warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
They study Klingon. They work out a sleep schedule. They approach Betazed.

They are two days away from the system when Isabella notices something - troubling.

She takes longer than usual to compose herself that morning, and emerges from the living quarters with carefully measured steps, and avoids eye contact.

"Do you," she asks Lalita quietly, "have the ability to fly this class of ship?"
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"...Yes," he says. "Is something wrong?"
warpfairy: (quandary)
Author: warpfairy
"I have discovered an unexpected need to spend the next seven days meditating. I do not wish to delay you. You have my permission to operate the Prometheus, dock at Betazed, and depart while I am in meditation."
dream_me_up: (⑬ impossible things)
Author: dream_me_up
"...Is there any chance you're going to tell me why you—did you say seven days?"
warpfairy: (askance)
Author: warpfairy
"...That is the number of days, yes."
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
"Would you maybe like to explore other options," he says. "Other than spending seven days meditating."
warpfairy: (quandary)
Author: warpfairy
She swallows. She looks away. "My - my judgment is compromised at this time, please do not - make insinuations if you do not mean them, I will eventually regain my, my usual faculties and do not wish to do anything I will regret."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"I mean all my insinuations."
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
An indelicate full-body shudder ensues. "I have - somewhere, written down, a - I spend a great deal of time away from other Vulcans, I hoped to avoid this but knew I could not be sure, I have - a speech of sorts prepared." She reaches for her temple, winds up with one hand clenched in her hair as she teeters towards the computer and goes looking for the file.
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita steps back to give her some space.
warpfairy: (difficulty)
Author: warpfairy
She finds what she's looking for eventually, with considerable fidgeting, fumbling, and lip-biting.

Her speech of sorts opens with common knowledge about pon farr, of which none is new to anyone who can identify the phenomenon merely by virtue of "an unexpected need to meditate for seven days". And then: "If I am reading this speech then I have not found myself among the lucky half-Vulcans who evade the problem entirely, and have instead fallen prey to the unpredictable timing that affects those of us who do experience this phenomenon. I was not betrothed in childhood, and even if I had been, my intended would almost certainly have died when Vulcan was destroyed. I am prepared to address the issue with meditation and medication, but this would be at some risk to my life; exact figures regarding how much risk are unreliable due to the rarity of half-Vulcan half-humans. If, given the kindness of another person, I opt for the traditional satisfaction of the hormonal imbalance, there is no guarantee I will have the wherewithal to comprehend, let alone abide by, a change of mind during the process, which should be understood before beginning. Regarding practical matters - I will not regard assistance during this time as any sort of ongoing commitment - I am fitted with a contraceptive implant -" She trails off; there's a bit of formal thank-you-for-your-time language at the end but she's apparently opted to skip it in favor of scrunching her eyes shut and trembling violently. If she has any of the Vulcan emotional suppression, it's not helping her much now.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I understand," says Lalita. "And the offer's still good."

He takes a step toward her.
warpfairy: (askance)
Author: warpfairy
"Nnng, computer, park," says Isabella, and over the sound of the Prometheus acknowledging her and dropping out of warp so that they don't crash into Betazed while distracted, she pounces on him like he is - literally - a lifeline.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
He catches her, wraps her up in his arms, and gives her a kiss.

They should be in fewer clothes right now. He can help with that.
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
He is so helpful.

Technically Isabella is no longer in danger of death after having convinced her body that she has located a mate, but that doesn't mean the hormones recede instantly. That will take the full week.
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
He is very helpful! And if he has any say in the matter - which he does - it's going to be a fun week.

They probably aren't going to make it all the way to the living quarters the first time. So: floor, or captain's chair? Which one will it be?
warpfairy: (human frailty)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella is in no condition to be picky.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
Floor it is.
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
Yes. This floor will eminently do the job of not allowing them to float off into the vacuum while they become one hundred percent less dressed.

The sensation of not being going to die is, when it appears, like a punch to the gut in the best possible way. This might be a stupid way to design a species, but it is not without some advantages.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
And Lalita is not just doing this out of selfless generosity. Isabella is delightful, and he would happily have sex with her for a week even if it wasn't a lifesaving measure.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
That will make her feel better about the whole business after she sobers up. For the time being all she needs to be aware of about him is that he's present and is her mate. (For the time being.)
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
Oh, but he aspires to be so much more than just present.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
His aspirations are well, if incoherently, received!
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
Good! That is just how he likes them to be.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Possibly she will produce more detailed compliments later. In the meantime she can take advantage of the fact that in space no one can hear you scream.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
One person can.

He chooses to take it as encouragement.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
It is absolutely meant that way.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
Good.

Eventually one or both of them might need to sleep, but for now, they haven't nearly finished making use of this floor.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella can go without sleep for a week! She does this by default when there are interesting things to accomplish! This is such a thing. It is an open question whether she could sleep if she tried at the moment.
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita would probably have trouble getting to sleep if he tried it at this exact second.

