Finding time **CONTENT WARNING**

Posted on Thu Apr 4th, 2024 @ 9:07am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Lieutenant JG Damien Blackford & Lieutenant Vira Vemre [Whavi]

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Mess Hall
2257 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The petite operations officer slowly removed her right arm from the sling the doctor had ordered she use for a few weeks. Her muscles were stiff and reluctant to expand. Her arm had been broken in three places during the chaos. Her stubbornness in trying to help others before tending to her own injuries only burdened the recovery process. Vira flexed her fingers, testing her limits. She knew she needed to perform daily rehabilitating exercises in order to full regain the strength in her arm but the mornings were the worst. She tried extending her arm towards the table to pick up her fork. Her elbow refused and she winced in pain. The dull ache flaring up.

Vira sighed and let the arm rest in her lap while she retrieved the fork with her left hand took a bite of the unseasoned eggs on her plate.

Damien sighed as he stepped out of his tent, a chill ruining through him as a sudden wind whipped up, sending tendrils of ice running down his spine. God he hated the cold. He didn't do well in temperatures like this. Sure, he's had survival training at the Academy as part of the Security Track, but that didn't mean he had to like the weather.

Wrapping his coat around his body, he quick marched from his temporary home, to where the mess tent was located, only stopping to move out of the way of the Officers who were carrying supplies.

Stepping inside the tent, he let out a sigh of relief as the warm air rushed over him. Not great, but better than being outside. Grabbing some food, he glanced around the room, trying to decide whether he wanted to eat with someone, or sit by himself.

As his eyes glanced around the room, he felt his breath catch in his throat as he caught sight of a familiar blonde hairstyle. It was all he could do not to drop his tray and run over to her. Instead, he took a breath, collected himself, then slowly walked over, stopping behind her. "Mind if I join you?" He asked softly, smiling.

Vira's back stiffened. Surely she was imaging the voice. She chanced a look over her shoulder and dropped her fork as she jumped out of her seat. Momentarily forgetting about her still healing arm. She winced in pain but wrapped Damien in her good arm. She gripped him tightly, afraid to let him go.

Rambling she said, "I missed you. I looked for you. It's been chaos. Im so sorry." Her voice was muffled as her face was pressed to the side of his neck as she still refused to loosen her grip.

The tray dropped out of Damien's hands as he wrapped his arms around her, the resulting crash causing a few crewmembers to look around in surprise, but he didn't care. Right now, all that mattered was the fact he knew that Vira was safe.

He held her tightly, one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close, the other reaching up to softly stroke her hair. "Ssh." He whispered quietly, kissing the top of her head. "Ssh. It's fine. I'm here. I'm safe. We're both safe." He closed his eyes, tears leaking out. "I missed you so much." He said, fighting to keep the tremor out of his voice. "I was so worried."

Vira heard the tray fall but barely registered that it had been Damien's that fell. She wasn't ready to let go. She told herself she never would, as impractical as that would be. Her injured arm throbbed with the pressure she was putting on it wedged between their bodies. After a few moments she pulled back a little, her hand never leaving his shirt. She felt if she lost contact he would disappear. "I've been up top until today. Doing what I could. Trying to anyway. I was booted after my presence was deemed more of a hinderance." She smiled sheepishly remembering the damage she caused after dropping a few equipment pieces in operations. Her eyes scanned Damien, looking for any signs he wasnt okay in anyway. She took in his tears with a shuttering breath, she hated seeing him upset, all she wanted was to make him smile.

Damien nodded as they finally pulled apart, but he still kept one arm firmly wrapped around her waist, keeping as close as he could. He let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “You? A hindrance? I find that very hard to believe.” He teased softly, leaning his forehead against hers. When he pulled away, his eyes scanned over her, before they landed on the sling on the table behind them. “Is that yours?” He asked, nodding over to it. “What happened? Are you okay?”

"I'll be fine. The muscles just need time to strengthen. Not easy having your ligaments shredded." She tried to lift the stubborn arm but only made it so far. "The nurse keeps scolding me for not being patient. But I'm convinced it should be better by now, she told me its fine and im healing normally, but I tried to tell her it shouldn't take so long, then she told me it was because im stressing it and i should take it easy, but you know me, I dont really like taking it easy. So I tried some yoga and the damn thing crammed up again. Ugh...." Vira finally took a breath and looked up from her arm. She smiled, realizing that nothing could compare seeing him in person with her own eyes.

Damien chuckled, shaking his head. "You never were the most patient of people." He said quietly, leaning down, and kissing her forehead. He reached a hand up, gently cupping her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "I missed you." He eventually whispered softly, leaning in to kiss her, stopping at the last second as he realized that people were starting to watch them. Pulling back, he cleared his throat. "Should we maybe go somewhere a bit more private?"

Vira's face filled with a devilish smirk, for a moment the crisis they were all faced with was forgotten. She quickly picked up Damien's fallen tray and placed it on the table with her own discarded plate. Grabbing his hand with her good one she led him out of the makeshift mess hall and into the cold frigid air. She almost regretted her quick retreat from the slightly warmer eating area but her grip on Damien's hand only tightened. She wasnt sure where they were going, she was currently bunked with at least ten other officers in a shared tent but she remembered someone mentions caves on the side of the mountain close by and decided now was as good as time any any to check them out.

