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91
Main OOC Board / Re: Main OOC Thread
Last post by Brutus -
WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBER!

Everyone welcome our new member, @SomeBunny

  Ens. Zinnia Shu                                                 Software Engineer

- Writer: @SomeBunny

After a rough childhood, Zinnia Shu found her calling in computer science, eventually following her parent's footsteps and entering Starfleet Academy. As a student, she caught Admiral Anderson's eye for her coding work on docking interface systems, and she continued to impress during her first starship assignment. When he decided that the Theurgy needed another cyber specialist, Anderson covertly contacted Zin and offered her a place on the Theurgy. Soon after, Ensign Shu was sent to join the operations department as a software engineer. And she brought a cute cat along with her!

Welcome aboard!

ANOTHER SAD FAREWELL...

Unfortunately, we say goodbye to another writer today. It has been months since we've heard from EnigmaTales, and after multiple attempts to reach out, we have concluded that they have decided to leave the sim. In accordance with her wishes, V'lana will be put into stasis.

  Lt. JG V'lana                                                  Nurse Practitioner

- Former Writer: @EnigmaTales

As a reminder, please update the GMs with any real life events that keep you from posting on the sim so we can work something out!
92
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [Day 1 | 1810 hrs] A Friend Indeed...
Last post by TWilkins -
[ Ensign Sylvain Llewellyn-Kth | Maintenance Tube | Biological Laboratory Quintus | Aft Tertiary Research Deck | Erudite ]

“What’s that about potatoes?” Sylvain asked with a somewhat bewildered expression, his attempts to turn his head to look in Cora’s direction being somewhat impeded by the Moopsy that had suddenly made a rather energised attempt to chow-down upon Sylvain’s neck. That, and the sudden, diabolical, craving that emerged in his gut, a desperate yearning to stretch his own mouth that wide, around a plate of hot fish and chips. “No… No…” He chided the creature, attempting to peel its gummy maw away from the sensitive skin on his neck, growing ever-more conscious that perhaps stuffing the animal into his shirt hadn’t been the most prudent course of action. “I’m not food, please…” His complaints continued, one hand battling with the creature’s attempts to suckle the life out of him, whilst the other continued attempting to scan the Moopsy with his tricorder, all the while trying to pay more attention to Cora’s commentary regarding potatoes…

And mentally, he was very much trying to repress the thought of how much slobber was now soaking into the red material of his undershirt.

Cora’s words didn’t exactly fill the Ensign with any great sense of relief. From what the woman was describing, the data she was reading out from the PDA that she’d pilfered, the Savi appeared to have conducted some sort of extreme genetic engineering on the Moopsy that Sylvain was attempting to peel away from his throat… He managed to steal a glance at Cora’s padd, and the few sentences he managed to get through before the Moopsy had resumed its chomp upon his flesh, hadn’t sounded good… An expedited gestational period? Degenerative dental enzymes? The evidence strongly indicated that the Savi were transforming the poor creatures into a biologically enhanced weapon of mass destruction, one that would leave minimal environmental damage, nor evidence, given their penchant for digesting bone matter, before starving to death after the dental enzyme had gotten to work and caused premature tooth loss…

“That’s barbaric…” The Ensign recoiled as he spoke, an expression of equal parts horror and disgust painted upon his face, his temperament, for perhaps the first time, in full agreement with Cora’s stance. “I know we’re desperate for allies… But this is… It’s just…” He found himself at a loss for words. “What’s to stop them from transporting a thousand of these genetically enhanced creatures onto a Federation space station? Or Earth? Or Vulcan or Betazed?” He thought of his Mother, of Starfleet Academy, of the seals basking upon the beaches of the North Sea… The Parasites might wipe out everything if the crew of the Theurgy failed at their grander mission, but what was to stop the Savi doing the same if he and Cora ignored this very obvious threat... “With the Savi cloaking technology, by the time anyone knew what was happening, it would already be too late to stop it… It would be one thing if the Savi were engineering them to combat Borg or something, but doing it with- no! Stop it!” Sylvain’s sentence became detached as the Moopsy that had, for a moment, placated itself with batting its paw at the collar of Sylvain’s jacket, returned to attempting to feast upon his neck.

Worst of all, Cora seemed to find it amusing.

