The Experience

Posted on Fri Dec 13th, 2024 @ 7:10pm by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Lieutenant Katya Davi & Lieutenant Jayden Meran & Lieutenant Amy Gordon & Lieutenant JG Ruby Rojas

2,307 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: The Foragers
Location: Club Neverwinter

ON

The bass thrummed through Katya, making her feel lighter and more supple as she and Rhu approached the dance area. It was like the music had transformed her bones to allow her to bend and twist with the melting lights. Her hips began to move with the music, anticipating the opportunity to experience this new form of dance.

As a telepath she was used to the ever present hum of other people's thoughts. With her mental shields in place, they were more like the dull roar of a crowd of people and she almost never picked up on anything in particular—unless it was a mental shout. But here, the thoughts took shape and color. Some turned into butterflies or billowing clouds; others were brightly-colored birds. With some, the colors themselves took on a taste and texture. Yellows hummed a soft butterscotch descant while the cooler blues tasted like a baser berry.

Rhu had his own unique flavor that she couldn't quite place, but Katya found it compelling. She turned to him and held out her hand. "Dance with me?"

With only a slight hesitation (he was her commanding officer after all) Rhu grasped Katya's hand and activated the bracelets with his other hand as they stepped into the sonic field, the anti-grav's kicking in as they joined the Collective. His head swam with golden pulsing light that took various images. This time around, he could tell some of the images were from those around him. Likewise, the field of purple and white neon flowers began picking up the beat, reforming into a conga line that threaded throughout the collective.

Then they started singing with the butterflies.

The moment they passed through the sonic field, Katya felt the sonic field rip away her own mental shields, exposing her to the cacophony around her. It felt like they were entering another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. Her grip on Rhu tightened. She felt...floaty. Like she could drift up to the top of the sonic dome if she let go, so she determined to hold on. At least for now.

She began to dance to the music. She was most familiar with folk and ballroom dances, so she improvised a combination of both as she moved with the beat. Iridescent spinnerets of light, like silken threads, swirled around the other dancers. Those dancing as pairs or groups had their multi-colored lights weaving patterns around the dancers. Each color was humming softly, creating a hypnotic harmony that was separate from the colorful creatures that filled the enclosure.

The sensory overload was intoxicating, as was the desire to push off from the ground and join those floating above them. But she wasn't ready to let go of her thoughts, her control, or her partner. Her movements turned flirtatious as she moved closer to Rhu, needing another person to stay grounded as random thoughts from others burst like fizzy bubbles in her head.

Rhu twirled in the lift field and spun them into the music as it thrummed louder Through them. It started with the beat of the music and he felt it match his heartbeat. Or maybe his heartbeat matched the music's beat He felt it rush throughout his body and as they moved through the mass of people involved in the dance, all experiencing things together but separately. Briefly he pressed up against Kat as they navigated through the throng, feeling her own heart beat matching his before they separated and the field swept them along.

The brief contact set her heartbeat fluttering. It added to the heady effects of the music and the motion of the dancers around the floor. She focused on staying with Rhu so they didn't get separated. The lights swirled around and through them with pulses of psychedelic colors making her more aware of her own emotions and the thrum of the music. Rhu would have been a good partner under normal circumstances, but the fluid gravity gave the dance a magical quality. Her skirt swirled out as she performed an intricate spin, bringing her against his chest. The freedom of movement and heady music was seductive and she wondered what he would do if she kissed him.

The effects of all the minds touching but not quite linking was pushing his control. Never a strong telepath unless strong emotions were involved, he could feel the intoxicating effects the sonic waves were having on the crowd. Those in turn were even more intoxicating to him as the collectives’ emotions rolled over him. Kat was right there and he could feel strong emotions radiating from her. Flashes of thoughts ran though him. Very improper ones for a Commanding Officer and one of his crew. Grasping her hand, he focused. Kissed the back of the hand then spun her, guiding her into another group of participants. They mingled and he let a little more of his control go, letting the field carry him higher again toward the apex.

Kat followed his lead. The emotions she felt bleeding from the other dancers were like a heady perfume, but they were nothing compared to what she was feeling. For a brief moment she wondered if they were being created by the experience, but as she focused inward for a moment, she realized that no, they weren't being created. The emotions were already there. They were simply being enhanced. She had a choice and in that moment, she chose to go with them, just for tonight. Tomorrow she would report in, but for tonight, she was going to enjoy this. She let go of his hand for a moment to enjoy the feeling of weightless dancing, then she took his hand again and smiled.

Rhu let the experiences of the others wash over him but stopped trying to differentiate what he was feeling from who was feeling it. The different emotions were all heady and tempting, but as long as he didn't let any one particular emotion grab a hold of him, he was fairly confident he wouldn't make an unforgivable mistake.

He decided to focus on the forgivable ones.

For now.

Amy wasn't quite ready to join back into the dance, she watched though as Katya and Rhu headed out to the dance floor. Her eyes went back towards Daynah and Jayden. "Would either of you want to go out and dance? I'm game to go out again, but want to get you both involved if you would like."

Amy looked back to where she thought Daynah was, realizing her eyes were playing tricks. Daynah had left early on. She shook her head to clear it and looked back at Jayden.

