Hand In the Jar

Posted on Tue Jul 19th, 2022 @ 6:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov
Edited on on Tue Jul 19th, 2022 @ 8:14pm

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Library, Deck 6
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 0630
3157 words - 6.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Walked through the doors of the Library on the Vengeance, walking slowly so as to not irritate his bruises. Karen had been good enough to come to Lovarr to heal his ailing body, and had remained with him all night. They transferred back to Vengeance together early the next morning. He'd given her some vague excuse why he was coming aboard, saying it was related to "work", and then gave her a kiss goodbye. The library was dark, and the lights only turned up when he entered the room. A series of computer terminals sat in the middle of the small room and the walls were lined with smaller consoles where information could be loaded onto PADDs. The room was administered by the Computer Systems branch of the Engineering Department, but it was rarely used. He figured he should be relatively safe.

He sat at a computer terminal which allowed him to face the only entrance to the room and logged on, ensuring that his security rating would give him more information if such was available to him. Then he opened the cultural database, leaning forward with intense interest.

For roughly five minutes, Andrei had his peace. Just long enough to become engrossed in what he was reading when the door opened and in stepped Madeline Cassiel. Looking up from the PADD in her hand, she saw Andrei sitting there and just looked at him for a moment before heading to one of the wall consoles. However instead of taking one of the ones on the sides, she moved to the stations behind Andrei while greeting him with a calm, disconnected, "Good morning."

When the door opened, Andrei quickly clicked to a different tab, reading a document recently compiled by the Science Department on the finer points of Ocampan geological stability. Afterward, his eyes were on Cassiel as she walked in and moved to a console. He noticed she moved to the place which was obviously least convenient for him and he rolled his eyes while her back was turned.

"Reading a good book, Maddie?" he asked, leaning back relaxed in the chair. "I have to know what it is."

"I'm just here to download some information." Madeline replied, bringing up something that was obviously about the Kazon and connecting the PADD to the console. Once the download was in progress, she turned to look at him and leaned on the wall next to the console she was at. "Trying a new look?" She gestured to his bruised face.

"Why?" he asked, looking at her with a small smile. "Do you like it?"

"I can't decide." The smallest of smirks tugged at one corner of her mouth and there was the briefest glint of something in her eyes though it was gone just as suddenly. Truthfully though, the number of people on this ship that wouldn't get some sort of satisfaction seeing the bruises on Andrei’s face seemed to be shrinking by the day.

"Perhaps its a sign that I'm willing to scrap with the rest of them, eh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "My PR Assistant tells me I need to work on my 'common man' feel."

He was clearly joking, making light of his lordy upbringing and aristocratic attitude. He grin, not showing either way what he felt about those bumps and bruises he incurred during his battle. He wondered to himself if she knew how he got them or if Christoph was too ashamed to say.

"Andrei, no one would ever mistake you for a common man." Madeline chuckled and briefly glanced to the console next to her. She had understood the joke, of course, but her words were true. "I am very curious about something though."

“Yes, you are.” Andrei said with a wider smile. It was early in the morning and he felt like crap, but he refused to let it show. He had to always persevere, never showing that human weakness which made men so common indeed. “And do you think I can satisfy that curiosity?”

“Oh I’m very sure, if you were so inclined, but are you ever?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer. “I was curious what you - someone who very obviously would be on rest orders, someone who dislikes early mornings, someone who has no reason to be interested in geological stability whatsoever - was really coming to this very private and out of the way area to look up.”

He watched her; the way her lips moved when she spoke and the way her eyes settled on him. He knew in that moment for certain she already knew what was going on. She was too smart not to have out it together. And she knew that he was aware of her knowledge. Now, it was all a game and there was tons of fun to be had, in his view, but not in bluntness.

“I’m curious too. Why does the Acting Chief of Security, who worked a shift until midnight last night, wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed in order to start work two and a half hours before her sub shift after days of warp travel and a lull in work? Why does she, who has access to the Security Computer Index from her security library in her department, bother to show up in this very private and out of the way area…at the exact same time I am here?”

“Being curious.” She moved then to sit down on the edge of one of the other computer consoles to his left. She smirked then. Her eyes held some sort of dark and twisted mirth within, glinting with the expression from time to time when they would shift.

He watched her sit down, his eyes drifted from hers to her legs, which were covered what a shame. He returned his expression to hers and leaned forward, placing his elbow on the console and his chin in his hand, making him seem like he was playing innocent.

“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” He said with a wink.

“Absolutely not.” She replied and crossed her legs. “I like to see what I’m working with first. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.”

