, I’m realizing that whatever happens in the future, it will not be the traditional dyadic marriage expected of someone like me from Montana.”

Enyd returned her gaze to Alistair and offered him a soft, almost apologetic smile, “You okay?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Enyd's question about colony life made Alistair wince. "That's exactly what my father asked, actually, the last time that I was home." Seeing the hesitance in Enyd's eyes, he sighed, the sound seeming abnormally loud in the intimate silence of the sauna. "There's a grain of truth to it. My life is technological, out in space. That's where I'm at my best. I....it's not like I hated life on Khajit, hard work, a simple lifestyle, working the cliff veins. I enjoyed it, at least when I wasn't being an young idiot. I just needed more. I still do, at least for now."

As the conversation grew ever more serious, Alistair could do nothing but sit, his hands resting on Enyd's thighs, as she shared her complex romantic past. He had known snippets already, but hearing the entire story was something else. Alistair had wondered about it, of course, but the reality was far more intense than he could've imagined. Enyd's explanation of the scars and their awful legacy drew a pained wince. He'd thought that his nightmare had been bad, but at least he hadn't lost a loved one, or been tortured, or been forced to make an impossible decision.

Worse was the emotion in Enyd's eyes, the tension in her voice, the nervous mannerisms that were so unlike her. Alistair contemplated whether he should hug her, hold her against him, but it just seemed...not right. This wasn't fresh pain that Enyd was feeling, but the dull ache of an old wound. Multiple old wounds, even. Despite their closeness, their mutual lack of clothing, their commitment to a relationship, even despite everything that they'd talked about, Alistair felt that Enyd's grief was a very private affair.

By the time she finished, the sauna  had noticeably begun to cool, the steam slowly dissipating. It was still quite warm, but no longer as blissfully hot as when they'd entered, and neither of them had thought to put more water on the stones. Still, Alistair made no move, simply watching Enyd evenly, barely noticing the world around them.

"I think you're really asking," he said softly his hands still resting on Enyd's thighs, "whether you've scared me off yet. I'm still here, Enyd. I mean...well, technically I couldn't go anywhere anyway with you sitting on me, but...uh...you get my point. Besides, I like you sitting on me. Wait, not like that!" he whispered in alarm, before chuckling under his breath. "Well, okay, that too, but you know what I mean. I know how much it means for you to share all of this with me."

After a moment's pause, Alistair continued softly, "I'm not usually that perceptive...well, I'm great with raw data streams, not so much with people, usually, but even I can see how fiercely you loved Victor and Javec. How much you still love them, one way or another. They sound like amazing men."

With clear reluctance, Alistair looked around the coolling sauna and sighed. "As much as I want to hear more about them, we really should wash up and drink something first before we both shrivel up. It'd be a bit embarrassing if we both ended up in Sickbay after our date...er...again."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to use your gifts and talents. Especially when you feel accomplished and satisfied from using them. And yes, not all skills are indeed readily applicable to colony life. Or even ranch life, so there’s nothing to be ashamed about in that either.” Enyd giggled. “It just so happens that negotiation and diplomacy are required skills in all walks of life. But it is also true that life on the ranch often deprived me of the sexiest language I’ve ever heard.” She winked, drawing a finger down his nose, “Techno-babble.”

His physical touch was reassuring as the topic turned to her romantic endeavors, both the successes and failures. His expression never shifted into one of judgment, and neither did he recoil from her touch. Alistair was perceptive enough to note her real question beneath her question and she smiled, nodding as she put her hands on his as they rested on her thighs. She giggled at his word fumbling, feeling the melancholic weight of memory ease away from her shoulders in response.

“I like sitting on you too, Alistair. In every way.” She tapped the bottom of his chin with another giggle. His additional comment about his lack of perception and encouragement to vacate the sauna for health reasons had Enyd snorted. “Elro would likely put us on a restraining order from each other if we made it a habit of always ending up in sickbay after a date. So, yes, let's go.” It was awkward going, hoisting herself up and off his lap. “I do love both Victor and Javec still. I find it silly when people presume they only have room to love one person. Forever.” And because of the benches, it was very easy to fall to the floor in a heap. “But the type of love may change over time and because of circumstances, but the imprint of their soul upon mine will exist for as long as I breathe.” But thankfully, neither of them were drunk, and she didn’t break her neck.

Instead of moving back to the main door they’d entered by, Enyd went to the darkest corner of the sauna and pressed against the wood. It took a moment, but then the hidden door swung open to let in the cold air of the outside world. Glancing over her shoulder at Alistair, Enyd grinned.

“If I get to the lake first, you get to tell me your sordid history. If you get there first,” she tapped her chin, then shrugged, “you still have to tell me your sordid history, but you’ll have the bragging rights of getting there first.”

Enyd moved through the door without further ado, then kicked the door shut behind her. She wasn’t above throwing a few obstacles in his way. He was taller and likely quicker, after all. Giggling like a she-devil, Enyd took off down the hill toward the lake. There wasn’t as much snow on the ground this time, but there was just enough to chill her feet as Enyd moved at blitz speed toward the water. Physics was not her friend, however, and as she spared a glance over her shoulder to see if Alistair was gaining, Enyd tripped and careened into the snowbank. As painful and shocking to the nerves as landing in icy snow was, the rolling and hitting her back against the pine tree was worse.

Worse than that was the avalanche of snow falling atop her, leaving only the tips of her fingers for view. Naked as the day she was born, Enyd wiggled in the icy tomb, trying and so far failing to dig herself out. She wasn’t worried in the slightest, however. She knew Alistair would help her, once he got over his laughter if he’d seen the event, and she knew the safety protocols of the program would kick in before any serious harm was done. And so, Enyd laughed at her own clumsiness as she shimmied and wriggled upward until the top of her head broke through the snow, and she blindly felt around for further purchase to hoist herself out.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Somewhat bemused by the secret door, but very much enjoying the cooling air, Alistair frowned at Enyd's challenge. "Wait, you don't really mean..." he got out before Enyd scarpered, kicking the door closed behind her. "Right. She wasn't kidding. Of course she wasn't kidding."

Abruptly realising that he was losing ground, Alistair burst into action, barrelling through the door into the fresh Scottish chill and sprinting down the hill after Enyd. Running in the towel was cumbersome at best, so Alistair simply untied the thing mid-run and tossed it aside. As a result, he ran down the hill just as naked as Enyd, arms pumping, legs racing, dangly bits...bouncing.

Ow ow ow ow ow OW!

"Not fair!" Alistair called out to Enyd in protest, as much about the door as about their relative genital handicaps, but hearing her laughter passing up the quiet countryside, he ran even faster, determined to catch up, knowing that he was faster. The terrain was treacherous, however, and it was clear that with her head start, Enyd was going to reach the lake first...

...right up until she tripped and began making a far less graceful (but much more comical) descent. Still running, Alistair winced at the heavy impact with the tree and subsequent snow deluge, but upon remembering that they were in a holodeck, he grinned. After reaching the snow tomb and spotting her fingers poking out of the snowball, he finally burst into rib-cracking laughter.

"I think this means I win by default," he got out inbetween guffaws, barely able to contain himself, before losing control again when Enyd's head popped out of the snow. "I'm sorry, but that was just...uh...graceful, very graceful, absolutely. Excellent rolling, very impressive, ten out of ten."

Still grinning, Alistair eventually had mercy on his trapped paramour. He punched through the snow, gripped Enyd's biceps and, with a grunt of effort, pulled her free. After ensuring that Enyd was actually alright, he eyed her with amusement before glancing at the landscape around them, his mirth fading before the majesty of the Scottish Highlands. The warmth of the sun made for a pleasant contrast to the cold ground at their feet, the snow shining a pure white around them. The great hills that encircled the lake reinforced the profound solitude of the place, impossibly quiet and still save for its human intruders.

"Wow," he said wonderment. "Just...well...wow. You really did pick a great hill to fall down."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd’s snow-splotched, red face grinned at Alistair’s laughing form, not at all finding offense or frustration at his obvious amusement. Still marginally confined by the snow, the effort to flick her hair over her shoulder in an age-old gesture of arrogance was hindered, but her effort to do so was only made the more comical by the snow’s hindrance.

“I like to put full effort into everything I do,” she wiggled her hands and made a pouty face, “that includes falling into snowdrifts. Now be a dear and release the Kraken, eh?”

As he worked to pull her free, his grunts of exertion elicited more giggles from Enyd, as did his exaggerated check to see if she was all in one piece. She had to playfully slap away wandering hands more than once before they ended up side-by-side staring in wonderment at the beauty of the holoprojections Zark had programmed. Enyd couldn’t help but nod in agreement at Alistair’s statement. Holding her hand out for him to take, she resumed the journey toward the lakeside at a less careening pace.

“I’ve an idea,” she commented as they drew up to the lapping shore, the waters tickling over the pebbles and rocks that lined the alpine lake.

Partially because she was already cooled off from the sauna thanks to her snow dive and partially because she was feeling more keen on this scene than the house, Enyd worked with the program to conjure up a crackling fire in a dug-out pit next to the water, with a cozy array of blankets and pillows nestled as a semi-halo lying on the ground next to it. Next, she built up a small wooden table next to the nest of blankets with two steaming cups of mulled wine next to a plate of fresh fruit and bits of dark chocolate.

Thoroughly pleased with her efforts, Enyd turned back to Alistair and waggled her eyebrows at him. “Ready to meet Nessie before we cuddle?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
It was remarkable that, contrary to initial expectations, Alistair felt...liberated. Most unusually, he didn't feel anxious or nervous at all as he stood, arms crossed, and watched Enyd construct a romantic picnic. The complete lack of breeze and the fierce sun ensured that, despite both future lovers not wearing a stitch of clothing between them in the snowy highlands, they were quite comfortable. Indeed, with the sexual tension broken by the aborted race, Alistair was quite content with the situation. Very content, in fact.

