Now and Forever

Posted on Wed Jan 4th, 2023 @ 2:31am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Delaney O'Callaghan

Mission: Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: Hysperia
Timeline: MD04
3490 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

The night had closed in. The price of a beautifully clear sky was the permeating chill that carried down from snow-capped peaks, the whip of a breeze just persistent enough to sink deep to the bones. It was exactly the right weather for bonfires, of course, and mead. And feeling grateful that you'd chosen a costume that involved a large cloak.

The main bonfire was where most of the activity was, at least in terms of planned entertainment. When their group had caught up with the rest of the crew in attendance, those who'd preferred to hang by the warmth and wait for the procession to come to them, it hadn't taken Delaney long to make a beeline for the warmth of Leiddem's side. The wind was a bracing reminder of home and there was certainly something comforting about its familiarity, but feeling cold was too much of a recent issue and her medical condition had made itself known under the duress of dangerously low body temperature. It was an excuse, anyway, to burrow beneath his arm and steer them in search of food and something hot to drink. It surprised absolutely no one that she'd wound up with almost more than she could carry.

Now, stretched out on their own patch of grass near one of the smaller bonfires, having found it easier to choose a spot closer to where they'd ordered their drinks rather than attempt to navigate all the way back without dropping something, she couldn't say she was actually sorry about her stash of food. Greasy fingers picked tender meat from the bone of a turkey leg, her head comfortably resting in the Betazoid's lap. Once in a while, in a gesture of pure love, she offered him a bite.

"I hope our new chef can cook half as well as this," she ventured between bites. The pounds she'd lost during their last emergency stood a chance to actually return if the menu on board picked up.

Leiddem had been day dreaming or in this case fire watching when words finally came out of the Delaney’s lips and he offered a smile. “She looked officiant and I think if she heard you she would be offended that you even suggested that hope.” Leiddem teased whilst brushing her hair away from her cheek. His sister had called him love sick but he called it adorable.

"I reserve judgement until I see what her breakfast menu looks like." It wasn't entirely unfair to say that Delaney's favourite meal of the day was whichever one she was currently eating, but there was something nostalgic about the breakfast shift. She'd met Leiddem that way, after all.

She bopped him on the nose with the remains of her turkey leg.

“Ouch.” He lamented.

As much as the location was different, and the temperature was definitely not an improvement, their current situation was not so very different to the way they wound down every day. Replace the grass with Leiddem's couch, and the turkey leg with whatever snack Delaney had determined was absolutely necessary right before bed, and in the place of a large bonfire, a movie of questionable plot and a multitude of explosions. Sometimes Delaney actually had to remind herself that none of it had existed before Rosie's catastrophic system failure because, in every way, it felt like this had been her life forever. Or, at least, it was comfortable enough that she could wish it had been.

"Any Betazoid delicacies you hope she'll dish out?" In typical fashion, the human's fascination with his heritage extended to the culinary realm.

The man had been thinking long and hard about the new Betazoid and had come to a conclusion about her that she had no telepathic abilities. “Oh so many things.” He said wiping the grease off of his nose from the turkey leg. “I am sure that she will have something up her sleeve that will remind me of home in an instant.” He quietly took the turnkey leg from her and had a big bite.

Having relinquished it without fuss, Delaney reached for one of the napkins that had come with their spread and cleaned her fingers before settling her hands across her stomach. "Good. I'm just about done listening to you explain things I can't actually eat. Now if Curtis' new friend actually applies for the bar position, maybe we'll end up with some decent whiskey to go with it all." It seemed surreal to be speaking of luxuries so soon after being grateful for warm, simple porridge. Truthfully, Delaney wasn't the indulgent type and would have surrendered all of it to ensure the ship stayed operational. Still, it was nice to look forward to things again.

