Rum Filled Incursions

Posted on Mon Oct 23rd, 2023 @ 3:39pm by Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: Character Development
Location: Earth
2407 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Xavier was happy he had decided to take the scenic route. He didn't get to spend enough time on Earth and something about being here just made him feel more connected to his father and his human origins. Not that his paternal family had been from this part of the planet, which made him feel a twang of jealousy. The air was warm and sweet and the smell of sea salt threatened to overwhelm his senses. Not in a negative way, in fact, it reminded him of his last trip to Risa, his last time with Ari.

Shaking away that thought, the Betazoid made his way up the garden path to the house where his friend had grown up and where she was now currently residing. He wished she was back on the ship with him, drinking rum and trading war stories, but honestly, if he lived here, he may not want to leave either. He pressed the chime and waited until the door was flung open by a hulking man glaring at him. Given all that happened recently, he imagined that the family were getting a few unwelcomed guests.

"Mr Keating," Xavier said, his smile genuine. "Can Finn come out to play?"

"Finn!" The Colonel's voice bellowed down the corridor. "Someone's here to see you! Someone you want to see maybe?" He asked as he bounded around the corner to the door.

The smile that immediately hit Finn's face as she saw Xavier could've lit up a room. It had been far too long since she'd seen the operations officer that she considered one of her closest friends. "Hi Xavier," she said, trying to mask her joy at least some so that he didn't really know how much she'd missed him. "It's been a while. Wanna go for a walk? I want to hear about everything you've been up to."

Xavier felt his insides settle. The truth was, he had no idea how his unannounced visit would be received, Finn had left the ship in such a hurry, that a small part of him expected to have the door closed in his face. He was happy that wasn't the case. He smiled as she tried to hide her happiness, the last time she had seen him he was a broken man, she clearly had no idea that he could sense her again. He decided not to tell her.

"That sounds like a great idea," he replied. "As long as you don't mind getting a bit drunk and disorderly with me?" He had a mischievous smile on his face and waved a bottle of Risian rum in the air.

"Save me a sip when you get back," Quinn winked and closed the door behind them as Finn slipped outside.

"Come on, we'll take the trail to the beach. It's long enough that we'll be decently wasted by the time we get there," Finn chuckled and walked towards a clearly traveled path through the woods. "So are we drinking straight from the bottle?" She asked, noting the lack of glasses in his hands.

Xavier arched an eyebrow at his friend. "I'm sorry Your Highness," he said as he did a little curtsy. "Do you want me to run back to the house and have the servant replicate some Va'ali crystal?" He grinned and before she could answer he opened the bottle and took a decent sip. "Well, that'll warm you up."

Finn chuckled and then grabbed the bottle from him and downed a sip herself. "Woo, that's good stuff. All that time we were on the Athena and you kept this bottle hidden? Shame on you Xav." She smiled. "So, tell me what all you've been up to lately."

Xavier laughed and shoved her lightly. "You drink rum like an old earth sailor. I wasn't sure you'd recognise the good stuff from your regular swill." He pulled the bottle from her and took another sip, feeling the liquid warm the path from his tongue, down his throat, and into his stomach. "Ah y'know, the usual. Fighting pirates, kicking ass, and keeping Tey in line. All in a day's work really." He purposely left out the part about being captured, he didn't want to trigger anything in her, not when it felt like having the old Finn back.

"Sounds more like you've been lost in Neverland than Starfleet," she chuckled. "How successful have you been with keeping Teyo in line?" She asked with a curious brow. Surely there was no way anyone was really capable of keeping that engineer anywhere close to in line.

"Let's just say he has ejected less warp cores than you," he said with a huge grin. He took another swig and passed her the bottle. "And kicked fewer department heads."

She felt a small pang of guilt as the memories surfaced, but quickly did her best to push them behind. "Ok, wow. First of all, I didn't even know you were a department head at the time," Finn chuckled and stole the bottle for another swig. "Secondly, you were a Breen so obviously you deserved it."

"I mean technically I wasn't the department head at the time," Xavier admitted, a sheepish grin plastered on his face. His cheeks felt warm and he was sure he was glowing. The thought of Chief Daniels threatened to ruin his high spirits, but he too moved the memory aside. "What about you, what have you been doing?"

"Oh you know, getting involved in top secret plots, attempting to condemn my Captain life in prison. The usual," Finn shrugged before letting a smirk sneak through. She took yet another sip, drowning the memories in liquid, before handing the bottle back to Xavier. "How are you by the way?" Have you gotten your telepathy back? The second question was asked only in her mind and not spoken.

A flash of images, memories, and feelings invaded the Betazoid's mind. They were nonsequential and blurred into each other like a terribly edited old movie, but the jist was there. He was so distracted that he didn't notice Finn handing the bottle back and it nearly fell out of his hand; thankfully his brain was paying enough attention and his grip tightened before he dropped the rum on the ground. "I do indeed have my telepathy back," he said slowly and carefully. "And the flashes of memories I just got from you before you buried them was... intense. What happened? Are you okay?"

"How do you do that? I didn't mean to send any memories, I only asked a question," Finn took the bottle back, not sure why she'd handed it over and took another swig. A few more and she wasn't sure she'd even be able to walk straight, but the rum did have a good numbing effect and that was worth something. "I'm...not okay. Well, sort of. I'm working on it," she admitted, which is more than she would have done just a few weeks prior. "I'm not sure I want to talk about it all yet. Let's just say I'm working through it, but it'll take time."