What is this woman doing to me?

"I like it," he said as he looked down at the love nest that Enyd had created, his eyes alight. "Very romantic." At Enyd's waggling eyebrows and invitation to meet Nessie, Alistair's own eyebrows shot up in return. "Okay, sure. Right. Yup. Absolutely. Meet the mythological monster in the really deep lake. Uh huh. Sounds good."

Thoroughly unconvinced that Enyd wasn't setting him up, but curious despite himself, Alistair gamely stepped up to the water's edge. He looked over the placid lake in expectation for a good minute, increasingly suspicious that Enyd had stayed put. Finally, confused, he turned around.

"Enyd," he called back, "is there a, uh, summoning thing, or do we set some food out, or-"
He was interrupted by an almighty explosion of water combined with a high-pitched roar as, only a dozen meters from the shore, the long-necked monster of legend surged out of the water. Alistair was, of course, directly in the splash zone, and he stood there frozen for a moment, quietly accepting his wet fate.

Eventually he turned and looked up at the fabled Loch Ness Monster, arms wide. "Come on, seriously?" he protested, and Nessie (who, size aside, didn't look that fearsome at all) answered with a long cry. "I mean, hey, I appreciate cooling me off, but you meant to scare the living daylights out of me, didn't you?"

Nessie cried out again, this time in something resembling gleeful amusement, before merrily dunking her head in the water again and sending forth another great splash. Alistair raised his arms protectively, for all the good it did him.

"Oh yeah, real mature," he complained to the great beast, who chittered brightly. "Well, do me a favour Nessie, okay? I'm on a date with an incredible and beautiful woman, and it's amazing so far, so could you do me a favour and be nice, please? At least until after...uh...after." Nessie hesitated for a moment before giving a mournful cry, then slowly moved closer to a nearby bank of weeds, evidently getting comfortable so that she could watch the festivities.

Thoroughly bemused, but not seeing any point in trying to educate Nessie about 'privacy', Alistair headed back to Enyd, carefully keeping a straight face. He warmed his hands on the fire before sitting himself down opposite Enyd on the blankets.

"So...er..." he said, trying to recollect himself. "You wanted to know about my...uh...'sordid history', right?" Taking a cup of mulled wine off the table, he sipped it with satisfaction before smiling at Enyd. "What do you want to know first?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Doubling over in laughter, Enyd had to wipe tears away from her eyes as Alistair first got soaked by Nessie and then proceeded to have a yelling match with the monster. Not wanting to join him in being soaked, Enyd retreated to her comfy nest and snuggled under the covers as she listened to Alistair continue his conversation with Nessie. And it was a conversation as the creature garbled and chirped back at him at every correct cue. Smiling to herself at Alistair’s comment about the date being incredible while blushing at his comment on her beauty, Enyd pulled the covers up to her chin and proceeded to move her legs and arms up and down beneath the covers in an effort to preheat the area from friction for Alistair, figuring he’d be chilled from the water and air.

Alistair sat on the blankets before she could get one of her legs back, trapping it and leaving her awkwardly splayed open in a cockeyed fashion beneath the covers. His question had her smiling, as did her position and his part in it.

“Well, let me loose, and then I’ll let you know.” She jiggled her leg beneath his rear, angling a wink in his direction, then chuckled once she was freed enough to pull all appendages close and roll onto her side, covers up to her shoulders and tucked beneath her arm as she also reached for the mulled wine. “I won’t pretend to be a relationship guru. My earlier confession about Victor and Javec and my current predicament with Drauc and yourself is proof enough of that.” Despite the levity of her voice as she spoke, Enyd hoped Alistair knew she wasn’t making light of his feelings or Drauc’s either. After taking a tentative sip, careful not to dribble any of the liquid down her chin, Enyd continued, “I suppose I feel I need to know things about your past that will help me not be an absolute idiot with you. I mean, if I know what made you angry, hurt, or disappointed in past relationships, I may be able to check myself before I wreck us moving forward. Does that make sense?”

Enyd worried her lower lip between her teeth, curious if she was being too pragmatic and practical about this relationship-building thing. If Zark were here, she’d probably beat her breasts against Enyd’s head for talking instead of doing at this point. It was both a blessing and perhaps a curse, that the Andorian nymphomaniac wasn’t with them.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
For a long moment, Alistair simply gazed down at Enyd, drinking in the sight of her as he pondered her question. He drew up one knee and rested an arm on it, bending the other leg under it, before looking out at the majestic highlands.

"Enyd, it makes perfect sense," he said quietly as he looked back at her. Amidst the silence of their surroundings (and a courteous Nessie), even a whisper carried easily. "It's just...I'll tell you all of it, of course, but...well, I'm not an egg." The absurd statement had Alistair grinning. "I mean...uh, relationships, real relationships, they're not fragile. They're resilient, or... they're supposed to be. However long we're together, whether it's a week, a year or a century, we're both going make mistakes, and that's fine. We'll forgive, adapt and learn. The thing is, you shouldn't worry about 'wrecking' things. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

At that, Alistair exhaled at length. "There's only one relationship worth talking about. The others didn't last long, never more than a couple of months. Either I lost interest, or they did, but there was never much commitment. I was too wrapped up in my career and too dumb to realise what I was missing out on. Min was the exception." He sighed, running a hand over his scalp as he looked into the fire. "We met at the Academy, even served together on the Pioneer until she got hurt. Min had been at a recovery center on Bajor for five months when she...she made a mistake. She sent me a vid-message from her bed, but didn't realise that the headboard was reflective. I wasn't sure what I was looking at, so I extrapolated the image and enhanced it. Turned out to be a man, naked, standing right in front of her bed as she was recording a message to me."

Smiling bitterly, he continued, "Min had fallen in love with another patient, and they'd been together for a while, even when I visited her. They thought it was kinder to wait for the right moment to tell me, since I was fighting a war. They meant well, I think, and he was far better for her than me...not that it mattered. They separated just a few months later."

Alistair took a deep breath before smiling at Enyd, this time without the bitterness. "Don't worry. I've had a long time to process this, and it's long in the past. My point is that in retrospect, I wasn't bothered by her being with another man. I could've handled that, I think, without much issue, just like I think that I'm okay with you being other men. What hurt was the deception, the...er...exclusion. That's where the betrayal came from, knowing that Min lied to me even when I came to see her."

With his tale complete, Alistair smiled again. "Any other questions?" he asked calmly, praying that he hadn't irretrievably dampened the mood that Enyd had set.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd giggled at his egg statement but said nothing more as Alistair continued, nodding in agreement with his assessment of the situation. The comfort in the air between, an element that had always been there, was growing. Yes, there was still the desire—even now, Enyd felt herself warm and shiver at the memory of his lips against hers—but there was also a type of familiarity that seemed strange to have with someone after such a short acquaintance yet…she’d felt a similar closeness with Victor soon after they’d met, and then again with Javec. The only person she’d been marginally intimate with who did not have the soothing solace of assurance was Drauc. That was perhaps one of the reasons why her mind and heart were still stuck, in a fashion, when she thought of him. The uncertainty associated with him, the confusion of where she ended, and he began, that was missing in every other romantic encounter she’d had thus far in her life. With Victor, there had been an immediate attraction of souls, a connection of the heart. With Javec, the mind. Drauc, the body. And Alistair, it seemed—so far at least—that the connection with him was a combination of all three.

Taking another sip of wine, Enyd watched Alistair closely, noting all the microexpressions as he spoke of Min. She couldn’t help but see herself in Min, and Victor in Alistair. Though she’d always told Victor everything about Javec, even asking his opinion and permission to pursue things with Javec, Enyd still couldn’t help but wince at the vague similarities in stories. She would have gone through with the double marriage in the end, sharing her body, soul, and mind with both men, if Anderson had not bid her to get involved with the nefarious nature of post-war Cardassian politics. Whether her desire to be with both men, openly loving both men, would have lasted long would never be known now. Javec was dead, and Victor had moved on, just as she had as well.

Enyd nodded at his reassurance, trusting his self-assessment just as he had trusted hers. She still reached out and ran her fingers along his jawline, providing comfort though he had not solicited any. At his question, Enyd snorted, dropping her hand to the blankets between them and breaking eye contact.

“Well,” she took a bolstering sip of wine, “when you say share me with other men, that leads me to picture intimate encounters without you around or with you sitting in a plush high-back chair watching everything while sipping cognac,” Enyd tossed him a playful wink before sighing out the rest of her thought on one breath, “whereas, what I believe I’d prefer, granted I’ve never been in this position before, is being together. Like truly together. Not experiencing people separately but together. You mentioned a sense of exclusion with Min, and contemplating it now, I think I would feel like I was excluding you, or being excluded by you, if either of us were to be sexually intimate with someone without the other one also being involved.”

Enyd tipped her head to the side, forcing herself to maintain eye contact while she waited for her words to be comprehended by the handsome man lying next to her. While she wanted to snuggle up to his side and resume the kisses they’d shared earlier, Enyd also still felt like they needed to understand things more before venturing further down the slippery slope of physicality.

