Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton (Scientist) in Ships In The Night No More (Tag Dalton)

Posted by Commander Dr. Royal Sinclair (Executive Officer) in Ships In The Night No More (Tag Dalton)

Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton (Scientist) in Ships In The Night No More (Tag Dalton)
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Nothing wrong with a one-night stand as long as everyone is aware that’s what it is.” Royal said in a somewhat thoughtful fashion. “There was a time in my life when I was a fan of them.” and he grinned slightly. “But I think I may have diverged slightly from the familial proclivity to promiscuity. My granddad never married. My Da was the result of a week long fling. She dropped him off on Sinear’s doorstep nine months later and no one ever saw her again. I think my Da wanted to be the nuclear-family type, but it just made him resentful when that’s what he got. I’m glad my Ma didn’t have to deal with him too long. It probably would have turned ugly.” He used his unoccupied hand to take a drink. “After she was killed, Da tried to start up his carousing again…” and he shook his head dismissively, “… but his ‘glory days’ were behind him.” He took another drink. “When he’d get particularly drunk, he’d yell about how Ma stole his youth from him.” and he laughed. “And everytime the words left his mouth, Sinear would lay him flat before they were even done reverberating in the air.” and he chuckled.

Royal

Cori grinned. “People are definitely complicated. I was fortunate to have Kip and Janey’s kind and calm love as an example. Theirs was not made of passion but of companionship and deep care. They loved each other in such beautifully small ways, but I think after I left for the Academy I was afraid of anything like that so went the opposite. And as you well know, my relationships have run the gamut. At least I know what I don’t want, so that’s progress.”

~Cori

Royal looked at her for a moment and then asked “Why were you afraid of that kind of connection? And that was the Academy… how do yiu feel about it now?”

Royal

Cori was thoughtful and plucked a spring roll off the plate (that one she remembered) and took a bite. The crisp layers of the wrapper shattered in her mouth and gave her a moment to work through how to explain it all. “Because I kept losing people,” she said at length. “The Klingon war with the Federation was hard on Ajilon. Not only did I lose my adoptive parents but we lost a lot of other people I knew and cared about. Then I was a few year later on my own. Everything was different at the Academy. I needed time to heal those loses before I could let anyone in so close. And then I did when I met Levi and that whirlwind romance not just destroyed my body, Royal, but my trust. Even when I could trust someone enough to let them in, I held back. I did it with Alexander, and I know I did it with Jarred. Maybe that’s why we couldn’t pick back up after I returned. Or maybe we had just changed and been through too much.” Corin shrugged and popped the rest of the roll in her mouth.

“Now? I’m still scared. But it feels like what I have to lose is less… overwhelming. I guess I feel like I have agency in my own life again. I don’t expect it all to go perfectly, or even well at times, but I’m not okay going my whole life alone. I just need to make sure I keep a balance. Autonomy and connection.” She grinned at him and waggled her brows. “Look at me and all my personal growth.”

~Corinne Dalton

Royal smiled and said “Nothing I didn’t expect from the strongest woman I have ever known.” He lifted a slider and popped it in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a while, took a drink, and then said “Well… I really hope that I can help you with that. I don’t want you to be alone, either. And I certainly don’t want you losing yourself into someone. Not even me.” and he grinned slightly. “And I’ll be totally honest… a good portion of that wanting to help you is totally selfish on my part. I want this-” and he gestured back and forth between them, “- to be a thing. A real thing.” He took anbreath even as he turned slightly red. “And there it is. My ulterior motive.”

Royal

Cori folded her arms on the edge of the table and studied Royal. “Well that’s good, because I think we’re on the same page, even though it’s scary. BUt I am curious about something…”

“If I hadn’t disappeared from the Saracen, would you have asked me out?”

~Corinne Dalton

Royal looked at her and a kind of shadow passed briefly over his face. “I was on my way to do just that when you disappeared. I called you, but there was no answer. I entered a request for you to talk to me directly into the computer knowing you vouldn’t miss it, but the regular computer response came back. I went to your quarters, and when you didn’t answer I overrode the door.” He sighed heavily. “That led to a hectic month-and-a-half, let me tell you. Engineering worked around the clock trying to find you in the system. Security, too. Knight barely slept. I don’t think I did at all. It wasn’t until Command ordered us to resume normal operations that the entire crew wasn’t working on tracking you. And then a lot did on their spare time. You weren’t forgotten. And your absence was felt everywhere.”

