Floating Emotions

Posted on Sun Mar 27th, 2022 @ 4:37pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: With Gleaming Eyes
Location: Between bar and quarters
3163 words - 6.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Mason remained silent for a few seconds longer after Finn dragged him out. "Thank you," he finally murmured, while angrily wiping a year from his face. "I don't know why he did that..."

Finn let out a small sigh, stopped, turned, and embraced Mason in a tight hug. Displays of emotion weren't something she had a ton of experience in dealing with but even she could tell when a friend just needed a good hug. "It's Teyo," she said before letting go. "What did you really expect?"

"Honestly?" Mason allowed the hug, finding some comfort in it. "I expected the whole ship to know by now. He called me a conquest... I prefer discretion. I mean...why would I go telling people who I slept with? That isn't anyone's business is it?" He returned the hug briefly then straightened, wiping the last tears from his eyes. "I would never put anyone on the spot like that."

"I'm sorry he did that to you," Finn said before turning to continue their walk. Part of her wanted to say that he got what he deserved for sleeping around with someone like Fenn, but that would only make him feel worse and the plan was to make him feel better.

Mason hadn't caught on just yet, but Finn wasn't leading him to his quarters. Instead they were headed towards the holodeck for some first rate mud therapy. She wasn't great at the whole shoulder to cry on thing. Instead Finn needed to fix problems and she was sure that some time on the mud course would be a step in the right direction.

Still, as far as Mason was concerned -or even aware- she was doing great. "I'm sure karma will play on him at some point," he mused out loud, "though I'm not feeling spiteful enough to wish that on him. The truth is, it happened and, I guess part of me needed it. I don't know, this isn't really my style to begin with you know? It just... happened, I don't even remember what brought it on either. But to flaunt it....no. especially not in front of my friends."

He sighed, still not catching on to their direction. "I appreciate your support though... you're being a great friend." He leaned in and lightly kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

Finn blushed. "That's what friends are for right?". They rounded the corner to holodeck 2. "I know you said you wanted to go home, but I was thinking this would be better." She motioned towards the doors inviting Mason to walk through first and then input a command on the panel next to the entrance.

The inside transformed into a sort of muddy water park obstacle course. Physical challenges intertwined with fun looking slides and a lazy river encircled the whole thing. The flowing water around the perimeter was only interrupted with the occasional waterfall or tropical foliage spilling in.

"That's what friends are for," he agreed as his eyes were drawn to the course. "Did you build this?" He asked, "or is this a random one of mine?" He glanced around. "This does look lovely but we're not really dressed for it, are we?"

"Computer, a set of appropriate clothes please," Finn asked and the computer answered with two swimsuits appearing in front of them. "I built it," she said as she grabbed the swimsuit and disrobed. There was no need in covering up or finding a wall to change behind. Mason wasn't at all interested in her, a fact that stung even more since he had slept with Fenn. So why bother with changing in private?

"Do you like it?" Finn asked as slipped the last strap of the suit up her shoulder.

Even though there was no romantic interest, there was still this thing called chivalry, so Mason politely turned away as both of them got undressed and redressed in swimming gear. "Oh Finn, I think you've outdone yourself," he smiled as he turned back when he felt it was safe to do so. "Honestly, you're the best friend I ever had."

Finn's face flushed red. Taking compliments always felt awkward. "Thanks....so where shall we start?" She asked, quickly changing the subject. "We could start with the biggest obstacle. It leads to the Thunder River," she pointed towards a series of small obstacles that lead upward to the start of a tube slide. "Or we could start with something smaller," she pointed to the opposite side which contained a series of wall jumps followed by the entrance to a small slide that ended in a mud pit.

"As long as there's no slopes or heights I'm good to start anywhere," mason smiled, "nothing wrong with getting wet early on is there?"

"Well, it's part water park, there's going to be slopes. How else could you have a slide without slopes? It's not bad though, I set the program up to where you won't notice the heights at all. Let's start with the big one. Go big or go home right?" Finn smirked. "We'll cross the lazy river and then hit the first obstacle right there," she pointed to the base of an upward slope filled with obstacles.

"As long as I don't get a view of heights it's all good." Mason smiled, though he shuddered visibly at the very idea of heights. "You know, even if this was just water park we could have a good deal of fun, the mud is really just a bonus!" He waded into the water, shivering. "Wow...you didn't hold back on the temperature Finn!"

"It gets warmer once we get past the perimeter," she waded in behind him. It only took a few minutes to reach the base of the obstacle layer. The first objective was easy. Hop up onto steel poles then shimmy down onto a wooden log and run across. Beyond that lay a wall climb, followed by a mud tunnel and lastly some upward sloping monkey bars. "Let's go!" Finn hopped up on the bars without waiting on a response.

