Posted by Lieutenant Auleraine Brison (Engineering Officer) in Pre sim - Guess who’s coming to dinner…

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk (Chief of Security) in Pre sim - Guess who’s coming to dinner…

<snip>
Mardusk looked at her. He hadnt known about all of it. His blood boiled, but his face just showed hurt. Hurt for her. Not pity, but hurt because she had suffered.

“I didnt see it all… just the last moments before the rescue.” and he looked down again. “Your face was caught on one of the helmet cams. I saw you… your eyes… Defiant. Angry. But not broken. Not scared. It… it’s really impressive, Lera. That you could take all that and not give up. It says a lot about you. And that’s why I wanted to know you… that kind of will is… well… it’s a rare thing.”

Mardusk

“I guess…” she said. She turned to look at him, her brows furrowed with curiosity. “You thought I would reject you cause you are Orion. Why aren’t you shunned by the ordeal I went thru? It’s obvious I was broken, no matter what those eyes told you that you saw. Which I don’t believe was anything but survival. And I won’t lie, Mar… I don’t know how to act around you. Around others, I know what I am. I’m a protector. I’m the one who takes the blows cause they can’t. But I can’t take the blows you would fear.” She laughed and shook her head. “I told Mike that this morning. But it’s true. So how do I act around you? Because posturing as your body guard will merely make us both look foolish. Me for doing it and you for letting me.” She shrugged at her loss of what to do.

Lera

Mardusk looked at her and shook his head. “You can act however you want.” and he stood up and came and actually knelt down on his knees to look at her directly. “Or you dont have to act at all. You can just… be. You dont even have to talk, if you dont want to. You can just be near me. I wont judge. Or feel sorry for you. Or ask you to talk about it. Of if you do want to talk, I’ll listen.” and he slowly rose to his feet.

“And I dont see you as broken. Not now… not then. Hurt and tired and scared? Sure. But you were never broken. Because if you were really broken by those bastards… you wouldn’t be standing her talking to me about how you dont know act around me. You’d have fled the ship the first time you saw me.” and he bent over and put his face in front of hers, emerald-like eyes looking directly at her.

“When I see you I dont see what happened. I just see you. Right now. And I hope and wish that when you look at me you just see me, not the past.”

Mardusk

Her hand rose without thinking and touched the side of his face. “I don’t see the past…” she said to reassure him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them she smiled, but it was almost sad. “I’m gonna press your buttons. I’m gonna push, and kick and shove and do things you won’t like.” She laughed then, “Or least try damned hard to. I’m gonna stand up to you, and for you, and end up looking like like some small pup chomping at the heels of a large warg. Can you live with that?”

Was this happening? Was Mike the reason, or were they managing on their own? She didn’t care. The look she saw in his eyes was something she wanted to see always. A man who didn’t know of her past and either try and tiptoe around her like she was made of spun electrum. And didn’t go the other extreme to become overbearing thinking that was what she wanted or needed.

Lera

A smile crept across his lips and he said “I can if you can. And push all the buttons you want. I can take it.” and the smile grew onto a grin. He reached out and took her hand, and it disappeared into his.

Mardusk

Her heart was racing, but it wasn’t from fear or uncertainty. She laughed softly, her other small hand resting on top of his. “I think I can handle one Orion Male…” She wanted him to know he was certainly not in the department with the others. Leaning over, she kissed his forehead. Realizing what she had done, she blushed and tried to back up, stammering her apology. “I’m sorry… I didn’t… I should have asked.”

Lera

His speed was almost as impressive as his size. With a sudden motion, he had scooped her up off the ground and set her in his arms. He bent his head low and placed a single, soft, delicate kiss on her lips. “You dont ever have to apologize for that. No matter what or where it happens. Ok?” and his hand brushed a strand of hair from her face.

If she was paying attention, she would realize he was holding her with one arm.

Mardusk

She cried out but there was an edge of a laugh to it and her arms reflexively went around his shoulders. “Mar!!!” She settled as he he did and his hand, for as large as it was, managed to brush the hair away with a tenderness she wasn’t sure even she could have managed.

As he told her not to apologize for kissing him, she nodded, “Ok…” It was then that she realized she was cradled on one arm. She smiled. “Show off. And no, it doesn’t scare me.” She furrowed her brow and a hand rose to run gently over his own brow. “I don’t think I would ever be scared of your touch. Is that silly?”

Lera

He shook his head and said “Nope. Not to me.” and then he looked around. A couple he recognized had stopped some ways away and were very interested in an exhibit of grass. He looked down and asked her “Want me to put you down? Or are you good?” with a big grin.

Mardusk

She glanced at the couple then back at him. “I’m good… are you?” She grinned at him worried more about his reputation than her own.

Lera

“I’m great.” and he began walking. Moving past them, he said “Evening Lieutenants. Good to see you.” and continued on about their way. As they rounded the corner, Gravel put a finger to his lips and then pointed at his ear and then to hers.

As the stood quietly, nothing happened. But after about thirty seconds a woman’s voice belted out “OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!! Did you see that?!” and there was a smack and a man’s voice said “Ow! Yes! I saw it! How could you not see it?” and the woman said “I cant believe that. And who was the girl? I don’t think I know her.” “Because it’s a huge ship, Karen. You dont know everybody.” ” But now I have to know! I cant just say ‘I saw Savage Dragon with a red head cocked up on his arm strolling through the Arboretum.’, now can I?” “Well, you could not say anything and let them have their privacy.” “Oh shut up. You’re gonna be making crass jokes about him and her in the locker room first thing in the morning.” “I am not! Have you seen the man?!? He punched a shuttle, Karen. A shuttle. And the shuttle lost! I’m not saying anything.” and there was a long pause. Then the woman said “I wonder how that works…?” “What works?” he replied.
“You know… that. They are so different in size. Poor little thing will probably pass out first time she sees his d-“ “AANNNNNDDD WE’RE DONE!” and their footsteps moved away.

