Crashing the Party

Posted on Wed Jun 19th, 2024 @ 9:06pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: Character Development
2378 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure

"Really? This is where we're meditating?" Finn asked P'rel immediately upon entering the holodeck which had been transformed into an entirely uninspiring desert landscape. The sun was setting over the horizon but there were no clouds in the sky and no beautiful colors that you might typically associate with a relaxing meditation scene. In fact, the scene could accurately be described simply as the sun setting over a pile of sand. "What's the name of this program? Hot boring sand field?"

"Sunset on Vulcan" P'rel replied in a voice as dry as the landscape, setting herself down into a kneeling position and gesturing with an upwards palm for Finnley to be seated. "This is an upscaled remodel of one of the earliest four-dimensional renders, created by earth artists in what was then cutting edge holography. I believe the original was created in 2168". Hardly necessary in the setting, but the Vulcan unrolled the prayer mat and took her time in placing the meditation lamp, glyph statue of the Kir'Shara, and a lighter. "The choice of program is not without purpose".

"Is this going to end up having some deep correlation with the fire extinguisher metaphor we had talked about before?" Finn lightly chuckled. Meditation was not her strong suit and the idea of the practice itself brought her nerves to the surface. Which of course just exacerbated her sarcastic nature. She sighed as she sat, thinking about how much she'd prefer to be ignoring all thought and feeling as she dove into a pile of work.

"Perhaps" P'rel replied, with a slight tilt of her head as she lit the small lighter and held it to the lamp wick. "Perhaps, it is a representation..." she removed the lighter as the wick took flame and placed it lightly on the prayer mat; "...that perceptions and understandings and analysis of a thing, does not alter the thing itself..." the Vulcan eyed Finn for her reaction, waiting to see where she would take the suggestion.

Finn looked from P'rel to the lamp and then moved her attention back to P'rel. "If you tell me that we're going to learn how to extinguish this lamp with our minds, I'm all in. You underestimate just how interested I am in telekinesis."

"Vulcan mental discipline..." P'rel began, "...can be a pathway to many abilities some would consider...unnatural..." her voice tailed off as she wistfully gazed at the flame holding an open palm against the heat. "Though we are not here for that..." she replied, "...today" the Vulcan teased, closing her hand sharply with her fingers at such an angle that the air funnelled through and extinguished the flame. A trick picked up from a Saurian trader many years ago; done correctly it certainly created an impressive illusion.

"Today we're meditating as the sun sets over a boring pile of sand..." Finn let a sarcastic smile slip through. "No offense, I'm sure Vulcan is actually a beautiful planet. Perhaps I should visit sometime. Anyway," she took a deep breath. There was no use in delaying any longer with snarky comments. The sooner they could start, the sooner she could go back to something more entertaining, or distracting. "Where do we start?"

P'rel steepled her fingers and just barely opened her mouth to answer, when the holodeck arch appeared off to their side and Lieutenant Leiko burst in looking far too happy.

"Surf's up Keating! I'm actually going to beat you..." Xavier trailed off as he quickly realised this was not the scene he had expected to see. He had anticipated sea, sand, and surf not P'rel and Finn on a prayer mat huddled over a candle. The holodeck door slammed closed behind him and seemed to echo around the room. He was suddenly very aware that he was only in a pair of swimming trunks and the human part of him used the foam surfboard he was carrying to hide his modesty as his mouth refused to work.

P'rel glared at Lieutenant Leiko whilst wondering how the young man had managed to enter an occupied holodeck in the first place, and despite the technical matter of how he had done so, the prescient matter was why...

Finn raised a brow and looked at the intruder doing everything she could to keep back the laughter that was fighting to emerge at the sight of Xavier's embarrassment. Not that it mattered, since she was sure he could feel her emotions anyway. "Well, there's no surfing here, but today is your lucky day! There's always room for one more on the super fun journey I like to call 'mediation while the sun sets over a boring pile of sand. Care to join?" She smiled while her mind communicated a slightly different message. Please join and make this more entertaining for me.

"He does not" P'rel responded, her steepled fingers at her chin an indication that she not recomposed herself; something the human equivalent of standing agog with one's mouth dropped open in shock.

Xavier's eyes shifted between the blunt ones of P'rel's and the pleading ones of Finn's. Everything in his body was telling him to turn and run, but he was much too loyal for that. "What are you doing?" He asked as he edged forward slowly, the surfboard still tactically positioned to protect himself from their stares. She may actually kill me if I don't leave. He said to Finn telepathically.

"Meditating," Finn said. "Also, it's not nice to make assumptions for others," she glanced at P'rel. "I assume meditation is a great practice for everyone to learn, so you should join. There's no reason not to, right?"

Stop trying to make this a thing Xavier thought loudly towards Finn. "I'm not exactly dressed for meditating," he said as he hugged the surfboard a little tighter. "Plus I wouldn't want to make Commander P'rel blush," he smirked.

"Vulcans do not blush" P'rel responded matter of factly, observing the interaction between the pair. There were few circumstances where such telepathic interaction could be successful between non-telepaths, and though it were not as if she could tap into them like a subspace intercept, the Vulcan could certainly detect the substance of what was going on. "Lieutenant..." P'rel began, offering a seat on the mat and speaking just as the young half betazoid were sitting himself; "...there are quite limited circumstances where a half betazoid would be able to commune with a human. How long have you been sexually attracted to Commander Keating?". She left the words on the back of a fixed stare, and wondered if he could detect her view that he should check the occupancy lock before entering a holodeck.