Briefly Mason wondered if this was supposed to be a contest, but quickly dismissed that idea. This was supposed to be fun, not who completed furthest fastest. His musings had given Finn a nice head start, but he followed quickly. The monkey bars were a challenge, with hands that were slippery with mud, but Mason made it across without falling down. "you know I'm actually looking forward to going down the river in a floating donut," he chuckled. "I'm all up for a nice swim."

Finn grabbed a tube and threw another to Mason before entering the starting pool. The whole thing was a series of drops combined with lazy river components in between leaving the rider with both thrilling and relaxing elements. She hopped into the flotation device and waited for the computer-generated slide attendant to pull her raft down the first, and biggest slide portion.

"Weee," she let out a joyous half cry half laugh as the tube tumbled downward and crashed into the water below making a large splash and resulting wave.

He caught it deftly and followed suit. Seeing the slope however, he swallowed and chose to close his eyes. He felt the wind in his face as the tube caught the current and sped down, crashing down in the water, causing the wave to splash over his friend. "I hope this was the steepest one?" he asked curiously, as the tube bobbed on the diminishing waves and once again caught the current of the downward path.

"Maybe," Finn smirked. "There's a long way to go though. I guess we'll just have to see what happens," she shrugged and playfully threw water up at him. "It's a good way along the lazy river to the next drop anyways, so all we have to do right now is relax." Her fingers interlaced behind her hand and she laid back, enjoying the synthetic sunlight glinting across her face as they floated across the moving water. She wanted to ask him what was next for his romantic life, or find out more details on his 'date' with George, but were those really appropriate topics after what just happened in the lounge? Social niceties weren't always her strong point, so in this case, Finn decided it best to stay quiet.

"Nothing wrong with a lazy float for a while," Mason commented as he enjoyed the warmth of the artificial sunlight. He had glimpsed her face before the slow current turned her away from him -and turned him as well-. "What's on your mind?" he asked, though he wasn't quite sure if he did want to know.

"Nothing, what do I not look relaxed enough for you?" She chuckled. "Besides, this little distraction isn't about me. So whats on your mind?"

"Well you looked like you were lost in thought." Mason shrugged, then hung on tight as it made the tube wobble. "I don't have much on my mind right now... I'm being lazy, though that's not really my strong suit."

"Fair enough," Finn shrugged and fully relaxed into the tube. "But I'm right here if you decide you do want to talk about anything."

For a moment, Mason was silent. "Probably not during a lazy bobbing down a river," he mused, "though... I kind of feel at a loss now? If you know what I mean? I mean... how can I face Kevan now? After all this? We work together...and I thought he was at least my friend..."

Finn wanted to scream at Mason. How was he still concerned about Kevan? Instead, she took a deep breath and collected her thoughts. "I'm sure we can repair the friendship, but it'll take time. At least you have plenty of other great friends to choose from in the meantime," Finn smiled. "At least now you know it's over and it's hard to move on, but it's something you can try to start doing."

"Try, yeah," Mason drawled under his breath. "Easier said than done but yeah I need to don't I? And what about Teyo... honestly...I don't think I want to be in his vicinity anytime soon now..."

"If he wasn't in my department, I would try to avoid him at all costs. I suggest you try that," Finn chuckled. "You know you never did get to finish telling me about your time with George..."

"Well.." Mason started, then was cut short as he went underneath one of the waterfalls. Drenched, but laughing, he emerged again as he bobbed towards Finn on the current. "Where was I? Oh right .. well a man does need to keep a few secrets right?" He smirked. "I had a great time, and I think he did too."

"That's good," Finn smiled, thinking to herself that her plan to get the two together might actually be working. "Do you think you'll hang out with..." her words were interrupted by the next slide down. She laughed with a sense of pure joy and splashed into the bottom pool, watching Mason slide down behind her. "Do you think you'll hang out with him again?" She asked once they had both regained control of their balance and tubes

"Yes," Mason answered without pause, "I think I will. He's a really nice guy, but I just need to tread carefully. I honestly don't want to hurt his feelings, and I don't want him to feel he's a rebound. IF, and I mean IF anything comes from it, then I'll just he careful."

"No pressure. I mean, you don't have to have a partner either. You could just enjoy the single life for a while. Or forever," Finn noted, even though she truly did want Mason to end up with George. Then again, there was nothing wrong with giving up on love. It's what she had done. Maybe some people aren't meant to permanently have a connection with someone, she thought.

"I was trying to enjoy being single," Mason chuckled, "as you know you can't choose who you love. "But yeah...I don't think I want to be single forever but who knows, right?" He paddled up to her and gently touched her arm. "You're a good friend Finn, and I'm sorry that I'm not the one for you. I'm sure though that there's someone out there suitable for you and will love you as you deserve to be."