Stretched out between the Betazoid's legs, her head twisted to the side to rest on his thigh, Laney eventually dropped her hands to settle on his calf muscles and patted his legs gently as they watched the trickle of locals wander in and pick up their own positions around the fire. It was ridiculous how easy it had been to settle into the rhythm of things, and were it not for the fact that everyone looked just about ready to perform a Christmas pantomime, Delaney might almost have imagined she was back home. Come to think of it, that probably only made it more familiar.

"You know, if Burnie somehow convinces Gregnol that there's profit to be had in dragons, we could add this to our regular route and do this all the time." It was wistful thinking but hard not to covet. Earth was far enough away that nearly-a-year felt like a lifetime.

"The dragons are likely like Betazed animals not much-thrived off-world in way of fauna, flora and animals. Which is a shame I would love to see a singing monkey freak people out off world." He put the turkey leg down wiping his own fingers before he just looked down at her and took in her for what felt like the millionth time. He did not think he would ever get bored of it in the slightest. "I am sure he could be persuaded if there was enough of us who requested it."

"Some sort of hunger strike perhaps."

The mere notion of Delaney refusing to eat gave even her pause for thought and eventual laughter.

And then she caught him watching her, which was something that secretly warmed her all the way through because it was such a simple, genuine tenderness and apparently she was a sappy romantic. Reaching up, she scratched her nails gently against his jawline and froze, mouth open ready to speak, as a commotion on the other side of the fire provoked instant distraction.

Someone was dragging in what looked like a lectern, of sorts.

"It's a weird night for public speaking," she observed, wriggling up into a sitting position that allowed her to lean back against Leiddem's chest and tuck her head just beneath his chin. A glance from those nearby suggested she had spoken just a little too loudly and, grimacing apologetically, Delaney took the hint and dropped her volume. "Poetry recital perhaps?"

Leiddem shivered at her nails along his jaw and felt just how much stubble he had but also how quickly she turned him to mush. It was ridiculous and he loved it. The man shrugged a little. It was indeed a weird night for public poetry recital but who was he to judge when he had done such weird stuff in the last couple of weeks. “Do not expect me to recite poetry. I am no poet.”

Delaney grinned at the notion. "Oh, come on, not even a brief soliloquy about the benefits of strong cardio when being pursued by werewolves?" She was hardly disappointed, however, since she strongly doubted that her attempts at poetry would be much better than his. She could write things ironically to embed them into her narratives but, for all her storytelling was successful if you liked grandiose adventures, prose was a lot different to verse when you were intentionally trying to be good at it.

“I am not a poet and I do not know it.” He said simply. It was the most simplest rhythm that he could think of it standard that made him look like a child. He looked away from her to watch the set up in interest as it was not something that he had seen before in the months that they had been there. “Maybe it’s cause it is a different type of festival than they had seen before.

His effort earned him a gentle slap to the cheek, or what was nearly his cheek; Delaney's aim was a tiny bit off as her own attention was slowly gravitating towards the clear development of something unexpected. At first, it had been a solitary figure in what probably constitute ceremonial garb, fussing with the location of the stand and trying to ensure that the papers stacked on it didn't blow away in the slight breeze. Laney felt slightly bad for finding it amusing but stopped short of getting up to offer assistance as, within minutes, more and more people had started to gather. Each took up a spot around the fire, dotted about the slight incline and faced towards the impromptu stage that was slowly emerging. Craning her head around, Delaney wondered for a moment if they'd inadvertently strayed into something private but nobody was shooting them strange looks and, when they weren't asked to move, she settled back against Leiddem's warmth with a faint frown.

The voices around them were just as baffling.

"It was a promise ring, I'm sure of it. He took ever such a long time speaking to Rhiannon and something went into his pocket as he left."

"Half your luck. Albernon barely scraped the engagement ring together, no chance of a promise ring in those early days."

"If he presents me with it tonight, what am I to do?"

"Accept it, of course! What a question. Let's just hope he has the common decency to wait until after the ceremony."

"Bethany-Rose, you hold your tongue! He would never be so crass as to impose on Sadie's happiness like that."

A brief silence followed. Delaney tried not to make it obvious she was holding her breath so as not to miss any of it.

