EXETERRPG: ACEO, Lt. JG Alistair Brightwood and Physio Lt(jg) Cerise Blake

[Mark Howard]

Mission: Auld Lang Syne

Day:02

Stardate: 2445.12.20



(Risa– Temtibi Lagoon, On a boat- ACEO, Lt. JG Alistair Brightwood and
Physio Lt(jg) Cerise Blake - 11:04)



To say the mood from the day before to now had shifted would be an
understatement. First the sailboat rental called and had to reschedule for
an earlier time. So Alistair hsd to scramble, calp Cerise, hope she could
reschedule, pack a lunch, and then get sailing. Luckily the boat was nicer
and had a small cabin with table and couches that could be converted into a
small bed in case either of them got sea sick.



They had been on the lagoon sailing for 30 minutes but it seemed like the
magic from the night before was gone. It was awkward to say the least.
Alistair was wearing a blue polo and white and blue checkered board shorts.
He wore sandals and his mustachioed face glistened in thr sun.



"So ummm" He said after 30 minutes of awkwardness. "Have you ever sailed
before?"



Cerise pulled her attention away from the horizon, and smiled. “Only in a
ship with officers and crew totalling 500 at effective FTL speeds.” she
winked playfully. She’d been awake late, and sure as predicted, her stomach
had been none too clever that morning, the sudden hit of ‘whatever she felt
like eating and drinking’ had played merry hell with her digestion.



"So never?"



“I haven’t no. I’m assuming that you know what you’re doing? She straighted
the legs of her yoga pants, and then shifted her shoulders in the
lifejacket.





"I'm a posh Brit." He smiled. "Grew up sailing. Sailed the English Channel
at 18."



“Ah! Of course!” she smiled. “Spanish Armada and all that.” she said
playfully. She’d warmed to Alistair over the last day, all the
conversations with him had settled her, and she felt comfortable around him
enough to be a bit more like herself.



"You know you can take the life vest off if you want."



She raised an eyebrow? “Oh can I now?” She smiled.



"Well yes. The rental place said it's only mandatory for those under 13 and
based on…" he stopped himself. "So yeah umm."



She unzipped the lifejacket and went to pull it off, however one of the
fittings had come tangled in her hair, which had grown longer in length of
late. “Ow Ow Ow…I’m caught...can you?”



"Uhh. I can try." He said approaching her.



She turned her back to him and twisted her neck



"Ok. Hold on.  Turn 60 degrees to your right."



She turned to the side, aware that being comfortable around someone, and
being comfortable with them in her personal space were two utterly
different things.



He then took Out a small knife and cut Just the smallest amount of her hair
to free her.



"Sorry. Had to take just a small Lock. Less painful that way."



“School me would have drowned you for that…” she smiled. “But thanks, I
need it redone anyway.” she turned back round, wearing a close fit white
t-shirt covering a bikini top. “So what’s the plan? Is the pointy end
pointed somewhere in particular, or just see where it goes?”



"Oh just figured we'd sail around the lagoon for a bit. That's kind of thr
point. Just the freedom. The nature. No aim, just the wind guiding us.
Though if it dies we have a motor to get us back to shore." He said as he
returned to steering the boat.



“How fabulous.” The sea breaze lifted her hair, and she filled her lungs
with the delicate, sea scented air.



"But we'll drop anchor for lunch. If the water is nice maybe go for a swim.
The Cabin has room to change and a replicator."



“Sounds lovely. This is so relaxing. “I grew up in the hills by ‘frisco
bay, but never went near the water. It didn’t figure in Mom or Dad’s plans.
They owned a yacht that was moored in the marina, but he never took it out.
I’m beginning to resent that.”



"Last two years of the academy I requested off campus housing. I lived on a
house boat right there in the bay. I took it out every weekend."



“How lovely. I grew to love the walk round by the bridge on up to the
point, jogged it every other day when I became able to.”



"What was it like," Alistair asked inquisitively, "being queen bee?"



She smiled. “You asking the me that’s sat here or the me I was then?”



"Just Curious. I've never been popular. Didn't quite look as muscular back
then."



“Then me, if she’d have spoken to you, that it was the be all and end all.
You’re a Brit, so that may have gotten you a pass.” Her face fell slightly,
saddened at the thought. “The now me realises I was a precocious annoying
horrid little bitch. And I don’t miss her. I hurt so many people. I’m
happier now, just sat here talking to one person, than I ever was then.”



Alistair just nodded.

“So tell me about you? School friends?”



"Just three. My best mates all the way from primary school.  We went to the
same posh boarding school. Reginald Crawley, Nigel Rourke, and Abigail
McManus. Super nerds, super happy. Until I joined Starfleet.  They shunned
me. All have doctorates now. Except Abigail. She, she perished in the
incident while in San Francisco. Headed to a museum after….making amends
with me."