Sylvain returned his hand to the Moopsy’s diabolically squishy thorax, cradling its underbelly within his palm, before yoinking the creature off from his neck once more, gritting his teeth as he gave its squashy body a firm tug. The pull was enough force to break the suction against his pale skin, which, as Cora had so disturbingly commented, would probably leave a mark, a glorious souvenir of a mission to bring back to the Theurgy. Assuming he survived, of course… The motion did have an unintended side-effect however, which Sylvain only realised as he watched the Moopsy’s entire body flop into an arc that flung ropes of saliva outwards across the maintenance tube, thankfully, in a trajectory that curved away from him…

He was certainthat there was a word for it, when, at the end of the motion, a healthy rope of Moopsy spittle hung precariously from Cora’s chin, a second decorating the side of her clearly painstakingly maintained hair… Sylvain had to bite his lip to stop an uncharacteristic laugh from boiling out of his throat. He believed that Humans tended to call such a series of events, karma.

“I know I just berated you for getting us into this predicament, but... You’re not wrong, wanting to put a stop to this…” Sylvain affirmed Cora’s earlier statement, once he’d gotten control over his amusement wracked body, and the rather feeble remainders of his sanity had returned to the forefront of his mind. “But, even just one level up… That’s a long way…” He thought of how many Savi there would be on a vessel as massive as the Erudite. “And if we get caught, it could jeopardise the alliance even further; they could take retaliation against everyone on the ship…” The risks were astronomical… But that didn’t mean that Sylvain was comfortable not doing anything about the Savi’s genocidal payload.

The Ensign’s brow furrowed in thought as he weighed up he and Cora’s options… On one hand, they could attempt to get back to the rest of their crew, inform Commander Leavitt... That would be the Starfleet approved course of action, but the Ensign couldn't help but doubt if it would accomplish anything; he didn't expect that the Commander had the negotiating power to prevent the Savi from dabbling in genocide… On the other hand, he and Cora could make an attempt to reach the aforementioned gene-therapy centre, but even if they made it there, and that was a big ‘if’, what would it achieve? They didn’t have any gear or equipment on them that would allow them to put a stop to the Savi operations, and even if they did, it would hardly be subtle… The cogs continued to whirr within Sylvain’s mind,  set to the soundtrack of Cora attempting to scrape Moopsy saliva off of her, his neck and right collarbone absolutely sodden with drool, to the point that the Ensign figured that his first port of call ought to be finding an alternative mode of travel for the Moopsy…

He couldn’t save them all, but perhaps he could get this one away from the Savi at least.

“Moopsy…” A forlorn little noise squeeked out of the creature’s mouth as Sylvain pondered such topics.

“Yeah, I know bud…” He empathised with the squishy little creature nestled within his palm, looking down at his body in the hopes of spotting something that might have worked as an effective Moopsy transportation device. The only thing that came to mind was the small side-pouch that was mounted upon the hip of his combat harness, a small velcro bag that contained a couple of emergency tools for use in field operations; some emergency rations, a locator beacon, a wrist mounted illumination device… He wagered that such things would fit in his pockets comfortably enough…

“What do you think it can eat now, given its lack of teeth and such?” Sylvain queried aloud to Cora, changing the subject to better prevent his mind from spiraling into a pit of despair, his free hand removing the contents of the combat pouch rapidly, dumping the items onto the floor of the maintenance hatch when the Moopsy began making an attempt at devouring his wrist. “There you go bud, nice and snug…” The Ensign continued as he manoeuvred the creature into his hip-pouch, strapping the velcro down against its chunky body, confident that it was secure enough, without being too-tight on the gelatinous little blob. “We really should give it a name too, it feel’s rude calling it, ‘it’, all the time…” Sylvain began the arduous task of collecting the items he’d dumped on the floor of the tube, and made a haphazard effort to return them to his pockets.

“Yoghurt? That’s got a high calcium content right? As something it can eat, not a name…” Sylvain’s idle postulation on what to feed a toothless Moopsy, was mostly to keep his mind distracted from the harrowing reality of their predicament… “I know you mentioned potatoes earlier, but I don’t see how that would work…” He glanced down at the squishy white head that had popped out from underneath the velcro flap of the pouch, it’s enormous eyes once again doing things to Sylvain’s heart that caused him both physical, and emotional, pain. “Maybe as a name?” He pondered orally, whilst mentally, his mind fought upon a battleground made up of the insane circumstances that he and Cora had found themselves in.