"When do you think you'll announce the engagement?"

"I love this place, I really do," Delaney murmured, keeping her voice low so that only Leiddem could hear. "But I swear to god, if anyone ever makes me hold a conversation like that..." She loved openly and honestly, with her entire being. Being expressive with her feelings wasn't the problem here; it was making an entire conversation out of romantic gossip that left her utterly bemused.

“No chance of me ever making you talk like that.” Leiddem assured quietly trying to make sense of what the discussion meant. It sounded like some type of proposal was going on, but he could not be 100% sure when it went back and forth between the two women. It made sense that it was a big grand proposal especially with the opportunity of a bonfire but who knew really what was romantic for Hysperians. He knew that he would take the chance of asking someone to marry him at something as romantic as a huge bonfire.

Delaney had some concept of what the girls were twittering about though no specific reference for the local traditions to know how close to the mark she was. Promise rings, as far as she recalled, were tantamount to reserving a seat in a restaurant, though in this case, it was reserving yourself a wife. Engagement, once upon a time, was a far more formal business, tied up with a lot of expectation of security and preparation, and thus the engagement period tended to be far shorter and acted more as an interim to allow time to plan the wedding. Over the years, the two purposes had merged and it was now far more common for engagements to stretch on for months and months, even years. Delaney found the concept of promise rings rather sweet, she was just less sure of the melodramatic fawning that seemed to go along with it here.

She also didn't quite know how to take 'no chance of me ever making you talk like that', however. The bulk of her interpretation lent towards Leiddem simply wanting to avoid that level of drama himself, but it could be construed as there being no danger of him placing her in that position. Delaney thought for a split second to tease him about it and then decided against it lest it sound like she was fishing for something. A flutter in her stomach, something akin to a cross between excitement and uncertainty, reminded her that she'd never finished regaling him with the rest of her conversation with her grandmother. Werewolves and headless horsemen were sufficiently distracting enough that she'd forgotten about it entirely.

"Hey," she started.

A violin started to play.

Pausing mid-sentence, Delaney glanced around as the rest of the audience fell silent and watched the robed figure take their place behind their lectern. Then, from just in front, a pair rose to stand either side facing and, suddenly, the penny dropped. "I think we gatecrashed a wedding," she whispered.

"Would not be the first wedding I have gatecrashed," Leiddem said not feeling an ounce of shame or embarrassment that they had indeed crashed a wedding. No one had said anything nor had there been any signs. This was after all where they had spent many nights just lying there like that by the fire. "No one said anything?" He questioned slowly sitting up and moving her to sit up as well. He looked around taking it all in and decided her thoughts were very much correct.

"I think we'd make more fuss trying to leave now," Delaney whispered back. With every attempt to to draw attention as she did so, the redhead untangled herself from his legs and rolled to sit next to him, shoulder leaning into his arm, so that she could get a better view. "It doesn't seem overly formal at least."

Which seemed true enough. The happy couple were dressed smartly but with no obvious indication that there was anything ceremonial about their attire. The woman wore a spray of flowers tucked behind her ear and someone had placed a coronet of leaves on the man's head but Delaney had seen plenty of others sporting similar arrangements. Unless the whole festival intended to get married, it didn't seem specific to the event.

“It is not formal my lady. Anyone can declare they wish to wed as a festival without banns being read.” A voice hissed from beside them making Leiddem turn to see an old man who was staring on the couple with adoration. Leiddem shrugged at his girl friend and shifted more on the ground to get comfortable to watch.

As it turned out, the formal aspects of the ceremony were of the same brand of familiar-but-slightly-warped nature as most of Hysperian culture. Researching for her holo-novels, rather than personal experience, allowed Delaney to recognise the connection to traditional handfasting, though watching a couple solemnly bind themselves together struck her as a very uncomfortable way to express eternal connection. As was so often the case, her practical side waged war with her romanticism, each as stubborn in its insistence whilst also being just as valid as the other. Slipping her arm through Leiddem to hug against him, Delaney settled her cheek against his upper arm and tried to just watch. Silence was hard.