"I couldn't agree more." Andrei said, raising his eyebrows. He looked at her for several seconds, giving no indication of what was to happen next, then he drew his body up straight, stretched something like a cat, and then he rested with a high back, stately and statuesque. Then, finally, he leaned back, spreading his arms out over the back of the chair. His smile was cocky now. He gestured at the console. "Well, Maddie. Why don't you take a look?"

Madeline had watched him with a quirked brow, her eyes running over his body even hidden by the uniform. She settled on his gaze as he leaned back and gestured to the console. She got up then, but instead of moving toward him, she moved around the back and tapped the screen to bring it back up to activity and then quickly tapped the command to bring up the last page. Her eyes darted down in the fashion of someone who knew exactly what they would find, but wanted the satisfaction of confirmation. She saw it; she took a step back. “Hm.”

"Christoph was very helpful. But I know he doesn't know anything about it that wasn't told to him by you." Andrei said. "So show me yours."

"You know, I had wondered." She brought a hand up to her chin. "How? But then I remembered that you are the type who wants everyone on their knees. A natural and noble goal, of course, don't get me wrong. Then it just made sense you'd also enjoy those big blue eyes looking at you." Madeline looked at Andrei then, her dark eyes gentling, shifting, taking on an extremely believable look of fear and concern. "Oh, Master," she clasped her hands together as if she were begging, "please." Her eyes began to fill with very real tears, her lips parted, her breathing became just a touch more panicked. "I only wish to serve you. To bring you pleasure." She reached toward his face then. "Allow me to worship you with my body." A single tear escaped from her eyes as her hands stopped close enough to his face that he could feel the heat from her palms. Madeline held his gaze for just a moment as the tear slowly rolled down her skin, and then she suddenly pulled back. She brought up a finger to catch the tear and then flicked it down toward Andrei with a soft sigh.

Andrei didn't understand what she was doing at first, besides mocking Eritrea. Though the former slave was extraordinarily submissive with him, and undeniably manipulative, he found himself wondering if Madeline was doing so out of some subtle natural jealousy. But when she simulated the slave's routine, it was spot on, and he understood the depth of her understanding. As she moved close to him and his hand touched her face, he couldn't help but imagine her performing many of the actions which he had become accustomed to from Eritrea. Those lovely lips wrapped around him, those eyes locked on his. By the time the tear started to fall, he tracked his motion all the down to his crotch, landing on his undisguisable erection. He looked up at her, his smile gone.

"Elasian Tears..." he said, remembering the very evening her tears fell on him, after he had caught her in a lie and her game was almost up. He looked from the wet fabric where the tear fell to Madeline's eyes. He didn't seem upset. In fact, he gave off no feelings at all. He blinked stoically, and then he turned his head to the side slightly, still looking at her. Now his eyes had challenge; deep and foreign. "You know, Christoph asked me what I thought of you. He's terribly in love, I think. You have him wrapped around your little pinky finger. Do you know what I told the little puppy, Mad Maddie?"

Madeline stepped back to give him room, her now rapidly drying eyes still on his as he discovered and processed that very same discovery. When he spoke of Christoph, her eyes went over his bruises again quickly and then back up to where they had been resting. Her eyebrows lifted slightly in curiosity and a silent ask for him to go ahead and tell her.

"I told him that you have a huge secret." he said, the sides of his lips turning up again ever so slightly. "And I would kill to know what it was. He didn't heed me, of course. He can be...so simple."

Andrei licked his lips and then, suddenly pulled himself onto his feet, though he didn't approach her. He crossed his strong arms under his chest despite the pain in both of them and looked at her. His expression was one of unrestrained interest, romantic in its intensity. His distance was respectful.

"Why aren't you the Chief of Security?" he asked, not expecting a full answer, but interested in hearing what she would say next.

"Now why would I want to do that when I can support Christoph in all his little dreams?" Madeline batted her eyelashes and then smirked, "Sometimes second is actually the better position."

Andrei smiled at her adorable display, though he didn't believe it. This situation with Eritrea had to make him sharper. This one was dangerous. Perhaps not worth the risk. Then again, he always was a sucker for a pretty face.

"A woman after my own heart." he said, joking and adding a wink before he broke eye contact and looked down at the floor. When he looked up again, he looked still amused but resolved. He was going to do something he never did. He was going to risk being real with her, because she was the only one so far, save his mother, who he genuinely felt any non-simulated connection to. "How do you know for sure when you're being played? How can someone manipulate you if you still feel nothing? Because I do feel nothing.."

