STF

Three Isn't A Crowd If You Don't Want It To Be

Posted Dec. 1, 2022, 4:09 p.m. by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) (James Sinclair)

Posted by Civilian Yavia Crockett (Nurse - Sacred Heart Hospital) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

Posted by Major General Charles Tenkiller (Vice-Commander, Colonial Customs and Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be

Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Defense Agency) in Three Isn’t A Crowd If You Don’t Want It To Be
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Tenkiller chewed and laughed and said “I doubt you would ever belong to anybody, but I like the sound of it.” and he took a drink and looked at her, deeply and openly. “You do realize that we are gonna be looked at like we’re all three crazy… right?” and he chuckled. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now, eat up and then let’s go find our wayward third before she has second thoughts and tries to scamper off.”

Tenkiller

Yavia shrugged, “We belong to those we wish to give ourselves to. It is a deeply personal and beautiful thing.” She bit into another fritter and almost choked as she started to laugh. She covered her mouth with one hand and then lifted her glass to sip and wash down the fritter. “TK I am crazy and everyone knows it. I will ruin both of your reputations.”

Tenkillwr looked at her and said “You aren’t crazy… you are you. And I wouldn’t change a thing about that. Reputation be damned.”

“Of course I am, and I like that way.” Yavia waggled her brows and laughed, a rich and playful sound. “Besides if I wasn’t just a bit crazy I wouldn’t have brought my bat and then you never would have asked me out.”

She ate for a minute. “She is missing out, this is really good. If she scampers off she shouldn’t get anymore.” Sharah wasn’t there but Yavia’s tone was still teasing. “I’ll take her share home with me. We’ll use it as a bribe.” V finished off the last of her plate and set aside.

Yavia

He smiled at her and said “Uh-uh. Equal shares all around in all things. That’ll be the rule.” He turned and yelled out to the tree line “Time’s up! Come and get some of this or we come and get you!”

Tenkiller

Sharah could stay where she was all day. It was easier, simpler. Plants expressed very basic and primal emotions. There was none of the other chaos of more complex beings. The feelings came across as music. Sharah was still aware of the noise and the storms, but it was like being in a deep cave. So she was unaware of Yavia’s occasional mental touches, and certainly unaware of Tenkiller yelling an ultimatum at her. Sunk this deep she could feel, she could be sad or uncertain and no one asked her what was wrong or told her how she should feel, she could, for a brief time, just exsist.

Sharah

Tenkiller watched for a few long moments and then looked at V. “So? You wanna go, or should I?”

Tenkiller

Yavia laughed, “Oh no! You get to go. You issued the ultimatum and issued the order. I am sure there will be many things I will be more than willing to protect you from, but you get to deal with this one.”

Yavia

“Throwing me to the wolves already, huh? I thought we had a connection.” Tenkiller said with a grin. He quickly leaned in, stole a kiss and most inappropriate caress, and then was on his feet and heading towards the woods.

Yavia hummed a little as he kissed her and then watched him leave. As soon as he was out of sight she grabbed the container of paw-paws and ate a few more. Next time they did this was was bringing a bag so she could sneak some home. Those things were amazing. Yavia might have a new addiction. She chuckled softly to herself and refilled her glass.

He stopped just inside the treeline. He looked around and didn’t see Sharah. A quick glance at the ground and he walked forwards and off to the left a bit. Soon, he found his quarry.

He watched her for some time, seeing the light dance across her face and closed eyes. The steadiness of her breathing as her chest rose and fell. The slight smile on her lips. He walked forward slowly, silently, until he was right in front of her. He knelt down and mirrored her hands, digging his fingers deep into the soil and closing his eyes. He took a deep breath and then simply tried to feel Sharah through the ground.

Tenkiller

The music changed, but it was a slow subtle change. Sharah didn’t catch it at first. Something else had been added into the melody, a new series of notes. It didn’t so much change the original melody but was added to the melody making it richer, fuller, like it was supposed to be there. Like a wing of the orchestra waiting for the correct moment to join the rest. It felt familiar, but Sharah couldn’t place it. It was harder to recognize things, here in this deeper sense, because there was no logical formulated thought, just feeling and instinct. She heart stretched out, her mind a little behind, seeking the source of the new notes, her fingers flexing in the soil.