They were already on a mission that had been described multiple times, as suicide, and yet, every passing hour seemed to add weight to their shoulders. Not only were he and Cora stranded within an unauthorised part of the Erudite, possibly to be blamed for the death of one of their researchers, but now they also had to contend with the knowledge that they’d just uncovered a genetically engineered bioweapon designed to eradicate entire planets, conscious that, in reality, there was little that they could do to stop it.

“Perhaps the replicators can create some sort of bone broth, I’m sure there has to be some sort of bone-based Klingon delicacy in the Federation database, right?” His mind continued to tick as he babbled about yoghurt and potatoes, hands busy with the task of stuffing the former contents of his tactical pouch back into his pockets, trying valiantly to avoid the Moopsy-head that was poking out of said pouch, which was attempting to gum at his limbs as they passed by. His mind was still flickering between his conversation about Moopsy-friendly cuisine, the reality of their circumstances, the fact that Cora had started talking about potatoes, and the Moopsy now clamped to his hip, quite a concoction of subjects, when Sylvain’s fingers brushed against something that made him freeze.

A transport enhancer…

“Hey…” It was as if all the cogs and levers he’d imagined within his mind had suddenly lined up into a symposium of perfect symphony, because, as if by magic, Sylvain had an idea… An absolutely insane, career-ending, likely-suicidal, idea… But an idea nonetheless. He might have gone as far as to label it, a 'Theurgy-level' idea. “...I don’t suppose that Intelligence posting means you’re competent with hacking, does it?” Sylvain turned to the woman, probably sounding like a lunatic after making such an abrupt transmission between bone-based cuisine and electronic espionage, before holding the transport enhancers towards her, a cold sweat prickling on the back of his neck… He realised, in quite a heart-pounding revelation, that he was about to suggest that the pair do the most insane thing he’d ever done in his life. “Because I bet there’s a few Savi on the Hobus Station that would find the Moopsies just as cute as we did…”

“Moopsy!” The little voice yapped up from the pouch upon his side, and though it was impossible, the timing suggested that it was in agreement. With a rather confused expression pulling at his lips, the Yathho hybrid glanced back up towards Cora with a face that was somewhere between vague confidence, and absolute hysteria… He reckoned that the only reason he hadn’t yet had a psionic-induced breakdown, was because his mind was so bloody full of subjects, that his precognitive receptors weren’t able to function; he’d probably have a migraine for a week after this. He couldn't even fathom where such a brazen idea had come from; it certainly wasn't a scheme he'd developed based on data or analysis... It was like it just popped out of thin air and landed on his lap, glowing like a latinum bar. It was mad. It almost certainly violated about eighteen Starfleet codes. Yet, he couldn't get the necessity of such a plan out of his head...

“Well, it looks like Potato agrees… What do you say Petty Officer Davidson? Fancy getting a bioweapon out of the hands of a technologically advanced species with questionable morals?”
93
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [Day 1 | 1810 hrs] A Friend Indeed...
Last post by Dumedion -
[PO2 Cora Davison | Maintenance Tube | Biological Laboratory Quintus | Aft Tertiary Research Deck | Erudite] Attn: @TWilkins

Sylvain's shriek of horror prompted Cora's; in that second, all the carefully controlled panic and fear she felt exploded free. She couldn’t take her eyes off the threat of death-by-cuteness as she backed away in a panic until her back slammed into something solid. Her hands felt behind her for a way out, blindly groping until she found something, anything, to get away. No, no no no, nooooo I don’t like it! Noooo I don’t like it!!! That was all Cora could think as she backed away, intent on survival, at the mercy of what her senses told her and what instinct demanded; she watched in horror as the Ensign fell, scrambled, crawled. The creature's stupidly adorable mouth yawned wide, full of impossibly long fangs. In the panicked ruckus, the analyst shouted to Sylvain over his own gasps of fear, telling him the obvious, but utterly unable to anything remotely helpful.

“Get up! Watch out, watch out! Shoot it – shoot it – bloody shoot it!”

