Trainings on comportment
Posted on Tue Oct 1st, 2019 @ 3:30am by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Tue Oct 1st, 2019 @ 3:30am
3,123 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Episode 8 - The Silence
Location: Section 36A - Room 522 - Deck 5 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 1530 hrs
The setting was complete. With the holodeck not an option, Tallida had scrambled to convert an empty office into the perfect location for a marine's lesson on officer comportment. The fact that Neil was on her agenda when she arrived at the office that morning more than amused the Angosian. He had told her briefly told about his promotion and the hoops he had to jump through for it. She wondered if he knew that his most recent training would be with her.
Neil rolled his neck unconsciously as he neared the appointed place at the appointed hour. He'd been surprised when an appointment had popped in his queue with Tallida. She hadn't said anything the other night, the last time he'd seen her, about this. Still, with bureaucracies, who knew.
As he entered the sensor range of the door, his contact feed found the door's eye and it cycled open so he had no need to pause. Stopping instead just inside the door, he glanced around and saw the counselor. The room surprised him, but he said nothing as he looked at her curiously.
Quietly.
"Good afternoon, Captain," She stated when her eyes fell on the Marine as he entered the room. "I apologize for the rapid scheduling of this meeting, however, Captain Malbrooke has a desire for your officer training to be done with haste." She gave him a wink before taking a few steps towards him obviously amused.
Neil raised an eyebrow at that, looking her over first then glancing about the room and then back again. "What. He's coming too? And may I ask what kind of training?"
"All officers of the fleet must have training in the proper comportment fitting of that title." She grinned. "As ships counselor and specialist in all things behavior, it has fallen to me to give you said exposure and training." She broke out into a giggle as she moved wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. "I know this is supposed to be professional, however, I seem to find myself quite amused."
He kissed her back readily and then asked. "So amused and what's this talk of exposing yourself?" His eyes twinkled as he continued, "And during office hours? And you've discussed being exposed with the Captain? This tale is getting more and more interesting..."
"Funny man," She replied with a nod of her head. "The only person I am exposing myself to is you." She grinned. "Part of Officer training is learning how to handle ones self in social situation when you are a representative of the fleet." She had stepped away from and moved over to the small table in the corner of the now empty room. "There are three lessons for this section," she turned towards him. "Dining, cocktails, and..." She pressed the remote and the room filled with a light music. "Dancing."
"Dancing?" He repeated. "I knew that was in the curriculum for Field Officer training...but they're doing this now?" He sighed and then quirked a smile, "You're sure we couldn't investigate the exposed thing?"
"If you behave," Tallida replied with a knowing smile. "You have the time, I have the time, so it fits." She replied to his question on timing. She used her hands to motion for him to join her in the middle of the room. "I have a feeling that you have done this before?"
He eyed her briefly, then moved toward her in a slightly predatory movement, moving to take her hand in his right and slip his left to the small of her back. "Mother insisted," he admitted. "Though it's been an eon since that time. So, this is part of Counselor training?"
Neil stepped into a simple waltz, leading her rather jerkily at the beginning until they found the pace.
"Merriam," She answered with a smile as she moved along with him easily following his lead. "It came in handy during my officer training." She flushed slightly at the thought that crossed her mind, causing her to look down. "This will be fairly less painful that I had first thought."
"Look at me, Tallida?" He asked, stopping them, "Hiding something or just a bad thought?" The hand in her back pulled her slightly closer and he started the waltz again once he had her attention. "My mother said it was part of my music lessons. You can feel the music when you play, but feeling how another reacts to the same piece is very valuable. It's why it was always part of ancient courtship rituals, celebrations and the like."
Tallida looked up at him through her lashes before she smiled. "Your mother sounds like a wonderful women." She danced around the question he had asked her, not wanting to tell her what had been on her mind. The music ended and she was surprised how smoothly they had moved. "Your dancing skills are impressive."
"I dance like a blind, drunk PFC. But you avoid questions and things like a virtuoso. I'll make you a deal though," he said as more music drifted up. This time they smoothed out quickly and moved into a more uptempo step, following the music.
"Tell me what distracted you back there and I'll tell you what my father said about dancing," he smiled at her, stepping then spinning her out and back into the dance with him.
Tallida laughed as her hand moved to rest at the based on his neck on his shoulder. "It really wasn't anything." She grinned up at him. "I was picturing you in your dress uniform." Her cheeks flushed against. "It was surprised by the, uh, affect, it had on me." She looked up at him. "See, I told you it wasn't anything."
He chuckled at that, smiling and said "Well that does go along with what my father said about dancing. When I turned twelve, he told me that women love a Marine in uniform, so the life course he'd played out for me wasn't all bad. Then, when I turned fourteen, the next time I saw him, he told me that dancing was like the uniform in it's effectiveness to impress a woman and get her attention."
