Reflections and Relationships

Posted on Mon May 28th, 2018 @ 9:24pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Operation: Risa!
Location: Risa, Aestus Province Receiving Station
Timeline: 2265

Farewells and hugs were exchanged, though they would all be headed back to the same place eventually. But somehow, it was still a departure, a goodbye to this place and who they had been for a weekend. Charybdis knew that she would miss this life... but then, that was the purpose of a vacation. To go somewhere new, enjoy it with those close to you and to leave it with wistful memories.

Her decision to leave early was based partially on practicality and partially on sentimentality. She wanted a chance to shop for tourist tschotchkes at Piazza Adventus before she left... she found, unsurprisingly, that she was quite desirous of remembering this weekend. A few decorative magnets, a reproduction of the Star of Risa pendant for sentimentality's sake... after all, it really did look rather striking on her. She found a 29 cm tall aluminum recasting of a statue of the three Furies that appealed to her. None of them resembled her friends, but she would know what it meant, and it would always bring a smile to her face. Best of all, it came with a magnetic base, which made it perfect for starship life.

Moving through customs she was perhaps more vigilant than she might have been previously... now she knew that there were potential hazards that could make themselves known in such a setting, and she definitely wished to avoid them. Her souvenirs were of no issue to the customs agents, nor were her bags of clothing of any concern. However, there was apparently a need for a detailed inventory of her purchases from Dionysius' Delights.

The eyebrow raised and a smirk settled onto her face as she watched her purchases from the specialty shop being removed from her bags one after the other and publicly inspected. She wasn't sure if this was meant to embarrass her or simply to entertain the customs people, but she decided that she'd had enough. As the next item was removed from the bag, she volunteered a rather graphic description of potential applications and usage of the device in a scientific and pedantic manner, much to the horror of the family vacationers in line around her.

Whatever reasons Risian customs had to detain her apparently no longer applied, and she was sent through rather briskly.

There was still much to do once she was back on duty, and she still had the rather thorny problem at hand of just what to do with, or rather about, Patrick. She owed it to him to talk to him, but this weekend had placed their relationship in remarkably clear perspective for her, and she had come to a number of internal realizations. She liked to think of herself as a woman of the galaxy- bold competent, capable and in command of her own destiny. But she was not terribly sophisticated when it came to matters of the heart, and she had been so strongly attracted to him that when he returned her interest, she had tossed aside all common sense and embraced him wholeheartedly.

They wanted different things from relationships, she realized as she watched the beautiful Risian countryside flow by. Each of them wanted to be the centerpiece of the relationship... that had worked fine when she was willing to put aside her own needs for his, but that simply wasn't the case any longer. She wanted more, and with a newfound self-worth that came from self-realization combined with friends who cared enough to tell her the truth, she had begun to believe that she deserved more.

Of course, she rather strongly suspected that Patrick O'Conner was not terribly amenable to change. She chuckled at that... a mild understatement perhaps. Briefly she wondered where he was and what he was doing, but he had not contacted her and she knew that he was currently mountain biking in the Selor mountains. If he wanted to reach her, he had a communicator, and that he had not spoke volumes.

So she would talk to him when the time came and they would discuss and perhaps something good would come of it or perhaps they would go their separate ways emotionally but continue to work together... oddly, that part she had no difficulty with whatsoever, and she realized it was because it would not change their professional relationship in the least. That was a bright spot, at least.

Therein lay the key, she suddenly connected the feelings. They were not friends, she and the captain of the Bonne Chance. Now that she had some and she recognized the signs, she realized that Fiona had been correct, as had Selune. She and Patrick were not friends, and while they did have quite proficient and athletic sex together, and he did profess to love her, they had no common interests nor did they do anything together other than sleep and screw. Which left rather a gaping hole in their relationship.

Perhaps, she mused, they could work on that. Or perhaps the concept would irritate him and he would dismiss it. Time would tell.

For now, that was the future, and she still had four days until that came to pass. In the meanwhile, she had duties and reports and that comfortable chair in the center of the bridge waiting for her... the comfort of the routine she was still building that she enjoyed so very much. She did not have Starfleet breathing down her neck- all she had to do was care for the ship and crew and keep both ready for anything that came at them. That she welcomed gladly, for in her short time aboard the Bonne Chance she had embraced her and come to think of her as a living, breathing entity. One that was her home, protector, ally and friend.

Friends... she had them now. They would never forgive her for leading them into a sewer, and they would likely tease her about her short-lived career as a Risian stripper. Legends of her tolerance for Romulan Ale might circulate, as well as the odd mention of the Alth'Indor burned onto her shoulder, that now bore the motto of the Bonne Chance beneath her. They might bring up the feisty engineer and herself getting tattooed, or perhaps even rib her about her shopping spree in the land of adult novelties.

A smile crossed her face, peaceful and contented. Because that was what friends did, amongst other things. They remembered the best and worst moments, because they had been there to share them. With a start she realized that Ford Matthews had been her only friend on the Antares, yet she had never recognized it... she had been so far removed from the concept she hadn't even seen him for what he was.

PDD in hand she dashed out a quick letter to him, apprising him of her career, her life in brief and her current surroundings, and asked after him. She wanted to know, she realized with a start. She missed the soft-spoken and easygoing earthman, the farmer's son who had gone to the stars, bringing that fine simple wisdom and patience with him. The letter ran rather longer than she had planned, but that was just fine. It would reach him in due time and perhaps he might respond.

As might a friend.

Rather than beam up, she opted for a shuttlecraft. Selune could have taken her, but the feline had been desirous of her privacy, and the comely commander wanted to respect that choice. Instead she called the Bonaventure and asked that a shuttle be sent for her, giving no explanation and receiving no request for one. Rank did have its privilege, it was true, and of the First Officer wanted to see her big beautiful best friend from the outside before she boarded her once more, that was her privilege.

The sight would be well worth the extra time, and it would make for the perfect memory that she would treasure for the rest of her life to cap off her night out with the girls.


And it would have, save for the fact that while she waited for the shuttle's arrival, a voice behind her calmly asked, "A moment of your time, Major Charvanek...?"

 

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