A few hours later, though - maybe if they make it all the way to the living quarters of the ship - he might give it a shot.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella will allow it. As long as he doesn't try to go anywhere she can just as easily wrap herself around him and hold still by way of reminding herself that she has successfully found a mate and is not going to die.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
In that case, after about six hours of various exertions, during which time they do indeed make it to the bed, he curls up and wraps his arms around her and tucks his face into her shoulder and naps for a while.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
Snuggles. Not-going-to-die-ness. Eventually he will wake up! That will be nice.
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
Snuggles! It is a snuggly nap. Those are one of the best kinds.

Eventually, he does wake up, and immediately kisses her.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Saying she goes from zero to warp instantly would imply that she is capable of being not at metaphorical warp right now, which is false, but kisses increase metaphorical warp factor.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
It's possible Lalita might need a few minutes to get his metaphorical warp core fired up.

Or not.

It could also be much sooner than that.
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
It's good if it is sooner than that. Isabella is impatient. She found a mate and now she wants to make use of this exciting finding.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
It is sooner than that.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Oh good. Oh very good.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Mm. Metaphorical warp travel.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
Mmmmmmmmmmm.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
And snuggles. Those too. He's still a little sleepy; it makes him slow and cuddly and affectionate.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
Hmmm. Slow. Well, that is okay now that the most urgent portions of the week are taken care of.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
And slow can be fun too.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella is willing to be convinced of this.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita is willing to be convincing!
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
He is so convincing. Mmmm.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
Good!

And after they've been at it for a while maybe they can go back to being - not slow.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
That is absolutely welcome and appreciated and encouraged.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita has not even begun to run out of fun new things to try.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
He has a willing experimental partner!
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
He's not exactly taking detailed lab notes on their successes, but he does have a very good memory. And of course successful experiments should be repeated. For science. The science of fun.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
They have all the time in the - well, not all the time in the world, but all the time in a week!
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
They do have all the time in the week. Except for the parts they might spend sleeping, or eating, or grooming themselves.

Lalita does not plan to spend very much time doing those things.
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
Neither does Isabella. Insofar as "plan" is even the word. Her father's species evolved in a desert; she can do without much intake of anything over the course of a week, whether "anything" is a stand-in for "sleep" or "water" or "food". Over this amount of time those needs just aren't going to be competitive with the main one.
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
Well, at some point during this wake phase - maybe in a few hours - Lalita is going to suggest food. He can go for a week without it, but he'd rather not.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
She'll let him eat. If he really must. She'll just be half in his lap eyeing him while he does it.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
She can be all in his lap if she'd rather!
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Okay!
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Mmm, snuggly lapful. Mmm, food.

Does snuggly lapful want any food?
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
She'll have nibbles. Of food, even. Some fraction of nibbles will be of food.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
That is entirely acceptable.



No more food!

Now just snuggly lapful.

Whatever shall they do?
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
How about the extremely obvious thing? They can do that!
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
They can absolutely do that. They can do lots of that.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
Good. Isabella really needs to do lots of that right now.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.



Time passes. They do the obvious thing. Occasionally Lalita partakes of food or sleep or water. Mostly he partakes of Isabella.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
He is soooo welcome to partake of her.

Sometimes she touches his face, but then she makes a brief confused expression like she doesn't know why she's doing that, and stops, and resumes whatever else they are up to at the time.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
One of those times, he catches her hand on its retreat and kisses her fingertips.

"Mm?"
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"Keep almost - telepathing you," she murmurs, squirming.
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"You can if you want," he murmurs back.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
She slides her hand over his face and kisses him and reaches out for his mind.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
His mind is full of kisses. And warmth and joy and affection and Isabella, a kind of generalized appreciation for every facet of her existence.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Oooh. Oooooooooh. It would be pretty much impossible for her to be more all over him than she was a minute ago, but she will try very hard.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Now he also has specific appreciations!
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
Yummy.

It's easiest to establish contact with hand-to-face, but she can maintain it with any touch, and he has not shown much inclination to make that difficult.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita will be happy to maintain physical contact for the rest of the week if that's what she prefers. Possibly excluding visits to the bathroom.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
She can always reestablish as necessary.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
Mm. Good. He likes broadcasting his many appreciations.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
She likes collecting them!

She's not as good at sending - actually, her only unusual talent in this matter is blocking people from peering into her thoughts - but she can do a little. As feedback.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
Ooh, feedback. He appreciates feedback.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
He can have lots, especially if he does lovely things with it!
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Of course he does.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Good good good good. Lovely things.

Her excess hormones are, in the background, winding down their cycle.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
Yes. Lalita can tell.