Sharah

Charles remained still, feeling the texture of the soil, the whisper of the wind in the leaves echoing through him. It had far too long that he had not been in the natural order. His people valued their place in nature, nutured it and cared for it in ways many thought to be outdated. But he knew… no matter the planet, he was first and foremost a creature of nature.

He felt an odd sensation… like he was being watched from a distance. But it wasn’t a threat… more like an inquiry. He focused his thoughts on Sharah… her looks, her touch when they were all piled together, the flashes of smiles he had captured in his mind. He thought about how she made him feel. How she and V made him feel whole. And he leaned slowly forward, the draw of her on him like a inevitability of connection.

Tenkiller

Her attention seemed to draw those particular notes out of the whole. They seemed to ping against her own melody like they recognized her. It drew her forward, more curious than she had been a moment before. The more she tried to recognize it, the more elusive it was. She breathed in and out, once and twice, and settled. Recognition would come if she let it have the time it needed. She moved closer letting her melody ping and harmonize around the other. It was familiar but the memory of it slipped out and around, but it made her smile, physically leaning forward as she sought to place it. Then in a moment she realized the feeling was that moment of wholeness…it was Tenkiller, then she quite literally bumped into him. It threw her up out of that deep meditative state with a loud gasp, her hands flew up throwing dirt and soil up like confetti.

Sharah

Charles smiled even as dirt and bits cascaded down on him and he opened his eyes and looked at her. He didn’t speak. He simply leaned forward and let his lips brush her cheek as he took her hand in his and gently pulled her to her feet as he rose with her. He looked at her, and reached up and brushed the dirt from her hair and face with a gentleness reserved for those who one was intimately close to. He then shook his head, his ponytail bouncing back and forth as he shook the dirt free. He smiled again, and wordlessly led her out of the trees and back into the clearing.

Sharah was disoriented. It happened sometimes when she came out of such a state very suddenly. All she could do was just blinked at him. He kissed her cheek and then pulled her to her feet. The caress, and there was no other word for it, was incredibly intimate. What the crap was going on?! Weren’t he and Yavia dating? What?!?!?! He didn’t say anything either. Sharah wondered if she was caught it some weird conglomeration of other people’s thoughts and dreams taking shape in weird ways in her head. Then they started moving and things settled and she was quite certain she was fully awake.

“Look what I found.” he said to V as he kept Sharah’s hand in his and led her to the blanket. He leaned down and kissed V softly and then he looked at Sharah. “Eat. We have a lot of time ahead of us, we three.” and he smiled.

Tenkiller

Nope, she was quite sure he and Yavia were…something. That kiss was told it all. Why was he holding her hand?! Yavia didn’t seem to care though. She just looked at Sharah, grinned and popped another…whatever she was eating. She sat for a lack of any idea of what else to do. She had a fritter halfway to her mouth and she paused. What? She shook her head silently. This was just getting weird. “The lunch invitation is lovely, but whatever else you two have planned together, I’m not going to intrude.” Yes Sharah was purposely misunderstanding. She wasn’t that oblivious, but what exactly they had in mind she had no idea. Yavia was suddenly and significantly unable to be read.

Tenkiller looked at V and grinned. He then looked at Sharah and simply “Its impossible for you to be intruding. Utterly.” and he grinned and sat, picking up his plate.

Yavia looked up, not even hiding she was stealing more of the paw-paws. She grinned and leaned up into the kiss. Then she looked over at the raven haired woman, “Sharah did you get lost?” It was meant as a joke but when Sharah nodded she brushed her mind reassuringly. “That’s okay, Skip here apparently is an expert tracker, you can’t get lost.”

Yavia

Yeah, forget the food. Sharah put it down. “That’s reassuring, but sometimes the lost don’t need to be found.” The feeling was quite clear to Yavia that Sharah wanted her to stop whatever it was she was doing, and that Sharah was suddenly very very freaked out.

Sharah

“True.” Charles said. “And sometimes they dont realize they are lost and it falls to…” and he looked at V, “… those who care for them to find them and lead them back.” He looked at Sharah and said “And sometimes it takes more than one artist to make a complete work.”

Tenkiller

Sharah turned a glare on Yavia. She’d had to ‘talk’ to her during her last session with Korczak, and Yavia just hadn’t let it go until she found out what had prompted that random comment. ‘Did you TELL him about that? Because I swear he sounds like my shrink!