"It always does, it's okay you don't need to talk about anything you don't want to, I'm not Savin," he joked. His dark eyes searched her blue ones for a moment longer than was comfortable before he looked away. "Well, I gotta say Finn, this is a great place to be holed up. It must be so nice spending so much time at home?"

"It is nice. Mostly. The first few weeks were a little rough. You know how it is living with a higher ranking parent," she chuckled and nudged him. "How are things at home for you? I take it you went home and that's how you got your telepathy back?"

"Indeed I do," Xavier nodded in agreement as he stole the bottle back and took a large gulp. It was two-thirds empty which explained his slightly wobbly legs. "The Admiral actually met me here on Earth, not long after you had your diva fit," he burst into laughter and hoped the joke would land the way he had intended it to. "We're actually good right now, we worked through a lot. Can I show you?" He asked tentatively.

"Show me?" Finn raised a hesitant yet curious brow. "What do you mean?"

"I have been practising with my telepathy," he said softly, all hint of humour gone. "It's been a journey but I feel stronger, which isn't always the case with people who aren't fully Betazoid. Anyways, instead of just being able to read minds, some Betazoids can project thoughts or memories into a non-telepathic species. I haven't done it before, but I would like to try, if you're willing?" He left out the part about the extra help he was getting, after all, that was irrelevant information that she wouldn't care about.

"Like a mind meld? P'rel sort of did that to me. I think. I'm not entirely sure I understand it," Finn plopped into the sand on the beach they had reached at the end of the trail. "You know I'm not a huge fan of the whole telepathy thing, but I guess since I've done it more than once now, one more time can't hurt," she shrugged before looking up at him. "You won't see anything on my side right? I'll just see whatever you want me to see?"

Xavier shook his head as he joined her on the ground. "Not a mind meld, no. Our minds will not be linked, this is just me sharing my memories with you, your mind will be perfectly locked to me." He put his index and middle finger on Finn's temple and closed his eyes. He thought about that day on the beach with his mother, he thought about the telepathic journey they had been on, he thought about the shuttle crash and Chief Daniels and the cliff on Betazed, he thought about his long lost uncle Aaras, he thought about it all, no stone left unturned. When he was done he pulled back and had a smile on his face, it felt amazing to share that with someone, he hadn't even shared it all with Jerant or Tey. "That's how we healed each other," was all he managed to say.

"Whoa," Finn sat back. "That was, a lot...and you like sharing it? I mean, I feel honored that you'd share it with me. I just don't know how you do it without holding back." She paused for a moment, processing it all. "You've been busy," she finally said. "Your uncle...I could've sworn that was you at first. I can see how that was hard for your mom. I'm glad you guys worked it out though and now you've both started healing. In more ways that one, if I'm interpreting everything correctly," the smile as she looked to her friend was genuine. She truly felt happy for him, and happy that he'd felt close enough to her to share all of those memories.

Xavier smiled. "I loved sharing that with you. On Betazed everything is so free-flowing and open that it's an adjustment being around non-telepathic species. Thank you for letting me try that," he added sincerely. "I know you don't like telepathic incursions much, it means a lot. It's actually nice getting on with The Admiral for once, I feel lighter. Does that make sense?"

"It does make sense. And I actually don't mind if you want to share memories or intrude in that sense. I don't like telepathic intrusions the other way around. I don't like other people knowing what I feel or my thoughts or memories. I guess I work so hard to hide it all on the outside that anyone else seeing it feels like an invasion of privacy. Even just your small glimpse into whatever you saw a little bit ago...those feel like my burdens to bear and it's not fair to anyone else to have to shoulder it. You know what I mean?" Finn looked out to the water and stared off to the distance, wondering both what he had seen before and if he could possibly understand what she meant seeing as how he was so open in areas where she was so closed off.

Xavier shook his head slowly. "It doesn't really make sense, but I think I understand where you're coming from. It's hard cause we look so similar, it's easy to forget we're different species and our worlds are very different. But understand Finn," he turned to face her and took her hand in his. "I am always going to know what you're feeling, it's as natural to me as breathing is. You shouldn't be afraid of that, it's not a burden, it's freeing to me, like I know the real you. And trust me, there are much worse heads to be in. You have nothing to worry about with me."

Finn stared at him for a moment before dropping his hand. "Ugh," she said in mock disgust. "See, all this touchy feely crap. This is why I prefer rum to telepaths. No offensive Xav," she laughed and nudged him hard. Humor was always her go to defense mechanism and even though all of the emotions made her uncomfortable, a part of her thought she could get used to Xavier knowing her better. In the past, she'd have avoided telepaths, but avoiding Xav didn't seem to be an option on any front and she wasn't sure she'd want to avoid him at any rate. He was too good of a friend.

"So do I," Xavier said, leaning across her and taking the bottle of rum from her. He drank a mouthful and smiled widely. "Rum really makes everything better. Next time I'm on Earth, we'll have to make a night of it."

"Why wait until then?" A wide grin emerged on Finn's face. "How about next week, my quarters, after shift?"

"No good, we'll probably be gone by... wait!" Xavier turned to look at his friend, her words finally sinking in. "You're coming home? Back to the ship?" She had barely started to nod when he threw himself on top of her in a hug he knew she was going to loathe but at this point in time, he didn't give a damn!