“How do you feel about being touched, perhaps even kissed, by another man?” Before continuing, Enyd tossed back the rest of her wine in one gulp, swiping the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe away the bits that spilled out the edges. “Zark kissed me yesterday and made it very clear that she was sexually attracted to me, and while I am not sexually attracted to her, I do love her and cognitively know that she is attractive, and so I would not be opposed to physically sharing you with her. So I can say with assurance that the thought of being kissed or touched intimately by Zark does not bother me.” She leaned back a bit, scratching her head, letting the blanket fall to her waist. “I don’t know if I’d feel the same about any woman, though, so yeah. What are your thoughts?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Although Enyd was simply repeating an agreement that had already been made, Alistair still felt a rush of warmth at the idea that she wanted to 'share the experience'. Knowing that Enyd valued that, cherished him being by her side (or on top, or below...) through such things was profoundly uplifting.  With his eyes fixed upon Enyd's, Alistair was as happy as could be, a veritable avatar of contentment.

He was warming his hands on the fire when Enyd asked her next question, and he did a double-take. Did she...she couldn't...maybe? Enyd was sharp, and surely very perceptive...then again, she had also been under the influence of powerful chips and (understandably) distracted by a dancing Klar in all his nude glory. Settling, Alistair finished his own wine as Enyd explained her own stance, and after she finished, he glanced at her, biting his lip.

"My situation is a little...um...different," he said hesitantly. Wanting to be closer to Enyd (and, quite frankly, wanting the warmth of the blanket), Alistair quietly moved to lie down beside her properly, laying the blanket across his own waist. He turned onto his side, his head propped up on one hand as he considered Enyd. Water droplets were still visible on his strong chest, still slightly wet after Nessie's prank, but he didn't seem to care.

"Remember when we watched Klar dance?" Alistair murmured, his heart beating faster. He didn't know why he should feel nervous about telling Enyd of this latest development, in light of their defined relationship dynamic, but the butterflies were there all the same. "When we watched him, I...er...you didn't notice, I think, but my body tried to tell me something that night. I don't know why I never realised before."

Letting that sentence hang for a moment, Alistair absent-mindedly began tracing Enyd's chest with his fingers, stroking her clavicle softly. "Then, the night before last, I met Rhys. He's a counsellor. Very kind, soft-spoken...you'd like him. As we were talking, I started to...I started to think about him in a different way. He's fit, but sort of...lean. I started to imagine him...without any clothes. Kissing me. Touching me. His hand on me, mine on him..."

Alistair abruptly realised that his playful torture of Enyd was backfiring, the evidence of which was only just concealed by the blanket, but he continued, his knuckles gently stroking the shallow valley of Enyd's breasts. "Rhys is just a friend, if you're wondering, and we never actually...er...did anything. I'm not even sure that he would've wanted to. To answer your question...well...I'm fine with another man touching me. Kissing me. If you're there, if you're okay with it...I'd like to do more. To...feel what it's like to have a man inside me...pushing in. Harder. Faster. To empty himself in me. To empty myself in him."

Alistair's breath was short, as much out of erotic excitement as anxiety about Enyd's response as his fingers began circling Enyd's stomach. "So...um...my point is that is that if we have any male...er...guests, and they're interested, we might both end up...playing...with them. How do you feel about that?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

As she listened to Alistair’s response, Enyd’s fingers danced lightly across his skin. The water droplets proved entertaining to connect as she traced designs between them, the watery lines growing larger drops that then sped up to the blanket beneath them. As entertaining as the action was, Enyd kept her full attention on Alistair’s words. When he mentioned Klar, Enyd looked up at him, giving him a nod at the shared memory. It was true, she hadn’t been aware enough of all her bodily sensations to have noticed whether Alistair’s arousal had been from her alone or from Klar. In truth, Enyd had only noted his arousal when she’d basically grabbed it that evening, so loose were the connections in her brain.

Alistair resumed his tale, and this time jumped from the realization of finding another man alluring to sharing about meeting Rhys the night before. Enyd had briefly met the counselor at the concert, but aside from that brief encounter, she’d not have much prior knowledge to go on aside from the man’s good looks and the memory of a shy demeanor. Enyd could hear the emotional confusion in Alistair’s voice as he spoke about his fantasies regarding Rhys. She found it intriguing that at the same time he spoke of Rhys, Alistair’s fingers did the same light dance on her skin as if he needed the physical touch to strengthen his resolve to share.

Alistair’s next words had Enyd’s skin flushing as he described in staccato form what it would be like to share Alistair with another man. That he continued to touch her as he spoke only added fuel to the rekindled fire in her belly. His touch on her belly had Enyd recoiling with a giggle, her hands playfully coming up to brace against his chest as she rolled onto her back. Once he voiced his question through a heavy layer of vulnerability, brought a slow smile to Enyd’s face. Wrapping her hands around his neck, Enyd’s fingers played over the back of his head as she squirmed her way over until she was lying more directly beneath him, her every breath causing the tips of her pointed nipples to brush against his chest.

“Considering we are both sexually attracted to males, as your tale leads me to believe, I find no issue with the sentiment.” Enyd’s impish smile turned serious then. “I would add, however, that I’ve never seen myself as the sort to…casually play with others. I’ve only been with one man and while I’ve loved more than one man at once, I was emotionally and physically loyal to those two men alone during that time. I, uh, I don’t know if I have it in me to be more casual with my sexuality, if that’s what you’re asking.” She moved one hand from the back of his neck to trace fingers over the length of his jawline. “I do stand by my earlier sentiment of wanting to be there if or when you are intimate with someone else, and preferably to be involved. However, if you are already open to more casual flings, that may be something that takes me time to warm up, and even then, I may not be able to do that.”

Enyd flattened her palm against his cheek, blinking a few times, before raising up and kissing him. It was an unhurried kiss. A kiss of promise. And yet also a kiss of question. Every relationship required negotiation and patience, even unorthodox ones.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
There was no resentment in Enyd's eyes, no tension in her voice, and her kiss was more reassuring than words could ever be. Nevertheless Alistair felt a stab of guilt, answering the kiss timidly as he processed Enyd's meaning. Even distracted as he was by the warm movement of Enyd's lips, the comfort of the palm on his cheek, the points of her nipples against his skin, Alistair resolved to be as clear with his new girlfriend (an astonishing concept in itself) as she had been with him.

"I understand," he whispered after the kiss was broken, gazing down into Enyd's green eyes. The blanket had fallen a little down Alistair's legs during the kiss, and the sudden chill of a breeze on his bare buttocks caused him to shudder. His erect manhood grazed Enyd's thigh in the process, but determined, Alistair pretended not to notice.

"I wasn't trying to pressure you, Enyd, I'm sorry," he murmured softly. "We'll take it one day at a time, and we'll deal with everything together, okay? I suppose that 'guest' was a poor choice of word...'tenant'? No, that implies a temporary status..uh...'co-habitant'? That doesn't work either...'bedmate'? I mean, it's better, but maybe-" Alistair's rambling was cut off by another kiss from Enyd, and after a few moments of losing himself in her, he grinned down at her. "Right. Got it. Staying in the moment."

After a moment's hesitation, a decision made, and Alistair's heart started racing all over again. "There is...uh, one more thing from our date that I should tell you." After planting a brief kiss on Enyd's lips, he began descending, first to lightly kiss her chin, then further down, to the shallow valley of Enyd's breasts. "Before Klar and Yuvvor stopped us, and we were...you know..." (Alistair kissed Enyd's skin as his hands started to gently tease her nipples) "...I was thinking about...um...how you might taste."

With thar, Alistair directed his mouth one of Enyd's breasts and slowly, sensually, began to lick, suck and kiss her nipple. It was a slow but deliberate build-up: the movement of his tongue, enclosing his lips around the perked teat. The other breast wasn't lacking in attention either as Alistair's fingers teased it. In short order he switched targets, his tongue and fingers gradually moving faster and faster. Another light gust passed over the two lovers, causing Alistair to shudder again as he descended yet lower. Enyd's belly was next, subjected to teasing kisses and suckles, her belly button in particular receiving a lot of attention.

Finally Alistair descended to his final objective, lying flat on the ground between Enyd's legs. "You can stop me any time you like," he reassured Enyd, kissing both thighs lingeringly, before hooking his strong arms around her hips. "Honestly, Enyd...you really do look delicious from here."

And with that, Alistair ever-so-lightly kissed the apex of her womanhood, savouring the moment, before slowly running his tongue along her waiting lips.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd playfully swatted Alistair’shoulder.r, “If I’d felt pressured, Alistair, I would’ve done much more than kiss you into submission.” Winking, Enyd couldn’t help but laugh as he stumbled through various terms to call whoever it would be to join them in the future. She knew there was only one way to get him to cease the babbling, and her kiss seemed to work, earning a grin from the man holding himself over her.

His next words had a single eyebrow inching upward on her face as she laid still, letting him kiss her lips, her chin, and the sensitive skin over her sternum. His words held promise, yet Enyd couldn’t help but feel a hitch in her throat as he continued his journey south, taking his time to lavish attention to her breasts, belly, and thighs. The last man to have kissed her so intimately, to have tasted her in quite that way, had been Javec. While Enyd had brought herself to climax since Javec’s death, she hadn’t been touched or kissed in certain areas since then, and to have Alistair move to do that very thing had Enyd holding her breath. She wanted it; no, she needed it, yet it was still so frightening.

Lying open to a partner left her so much more exposed and vulnerable than if she was the one administering pleasure through kisses, touches, or even reciprocal oral sex. Enyd remembered clearly the first time Javec had gone down on her, expressing a genuine desire to taste her and experience her sex in a way no one had before. She’d been a mess of nerves and hadn’t been able to orgasm because of that, but the semi-ticklish experience of feeling the warm press of his tongue against her folds, the firm presence of his fingers inside her, had released a coiled tension from her belly that left her yearning for a repeat performance. And Javec had been more than happy to oblige, with each resulting orgasm starting first in Enyd’s head, with her eyes full of lights and an almost numbing tingling working its way from her head down to her belly. He’d enjoyed holding one of her hands as it rested against her hip, often catching her gaze with his own as he sucked, nipped, and licked her into a frenzy. More than once, Enyd recalled feeling weightless, as if she were on the other side of the apex of a rollercoaster, drifting somewhere between heaven and earth; the pleasure he gave her had been so intense, she’d never doubted a moment his own pleasure in the giving of it.