“Have you spoken to them since?” she looked at him tenderly as she spoke.
They’d all lost people one way or another in the incident.



"At the funeral back home. Shortly after I shipped out on my first
Starship. An old Luna class, the USS Phobos. Haven't been back to earth
since if I'm being honest."



Cerise nodded. “Lost a couple of people, my gym coach, teachers, couple of
the nurses who helped me. I haven’t been back either.” she sighed, reached
out, and held his hand gently. “I was speaking to Lynn a while ago…”



"Who?"



"Forgive me,  old school nickname. Ailynn, the Commander? She said the a
similar thing to me, that every step that we’ve taken since we started at
the Academy, has separated us further from what we were, and our lives;
further from Earth even.”



"It just reminds me of who I could have been, what people wanted me to be,
but I could never be Professor Brightwood, and go about my life teaching
philosophy."



“What of home? Do you not miss it?”



"Home is a reminder of other people's dreams. Not my own."

Cerise nodded, and looked at him, “I think you’d like Dad. Mom’s a bit high
maintenance, but she means well.” She laughed. “You’d at least show him
which end the pointy end is on the yacht.”



"That I could."



“Can I steer? If I sit by you I mean?”



"Would be my privilege captain "



Carefully she moved over and sat by him, her body closer to his than she’d
been to any other person, but she smiled her comfort, and took a hold of
the tiller.



"Alright wind is shifting, so turn the wheel about 60 degrees starboard."



“It’s amazing,” she beamed at him as she turned “I can feel the current
change. I feel so free.” the change in wind caught her hair and blew it
behind her.



"Its a lot easier now. Technology handles most of the rigging on the sails.
Almost takes some of the fun out of it. But makes it easier to sail solo."



“Can you imagine what it would have been like without it.



"I had a boat build to 20th century Specifications. Moored it back home.
Was off world. Bad storm sunk it. Mum blamed it on me. I was on Betazed
with the Phobos."



“You were light years away, and you caused a storm and sank your own stuff?
Your mom think you’re Thor or something?” she grimaced, holding up a hand
“I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”



"She wanted me to be superman. The best damn Professor in the history of
the British Isles. Marry well, live in a country estate as if it was Pride
and bloody Prejudice. So being in starfleet it was my fault. Had I been
home I could have moved the boat or something."



“That...is tenuous at best…”



"There are some rocks ahead according To the sensors. Turn port 70 degrees."



She turned the wheel to the left, the rudder surprisingly responsive. “Aye
Aye Cap’n” She said whimsically. “I’ve just had a great idea…”



"Yes?"



“We could sail round the lagoon boarding other ships and pinch their
treasures.” She grinned at him.



"You're not showing enough cleavage to be a pirate." He said without
realizing what he was saying. "Sorry that was….rude."



She laughed warmly. “You’re so cute when you relax.” she said. “There’s
nothing wrong with a naughty joke. Lynn has got perhaps the filthiest sense
of humour. Even at school when I hated everything, I always liked that.”



"Yes but it is unbecoming of a proper gentleman."



“And also to be seen out with an unattached young lady without a
chaperone…” she winked, and hugged him with her left arm. “You’re fun.”



"Well I am at sea. My home. For not only am I a proper gentleman, but I am
a British Tar."



“A what now?” she asked, an interested look on her face.



Alistair smiled and began to sing.



"Ralph, Boatswain & Carpenter.

A British tar is a soaring soul,

As free as a mountain bird,

His energetic fist should be ready to resist

A dictatorial word.



His nose should pant

and his lip should curl,

His cheeks should flame

and his brow should furl,

His bosom should heave

and his heart should glow,

And his fist be ever ready

for a knock-down blow."



“I don’t know the song…Kind of like it though.”



"Gilbert and Sullivan,  from the H.M.S. Pinafore "



“You have a nice voice. Kind of...I dunno, manly, in a pleasant way.” she
smiled. “I can’t sing a note. Not a musical bone.”



"Its Ok. I couldn't soar through the air the way you did. We all have
gifts. Its foolish to be jealous of another's gift without first
recognising our own."



She nodded, “I see that.”



"Hold up, sand bank coming. Turn hard to port."



Quickly, she threw the wheel to the left, and continued to feed it through.
Her hands, strong through years of her physio training, and the corded
muscle in her lower and upper arms, from years of gymnastics and strength
training, took the strain of the wheel, resisting the boats urge to turn
back to the right.



“You okay?” She asked, “we good for direction?”



"You...sure you've never done this before?"



“I’ve never sailed, but Dad let me pretend and spin the wheel. You said
hard a port so that’s the way we went.”



"Well done."



“Its never left the dock, but Dad uses his yacht as an office, We’d have a
picnic sometimes on the deck, and he’d let me play with the wheel, and
switch all the sonars on.” She smiled gently, reminiscing. “It was so
silly, there was always a lighthouse or something that we’d have to swerve
around.”



