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91
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.
92
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."
93
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.
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

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.
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]


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."
96
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. 
97
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]


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.
98
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: PRO: S [Day 1 | 1235 hrs] Tell Me I'm the Fairest of the Fair
Last post by TWilkins -
[Ensign Sylvain Llewellyn-Kth | | Turbolift | V.2 | USS Theurgy] @joshs1000

“See, I’ve never been all that partial to coffee…” Sylvain replied, trying to recover what few shreds of dignity he had left, with hopes that he could maintain it long enough for the turbolift to reach their destination… Thankfully, the Kzin had been kind enough to instruct the tubrolift to take the pair of them down to deck ten, despite his own destination being deck fourteen, which meant that Sylvain was about to be one step closer to some privacy and the opportunity to have a sonic shower… On the other hand, it also meant that he’d be that one step closer to whatever hellish fate his assignment to the Savi vessel would have in store for him.

Frankly, given the circumstances, keeping the conversation on coffee, as opposed to allowing his mind wander to the horrors of the future, was far the easier option, as much as small talk usually made him uncomfortable… Unfortunately for the Ensign however, Mr Lok had other ideas for where to steer the conversation, and it didn’t leave Sylvain much opportunity to maintain his concentration on such mundane things as tea leaves and coffee beans…

Thankfully however, the Kzin did touch ground on a topic that Sylvain could discuss with him, which seemed nothing short of miraculous considering their circumstances. According to Lok, his mother was employed on Betazed, specifically working with individuals who had psionic abilities outside of the norm; a category that Sylvain was fairly certain, would include himself… Though he hadn’t worked with a Kzinti, or even seen one, during his own time at the Institute, Sylvain knew how big a place it was; it was certainly feasible that he simply hadn’t crossed paths with Lok’s mother whilst he’d been living there... After all, he’d spent the vast majority of his time there in either his room or one of the therapy offices, aside from a few hours a day in communal areas and group activities, neither of which really offered much in the way of conversation; funnily enough, there wasn’t a whole lot of gossip in a place where half of the patients were telepaths with limited control over their own abilities…

“Oh, I spent a few years on Betazed when I was younger, at the El’nar Institute…” Sylvain revealed, comfortable enough in discussing his backstory with the man, or at least, more comfortable than trying to make up some tale on the fly… It didn’t particularly bother the Ensign if someone judged him for that time of his life anyway; they hadn’t been through what he had. “I think I was twelve or thirteen, my mother sent me there when my abilities got really bad, I honestly couldn’t do anything, even getting out of bed just made me want to…” His tone had a note of joviality to it, a helpful salve to ease how painful those memories really were, but he still found his mouth stopping with a certain dryness as he teetered on the brink of that pain. No... Now was not the occasion to recall those memories.

“I’m really lucky actually; apparently some people spend years on the waiting list… I think I got special treatment because my dad was from a non-Federation species… I’m pretty sure it was the first opportunity they had to find out about how our type of psionics worked, it was probably every bit as good for them as it was for me…” He allowed himself a very small chuckle at those words. It wasn’t a lie by any means, he’d had to sign a waiver for his information to be kept for research purposes, but ultimately, the help had been worth it. “They really did help me though; I don’t think I’d have been able to join Starfleet if I’d not been accepted there…”

Sylvain paused, and chose that moment to turn the topic back to the Kzin’s mother.

“I don’t remember seeing any Kzinti when I was there, but then, I’m sure there are a lot of different research venues for psionics on Betazed…” A slight drop of awkwardness returned once again to his tone, realising that in all of his rambling about the El’nar Institute, Lok’s mother might have worked somewhere else entirely. “I met some really nice people on Betazed though, it was a really hospitable planet, such a lovely culture...” The Ensign turned to glance at Lok once more, growing slightly paler at the sight of the feline licking at his own teeth. “A bit too casual for the nudity for my tastes… But I suppose I probably wasn’t complaining quite so much at thirteen…” As soon as the words left his mouth, he worried that his watery attempt at a joke might not have landed, and moved to correct himself so rapidly that he almost tripped over his own tongue.