(He recognized pon farr from experience.)
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
That is interesting! Isabella is interested in this fact when she finds it.

When the last of her little problem is out of her system, she is abruptly no longer impelled to stay awake. She drops her head onto his chest and falls instantly asleep.

She talks in her sleep, in a mix of her native languages.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
That is sweet. He snuggles her for a little while.

But he's slept a lot more recently than she has, and now that they're not having near-continuous sex, he thinks maybe it's time to check on their navigation. He gets out of bed, attends to his badly neglected personal grooming, and then heads for the captain's chair to use the ship's computer.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
They are parked in interstellar space. There is a course entered to Betazed, ready to resume whenever the order is entered; it will take them another two days to get there at reasonable warp. The proximity alarm is operative and will beep at them if any debris or hails or distress signals make their way to the Prometheus.
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
He double-checks the navigational calculations on the course to Betazed. He uploads his collection of Klingon operas to the ship's library.

He daydreams. Idly, he looks at files in the temp folder where he stored the intermediate numbers for his navigation checks.
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
There they are, behind some minor encryption, along with a few drafts of Isabella's personal files: diaries with dates, "processing" files, a text file entitled "polarbear".
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
Breaking minor encryption is not much more of an effort than breathing. He barely notices he's doing it.

The diaries are obviously personal, but what about the polar bear?
alicornucopia: (Default)
Author: alicornucopia
The polar bear file appears to be the first half of an essay of unpopular, pseudonymous political opinions.
dream_me_up: (⑬ impossible things)
Author: dream_me_up
...That wakes him up.

He closes the file and restores all the encryption.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella goes on sleeping, peacefully oblivious, uttering nouns. She's on a string of Vulcan plants at the moment.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita snuggles up again.
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
Snuggles!

Isabella has been awake for a week; she sleeps for fourteen hours. Then she wakes up, rested, clear-headed, and stark naked with very tangled hair.

She sits up slowly and looks around her, organizing her memories of the last seven days.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
In the interim, Lalita has gone back to sleep, for his first full six hours since the week began; he is curled up next to her, also stark naked.
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
Okay then. She'll pick out an outfit, quietly, and take it into the bathroom, and take a shower, and come out wearing it, and then resume course for Betazed.
dream_me_up: (Default)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita wakes up just as she is doing the last thing.

He puts on a pair of trousers and goes to see what she's up to.
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"Hello," says Isabella. "And thank you."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"You're very welcome."
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
Her cheeks go a little green at that. "We'll be there in just under two days."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"You blushed!" he observes delightedly.
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"That is physiologically possible," she says delicately, "but I can neither confirm nor deny, lacking a mirror."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Does that mean you don't want to have sex again?"
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
She blinks.

"I - had given the question no thought."
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, think about it. We have two more days," he laughs.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"I may be worn out. I can look you up in seven years," she suggests, "presuming I still don't have a designated mate at the time."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"All right."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
Speaking of which, she makes a note in her calendar for the relevant projected date. Now that she's had one, she can predict the others and make arrangements for them in advance.
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita sits down in the copilot's chair.
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella seems inclined to adopt a policy of Not Necessarily Ever Speaking Of It Again For At Least Seven Years.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
Perhaps he should go put on a shirt, then.

(He doesn't.)
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
She's not going to comment on his state of dress.

She pokes around in her files, looking for what to read next; she finished the novel she was reading while he was sleeping the other day. She can't work on her essay or her diary with a passenger supervising, but it's not that urgent -

She peers at the access date on her essay.

She peers at Lalita.
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
He peers back!
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
"The access date for one of my files suggests that it was opened recently."
dream_me_up: (Default)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh, that." He shrugs. "I was curious. I closed it when I'd seen enough to know I shouldn't be looking."
warpfairy: (askance)
Author: warpfairy
"It was encrypted."
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"Yeah, I noticed that after I read it," he says with a wry smile.
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"...Are you saying you accidentally hacked into my files?"
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He laughs and shakes his head. "Yeah. That's what I'm saying."
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
"How does that happen?"
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
He taps his fingertips against his lips, thinking hard about something.