Watching the delight on Alistair’s face as he moved further down her body and hearing the boyish curiosity and joy in his voice, kept Enyd from squirming like her nerves called her to do. She was idly curious if he’d be able to taste the lingering influence of the Vulcan fruit she’d been breaking her fast with regularly over the past few weeks, the last few seconds before he ran his tongue over the length of slit. Enyd couldn’t help the jerk this time, one hand reaching down to grab hold of his forearm as he held her hips securely in place.

“It’s good, Alistair,” she said reassuringly, squeezing his forearm with a shy smile tugging at her lips, “it’s just been a very long time.” Enyd took a deep breath through her nose and slowly let it out through pursed lips, gaze moving from the holographic beauty of the overhead sky to the handsome face poised between her legs. “Please, continue. If you want to.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
"Want to? Are you kidding?" Alistair murmured with a grin, looking up at Enyd over her length of her body with simple honest affection. "Honestly, I don't think that even a horde of angry Klingons could stop me now." He glanced over his shoulder, as if expecting the horde at any moment, before shrugging and grinning boyishly back at Emyd. With that, he settled himself back down and, as the saying went, 'got stuck in'.

It had been a long time since Alistair had pleasured a woman in such a manner, enough for nervous butterflies to flutter in his stomach, but not so long that he had forgotten how. Recalling Davvi's gentle coaching all those years ago in a remote caldera, he started slowly, using his tongue to rhythmically circle Enyd's lips, then up and down and back around again. It was a slow sensual progression, with Alistair's arms keeping Enyd's hips secure as he worked. Even as his tongue licked, teased, encircled and penetrated, encouraged by Enyd's reaction, a part of Alistair's mind noted with lazy contentment that he could really get used to this.

It didn't take long before (after taking a gulp of air) Alistair moved on to a more thorough oral treatment, using his mouth to suck on Enyd's pearl, his tongue growing more and more aggressive, more random in its movements. Even as he devoured her, Alistair looked up at Enyd's face, intent on seeing how she reacted as he pleasured her, amping up more and more in time with Enyd's reaction. It was a powerfully satisfying experience, and Alistair felt his own manhood quiver between his waist and the blanket, his bare buttocks quivering between the warmth of the fire and the cool breeze.

Finally Alistair emerged, if only to breathe, his mouth looking quite moist indeed, not that he seemed to mind. Not wanting to leave Enyd unattended, he unhooked an arm, got up on his knees and started to stroke Enyd's womanhood. "It's just us here, so you can be as loud as you like...uh, if you want to," he said brightly, still grinning. A deep cry rang out over the loch, and Alistair glanced over to the side with bemusement. "Okay, just us and Nessie. Maybe one day we'll get to have a date with some privacy. Anyway..."

With that (looking into Enyd's eyes all the while), Alistair slowly inserted his middle finger inside his lover. She was every bit as wet and welcoming as he'd hoped, and so after a few experimental pumps, he inserted his forefinger as well, using both digits with relentless, robotic precision. Finally, after enjoying Enyd's reaction for a while, his grin gained an uncharacteristically devilish aspect, and even as he continued to pump his fingers inside her, Alistair lowered his face down...

...and this time, he really got stuck in.

For all his innocence and gentle nature, it was quite apparent that Alistair had no intention of stopping until Enyd cried uncle. After all, it only seemed fair recompense for her endless teasing...

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Clutching the material of their blanket on either side of her hips, Enyd squeezed her eyes shut as she concentrated on her breathing. The only person who had touched her there in recent years had been herself, and before that, Javec had been the only man to pleasure her like this. Already, Enyd could note the difference in style and foci between her deceased Cardassian fiance and the very much alive and thriving human Alistair. She appreciated Alistair's anchoring hold with his hands on her hips while his lips and tongue stoked a fire in her core.

Enyd gasped, eyes opening then squinting shut again, as sparks of pleasure flared out from the hundreds of nerve endings Alistair’s ministrations were igniting. One hand found its way to the back of Alistair’s head as he drove his tongue inside her wet heat, tasting her intimately. Eyes wide, mouth parted on a silent gasp, Enyd braced herself with one hand while she continued to draw her fingers over the top of Alistari’s head and down to clutch at his shoulder. Her heart knocked at the cage of her chest, demanding release as she panted in her breaths, the pleasure building with every passing millisecond.

Alistair pulled back then, and spoke something about something, but all Enyd could hear was her heartbeat thrumming in her ears; licking her lips as she watched Alistair’s mouth move on words uncomprehended. She was unprepared for his finger in that at first touch, her mouth dropped open on a shameless moan and she broke eye contact with him long enough to watch his his hand thrust rhymtically, finger sliding in and out. When his forefinger joined in the sensual onslaught, Enyd dropped her head back and arched her back, keening out her pleasure as her hips began to move of their own accord, rising to meet Alistair’s fingers in a demanding drive for release.

For all this pleasure, it wasn’t enough. Her body, so long out of practice with lovemaking, had a strong enough memory to remind Enyd of how much MORE pleasurable Alistair’s manhood would be between her legs, instead of his fingers or tongue. What Enyd lacked in muscle mass, she made up for in lithe, fanatic, lustful energy in this moment. Reaching her left up and hooking it around Alistair’s back, gripping beneath his right armpit, Enyd jerked her arm back while bucking her hips and pushing off the ground with her right foot.

Her success in getting Alistair marginally on his back had more to do with the element of surprise and no doubt an element of curiosity than it had to do with sheer strength. Before Alistair could question her actions, Enyd wrapped a hand around the throbbing heat of his erection and gave a firm pump, dropping her head against his chest as she relished the silken steel feel of him beneath her fingers. Enyd gave his skin a tentative lick. Kissed away a playful nip next. All the while drawing her hand up and down his shaft, lulling him into the same near-frenzied state of arousal that he’d brought her.

With the same suddenness that she’d all but bucked him off, Enyd moved to straddle him, intent on riding out their pleasure. Pressing her lips against his, drawing his tongue deep into her mouth to taste herself on his lips, Enyd reached between them to grab hold of his member and guide it to the heat of her core. After playfully tugging his bottom lip lightly between her teeth, Enyd drew back from the passionate kiss just as she felt the tip of his erection brush against her folds.

Her heavy-lidded gaze took on a somewhat goofy expression as she whispered against his cheek, “Permission to come aboard,” before sheathing the length of him inside her, letting out a long, low moan of satiated pleasure as he filled her completely.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Fully occupied in feasting on Enyd's nethers, her cries of pleasure only driving him on as he mercilessly drilled his fingers inside her, Alistair was taken completely offguard as he was abruptly pushed off Enyd and rolled onto his back. Thinking for a wild moment that someone had pulled him off Enyd, it took him a moment to realise what had actually happened as he felt a warm grip around his throbbing member. Glancing to the side, he noted the wild look in Enyd's eyes, even wilder than he'd seen at Saq'wa. He groaned as Enyd enacted her retribution, pumping his manhood as mercilessly as he'd just been pumping into her.

Again he was taken off-guard as Enyd straddled him, her intent obvious, striking a memorable image against the backdrop of Scottish higlands and blue sky. The kiss they shared was ravenous, aggressive, Alistair holding Enyd to his body as he devoured her. The two of them might've kissed for a long while if not for the brief brush of their groins, and Alistair's eyes were alight with hungry need as Enyd reached down between them, making her erotic request as she did.

"Permission-umph," Alistair got out as finally he entered her, his sensitive member slowly filling Enyd's warm tightness. With sheer primal instinct, he withdrew a little before pushing deeper inside Enyd, exhaling as he did so. An ember from the fire hit his thigh but Alistair was so hot with need that he barely noticed, instead holding Enyd's sides firmly as he slowly repeated the action, in and out, looking into Enyd's eyes all the while and gauging her reaction. A tiny voice of reason in the back of his mind reminded him that as much as he wanted to do more, to drive up harder and faster, Enyd hadn't had sex in a long while. She should be the one to control the pace...at least the first time. After that...

The thought that he and Enyd could have months together to enjoy each other, maybe even years, was an even more powerful aphrodisiac than the Klingon body oil had been. As he continued to push up into her, Alistair grinned up at his lover. "I'm glad we waited," he said in a heated whisper. "This...umph...this is worth the wait. You are worth the wait..."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

His hands on her hips acting as both anchor and motivator, Enyd circled her hips over Alistair. Her heart rattled in her chest as her body adjusted to the extreme sensations. His warmth on her, in her. The cold air closing around her arms and rushing into her lungs with each panted breath. Her softness wrapping around his hardness with the slick need of her gliding movements sent another rush of awareness through her body. Enyd’s hands began on his shoulders before moving down his chest, her torso arching as the nerve endings demanded movement, fingers tickling over the tops of his thighs before dipping down behind her rear cupping his balls as she continued to move atop him. Bracing her weight on her knees, Enyd experimented with her movements, rising up and down, rotating her hips up and forward, circling them, trying out a myriad of movements until she found the rhythm and type that fired the cluster of nerves both in her clit and deep within her body.