Even as the words left her mouth in fear-induced mania, she was trying to pull her rear out of the ridiculously small service duct that her misfiring brain had judged to be a suitable hiding place. Somehow she’d wedged herself in nearly hip deep, leaving her bent over, arms and legs kicking and pinwheeling uselessly with a stream of hissed curses at her predicament. Too little, too late. Cold realization dawned: she was going to die thanks to her fat arse getting stuck in a tube, eaten alive by something that should not exist.

The white ball of fluff launched itself at Sylvain, and her jaw dropped in muted disbelief as he – against all reason – chose to throw a perfectly serviceable weapon at the predatory blur of muderous fuzz, which missed miserably. She’d never seen anything move so fast, certainly nothing built like a damned squishy ball of fur! It latched itself right onto his leg, and Cora covered her face with a scream of despair and terror. It was over, he was dead, and she'd soon be next, without ever taking the time to properly apologize for getting him into all of it.

In the silence that reigned, Cora could hear it; slurping, suckling, feeding.

When Sylvain called out, the analyst screamed again – that same start-stop squeak of alarm, not a shriek like the one he’d vocalized earlier – and promptly uncovered her face. She couldn’t understand how he was alive, nor why he sounded so…confused? Curious? Surely this was the time to get away from the thing, yes?! Cora scrambled to free herself with a series of muttered, incoherent grumbles; fear overridden with renewed hope that they might just live to find a way out of there. After another second or two, the analyst finally managed to free her rear and stumbled to her feet, only to freeze in hesitation, looking like she was caught in the middle of a minefield with no idea which way to go.

She couldn’t fathom why Sylvain wasn’t running and screaming, given the Ensign's jittery and easily spooked reactions thus far (the man practically jumped out of his skin at everything!) For a moment, her mind conjured the possibility that the creature had somehow entranced him or the poor bloke had simply frozen in fear response – but then she watched with even higher alarm as he actually picked the damn thing up!

“Are you mad?!” The intel analyst hissed under her breath. Didn’t he see the thing’s teeth? It called out again in that childish coo, sounding even more cute and loveable than before, even though all sense told her it was just a mechanism to lure its prey in for easy slaughter. Its mouth stretched wide again, and a sound escaped her throat before she could help it, another high pitched squeak of fear and panic, like the beginning of a scream that was abruptly silenced. “It’s gotten in your head! It’s…it’s…,” she rambled off a dozen possible explanations for his behavior, each one growing more absurd than the last, to include bio-formed nanites invading his neurological system, pheromone contagion, or visual hypnotic suggestion.

Then she saw the fangs, scattered on the deck, and fell silent, and realized that Sylvain wasn’t listening to a word she said. He was too enraptured with comforting the creature…the…Moopsy. Cora huffed, took several deep breaths, then gave them as wide a berth as she could to investigate the discarded…teeth. Her eyes stayed locked on the Moopsy as she moved, hands out, ready to bat the thing out of the air if it launched at her or die trying.

"Nice Moopsy...dont eat me...dont eat me..."

Her eyes widened as Sylvain actually stuffed the thing in his jacket, while she picked up one of the fangs. It was…sickly looking, rotten and discolored, coated in a thin film of what could only be saliva, or venom. Her tricorder beeped as she drew it out and scanned it. “Osseous potator, but…the DNA sequences are different. Altered. There’s a degenerative enzyme in here and…oh, no,” Cora cursed, dropped the fang, and fumbled for the Savi PDA. Holding both devices, her thumbs coded in commands rapidly as she stood and paced.“We uh…might have a problem here,” the analyst muttered to herself.

“Experiment 712-Omnicron; biological purgation initiative, designation Code-White, subject vector translation to host bioform highly adaptive,  data indicative to self-replication after consumption of nearly limitless indigenous vertebrate species. Minor gene-conditioning successfully limits consumption parameters to acceptable gestational period to enable controlled population growth while achieving desirable extermination of host bioforms. Successful feeding/growth/breeding cycle experimental data archived. Proceeding to mass-genetic alteration phase,” Cora read. “This…is from his notes. The…Savi, I think,” her head tilted to the lumpy mass of de-boned flesh back down the tube. “Its…it sounds like they’re trying to…weaponize it,” she nodded to the white ball of fluff peaking out of the Ensign’s jacket.