Then he shrugs, and looks at her, and says: "Genetic engineering."
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
"I'm—what is it, 2269? I'm two hundred and seventy-four years old," he says. "I was born in 1995. You seem pretty well-informed; I'm sure you can fill in a lot of the blanks yourself. That's why I soak up languages like a sponge - I know a lot more than thirty. That's why I can break medium-tight encryptions while daydreaming. I had to learn to crack a few things so I could muddle my data trails; I can pass for anything from early twenties to mid-fifties, but that still means I have to cycle identities every thirty years."
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"And now you're telling me this because you read my polarbear essay and you don't think I'll turn you in."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
"I recognized the name," he says. "For some reason, anti-eugenics legislation is a topic of interest."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"...Ah. Yes, I don't actually stay out of politics debates on the nets, but free speech laws or no, I don't want it coming home to roost."
dream_me_up: (⑭ so damn permanent)
Author: dream_me_up
"I get that."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"I'm not going to turn you in."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"I figured. But thank you."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"You're welcome." Pause. "Do I now get to know what other things you told me were cover for your age?"
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh - anything about family is either a flat-out lie or actually meant successive imaginary generations of me. I won the Harlequin in a game of poker the year she was commissioned, for example; I'm older than warp drive, let alone that ship. But the book's real, and it really has been with me since childhood. I can show you if you want."
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"I'd be interested to see a book that old."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He gets up and goes to where he put his belongings and brings back the case.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"Interesting illustrations," says Isabella.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
He laughs. "Aren't they just? This book was my favourite thing in the world as a child."
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
"The standard history don't suggest that any of the augments from the 1990s survived. What happened with you, if you don't mind my asking?"
dream_me_up: (⑧ it's a better day)
Author: dream_me_up
He shrugs. "I ran away, what else?"
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"What enhancements do you have?"
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"Just about everything. I learn faster, think faster, move faster, react faster, heal faster, I haven't aged since I was thirty, my memory's almost perfect even coming up on three hundred years - I never looked it up and the records are long gone, but I'm half convinced genetic engineering is the reason I'm so pretty."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"Wow."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
He shrugs.

"Oh, and the name is fake, naturally. But I like it. I'd rather you keep using it."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"That will be no problem."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He smiles.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"You must have led a fantastic life."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh, I have," he agrees, laughing. "Want to hear about it?"
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"Yes, please."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"I've been to see a Klingon opera," is the first thing that comes to mind.
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"On a Klingon world?" breathes Isabella. "I didn't think relations were ever that good."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Between the Klingons and the Federation? No," he says with a slow grin. "Between the Klingons and me? Oh yes. Or should I say - between a Klingon and me. Her name was Shenara."
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"Ah. It's still not obvious how a human would manage to get into the audience of an opera without trouble, but an escort would help."
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"It's amazing what the rich and eccentric can get away with. I find that's true across any culture where the concept of 'rich' is relevant," he says. "Bringing her alien concubine to the opera was the least of her exploits."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella laughs softly at 'alien concubine'.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita giggles. "Well, I was. For almost a year."
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"How did you wind up in that position?"
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"She captured me while I was out on one of my first trips into deep space. I flirted. She was charmed. She decided to keep me."
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
"...Ah."
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"I really did like her," he adds. "She was a lot of fun."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"I suppose that's considerably better than the alternative. She let you go, or you escaped when you were done?"
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Option C: assassination. One of her rivals got her, and I stole Harley back from the spacedock and ran for it."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"I suppose that works too. What's Klingon society like up close?"
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"Violent. Structured. Beautiful. A lot like their opera," he laughs.
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
"The violence sounds unpleasant."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"It wasn't always."
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"I suppose you're probably about a match for a Klingon if you decide to be."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Shenara liked that about me."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella laughs.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita grins.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"What other improbable civilizations have you visited?"
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh, the Klingons were definitely the most improbable."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"What other interesting ones, then?"
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Orion?"
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
"I know very little about the society. I do know that the people are green."
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"They have taboos about food the way some species have taboos about sex, and they're as casual about sex as some species are about food. I've had sex with a lot of Orions, but only one ever let me make her dinner."
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"That's an interesting reversal, and not one I've heard of before. Sexual taboos are common. I wonder why."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"I have no idea."
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"For most races at most times, sex is more optional than food. Although outside of actual instances of pon farr Vulcans are at least as conservative as everyone else about the subject."
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"I got the impression that there was some unusual biology going on with the Orions, but not the same as yours," he says.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"So have you in fact lost count of how many languages you speak?"
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Yes. More than thirty, though, that's for sure."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"Do I know of the existence of any languages that you don't speak?" she asks.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"At this point? Probably not," he laughs.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"Wow," she laughs, shaking her head.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I like languages."
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
"The fact that I sometimes go online under the pseudonym "polarbear" is of little consequence - though I wouldn't like it spread around - but can I trust that you won't go into my other files?" Isabella asks.
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
"I kept away from the ones that looked private. I'll try not to daydream on your computer again."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"Succeed. Please. Even if you avoid anything with 'diary' in the filename, this is a one-person ship. I'm not usually obliged to be overmuch concerned with security and labeling on things that can only be inspected with physical access to my system."
dream_me_up: (⑧ it's a better day)
Author: dream_me_up
"I don't think it's going to be that difficult," he says with a shrug. "You got this ship secondhand, right? How long have you had him?"
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"A couple years. I bought him from a friend of my mother's cousin who married a Starfleet officer and now lives aboard the Drake."
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Did he have another name before? Harley used to be the Eurydice," he adds. "I could never figure out why."
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"Yes, I have a weakness for Greek mythology. I know it's a common name, but," she shrugs. "He was the Andes. I don't understand the motivation to name ships after geographical features."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
He taps his fingertips against his lips again.