Alistair did not remain passive in all this. His grip remained tight on her hips as he likewise sought to match her rhythm as he pushed up into her. His words, spoken with such affectionate sincerity, prompted Enyd to abandon her hold on his balls as she leaned forward and sealed her lips against his in an impassioned kiss. It’d been so long, and this all felt so good, and as he’d said, the wait to this moment had acted like a days’ long foreplay. Enyd felt her body ready itself for the climax, the tingling sensation starting in her fingers and toes as the heat in her belly increased and her lungs burned for air.

“You…” Enyd pulled her lips from his and pressed a series of frantic kisses along his neck as her hips increased in speed, “too…”

She didn’t want to cum alone, though there was no guarantee he was as close as she. Still, that didn’t stop her from pushing off his chest and reaching once more for his balls with one hand while with the other, Enyd took one of his hands and placed it over her breast, kneading his fingers against the sensitive mound. Enyd maintained eye contact as she fought back the orgasm, not wanting to peak without him.

Her words were difficult to form, but eventually, though a series of panted moans of pleasure, Enyd conveyed the basic thought to Alistair, “We…oohm…do this…ahhmm…together.” The thought was not issued as a challenge or command, but rather a request, a desire to share further in the delights of this newfound intimacy between them.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Alistair was far from inexperienced when it came to sex, but even for him, the entire experience was novel. His groans and grunts, interspersed with Enyd's moans, echoed across the lake and hills with none to hear save for one bemused observer. The fresh breeze chilled their hot bodies even as Enyd sat up, fondling his nethers as the pace of their union increased to its inevitable climax. Realising that Enyd looked to be a bit closer than him, Alistair was content to go ahead and let her crest, but her breathless desire that they finish together...with Enyd rocking atop him, her eyes lidded, moaning with pleasure, her slick heat around his member, so insistent that he empty himself inside her...

...yup, that did it.

"Together," Alistair got out through gritted teeth, throwing his head back onto the blanket as he committed himself to the home stretch. Amidst the haze of lust and love, he briefly worried that he might not manage it, but upon hearing Enyd's orgasmic cry to the heavens, feeling her quivering body beneath his hands, he abruptly felt his own hot need burst. Alistair exhaled heavily as he emptied himself inside Enyd, letting the orgasm wash over him, feeling Enyd slow her ride as they both recovered from the euphoric rush. After she fell onto his chest, Alistair instinctively enclosed her in his arms, his manhood still inside her.

"So..." he said in a panted whisper, still slightly dazed as he looked up at the sky, "that was fun."

A deep moan from the loch seemed to express agreement, along with an odd smacking sound that seemed oddly like...applause?

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Collapsing against his chest, Enyd drew in deep breaths, seeking to slow her heart rate. Her body thrummed with the afterglow of an intense orgasm, and her torso pulsed from the strength of her beating heart. Closing her eyes, Enyd let out a deep breath as Alistair closed his arms around her, his flaccid member remaining tucked inside her as they recovered from the exertion of their lovemaking. He was the first to break the momentary silence, his comment causing her body to shake with laughter. The unexpected applause, coming from a not-so-innocent-looking Nessie still bobbing in the lake, further fueled her laughter, and the pulsing vibrations of her body caused his member to slip from her folds just as she slid off his chest but remained tucked against his side, draped half across him.

“Yes, that was fun indeed.” Enyd grinned at her lover—thrilled she could now call him that. “I don’t think I need to hit the gym today. And,” she tickled her fingers across his chest before lightly tapping the tip of his nose, “if we do this at least once a day, I doubt I’ll need to watch what I eat from now on.” She allowed a few moments to pass before she let out another deep, satiated sigh. “You know, if, years down the road, they make a holovid out of the exploits of this ship, including the individual romantic encounters of each crewmember, I think the events that brought us to this point would be challenged as fictional.”

Though she hated the thought of extracting herself from his arms, Enyd knew they would be far more comfortable after cleaning up. Rolling out of his arms, Enyd stopped her roll just shy of the edge of their bed-nest and glanced back at Alistair, her question already bubbling through her lips as she pushed to her hands and knees, “Quick dip and cuddle times with hot cocoa?”

Standing, Enyd leered at Alistair momentarily before turning and practically throwing herself into the lake's cold waters.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
With Enyd snug against his side, the fire still toasting the two lovers nicely, Alistair was so relaxed that it took him a moment to process what Enyd was saying. "Wait, at least once a day?" he blubbered, looking over at his lover in astonishment. "Okay, wow. If I didn't know any better, I'd wonder if you were using me for my body." After a moment's consideration, Alistair grinned. "I mean, not that I'd mind, exactly..."

He didn't respond to Enyd's pondering over the extraordinary nature of the crew's adventures, both literal and romantic, not trusting himself. Alistair's good cheer dimmed as he recalled his own knowledge of certain members of the Theurgy crew, especially their (very) private activities. Captain Ducane, or at least someone aboard the timeship Relativity, had judged it essential that he be able to prove his credentials to whomever led the Theurgy team on Praxis.

Exactly how the Relativity had such detailed records on the private affairs of specific individuals was a mystery. Could 31st century temporal sensors really be set to "gossip"? Who would even do that? Why? Regardless, it left Alistair with a huge volume of memorised information about his colleagues that he absolutely could never share and desperately wanted to forget. The Temporal Prime Directive was, as the saying went, a real bitch no matter when you were.

Lost in his own thoughts, Alistair sighed as Enyd rolled away from him, missing the warm comfort of her body immediately. At her proposal, however, he smiled. "Sure, that sounds-hang on, dip?"

Enyd was already off, of course, running down the beach at full tilt. "Enyd," Alistair called out in warning as he rushed to his feet and ran after her. "Wait, stop, the water will be...freezing..." he finished lamely as Enyd had already cannonballed off the edge of the jetty, shrieking as she hit the icy lake surface. Slowing to a jog (his manhood starting to ache from the whipping back and forth), Alistair watched with bemusement as Enyd reacted to the water. He stopped at the edge of the jetty and got down on one knee, grinning at his hapless girlfriend.

"So, uh, like I was saying," he said with amusement, "we're in the Scottish Highlands in winter. It's a bit...well...chilly."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

“But that’s what I needed!” Enyd popped out of the water like a nymphatic daisy, face alight with mischief. “You make me too hot, Alistair! I needed to cool down before round two!”

Before he could comment further on round two, or her preferred method for fighting caloric intake, Enyd pushed herself backward with a yelp at the water's continued cold sting. Enyd swam a few paces, patting the water's surface, her eyes fixed on the shore, Alistair's eager face, and the murky depths. She felt the vibrations of Nessie’s underwater call and grinned.

“If you want me,” Enyd’s manic grin was as bright as the simulated sun, “you gotta come catch me!”

Nessie’s head broke the surface of the water just a few feet in front of Enyd. Instead of sliding down the creature’s neck to land on its back like she had with Zark, Nessia surfaced under Enyd so that Endy was already nestled at the base of her neck. Giving a very Montanan cry of delight, Enyd blew a kiss at Alistair as Nessie turned and water galloped across the water’s surface. Joy pumping through her veins at being able to share this sort of silliness with her…boyfriend, Enyd was curious how Alistair would “solve” this new dilemma.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Already a little chilly in the fresh Scottish breeze, Alistair was nevertheless sorely tempted to dive right in at Enyd's flirtatious reply, no matter how cold the water looked. Before he could jump, however, he glimpsed a huge shadow racing underneath the water towards Enyd, but she was already one step ahead of him.

"Hey!" he protested as Nessie erupted, drenching the hapless Alistair as she did so, before gleefully turning around with a  Enyd atop her. On pure instinct; Alistair did the only thing possible: he leapt off the jetty as Nessie began bounding away, catching her huge tail with both arms as the great monster bounded over the water.

This was, as it turned out, not one of Alistair's brighter ideas.

Holding onto Nessie's tail for dear life, he was swished back and forth mercilessly through the water, hanging on only through virtue of Nessie's rough pebbled skin as she dragged her extra rider through the loch. After a few moments, she mercifully raised her tail above the water and slowed, revealing a rather dazed (and now thoroughly drenched) naked man atop her tail.

"Okay, this is just cheating!" he called out in protest to Enyd, then yelped as Nessie wagged her tail merrily in the air, the prehistoric monster letting out groans of amusement all the while. While hugging her great tail, however, Alistair saw an opportunity: at the joint of the tail and body, the pebbled skin became smooth. With great effort, grunting as he climbed, he reached the base of Nessie's tail and did the one thing that came to mind.

Holding tight with one arm and both thighs, he started tickling.

Nessie moaned, her entire body shuddering as she succumbed, groaning at the attention to her sensitive area. Alistair (now feeling quite sore, and thus a little aggrieved) showed no mercy, reducing the mighty monster to a contented lump through relentless tickles. Eventually, confident that his quarry was subdued, Alistair clambered awkwardly up Nessie's back,.

"Got you," he said with a triumphant grin as he crawled up to Enyd, planting a kiss on her cheek as he reached her.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd’s shriek of laughter echoed off the distant mountains, nearly careening off the water creature in amusement as she watched Alistair’s body swish left and right in Nessie’s wake. His tenacious climb up the monster’s tail, sinewy muscles coiling and releasing with his movements, made butterflies dance in Enyd’s belly. For his earlier protestations for cheating, Alistair certainly had no qualms with doing a little cheating himself as he began to tickle Nessie. Beneath her legs, Enyd felt Nessie quake in loch-monster giggles, sending vibrations up through Enyd’s body. Then it was Enyd’s turn to yelp in surprise when her lover's cold, clammy body wrapped around her, holding her against him as if she were his prize. Enyd grinned; she supposed she was, just as he was hers.

