After hours

Posted on 17 Sep 2010 @ 10:52pm by Captain Reva Madhava & Captain Antonio Vazquez

1,208 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M6: Blood of the Innocent
Location: Lounge
Timeline: current

ON:

Her first day aboard the Achilles had been a full one - and it wasn't quite over yet. Thanks to her skin and race being such an oddity, Reva had been asked to join co-workers in the lounge for a drink. She was just enough of a social creature that she didn't decline the invitation.

She found herself sitting between two males, one a lab tech, the other a scientist; both fawning over her. Unimpressed by them because they were fawning over her, she plucked at the thin fabric of her black slacks, adjusted the way her loose top settled on her shoulders and did her best to look engaged in their banter. It wasn't easy; it got harder when she spied a lonesome figure in the corner: Antonio Vazquez. She fidgeted then excused herself from the two lab rats: "Fellas, I'm going to go say hi to a friend." They looked disappointed but nodded as she extricated herself from them; their expressions turned slightly less friendly when they saw who the 'friend' was.

"Instructor?" Reva smiled, "Mind if I join you?" She sat down with him without waiting for his answer.

"Sure", he half smiled, and picked up his glass of synthehol as he leaned back and stared at her with heavy eyes. It had been a 'very' long day, and he was finally relaxed. Had finally allowed himself to be. He chuckled as he took another drink; one of the contributing factors for the long day had just sat down next to him.

Feeling the edge of his tired amusement, she simply watched him for a moment, sipping her own drink slowly. He was good watching: his arms were bare to the shoulder, exposing well-muscled biceps. When he leaned back, his t-shirt fell against his flat belly. Her eyes traveled down to his bare calves and stuck, for just a moment, on a strange skin mark on his thigh. It curled around from the back of his thigh to the side. Her brows furrowed as she touched it. "What is that?"

Flinching, his smile left, and he took another swallow of his drink before answering, "It's a scar."

Reva pulled back, "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" She'd heard of scars but... this was a new in-person experience. "What caused it?"

He placed his glass on the table, "Bomb shrapnel, and no worries, Reva..." he leaned forward, speaking low, "You didn't hurt me. It doesn't hurt...not anymore. That was a reflexive reaction."

"Bomb...? Oh." She had known he had fought in the war - the one she was young enough to have only passing knowledge of - but hadn't ever thought that he might bear a physical reminder of it. Her curiosity threatened to bubble over but his reaction tossed ice on it. "Is that an off limits topic, Instructor?"

He slightly nodded, "For another time...". And then an image of the detonator wires came back to him... and he quickly turned away from her, raising a hand to catch the attention of the bar keep.

It was her turn to flinch though he hadn't touched her. She could see the mental wall that went up - without using any kind of telepathy. His body language made it apparent. As he turned away, his shirt shifted and she saw another patch of scarred skin. This one, she didn't touch. Instead, she moved on to another difficult topic. "Earlier, you benched our discussion because we were on duty. Now we're not."

Closing his eyes, he leaned an elbow on the table as he rubbed his forehead. And inwardly sighed.~Reva~ He really wasn't in the mood to continue their earlier conversation, yet, he surrendered, "Okay..." he turned and leaned in towards her, "What is it you want to talk about?"

She already found him obnoxiously attractive; when he leaned toward her, she had a moment of difficulty in keeping her hands (and lips) to herself. Valiantly, she managed it. It helped that she could feel his reluctance and had heard the tiredness in the way he'd thought her name. She paused, long enough that he might start to think she wasn't going to speak at all. But she did: "I'd like to keep at the phaser lessons and add in some defensive fighting." It wasn't the topic they'd discussed before, but it would, in the end, maybe, get her what she wanted: his attention and time.

Angling his head, he studied her; he was sure that wasn't what she had wanted to discuss. And he wondered why she hadn't accepted his opening.

Another glass of synthehol replaced the empty one in front of him, "Thanks" he smiled upwards, grabbed it as he looked back to her. "Okay..", he nodded, "I'll schedule you in".

His gaze roamed over her features as he took another drink; from her eyes, to her full lips, and then to her hair, and how it laid on her bare skin. Her lovely collar bone. She was beautiful. And, he reminded himself, she was young, undisciplined, impetuous... And... half Betazoid.

And he knew she was reading him.

He sat his glass back down and watched it as he slowly pushed it away with two fingers, deciding to shake the synthehol...to shake Reva Madhava, from his system. "I'll be turning in for the night, Ensign", he half smiled, "Consider getting some sleep yourself."

"Sleep?" Reva smirked; sure, she had backed off of asking him about something a bit more serious and a whole heck of a lot closer to her heart than phaser lessons, but she still wanted him - wanted his hands.... Her smirk turned into a seductively curled smile and she said, "That might be hard to get when all I'll think about is you, Instructor, and our little trip to sickbay."

"Reva...that...was...", Antonio began rubbing his forehead again. She caught him off guard, and it took a moment for the words to come. He closed his eyes, "You know what that was. You were in a heat phase", he said quietly.

Equally quietly, Reva countered, "I'm not now. And I wasn't on the Montague - the serum saw to that. You might think I don't know what I want, or that I'm just young and impetuous or don't know how dangerous you might be, Antonio, but ...none of those should keep you from what you want."

"You don't know what I want...", he countered back as he stood up. She unnerved him, and he was annoyed with his own lack of control. "You and I...can't happen."

Her jaw muscle tensed so quickly he might have missed it. "Tell me one good reason why not," she demanded in a low voice.

"I can't..." he answered, cutting himself off. He couldn't allow how shaken he was actually feeling to come anymore to the surface. "This discussion is over, Reva. I'm going to bed... goodnight", and he turned to walk away.

She let him go but not before she told him, "It's over for now, Instructor. Good night." She'd pushed him far enough for one day.

OFF


Ensign Reva 'on the prowl' Madhava
Scientist
USS Achilles

&

Lieutenant JG Antonio Vazquez
Weapons Specialist
USS Achilles

 

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