Hot and Steamy

Posted on Fri Mar 20th, 2020 @ 1:16am by Lieutenant Day Smith & Lieutenant Ainsley Shaw

1,905 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Aftermath and Downtime
Location: Steam Room, Starbase 80
Timeline: Immediately after 'Just Relax'

This is a continuation of 'Just Relax"

When the door opened Day was met with a damp heat, she hesitated a moment and looked around the white fog, "Ainsley?" She wondered if the Valiant's chef was already inside.

Ainsley, wearing a towel wrapped around her head heard Day's voice and called out. "Over here, Day." The Valiant's cook was otherwise swathed only in a faint sheen of perspiration as steam sifted through the room.

As the Valiant's Operation's officer emerged, the blonde smiled from her seat and waved. "So, how did things go Day? Did you enjoy the experience?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I... I'll wait outside. I thought we..." Day covered her eyes at seeing Ainsley's bareness and started walking back towards the door, almost stumbling, not because the flooring was uneven but because of the whole situation making her feeling stupendously awkward.

"Didn't know what? That this was clothing optional? If it makes you feel awkward, I'll put a towel on. Come tell me how things have been going?" The cook's tone was slightly amused as she sat up and wrapped a towel about her self.

Not quite being able to compute everything in her brain Day lowered her hand and sighed a bit, "I'm sorry." She said again, not quite sure what for but it felt appropriate. She shuffled into the room and looked around, they were the only two there. Having almost forgotten the question Ainsley had asked she sat back on the bench and let out a sigh. "Oh. Yonnia is very good at her job. I liked how it felt as she massaged me." Her face flushed again, but she wasn't quite sure why this time.

Ainsley grinned a little wicked grin, then laughed. "Yonnia is indeed very good at her job and I can see that you are not accustomed to strangers, or maybe even acquaintances being in intimate proximity while you're nek'ked."

It took a moment for Day to process the way Ainsley pronounced the word, "I should have no qualms about being disrobed in front of other women. I have nothing to be ashamed of." She recited, "I just have not found myself in these situations before."

Chuckling, the blonde shook her head and said, "Well I'm glad you enjoyed it. You need to learn to loosen up a bit more girl. Having had a pleasant experience here today, are there other things you'd like to explore that strike you as possibilities for pleasure as well?"

Day blushed again, not sure what the other woman was alluding to but her mind immediately going places, "I was told that is not something for polite conversation." She whispered.

The chef cocked her head toward Day and said, "Oh honey. The only way to find out is to talk about it. Or go into a holo-program and educate yourself. No one ever explained girl talk to you? Well, let me fill you in." The blonde giggled a bit and made a show of looking around the empty, save for fog, air before saying conspiratorially, "When you find a trusted confidant, friend, someone like that...then you can share you deepest darkest bits and share experiences."

More seriously, she said "It's ever so nice to have someone you can just talk to. It must be hard being part of a crew where all of that Star Fleet gibberish can get into the way of just sharing things?"

"There is not much to share beyond the daily tasks of Starship operations." Day knew that there was a lot more that Ainsley wanted to talk about, but there simply wasn't anything in her past that fit the bill, "do you not feel those type of holodeck programmes are..." She couldn't quite come up with the appropriate word before she landed on, "awkward?"

Ainsley giggled and shook her head, "It's all awkward, whether it's a holo-harlequin novel or trying to pick up someone for a night of slap and tickle. But you have to start somewhere and at least holo's don't judge and you can act a part rather than be yourself. Sometimes being yourself all the time isn't that much fun."

The chef winked to Day and said, "Same reason we don't always use our real names when picking up someone."

"Why would you not use your real name when picking someone up?" Day was easily lost in conversations about social conventions, and that counted double any time romantic relations were involved.

"Well, there are times when you want someone to contact you again and then there are times you may want to just live for the moment rather than get tied up with them in the future. I think the term one night stand says it all, though the positioning varies...." the blonde said straight face, though hints of a grin were playing at her lips again.

"You mean sex positions, right?" Day smiled, though it came off more like a goofy grin. It didn't come naturally to her and it showed, "I think when it comes to sexual encounters, today has been the closest I've been to having one." She leaned back in the seat and thought back momentarily on the sensations from the massage, "and I have to say that I can understand that people would come to a place like this in order to relax."