“We…who are these people?! Why would we ever ally ourselves with them? We…we cant just let them do this, can we?” The analyst shook her head at Sylvain, then waved the Savi PDA at him. “This says the gene-therapy center is up one level, holding hundreds of vats – each one could already be active, turning that cute little bone sucker into a biological weapon of mass annihilation.” Cora flapped her arms, incredulously. “Well that’s just rich, isn’t it? The blazes do we do about it?”

Her face shifted to outraged concern into a grimace of worry as she watched the Moopsy snuggle up to Sylvain’s neck and chest, suckling away at the entire side of the Ensign’s neck. It’s drool had already discolored the man’s red undershirt.

“That’s going to leave a lovely hickey if you don’t stop it,” Cora pointed out cheekily.
94
Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Nolan -
[ PO2 Kythalie Benmual | Holodeck | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Brutus

Sarresh spoke up about how communal and open his species were or well are. Perhaps his body was no longer Ash'reem, in mind, the man before her very much still held every thought of it. Along with his admission came the confession about how he missed touch and how important it had been in his former life. His hand grazed over the soft, skin of Kythalie as he placed it on her back. Her back feeling warmer thanks to the sun shining down on her. "I'm not sure how familiar you are with Betazoids? Culture wise..." She answered him softly "Some species consider us to be rather promiscuous or open on a physical plane." she murmured and remained to keep her eyes shut "That said... I wouldn't mind helping you."

The way his nose brushed against hers made her smile a little more and she could truly feel his presence against her. Body and soul like some Terrans would say. She could feel how close he was to her and as he seemed to relax her with his words, she noddled slowly. They were here to unwind, why not just go with the flow so to speak and find out where this would take them.

Kythalie closed that last gap for that matter, leaning in a little further as her lips brushed against Sarresh's. Careful and slowly at first, scanning over his mind and feelings to see what it would bring. Only to back off lightly for a second, taking in the emotions. It didn't take long before she pushed herself on the tips of her toes. Her soft, full lips fully pressing against his as she kissed him in full. The need for connection, touch, a mix of feelings really all bursting open inside of her. Her hand reached up over his neck to grasp the back of his head, grasping the hair there as she kissed him tenderly, yet with a certain hunger perhaps.

She'd stop when she'd feel the need for Sarresh to speak or think something that would need them to stop doing this. Only then would she pull back lightly, remaining ever so closely against him. Their fingers still interlaced in one hand, when she'd pull back, her eyes would open. To gaze into Sarresh's eyes, to see what that gesture would have loosened up within him.
95
Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Brutus -
[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali | Turbolift | Various Decks | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan 
[Show/Hide]

Not being a telepath himself, Sarresh couldn't really tell exactly what was happening, He didn't feel any different, but could imagine that Kythalie was actively probing the surface of his mind. She shut her eyes and seemed to rest there, forehead against his. After a moment of silence she gave the smallest of pushes back against his forehead and whispered to him. Their close proximity made the gesture intimate, her description of his emotional state accurate and sending a small shiver down his spine.

But they didn't seem to bother her, those intense emotions. Quite the opposite in fact, based on how she eased closer to him, water swirling around their legs, pulling back out to sea briefly before rushing toward the shore again. When her breasts pressed to him, he sucked in a sharp breath, and shivered again, feeling the warmth of the orbs rubbing his chest. What worry he had been feeling bled away slowly, replaced by anticipation and what he didn't want to call hope.

"My people are...were, a very open species. Very communal. Sharing. Touch was...important. And I miss it," Sarresh put into whispered words what he had been feeling, squeezing her hand in his again, and letting the other hand move from her shoulder, around her back, keeping her close but not drawing her in. He would let her take that last step. Now he was just verbally, and mentally, acknowledging her concerns and...giving his consent. The desire that bubbled beneath the surface wasn't just for simple touch of course. But that was the root of it. He had pretended for far too long that he could be utterly independent and cut off from everyone around him. That was no longer the case.

Drawing in a deep breath, Sarresh's chest filled and pressed back against Kythalie. He could smell the salt in the air, and something else. Something that was her. Smiling again, he nuzzled his nose to hers, his lips hovering by the Betazoid woman's mouth, not quite touching. "We came here to unwind. Let's see where this takes us."
96
Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 17 [0845 hrs.] (R)idiculous (I)nconvenient (O)rnament
Last post by rae -
[ Lt Cmdr. Jaru “Janus” Rel | Wolf-13 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @P.C. Haring
[Show/Hide]
Yeah, he’d definitely overstepped there.

