Jump

Posted on Fri May 7th, 2021 @ 5:06am by Jerant van Rijn & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: By Artemis' Bow
Location: Holodeck
3300 words - 6.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Buildings of various heights loomed in front of him. Jerant smiled like a kid in a candy store as he tied the laces of his sneakers and adjusted the fingerless gloves on his hands. He flexed his fingers, then did a few stretch exercises before leaping at the nearest building, taking a short run up the wall before grabbing hold of one of the protrusions. From there, it was only a few leaps and climbs until he was on the roof of a nearby building.

The sun shone brightly and Jerant felt happier than ever. It'd been a while since he'd done any running, not really having had a chance to explore on the most recent away missions. He was feeling a little left out, and a little useless with Savin not having had much need of him recently. At least that woman was gone, the one that caused such distraction and now such pain in his best friend. It was for the best, he reasoned. Of course he was being selfish, because he had felt pushed aside, his own bond with the counselor at risk. A bond so carefully forged through years of friendship, being as close as brothers could be without there being any blood bond.

He was so caught in his thoughts that he nearly missed his next jump. He misjudged his landing, forcing himself to roll with it before lying flat on his back. "Ugh..." he breathed, "I need to pay attention!"

Xavier wanted to play tennis, badly. He always wanted to play when he needed to work things out in his head, and he had some serious things to work out right now. The problem was all of the holodecks were currently in use, it was always like this when the ship was at high warp on the way to a mission, there really wasn't too much to do until the mission had started. He truly loved Prometheus-class ships, but they didn't have the range of facilities like a Galaxy or Excelsior-class ships. Xavier stood outside of holodeck three and looked at the control panel, hoping it was something he could join.

*HOLODECK THREE*
STATUS: IN USE
USER: JERANT VAN RIJN
PROGRAMME: JUMP [FREERUNNING]
OPEN/CLOSED: OPEN

Xavier signed, he had never attempted freerunning before but this was the only in-use holodeck that currently was open for anyone to join and at least it was some kind of sport. Not that he was dressed for it in his white polo top and light grey tennis shorts. However, he decided to throw caution to the wind and he entered the room and found himself surrounded by many tall buildings. He had entered just in time to see someone, he assumed Jerant, fall on to his back. "I mean, if you don't want to die, that is probably very good advice," he said with a smile.

Jerant tilted his head back to view the newcomer, looking at him in an upside down fashion before rolling over. "Oh hi," he said, quickly jumping to his feet. "Have I gone over into your time? I assure you, the safeties are on...well mostly anyway, wheres the fun in not feeling what you're doing right?" He smiled sheepishly before offering his hand. "Jerant van Rijn," he introduced himself, "counselor's aide."

Xavier took his hand enthusiastically, "Lieutenant Xavier Leiko, Chief of Operations. Sorry I didn't mean to disrupt your flow, this was the only open holodeck programme so I thought I'd check it out, if you don't mind that is?" Xavier added quickly, not one to normally involve himself in other people's recreational activities.

"Oh you didn't disrupt my flow, I just misjudged a distance is all," Jerant grinned. "And no I don't mind at all, if I minded I would've locked the room. Have you ever done freerunning?" He ran his hands through his damp hair, causing it to spike in all directions, then wiped his hands on his shorts. "It does take practice, we can start easy if you've not done this before. My best friend doesn't ever join me, he prefers his swords and that's really not my thing at all."

"Swords?" Xavier asked in a shocked tone. "What types of programmes does he like? Also no sorry, I have never done this before, as you can probably tell, I was looking for a tennis court programme," he added as he indicated to the way he was dressed.

Jerant cast him an appreciative look, then grinned again. "Well if you play tennis, then at least you know how to run, right?" He sobered a fraction as the man enquired after his friend. "Savin? Well...martial arts I suppose, and he's got a mean pitch when he plays baseball. So....tennis? I'm sure I can learn that fast enough, right? I mean if you don't want to jump buildings."

Xavier shook his head, "no you don't let me off that easily, as long as you don't mind being my coach, then let's do some free running, or creative falling from what I know of the sport," he added with smile. "It helps that I'm good at running and falling I suppose. How do we begin?"

"Creative falling," Jerant chuckled, "I've done my share of that." He gave a quick outline of what he was going to do. "How about we get up that building there, and then run and jump down back to the ground using the adjacent buildings and greenery and such?" There were plenty of stairs and balconies and other platforms and handholds they could use. "The safeties are on, so at the moment don't worry about falling." He grinned. "If anything, I'll try to catch you if you do."

"Catch me?" Xavier asked in shock. "I'm about half a foot taller than you and definitely heavier." He ran his hand through his short hair as he looked at the building that Jerant had indicated and tried to mentally picture how he could scale it creatively without just running up the stairs and saying he had tried free running. "You'll need to go first and I'll follow your lead," he eventually said.