“Sorry, that was a joke, a bad one… There wasn’t really all that much nudity at the Institute anyway, multicultural and all that, a lot of Vulcan staff… Sorry.” He apologised again. Humour had never been his strong suit, so he wasn’t quite sure what had possessed him to attempt it, especially considering he’d only just developed a rapport with the Kzin. “It was a lovely planet to get to spend time on though, I think I preferred it to Vulcan… Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the Vulcan teas, even if they all tasted the same… But all that sun and sand didn’t agree with me, I swear that I was still finding sand in my clothes during my second year at the Academy…”

Sylvain let a poignant pause hang in the air for a moment, as he swallowed his rambling and considered the weight of the subject that he was dancing around… It was probably a lot for Lok to have bombarded at him so soon after whatever procedure he’d just had performed, but Sylvain found himself longing to ask. The Ensign kicked himself for not sticking to lighter subjects, but found his mouth opening nonetheless.

“I was living aboard the USS Boleyn before the war, but when it was called to the front lines, I was almost evacuated to Betazed. It was only by chance I ended up being sent to Vulcan instead…” He paused, turning towards Lok once again and offering a somewhat sympathetic face. “I… I hope that she was okay during the occupation? What happened there was…” Indescribable , quite frankly. There weren't words to describe the atrocities that he'd heard about. “I lost friends, and I was only there for a few years, I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you…”

Perhaps after his first mission aboard the Theurgy, he might have a better idea painted within his mind about the ins-and-outs of such tragedy…
99
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 ] @Dumedion

About ten seconds later, very much alive and well, Sylvain tentatively opened his eyes, sheepishly moving his arms away from where they shielded his face, a waterlogged hazel glance flickering down towards where the creature was clamped above his knee, undulating as if trying to swallow, but evidently not achieving its result. It puzzled him. The creature’s fangs had been several inches long, more than enough that they should have pierced through his thigh muscle and possibly hit his bone, yet he scarcely felt any pain at all… He considered that the creature might have had some sort of analgesic venom, though the theory was swiftly disproven when the creature seemed to slide backwards off of him, flopping onto its back with a rather satisfying ‘plap’ sound, no puncture wounds to be seen.

The Ensign straightened himself further, watching as the creature rolled itself back onto its front, trotting its tiny little feet to face his limb once more, its jaw completely distending as it locked eyes on Sylvain's leg, but now void of fangs of any kind… Brows descending further over his confused expression, his gaze moved past the creature that threw itself at his leg once again, and instead drifted further into the junction, looking for any evidence as to what had happened to the rows of fangs that he’d seen not a moment prior… And he didn’t have to work in intelligence to find them, scattered on the floor not far from where the creature had originally bared them at him, nowhere near where he’d flung his phaser…

“Huh?” He vocalised, propping himself up further as he reached forwards, gently putting his hands around the creature’s plump belly and lifting it off of his thigh with ease, trying desperately hard to ignore how ludicrously squishy it was, and failing monumentally in the task. Even for someone as opposed to touch as Sylvain was, the sensation of pressing his fingers against the soft, plush flesh of the creature, was nothing short of euphoric; it was even better than stroking a cat… Though, it became a little easier to move past his overwhelming yearning for squishing, when the creature’s entire face split apart once more, revealing a yawning wide mouth, unusually yellow tongue, and disturbingly bloody gum line…

“Hey Cora, come and look at this?” He called backwards, completely failing to acknowledge how readily the woman had abandoned him, and instead gripped by a robust sense of scientific curiosity that was usually reserved for stellar phenomena; he was hardly a xenobiologist after all… Though, no matter where his curiosity had emerged from, it departed him as swiftly as it had arrived, his entire face swelling up with the unreasonable desire to burst into tears, as the little creature in his hands closed its mouth once again, its own eyes welling up with a heartbreaking deluge of its own tears…

“Moopsy…”

Sylvain didn’t think he had ever heard a noise so sorrowful in his entire life…

“Oh gosh, it’s okay little guy, it’s okay…” Sylvain immediately cooed, hugging the creature softly against him as his own heart seemed to shatter within his chest, any care that this creature had been trying to kill him not a minute prior, forgotten. “I’ll look after you, you don’t need to be afraid right now, it’s okay, you're safe, don’t worry, it’s okay…” He continued to barrage the creature with words of reassurance, conscious that he ought to get some sort of scan of its anatomy, in order to try and establish how he could actually look after it.