"Well yes, that's what the joke was alluding to," Ainsley confirmed, smiling at Day. "It's kind of the same when it comes to relaxing a good bout of sex can go a long way to clearing your mind and really wringing the stress out of you. As long as you don't build the stress back into if one party thinks a relationship is going to be involved and the other doesn't."

Ainsley seemed to catch herself and she leaned back with another grin. "My dear, you haven't found anyone to explore that with or you just haven't been looking?"

"People tend not to view me in that fashion," Day knew that some of the people in the rehab centre were now romantically involved with each other, and that a couple of them got back in touch with people from their past, but she had neither. And ever since the late 80s people had gotten less and less tolerant towards people of her particular background. The synth ban hadn't helped. She couldn't blame them, she knew what she reminded them of, "as a result, I have not viewed people in that light either."

"Really?" Ainsley asked, interested. She shifted, tucking her legs under her and settling into her seat. "You don't get certain urges when you see a good looking person or get a bit fascinated by them? For instance, take Commander O'Donnaghue. He's a pretty man. Older, but rugged and has that whole Captainthing going for him. Or even Commander Ral? She's a doll and is just fascinating even without the Trill background. Adding that in just adds a bit more yummy!"

Day frowned, she hadn't really heard the use of yummy outside of a food context, "I am quite sure neither of them is edible," while not technically true even Day knew that cannibalism was frowned upon within the Federation. "They told me that I would know when it happened. So I feel like I will not have happened yet, because I still have no idea." Her frown half lifted, creating the Vulcanesque raised eyebrow, "do you think I am considered yummy?"

"Undoubtedly yes," was Ainsley's instant reply. "And undoubtedly, you'll get that feeling in the pit of your stomach and maybe feel like you're back in this room," she giggled again. "But there's also a difference between love and a good romp, you know."

"I do not." Day admitted.

"Oh my," Ainsley said quietly. "You must feel like I did when I was sixteen." The blonde's eyes closed as she said, "Tommy Davis and I fumbling about like crazed crabs on a beach...and the Sand!" Laughter escaped her lips as she re-opened her eyes and met Days, "They never say anything about the SAND in those cheesy romance stories. It got just everywhere."

The chef might have blushed but it was hard to tell amidst the steam. "But, Tommy was a nice boy and he did try. Best of all, it got the first time out of the way."

"You know, Day," Ainsley continued quietly, "Sometimes it does pay to be proactive..."

"It becomes more difficult to do so if being proactive in the past has resulted in less than favourable results." Day didn't really want to be reminded about the short stint in rehab that she was being pushed by her counsellors to get out there and meet other people. It turned out that outside of the walls of Starfleet Medical people weren't so very keen on mingling with ex-borgs.

She shifted a bit in her position on the wooden bench and looked over at Ainsley, "How long are we allowed to stay in here?"

"Why you can leave anytime you like, Day," Ainsley told her. "It's all about what you want to do after all. Have you had enough?"

"I was just wondering if we were overstaying our welcome, that is all." Day leaned back on the bench and closed her eyes for a moment. A long, drawn-out, breath escaped her lips, "I just wish social interactions were as easy to navigate as a cargo manifest."

Ainsley giggled again as she closed her eyes. "Oh? The spa was booked for the day. We aren't on a timeline...that's part of the atmosphere. You do what you want to do when you want to. As for cargo manifests, I should introduce you to Master Chief Shy. He's the Arabian's master at arms. He'd tell you to never trust a manifest, but to get your eyes and hands on the goods the ship's claiming, then take a good look around to see what they're hiding."

The chef smiled to herself and murmured, "And believe me, he's got great hands." After a moment, her eyes opened and she looked over to Day again. "Darlin, remember the first time you had to inventory a manifest by yourself? I'll bet you were nervous. At least a bit. That's what socialization is. You have to practice more. And you don't have to do it yourself. Val's got a good crew and inclusion is a great way to help smooth over anxieties and awkward feelings in social settings because you're not alone."

Day remembered the feeling of being part of the collective. She couldn't actively recall memories, or most knowledge from that time, the doctors told her that might have had something to do with the trauma from assimilation. But she remembered the voices, the feeling of being a part of something unfathomably large. The stark contrast with that single voice in her head, no true sense of purpose as a unified society. It was miles apart, "From where I am sitting, it is sometimes a challenge to remember that."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Day Smith
Chief Operation Officer
USS Valiant

&

Ainsley Shaw (NPC)
Chef
USS Valiant
(As written by Thibideaux)

 

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