"Well, when they play with an unfair advantage, that is one thing." Madeline said and seemed pensive for a moment, lowering her eyes in thought. After a moment, she looked back to Andrei, speaking frankly with him. "I don't think it is true that you don't feel, though. I think you feel plenty but try to deny it and call yourself unfeeling." Her voice was calm, she wasn't accusing, belittling, or trying to undermine him. "Do you not feel exasperated by the people around you? Did you not feel angry when your father abandoned you? Did you like the fact he pulled you from your career to come join him here? Anger, maybe even disappointment or shame in yourself for letting your slave so close to you? Rage when you nearly killed Christoph?" A shrug.

"Maybe you don't, so I am truly asking. You seem to feel in brief moments... but its also entirely possible you are just a psychopath." She finished with a light and teasing smirk.

“I feel satisfaction..pain..pleasure,” he looked at her, an unshy look, “desire..anger..envy. But love? That is only for a very very few.”

"As it should be." Her voice was almost encouraging in a strange way. "It is a complicated and often times messy thing, a useful tool, but troublesome... as good as a noose if it is one sided."

“And so there goes the dilemma again. How to dare something that you know is risky.” He said, taking a step closer to her, but still not breaking far into her inner-bubble. “Something you know could possibly bring the entire House of Cards crashing to the table. Especially when the possible gains could far outweigh that risk.”

"I know some would say it isn't a choice." Madeline remained where she was, watching him. There was a calmness to her, a frank conversation. No dancing around, no smirks or winks, no disingenuous laughs or compliments. "For some, it truly doesn't seem to be. I'm not sure I believe that. I think it is a complete shot in the dark; you will either find unimaginable advantage or complete and utter destruction. So, what would you choose, you who would let only the grave stop him from his ambitions?"

“You know what I would choose.” He said, subtly quirking a brow. His answer was without hesitation or the need for second thought. He had decided who he would be long ago and now all of his energy was dedicated to making it happen. His expression lit up genuinely this time with the fire that burned within him, barely contained by his mortal frame. He knew what he wanted. “Advantage. Putting everything on what I’m after. All or nothing; full bore; balls..deep, as some might crudely say.”

There was a small smile - approving, reacting, watching - that appeared on her face. It lacked any sort of smugness or superiority, but there was also no adoration or lustful need. Simply interest. “Well then, it sounds like you will have to choose wisely.” Madeline stretched lightly then and moved behind him to disconnect the PADD she had brought.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” He said with a nod. He logged off of his own console then and turned around to face her. “You have a valuable perspective. Your insight has been very..useful and refreshing.” He said. He imagined she, like post people, rarely had her real value recognized. Most people ever truly noticed the way someone looked or their surface personality traits. He was quite different. He generally saw people for what they are. Naked. He was interested as well, more than physically. “Now, next time you want to have chat with me, just ask ahead. This following me thing is kind of creepy.”

He gave her a charming smile, and it was genuine. Then he started to gather his things and walk toward the room’s exit.

"Oh I think you kind of like it in some twisted way." Madeline teased and smirked, watching him gathering his things. Before he exited, she called to him again. "Andrei, there was one more thing. A small request if you would." She looked up into his eyes. "Please, don't break my toys. Some people don't have as many as you do and also lack Rasputin's witch cock to ensorcell more with. It hurts my feelings." She touched a hand to her heart and graced him with a briefly pleading look which evaporated into a smirk once more just as quickly.

“Well, I’m quite stubborn when it comes to what I feel is mine.” He said, looking down at her, the distance between them small. His hand found her elbow gently and moved down slowly to her hand. Once it was there, he lifted it to his lips and kissed it gently, his eyes locked on her. “I don’t mean to hurt you…except in the way you like to be hurt. I suppose you’ll just have to give me something more fun to play with, won’t you?”

"I think you have plenty of toys for any possible whim you might have." She pulled her hand smoothly out of his, not wanting it to read as a flat out rejection. Instead she traced her fingers along his cheek and down his neck, trailing to his chest; she was careful with the amount of pressure she exerted since she wasn't aiming to hurt him - much. She looked up into his eyes and leaned closer to him. "I promise if you are patient and wait for it, you'll very much like the surprise that is coming."

He quirked an eyebrow at her comment, understanding she wasn’t just talking about sex, but something more. “Of that, I am sure. Just make sure your toy stays on my good side. I would hate to ruin your surprise. And, if I did, who would you play second to?”

“I’m sure I’ll find someone.” Madeline smirked and held his gaze a moment more before she finally stepped back from him to let him go freely. “Thank you, Andrei.” Her voice was low, more suited to speaking to a lover, and she gave him a smile.

He shook his head, smiling back. “Mad Maddie, you drive me mad..” he said, and then turned, walking out of the room with a slight limp.

She watched him go, her eyes lingering on his body as he walked out the door.

The injured look didn’t suit him.

OFF