"Sounds lovely. It was my uncle Lionel who taught me to sail. My dad's
brother. He wasn't married, no kids. A vagabond mum used to say. Hed travel
around the quadrant as a marine biologist. But always cane home and he,
dad, and I would sail every time. Until he was eaten by a shark."



Cerise looked at him, “I’m so sorry. Truly. I hate that special people are
taken out of people's lives.”



Alistair laughed. "That's what he calls my aunt Sylvine. He stopped sailing
with me once he had kids.  Sylvine is afraid of open water. So he just
lectures now. So she's the shark that tamed him."



She punched his upper arm, looking at him, a look on her face of playful
annoyance.“you are such an ass. I thought you meant he was dead.”  She
scowled. “Asshat.” she laughed.



"Only if you consider marriage a death sentence."



“You’re so mean...Did I hear mention of a swim and lunch?”



"Yes."he Said as he Checked their depth. He then activated the mechanism
that dropped the anchor and retracted the sails.



"Swim first or lunch first?"



“Swim would be lovely.”  she smiled happily, she was so at ease in
Alistair’s company, and he seemed to be relaxing too.



"Well then." He said tossing his polo aside. "The gate and stairs are at
the stern. Motor should be off so no issues there."



Cerise beamed happily. A natural athlete she normally tried to swim every
other day, but that was in the somewhat sterile and artificial pool on the
Exeter. This was altogether different. She stepped away from the wheel, and
pulled off her t-shirt, removed her yoga pants and moved toward the stairs.



“Coming?” she asked.



Alistair found himself admiring Cerise. The bikini was a far departure from
the one piece she wore the day before. Distracted he tripped and fell
overboard.



Cerise looked at him dumbfounded, then roared with laughter, the image of
him plunging headfirst sicking forever in her mind. “You okay there hun?”
she asked, still giggling. “You didn’t tell me you made the dive team.”



Surfacing and treading water He smiled. "Its the penalty for being
improper."



She smiled and shook her head, “what are you like? Come round the back,
I’ll open the gate and grab your stuff. It’ll dry quick enough in this
warmth.”



"Its ok. All my stuff is on board. Thankfully i took my shirt off and my
swim trunks pockets were empty. " he swam to the gate.



Moments later she found herself stood by the gate at the stern of the boat.
The last day, and especially this morning running over in her mind. She
found herself at ease and comfortable in Alistair's presence, and it was
clear that he found her attractive, and his manner, though awkward and
occasionally charmingly clumsy, was genuine, and gentle. She jumped into
the water, dipping her head back and wetting her hair to keep it out of her
eyes as she trod water gently.  “I’m having such a lovely time you know.”
she smiled shyly.



"Odd. Usually by this point I've made an utter arse of myself."



“Well,” She shrugged. “If I laugh, it’s because a situation amuses me, not
because I’m laughing at you.” she swam gently but strongly, “I meant it,
you’re cute. I like you.”



"Oh?" He asked.



“You’ve made me rediscover something that I’d forgotten about myself, that
I used to have fun, also helped me to learn that I’m only judging myself,
and to learn to reach out to people.”



"I guess that means we're friends?"



Cerise was slightly crushed, the quick glances that had had of
her...well...her, the gentle flirting, and the connection that she felt
that they had made. She smiled it all back. “Yeah, I like that.”





~idiot go for Broke~ Alistair Thought to himself.



"Just friends? I know you said you were not interested in romance and sort
of asexual, which is a shame because look at you.  Sorry not proper. I just
don't want to think one thing when really its…"



She nodded, and swam gently up toward him. “I’ve never really felt a
connection with anyone, so whatever I said I was, is based on simple
experience.” she smiled “However that was before the last 24 hours, which
is utterly ridiculous. So not friends.”



"That's my life." He laughed.



“I mean this.” she leant forward and resting her hands on his shoulders,
kissed him.



He kissed her back, grabbing the stairs with one arm and holding her with
the other so that they wouldn't drown. "Well then. That was entirely
unexpected."



Cerise smiled shyly. “Kind of surprised myself too to be honest. I don’t
mean this the way it will sound, but I’m attracted to you, I have no clue
why, but I am.”



"So what you’re saying is, you want to see if you're the shark that gets to
eat me?"



“I’m saying, that you get to eye me up and not fall in the sea again, or
throw your comm device into my cleavage.” She giggled, and kissed him
again. “Look seriously though, I am not rushing, a lot is happening, and a
lot of things still scare me, so baby steps yeah?”



"I'm a proper gentleman. We'll be going slower than tar." He smiled.



(Reply none)

(Posted by Will and Mark)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://startrekfreedom.com/pipermail/exeter-rpg_startrekfreedom.com/attachments/20210328/b2f3a664/attachment-0001.html>