What threw him the most, Janus realized, was that she hadn’t been expecting any sort of constructive critiquing from him at all. Nor did she have any reason to. He was a guest along for Gemini’s maintenance check, not a commander doing a check ride on a pilot. He kept losing himself in the moment. That was going to be really fucking problematic when he did finally find Razor, given that Janus was the subordinate now. There was no way he was going to get back on flight rotation if he didn’t get with the current status quo.

Gemini didn’t outright tell him off, probably because she was still worried about his mental state. Though in reality she was giving him great insight into his mental state, though not in the way she’d intended. She wanted to make him feel better. Janus just wanted to talk his way back into a cockpit – the front of it, not this backseat shit – and the rest would work itself out after that.

She offered him an out. Stay out, fly some more, pretend he wasn’t sitting in the RIO seat. But honestly, escapism had never been his thing. “I think I've wasted enough of your time. We're out here for the maintenance check, not flight school.” He was flippant about it in a way that was sure to elicit a bad reaction. Self depreciation and betazoids clearly didn’t mix. There was a logical reason for it too, but joking around was better than explaining that they had found some maintenance tuneups, and now that they were finished this ship needed to be back in the deck crew’s hands. So if – when – something happened, the squadron would be in the top fighting shape. “Besides that, I still have to find Razor, and I don't think he's in here, unless you're hiding yet another chair in this thing.”

Janus rolled his eyes at her final comment. The final ‘Sir’ felt more like a jab than anything. A dare.

Did she think he was going to refuse in fear of flight ops’ anger? He was already wearing a stolen exosuit. Plenty of people already knew he was out here. And he was a qualified pilot, no matter what near death technicalities had sent him to an icy stasis bench.

“For the record,” he began, because he couldn’t leave it well enough alone, “Thea’s shields might not always be up. Then the best chance they have is how well we can protect their critical systems.”

Without giving her a chance to respond and dig into his life story, Janus abruptly flipped the ship, ruining the approach she’d set so he could reangle it himself. “Hold on to your helmet.” Then they were off.

“Theurgy - Wolf-13 on approach,” he conveniently left off a callsign, “Requesting permission to land. Gemini’s console is out, got a backseat driver here.” Reusing her earlier lie couldn’t hurt. As the requisite permissions came through, Janus flipped his end of the com speaker off, continuing on a channel only Gemini could hear, “Deck crew’s really got to work on it, what would you do if a real cheerleader had to take over?” They were trained for that, which he knew perfectly well, but he couldn’t resist a few final jabs of his own.

The landing itself was rather unspectacular, a deliberate conservative choice to avoid denting the valravn or the decking with a flashy landing in an unfamiliar craft. He opted for smoothness over speed, thinking back to the new movement and dimensions of the ship that he’d focused on earlier. There was no blaze of glory, no showing off, no big triumphant landing signaling his return to the pack. He remained more interested in any little quirks in the valravn. Damn, he really was getting old, wasn’t he?

The valravn landed with only a little bump. “See you around Gemini. Next time we can race.”

Fin.
97
Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Nolan -
[ PO2 Kythalie Benmual | Holodeck | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Brutus

He offered her to peek, allowing her to lower her mental barriers in order to reach in and explore what Sarresh was feeling, thinking perhaps. To find out what he was thinking would perhaps be a bit too much, the Betazoid gave it some thought as the tall man placed his forehead against hers. A sign of connection perhaps and she pushed her forehead slightly into his. Almost nuzzling into it before she closed her black eyes.

It didn't take long to feel Sarresh's emotions. A mixture of feelings to be frank, yet she let them wash over her as he squeezed gently into her skin. Like him, her skin proved to be warmed up by the artificial sun, the darker skin absorbing the heat quite effectively. Kythalie couldn't help but grin a little at the various emotions. Including the ones that yearned for contact, physical contact, touch and perhaps even more. She let out a deep breath whilst she carefully explored Sarresh's mind further.

"What is on my mind?" she repeated after him and she nudged her head against his a little "I'm thinking that you're radiating quite a lot of emotions. Emotions that are quite... Intense." she whispered to him as she as well could relate to the things he was feeling. She didn't have the intention when she brought him in today that these would be the emotions that would perhaps be explored, yet here and now...