"Catch you," Jerant confirmed, "don't let my size fool you, I'm stronger than you think." He grinned as he sized up the building. "Alright, so we'll be getting up to that building there," the Betazoid pointed at one of the buildings, then back at their position. Bit by bit, he pointed out their route. "Are you up for that?" he asked, or do you want me to show you first." Since he'd been doing it for a very long time, it felt easy to him but he realized that for someone new to this it could be daunting. "I'm just as happy to play tennis with you," he offered, "you'll just have to show me how."

"Let's do it," Xavier said ignoring Jerant's question. "After you," he added as he waved a hand, appearing more confident than he actually felt.

Jerant was glad that this was a holodeck program and not a real situation, or he'd never have gone first. He forced himself to slow down as he scaled the building, jumping back and forth between lower objects to get to a proper hand-hold. Occasionally he paused to watch his companion and see how he was keeping up. "Use your momentum," he advised as he watched the man. "And don't look down."

"That's good advice," Xavier said. Only moments before he had chickened out at the last moment to leap to a ledge and ended up clinging for dear life on a tree branch, which he wasn't too sure was going to hold his weight for too much longer. As the pain ran up and down his arms, he knew he had two options; pull himself up or let go and trust the rational part of his brain that told him this was only a simulation and he would be perfectly fine. 'Why were these programmes so realistic?' he thought to himself. He summoned every last bit of strength he had and pulled himself up onto the branch and safely made the leap to the ledge. Momentum really was key in this sport, as well as core body strength. He really wasn't cut out for this.

"You make this look so easy," Xavier panted.

"Are you alright?" Jerant asked from his perch, a look of concern on his face. "It's not easy at all, but let's not forget that I've been doing this for quite some time. Trust me not even my best friend can keep up, heck he won't even try. But hey he has sports that I can't keep up with...as I already mentioned. Are you up for the next stage?" He nodded towards the rest of the climb. "Or do you wanna get down first. Same route just different muscles I suppose...and indeed, make good use of your momentum, and make sure you have a good handhold or foothold before moving on."

"No let's go on," Xavier said once he was able to catch his breath. "I'm making it to that roof if it kills me."

"I'd rather you didn't get killed, it'd be very messy if you fell down now without safeties and I'd hate to see your pretty self all smeared across the pavement." Jerant chuckled as he took a sprint and leapt over to the next building. "Alrighty then, follow me."

"Wait, did you say no safeties?" Xavier asked, his eyes wide in shock. But Jerant was off and out of earshot. Xavier had no idea if he was joking or not, his fear was taking over his ability to sense the man's feelings or emotions.

Xavier took a deep breath and followed in Jerant's wake. He payed close attention to where the experienced free-runner placed his feet and hands as he spun, twisted, leaped, and jumped from one edge to another. Xavier was nowhere near as graceful or as smooth, but he was a quick learner and naturally athletic, so he took his time and planned each move a few steps ahead, almost like a game of chess. He was starting to get the hang of it and was delighted when he finally saw that Jerant had reached the roof of the building. In fact he was so focused on Jevant that he missed his footing just before the roof, and instead of performing a jump, tuck, and roll as he had intended, he ending up scrambling for the something, anything to hold on to. He found the lip of the roof and clung with all of his might. "A little help," he said in a panicked voice.

Jerant was on him in a flash, grabbing hold of his wrist with one hand, while reaching down to grab the man's other hand. "Use your feet," he instructed, "I won't let go, I promise." His unruly hair was plastered to his face, his dark blue eyes holding a concerned look now where they'd been sparkling before. He could easily sense the panic. "Don't panic, I won't let you go until you're safely on the roof." Not that anything could happen, hadn't he said the safeties would be on fully?

Xavier put his faith in the other betazoid and tried to find a ledge or hole for his feet to get traction on, he couldn't find one and he could feel the panic creeping in again. He stopped for a split second, took a deep breath, and then searched again, he found something. With all his might he pushed off against it as Jerant pulled him up. As Xavier scrambled over the ledge, he tripped again and landed on the man who had been his saviour. They both crashed to the floor of the roof, thankfully it was a flat one, Jerant was under him his green eyes in line with Xavier's black ones. "Thanks," was all he could say as he tried to catch his breath.

Jerant held on to Xavier's arms to steady him, landing with a loud 'oof' and getting wind knocked from him as the other landed on top of him. "You're welcome," he wheezed, "not bad for a first try. You wanna go again?"

"Sorry," Xavier finally managed to say as he rolled off the man and lay on his back waiting for his senses to return to him. "Are you okay?" He finally asked when his breathing returned to normal.

"Yeah....you're pretty loud when you're in panic." Jerant sat up and rubbed his temples for a moment, "but there really was no reason to. I did tell you the safeties would be on full, I'd never have taken you up here if they weren't. I might be a civillian but I'm not crazy." He grinned. "Savin might tell you otherwise, but seriously...safety does come first."

Xavier blushed. "I'm sorry. Not being full Betazoid does have it's limitations. I'm a stronger telepath than my older brothers, but that also means when my adrenaline rises rapidly, I sometimes lose control." He got to his feet and held a hand out for the man to use to get to his. "Anyways, these holodecks are state of the art, they're designed to tell you everything you're experiencing is real. It's easy to get caught up in the illusion," he added with a grin.