Using their body’s dampness to her advantage, Enyd wriggled in Alistair’s arms until she could turn around to face him, laying her thighs atop his and scooting close until she felt his flaccid manhood against her folds and her breasts pressed against his chest as she looped her arms around his shoulders in an embrace.

“I got you, too.” She giggled, eyes alight with mirth and mischief, lips pulled back in a goofy smile. “But what should we do with our prizes?”

Nessie certainly knew what she wanted to do. Letting out an indignant snort, she dove without warning. The wet slap of water against her body had Enyd letting go of Alistair, her body instinctively working to tread back to the surface. Coughing out a mouthful of lakewater, Enyd laughed. This was beyond ludicrous. They were swimming in freezing water after being baptized in it by the Loch Ness monster when they could be either in their love nest or back in the cabin eating snacks. Enyd cupped her hands, using them to twist her body until she spied Alistair.

“I ttthink I’m effffectively cooled off nnow, whattt abouttt youuu?” In fact, Enyd’s lips were turning blue and her teeth sounded like maracas, but her eyes were still bright with effervescent joy as she bobbed in the water next to Alistair. “I sssay ssssnacks and ddddrinks are innnnn ordddder.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Straddling Nessie while interwined with Enyd wasn't the most comfortable position imaginable, but Enyd's merry giggle and the mischievous glint in her eyes more than made up for it. Alistair, grinning goofily back at his 'prize', was about to answer Enyd's question with a kiss when Nessie decided to interrupt proceedings.

Alistair cried out as he and Enyd were plunged into the loch's icy water, both gasping at the shock. In the momentary confusion, Alistair looked around for her, but heard Enyd's laughter first. Upon seeing her, he couldn't help but smile back as he tread water. He couldn't help it; her good cheer was irresistible, even in freezing water.

"Definitely...brrrr...definitely time to warm back up," he agreed as he looked over his shoulder at the shore. "It's not far, we'll feel better when we start moving. Come on!" With that, he turned around and started swimming, unintentionally providing quite a view from behind. Still, Alistair didn't go too fast, although less from chivalry and more from certain objecting body parts. Between being ridden quite energetically by Enyd, riding Nessie and now being dragged through the water, his testes were distinctly sore after all the rough treatment.

Eventually though, both of them staggered out of the water, dripping wet and shuddering. After reaching their picnic spot, Alistair tossed a blanket to Enyd before he grabbed another and began drying himself with considerable enthusiasm amidst the warmth of the dying fire. "Nessie really is a sore loser," he commented wryly as he rubbed the blanket across his chest, then abruptly, he laughed. "You know, nobody is going to believe us when we tell about them about our first date, or our second. I'm not even sure that I believe it." As he looked at Enyd, drying herself amidst the backdrop of the loch and highlands, he simply stopped what he was doing and took in the view. "It's...uh...pretty amazing."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

It was an awkward swim due to her frozen extremities and even once they were back on shore using blankets for towels, Enyd couldn’t feel her fingers of stop her teeth from chattering. She didn’t have enough extra padding on her bones to insulate her against the cold. This, however, didn’t stop the warm fuzzy feeling of elation from spreading in her belly when she caught Alistair’s goofy grin as he suddenly stilled in his movements as if the mere sight of her transfixed him. As much as she wanted to say the same to him in return—and mean it genuinely—and share in a moment of affection brought on by such unadulterated adoration that was whole-heartedly reciprocated, Enyd’s body couldn’t stop its shivering long enough for her to say anything more meaningful than, “Ccccaaaabbbbiiinnnn.”

The rush to the cabin was a blur to Enyd, so focused on not shaking her flesh off her bones from the cold, but soon enough, Alistair had them sequestered in the sauna. If she could lay atop the heated stones without sizzling off her flesh, Enyd would’ve done so, but she had to content herself curling up in Alistair’s lap, arms around his neck, while she waited for the dry heat to stop the chatter in her teeth and the tremor in her body. Heaving a sigh while snuggling her face against his neck, Enyd smiled, happy that the worst of the shivering was gone.

“Now that I won’t bite my tongue off,” she chuckled, not at all seeking sympathy for her earlier state as she’d been an idiot, “I wanted to tell you I agree.” Tipping her head up to kiss Alistair’s jawline, she used one hand along the back of his neck to tip his head down so she could kiss his cheek and temple too. “You are pretty amazing. And yeah,” she exhaled on a laugh, loosening her hold on Alistair enough to lean back, shaking her head as another breathy chuckle escaped her lips. “I’m still a bit dazed at all the…events that occurred during our first date. I never would’ve guessed that a random side quest during a mission to the Qo’Nos embassy would’ve had me finding the sexiest techno-wizard to help me decrypt the data.” Enyd let go of his neck with one hand, tracing her fingers over his brow, along the bridge of his nose, then lightly taking hold of his chin to give his head a playful shake. “And you are, Alistair. I don’t quite know why, but every time you start talking about your work and all those schematics and mechanisms that go along with it,” she pulled her hand away to wave at feigned feminine vapors, “heavens, but I could just eat you up.”

Pulling his face down close enough to press a promising kiss against his lips, Enyd smiled, “In fact, I’d like to eat you up. Right now. Would you care to adjourn to the bedroom, Mister Leavitt? I find myself a might peckish.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
In contrast to the frigid loch, the sauna was heaven. Alistair's initial thought of cuddling with Enyd in front of the fireplace had been scuppered the moment that they reached the cabin. Both of them were still shuddering, although Enyd was worse off, and so Alistair had wasted no time getting them back into the sauna. It was less comfortable than the alternative, but the humid heat soon eased both lovers back into relaxation all the same.

Of course, so long as he had Enyd purring in contentment in his lap, Alistair was starting to think that he'd be comfortable anywhere.

As she spoke her loving words, kissing and caressing all the while, he gently stroked her sweat-slicked back. With the sexual tension broken by their union beside the loch, Alistair was clear-headed enough to recognise his own apprehension. Enyd loved so fiercely, so absolutely, that it didn't quite seem real, as if at any moment she would shout "Surprise!" and fizzle out of existence. It was an intimidating way to start a relationship, quite unlike anything that he'd experienced before. What would it be like in a month? Six months? A year? A century? Would Enyd's seemingly infinite affection burnout eventually, like a circuit that had been overcharged for too long?

Even so, there was something else: Alistair knew with absolute certainty that he was just as smitten as she was, if not more. That, in its own way, was much more frightening, but also thrilling.

Enyd's kiss and salacious suggestion reignited the fire in Alistair's belly, and he grinned at her, his musings forgotten. "You really are voracious, you know," he said with amusement. "I guess that's one reason why you need two men in your life. It's going to take both of us to keep you...um...satisfied."

With that, Alistair hooked an arm under Enyd's legs, secured his other arm under her back, then stood up, hefting her weight with relative ease. Opening the sauna door was a bit awkward, but soon enough, the two lovers were back in the relatively cool air of the bathroom. Making a mental note to set aside time for a thorough shower before they left, Alistair carried his girlfriend over to the bedroom and set her down on the covers, before moving to lie down on top of her, held up by his arms. Not wasting a moment, he kissed her thoroughly, eagerly, his member beginning to thicken in anticipation, the tip starting to press against Enyd's thigh.

Then, as a thought sparked, Alistair stopped, breaking the kiss. He looked into Enyd's green eyes with uncertainty as he pondered, all while wrestling with the urge to kiss Enyd again.

"When you said...uh...'sexiest technowizard'...and the other things..." he said hesitantly, "did...I mean, did you really mean..." Alistair trailed off, seeing the answer in her eyes and smile. "Never mind, I know you did. I have an idea, something that you might like, but it would mean leaving the cabin." He paused. "Or we could stay here, and I'll show you another time. Either way..."

Barely believing what he was about to say, his heart pounding and his nerves writ clear in his eyes, Alistair lowered himself down to whisper into Enyd's ear. "...I'm going to fuck you."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd laughed, “I actually didn’t know I was voracious.” She spoke in all earnestness. “I mean, not to go into too much detail about my prior partner, but Javec and I were both quite busy in our work, and it was high stakes at all times, so the availability to be voracious even if we wanted to be was not really there. Though, there was plenty of…affection shared.” She giggled, snuggling closer.

Then Enyd found it funny when they suddenly moved and Alistair accidentally hit her head and foot trying to get through the door. It was most quaint to have a partner who was just as poised and suave as she was – which meant not exactly but with all intentions of being so. Likely due to his background and even cultural standards, Javec had always been put together and managed to make everything seem planned. Getting tossed on the bed with his body landing atop her seconds later, Enyd relished the affection and imperfection found in Alistair. It emboldened her own desires and curiosity, eager to share everything and anything with him.

Enyd didn’t hide the extreme pout when he pulled back from the kiss, though the pout just as quickly melted away to an eager smile of excitement when he mentioned technowizardry and an idea. Enyd was ALWAYS game for ideas! Before she could voice as much, Alistair’s ending comment had her stomach flip-flopping as her lust went into overdrive, and she all but pooled into a gooey puddle of witless want beneath him.

Before she ravished him in the moment since he was very readily available, Enyd composed herself enough to capitalize on his offer, “Let’s do your idea. I get to be fucked either way you said, so let’s do something you want to do in the process!" She wiggled with excitement, like a dog waiting for a game of fetch..

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
With considerable reluctance (the naked desire in Enyd's eyes was very tantalising), Alistair rolled off his ravenous lover and got to his feet beside the bed. He was flabbergasted by what he was about to do...what they were about to do. It was absurd, nuts, a twisted use of his skills, a deeply inappropriate utilisation of very important software...

...and, perhaps, a tiny bit naughty.