Then he says, "Did you know that in the last two years five new planets have built their first warp drives and had their first official contact with the Federation?"
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"...I do read the news. Yes."
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"Almost like somebody's stealing fire from the gods."
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"So I'll do my best to stay out of your private files," he says wryly.
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella looks away, hands clasped in her lap.
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
warpfairy: (askance)
Author: warpfairy
"Thank you. My privacy is important to me."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I noticed."
warpfairy: (quandary)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella sighs, withdrawn.
dream_me_up: (⑬ impossible things)
Author: dream_me_up
"I haven't been in your private files," he adds. "I just - notice things."
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
She nods once.
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up


He shrugs.
warpfairy: (difficulty)
Author: warpfairy
So, awkward uncertain silence, then?
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
Apparently so!
warpfairy: (difficulty)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella might as well pick up a book, then.

She'll have time to get lots of read in on her deserted moon, won't she.
dream_me_up: (⑭ so damn permanent)
Author: dream_me_up




"I'm sorry I figured it out," he says. "But I can't exactly go back and not know it."
warpfairy: (askance)
Author: warpfairy
"I am," she murmurs, "less than clear on what you know or what you plan to do with it."
dream_me_up: (⑧ it's a better day)
Author: dream_me_up
"I don't plan to do anything. You're breaking the law, but why should I care? I remember when Earth was a prewarp civilization."
warpfairy: (quandary)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella relaxes marginally. "...Ah."
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"...Did you think I was going to turn you in? I'm not," he says. "The less contact I have with any kind of authority, the better. I wouldn't turn someone in even for a crime I didn't want them to commit."
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"I suppose that's fair. So now we both have blackmail material on each other, I suppose."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He laughs.
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"I probably shouldn't have named my ship Prometheus. It's a common name, but I suppose it must make everything snap into place obviously if you formulate even half of a correct guess."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"It kind of does," he agrees.
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"Maybe I should change it. I considered keeping Andes or going with the considerably more subtle Nicholas."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
"Nicholas?" he echoes inquisitively.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"As in," she smiles, "the saint."
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up


He laughs.
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"But possibly a name change will draw attention, too. I am unsure what will be the most useful at maintaining cover. I expect to be caught and confined to a small moon for the rest of my life eventually but would like to postpone it as long as possible."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I'd rescue you," he says whimsically.
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"Would you? Really?"
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"Why not? It's something I've never done before. And I like you."
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"You have known me for just over a week and I spent most of that time less than - coherent. I am aware that you like me, but a willingness to break into a Federation prison to release me is a step beyond."
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Not for me it's not."
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"Why not?"
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Because it's easy for me to care about people and hard for me to care about risk," he explains.
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
"This wouldn't be a matter of quietly changing identities. There would be a manhunt. It might go on for a very long time. Especially if I continued to steal fire from the gods."
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"Believe me, I know. I don't care," he says.
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"I am somewhat surprised you have managed to remain intact and free for this long, unless you acquired this attitude recently."
dream_me_up: (⑧ it's a better day)
Author: dream_me_up
"Taking big risks doesn't bother me, but I don't do it for its own sake, either."
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"Risk bothers me. But I think my reasons are sufficient ones." She looks up and smiles. "Do you want to see my very large number?"
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"Very large number of what?"
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"My estimate of the effects of my fire-stealing."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Sure."
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
"Computer, run estimation program version twelve," Isabella says.

"Running," says the computer.

And then it offers her the number 21,476,912,443 ± 2,008,154,014.

"It doesn't count future generations. Those are people who are alive today, who will - according to my best guess, you can see there's a huge margin of error - who will now have access to Federation standard of living and live longer for it. Lives I've saved. It does count the Mirivanl, though, even though Starfleet has not yet picked up a warp signature from them."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"That," says Lalita, "is a very large number."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"I look at it when I become concerned about the prospect of spending a much smaller number of days on some prison moon. I would willingly be inconvenienced for a day under those conditions to save a single life, and will live for dramatically fewer than twenty-one billion days. And I have not even been caught yet, by anyone apart from you. The math checks out."
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
He looks at her admiringly.

Well. 'Admiringly' is one way to put it.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"PN-115 is not a cover stop. It will contribute, presuming the scientists I offer the equations to take the bait."

She may be shifting position slightly under his gaze.
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"Can I come with you?" he asks suddenly. "I mean - I have to rescue the Harlequin, but it's about time I left her in a museum for good. And then I wouldn't have a ship. But you have a ship."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
She blinks.

