Chief Towel Thief

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 12:54am by Cailus Griffin
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:21pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Gymnasium
Timeline: Current

A Mission Post by Lieutenant JG Natalia Parrino & Lieutenant Cailus Griffin
Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Gymnasium
Timeline: Current
Tue Nov 13th, 2018 @ 7:29am

The ship's gym was, as could be expected, a busy place. With four hundred crew onboard the ship, many of whom were expected to maintain a certain level of physical fitness, there was often at least a couple of people in the gym at all hours of the day, even into the early hours of the morning. At certain times after the end of the work shifts, the gym could even get a little crowded. Such things were inevitable on a starship.

Cailus was long used to the Pandora's rhythms and usually planned around the gym's busier hours, but today proved to be an exception. An impromptu evening of family time, playing with Aoife and then a ten-minute conversation with Shae that turned into a ninety-minute chat/cuddle on the couch, meant that by the time Cailus finally left his quarters and got to the gym, the place was remarkably busy. 2100 hours was right before the start of the night shift for various officers including Cailus, who was on the duty list to command the Bridge for that night. He had switched shifts with an ensign so that he could have his medical appointment at the same time as Shae and Aoife, and tonight would be when he paid the price.

Of course, he mused as he walked to the only available treadmill, Shae had been savvy enough to have her shift switched to a more reasonable time on another day. Which meant that she could sleep comfortably in bed while he was stuck with the tedium that was a nightly Bridge shift. Cailus tried not to be irritated at that.

He really did try.

Half an hour later, having completed his daily exercise regimen and several extra sets afterwards to work out any residual grumpiness, Cailus finished a series of chin-ups on an elevated bar, moving back to his towel and water bottle. His body was covered in the sheen of sweat, although the purposefully designed Starfleet exercise attire (a simple gold vest with black shorts, to mimic uniform colours) meant that Cailus' clothing was still relatively dry and sanitary.

Unfortunately, towels weren't. Without thinking, Cailus picked up a towel from a rail and wiped his face clean before frowning at an unfamiliar smell.

"Ey!" Natalia shouted, stopping her bag punching as she saw Cailus pick up her towel.

"What the hell? This isn't mine," he grumbled, before spying his actual towel on the rail beside where he'd picked up the other one. Frowning at his error, Cailus looked around the still busy gym. "Whose towel is this?" he asked the nearby gym-users, holding the towel up.

"That would be mine," Natalia responded to the ignorant Lieutenant, as she came closer to him with a glare.

"My apologies," Cailus replied mildly, making an abortive gesture to offer her the towel before thinking better of it. Instead he strode to a small towel dispenser on the wall, putting the soiled cloth into a dispenser before taking a clean towel out in return. Moving back to the woman, he offered her the fresh towel, utterly unaffected by her glare.

"Parrino," he said in recognition, frowning. "One of Smith's people, correct? Deputy Chief of Intel?"

"That's right, Mister Chief Tactical /Security Officer," Natalia gave a sly grin. "Or is it Towel Thief-in-Chief?"

At that quip, Cailus raised an exasperated eyebrow. "Really, Parrino? And they call you guys 'Intelligence' officers." Grabbing his water bottle from a bench (and double checking this time to confirm that it was indeed his), Cailus took a hearty swig, although even as he drank, the man kept an analytical eye on Natalia. "Are you on the Bridge with me for the night watch? It's rare to see black-shirts up at this time otherwise, much less in the gym. You’re usually nice and cosy in bed, getting your precious beauty sleep."

"I hope not... I know they've rotated the crew schedules since we're docked, yet I have not been informed of any change, especially since I just worked second shift," Natalia answered wryly. "I like to work out late... less people, usually," Natalia's eyes shot a glare at Cailus as she started checking her gloves.

Answering her glare with his own stony appraisal, Cailus jerked his head at the central mat of the gym. "I've still got twenty minutes until I need to leave to report for duty. Until then, Parrino, let's see if you can back up that attitude with ability. Sparring, no limits, light contact." With that, he turned back to the wall where, alongside the towel dispenser, was a row of gloves and headguards. It was a far more limited selection than was offered down on Deck 17, where the security and tactical officers trained, but it sufficed for Cailus, who only grabbed a pair of light gloves and swiftly donned them.

Returning back to Natalia as he adjusted the gloves, Cailus added gruffly, "It's not an order, Parrino, just an offer. You can decline if you should so choose. Either way, there are only two people on the ship whom I know to be comparable or superior to me in CQB. One has four pips and the other does not spar freely. This is an opportunity to see how you skills hold up."

"Oh, don't worry, Lieutenant. I don't back down from a challenge," Natalia's pursed lips somehow became more intimidating. She turned to place her new towel down and strode to the ring, putting on her headgear as she approached.

Cailus made a low grunt of approval before retrieving a headguard of his own and strapping it on. After stepping onto the mat, he set himself in an ordinary fighting stance, his gloved hands held in a low guard at chest height. Nothing fancy, not yet.

"Let's see it, Parrino," he said sternly, waiting for her to make the first move. Cailus wasn't inclined to let the brusque woman off easy, although he resolved to treat her just like the unfortunate Sec/Tac crewmen whom he sparred with. There was no sense in humiliating her, but the icy glint in Cailus' eyes made it clear that light contact or not, Natalia Parrino was in for a bruising few minutes of sparring.

"You don't care to dance, first? I am disappointed," Natalia teased. She soon got bored of Cailus's wait and leaned in with a left fake and jabbed with her right.

Bouncing on his feet, Cailus deflected the jab, moving around Natalia with surprising agility for an older man. "I don't dance, Parrino," he retorted as he moved, only offering long-distance jabs as he waited for her to really push an attack. "I know that Smith is damned good with a blade. I want to see what you can do too."