The creature wriggled placidly in his grip, not making any particular effort to escape his hands, whilst Sylvain carefully drew his thumb and forefinger away from holding it, in order to get a grip on the zip that hung softly against the top of his uniform jacket. Slowly, as to not startle the creature he unzipped his jacket a little way, before making a thoroughly ridiculous attempt at manoeuvring the creature so that its chunky body would wedged inside his jacket, whilst trying hard to keep its head away from the material. It took a moment, and it was perhaps the most absurdly stupid thing he had done in his entire life, but he succeeded, consequences be damned…

“There you go, nice and safe…” Sylvain’s cooing words continued, looking down at the creature's little head as it nestled in the V shape of his uniform jacket, its body prevented from slipping lower by the combat harness that rested under his chest. Confident that the creature was relatively secure, the Ensign's now free hands reached for his tricorder, pale fingers spidering across its cold surface so that he could make an effort to scan the creature, mentally trying to reassure himself that he’d probably have had a premonition if the thing was going to kill him; that was usually what happened, at least...

Frankly, he knew it was absurd. He just didn't seem to care...

It might have been the fact that he was still light-headed from the smell that he’d been subject to in the corridor, or perhaps it was the lingering remnants of the fact that he’d crashed his head into a solid metal bulkhead… It could have been the lubricant that the Savi had used to wedge the tube down his throat, perhaps he was allergic to it in some way? Or maybe inhaling the Savi’s atmosphere in such a confined space had addled him. Or perhaps it was just the knowledge that he was assigned to a ship that was on an apparent suicide mission, having had to abandon his entire life at the drop of a hat and travel across half of the quadrant, with no idea what their plan actually was, and was now spending his possible last-day-alive, crawling through tunnels in a restricted area of a ship belonging to an advanced and somewhat hostile alien species, all because the only friend he'd tried to make had immediately lied to him...

Hell, it was probably a combination of all of those things, blended with the unfathomable cuteness of the little creature that was now squashed flush against his chest…

Either way, the Starfleet way was to try and help other beings in distress, and he wasn’t going to let his first ‘mission’ as a member of the Theurgy crew, disregard that ideal… Plus, he was fairly sure that the Prime Directive didn’t apply in circumstances where the being in question was already being held hostage by an alien species with technology far more advanced than the Federation’s, so he was all in the clear in that capacity too…

At least, that was what he told himself as he lifted the tricorder up, and started scanning the mournful little creature that was wobbling against his chest.

“Mooooooopsy… Moooopsyyyyyyyyy….”

If Cora gave him any grief about his desire to help such a poor innocent little creature, she had to be one of the infested... Kidnapping the Chief CONN Officer and taking him into a hostile area was one thing, but not wanting to help the squishy little bundle of heart-melting cuteness pressed against his chest, was nothing short of unforgivable...
100
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 ] @Dumedion

Sylvain’s fingers were still tentatively inspecting the device that had been fastened to his nose, brow furrowing ever tighter, when Cora’s latest choice of words once-again came close to pushing him over the edge... Whatever absurd sense of respect the woman had for the chain of command, certainly couldn’t justify the decision to address a Senior Officer as ‘little one’. He might be young, and perhaps it was true that he wasn’t six feet tall or anything, but he certainly rejected the term ‘little’... His mouth had been a hair’s breadth away from another firm admonishment of the woman’s conduct, his dexterous fingers finally figuring out how to activate the breathing strip upon his nose, when an unexpected third voice joined them in the echoing confines of the tube that had become their hiding place.

It startled him more than he would have expected, a tell-tale indication that he’d perhaps not been as concentrated on Cora’s words as he’d believed, his head snapping up as though he’d been physically jolted from a stupor, eyes darting every-which-way as his brain attempted to re-familiarise itself with his surroundings. His first point of reference was Cora, whom he noted had started backing up towards the passageway they'd not yet explored, evidently content on proceeding without any sort of plan or procedure in mind… It wasn’t as though he was surprised that she appeared to be more of the gung-ho type, just disappointed that she'd not been so receptive of his request for a plan...

With that note of disapproval in his mind however, Sylvain suddenly felt a slither of ice bite into the top of his spine…

Cora’s voice echoed out throughout the tube, asking with no small amount of concern, if he’d heard ‘that’, and he had indeed... However his reply got lost in his throat somewhere as Sylvain’s entire body shifted backwards, hands clumsily reaching for his phaser, as his mind painted harrowing illusions of what it might look like if a team of Savi security agents descended into the tunnel alongside them… He would try diplomacy, of course, but he had a sinking feeling that Cora would be more of a ‘shoot first’ kind of officer… He figured it was best to be prepared for both eventualities.

