Posted by Civilian Khabal (Civilian) in The Parthenon - Once in a Century

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in The Parthenon - Once in a Century

Posted by Captain Orvos Legen (Commanding Officer) in The Parthenon - Once in a Century
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<snip>

Orvos smiled back and pushed his plate aside. He took her hand in his and kissed it gently. “I think I’m at a point where I’m much less concerned about what others think.” He let a thumb stroke her fingers. “Much like the ship, we will see where this takes us.” His grin never left his face as his eyes looked directly into hers, his mind open.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

She squeezed his hand, beaming at him. “And to think this might never have happened if I hadn’t been mad at you after the Nexus stuff and decided to tell you so,” she said, chuckling. It was one step, then another, then another. They hadn’t rushed, despite how impulsive it had seemed at certain moments. Janna recalled Stark declaring ‘finally’ after entering her quarters and realizing he had caught them in an intimate moment. It wasn’t that Orvos and her hadn’t known they had feelings for each other, but that it had required him to be ready for her, and her to be ready to handle the bizarre situation they found themselves in after the Nexus.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Orvos could sense the memories in the smile. “It would seem that trip changed things for us quite a bit. It also may not be the only trip we ever make there. As much as I would like to not be forced to do so, I still have to make the rare trip there on occasion. Though I doubt I’ll have to do it again any time soon.” He paused for expression as he could not recall if he had told her that.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

She nodded slowly. It had come up, though they hadn’t talked about it in any detail. The question they had had at the time that they still didn’t know was if Janna herself would have to visit the Nexus as well. They leaned towards no, because her duration had bene short, but she had been changed by the Nexus, so who really knew? “How do you know it’s time to make the trip?”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“Well,” he said before pausing to consider his what he ought to share first. “It’s mostly planned. Roughly a year between visits. As it gets closer to the year mark, things about me begin to change. I’ll have dreamless sleep, loss of empathy, emotional withdrawal, time disorientation. That’s the beginning of it anyway. Eventually, I can feel it. Almost like an addiction. I know what I have to do, and I’ll do what I can to get to it.”

Janna drew in a deep breath, adding up all the symptoms in her head. Had she seen him like that in the past?

Orvos paused letting it sink in before continuing with more. “If I pass the year mark, things do drastically change. My life begins to decay in a more rapid fashion. And my body and mind will start to undergo changes of their own. Can’t control it really. We managed to figure it out, some doctors from a bit over a century ago. But I never really got too far down that path. I don’t want to be changed. I’ll go to the Nexus if it means I keep who I am.”

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

At first, she said nothing. Janna had too many thoughts to fully make sense of them and so she knew she’d have to unjumble them later. Right now it was about him. “How do you find it? I mean, what if the Nexus is elsewhere in the Galaxy? What then?” She didn’t want him to pick up her worry, but at this point they were too connected to hide their feelings from each other.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

She was asking some personal questions. He knew she’d have to find out eventually. They were tied together. No more secrets, at least from her. “There are ways to track the Nexus. Starfleet, along with other governments, have teams monitoring it. There are some key individuals who have maintained my sense of privacy over the years and allowed me to get in when I need to. There have been other times where I had to wait longer than I desired, but I haven’t died, so…there’s that. And if it happens to be quite far from home, well…there are gateways to get to various places in the galaxy. But, they’re not easy to come by obviously. And I’ve thankfully only had to use those a few times. Most of the time I can catch it when its near.”

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

Janna drew in a deep breath and nodded. It all sounded perfectly thought out and she knew there was only so much he could do to mitigate the risk. It wasn’t going to make her worry less. “How soon might you need to go?” she asked in a hushed tone. There was more she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to ask and Janna wasn’t sure why. Something to ponder later, perhaps.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Orvos listened to her question, but in classic El Aurian fashion, could sense something else on the surface. “Next rendezvous is roughly six months from now. Are you–looking to join me this time?” he inquired of her.

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

Janna didn’t answer right away and sipped from her water glass. “Perhaps. I guess i would need to know more about what happens, what that would look like.” She drew in a deep breath and then sighed. “And I guess I am worried about what happens if you go and don’t want to leave. Is that possible again? Might you not come back?” Would her presence make a difference? She honestly didn’t know.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Orvos nodded slowly, understanding the uncertainty of such an encounter. “Janna, I’ve been doing this for…a very long time. Is there ever the temptation to stay? Absolutely! But I’ve done this so many times, that I’ve learned something. Joy is an absolutely wonderful feeling! But you don’t quite understand joy unless you have an understanding of the opposite. That joy comes strongest to those who have felt more despair, depression, hopelessness. The stress of life is why that joy can be so tempting.”

He paused to see how she might react before continuing. “When I get there, the Nexus takes me through some of my more recent memories. Times of happiness, fun, joy. The things I am fond of are the things I typically will encounter. But I know that I can’t stay there. I know it’s not a place of permanence for me. Not yet anyway.”

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

Something twisted in her gut. Everything he was saying should have been reassuring, but that wasn’t how she felft. “What do you mean, not yet?”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Orvos could feel the twist in her emotions. His eyes softened as he took her hand in his. “Well, we’re all flesh and blood, aren’t we? If I were to die some day, or be near death, it may not be a bad place to leave me. Maybe? That’s more of a long ways in the future and not something that I’m all too inclined to consider much at this point. Do not think for a second that I would stay there.”

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO

The rational part of her mind understood that this was mostly hypothetical, and that she as the Human had a much shorter lifespan. At the point he was talking about she would likely be long dead, wouldn’t she? But that didn’t stop the very random and soothing image of her being at his side from floating in her head. Which was ridiculous on many levels, even though she understood her own feelings well enough. They had committed to pursuing this relationship, but Janna wasn’t going to get ahead of herself. yes, much had changed, and he had changed in amny ways, but not so fundamentally that she wanted to put out there something that was likely one-sided, at least beyond the here and now.

Here they were on their first formal (and public) date and the conversation had taken a turn she didn’t think either of them expected. Then again, they had never shied away from the deeper topics and had been doing so that first day they met playing pool in the lounge and then talking on the holodeck. “It’s definitely a long ways away,” she said, smiling and letting ease return to her being. She tucked the weird and useless feelings away so they didn’t confuse things more for her.

“Dessert here? Or should we venture elsewhere?” she said lightly.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Khabal silently cleared their empty dishes and refilled their drinks.

• Khabal

Orvos felt her feelings ease at least a little bit in that regard. He noted though immediately after her question that Khabal had once again been present to help clear things off the table. He had nothing against the man, but it was almost a sign to him at that point.

Orvos met her gaze and gave a small smile. “Well, I wouldn’t mind venturing elsewhere. I actually have a tub of legitimate ice cream in my quarters. Probably shouldn’t eat it all by myself.” he said patting his figure. “Care to join me?”

-Captain Orvos Legen, CO