"You want to come with me? On - it really is seventy-five percent surveying. Even the planting of warp plans is mostly a matter of learning to write numbers in the local languages and running a computer analysis of citation patterns to find someone inclined to pass mysterious research off as their own."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I could help with that for sure," he laughs. "And I've never done it before. And I like you."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"...It might be nice to have company."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
He grins.

"Especially if I stick around for at least another seven years?"
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
She goes very green at that. "I - would - find that agreeable."
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"You're blushing again," he informs her. "You know, you're only going to live to what, a hundred and fifty, hundred and sixty? Is one week every seven years really enough for you?"
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"It... is a minimum, not a maximum, but - until a week ago I had not - indulged - at all - and do not yet know what rate I will prefer for the intervening years. And I am not sure what you are insinuating. I specified that I would not take assistance as an indication of a more ongoing commitment, but that relates to the fact that the situation was urgent and I did not have a traditional mate available with whom to conduct a ritual marriage-sealing. The matter will not be urgent again for seven years."
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"I'm insinuating that I want to have sex with you again sometime in the next seven years," he says patiently. "And I think you do too. It was fun the first few hundred times, wasn't it?"
warpfairy: (askance)
Author: warpfairy
"...I wasn't counting. But. It was. I simply - I am not sure that - I am aware of cultures that consider it isolable from other facets of life but outside of recent context I do not appear to fit into such a culture."
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"Does this mean you don't want an alien concubine?" he asks, blinking innocently.
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"You are not an alien relative to me," Isabella points out.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, all right. I want to follow you around the galaxy and help you steal fire from the gods and talk to you and snuggle with you and have sex with you, because I like you and you're fun and I'm going to miss you when you die. What parts of that plan don't you like?"
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"The plan does not contain objectionable parts. It - does not have a recognizable shape if I presume those parts are the only ones operative."
dream_me_up: (⑧ it's a better day)
Author: dream_me_up
"Does it need a recognizable shape? What's missing?"
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"It would be easier to think about if it corresponded to something I have a label for. I can't tell if you want to be my - physically affectionate friend - or my sa-kugalsu or something in between."
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well... yes," he says. "Yes, I want to be one of those things."
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"Which of those things?"
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"One of them. Something in that range. I'd be more specific if I wanted something more specific but I don't."
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"I do not understand."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
"Then maybe neither do I. What do you want?"
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"I want to know what you are - insinuating, suggesting, asking."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I keep trying to tell you!" he laughs. "I don't know how else to say it!"
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"I will react differently to suggestions of affectionate friendship, offers of - boyfriendhood - and proposals of marriage!"
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"But I'm trying to tell you I wouldn't. I mean, I'd feel a little differently about them, but all three are fine."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
She peers at him, dumbfounded.
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
He blinks back at her.
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
"I am not sure what to make of that. I suppose I could just imagine that you'd been more specific and produce reactions to the individual ideas."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"That sounds like a fine plan to me."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"While it would not have been culturally uncharacteristic for me to have been betrothed at age seven, I do not wish to become so now to a man I met less than two weeks ago. I believe I would find physically affectionate friendship emotionally confusing. I would be willing to be your girlfriend."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, that's simple enough, then," he says with a laugh.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"I suppose it is at that."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita grins.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"And - yes, you can come with me if you want to. How long do you think it will take to rescue your ship and find a new home for her?"
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
"Not that long. A week, a few months - something in that range."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"Do you want to meet me somewhere later or would it make more sense for me to come along?"
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, if you didn't come along you'd have to find me again," he says. "And I don't know how long it's going to take, or where I'll be when I'm done."
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"There is that. It will delay PN-115 - but then, there is already a civilization in the pipeline, and they may be a little more densely clustered than is ideal."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Just a little," he agrees.
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"It is very hard to wait. Perhaps you can distract me from the fact that there are people who could benefit from Federation assistance on PN-115."
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
"I can be very distracting when I put my mind to it!"
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"How convenient."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He smiles charmingly at her.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"When I'm resupplying, what should I pick up for you? Food-wise?"
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh, I'll eat just about anything," he says. "I have favourite foods, but they're mostly kinds of candy that haven't been sold in a century or two."
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"That's a pity. I'll just get more of my usual assortment, then. I've been starting to incorporate more Vulcan foods as farms on New Vulcan have proliferated enough to make it less than prohibitively expensive; will you eat those too?"
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Sure!"
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"All right then. Is there anything else I should pick up while you're salvaging and I'm shopping?"
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Can't think of anything," he says.
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"How do you manage finances when you have to be a different person every few decades?"
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Cleverly," he says. "There's some stealing involved, but usually only from myself."
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
She laughs. "That sounds like at least one interesting story, and probably more!"
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh - I have to resort to the kind of trickery usually associated with major financial fraud to switch over identities while keeping most of my money," he shrugs. "It's getting a little harder and a lot more pointless as I get older and more things become free."
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"There are some reasons to have money, still. I wouldn't want to live indefinitely on postscarce food. I like saffron."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, yeah. But it's easier now to just take a few months as a gap and then get a job under the new name if I want to. It's not like I don't have skills."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"Fencing, dancing, cheffery," laughs Isabella.
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
"And prostitution," he adds, cheerfully. "Oh, that reminds me - the cheffery, not the prostitution - I can think of a few things I'd want to cook if I had the chance, and you have that teeny little kitchen. Interested? I could write you a grocery list."
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
"Sure. If there's anything expensive you might need to chip in some of the results of your grand theft."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He giggles.