Yavia’s response was immediate and calming, ‘No, he just genuinely cares about you.‘ Yavia reached across the blanket to set a hand on her arm. ‘So do I.‘ Sharah leaned back slightly. Yavia glanced at Tenkiller, that very brief contact told her enough. Sharah was on crumbling ground and didn’t trust anything. Yavia wanted to help but pushing wasn’t going to make it better.

Great, just great, this was going to have to go into that d@mn journal. ‘He doesn’t even know me.‘ Now Sharah was uncomfortable and irritated. The exchange took less than half a minute. Sharah took another bite, savored it, it really was good and then turned her obsidian gaze on Tenkiller. “Major General Charles Tenkiller…self-proclaimed to know nothing about art and having even less appreciation for it. Using an artistic metaphor. I’m starting to think you weren’t totally honest.” Her tone was contemplative and teasing, but it was forced. It was also a desperate attempt to alter the conversation.

Sharah

Charles gave her a contemplative look and slowly chewed his food. Then he shrugged and said “I’m friends with a well-known art broker and spend time in galleries. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I pick up a thing or two.” and he smiled and winked at her. He took a drink and then began preparing another bite, stabbing a combination of things with his fork. Looking at his plate, he said “Ya know Sharah… I ain’t an empath or telepath… but I know somethin’ happened here today.” His eyes locked on hers as he raised his fork to his mouth, pausing just before he put it in his mouth. “How are ya feelin’?” and the fork made its delivery.

Tenkiller

She really wished people would stop asking her that. She did alright if she didn’t think about it too much. It was a shame to ruin what, for her, was a pleasant afternoon. Sharah could almost laugh, humans were more intuitive and emoathic than they gave themselves credit for. Sharah’s black gaze stayed on his. There was pain there and hesitation and a wish that he hadn’t asked her that. There was a quiet rush of air as she sighed. She was pulling a piece of the fry bread into smaller bite sized pieces. “Like I’ve been backed to the edge of a crumbling cliff. I can jump or I can wait for it to give way under me. Either way I fall.” She turned her attention back to her plate and the fry bread.

Sharah

Charles set his plate to the side and reached out and took her free hand. He motioned V over to be next to them. “You aren’t gonna fall, Sharah… we aren’t gonna let ya. You are important… to me… to V… to both of us. And we are gonna make sure you get through this, okay? We got you. And we ain’t about to let ya go. You aren’t alone… not anymore.”

Tenkiller

His words were ironic because they were the reason she felt backed onto a cliff. She wouldn’t say that to either of then though. That wasn’t their intention and she didn’t want them to feel bad. She also appreciated the sentiment. They didn’t have her, she simply couldn’t let them. She knew he meant it, she could clearly feel that. Someones else had said the same. They had meant it too and they left. It all came back to that. They left, everyone of them, in the end. She couldn’t do it again. She hated Korczak in the moment and all gis talk a out what she needed and what she deserved and what was okay. She needed connection that was permanent, other than a bo said tree. She would rather be alone than make another fleeting connection. She pulled her hand back but there was no real effort to break the contact. Because even if she didn’t trust it she wanted it. The feel of his presence more than his words tugged at her, making her lean forward closer to him, to resume that inevitable connection.

Yavia set the lid back on the container, and moved to Sharah’s other side. One didn’t need to be an empath to read Sharah’s body language. The taut shoulders, stiff spine, the hands jerking away from the contact, and the way she leaned back and away. Sharah felt trapped. So instead, Yavia sat next to Tenkiller, in front of Sharah, giving her more space. Sharah was in pain, and there was nothing Yavia could do about it. Deltan gifts could block physical pain, but this was emotional.

Yavia reached out, setting a very gentle touch on Sharah’s shoulder, wrapping her in the equivalent of an empathic fuzzy blanket. To her Sharah felt like she had a dam around her, but it was cracked and broken and everything was leaking out. Sharah was trying desperately to stop it from crumbling. ‘It’s okay, Sharah, really. It won’t hurt your or anyone else if you let someone else take over for awhile so you can fall apart.

Yavia’s words hit target more exactly than the outragous woman could know. They didn’t know her, not really. They didn’t know what she was. That light mental touch was the straw. It was a level of acceptance that should be so common for her to be overlooked, but it was foreign and strange. Leave me alone....‘ She sounded forlorn and lost and like she was already sobbing. It was a broken plea rather than a demand. Despite tightly closed eyes, tears started in earnest.