They waltzed for another thirty beats and he winked at her, "When I was sixteen and saw him on Mars, he finally told me that if you do it right...don't step on anything. Then it's better than an aphrodisiac..."
Tallida laughed, she could see all of those things applying to Neil. "Kalen was the first guy I ever danced with, and he was more interested in the innuendo of the movements than the majesty of them." She looked up at Neil with a smile. "You have great control over the majesty." She couldn't help herself as her eyes leveled on his lips, and a flush cross her cheeks when it did so. "Perhaps your dad was correct."
"And that name surfaces again. This Kalen, is he chasing you still while he's aboard? Hoping to rekindle things, perhaps? A doctor that's interested in giving you a full physical once more?" He kept his tone light, but his eyes were on hers. They were following the music together in time now, unconsciously moving together as they spoke.
"That is what he claims." She replied keeping her eyes on his. "Doesn't seem to much matter what I think on that topic." She rolled her eyes. Not at Neil, but at her annoyance of the situation.
"So, kick him in the balls and tell him to leave you alone," Neil counseled as he stepped and dipped her, then brought her back up closer to him this time.
"I spoke to Tyler about him, uh, Captain Malbrooke." Tallida began. "He doesn't seem to think too highly of him." She gave Neil a knowing grin as they once again parted before coming back together with a spin. "Worried?"
Neil made a show of considering that as the music ended and another started. They swept into it without pause when he said simply, "No. You'll be with who you decides deserves you. I can live with whatever's best for you, even if I might not agree."
Then as they swirled in the middle of the floor, his hand slipped from the small of her back to her rear and he smiled. "And, I am a firm believer in the best man winning. And I'm the best man I know."
She laughed, loving moving with him and being in his arms. She followed his lead as the pace of the dance quickened and slowed and the pair turned around the floor. It was easy to forget they were in an abandoned office on the ship. His words churned in her mind and she stopped, looking over his handsome face. "I want you, Neil." She said simply.
"I'm not surprised," he nodded. "I kinda want myself at this point." Then he stepped, dipped her and said, "Computer. Lights to fifty lumens at source."
Tallida laughed as she rolled her eyes at him. "Are you sure you need me in this relationship?" She watched his eyes as the lights dimmed around them. Hers flashing with amusement.
He pulled her up slowly, holding her against him as they continued to dance now, slower. "Of course I do, Tallida. We are in a relationship, after all."
The dance they moved into wasn't a waltz. It was more sensual, more personal than the court dance of old Earth. She looked up at him. She said softly. "Even if you don't need me for your ego." She stretched up and kissed him softly, smiling.
He returned her kiss his hands drifting over her back and lower before he drew back, "I say I do need you. I do want you. And it's not ego, when you're right."
She simply nodded. "I didn't mean for this to get all dramatic and serious." She replied, not drawing back for once. She gave him another smile. "Captain Malbrooke, thinks you are the better man as well. Nice to know so many people agree with me."
He pinched her behind then and eyed her, "The Captain and you have been discussing me, have you? You do realize that the only person's opinion that matters is yours. Of course, I can't blame the Captain for casting glances your way..."
"Captain Malbrooke has a history with Kalen, he volunteered his opinion of you." She laughed as she jumped from his pinch. "He knew about us, blamed it on scuttlebutt, but," She shrugged. "As much as I would like too, I don't talk about you all the time."
"So, you've never considered that our good Captain might be entertaining un-chaste thoughts in your direction? I'm not saying he would act upon them. You're a sexy, accomplished woman. It's natural for others to be interested. Just like it's more or less natural for Marines to be seen as part of the background. But we do see things."
The look on Tallida's face was nothing less than amused incredulousness. "Tyler? Captain Malbrooke," She started with a shake of her head. "Having untold thoughts about me?" She let out another laugh. "While I will admit that he is a male and biologically that is a possibility, I really sincerely doubt that if it were anything, it wouldn't have been more than a fleeting unconscious thought." She couldn't help her giggles.
Neil nodded. "You realize most of us males consider the biological at least briefly, unconsciously maybe, pretty much every time we meet a female. It's when you stop doing that there can be problems."
After a few seconds, he amended "Apparently."
"Well, I like to think that Captain Malbrooke is just looking out for me." She smiled touching Neil's face as she gave him a quick a playful kiss. "I like knowing you think I am sexy." She gave him a wink.
"I think you're very sexy," he confirmed. "I have since that first counseling session."
"Really?" She asked the shock of his statement adorning her face. "Why?" She asked as if that made no sense to her, since it didn't.