Thus, it was much to his surprise, and relief, that upon turning towards the awaiting threat, phaser in his clumsy grip, that Cora’s apparent concern was no Savi security party at all… Instead, what presented itself was a chubby little creature, its fur plush and flawlessly white, its body overwhelmingly round and wobbly, with spherical black eyes and little ears that tufted out from the side of its face. It looked as though someone had somehow combined the features of a pinniped, a panna cotta, and a rabbit, with the intention of making it the most unfathomably adorable thing in the world…

That didn’t seem to align with the Savi’s usual motives, but frankly, Sylvain was too overwhelmed by how cute it was, to have any room to care.

“Moopsy!” The creature in front of them squeaked with an adorable little voice, before it began to haphazardly waddle towards them, its entire body wobbling from side to side as its tiny little feet pattered against the deck plating below. If Sylvain had been a holodeck character, his eyes might have transformed themselves into hearts at the sight of it; it was the most precious little thing that he’d seen in his entire life... It reminded him of the time that he’d visited England during his time at the Academy; he’d gone on a tour to see the seal cubs basking on the beaches of the North Sea, flopping around with no care in the world, just little loafs of fur and blubber that caused him literal pain, on account of the tour’s ‘no touching’ rule.

He had wanted to squeeze each and every one…

“Oh my gosh... It’s so cute…” Sylvain whimpered with awe, at exactly the same time that Cora’s voice returned to his ears with a distinctive hiss in its tone, as the word ‘run’ echoed softly in the space around them. The overlap of words delayed him for a few seconds, his head turning quizzically towards the tunnel behind him, shifting his posture to glance at Cora’s disappearing form, when the angle change suddenly revealed to him a somewhat disturbing sight.  Hanging limply down from the access panel that he and Cora had just descended from, was a rather ragged lump. On first glance he thought it was some sort of bundle of damp cloth, before his eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting, and he saw that said bundle of material, very clearly had a face.

“Moopsy!” The creature echoed as it tottled forwards towards him, its fleshy body thudding down into the deck plating as rolled itself further along, wiggling its little feet in the air above it. It might have been a cute gesture, had it not been accompanied by the sight of the creature stretching its own jaw wider than its own body ought to have accommodated, grotesquely gaping open to reveal an orchestra of enormous gangs jutting out from its gumline...

That, seemed more aligned with the Savi’s agenda.

It perhaps took a second for all of the information to hit him, but when it had, Sylvain shrieked with an almighty burst of panic. He immediately fell backwards as horror gripped at his lungs, suffocating him as the creature seemed to pounce forwards, his own large frame impeding him as he made the most desperate attempt to scramble after Cora, away from whatever adorable monster had just been unleashed into their hiding spot.

Descending onto his hands and knees, Sylvain took off at a breakneck pace, immediately foiled by the phaser that had remained in his tentative grip, throwing his balance off and sending him lurching forwards into a messy tumble. As he fell, his shoulder caught against a valve that jutted out from the wall of the maintenance passage, the conduit erupting with a shower of sparks that boiled against the skin of his back, as his face clouted into the deck plating with a solid thud, arms buried beneath him and entire body tangled within his own limbs.

It was a desperate manoeuvre, but Sylvain flung himself onto his back, using one hand to drag himself backwards whilst his other desperately attempted to aim his phaser at the creature, his eyes softening against his will as he noticed that it had once again returned to the adorable shape it had been previously, lolloping towards him like a tiny little jelly bean that he just wanted to squeeze forever… It softened him enough that his thumb froze against his phaser, delaying him for the second it took for the creature to roll itself forwards once again, its jaw distenting once more as its white fur was rendered purple in the light of the glowing power conduits that surrounded them.

Power conduits…

A cold realisation flooded through his body as his eyes took in the fallow glow of the junction they’d just taken refuge in, realising that he had no way to know what sort of purpose these conduits served… Perhaps they were some redundant subsystem, that would fizzle out and die if he struck them with his phaser… Or, perhaps, they controlled the power-distribution to the propulsion systems, and shooting them would blow out half of the section and leave the Erudite dead in space, unable to reach their goal, and thus causing the death of billions… The only thing that he did know for sure, is that he was a severely under-practised shot…

The creature flung itself upwards with disturbing power, launching itself at him like a missile as he utilised the only means of defence he had remaining to him, flinging the phaser in his hands at the creature as he shielded his face with his arms and embedded all of his hopes in the idea that somehow, this creature wouldn’t kill him… Perhaps they only hunted Savi? Maybe barring their teeth was some kind of friendship ritual? It was a waning hope as he felt an impact into his thigh, a grip against his clothed skin, his eyes clamped shut in a bulwark against tears, as he awaited whatever was to come…
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