Better Company, A Room With a View

Posted on Tue Mar 12th, 2024 @ 2:15am by Captain Remy Johansen & Civillian Samuel Wynters

2,143 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Menagerie: side stories & mischief making
Location: Forward Observation Deck, Cet Ops
Timeline: MD 2 - MD 3 ... It's either really late or really early. Who's keeping track.

True to his word, there was no judgement from Samuel. In fact, as Remy spoke of herself, his expression actually turned softer and more compassionate. When she finished, and was sitting on the arm of on of the couches, he walked over to her and gently took her hands into his, lifting them up to his chest, over his heart. "You see? I'm still here, my blood is still pumping through my veins." He lifted her hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles, all the while, his eyes stayed on hers. "You think you're the only one who's done things that others might disagree with?" He shook his head. "I've fought and killed people long before your grandparents were born, I spent time in the Orion Syndicate, first as an enforcer, then bodyguard, then the owner of my own bar. I've been selfish as well. When most of my people went to colonize the new homeworld, I chose instead to travel the stars. I know what it is to want to do things your own way. The only difference between then and now...is that I found you. No one is perfect, Rem. However, you are close enough to perfect for me." He took a breath, then asked, "What do you say? There's no strings attached here. Let's just take things one day, one hour, one moment at a time?"

"You're going to have to stop talking like I'm some sort of ... I don't know. Take me off the pedestal. I haven't done anything to be put up there. It... " Remy stopped herself. "Never mind, just, I'd feel a little more comfortable if you set your expectations of me a little lower."

Samuel smirked playfully as he responded. "Low enough that you'd sleep with a stranger on the first night?"

"Didn't I mention I've made some questionable decisions in my past?" Remy teased. She let go of his hands and pushed herself back onto the couch, scooting over to give Sam a place to sit next to her.

Moving to sit down next to Remy, Samuel lifted is left arm and put it on the back of the sofa behind her. With his right hand, he started to slowly drag his fingertips up her thigh as he asked, "And your present?"

Remy looked down where Sam's hand was tracing her thigh. "I've got a reputation to keep up apparently," she quipped, before leaning back and nestling underneath Sam's arm. She slipped her right hand over to his thigh and began to mirror Sam's movements, tracing his thigh the same way that he was hers. "You didn't answer my question earlier. Do you and Maxun Spello know one another or is it a coincidence?"

After Remy snuggled into his side, Samuel turned his head and gently kissed the top of her head. He then closed his eyes and focused his mind, reaching out to feel the presence of his countryman. After a few beats, he shook his head. "No. He is unfamiliar to me."

"Interesting coincidence then," Remy pondered. "For a race so rare, I mean. Unless there are more of you than you let on." Remy turned her head so she could see his face. "How old are you?"

Samuel opened his eyes and looked at Remy. Without hesitation, he replied, "By your calendar, I'll be 469 years old in a couple months." He took a breath and added, "And last I heard, our population numbers had risen to around three hundred thousand."

For some reason when Sam told her how old he was Remy felt sad - over contemplative of things she'd never see. She had no idea who her ancestors even were to go that far back in time. She never minded being alone, in fact she often preferred it, being an introvert at times, but in the moment she found herself not wanting Sam to leave her side. Despite how late it was getting she didn't want the night to end.

Among all of those thoughts swirling in her head, the only thing she shared out loud was her curiosity. A follow-up question. "Do you have any children?"

With a smile that seemed to glow from within, he replied with two simple, yet very important words. "Not yet."

"So what is the most exciting thing that you've done in your life?" Remy asked. Still nestled under his shoulder, she looked up at him for his answer.

"You mean, despite the obvious?" He chuckled softly as he pondered her question. "The most exciting thing.....well...first thing that comes to mind is when I went Orbital skydiving for the first time. Two hundred and...ten years ago. I was in orbit of Baduvia, located just past Breen territory. The planet was a frozen wasteland, but, after each winter cycle, the winds would get so strong, that they would carve tunnels in the Ice for hundreds f kilometers." He shifted slightly so he could gesture with his right hand easier. "See, first, you drop from the Orbital platform, then, as gravity starts to take hold of you, you pick up speed very quickly. After I entered the upper atmosphere, I was already falling around 200 knots. Then, at a certain point, your chute is supposed to deploy automatically. Mine didn't."

"You obviously survived. What did you do?" Remy asked.

"I'm getting there, sweetheart, be patient." He winked at Remy before continuing. "So there I was, my main chute had failed. Turns out, the hatch mechanism spring had broken, making the chute inoperable. So, I remembered the safety training, leveled myself out, for drag, to slow me down enough for the reserve chute to deploy. After falling another 5-6000 feet, the reserve deployed and I was able to slow my descent enough, for the next phase of the jump, wingsuit gliding through the tunnels. There enough of a updraft to keep you going for almost a hundred kilometers."

"This activity doesn't sound very safe," Remy commented. "So for an El Aurian are your 200's like our teenage years? Wild and reckless?"