Royal

Cori dropped her gaze, picking up her gin fizz in a bid to give herself time to process the little bomb he had just dropped. She had spent so long feeling outside of everything. Yes, there was usually one or two people at any given time whom she could say she felt connected to, but on the whole? At most she had been tolerated as an oddity, a convenience when they needed help with internal repairs. In some instances she had been outright feared.

She could vividly imagine Royal loving about with determination, trying to figure out what had happened to her. People snapping to his orders with a second thought. But to know they had cared? It hit her harder than she had expected and she fought back tears. “ I don’t know what to say,” she said, unable to lift her gaze.

~Corinne Dalton

Royal smiled softly and reached across the table. His finger touched gently under her chin and he lifted her gaze to meet his. “Nothing you have to say… okay?Crews stick together. Nobody did anything you wouldn’t have done for them if they just up and vanished.” His thumb ran along her cheek for just a moment and then he slowly dropped his hand. He looked directly at her for a long time before saying “You matter, Cori. To that crew. To the people sitting here whether they know you or not. You matter enough two of the scariest-smart people I know went through I dont event wantto know to get you here. Because you are a person… and that means you matter. Amd even more than that… you’re you. And that means you especially matter to me.”

Royal

For long moments she stared at him utterly dumbfounded. From anyone else his words would have sounded trite at best, lies at worst. They were the words she wanted to believe but never let herself fully grasp onto them, afraid of falling to a place where she could not rise. It was hard to reconcile his accounts of what happened on the Saracen and after she went missing with her new reality now. In her mind, the Saracen was before, muddied and painful. The Ogawa was now, in all its hopeful wonder. But what Royal was trying to convey was that the truth lay somewhere in between, and that was a more honest reality than she had been prepared for.

I matter, she said in her head before the words slipped from her lips. “I matter,” Cori whispered, her vivid blue eyes seemingly backlight from an internal joy that was almost euphoric. “I believe you, Royal Sinclair.” Those were not just words spoken to accompany a moment, but the purest expression of trust she could muster.

~Corinne Dalton

He smiled at her and said “Good. Because I believe in you.” He reached out and took her hand, this time with no hesitation or pause. He leaned forward and said “I won’t ever give up where you are concerned. Cor. I promise. I never have and I won’t. You matter… and you matter to me.” He took a deep breath and then added “More than anyone. Cori.”

Royal

There was a weight to that promise that was tangible to her. It meant something for both of them. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared. It was a lot, and while it didn’t feel like they were rushing into anything, it did feel like they were playing catch up a bit, trying to act out events that could have happened had she not been ripped from the Saracen.

Cori squeezed his hand. “Hearing that, it feels a little surreal. I believe it and I believe in you. Just…” Though a tiny frown appeared, though earnestness shone through her eyes. “Be patient with me. I know you will, but I just need to say it aloud for both our sakes. I don’t doubt you, but I’m still trying to figure out me, and I want to not be comparing you to the others. You win, by the way, but I want to be at a place where they don’t factor in. Does that make sense?”

~Cori

“Aye… it does.” he said and squeezed her hand. “Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.” and he winked at her and smiled and then let go of her hand and leaned back. “Besides… no pressure. Right?” and he chuckled.

Royal

She laughed aloud, an almost musical sound that drew attention from the others in Florence’s. Well, more than they had already drawn thus far. “Definitely no pressure here!” And there wasn’t. But they weren’t just getting to know each other from scratch. They had history that was a complicated by circumstances. If there was pressure, it was of a different kind and she didn’t feel that pressure between them.

Cori reached over and plucked another pakora from the platter and popped it in her mouth. She still couldn’t eat a lot, but picking at things was working for her.

~Corinne Dalton

“So.” Royal said and tried to steer things to less ‘deep and intense’ areas. “Now that you are able… where are you going to take your first vacation? I would imagine you have built up more than a little leave time.” and he laughed softly.

Royal