"C'mon Jayden let's dance." a warm and inviting smile towards him, will he take her hand? Amy wondered. After a few seconds of waiting, Amy just reached out and took Jayden by the hands and pulled him from the chair, in a smooth action placed two bracelets upon his wrist and pulled him towards the dance floor. Amy had already gotten herself some other bracelets.

Amy paused in her motion of moving towards the dance floor, remembering Jayden's expression as to the sounds of the club and his evident shyness. She was face to face with him and could see more of the signs. She leaned in to whisper, in Jayden's ear. "You don't have to go out there with me, in fact." she slipped the bracelets back off Jayden's wrists. "This might be a good time for you to make your exit." giving him a conspiratorial wink. "I'll stay here and do a little bit more dancing. It will be alright."

Jayden was really overwhelmed by everything. First by Amy straight forwardness and now she had taken of the bracelets again. Making his exit? He looked around, the alcohol making him a bit hazy. Finally, he saw the exit Amy meant and stumbled over to the door and walked through it. The room appeared to be spinning around him and he had a hard time walking straight. He might have consumed a bit too much alcohol, more than he was capable of handling. He walked through the door and stumbled back to his room.

The psychedelic effects of the music were messing with Katya's telepathy. While she couldn't read more than surface thoughts—for which she was grateful—the ones she was picking up became more surreal. They oozed out of the dancers like lumpy pudding, then popped, ejecting multi-colored slugs and worms. Then the creatures melted into each other, blending to shades of purple and chartreuse. Her attention was drawn back to her partner. The silken filaments of light were coalescing around him, drawing her like a moth to a flame.

Ruby heard about Club Neverwinter while she was having lunch and she couldn't wait to experience it for herself. Wearing a version of a female Zorro in a red skirt and mask, she entered the club and was immediately drawn to the people on what amounted to a dance floor, although some of the people were floating in the air above the dancers. Some of the floaters were gyrating to the music, but others were merely drifting, lost in contemplation. Or high. She wasn't sure which.

A waitress came up to her. "Can I show you to a booth, or would you like to go on the floor first?"

Ruby tore her gaze away from the dancers. "I want to go there first."

The waitress explained about the bracelets and the sonic field, then handed a pair to Ruby. "Let me know when you want to sit down and I'll show you to a place. Until then, have fun." Then she was gone.

The Latina slipped on the bracelets and practically marched through the sonic field. The music had been loud before, but now it became a part of her. It felt like her molecules themselves were dancing. She took a moment to look around and orient herself to the feeling of being buoyant. She pushed off the floor and began to rise. She'd been in an anti-grav tank once and loved it. This felt similar, only here the colors were swirling around, singing Mariachi songs while tiny trumpets led a conga line of musical notes as they accompanied the song in her head. It clashed with the techno beat throbbing from the hidden speakers, but she didn't care.

Ruby let herself rise, watching everything around her as she moved through the bodies, some danced to the music in their heads, others just twitched from time to time.

A white rabbit head stuck out of the back of one dancer, head-banging in time with the music while its ears twirled in slow-motion circles. Another dancer's face was slowly melting onto its shirt, creating a Picasso-like image. Ruby quickly looked away. That one was too much for her.

Ruby navigated to the side of the sonic bubble until she could touch it. As she thought, it felt rubbery and solid this far up. Good. That meant she couldn’t accidentally fall out and get hurt. With a wide grin on her face, she pushed off and tucked, somersaulting above the others. When she hit the far side, she straightened and pushed off again, whooping with delight. This was great!

Katya had become hyper-focused on the silken threads that were wrapping her in a shimmering cocoon, slowly severing her from her surroundings. Then she heard someone whoop with joy and looked up to see a woman in red bouncing off the sides of what amounted to a dome of sensation. It helped her pull away from the emotional tsunami, although Rhu continued to blaze brighter than anyone else on the dance floor. She could feel her pulse beating in time with the music as it changed from techno pop to something slower.

A man dressed in the complete outfit of Dread Roberts all authentic looking stepped inside with two others, taking another look at his outfit and smiled. After all the wearer of the garb wanted to make certain it looked good and proper. He stood there looking at the dance set up, watching the dancers as they moved to the music. A pair of bracelets had been given to him, their function having been explained. A grin spread over the lower part of his face, catching sight of the Latina bombshell having a bit of fun. To the air he rose after stepping into the field. The music, the beat, the sonics of it taking hold.

To the woman in red, ( Ruby) he made his way there, "Care to dance oh lovely one?" holding out his right gloved hand.

Ruby straightened, the air around her stopping her as she looked at the man in black. He was cute. Even more, she loved the mystery of his costume. Who couldn't resist a dark, handsome stranger sweeping her off her feet? The fact that she was literally off her feet didn't count. "Yes." She put her hand in his and giggled, then smothered the sound with her free hand and laughed.

Amy watched as Jayden made his way out of the club, then turned to watch and observe the others eventually she decided to wend her way to the floor of the club, who knows what sort of information she could glean, and maybe find another dance partner. Or even she paused as a thought occurred to her. There was a lovely room for her here on Empok Nor, with a lovely bathtub. Time to take advantage of it, and enjoy. With that in mind, Amy acted upon her decision returning the bracelets to the hostess. Looking up once more towards the dancers, Amy waved towards Kat and Rhu, then left.

 

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