"I could just give it all to you. That would be a new way to steal from myself."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"That would be a peculiar thing to do," Isabella points out. "On several levels."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
He shrugs. "Why?"
warpfairy: (highly illogical)
Author: warpfairy
"Large transfers of wealth draw attention; we have known each other for less than two weeks; the fact that we're going to be traveling together doesn't diminish the fact that then you wouldn't have it anymore. I suppose I'm a slightly longer-term caretaker than any of your myriad identities, since I age as I am expected to, but it will still add an extra step if you want to buy anything."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh, I wouldn't give it to you on the books," he laughs. "I'd just take it all with us, and if I had you I wouldn't need a legal identity of my own, I could just let you buy all the groceries."
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"Being without a legal identity could probably be inconvenient under some - admittedly unlikely - circumstances."
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh, sure," he says, shrugging. "But I still wouldn't need one."
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"I begin to suspect you have an unconventional definition of need."
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Of course I do."
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"What does it mean when you say it, then?"
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
"Different things, depending. Right now it means that I wouldn't have to have one just to make my everyday life convenient. I could get most of the same things out of living with you, in mostly the same ways, whether I officially existed or not."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"That's true. If you give the Harlequin to a museum you won't need the identity to keep your ship registered either."
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
"See? And if something else comes up, well, then it comes up. I can always start existing again."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"What's the procedure for that like?"
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
"Mostly, I make the old name disappear as much as I can and start using the new one. Sometimes I invent records; sometimes I just let the new paper trail speak for itself. The methods tend to change over the years."
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"What was your original name?"
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"There was a first thing I was called, but it wasn't a name and I don't like it," he says.
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"...Oh?"
dream_me_up: (⑫ tell me a story)
Author: dream_me_up
"What part of that do you want me to elaborate on?"
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
"Any of it you're disposed to."
dream_me_up: (⑮ statuesque)
Author: dream_me_up
He thinks about this for a little while.

Then he says, "The people who made me didn't think of me as a person. I probably would've hated anything they called me, but the fact that it was essentially a model number makes it that much worse."
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
"I'm sorry."
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
He shrugs.

"Thanks, I guess."
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
Isabella reaches out and puts her hand on his arm.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up


He puts his hand over hers and smiles softly.
warpfairy: (difficulty)
Author: warpfairy
"I have been known to experience mixed feelings about my parentage, but - nothing comparable."
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Yeah," he says with a quirk of a smile, squeezing her hand gently. "You had parents, for one thing."
warpfairy: (travesty)
Author: warpfairy
"Who loved me. And gave me names, one each." She squeezes back.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"I like your names," he says, and he picks up her hand and kisses it.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
She smiles. "I do too. I default to Isabella, but among Vulcans or anyone who might be more cooperative in some way if I present Vulcan, I go by T'Mir."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
He smiles back, nuzzles his cheek against her hand for a moment, and then kisses it again.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
She smiles and squirms just a little. These chairs don't roll, but they do swivel; she turns hers towards him.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita gets up out of his, and stands in front of her, and leans down and kisses her on the cheek.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Ooh, kisses. There should be more kisses. Isabella crosses her wrists behind his neck and increments kisses.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Kisses! He approves of kisses. Mmmmmmmmm.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
Good! The exercise would be purposeless if he did not approve. Kisses.
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
Leaning over her chair makes kissing somewhat awkward. He kneels on the floor in front of her instead, which improves the logistics only slightly but serves as a pleasing reminder of some recent activities.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Recent activities were indeed pleasing. Kisses where she isn't being eaten alive by the need for such activities: pleasing in a different way.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
Yes, they do lose a little of the urgency, don't they?

But they are still fun.

Fun can be had.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
It can!

They aren't due in Betazed for a while yet.
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
Indeed they are not.

Time enough for plenty of kisses.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
Kisses and snuggling.
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
Kisses and snuggling... and sex?
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Maybe a little. Isabella is a lot shyer when she has the luxury to be, but apart from turning visibly green and sometimes breaking eye contact and being much slower and more tentative about the whole thing - well, they're the same pair of people.
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
Lalita is very snuggly and affectionate and fond of her blushes. He likes to kiss them when they appear.
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
Awww. This creates a feedback loop. And giggling, it also creates giggling.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
Giggling creates more giggling! Also cuddles. It creates some of those.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Spontaneous generation is fun!

