Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in Side sim: After-Shift Meetup

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in Side sim: After-Shift Meetup

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in Side sim: After-Shift Meetup
Posted by… suppressed (22) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“I don’t feel it so much when I’m with you.” The cold travelled up his implants and made his limbs feel colder. But he was being honest, leaning against her he didn’t feel it so much. He inhaled deeply and then sighed it out slowly. “I feel.... peaceful.” That was surprising to him. He hadn’t been able to say that in a long time now.

~ Aasrel

“I hope that’s a good thing. Come on, let’s get out of the water.” She didn’t seem to be in a hurry though. As they walked she spoke to the computer, and soon there was a fire blazing in a ring of stones on the sand. She sank down onto a blanket, that she’d requested as well, beside the fire.

Bethany

Aasrel moved out of the water with her and then sat down on the blanket next to her. “It’s a good thing,” he said, responding to her earlier comment. “It really is.” The fire was warm and helping to start drying his soaked clothes. “I’m having a really good time with you.”

~ Aasrel

“Good.” Her shoulder bumped his playfully, “I am really enjoying tonight and your company.” She grabbed a stick and poked at the fire distractedly. “I really am, Aasrel. Thank you. This evening has been unexpected and …” She looked at him with a grin, “peaceful. But also thrilling.” She found his hand again. “So what do you want to know?”

Bethany

Aasrel’s gloves were soaked. Water squished out of it when she took his hand. It was cold and uncomfortable, but he couldn’t bring himself to take them off. He took her hand and leaned into her. He pondered what to ask. “You have a friend who… went through what I did?”

~ Aasrel

Bethany didn’t think he could be comfortable in the wet gloves and socks. She nodded to his question. “Retured Admiral Jake Smith. He was abducted by the Borg for almost 3 years. They replaced him with a clone to serve on his ship. They were able to rescue him, his surgeries took a long time. Some of the implants couldn’t be removed. He had been assimilated for too long.”

Bethany

Aasrel nodded. His grip on her hand tightened. “It was only a few weeks for me. But they were being too hasty, trying to assimilate the crew of my ship too quickly. It’s why they can’t take mine off. I… I had more. I pushed and fought to get them removed. I’ve had a dozen surgeries in six months.” It hadn’t been safe, doing that many surgeries. But he’d managed to talk doctors into doing them.

~ Aasrel

Bethany nodded even as her hand held his more tightly in response. “His are mostly internal now. Not all of them, but mostly. The doctor onboard his ship worked a long time to help them all. I am sure you will have more surgeries. You will get there.” She squeezed his hand reassuringly. “The doctor is still around. The surgeries took awhile, trying to find ways to do it. We could ask him. I’m sure he published his work as well. We could do a search for it.”

“I have internal ones, too. At least one of them can’t be safely removed.” He frowned and sighed, “If he’s published his work, it’s likely I’ve already read it. We could ask him though. Maybe if he saw my case specifically he’d know something that wasn’t in his publishings…”

“First chance we have, we’ll ask. Or better, go see him.” With the new secure communications room she could probably reach T’Jal, bit it wasn’t worth the risk…yet.

She could tell he was uncomfortable, but hesitated and then decided it was best to say what she was thinking. He would be used to hearing her thoughts on normal circumstances. “If you want to wring the water out, it won’t bother me. I won’t look if you prefer. It can’t be comfortable.”

Bethany

It wasn’t. The cold was penetrating his fingers and toes and chilling him to the bone. The wetness was irritating his skin. She was right though, Aasrel was used to hearing the thoughts of those around him and what she said didn’t seem to upset him. “It’s… not just you seeing it.” He said. He let go of her hand and pulled off the left glove, squeezing some water out of it, then placing it by the fire. Then his left sock. As he did, he finished his thought, “It’s them being there at all. I have to see them.”

~ Aasrel

As he did she turned her face away, focusing on the lake, peering into the trees, trying to remember. The implants didn’t bother her at all, but she had offered. She reached, without looking and set a hand over his arm. “The reminder is hard. I understand. You survived though, and you’ll get through this too. Jake…he’s very open about his experience. T’Jal said he wasn’t always, but he wanted to help others. If you would like to talk to him too…”

Bethany

Aasrel started with the right sock. The one on his leg wasn’t as visible without socks as the one on his arm. He set it out by the fire. Then he pulled the right glove off. Her hand collided gently with his arm and he guided it down to his hand instead, taking her hand in his. Then he lay the glove by the fire.

She smiled as he guided her hand and wrapped her fingers around his palm. She could feel his weight shift and movement in her peripheral vision.

He hesitated before answering and then, “I don’t know. Let me think about it.... It’s not like we can contact him soon anyway.” The idea of talking to someone who’d been through it, and for longer than him, was more appealing than to some counselor. But he still just wasn’t sure he was ready to talk about it at all.

~ Aasrel

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to push, just offer. I don’t want you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with or do things you don’t want.” His hand was slightly damp from the glove, but with it off and the fire, it wasn’t noticeable for long. “Will you go back to Betazed when you retire? Or do you plan to purchase some exotic getaway on some pleasure planet somewhere?” It was a change of subject.

Bethany

“No, no, it was a polite offer,” Aasrel said, trying to make her feel better. “I’m just not sure I’m ready to talk about it.” He looked at Bethany. She was still looking away, towards the lake and the trees. “You.. um, you don’t have to keep looking away.” If she did, she’d be looking away forever while his clothes dried. At her question, he shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it depends. My family would want me to go back.”

~ Aasrel

“I can sympathize with that.” She turned her head, and when her eyes landed on him, she grinned. “Much better view this way.” She thought about it. “That’s nice. That they want you…to come back. But what do you want? I suppose my uncles would want me to live in Valle Crusix, since they have no children, but it was never home for me.”