The thought sent a thrill down Alistair's spine.

"Come on," he said to Enyd with a smile, holding out his hand. After helping her up, he pulled her in close, one hand on Enyd's side while the other rested on the small of her back. Feeling Enyd's warmth where her body touched his, Alistair looked down into his girlfriend's green eyes, silently praying that she'd enjoy what was coming.

"You might want to hold on tight for this bit," he said with a hint of nerves, before looking around the cosy bedroom one more time. "Well, this ought to be different. Here we go..."

Alistair took a breath and then, with a tone of firm authority, began giving commands. "Computer, save program, then load up program Leavitt-Sandbox." The cabin blurred until, a moment later, he and Enyd were standing in a complete void, blackness all around them. It was as if they were standing on nothing. Not wasting time, Alistair continued. "Dynamic command: visualise a base Soong B-1 model with a Pash-Leavitt substrate, reduce annihilation rate in the second stratum by 20%, increase floor ductility by 50%, align...right, good, align nexus C-5 to a photonic variance of 40%..."

With each command, their surroundings changed. First he and Enyd were surrounded by large spheres of coloured light throughout the darkness. As Alistair kept going, however; the lights changed; some created bright bridges to other spheres, while others grew larger or smaller. Smaller motes of light appeared, moving lazily through the black, as distinct structures of light began to form around the two lovers. As time passed and Alistair added to the design, the web of rainbow light grew more complex, but still carefully ordered. Even the sense of touch was affected; the floor became oddly spongey, while when a bright blue mote floated by, it generated a gentle buzz upon Alistair and Enyd's skin. It only took a couple of minutes of work before a detectable pulse began to thrum throughout the rainbow web, faintly audible, the light contrasting against the sheer black blackground.

Finally, it was complete, and for the first time, out of breath with his heart hammering furiously, Alistair looked down into Enyd's eyes. "Welcome to my world."

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd didn’t need the excuse to wrap her arms around Alistair and envelop him in her supple version of a bear hug, but at his words, she squeezed his arms for added emphasis and shot him a lopsided grin. Alistair’s demeanor changed almost immediately, and Enyd just about melted off his body at the commanding tone in his usually playful voice. She had eyes only for Alistair, head on his shoulder, hands clasped tight together behind his back, as the world swirled and whirled around them.

A part of her brain understood a portion of what he was saying, but by and large, it went into her head and churned up a fire in her gut. Enyd’s logical brain latched on to the change in his demeanor and tone of voice as being part of the cause for her inflamed passions. But Enyd’s illogical brain – and the one making decisions right now – oo’ed and ah’ed wholly enraptured.

As the seconds ticked past and Alistair’s commands made their mark in the holomatrix, the ground changed in texture – almost like a smooth gelatinous trampoline –and every time one of the blue thingies his words had created floated by, the humming vibrations from its power tickled through her body and felt into the already churning passion in her belly. The kaleidoscope of colors reflected off Alistair’s skin and similarly manifested in the gleam of his eyes when he finally returned his gaze to hers, welcoming her to his world.

“What a wonderful world,” Enyd moved her right arm up, cupping the back of his head, “and what a wonderful man.” Her left hand snaked down to cup his butt as she used the grip on her right to pull his head down so that she could seal her lips against his in a deep kiss. A kiss through which she poured her admiration for his talents, her attraction for his body, and her desire to share this beauty with his soul. Only when oxygen demanded she pull away did Enyd pull back enough to fervently whisper against his lips, “Is this when you fuck me, Alistair?”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
The compliment made Alistair's heart flutter, a skill that Enyd was quickly mastering. As they kissed, he ran a hand up and down Enyd's side, stroking her in recompense for a kiss that seemed like it would never end. Finally, after she pulled back and whispered a question, he chuckled under his breath.

"Vigorously," he said softly, eyes still closed as their lips brushed each other. A spike of alarm briefly registered as he recognised a problem; he needed a minute to become 'ready for action'. Recreating a positronic network wasn't an erotic experience for him, even with a beautiful naked woman watching him. How could he keep them going without spoiling the moment?

A passing buzz over the top of his head provided an answer, and he grinned at the daring of it. If it got out that he used positronic engineering to erotically please his girlfriend, the community would never let him hear the end of it, especially since one member of that community was the Theurgy's first officer. With the fresh taste of Enyd on his lips, her warm hand on his buttocks as the other cupped the back of his bald head, Alistair had only thought: worth it.

"For now, though..." he murmured, opening his eyes before giving Enyd a peck, "...what's the rush?" With that, he grasped Enyd's shoulders and spun her around to face away from him. "Computer, give me manual tactile feedback per my default, matching the posicortical frequency, and...erm...create a transparent barrier perpendicular to the deck five centimeters in front of us."

Enyd didn't see the result of the first command, but she did feel the latter. Alistair kissed her clavicle, his groin pressing against her waist as his member began to rise. "Do you trust me?" he murmured softly into her ear, his own excitement growing as he contemplated what he was about to do.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd giggled as his fingers tickled over her ribs, her naked body squirming in his embrace. After a quick kiss and a rhetorical question that promised something delightful, Alistair pivoted Enyd on her feet before holding her against his body again. She felt her heart flutter as it always did whenever he spoke in those sexy technical terms. While Enyd recognized a few terms, all of them together made no sense, and she was left with a mystery only Alistair could solve.

Behind her, Enyd felt his cock twitch as life slowly began to seep back into it. Whatever Alistair had planned next would buy him the necessary refractory time. Knowing this, Enyd chuckled. In a very eccentric way, his current efforts to keep her “entertained” so he could recover reminded Enyd of her parents and grandmother while she was a child. When they were alive, her parents would tag-team, keeping an eye on the highly energetic and precocious young Enyd – the one who thankfully bounced well, given how many falls she took. Then, under her grandmother’s watch, Enyd’s care was wisely farmed out to the most gardened among the ranch hands. Not only were the ranch hands building a hands-on understanding of parenthood – something that helped them keep their belts well buckled when they went to town – but Enyd was likewise learning much-needed resilience and cunning skills. Together, this resulted, or at least in part created, the Enyd who stood in Alistar’s arms, giggling at his question.

“We wouldn’t have gotten even a quarter of this far if I didn’t trust you, Alistair.” Enyd tipped her head back, planting a kiss on his cheek. “You may proceed with wowing me.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
“We wouldn’t have gotten even a quarter of this far if I didn’t trust you, Alistair.” Enyd tipped her head back, planting a kiss on his cheek. “You may proceed with wowing me.”

Well, no pressure.

In that moment, it finally hit Alistair: She trusts me. It was an odd realisation. He'd already known that, after all. Enyd had entered a committed relationship with him, which obviously was based on established trust and respect as much as affection. Even so, there was a difference between trust and trust.

Enyd was right there with him, naked, exposed, having no idea what was coming, but was willing to put herself in his hands. Literally. It was a level of intimacy that surpassed the romp by the loch, its impact heightened by the fact that they'd known each other for less than a week. The idea of having power over Enyd in such a manner, knowing that she yielded out of sincere affection and faith in her boyfriend...

...it was meaningful and breathtaking, sure, but most of all, it was powerfully arousing. Alistair's manhood completed its rise to full attention in moments, butterflies ran rampage in his stomach, and his confidence shattered. Suddenly he was hyper-aware of everything; Enyd's closeness, her scent (quite pungent after everything they'd done), her rich brown hair, the barely perceptible tips of her ears, the pressure of her buttocks as they supported his hot shaft. He felt his racing heart, shortening breath, the increasingly uncomfortable sensations from his hand.

Panicked thoughts raced through his mind: what if she doesn't like this? What if I go too far? If I screw this up, will she go to Drauc instead of me? What if I finish too quickly? What if I set the frequency too high? What if...

Alistair took an unsteady breath, forcing himself into action. Following his private script, he used his right hand to gently grasp Enyd's hand, raise it up over her head, then forward until she was leaning against the invisible wall in front of the,. Careful to use the right hand again, he repeated the process with Enyd's other hand, placing it atop the other. It all required leaning over her, his chest pressed against the curve of Enyd's back, his erect manhood trapped between their bodies amidst their surreal surroundings.

"You can skip right to the end whenever you like," Alistair murmured into Enyd's ear, his voice tight with erotic tension and awkwardness, the bold authority slipping in the heat of the moment. "There's no pressure to wait if it's too much. Consider this...uh...an experiment on the causal correlation of posicortical frequency to female sexual arousal. Your arousal."

Next (before nerves betrayed him), Alistair kissed Enyd's clavicle as his left hand reached around in front of her face. As delicately as he could, he pressed the tip of the forefinger to Enyd's lips, revealing the surprise: it buzzed. In fact, as he progressed, it became apparent that the entire hand was vibrating softly.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

The only way this experience could’ve been would be if both of Alistair’s hands were endowed with the magical vibrations. However, even with just the one moving slowly and gently over her body, Enyd felt like she would soon experience an astral projection. There was no part of her body that he left unexplored (except maybe the insides of her nostrils and her inner ear), and Enyd appreciated his approach. It was almost as if he’d created mental quadrants of her erogenous zones and the surrounding areas, making sure to fill all squares of any given quadrant before moving on to the next. When Alistair was once more standing after a brief foray on his knees, driving her to her second climax, Enyd could no longer stand it. She needed to reciprocate, knowing it would rocket up her current pleasure in knowing she’d also brought him some.