Yavia slid her hand over Sharah’s arm, until she was lightly holding her hand. She glanced between TK and Sharah, and tugged the woman’s hand softly.

Yavia

Sharah

Charles moved closer to her and put an arm lightly around her. “Get it out, Sharah… just let it go. We got ya. Just let it go.” he whispered.

His arm was solid ground in a world that was quickly collapsing around her, and it was incredibly easy to lean on. Her breath shuttered through her. It was a mark of her distress that Tenkiller clearly heard her, in his head. Sharah was always so very careful. ‘I don’t want to.‘ She didn’t want to feel it. She did want to feel or hear everyone else around her anymore. If she couldn’t feel, her chaos didn’t amplify the chaos around her. She wanted it over all of it, to cease

He reached out and took V’s hand and pulled her closer as well, nestling Sharah between the two of them. “If’n ya don’t let it out, its just gonna get worse. So just let it go…” and he pulled her close and V closer to her on the other side so Sharah was sandwiched between them, “… you’re with us now.”

Tenkiller

Sharah was stiff, holding herself rigid between them. She didn’t have the energy to refuse. The back of her mind protested that maybe she didn’t want to refuse, but needed to allow herself to accept. The fear and grief and loneliness raged, out of her control, like a demon controlled storm, and it battered all three of them. Yavia reached up and brushed the hair off Sharah’s face then trailing her hand up and down the woman’s spine soothingly.

Tenkiller pulled her in closer, wrapping Sharah in a human sandwhich. There was a pause, a long breath of stillness before it erupted. Great wracking sobs that shook her entire frame. Yavia pressed unto her, causing Sharah to crumple onto Tenkiller’s chest, her face buried in his shoulder.

Sharah didn’t want to do this, but now that it had started, it would have to rage until the storm blew itself out. She kissed Sharah’s temple, and Yavia slipped both arms around her waist, one hand resting against her side the other on TK’s thigh, connecting them all together.

Sharah

Tenkiller held both of them close and slowly, very slowly, leaned back until they were all laid back on the blanket. The sun’s rays settled around them, and Tenkiller looked at Vover the sobbing Sharah. He nodded to and smiled a knowing smile… one that said he understood and was okay with the venting of everything. He slid one hand down and placed it on V’s hand, and simply let Sharah do what she needed to do.

Tenkiller

Yavia’s hand turned up to hold onto his, which tucked Sharah into a hug, encompassed by both of them. Sharah curled on her side, arms wrapped around herself, sobbing into his chest. Yavia turned on her side, her other hand slowly combing through Sharah’s hair, the curls wrapping and twirling like silk ribbons around her fingers. Sharah seemed to welcome the sensation though, her shoulders slumping some, even if her sobs didn’t stop. Yavia didn’t speak to her, she didn’t try to calm her, just be a supportive presence.

There was no telling how long Sharah cried, the sun had moved changing the shadows. Sharah’s emotions confused Yavia. There was grief, but it was slight along with heart ache. But it was the fear that confused her. Yavia couldn’t tell what caused it, but it’s sudden intenseness jerked her up, heart racing. She looked around but nothing was amiss, until she glanced at Sharah and realized it was coming from her. She hugged Sharah tighter, now was not the time to ask, and resumed finger combing her hair. She just let Sharah vent whatever she was feeling. The intense sobs eased eventually. The tears continued but no longer so violent.

Sharah’s head hurt. Crying never made her feel better, just exhausted. There was a gentle yet determined sense of safety and acceptance that soothed the raw edges. It lulled her letting her drift in a tiny shelter in the storms. The tears hadn’t quite stopped, but the sobbing had. Her hand moved, finding it’s way between theirs, her fingers curling around one of their palms and holding on. V looked across Sharah at TK and smiled slightly with a nod.

Yavia

They lay silently for… who knows how much longer… and when it seemed right, Charles gave Sharah a firm and all-encompassimg hug. He squeezed V’s hand at the same time, and looked past Sharah to V. He smiled at her and then said “Listen… why don’t we all pack this up and go someplace a little less… ‘exposed’? We can keep going, but let’s do it somewhere more private than a park. C’mon… we can all go back to my place. And I got plenty of room if this carries over for a while.”

Tenkiller


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