"Blades are no match for arms," Natalia retored, referring to phasers, yet the play on words worked here. Looking up to the half-foot taller Cailus, again, she went in for a jab, yet anticipating his dodge, she dropped down and kicked his ankles from behind in a sweeping motion.

And so Cailus fell hard on his ass with a hard grunt. He immediately twisted around on the mat, ready to retaliate immediately to bring Natalia to the deck with him, only to see with approval that she'd anticipated him and moved out of range.

"Good technique," Cailus said sternly as he swiftly got to his feet, raising his open-handed guard once more. "Better tactical awareness. Did you learn that at the Academy, or somewhere else?"

"From my brother--" Natalia started, but before she had a chance to respond fully, Cailus launched a more serious attack of his own, bouncing forward with multiple repeated jabs and crosses before leaning back to attempt a roundhouse kick to Natalia's head.

Natalia blocked a good part of the jabs yet a few snuck in and she stepped a few paces back, trying to maintain her bearing. She looked up just in time to see the roundhouse kick and ducked.

Breathing heavily, Natalia retorted, "Nice technique. I see your jabbering is your strength," she smirked.

Cailus grunted in amused acknowledgement, the corner of his mouth twitching as he bounced on his feet. "You're more right than you know," he retorted as he probed Natalia's defence with some more exploratory jabs, moving lightly around his opponent, forcing her to move around the mat as well. "Take the Klingons. They never shut the hell up in a fight, but hand-to-hand, they're the best CQB fighters I've ever seen."

Natalia was unsure if she could really take the large man and probed Cailus's defenses as well. Seeing they were near the ropes, Natalia quickly hopped on one and launched herself onto Cailus in a swinging kick.

The acrobatic kick caught Cailus by surprise, forcing him to block the kick fully rather than deflect it, leaving him off-balance and on the defensive.

Natalia found her in and swung a right hook at Cailus followed by a left jab.

The techniques both connected, and while both Natalia and Cailus were carefully controlling the power of their strikes, her punches were enough to knock the breath of him. Natalia was on the front foot, gaining confidence with her agility and technique, imparting a newfound respect in Cailus for his opponent as she backed him up against the ropes. Spook or not, she had highly impressive skills, better than many in Sec/Tac, while her stamina and fitness was exceptional.

So Cailus kicked it up a gear.

He was sweating profusely now, the gold vest damp and sticking to his chest, his powerfully muscled arms slick with sweat, but that didn't slow him down in the least. If anything, there was utter ruthlessness in the man's blue eyes. So when Natalia pressed her advantage to try and inflict a punishing flurry of punches against her pinned in opponent, Cailus's arms suddenly flashed to deflect her punches to one side with unerring skill. In the same movement his arms moved in a fluid blur, first clutching Natalia's shoulder with one hand before grabbing her hand with his own, then forcing Natalia into a dramatic aerial somersault, ending with her on her back.

From there, Cailus didn't press his advantage, simply staring down at Natalia as he stood above her. "Impressive," he said with gruff approval. "Most impressive."

Natalia huffed and quickly got on her feet. She charged, letting her right knee go towards Cailus's abs followed by a left elbow towards his head.

Her attacks were sharp and ferocious but Cailus stood his ground, blocking Natalia's knee before ducking under her elbow, simultaneously sliding forward to ram his shoulder into her ribs, his arm wrapping around her small torso with an iron strength. From there, without hesitation, he seized Natalia's buttocks with his other hand and pulled, picking the small woman up with sheer brute strength before slamming her (lightly) down onto the mat.

The throw brought Cailus down with Natalia but even then, he didn't pause for even a moment. Not giving Natalia a chance to react, he pushed up her body, seizing her wrists as he pulled his powerful thighs up to straddle her small torso. That done, he released one of her wrists to hold a closed fist above her head in a silent but potent threat.

For a moment, Natalia stared at Cailus's eyes. "So not only do you steal my towel, you also happen to touch my ass? What would Dr. Brennan say?" she teased.

“Flirting, Parrino?” Cailus sighed down at her, exasperated. “Really?”

Then he glanced around the gym, with the various gym-users surreptitiously watching the sparring partners, and realised abruptly that he and Parrino were most definitely not alone. Hell. He’d have to be sure to tell Shae about this little incident before she heard it from the rumourmill, which given her ears, wouldn’t take long at all. She wouldn’t overly mind Parrino’s flirting, he knew, but Cailus preferred to spare her the surprise and hurt of hearing it from someone else first.

Although in fairness, there were advantages to Shae being jealous.

Clamping down hard on that train of thought, especially given his rather compromising position, Cailus unstrapped and took off his headguard, revealing his black hair to be slick with sweat from the energetic sparring. He got to his feet, extending a muscled arm down to Natalia to help her up.

“My thanks for the spar, lieutenant,” Cailus said politely, although his congenial words matched a face that was virtually Vulcan in its impassiveness. “You are a very skilled fighter. Wild, but skilled.”

"I'll take that as a compliment. Let's get this straight though, you were flirting, not I," Natalia smirked as she removed her headgear and started on her gloves.

"Keep dreaming, lieutenant," Cailus retorted idly as he walked over to the bulkhead, depositing his gloves and headguard for cleaning. A burly Andorian grinned devilishly at Cailus from a treadmill, only for the grin to fade at the brutal glare that Cailus threw back at him. The security chief then rolled his eyes as he grabbed his towel to wipe some of the sweat off.

"I'm going to grab a shower. Until next time, Parrino," Cailus said with a respectful bow of his head, pointedly keeping his eyes where propriety demanded.

"That was my towel, again!" Natalia tried to keep from laughing and failed at the end.