It was easy to get lost in the feelings of another, especially when they opened up their mind. Kythalie felt how much the man before her yearned to be touched, to feel skin on skin, to feel alive for a lack of a better term. She leaned forward as her hand moved up over Sarresh's chest, coming to a halt at his shoulder. Her fingertips grasping onto him as her body leaned into his, her perky breasts connecting to the skin of his torso before being pressed flat. Her nipples slightly hardened and poking against him. Her knee brushed against his though her tummy didn't quite press itself against him just yet. She gave his shoulder a light squeeze and at the same time squeezed against his hand. Her head tilted back a little further, still resting against his forehead.

"You can stop me at any given time... If things... When we don't want to complicate things... Risk our friendship." she whispered softly against him There was the risk that whatever would happen here would ruin the friendly bond that the two of them had developed over the brief period of time. However, Kythalie hoped that Sarresh would feel and understand that she was willing to give this a try, whatever this might lead to.
98
Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Brutus -
[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali | Turbolift | Various Decks | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan 
[Show/Hide]


She smiled at him - that was good. Smiles were good, he repeated to himself in the confines of his mind, as he tried to sort out what, exactly, he was doing, holding her hand and running his fingers over her shoulder. Certainly nothing he had planned to do at the start of that day. Then again, nothing in the day had really gone to plan, so who needed plans anyways? Kythalie was reacting well to his touch, reaching out and returning the same to him, brushing her fingers along his hip before planting her hand against his chest. His skin was warm from the false sun, and wet to the touch.

Sarresh drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, mulling over her words. He still smiled that gentle smile - tired, but unguarded. The last time he had been naked in the water with someone had been down on Aldea, stranded for a time away from the boat while they dealt with a seamonster. He had thought he'd been growing closer to one of those three others, and there had been friendship, but nothing more, and now she was gone. Frankly of all of them that had gone on that trip he was the most well off in the wake, not dead, in a coma, or in the brig. And isn't that fucked up?

This situation was much, much more promising than that last one. The human leaned forward, slowly, and then pressed his forehead against hers, very gently. "Take a look if you like," he whispered quietly, still holding her hand with his, running his thumb over their interlaced fingers. His other hand settled on her upper arm, giving a gentle squeeze as he let his eyes drift down and then up again in a slow flick. She was truly gorgeous, and it seemed only somehow appropriate to acknowledge that in his head. Sarresh had not thought much about women like this, not since Sel. Well, not entirely true. He had briefly pondered Lt. Commander Rutherford, but she had interests elsewhere and was now unavailable in every sense.

He didn't want to think about her now though. He thought about Kythalie Benmual instead, about how comfortable he felt with her. How surprising that was. Sarresh didn't try to dwell on how much he missed something as simple as a hand on his chest or the feel of skin on skin, let alone...other desires. But he didn't - couldn't - hide it really. No, all that was hidden was the deep knowledge of the future, though there were cracks there. But they were far from his focus now.

"Take a look," he offered again, then added, "And tell me what is on your mind."
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Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Nolan -
[ PO2 Kythalie Benmual | Holodeck | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Brutus

She was thanked for the consideration and she gave a curtsy nod whilst continuing to look up at the man's bionic eyes. In the meantime, her gesture to brush against his fingers seemed to have gone unnoticed. Or perhaps, he wasn't interested at all? Just Kythalie's hand began to retreat, the man reached out to interlace his fingers with her hand. The caramel skinned Betazoid smiled slightly as she never broke the eye contact with him.

Kythalie remained in place as Sarresh moved slightly closer towards her in the warm water. The surf behind them, creating for a rhythmic sound as the waves lapped themselves onto the beach before the water retreated. Sarresh's hand rose up from underneath the water surface and Kythalie sucked in some air as his hand came in contact with her shoulder, ghosting along the smooth skin as he seemed to explore. That's when he spoke up and the corners of Kythalie's lips tugged slightly further as he murmured to her.

"I wasn't listening or feeling to yours either. One would consider it rude... A breach of privacy." she answered him as they both seemed to not know what was going on in the other one's mind. A problem that could easily be lifted from her behalf if she were to reach and connect with his mind. She wouldn't however do so without his explicit consent.