"I'm actually three-quarters Betazoid, Ma'am and have a much higher telepathic aptitude than any of my brothers and my father," Xavier replied, standing a little straighter. He tossed the surfboard to one side, somehow speaking of his Betazoid heritage reminded him that they had a more open mindset when it came to nudity and he was still covered where it counted. He looked at Finn and gave her a wink and cheeky grin. "Oh we've been in love for forever, since our first meeting actually." He rubbed his chest over where his heart was; over where Finn had attacked him during their first encounter. "And to answer your final, unspoken question, the program was marked as open."

Finn picked up on where Xavier was going and smirked. "Oh yes. I fell for him the first time I laid eyes on him really. Drove me crazy for a while," she thought back to that day on the Athena where everything had turned into a nightmare and she was sure he was a Breen soldier trying to take over the ship. As complicated as problems were back then, they seemed so much simpler than they did now. "It can't hurt to have the love of my life in on our meditation sessions, right?" A chuckle threatened to escape but Finn stifled it back with a serene looking smile.

Her brow arched, P'rel simply responded with "shall we resume?". Not waiting for an answer, and ignoring whether their new arrival joined in or not, she returned her body position to the meditative state and again steepled her fingers. "You are as the sand...flowing, settling, picked up by the winds and flowing again...focus on a grain of that sand...and become it..." she said, in a measured tone as her eyes closed. Herself too, focusing on become one with the sands.

Xavier wasn't sure if he was meant to join in or not. P'rel was giving off a vibe that he didn't want to be around, but Finn really wanted him to stay in the program; and not just because they were now in love. He edged forward and joined the ladies on the ground. "Can we be any sand that we want?" He asked, cutting over the Vulcan. "Like is this a specific planet? Or can I be Betazoid sand on Earth?"

P'rel had seen a holographic simulation demonstration once - some form of traders exhibition - where a neural interface had allowed the user to generate objects with only a single thought. The Vulcan longed for such an upgrade to Starfleet systems, where one could simply will a phaser into being. "Any sand you wish" she replied, trying to withhold the irritation from her voice.

Finn held in a chuckle and followed suit, crossing her legs and imagining herself as sand. She pictured sand from the beach at home, though for a moment she considered a green sand beach just for fun. it didn't take long before her mind felt like it was pulling away. As though it was sifting through an hourglass on a planet where time moved more slowly. Is this....supposed to feel like this? She wondered.

"As the sands around move, shift, ebb and flow...you are the grain which does not. You are still, isolated, remote, unable to be carried by the forces of movement around you..." the Vulcan continued, sensing the mental positions of Finnley. And him.

"Oh, like the calm in the middle of a storm," Xavier said, his eyes closed as he tried his best to imagine everything moving around him. "Actually, a better analogy would be a ship in the middle of a warp bubble," he added, his eyes popping open with excitement. "Finn and I are both engineers so we relate to that more."

Reopening her eyes, the Vulcan - now irritated to the point of it beginning to show - looked at Lieutenant Leiko directly. "The trapezius nerve bundle pinch practised as part of Sha'mura is rarely fatal. Rarely, but not entirely...".

Xavier held up his hands, palms facing outwards, in the universal symbol for I'm Sorry. Internally he was dying to laugh, it was amusing how much he was annoying the Vulcan second officer but he was smart enough not to let that show on his face. He didn't risk looking in Finn's direction, knowing the second their eyes met the masquerade would be over. He pinched his thumb and index finger together for extra sincerity and drew a line across his lips; a promise of staying quiet.

Finn did her best to maintain a serious posture, but it proved to be quite a difficult task. She took a deep breath and tried to refocus. As much as she thought meditation was a waste of time, she had promised to try. A few more moments passed before she started to feel an almost connection building and a fog lifted from the sand. A new landscape emerged and it felt somehow familiar though she knew she'd never been in this location before. A memory? One of yours? Finn's mind reached out to the other two for answers.

Xavier froze, all of the mirth he had felt only seconds before had completely evaporated. Why had the scene shifted to here of all places? Had he conjured it or was P'rel playing mind games? He stared at the cliff the jagged rockface taunting him. He wanted to look away but the only other option was the spot where his uncle had died. It had happened long before he was born but the memory was fresh, having only recently learned about the incident from a telepathic bonding experience with his mother, one that he had shared with Finn back on Earth.

"No, no, no," Xavier muttered under his breath as he quickly jumped to his feet, nearly exposing himself in the process. "I can't be here," he said as he hurried towards the door.

"Wait. Xav!" Finn followed suit, popping up from the ground and running after him. "Come back. Look, I know it's tough to face. I remember feeling that when you shared the memory. Maybe this will help?" She searched his face and noting that he wasn't convinced, tried a different tactic. "Maybe we can adjust. I'll try to share one of my memories instead. I'm new to this and since I'm not a telepath it's harder for me to navigate, but I'm guessing it's possible to choose." As soon as the words left her mouth she wondered if she'd regret them. Though she'd adjusted to the idea of being around telepaths and even become great friends with Xavier, she was still somewhat uncomfortable about sharing feelings and memories with others.

Xavier noticed the sincerity in Finn's eyes and he knew this was a hard offer for her to make. He was touched that she would do this for him and he was on the verge of accepting when he caught sight of P'rel in his peripheral vision. Shaking his head he turned to leave again. "I'm sorry Finn, not this time."

"I understand," Finn gave a solemn nod, not terribly excited about her predicament of being left alone, but she understood not wanting to continue. In some ways, she was relieved he hadn't taken her up on her offer. "Have a good night, Xav," she said. The door to the holodeck closed and Finn turned to face her fate of meditation with P'rel once more.