Damien saw her smirk and quickly returned it. Linking his fingers with hers, he allowed her to lead him out of the mess area, squeezing her hand as the sudden blast of cold air hit him. Glancing around the encampment, he watched various officers hurrying around, and suddenly realised that there were very few places that could actually qualify as 'private'. Looking over at her, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "So, where exactly should we go?"

“There’s a few caves on the side of the mountain I’ve hear people talk about. Most are just empty frozen caverns, but there’s one with a hot spring. I haven’t seen it, but I’m sure we can find it.” Vira sped up a bit hoping it wouldn’t take long to find what she was looking for. As they passed a tent she halted releasing Damien’s hand, “Give me one second.”

Vira disappeared into the tent before he could respond. Her voice could be heard conversing with another before she re-emerged outside holding up a tricorder. “This should help!”

Damien smiled, squeezing her hand. "Hot Spring. Sounds a hell of a lot better than hanging around here." He increased his speed, keeping pace with her, stopping outside the tent whilst she went inside. When she reappeared, he smiled at her. "Alright then. Lead the way."

Giddy, Vira pointed the tricorder towards the mass of mountains just outside the settlement that helped shield it from the worst of the ice planets unpredictable weather elements. Vira was quiet for awhile, focused on the readings to lead their way. Once she felt she had a somewhat clear heading she felt confident they were going in the right direction. “Just a few more minutes.” She looked up and smiled at Damien. “I don’t know about you but I’m definitely looking forward to a warm swim. I’ve never felt so close to being a popsicle in my life.”

Damien smiled, watching Vira work, hands in his pockets, rubbing his fingers together to keep some warmth in them. When she started walking, he followed behind her, not 100% sure where she was leading him, but just happy to be back with her.

Chuckling, he nodded in agreement. "Very true. You make a very cute popsicle though."

Vira narrowed her eyes at Damien, "I doubt you will agree with that statement when I start to complain about losing the feeling in my toes!" She looked back down to the tricorder following the readings around the side a mountain. Once they turned a corner a warm gush of air swept past them. As it glided across her frozen cheeks she sighed with delight and hurried her steps to the entrance. The cave was darker then she realized and had not thought to bring a lantern or any light source.

Damien laughed, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, that may be true, but you'd still look cute." He said, grinning, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. Following her round the mountain pass, he let out a soft sigh of relief as he felt the warm air wash over him. Hurrying inside, he stopped at the entrance, squinting as he tried to look around.

"Hold on." He murmured, pulling his Phaser out, stepping away from her, groping around the cave, gathering up a small pile of stones, setting the Phaser to its lowest setting, and quickly shooting the stones, causing them to glow softly, bathing the small cavern in light.

Walking back over to Vira, he smiled as he looked around the cavern. "It's beautiful." He said softly, his eyes falling on a the hot spring in the centre of the room, steam rising slowly. "Although, I see a small problem." Grinning devilishly at her, he continued. "I didn't bring my bathing suit."

Vira gave Damien wicked smirk, "And when has that ever been an issue?" She set down the tricorder and removed her heavy winter coat, hat and gloves before moving closer to the hot spring. The warmth was already thawing her limbs. In minutes she would be sweating in her clothes. She looked over her shoulder once at Damien before continuing to remove her clothing. When she removed her boots she was surprised to feel the warm of the rocks under her barefoot.

Discarding the rest of her clothing she pulled the tie holding back her hair and tossed it to the pile. She could feel the bitter cold from the cavern entrance on her back as she slowing stepped into the warm water. "You coming lover boy?" She called back.

Damien simply shrugged, continuing to smirk at her. "Fair point." He said, shrugging his coat off, letting it drop to floor, leaning down to remove his boots, glancing up, locking eyes with her, grinning before kicking his boots off.

It didn't take him long to discard the rest of his clothes, leaving them in a pile, a small shiver running through him as he felt a small breeze blow in. He walked over to the edge of the pool, but didn't step in, instead crossing his arms over his chest. "Is that an order, Lieutenant?" He asked, grinning at her.

Vira turned in the water, rising so her bare chest was visible above the water line. Her skin glowed from the dim light in the cavern. Her expression was hungry as her eyes roamed over Damien still standing outside the spring. Her arms created small ripples in the water as she moved them on either side of her. "Does it need to me?"

Damien's eyes roamed across her body, biting his lip, before dropping his arms, walking into the water, quickly closing the gap between them, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her close. "Not this time." He muttered, before pressing his lips to hers, kissing her hungrily, finally away from prying eyes.

Her arms immediately wrapped around his neck as her legs came up to lock around his hips. Her fingers tangled themselves in his hair as she deepened the kiss. The cool skin of her shoulders quickly heated but regardless of their closeness she wanted more. She gently bit Damien's bottom lip before whispering. "I missed you so much. I want you Damien. Now."

Damien wrapped his arms around her, one slipping around her back, the other slipping under her, holding her close against his body. A small moan slipped from his lips as he held her as close to him as was physically possible. He gently nipped her bottom lip. "I need you Vira." He whispered, his lips kissing along her neck hungrily. "I need you now."

OFF

Posted by the GM as it has sat here for months.