He chuckled warmly as he shrugged and replied. "Who said I was no longer wild and reckless?" He gave her a playful wink as he reached down and interlocked the fingers of his right hand with her left. "The oldest of my people, a Holy Woman, lived until she was nearly two thousand and twenty-three. The oldest man on record lived to nearly sixteen hundred. We live each day to its fullest, as no one is promised tomorrow."

Sam's answers as they were had Remy feeling even more contemplative the longer they talked. Unfortunately when she became lost in her own thoughts marked the times that she felt truly alone, regardless of who the company was. She gazed into the stars, sitting in silence for a moment, thinking that perhaps she should stop asking so many questions for the evening.

Feeling her unease, Samuel reached over and gently turned her face back to face his. "You're not alone any more, Rem. As long as you want me by your side, I'll be here." He then kissed her again, this time a long, slow kiss, with his slowly moving his right hand around to the back of her skull.

Remy closed her eyes and kissed him back. Something about the intensity with which he touched her, held her, sent warm sensations throughout her body that she couldn't explain or begin to describe. She parted her lips from his momentarily, "No promises. Promises are a prison, Sam. I'd never ask that of you." She turned the rest of her body toward him, staying in that ethereal connection he had somehow created around them. "Just stay with me as long as you feel like this." She brushed her lips against his and felt the soaring sensation again. "You're like a drug. I can't seem to get enough of you right now," she admitted. Her eyes wandered to his arms, his chest, and back to his face as she wondered what had happened between them in the last few hours to make her want to give into him like this.

Samuel's eyes feasted on the angel in front of him. While he had certainly kissed his fair share of lips before, hers seemed to have a sweetness that shone brightly high above all the others. When she asked him for no promises, he grinned as he replied, "How can I promise to not promise? And if I give myself to you, know that it is only to you. The path goes both ways. I will give you everything I am, freely." When she kissed him again, he wrapped his arms around her and shifted on the couch, pulling her up to straddle his lap. When she spoke again, he gave her that hungry grin again as he responded. "Then feast, my love. Enjoy all I have to give you." He pulled her back down into another strong, passionate kiss, both hands going up into her hair, gently rubbing her scalp.

Remy let out a soft moan, returning his kiss with fervor before she pulled away, getting off of Sam's lap and standing up. She laughed at herself for a brief second. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm doing. I am Acting Captain of this vessel, and at the very least am hoping to stay her first officer. Anyone could come through here. I don't know what I'm thinking." Remy shook her head trying to get out the fog she had found herself in. Then she looked at Sam, his eyes, always ready to meet hers.

"The last guy I dated, I strung along for four years, maybe longer depending on how you count it, before he finally had enough and walked away," she stated. She meant it as a warning, but then the thought almost seemed humorous to her. Her entire lifetime would be just a blink in Sam's eyes.

As he remained seated, Samuel watched and listened as Remy seemed to be trying to convince either of them about how this couldn't work. He just kept watching her and giving her that soft smile of acceptance. "And who says the Acting Captain of hopefully Executive Officer can't have happiness in romance?" He then stood and moved over to stand in front of her. "And if your worried about someone walking in, we could go somewhere more private?"

"Walk me home?" Remy asked.

Samuel didn't ruin the moment with words. Instead, he turned and offered his left elbow to Remy again. He could see that this woman was special. Even if she didn't see it in herself yet.

Remy took Sam's arm, leaning into him this time, less conscientious than she was before. "I won't make you crawl through the jeffries tubes this time. It's a bit further of a hike," she said playfully.

"Aww," he pouted playfully. "And I was s looking forward to watching you ass as you climbed." He smirked and gave her a quick wink as they approached the nearest turbolift. "You will simply have to find some way of making it up to me."

"Deck Two," Remy stated when they got into the turbolift. "Well, I'm a mediocre cook, but my grandma did teach me how to make a mean loaf of bread. And chocolate chip cookies,"

"I see," Samuel replied with a head nod. "So your plan is to fatten me up, so I can't escape your clutches, eh?" He chuckled a but as he finished speaking.

When the turbolift doors opened on Deck 2, Remy led the way out of the turbolift. "Well what else would you like? I haven't painted in ages, since the war, actually. How are you at sparring? I can hold my own, if you ever wanted a match." Remy tried to think of creative things to say as they walked the hallway and took a turn, finally reaching her door.

Remy let go of Sam's arm and turned to face him. "This is me," she announced. Her mind still at war with whether she should invite him in or not.

"I'll draw from time to time," Samuel replied. "I could draw you, if you wanted. As for sparring, I have some experience with it, we could certainly go to the mats any time you feel like."

When they reached her cabin. He leaned against the open door jam. "While I would certainly like to come inside, I won't without your permission though."

Remy touched the panel next to her door causing it to open and stepped backwards inside. She didn't take her eyes off of Sam as she waited for him to follow her in.

As his hungry grin grew larger, Samuel followed Remy inside her cabin. As the doors started to slide shut, they found themselves drawn back together by one another's pull.

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