Feeling
Posted on Sat Oct 31st, 2020 @ 5:06pm by Commander Mindo & Terrekal
Mission:
Shore Leave
Location: Lieutenant Mindo's Quarters
Timeline: current, 0100 hrs
ON
It was just past one in the morning. Mindo laid awake, sweat lacing his naked body. Beside him, also nude, lay Terrekal. The covers were off, removing all privacy. Both of them lay on their backs. Despite their exposed state and perspiration, they were not cold. The only contact they made now was with their hands, linked together. They hadn't spoken for several minutes until Terrekal broke the silence.
“What's wrong?”
Mindo turned his head to look at Terrekal. Terrekal turned as well and their eyes met.
“What do you mean?” Mindo asked.
“You're upset about something,” said Terrekal. “Or rather someone. Whoever she was meant a great deal to you. She wasn't just another acquaintance or friend. There was something about her...”
Mindo sighed and closed his eyes. “I forgot about Fesarian lovemaking,” he said.
“Love... making?” Terrekal said, baffled by the term.
“Feeling,” Mindo corrected himself. “The humans call it lovemaking. I guess I got used to the term.”
“What's it like to feel a human?” Terrekal asked.
“Humans are more about physical sensation. They also care greatly about performance and appearance. A common question afterward is, 'Was it good for you?' As if the act is unpleasant to some people. Their personal emotions do not link with each other the way Fesarians' do. And while they enjoy the act, they find it obscene at the same time. They even have a curse word for it.”
“A curse word for lovemaking?”
Mindo nodded.
“Are they monogamous like some other races?” Terrekal asked.
“What do you think?”
“I don't know,” said Terrekal with a laugh. “The first time I ever met a human was about a month ago.”
Mindo chuckled at that. “Humans are monogamous, yes. Apparently so are Klingons.”
“How long do humans stay monogamous?” Terrekal asked.
“Well if they can, indefinitely,” Mindo said with a shrug.
“And what of the person you're thinking of,” said Terrekal. “What was significant about her?”
Mindo's face grew solemn again, and he looked back up to the ceiling. “She's the only person with whom I've ever had the experience of falling in love. Her name was Caradan. Caradan Eunidas. I called her Cara.”
“She was a human?” he asked. Mindo shook his head.
“She was a Changeling.”
“A Changeling?!” Terrekal asked, clearly shocked. Mindo nodded. “How was it...”
“...a she?” Mindo finished Terrekal's question. “She chose to take the form of a female human.”
“And how did you...”
“...feel her?” Mindo finished Terrekal's sentence again. Terrekal nodded. “She was able to do it in her female form. But there was also her true form. The way her near-liquid state could embrace me, the warmth she exuded as she covered all of me... you can't begin to imagine. I could sense her. Being with her was the closest experience to 'feeling' someone I've had since leaving Fesaria. It's one thing when someone takes you in your arms. It's another when a person's very being can surround you and hold you.” A tear trickled down Mindo's cheek as he said, “It's the most beautiful experience I've ever had.”
Terrekal's eyes grew wide with realization. “Something's happened to her,” he said. Mindo simply nodded. “Did she die?” Terrekal asked.
“No,” said Mindo. “Not in the literal sense anyway. She was captured and tortured by Klingons. I learned when I contacted a former crewman from our ship, the Tornado.” Mindo let out a sob. “He said she was never the same.”
Terrekal reached out and put his arm on Mindo's shoulder. Mindo turned into Terrekal, who wrapped his arms and leg around Mindo, giving his fellow Fesarian a full embrace. Now a tear trickled down his own cheek. He understood the reason behind what he had felt with Mindo. And while he didn't fully understand, he at least had found its purpose.
Eventually Mindo's sobbing died down and soon he had fallen asleep. Terrekal continued to hold Mindo until morning.
OFF