"Meh, I think I've decided that I'm content to just be single. I don't need a partner. My career is enough for me," Finn shrugged in her tube as if the idea of giving up on love didn't bother her the least bit. She had experienced love once, and it hadn't ended well. Since she had decided to look for it again, every attempt had been a disaster. The universe was clearly letting her know that she'd had her time and that was all she would get.

"Well... those who don't seek it, usually do find it," Mason offered wisely, "at least that's been my experience so far. I mean... I kinda was looking wasn't I, and I thought I had found it.... but now I've decided I'm not really, and look what prospects it's giving me?"

"True, I guess we'll just see," Finn sighed. "Can I tell you a secret? You have to swear you won't tell anyone." It was something no one else on the ship knew and truthfully she hadn't planned to tell anyone. Yet somehow in between the relaxing bob of the waves on river, she had let her guard down.

"Why would I ever tell anyone something that was told to me in confidence?" Mason queried, casting her an utterly serious look. "That's not very honourable, if I did, now is it?"

"Fair enough," she shrugged. "I was in a long term relationship once. We met at the academy and were lucky enough to be assigned together on the Midway. Things got really serious and I thought we'd be together forever, but that didn't work out. When I transferred to the Equinox I swore that I'd never be in another relationship, but after two years when I came to the Athena I decided to give it a try again and, well, you see how that's worked out...I think maybe I had found the only one for me and even though it only lasted a short time, that's all the universe was willing to give me." Her words were seemingly filled with sorrow as Finn let them flow out, like a stream that had been dammed up for years. They were bottled up feelings that hadn't seen the light of day since the incident where her last relationship ended.

"What happened, that it didn't work out?" Mason asked gently,while watching her closely. "Did he cheat on you?"

"He cheated me out of time," Finn gulped, it was hard to verbalize what had happened. In fact, she had only ever said it out loud once before when she told her parents. "He died," the words came out almost like a whisper as a single tear threatened to leak from her eye. For years she had ignored the subject, to the point of telling people that she'd never even been in a serious relationship. Partially because most didn't understand how you could still be upset years later over losing someone that you were 'just dating', but also as a shelter for herself from the invasive questions people sometimes asked about it. "Man this chlorine in here is intense. I'll have to dial it down next time." Finn quickly rubbed her face and tried to steady herself, wondering why she'd been such an idiot to let loose the past that she'd kept so neatly inside for all of these years. Maybe she was getting too close to Mason.

Mason fell silent for a moment, then he hopped off the tube and wrapped strong arms around his friend. "Oh Finn I'm so sorry, and that was very insensitive of me," he offered apologetically, "will you tell me about him? Perhaps that helps... you know, with dealing with it? "

Finn let the hug happen, even though she wasn't always one for personal contact. Not that she'd had much choice since it came somewhat unexpectedly. "Maybe one day, or over time," she replied once Mason had released his grip. "It's not an easy subject to discuss." She looked past them down the river, searching for some way to change the topic. "Looks like we're headed for another drop soon, you might want to hop back into that tube."

"When you're ready, I'll be there for you," Mason promised just as the current grabbed him. He was well too late on heeding the warning and he went down the drop with a loud -girlish- squeal.

Finn laughed as she followed behind, feeling relief from getting everything off of her chest combined with the fun of the water. "So what have your sisters been up to lately?"

"I actually don't know. I haven't been able to get hold of them recently, I've been a little busy in getting settled and well... work? I'll try to get hold of them next leave. Who knows...maybe I'll introduce you." Mason grinned. "They're always happy for me to have friends over. my oldest sister still lives in the house we all grew up in, and it's got plenty of space."

"I'd like that," Finn smiled. She thought for a minute about what his sisters might be like. She imagined strong and capable women, with a good sense of humor and duty. There were times when she had wished for a larger family as well. What fun it could've been to have siblings to hang out with all the time. "Do you get along with all of your sisters?"

"Duh." Mason beamed at her, pride clearly visible in his expression. "Sure we've fought but hey who doesn't when their baby brother won't listen? I'm the Benjamin you see, the youngest of them is still 9 years older than me. Miranda, my oldest sister, she's 17 years older... so she was like 23 when she was stuck with caring for all of us."

"Yea, I knew you were the youngest but didn't know much more about your sisters. We never seem to talk about them. It's usually about one of the men on board," Finn jokingly stuck her tongue out.

"Well there's not much to tell... They all live their own lives, and I'm super proud of them all and I do my best to do them justice. Especially Miranda, I mean she's practically my mom, in a way. I don't remember my parents, I was too young when they died. But I'll never forget what they did for me, my sisters, I mean. I'd love for you to meet them.."

"I'm holding you to that on the next shore leave," she chuckled and threw a splash of water towards Mason.