Mardusk

“Ma…” she started to ask why he stopped when he told her to shush and listen. She frowned a moment then heard the voices. Her eyes grew wide as the woman freaked out. She actually had to put her hand on her mouth to keep from laughing as the woman talked about her cocked up on his arm.

When the man mentioned Mar had punched a shuttle and won, she looked at him with a questioning glance. And as the conversation ended, she turned beat red and actually buried her head into his shoulder. “Oh gods…” she was caught between murmuring and laughing in embarrassment.

In a couple minutes, she had the hiccups from laughing till tears choked her throat.

Lera

When she looked at him about the shuttle, he shrugged and smiled a guilty grin. And when the woman talked about Lera passing out, well, it turned out that Orions blush slightly red. But as Lera laughed, so did he, enjoying the feeling of her face in his shoulder.
He looked at her as he caught his breath and said “I am SO sorry. I had no idea Lieutenant Hines had such a dirty mind!” and he laughed again.

Mardusk

She bit her lip as her body jerked from a hiccup. “I’m sorry too. It’s not gonna get easier, Mar… it’s gonna get worse. Are you ok with that? You are security and have to be able to do your job. I don’t want that compromised for…” she wasn’t actually sure what they were, so after another hiccup, she finished, “for anything…”

She didn’t realize it, but she was being the Protector again. Worrying about others instead of herself.

Lera

He grunted and started walking, her form still perched on an un-moving arm. “They’d talk if we hid, they’d talk if we didnt. And dont worry about me not being able to do my job. He wasn’t lying about the shuttle.” and he glanced down at her and grinned. “Just cause I’m dat… um… wit… seei… spending time with you doesnt change the way I do my job.” and he looked forward again. “Just means I get to look forward to end of shift a bit more.” and he smiled as they came to the Arboretum doors.

Mardusk

She looked at him. She wasn’t sure what the stutter was for, she had trouble following it, but somehow she realized he wasn’t sure what they were either. “Well, then. I guess we will both have reasons now not to spend the better part of three shifts in our uniforms and in our work places, huh?”

She laughed because that’s exactly how they had spent the last couple days. She knew, because she had been in his office and he had been there.

Lera

He set her down, slowly, and his fingers lingered on her noticeably. He looked down at her and said “Best reason I can think of right now.” and his hand went to open the door and he stopped. “I haven’t… well… yeah, never mind.” and he opened the door. Before she could ask he said “Some conversations I dont mind having in public… most really. I got nothing to hide. But some…” and a giant green finger slid gently and with surprising grace down her cheek, “… some need to be held in private. And I think I mentioned dinner.” and he looked up and then, just as when they left Mike’s bar, he put his hand on her back and gently steered her forward. As they started walking, he grinned.

“Need to get some food in you before you… you know… pass out.”

Mardusk

She laughed and pressed back slightly into his hand before he let go. “I’m open to suggestions if there is somewhere else you want to eat. We can always get the food and go elsewhere.” She glanced up sideways at him and grinned. “I have faith in your decision for a quiet and private place for us.”

As they walked, she wondered what had done it? What had broken that barrier that had them ready to completely break down at the sight of one another one moment, and now he was holding her like a treasured possession and not caring who saw?

Lera

“Well…” his voice rumbled after a moment, “… we can go to my place. I mean… I don’t mean…well… I just mean… you know… its private… and we could talk.” he stuttered and stammered out the suggestion, and there was an obvious embarrassment in his voice. “We can swing by the Mess and just grab some food? Yeah?” he added with slightly more bravado than necessary.

Mardusk

She hiccupped and turned suddenly, making him stop short or run her over. She was prepared to step back if she had caught him off guard. “Hey…” Her hand, small and lithe, pushed to his chest. She couldn’t have actually stopped him if he didn’t want stopping, but she hoped she could get his brain to register she was there and stop him on his own. “Your place is perfect. And if it makes you feel better. We can just use the replicator in your room.” She smiled and nodded down the hall. “We have to go to Mike’s opening together in two nights, or we are in far more trouble than I think either of us can handle.” She laughed and hiccupped once more. A small growl behind it at her feeling foolish. “So if you want some privacy till then, I’m ok with that.”

Lera

Mardusk’s mouth opened and closed, and then he cleared his throat. “Oh… ok… ok then… let’s.” and he led her to the turbo lift. In a few minutes they were at his door. It slid open for him and he and she stepped inside.

The room was nice and comfortable, and well kept. The oversized, overstuffed furniture was clean and comfortable looking. In one corner of the room, where the window met the far right wall, stood a tailor’s dummy on which sat a full set of Klingon Nobel House Ceremonial armor and robes. Hanging above the door was a truly massive bat’leth, points down. Various odds and ends lay scattered about.

Mardusk simply said “Lights.” and the room lit up softly as the door slid shut silently behind them. He stepped to the side and said “Well… make yourself comfortable. You want a drink? Like… a real one? Or something to eat?”

Mardusk