"And to think, years later, this became a set of handcuffs in a hotel room in Las Vegas."

She'd tried, to the very best of her capabilities, to keep her voice low. The old man didn't pay any heed, at least, though the snort of laughter that escaped Delaney's control saw her turn her face to bury it into her boyfriend's shirt. As with most of her blurted humour, the redhead meant no disrespect and, indeed, her tone carried none of the usual hallmarks of mockery. If anything, Delaney had a way of sounding distinctly sincere about her observations, even intrigued by the historical shift in behaviour, and the humour of it hadn't hit her until it was too late to take it back.

Leiddem had no idea what she had muttered to him or why she was hiding her face but he smiled and wrapped an arm around her. “Will have to explain about those hand cuffs later on.” He whispered watching as the brides wrist was tied to the rope that the man had already tied around his own. It was similar to the weddings back home but things like that across many species were similar.

"Oh, I can explain." Her eyes sparkled as she pulled away and looked up at him. The exaggerated waggle of her eyebrows didn't help Delaney's efforts at controlling the shake of her shoulders.

“If this was on Betazed everyone would be naked.” He whispered kissing her temple softly trying to explain his own observation of the events. No that he wished everyone naked but that was the only difference in his own mind to the weddings he has attended.

It was the mead's fault. Delicious, warm, readily-available mead. It didn't help that Leiddem had no point of reference and thus had made the observation entirely innocently. Delaney writhed with the effort to contain her laughter, clenching her diaphragm until the impulse passed and then exhaled very slowly before responding. "Well I hope it'd be a damn sight warmer than this in that case."

“Tropical.” He answered as the final words were spoken and the pair kissed. The Betazoid could not help but cheer alongside everyone else. It was beautiful and exactly what Leiddem had needed to see that was not something weapons or dragon related.

And, finally pulled from her alcohol-induced momentary lapse of composure, Delaney was the only person not watching the couple as the crowd erupted into celebratory approval. Her eyes were glued to the face of her boyfriend, swept up as he was in the joy of other people's happy ending, and the sudden wave of affection and warmth that engulfed her was so intense that it couldn't be attributed to half a mug of mead and very low alcohol tolerance. A chilled palm settled against his far cheek as her lips pressed into the stubble of the other and she murmured, with bone-deep certainty that left her both staggered and grateful, "I love you."

Leiddem was stunned out of his thoughts and looked her own seeing what was below the surface for a moment before he moved his face to capture her lips in a kiss. “I love you too.” Was his whispered response before he stood up tugging her up with him.

On the surface, it hadn't seemed much of a revelation. Murmured 'loves you's had been a staple of private conversation for a while, though Delaney had to admit the words had developed a kind of comfortable fit that didn't really seek to dig very deeply. And she'd always meant it, just in the way she was honest with most of what she chose to say, but this had come from a place that only a telepath would understand the shift in nuance. The human had no awareness of her emotional projection, or the profundity of what sincere and abiding love and acceptance felt like to someone with the psionic capabilities to read the sentiment between the lines, but she could marvel at its impact regardless. A slight groan saw her heaved to her feet, and a waggle of her hips sought to work some sensation back into her numb backside, but her eyes were on Leiddem, curiosity dancing with deep affection in the flicker of firelight that captured their vibrancy.

He smiled at her gaze on him and blew a kiss. “Let’s go home?” He offered quietly leaning to kiss her properly on her forehead gently. How was loving her as easy as it was? It was unnerving just how quickly she had gotten under his skin and often made him forget that she has no psionic abilities.

Glancing around their little area, Delaney quickly stooped to pick up the remaining food and, arms loaded, straightened into a grin. "Deal," she started, "But...we go via the crepe stall on the way back to the ship."

Love, after all, was about friendship and acceptance, and compromise and synergy, and shared goals and mutual beliefs, but above all, it was about dessert. Probably. It didn't hurt, at any rate.