Posted by Captain Briony of Krios (Commanding Officer) in Promenade

Posted by Luke Hung in Promenade

Posted by Luke Hung in Promenade
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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“I’m certain wouldn’t want to please the captain… particularly if she looked like you…” He said with a little snark. “Eating dinner with your CMO, is this something I need to be concerned about?” They had not reached a point in their relationship where she would know if he were the jealous type or not. He didn’t spend any time learning the staff on the star-base, but dinner with the CMO on your first day seem pretty forward. It had taken him several weeks to get to brunch.

Rinker

Briony turned her face to him just a little and gave him the most snarky, unimpressed side eye she could muster. She wasn’t the kind of woman who used her looks to get ahead and it had taken so long to engage in the beginning of a relationship with Cliff because of who he was and how important her position was to her. “First, Bolian’s don’t care about looks in their eagerness to please. Second, Dr. Odraavi offered and I wanted to get to know my staff. Thus far I have also had coffee with Lt McMichaels as well as riding on a holodeck program he created that looks like his home ranch. I have also met with a local Ferengi merchant to make sure my rules are still very much being followed. I had lunch with our now Marine Captain whom I knew from the Academy. A Starbase is more social than a ship can be. “

Briony, CO

“Dr. Odraavi, Lt. McMichaels… Un-named Marine Captain… Bolians in general… They are on the list.” He said with a low growl as if he were someone who could deal with three people and a whole race. “Let us go to this Bolian’s restaurant. I would like to meet him or her.”

“I’m just saying a year is a long time. I’ve socialized with a doctor or two… although I’ve haven’t had dinner or went horse back riding with a crew-mate.” The corner of his mouth went up slightly as if he was fighting off a grin.

Rinker

Briony shook her head ruefully as she lead the way to the Bolian’s restaurant, The Bolian Brew. As was her usual way, Briony walked into the restaurant, nodding her head in acknowledgement of others and made her way up the spiral staircase to the second floor. Thankfully, her usual table was unoccupied. “Maybe I just don’t have the same hangups about dates versus friend interactions that you do Counselor. Please tell me you are not one of those kinds of men who feel that men and women, me and other people, can’t be friends.”

“Of course not… I have many friends, of all kinds of genders and orientations.” He looked at her. “I’m not a jealous man… by nature.” In every joke there was some truth… he wondered about the truth in his comments. It was a joke when he said it, but what was the underlying reason for his words. G@d damn it Rinker, why were you always the shrink.

She took a seat and winked at him. If he was jealous, he knew he could talk with her about it. While there were many hangups in Briony’s past that made her harder to date than most people might be, she was at least willing to have discussions that might be hard for some people to approach.

Briony, CO

“I don’t need a menu, I want the closest thing they have to a steak here and a McClellan whiskey… old enough to drink itself… if they have one.” He smiled at her then looked down before he spoke....

The Bolian who owned the place simply smiled as he came up to the Captain and her guest. Without missing a beat he simply nodded to Rinker and looked to the Captain for her order. Briony sat down and looked up at the Bolian. “I will have the beef tenderloin medallions, rare, over roasted potatoes and vegetables with the Sangiovese I like.” It was a heavier dinner than she often chose to eat, but Cliff tended to bring that out in her. The Bolian left, pleasantly humming to himself, to begin filling their orders.

“Although if I were to be completely honest… I think the year of separation had made me question, my importance to you. ” He exhaled as he looked at her.

Briony sucked in a breath as her hands closed into fists on her lap. It was something she feared and knew was likely. To have him finally say it, was still exceptionally hard to hear. Slowly, she let out the breath and opened her hands, allowing her fingers to relax from the tension that filled them. She would face this as she faced everything, head on. Briony was hardly a shy woman.

“This degree of confusion is unusual for me…” It made him feel weak. He had been on his heels during relationships, he had been with strong women, passive ones, women that he was more interested in than they were in he, and the reverse, but in this case he was confused about their present and their future. The Briony he was with was one he didn’t want to let go… but was she still that woman.

“And now we are on different ships, and going to be separated at times by hundreds of light years… The Athena isn’t going to in the sector forever.”

Rinker.

“I can understand why you would feel that way. Even if we were not in separate places, this would be tough to navigate successfully… if it can be done successfully. We have two problems… or perhaps three if I think about it. A year of hurt from lack of communication, shaken trust and uncertainty fills our present and what are we going to do about a future neither of us envisioned.” She gave a half resigned laugh. There was a degree of morbidity to her demeanor. She was just as unsure as he was and quite a bit pessimistic about the outcome. “Where would you like to start counselor?”

Briony, CO

Rinker had to go first. He nodded slowly. It wasn’t surprising, he was the on the brought it up, but that was part of his issue. “I don’t blame for the missions you were ordered to go on. I certainly can’ t blame you for being captured. I better than a spouse or someone not in the Fleet, know what that’s about.”

“I don’t even think I’m hurt, to be honest he was always far too worried about you being dead to be hurt you weren’t around.” He looked about. “I just don’t know where we are anymore. I don’t know if the the relief is overwhelming everything else… are we trying to be normal like the last year never happened as opposed to finding out what our new normal should be.” He didn’t say the part where, perhaps the new normal was that they weren’t together anymore.

“I know I still feel for you… but what do you feel?”

Rinker

For a time as he spoke and a long moment after, she held her breath. There was a knot deep inside her at his words. The idea that they were finally getting to the what’s next question weighed heavily on her soul. Heathcliff meant so much to her and the thought of this ending was too much for her to handle. She cleared her throat and blinked rapidly, looking down at her hands on the table before her. He still felt for her, but didn’t say that he loved her and that worried Briony more than she could say. “I don’t know what our new normal should be. I can’t speak to that, having no idea what you are willing to commit to. I can tell you that I still love you very much.”

Briony, CO

Rinker closed his eyes for a moment, far longer than it would take him to blink normally. She might see the beginnings of a tear forming in his eyes. When he looked up his lips were straight. “I needed you to say it first.” He didn’t know why, well if he thought about it for a moment, he knew he felt strangely vulnerable and he didn’t know what she was willing to do to maintain the relationship. He gave her the out, and she didn’t take it.

“I love you too.” He exhaled. “I want you in my life, but I think we have to figure out how it can work. I want to make it work. I don’t know how that will make us both happy.”

Rinker Distant boyfriend from another ship