Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in If Desperate Wishes Were Horses

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in If Desperate Wishes Were Horses

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in If Desperate Wishes Were Horses
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Aasrel smiled. Telepathic hide and seek. I hide, you find me by focusing on my thoughts, feelings, and presence. There are ways to make it harder buuut I’ll go easy on you. He said playfully and grinned again.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

Bethany’s brows went up and the grin got bigger. I get to track you through the ship? She laughed out loud which drew attention and she winced. You do know Lachlan taught me how to track when I was 10 right? Well get going then. She winked at him and shooed him out of the mess.

Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi
Chief of Security

Aasrel stood but gave her a look. Nope, no tracking. Not physically, anyway. Thoughts only! He grinned, and no cheating. I’ll know. Then he disappeared into the ship.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

Bethany grinned, No cheating, I can’t walk around the ship with my eyes closed, and watched him leave. A few people came over to talk to her. Only years of discipline kept her appearing relaxed. The additional insight into what they were thinking and feeling was enough to deal with. Bethany was adept at reading people so it wasn’t too much more than she could surmise, but the music made her want to tear her ears off.

After a few minutes, Bethany got up and left the mess. She walked, trying to listen for his thoughts, but all she was getting was the people directly within a few feet of her. She didn’t know how to stretch that sense past what her physical senses could perceive or how to sift through the extra.

Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi
Chief of Security

Bethany… Aasrel’s voice said in her head, almost sing-song like. Focus on me. You know what my presence feels like. Sift through until you find it.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

It was like a breeze off the peaks after a humid day. She could breathe and feel sunshine when his voice touched her. Was that his presence? Is that what everyone felt? That made her illogically jealous. Then the feeling was gone. She scrambled to hold into it, but it slipped away. She could do this. She would learn, there was no choice. She strained to hear him, but she could only determine he wasn’t near her. She kept walking until she was certain her wasn’t on the same deck. She stood outside a lift trying to feel which direction, up or down, he might be. She stood there until she garnered stares. She got on the lift and went down a deck.

Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi
Chief of Security

Is that where you think I went? Aasrel’s voice reached her once more, accompanied by amusement. He was intentionally pushing it toward her, giving her something to latch onto.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

Fresh air and sunshine again. I don’t know where you went. I can’t use normal ways of tracking. You said it’s cheating. Her voice sounded dim, like she couldn’t quite reach him. Are you further away? She thought it would be like hearing. Knowing a sound came from behind or beside you. This felt more expansive than that. It seemed harder to talk to him, though he was no less clear…was he further away or more people between them? It was like one of her uncles old walkies. The signal was there but there was just too much interference from the mountains.

Lt. Cmdr. Bethany Kovra Gadi, Chief of Security

I am. Aasrel’s voice said in her head. And it is. It was obvious he was confident in her. Keep trying. You’ll get there.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

Okay so he was above her? She could almost tell. It was… It’s like a tugging, but I can’t tell which direction it comes from. Instead of aimlessly shooting back through the decks, she walked the one she was on. Trying to feel where he was. Where he might feel closer, then she would know what section of the other decks to search. She had no idea if it worked that way. It’s not like other senses is it? Limited by the physical limitations of distance and barriers?

Lt. Cmdr. Bethany Kovra Gadi, Chief of Security

No, otherwise conversing over great distances wouldn’t work. Aasrel replied. but, especially in close proximity like this, you should be able to tell where I am. It takes practice.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

How can you feel someone so far away? It seemed daunting. I can tell this is all you. I can’t feel anything past the people around me. Well that wasn’t true. She could hear all those other minds on the ship too. His voice in her head made them further away. It would be overwhelming again without it.

She walked purposely, quartering the deck in a search pattern. Bethany turned suddenly, but kept walking and then stopped. Something felt different. It was almost like hair raising on the back of her neck, but it was a pleasant sensation. She stood still, curiously staring up at the ceiling. Was that Aasrel or was she ‘overhearing’ what she shouldn’t?

Lt. Cmdr. Bethany Kovra Gadi, Chief of Security

Good, Aasrel’s voice came to her. Focus on that. Keep working. He said.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

Bethany nodded, not that he could see her. Then suddenly she grinned. His amusement was hers. You’re enjoying this! The feeling stayed and she tried to concentrate on it. It was above her, she was certain, but not sure why. She couldn’t tell how far. She took the lift back up a deck, deck 5 on the opposite side of the galley. She moved toward the section she had been beneath and tried to see if she could feel the sensation again.

Lt. Cmdr. Bethany Kovra Gadi, Chief of Security

I am, Aasrel said, grinning to himself, though likewise she could not see it. Think of a game you played as a kid. Doesn’t it bring back good memories? He paused and then his voice came again, with that sing-song like quality, Getting warmer, love.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei
Chief Medical Officer

He could feel her smile as he teased her. It made her think though… When was the last time she played a game as a child? It must have been before the occupation. The occupation had made Bethany a very shy and timid child once they’d moved to Earth. She had been very slow to make friends, especially with her mother having been so sick. Then suddenly there was a memory. The same two girls that had taught her to play the card game, but there were other children, several. They were playing some kind of game with a ball. They felt familiar, but she didn’t know why. She couldn’t recall who they were. The memory brought waves of happiness and delight. The loss of it brought acute grief.

With the memory she lost her focus. Bethany moved into an alcove, leaned back against the wall, and closed her eyes. She searched for that feeling of sunshine and fresh air, that sixth sense that said someone was watching her. She searched almost desperately, eager to find it again before all the other noise drowned her. She missed it in her haste. Rel? Her thoughts didn’t go far, Bethany didn’t know how, yet, to make her thoughts heard without him connecting with her first.

Lt. Cmdr. Bethany Kovra Gadi, Chief of Security