T(ea) & A(ssurances)
Characters: Medusa Gorgon, Ffamran Bunansa
Content: Trying to get his mind off his troubles, Ffamran goes to have some...tea.
Setting: Medusa's room on the Victoria II
Time: Afternoon, the day after the storm
Warnings: Trained monkeys, Massage with no happy ending, Medusa is evil
The storms hadn't quite passed yet, but Ffamran had already plotted out a best course to Bellicus and was wandering the corridors feeling the tension ever time a particularly loud crackle of thunder passed by.
He wasn't even scared by it; it just set him on edge right now, reminding him of the Commander which reminded him of his issues with Draklor which made him even more tense.
He'd met a cute lady who'd promised massages and tea just the other day, though, so things were possibly looking up. He probably should have messaged first, but he was already in the area, and Medusa had invited him to stop over.
He knocked on the door and plastered on his best 'of course there's nothing wrong' smile.
-----
Medusa was going over the results from Sho's bloodwork - she had eliminated several possibilities for what his mother was, human amongst them - when she heard a knock at the door. She frowned - between monitoring the radio and ather small tasks she'd had not nearly as much time to work on this as she'd have liked. Hopefully this would be a short distraction; she took a sweet tone of voice.
"Just a moment, I'll be right there."
She put the papers back into the file they came from, replaced that in the hidden drawer in her desk. Her coat was on a hook by the door; she put it on. She did not quite want to display her tattoos for any passerbys to see quite yet; they could raise some awkward questions.
Finally ready, she opened the door.
"Oh! Ffamran!" Medusa was torn; on the one hand, her research called; on the other hand, the young navigator seemed like he'd make a handy pawn, if he could be brought over.
"Here to take me up on the offer of tea, by any chance?"
-----
Ffamran smiled at her warm welcome, that was probably the nicest reception he'd gotten in days.
He sighed a little. "That would, in fact, be lovely. Something about being cooped up on the ground is so much worse than being cooped up in the air, I think."
He hadn't been invited in yet, so he stood at the door, maybe he should have gotten some sort of gift.
"I hope I'm not interrupting something." She had taken quite a while to come to the door.
-----
Medusa smiled. Had she *really* wanted to mess with the young man's mind, she could insinuate that the reason for her delay was that she was dressing, but from what she'd seen of Ffamran so far, it wasn't likely that she would be able to ensnare him in a useful fashion by going down that route.
"Oh, no, I was just...scanning some radio logs. I needed my head to clear for a moment - sorry to have you standing at the door so long. Please, come in - I'll start preparing the tea."
She went to a small cabinet in her room - there was a device not unlike a coffeemaker, to boil water and, if needed, keep the mixed tea warm. After filling it with water from a pitcher and turning it on, she bent and opened the cabinet, soon coming out with a number of small containers.
"Do you have any preferences? On days like these, I favor this one," she said, indicating a container with a stylized monkey on it, " an oolong, but I've many others - a very nice blend of hand-picked mint, some flavored greens..."
-----
Ffamran felt like an ass, of course Medusa was worried about her home and her family, just like Ffamran was in his own way. He gave a genuine, but awkward, smile. "As long as it's no trouble."
Ffamran entered the room and took in the surroundings, everything seemed to be -- normal.
"I have a preference for the oolong, then." He gave her a warmer smile. "How are you settling in?"
-----
Medusa nodded, opened the container with the monkey, and added the leaves to a small tea leaf strainer. Setting it down near the thermos, she only had to wait for the water to boil - a few more minutes, at most. She turned to face Ffamran again in the meanwhile.
"Oh, well enough - busy, though. I think the old radio operator was very lax in his duties, there's a hundred little things I've needed to do. Anyway - I've got the lay of the ship now, I believe, and I've started to meet the crew. You've some...very interesting characters here." She considered him for a moment. "How have you been since the party?"
-----
Horrible was his first thought. He'd been to Draklor since then, after all, his father had completely forgotten his birthday and that was probably the least of his concerns.
"A little stressful." That much was honest. "Nothing specific, just missing out on the sights and sounds of Melior while I was back home."