Bethany

Aasrel shook his head. “I don’t know what I want. I guess it depends on where my life is when I retire. How I feel about things. I mean, I can’t bring myself to visit Betazed. I don’t want to think about living there right now.”

~ Aasrel

Bethany looked at him genuine caring curiosity. “Because…of what happened, or…” She hesitated. Did she want to know? Better to set realistic expectations now. “Or because you’re like me now?”

Bethany

Aasrel squeezed her hand. He couldn’t not be honest with her. “Both. But not because I think less of you or people like you.... us. Because of people like your father.” He looked at her, meeting her gaze, and kept squeezing her hand. “Please believe it’s not because I think less of you.” He wished desperately that they both had telepathy. She would be able to feel his sincerity.

~ Aasrel

That was not the answer she hoped for, but it was honest. That was more important. “I believe you.” She let out a sigh. “There are a lot of people like my father?” She had heard, in news and Intel reports about the Enlightened Mind Movement. Perhaps it was better to stay away. It was a nice fantasy while it lasted. Maybe, maybe after she had her eyes changed. Then the people on Betazed would just think she was an unenlightened human. Then again, bringing her in the guise might cause problems for Aasrel and his family. That would be a poor way to repay him for helping her. “It’s okay. My father made it very clear I would never be accepted. Thank you for the program, though.” She hated how much her father’s rejection hurt. It was alright, she’d get angry later and work through it, and put it away again. No amount of disappointment would change it.

Bethany

“They’re… A vocal minority,” sighed Aasrel. He frowned and sighed, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean to ruin the good time you were having.” Him and his stupid self confidence. He’d known how she’d take it and he’d still said it. “I still think going there with you would be a lot of fun. My family would accept you.” He said, and he seemed confident of that. Then he realized that implied she might meet his parents and flushed red. “You know, if… if you wanted to meet them. While we were there.” He said, a little awkwardly. He sighed, “It’s really not a Betazed problem, it’s a me problem. Promise.”

~ Aasrel

Bethany turned so she was fully facing him. She smiled and shook her head. “You haven’t ruined anything. I believe you. I do. You are not part of that minority.” She set a hand on his cheek and leaned in, kissing him with at least the same longing as earlier if not more.

Bethany

“But I-” Aasrel started, but before he could say it, she was kissing him again and he kissed her back. When the kiss ended, he leaned against her again. “I don’t want my… issues with myself to prevent you from reconnecting with your past. With your heritage.”

~ Aasrel

She smiled, “Anything that might prevent me from my heritage is my issue, not yours. I never expected nor wanted to reconnect with it. I had no reason to. If anything, you have given me a reason.” She kissed the corner of his mouth and grinned. “So, you want me to meet your parents, huh?”

Bethany

Aasrel smiled. “Telepathy or no, I’m glad you’re finding reasons to reconnect with it. There are parts of the culture besides telepathy. And of course, the planet is beautiful.” He put his hand back over hers - his bare hand now, his gloves were still drying and looked at her. Then he flushed again and grinned. “I meant more as a… Well, you know… Argh, forget it! Yes, I do! They’d love you. No matter what I introduced you as.”

~ Aasrel

It was different, his bare hand without the glove. Bethany focused on the feel for a moment. She didn’t know how often that would happen, but even if it was only once, she cherished the significance. “No matter what you introduced me as?” She couldn’t contain her grin as she repeated the statement. “Maybe we can work on defining the what between now and then. I would like to meet them, when you’re ready. Your siblings seem wonderful. What are your parents like?”

Bethany

Aasrel smiled. “I’m hoping it’ll be as ‘girlfriend’. But I don’t know if it’s too soon for that… No telepathy makes this whole dating thing way harder.” He thought for a moment, thinking of his parents. “Very polite people, genuinely nice people. Never a bad or judgemental thought about someone, unless they deserved it.” Like her father, he thought, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate that, so he pushed it away. “My mom works for the city of Melfi and my dad was a Starfleet officer himself. Now he stays home. When I was younger, he’d be gone a lot, but use all his leave time to come see us. My mom always had a lot of time for us, her job wasn’t very demanding. Now that we’re all grown up and my dad’s retired, they’re taking more time for each other.”

~ Aasrel

Bethany grinned, “I can think of a few people on need of judgement. What did your father do?” She paused and then looked at him. “He was away during the war wasn’t he?” It was a logical deduction given the time frame. “That must have been very difficult on both of them. To be separated. Is that why your mother didn’t live on his ships with him? Because of the war?”

Aasrel paused and thought. “I don’t know. They and my older brother don’t talk about it much.” He frowned. “Maybe I should ask them. Or maybe I shouldn’t, it might not have been a pleasant time for them.”

Her finger tapped against his in thought, “Maybe you should ask, but respect if they don’t want to talk about it. I… and this is me, but I think it is important to talk about it. A lot went wrong and major things went right. It’s important to not lose those lessons.”

“They sound very nice. I hope they are enjoying their together. That’s the goal of marriage after all. To be able to focus on the person that matters most to you?” She circled back though, “I suppose telepathy would make it easier. You wouldn’t have to guess about anything.” It seemed confusing to her. She thought and felt many things in a single moment, evaluating situations and encounters. How did you decide what was the thing in a person’s thoughts that was relevant. She took his other hand. “So what can we do to make this whole dating thing easier?”

Bethany

Aasrel nodded. “I hope they are, too.” He smiled and gave her hand a little squeeze. “A lot of honesty, I think.” He said, meeting her gaze. “A lot of honesty and communication.”

~ Aasrel

“I think that is important in any relationship. I am not used to openly sharing whatever I am thinking. I won’t lie. I’m just used to keeping things to myself. So you might need to nudge me, okay?”

Bethany