Different times, different places 2: Strangers in the night

Posted on 20 Mar 2014 @ 3:07am by Federation Ambassador Ayren Kelan

1,591 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M12: For Duty or Honor
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: During the mixer

The memory faded, but Ayren felt exhilarated while it lasted, but deep guilt and shame now intruded....

NOW

Elas was in tears standing over her, the look of concern on his face palpable with emotion. He had felt that memory with her, she was the first time he had known a person to do that to him, usually touch was required for a connection so vivid. They had touched earlier... "Oh no..." Elas said aloud. "I can help Ayren, but I need your permission to share your thoughts? Ayren can you hear me?" Elas hoped his abilities would allow her to stably process the images, he knew with his abilities he could get her through it.

"It was a mission.... " she said staring in front of her. "We were supposed to finalize the integration of the Tarpurians into the Federation... we were all captured and stamped, implanted with new identities. Some of the crew had it really bad, some good... like me.." she said softly, fell silent and shook her head. She shrugged lightly, while still sitting on the floor. "It is no use to deny you my thoughts... you saw that al anyway..." she said and looked up. "I miss that identity... I miss Erina, and I fell terrible about that..." she added, the crux of the matter.

Elas sat down with crossed legs across from Ayren. He took her wrist gently, taking her pulse... It was racing, her brow slicked with sweat, breaths coming fast and short. She was in the process of a conversion disorder, her mind feverish with action and the body responding like it is fighting an illness. He tapped his commbadge,

=/\= "Elas to Sickbay, medical emergency in forward observation lounge, deck 2." He knew the time would be only a few seconds before they responded but in mental time a few seconds could be a long time.

Knowing he was partly to blame for this he resolved to fix it. As he held her wrist he let his ability flow into her, the mild emotional feelings he was sensing became huge once he made mental contact. Feeling emotions as physical sensations Elas writhed for a moment in agony, but suddenly he was through... In the next few foggy moments Ayren would use Elas's ability to create a world around her, she would design its rules and the stage she would play on. It would be as a dream but the elements they would encounter would be living parts of her. He had never tried this with a betazoid however, he had no idea what to expect.

The images became so clear... it swept Ayren away .... to a different place, a different time

[Turpara]

Manning walked slowly down the dark, rain-soaked sidewalk...one of only two people on the street. The only sounds, his footsteps and
the rain pelting the standing puddles and metal sills of windows. His collar turned up, his hands in his pockets, he forged on. He watched
her turn to the right and head up a stairwell.

Erina run up the stairs, hugging herself with her one arm, holding an umbrella with the other. She shivered in spite of the full
length coat she had on. She had only an evening gown on underneath, designed for performance, not for protection against the elements. She pressed her thumb against the pad and heard the click sound as the lock to her apartment opened. The door swung open to the inside and grateful she walked inside, the door barricading the rain and cold as it closed behind her.

Raindrops collected on his face and his collar...the bitter cold enveloping him. He was driven, the elements were not going to deny him.

Erina put the umbrella aside and stood for a few moments rubbing her hands, before removing her black gloves and coat. She was
still cold, but the warmth of the internal heating system would ease the edge very quickly. Radolf wasn't there, he was away again for the night. She wasn't sure if she should be happy or not. The apartment was empty without him there. She looked at the pelting rain against the window. His body only provided her with physical warmth, he could never warm her heart.

He stood at the bottom of the apartment stairwell, rain continuing to fall on him. He was oblivious to the conditions as his eyes were
fixed on her doorway. The hour was getting later and darkness had fallen. He was here because he hated the loneliness he felt, but he
felt comfortable standing, alone, in the downpour.

He was looking for clarity...a connection.

He was wrong to be here, and yet, he knew it was right.

He'd seen her at the club and had spent that first evening just watching her. That was four evenings back. It had started innocuously
enough, him stopping in at 'Cassen's'. This night, several nights after first seeing her, he'd left Joline to handle a delivery of
cloaking devices one that he assured her he could handle on his own. Once again in 'Cassen's' he'd purchased a drink, but hadn't touched it. He came to watch her.

From the first evening he'd seen her he was consumed with her. She was gorgeous. She moved gracefully and had amiable
exchanges with the patrons. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off her. He hadn't approached her for a myriad reasons; the possibility of rejection, the possibility that the government was watching him, and certainly, the possibility that she would accept him.

The cold had evaporated from her body, but Erina still lit the fire in the old fire place. Radolf hated it, but she loved the ambiance and watching the dance of the flames as it licked the wood. She lowered herself comfortably on the couch, hugging a glass of a red wine. She sipped it, and felt the liquid made it's way down it's path until it dissipated in a general sensation of relaxed comfort.

Her black silk dress caressed her long legs, revealing their shape. It folded around her body, parting midway on her chest to be gathered again on her shoulders with two golden rings. She stared into the flames, letting her mind wonder back over the evening.

Rain occluded his vision as the downpour had continued, and he'd kept his eyes on the doorway. Was she married? Did she have a lover?? Was he risking his underground status?

Her memory swept over the events and halted at a particular person, the same way her eyes did when she was singing. A black man
sitting alone. She had noticed him a few nights before for the first time. When she passed close to him tonight, she sensed his attraction
to her, but that wasn’t what drew her attention. There was a strange familiarity she could not explain. As if she had seen him somewhere before, but yet not. She shook her head unconsciously and tried to push the thought back.

He knew her name...Erina. That had been simple enough asking about at the club.

What...the hell was he expecting?

He slowly mounted the stairwell, making sure to look behind him to make sure he hadn't been followed. He leaned his forehead against
her door, the rain beating down.

After minutes of silence, he knocked on the door twice. It had taken several minutes, but finally she had come to the door and opened it
just slightly, allowing herself a protected chance to see who it was outside.

He was soaked. He stepped back from her door to allow her space.

"I don't mean to impose...my name is Manning...I've seen you at Cassen's..." Thoughts of being taken into custody ran through his
head...

Erina stared at the man at the door in complete surprise. ~He is running ~, she thought. She couldn't say a word.

"I'd like to share a drink with you sometime," he caught himself, "I'm sorry, this was a bad idea."

When she came over the shock, she opened the door a bit wider. She was crazy, she never did this. "Wait, you're soaked¦. Come in" She had no idea why she did this. She opened the door more to confirm he invitation. Her voice didn't carry concern so much as a reason to invite him in. He was so familiar>> it was as if she had known him all her life, but yet...

He looked past her as though he was searching for someone...he was always searching or looking over his shoulder.

"There is no one here", she said softly.

She was leaning on the door and staring back at him. There was something there. It was one of those palpable moments that both of
them could feel.

Erina sensed him more than she had ever felt anyone, more than Radolf even when they were intimate. His eyes held her captive, she
couldn't tear her black orbs away from him. Her lips parted slightly as she responded to his stare.

He leaned forward as if to kiss her. The door still open, the rain pouring down. He stopped and looked at her eyes...she was
motionless. He took the back of her head gently with one hand and gently kissed her.

She closed her eyes and felt his lips on hers, sending a gentle shock through her body. She didn't resist him, but was motionless,
trying to make sense of this.

He slowly backed away, his hand still gently resting on her neck. "Should I go?"

TBC

 

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