Showing Deep Inside Part 2

Posted on Thu Aug 3rd, 2023 @ 10:47am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Delaney O'Callaghan

Mission: Fractures
Location: SS Mary Rose - Holodeck
Timeline: MD -05
2049 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Leiddem finally with a deep breath entered the house and led the way upstairs, a sense of nostalgia and excitement washing over him. He about to revisit his childhood bedroom, a place filled with countless memories and emotions that shaped who he was today. The familiar creaking of the wooden stairs echoed through the hallway, signalling his return to the special place. It was a testament to his parents that he felt instantly there from all the little things they had put into the program.

”Here we go.” He said opening the door, he was greeted by a room that once felt so vast and magical, but now seemed smaller in comparison to his grown-up perspective. “My bedroom.” He said stepping through into the large room and smiled at the daylight from the large windows and sighed happily. The walls were adorned with remnants of his six year old self past: posters of his favourite bands, Parriss square heroes, and movie characters that reflected his interest when his parents had captured their memories. Stacks of old PADDs and board games remind him for a moment of the carefree hours spent lost in various worlds of imagination.

In many ways, her own room back home was a mirror image. That stuck out first, before Delaney really had time to investigate the finer details. Being the youngest, and the only girl, her room had been the smallest but it had been entirely her own, unlike her brothers who had taken turns in sharing. Inclined towards collecting, perhaps the only major difference was that she'd been forever insistent on dragging the outdoors inside and her room had been full of rocks and other treasures but, otherwise, this felt immediately comfortable. Almost instantly, she was struck by the certainty that she would have been best friends with Leiddem Kea regardless of when they'd met.

"Okay, this is adorable."

“My parents.” He said with a shrug. He had never applicators the sentiments that the pair must have had for the home they had created on Betazed years after first leaving and setting out to explore the stars. He sat down on bed looking far too big for it now but netherless sat there and looked around himself taking it all in.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Delaney left Leiddem to ponder quietly and moved towards a chest of drawers to pick up one of the figurines strewn across it. "You know, I think my brother had some of these." That revelation alone captivated her. Of course she knew that certain things had significance outside her own limited experience but there was something unexpectedly mind-blowing about them experiencing the same popular fads from completely different planets.

Leiddem slowly moved to get to his feet and wandered over to see the figures. “Power Rangers. Been going since the late twentieth century. I used to have part of the classic collection. I sold them all to find a trip.” He admitted laughing a little at the memory. It was how he used to live his life before he needed some type of purpose.

"We probably have them all in storage," Delaney speculated. She had never been much into dolls, which had extended to action figures, finding far more delight in what she could fashion out of the things she found whilst foraging. And, obviously, younger sisters weren't allowed near precious collections anyway so her memory was more associated with the frantic excitement at birthdays that were not her own. Turning, she used the one she was holding to bop him on the nose. "Any doll anyone tried to give me ended up buried in the woods somewhere."

“Well aren’t you a bit more dark twisty that I imagined.” The man teased pressing a kiss to her temple as he tried to think on smaller Delaney being the burier of toys in the woods. It was an image that could not be changed now. It reminded him of Wednesday Addams which, as it was one of his favourite films, did not put him off or change his opinion, just made her more his.

"I loathed and detested dolls and wasn't a great deal fonder of stuffed animals." Far from ashamed, Delaney's chin was jutted out at a familiarly stubborn angle. "Anything with cold, dead eyes, they used to terrify me. My dearest brother told me that any toy that resembled a living creature was actually a Pooka just waiting for an opportunity to strike and because I was a gullible idiot when I was 4-years-old, I believed him. Burying them seemed like a great way to get rid of them until Keenan realised and started digging them up again." It made for an amusing story now but, at the time, had caused significant sleep regression which had never really settled. Even now, sleeping was not really one of Delaney's strongest points.

“I have no idea what a pooka is but I imagine it is not something that I want to know if it was compared to something with dead eyes and it terrified you.” He was certainly glad he was not the type of man to buy teddies or something as sentimental as that for her. “I am glad I am not the type to buy teddies for a partner.” He lugged as he picked up one of the figurines and smiled.

The slight screwing up of her face was a perplexed moment of consideration for the notion. "I have mostly outgrown my objections, though I can't say I'm terribly disappointed by your gifting habits." If anything, gifting wasn't something they really went in for that much. She'd got them the rings but those had been more a serendipitous find whilst she'd been searching for a decent memento. He did sometimes make ridiculous sculptures out of her breakfast pancakes if he arrived at the messhall first. Those probably counted.