"Part of it's probably primal. I've went through post mission/traumatic incident counseling before. Several times, Tallida. They almost always that reaffirming basic primal desires is part of not feeling guilty for living while others have fallen...and reminding us we're just not machines," he quoted.
The music ended and they stopped dancing.
"After we blew up, I was even more keyed up and you stuck in my mind. You are very sexy when you're angry, you know," he told her, a grin playing over his face again.
"They are right you know, primal, basic instincts are what prove that we are alive." She toyed with her lower lip slightly as she moved over to the replicator and ordered up two of Neil's iced teas. "I guess that is fair, you were stuck in my head. Still are honestly." She replied as she handed him his glass never taking her eyes off him.
"Sure they're right. But that doesn't change that first attraction. Or what's followed along either." Neil accepted the glass and sipped from it, then said "Are you afraid it's just a passing thing?"
"Isn't that always a fear when you are dating someone?" She asked, more from her psychology training than any experience in dating. "The worry that the sensations are just endorphins and the needs to reproduce?"
He looked at her for a long moment, then stepped to her his hand sliding up and cupping the back of her neck and drew her to him, kissing her deeply. After a long moment, he broke and said simply. "No. Walking in fear is no way to go. You're tentative. It causes stress which builds and builds and eventually it'll undermine everything."
"Try and not worry about it. Just enjoy the ride," then he smirked slightly, "Figuratively and literally."
Tallida enjoyed the kisses and returned them eagerly. She smirked up at him. "I wasn't talking about me or my worry," She grinned knowingly before her expression turned soft. "Neil," She said softly. "I am not afraid, I know how I feel about you."
"So you were thinking I would change my mind still," he said after they had kissed for moments more. "Does it surprise you to hear me say I know how I feel about you too?"
"No," She replied easily as she watched him, reading his face, the way he regarded her, the way he drank his tea. "In the few weeks that I have known you I have learned that you are a good man, you don't make rash decisions, and you go after what you want." She smiled. "It is one of the many things I love about you." She tried to hold back the surprise, not in the words but in the fact that she had said it.
He nodded and smiled at her then, "I love you too, Tallida." Then he kissed her lightly.
"We will figure this out, Neil." She said softly returning his kiss. "As we go. We just have to be patient with each other." She laughed. "Well, I am pleased to announce that you have passed the dancing portion of your officer training." She laughed teasingly.
"That's a relief," Neil replied, "I don't know what I'd have to do if I had to remediate." He took a drink from the tea, keeping an ice cube in his mouth and then kissed her neck.
Tallida shivered from the dissonant temperatures on her skin from his lips and the ice cube. "I am sure you could have sweet talked your instructor." she laughed, "I hear she had a thing for Marines." She replied as she turned her head giving him more access to her neck. She let out a contented sigh. "Coming over for dinner?"
He was silent for another moment as he traced the ice cube back and forth for a few moments more, then straightened and said, "Sounds good, if you want me to that is. You've had a hard day and a trying student, after all." He was watching her more intently now...though his tone was teasing.
She couldn't control the shiver that ran through her. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want you too, dummy," She smiled as she swatted him playfully on his nice rump. She returned his gaze for a moment before she asked him what he was looking at.
"You," he said simply. "And only you. My mind is on other things, however. And I'm thinking about our dancing. I think it was a very good start for an evening." Then he smiled and said, "Food didn't enter in until you mentioned it...but yeah. Food would be good."
"Penny for your thoughts?" She asked. "Or was it only dancing?" She grinned taking another sip of her tea. "But speaking of food, what are you in the mood for?"
"You," he repeated, a smile working over his lips. "I thought I said that, Tallida. You really do need to keep up here. I didn't think I was being subtle...." he took a deep drink from his glass and met her eyes again.
"Sorry," She responded her cheeks flushing. "I didn't know that was what you meant." Her tone was soft as she drained the remainder of her tea. "Is that the look then?"
"Each and every look, is the look Tallida," he reassured her. His hand now finding her rear. "Each and every one." He upended his own glass and looked at her. "Now I just have to localize and memorize your look, and we'll be set."
"Better get on that." She said, her voice low as she both their glasses on the table and moved close to him. She watched him, her eyes roaming over his face before she kissed him. She let out a giggle as she realized where they were. It didn't stop her fingers from the finding the nape of his neck.
Neil shivered slightly at her touch and kissed her, guiding her toward the desk, as he whispered into her ear "I think I just saw it."
The gutteral sound that escaped her lips was almost animalistic, it fit the almost feline smile on her lips. "Oh?" she teased. She put up no fight as he moved her. "I am sure it is there whenever you are around."
A Joint post by
Lieutenant Tallida Ovaa
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Captain Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
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