Gosh the blush was handsome! "I'm not full either, but more than half. Dad's half and mom's full. But I was raised with a telepath and that probably honed my skill. Savin is more than a best friend, he's as good as a brother to me. I was born with telepathic skills, so I was sent to Vulcan, to help an impaired Vulcan boy...we really helped each other I feel." Now it was his turn to blush. "Sorry I didn't mean to boast."

"Didn't you?" Xavier asked in a serious tone, one eyebrow arched. "First you make me do a sport that you know you'll be better at, and then you mock my telepathic abilities." Xavier stared at the man for a while and then broke into a wide tooth smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't resist," he said with a chuckle. "Never apologise for something you're good or better at than others, especially with me. We have a lot in common, my dad is half Betazoid too, my mother is full. Maybe one day you can be my teacher?"

"Well i did offer to play tennis.... And I'm a linguist, I'm happy to help. Savin might be too, to a degree.." Jerant smiled. "Shall we head down?"

"Seems all that time on Vulcan dulled your sense of humour too," Xavier said with another smile. He took a deep breath, going down was going to be faster but much more worrisome. "Sure, after you," he said finally.

"Nah..." Jerant smiled as they prepared to scale down again. "Savin's got one too, he relies on emotion you see, it's one of the reasons I got sent there." He kept it deliberately vague, giving his new friend something to keep his mind on as they went back down. "Easy there," he warned as they were partway down, "shift your hands first and then your feet. Never let go before you're sure of your footing or you're toast. Unless you're sure of the way down because you've done the route before."

Xavier took in all the advice he had received both on the way up and the way down. It was much more terrifying coming down but he watched Jerant closely and picked his path well ahead of time, he didn't get overly confident, and when he wasn't too sure he trusted his instincts. Eventually they were back on the ground and Xavier, surprising himself, was still on his two feet. "As much as I enjoy new things, I can safely say I'll never be doing that again."

"No?" The other Betazoid looked disappointed. "Why not?"

Xavier was confused about the man's perceived disappointment, did it really matter that much to him? "Let's just say I'm steadier on my feet when I have a racket in my hand, tennis, springball, squash... anything that doesn't involve tall buildings and imminent death. I know, before you say it, the safeties were on full" he quickly added holding up his palm to Jerant's face. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"I'm not offended, just a little disappointed. You seemed to enjoy the run is all." Jerant shrugged. "It's all good, it's not for everyone. I enjoy the thrill, the excitement, the rush of adrenalin as you hope to make a jump. But I suppose tennis can be just as exciting. As I said I never really played it before."

"I enjoyed not dying," Xavier said as he brushed pieces of gravel from his elbows. "Don't underestimate the thrill of staying alive. Tennis is definitely exciting, just not in the same way. If you're game we could have a match one day, who knows I may even turn the safeties off," he added with a wink.

"I did indicate we could play tennis instead," Jerant repeated, wiping his wet hair from his face and pulling his wet shirt from his damp skin. Deciding it was uncomfortable, and it was sunny and warm enough on the holodeck, he pulled the offending item up and over his head. "Savin only needs me when he's got bridge duty or on certain away missions. Othe than that I can divide my time as I please between projects."

"You're like a broken record Jerant," Xavier said with a slight eye roll, though he couldn't help but take in the man's physique but quickly brushed the thought from his mind. "I'm happy I tried it, truly, just not my thing."

"A broken record?" Jerant just stared, not missing the eyeroll and definitely not missing being sized up. "How do you mean that?" For someone who professed to have elaborate linguistic skills, the Earth saying was very much lost on him.

Xavier smiled. "Sorry, my dad says it all the time. Back when humans used to listen to analogue music machines, the record - a plastic flat disc - would often stick, and repeat the same part of the song over and over again. Think of it like a cascading power defect, stuck in a terminal loop, right before the EPS relays explode."

"Ah... I didn't intend to get repetitive..." He smiled apologetically at the younger man. "So... what would you like to do now?"

"We could grab some food," Xavier said just as his stomach emitted a low rumble. "I've worked up an appetite."

Now, the other Betazoid laughed openly. "That bad huh. Alright lets get cleaned up, can't really get to the mess looking like this can we? Unless you have somewhere different in mind?" He gestured to himself, half-dressed and his damp skin glistering in the artificial sunlight.

"You tell me?" Xavier said as he raised an eyebrow. He could read Jerant's mind, but it was funner this way, right?

"Well you look as dusted and grimy as I do from all that rolling and hoisting up," Jerant chuckled. "Meet you in the mess in ten? Unless we change the program and have a quick swim first."

"I think I'd prefer a sonic shower first, if I'm being honest. Ten minutes sounds great. Computer, exit," he said out loud. The buildings in the background started to shimmer and then were replaced with the big double doors and the archway of the hockdeck, bringing them back to reality. Xavier headed for the doors. "Oh and Jerant," he called without turning back to face the man, "dress to impress." And without waiting for a reply he was out of the doors.