"I guess we're both in the dark on that front for now." She continued as she let his fingers carry on, not providing any objection whatsoever. She paused for a second as they both stood still in the water, the undercurrent swaying their bodies perhaps ever so slightly. "As for what's going on in my head... I'm sure that I can inform you that it's nothing bad." she chuckled lightly, teasing him slightly with a playful tone. Her own free hand emerged from under the water, tracing lightly against the front of his hip before ghosting up along his abdomen and eventually resting the full palm of her hand against his chest.

Her eyes remained locked with his as she wondered if this was okay with him. Wondered if she'd be allowed to peek into his mind, to feel what he felt. In turn she'd not stop him from feeding his deprived state of touch, like him, she yearned the physical contact. The need to connect, the feeling of belonging somewhere else than the madhouse they were in beyond the doors of the holodeck.

"Besides, you can always ask what's on my mind. Or ask what it is you want to know." she whispered to him, squeezing gently into his hand as her fingers drew lazily against his torso. Her own breathing picking up whilst they stood there in the artificial Betazed sea., her chest moving up and down a tad faster than before. Her heart racing as she allowed the man to come closer than other crewmates. 
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Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Brutus -
[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali | Turbolift | Various Decks | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan 
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For the smallest of moments, a few short, heavy heartbeats, Sarresh's smile fell. Not being able to go back home. Even if they got out of this whole thing alive, Sarresh doubted that first - he'd be able to go back to the Relativity which had been home for a long time and had faded from his memory, just impressions, no specifics. Nor could he go back to his native homeworld. Oh, he might be able to go back to the planet, but he would now forever be apart. No longer Ash'reem. Just some form of enhanced human. He could never truly live as one of his own again.

But the sadness passed swiftly, swept away into the recesses of his mind. His shoulders rose a bit, as if a weight was shifted from him, and he nodded again towards Kythalie. Soon he was grinning, almost but not quite accompanied by a chuckle. He approved of her programing 'cheat.'

"I appreciate the consideration," he quietly told her, and it was true, he did. The warmth felt lovely, and was a welcome counter to the cold waters of that Klingon river that he'd been floating down before his unwelcome encounter with agents of Ageis. Pleasure after what I went through, and she doesn't even know the half of it, he silently mused with a small twitch of his lips. If sunshine and warm waters were her idea of pleasure, he wouldn't argue there. His thoughts lingered perhaps a moment too long on that, what she might find pleasurable, compared to what she thought would be good for him.  The urge to reach out and touch was there again, and he saw that she was now drifting closer and closer. He had been within arms reach already and now...it would be easy.

Her eyes met his, and Sarresh felt his head tilt in turn, dipping closer to hers as Kythalie eased back a bit to look up. She was objectively beautiful, of course. That went without saying. It wasn't the huge pull toward her, or well, not all of it. Her kindness, and the shared understanding, their losses...it was hard to put into words. But then, she was a Betazoid. Perhaps he didn't need words - or perhaps she didn't need to hear them from him. Just feel?

Sarresh nearly jumped as he felt fingertips brush his. So caught up in her eyes he had not felt the hand moving through the water. He hesitated, and then his brain caught up and he reached back out, as her hand was drifting away, and laced his fingers between hers. He realized in that moment just how starved for touch he was. Ash'reem were an extremely communal, touch and pheromone based species. Much of it was genetic, but even then there was a heavy cultural aspect to it as well. And he ...here in the holographic waters, Sarresh realized (perhaps remembered my almost be better) how much he missed touch. He had isolated himself time and again aboard Theurgy. In fairness, every time he seemed to reach out something went horribly wrong for whomever reached back.

This time she reached first, techincally the little voice in his head whispered. He swallowed, smiled, and stepped even closer, his other hand rising up out of the water, fingers ghosting along her shoulder, tentative, seeing if this was okay.

"I can't hear your thoughts or feel your intentions," he murmured softly. "You're going to have to let me know what's going on in there." Maybe it was because he was tired - exhausted really - but he couldn't ignore the needs anymore. Couldn't keep forcing distance from everyone. How much of that leaked out, how much she felt, he couldn't know. That emptiness where connection should have been, yearning for contact. For anything to fill it. For the kindness she showed, and the connection she offered.
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