In one smooth motion, Enyd twisted and grabbed Alistair’s shoulders. With the tenacious strength gifted to a woman in sexual need, she thrust him against the wall he’d once had her leaning against. Enyd placed the flat of her palms on his hips, smoothing them over the swell of his ass as she lowered herself into a kneeling position. His cock bobbing at eye level, she squeezed the cheeks of his ass and boldly looked up to catch his gaze. Enyd took her time, maintaining the intensity of their gaze as she leaned forward and kissed the crease of his thigh on either side of his cock.

Running her hands over the back of his thighs and around his knees to lightly grip the front of his legs, Enyd licked her lips when she finally broke eye contact to stare at his cock directly. With an almost reverent touch, Enyd cupped the weight of his balls. She traced her fingers tips over the top of his cock, then swirled under to retrace the length of him along the underside. Content for the moment to memorize the feel of soft skin over steely muscle, Enyd lightly stroked his cock, paying equal attention to the coiling skin of his testicles.

She next ran her tongue along the crease of his thigh, pausing to place an open-mouthed kiss on his pelvis directly above his cock, before repeating the gesture along the crease of his opposite thigh. Using both hands to cup his balls, Enyd finally gave him what he'd been craving by placing her lips over the end of his cock, her tongue lightly darting over the slit at its head. Wrapping her lips over the warm head, Enyd swiveled her tongue around its girth. Enyd felt his balls clenching in anticipation and relished the hot, pulsing sensation of his cock in her mouth as she sucked the length of him inside her.

Enyd bobbed her head forward and back in little strokes, the flat of her tongue exerting pressure along the underside of his cock. She felt one of his hands rest on the crown of her head, not gripping painfully or using the touch to control the pace but acting as more of an anchor so he could keep himself from driving faster to the edge than she wanted. Enyd adjusted the grip of her left hand, now pressing the pad of her thumb against the sensitive skin between his balls and his ass. Next, abandoning his balls altogether for the moment, she wrapped her right hand around the base of his cock and had the increased pressure of her grip join in her bobbing movements. Alistair had given her two climaxes since being here. She’d be damned if they left before she gave him at least one more.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Alistair had a plan. Thinking toward the future, he had intended to take an analytical approach to Enyd's pleasure. From her lips to her toes, he swiftly tested every part of Enyd's body, assessing her responses at each turn. Every gasp from Enyd ticked a mental box in his head, even as he felt a thrum of satisfaction at each tiny discovery: the way she tensed as a finger grazed her anus, how she sighed when he kissed the tip of her ear, how she groaned when his tongue moved in a certain pattern. It was a very analytical sexual act, but it was profoundly arousing for him. Exploring a new woman's body, finding her quirks, discovering her secrets, was as exciting as it was intimate. More, in each relationship, such exploration could only be done once.

...Or perhaps not. What would it be like to watch another man be with Enyd, to discover her? To explore that man's body with her? As he ever more enthusiastically pumped his vibrating digits inside Enyd, kissing her intermittently, the thought tantalised Alistair, his neglected manhood throbbing in response. Finally, after her second orgasm, the surrounding positronic net thrumming intensely along with the two lovers, he was about to enact the final stage of the plan: to take Enyd up into his arms, wrap her legs around his waist, press her against the wall and drive into her.

Of course, no plan survived contact with the enemy, especially one as fearsome as Enyd Madsen.

"Wha-" Alistair yelped as he was pushed against the invisible wall, his eyes widening as Enyd's own scheme became clear. Stunned into silence, his breathing quickened as she looked up at him. The mischief in her eyes entranced him as Enyd began to touch him, to tease him, steadily driving him mad with erotic tension amidst the complete silence around them.

Then Enyd's lips touched the tip of his shaft, and thought ceased altogether, his entire body shuddering. The subsequent treatment further fanned the building explosion in Alistair's balls, before finally Enyd started sucking him off in earnest, drawing deep groans from her man as he held on for dear life.

Eventually (he had long since lost track of time), Alistair felt the inevitable beginning to happen. "Enyd," he grunted, "you're about to-" He was cut off as the climax overcame him, his manhood spurting its hot load, Alistair's eyes closing as he revelled in the orgasm.

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Grinning as she stood, Enyd swiped the back of her hand over her mouth. Alistair looked fairly gelatinous while still maintaining a solid form. Most amusing. And Enyd knew she looked arrogantly self-satisfied at rendering him like this. Without preamble, Enyd stepped into his embrace, tucking her face beneath his chin, and giving a deeply satisfied sigh.

"I don't play nice, do I?" Enyd giggled, not at all apologetic in her admission. "To be fair, though, you had me orgasming a few times. It seemed your turn was due. I am very driven by a sense of balance and fairness." She laughed again. "Though some may try to argue the balance part."

Stepping back a bit, Enyd smiled again at Alistair, "You good to walk? I'm kinda hungry now, thirsty too. I thought maybe we could go to the lounge again, or the mess hall, get some proper food? I don't know about you but I seem to have worked up an appetite." She stretched her arms over her head, feeling beautiful and wanton standing naked in front of Alistair. "And thank you, for this. It is," her eyes danced around her surroundings, lips pulled back in a grin, "gorgeous. We can do this again, right?" She didn't care how eager she sounded. She felt at ease with Alistair in a way she hadn't felt with a man in a very, very long time.

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Indeed feeling quite woozy (at least partially from hunger and thirst, if Alistair was honest with himself), he gladly took Eynd into his arms. It was only just starting to dawn on him how natural she felt there, how comfortable, whether they were vertical or horizontal. Enyd wasn't the first woman to fit so well, but it had been so long that Alistair hadn't realised how much he'd missed that intimacy over recent years.

Looking down at Enyd, he grinned goofily. "Oh, we are absolutely doing this again," he answered brightly. "Anytime. Well, actually, sorry, no, not...uh...any time....well, maybe..." Alistair groaned as he rolled his head back against the invisible wall, then laughed. "Thinking is hard after what you just did to me. Have been doing to me. Are doing to me. Please don't stop doing that to me. All of that."

Still, Alistair's brain had to restart eventually. He made an abortive motion to kiss Enyd before abruptly remembering where her mouth had just been, and what was on it. "Okay, we both really need a shower before we leave this holodeck. Computer, reload previous program." At the command, the strands of rainbow light fizzled away, briskly replaced by the familiar cabin bedroom. Alistair checked the clock, then sighed in relief; still plenty of time before the mission began. Taking Enyd's hand, he led her to the bathroom, although a momentary thought had him glancing back at her with bemusement.

"Wait a minute. A sense of balance and fairness? But you cheat! A lot!"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Holodeck 2 | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd was still laughing when the scene changed, and Alistair led her into the bathroom. At his exclamation, Enyd raised herself on her toes to kiss him soundly before moving past him into the shower, exaggeratedly swaying her hips. “I have never acted dishonestly or unfairly, though I have strategically responded to gain an advantage. So I think the better term for my behavior would be that I strategize.”

There were plenty of continued protestations from Alistair on this point, and the shower entailed more than a few ticklish pauses, but in good time, they were both clean and marginally refreshed, though still not agreeing on the cheating topic.

“Now, here’s a serious question,” Enyd asked as they made their finishing touches on their appearance and made for the holoarch side-by-side, “am I sleeping in your quarters, or are you sleeping in mine tonight?” She winked, softening the aggressive question with a quick cheek peck. “Or, if you’d rather, we can schedule a date in the future to actually sleep together if tonight is too fast.”

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alistair_Leavitt) | Corridor | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Ellen Fitz
[Show/Hide]
Alistair eyed Enyd with bemusement as they walked out into the corridor, the cabin fizzling out of existence as the doors closed behind them. "Too fast?" he said wryly, grinning. "After what we just did? Really?"

A passing ensign stopped in her tracks and did a double take at the two lieutenants. She looked between them in disbelief, at the holodeck doors, then rolled her eyes in exasperation. Alistair (still beaming like a man who'd won a great prize) shrugged helplessly at her, took Enyd's hand in his then continued on.

"I guess that secret is out, if it wasn't already," he said as they walked. "I mean, being stripped down onstage might've done that too...Emilie is going to lose her mind when she hears that. Double whenever she meets you." Alistair shook off the errant thought; the prospect of witnessing Enyd meeting his big sister was akin to watching a tornado collide with a volcano, and likely just as dangerous to be around. "Erm...anyway, I've got work to do later, and a bridge shift, but...uh...how about I drop by your quarters at 01h00 when I get off duty? If that's not too late."

As they reached the turbolift and waited for it to arrive, he glanced around for any more eavesdroppers before adding, "Uh...just checking, how much 'sleep' am I likely to actually get?"

[ Lt. Enyd Isolde Madsen | Corridor | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attn. @Griff

Enyd’s lips quirked up in a bright grin as they walked hand-in-hand. She squeezed the grip and felt a little shiver of delight go through her body when Alistair instinctively returned the movement. She angled her head to look up at him as he spoke about his older sister and giggled. She looked forward to the opportunity to meet the woman. If that happened, then the bedlam they’d been dealing with of late would have been resolved enough for a simple family visit. When Alistair’s voice changed in tone and he leaned down a bit to add a time for when he’d drop by, Enyd couldn’t help but rise up on her toes and kiss his cheek.

Stroking a hand along his jawline, Enyd intonated her best rendition of a mewling sex fiend when she responded, “As much sleep as you like, darling.” She crossed over her heart and held up her fingers in a strange salute, “Scouts honor.”

After giving him another playful kiss, Enyd left him in the corridor. He wasn’t the only one due on shift and she had some research to do before reporting in later. Glancing over her shoulder, Enyd winked at Alistair, giving her rear a subtle shake, before finally dipping around the angled corner of the corridor. It had been a marvelous day and she certainly hoped it continued to be marvelous, though she was equally braced for it things went to hell in a hand basket, as they tended to do around Theurgy.