Cuddles are good.

Isabella is relatively well-suited to solitary deep space survey. But she thinks she'll like having someone to hold her better.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
Giggly cuddles it is, then.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Those are nice!

Eventually:

"If you're not going to have a legal identity does that mean I shouldn't update the manifest to include you?"
dream_me_up: (⑥ you know I know)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, you can if you want," he says. "I have a good fifteen years left on this one. You'll just have to quietly drop or rename me at some point."
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
"Should you be crew or passenger?"
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
"Does it make a difference?"
warpfairy: (engineering)
Author: warpfairy
"Only to what I put in the manifest file."
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Whatever you want, then."
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
"All right."

Snuggle.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
Snuggle cuddle snuggle kiss! Mmmmmmmmmmm. Kiss.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
Kisses.

Hand on face and questioning look?
dream_me_up: (② we're all mad here)
Author: dream_me_up
"Yes," he murmurs.
warpfairy: (meditative)
Author: warpfairy
Snuggles and touch-telepathy.
dream_me_up: (③ or else it doesn't)
Author: dream_me_up
He likes her. He likes her a lot. He is just full of lovely wam snuggly happy feelings for her.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
That makes her all warm and snuggly and happy right back! Yay!
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
Mmm. Snuggly and warm.
warpfairy: (shoulder)
Author: warpfairy
Mmm. Good things.

Isabella's stomach growls.

"Instant risotto?" she says.
dream_me_up: (① nothing you can do about it)
Author: dream_me_up
"Sure," he laughs.

They can snuggle-eat together like they did during the past week! Can they?
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
That is totally doable! Instant risotto is as the name promises. Isabella plates two servings and sits herself in his lap.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
He cuddles her and noms the food. Nom!
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
They get closer to Betazed.

When they're only a couple hours out, Isabella observes: "Betazed is predominantly inhabited by telepaths."
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"...Yes?"
warpfairy: (vulcan calm)
Author: warpfairy
"I can block casual reading, but you probably can't, unless you were engineered by someone particularly prophetic about what humanity would encounter in later years. If I couldn't block it I wouldn't want to go anywhere near a Betazoid. We have enough supplies to go to Hallia instead, if you were only agreeing to Betazed to avoid inconveniencing me."
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
"Oh. I don't care," he shrugs. "I don't spend so much time thinking about my secrets that it's a problem to go near Betazoids."
warpfairy: (quandary)
Author: warpfairy
"...Are you generally that casual about telepathy?"
dream_me_up: (⑩ more than a man)
Author: dream_me_up
"...Yeah, why?"
warpfairy: (how curious)
Author: warpfairy
"I - perhaps too much, I haven't thought about it in any practical-level detail before - tend to romanticize telepathic connections."
dream_me_up: (⑨ listener)
Author: dream_me_up
"Well, Vulcan telepathy is different from Betazoid," he points out reasonably. "There's not a lot of romance in walking past a stranger and knowing they're probably reading your mind a little, but there's plenty of romance in cuddling up with you and letting you read me."
warpfairy: (difficulty)
Author: warpfairy
"Yes, I know. And you can't block Betazoids anyway. Just -" She shrugs. "Not everything is casual surface reading. If you want to be my boyfriend you should probably know that it would make me uncomfortable if you were engaging in less casual telepathy with other people."
dream_me_up: (⑪ pretty please)
Author: dream_me_up
"Okay," he says. "...How about sex, will you be uncomfortable if I have sex with other people?"
warpfairy: (neutrality)
Author: warpfairy
"I - am okay with it if you really want to," she says after a moment's reflection. "I wouldn't design my ideal relationship from scratch that way, I don't think, but I don't anticipate it bothering me anywhere near as much as promiscuous telepathy would."
dream_me_up: (⑫ tell me a story)
Author: dream_me_up
"I don't really, really want to have telepathy with anybody but you," he says. "But I really, really want to have a lot of sex, and not always with the same people."
warpfairy: (Default)
Author: warpfairy
"Thank you for letting me know before going and having it."
dream_me_up: (⑤ you'd have to be half mad)
Author: dream_me_up
He smiles crookedly.
warpfairy: (satisfactory)
Author: warpfairy
She aligns the contour of her hand with his jaw and kisses him.
dream_me_up: (⑦ love and war)
Author: dream_me_up
Mmm, kiss. Snuggly feelings!
warpfairy: (momentary)
Author: warpfairy
She pulls those snuggly feelings out of his mind into hers and likes them and snuggles their owner.
dream_me_up: (④ from one minute to another)
Author: dream_me_up
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Feelings snuggles!