“I shall continue with the food and booze as well as making sure you sleep and do not get too deep down the rabbit hole without someone to get you out.” He said simply. He had never been the type to do something for the point of it and food and booze was always needed.

At the mention of sleep, Delaney scoffed dismissively and moved to fall backwards onto the bed, spreadeagled. "I keep telling you, sleep is an inefficient use of time. Oh hey," her topic changed with typical swiftness, "you had the glow in the dark stars too." Staring up at his ceiling, she slid her head to the side to try and figure out the pattern he'd been going for when affixing them. Random chaos seemed as close as she could guess, which pretty much matched exactly how hers had had been laid out, though she'd taken to sticking them all over her furniture too. In the pitch black, it made for some pretty impressive topographical effects.

The man crawled on to the bed after her laying over one of her arms and legs and stared up at the ceiling. He had forgotten that part of his bedroom but it made sense at the time to have them there. “Always loved glow in the dark stuff. Computer night mode please.” He declared and watched at the room suddenly was only lit by the stars above.

"Were you happy here?"

The question came after a moment's silence, interrupted only by the slight wriggling free of her limbs so that she could roll into his side a little more comfortably. There was something oddly compelling about lying together on a bed that had traditionally, she assumed at least, only had to accommodate him. All the pieces of him that had grown and developed and changed without him even knowing she existed felt a lot more tangible like this, as if it was possible to reach back through the years and pluck the memories from a deep trove just waiting to be shared.

“Very much.” He had been young but he could remember that it had been very happy. It had been an idyllic time where he had been able to grow without a lot on interference from his parents whilst they had rebuilt Betazed. “Betazed is perfect for growing telepaths. Betazoid or not.” He said quietly.

"I bet you were cute," came the next gentle tease as Delaney's hand settled over his sternum. It was something that often helped calm her enough to sleep, the regulation of her heart-rate to match his own. "I bet we'd have been friends too," she added wistfully, though in truth she wasn't in any hurry to wish they'd met earlier. Having fallen into the trap of dating someone she'd known locally for years, Delaney didn't have a lot of time for romantic notions of childhood sweethearts. People changed and that was somehow harder to see clearly when you had pre-existing expectations of who they were. "This does leave me twice as eager to see it all in person one day though."

“You will have to ask J if I was cute. She was the next oldest and the only one interested in anything like I was. It would have been easy to be your friend, just like it is now.” He decided quietly. “Would you like to see how areas of Betazed?” He wondered breathing deep letting himself relax in a familiar place for a moment. His room here on SS Mary Rose was the longest home he had, had in a very long time but it did not compare to the familiarness of the glow in the dark starred and action figured filled room.

Shifting her weight a little, Delaney pulled herself into a position where an arm rested gently against his chest propped her up enough to gaze down at him. "Lei', I haven't been lying when I've said I'd love to get to know your home planet, and its people, more. I get that I've been over-glamorising the whole telepathy thing a bit." They'd had talks about it whilst trying to figure out the nature of their own bond. "And maybe it would be a little weird at first being around a bunch of people who aren't fooled by my dumb act. But it's your home. You grew up into a whole person there, of course I want to experience everything that's important to you about it." She offered him a crooked grin. "You better believe I'm dragging you around every hidey-hole I ever dug when we get back to Ireland."

“I know you have not been lying about it all. I grew up some of the time there. I’m just as built by a starship.” He assured touching her cheek lightly. “I would love to see Ireland too. Not been to Earth in so long.” He admitted thoughtfully wondering not for the first time if he had been to Ireland when he had been on earth at the some point. He was sure he had not but you never knew with how much booze he had consumed.

"Well, not too long now and you'll not only be able to see it, but you'll run the risk of meeting half of it." Screwing up her nose playfully, Delaney looked partially apologetic amidst her enthusiasm. "But if you wanted to plan a trip back to Betazed at some point, I'd be on board with that. Well, off-board." She squinted at her terrible humour. "I'll probably give the entire population a migraine."

“You do not give me any migraines at all, my love.” He said kissing her temple softly. “And you definitely do not give J a headache and she is a stronger telepath than me.” He revealed.

As with most of Delaney's self-depreciating humour, there wasn't a lot of melancholy that sat behind it. A healthy degree of self-awareness but without the crippling confidence issues that went with it. The last time she'd ever been remotely bothered by what people thought of her, he'd been the main culprit of her uncertainty, and that had turned out to be mostly unfounded. "Then pencil me in, whenever you want to go, we'll go."

Leiddem nodded. It was a deal if he was ever going to make one with her but was Betazed really ready for her?