He had been particularly tense the last few days and between the rain and Giselle and a number of other things he'd hardly been able to get out and unwind the way he would usually like to, so he was stuck with tea and a gorgeous tea companion.
-----
Medusa narrowly avoided wrinkling her brow. He was from Melior? She'd remembered his family name when she'd first heard it? That almost certainly meant that his father - or he - was some researcher whose work she'd read. It would probably not be a link worth much - she doubted that any human would really be proficient in magic or magitech to a degree that would help her - but one never knew.
"Oh, you are from Melior? I didn't know. Funny, you'd think it'd be relaxing to come home to see things relatively at normal. Certainly better than the chaos of the last town the Victoria II was in, I'd think."
With that, the tea maker pinged, and she began preparing the pot of oolong for the two of them.
-----
Ffamran usually liked to brag about his parentage, but he didn't particularly feel that was appropriate today. Still, it would have been out of character not for him to bring it up.
"Oh, yes, born and raised, son of Cidolfus Demen Bunansa." The name usually proceeded him.
"It was good to be home but the weather was nasty enough to keep me inside more than I would like. I missed hitting my old stomping grounds." Ffamran looked around for the tea cups and the like.
"May I help you with our cups?"
-----
That name was even more familiar - it must be his father that she remembered, Medusa thought. She would have to ask - not knowing would be irritating, like a fly buzzing around her head.
"Ah...pardon me if I'm prying, but your father...is he an engineer of some kind? I'm certain I've heard his name before, back in a textbook at the academy. I want to say it was Introduction to the Principles of Magitech, but the details of it escape me, and it'll be bothering me for days. You know, like when you're trying to remember a word, and it's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't remember it exactly."
She looked back to the tea - it was just about finished brewing - and smiled. "Yes, I could imagine people wouldn't want to go out in stormy weather - what use is dressing up to go see an old friend or visit an old haunt if you're going to arrive soaked to the skin?"
She paused and gave a small laugh, as if remembering something funny. "Well, unless you *really want* to go to a bar or something. And speaking of drinks - the tea is done. If you'd get the tea cups - not the ones with saucers, the tall cylindrical ones - they're right on that cabinet by the door."
-----
Ffamran headed over where Medusa had indicated and opened up the cabinet and got two glasses.
He tried not to think about Medusa arriving somewhere, shirt soaked, it didn't help his promise to be calm.
"That's him, Draklor's Doctor Cid. Magitech ...? From time to time certainly, he usually overseas airship construction and he's been known to do a few smaller projects. I know he's written plenty of books that are used in various Academy courses."
Many of which Ffamran had to actually study from while he'd been at the Academy himself.
"But yes, I know the feeling-- quite unpleasant."
-----
Medusa scrunched up her face. "Oh. Maybe it was Basic Airship Engineering, then. I don't know, the academic stuff was fine, but...I'm not quite sure why they would think a radio operator needs to understand how the engines work."
Yes, that was it - there was an paper perhaps two years ago about the magitek conversion of a standard engine to one that ran on mana crystals. An underling working in Draklor had sent it to her, thinking it useful, and she'd gone about building one not long after absorbing it. It was a tremendous boon for her work; she had a relatively large supply of mana crystals, but not as much in the way of coal or other conventional power sources.
She'd been trying to figure out how to reverse the process for some time - something of a side project. One could never have enough mana crystals.
Curiousity satisfied, she poured tea into the two glasses, and handed him one. She would offer to help him relax more soon, but now was a time to enjoy tea, and chat.
"Had the weather been less severe, what would you have occupied your time with? I've never been to Melior, and have no idea what a native would do for fun." She smiled. "Though if young Melior men are anything like those I went to Academy with, I imagine it involves one or more bars, and perhaps a club."
-----
Ffamran chuckled and took a sip of the tea.
"This blend is quite good." He was impressed. He was quite the connoisseur and Melior had a lot of excellent options, but this was quite a nice.
"I must admit I am more familiar with the clubs in Bellicus, where I went to the Academy. I was mostly a boy when I was living here. No I supposed I had wanted to visit some old friends at the lab."
That was the truth, but the rain was hardly what had curtailed him.
There were dozens of scientists he had been close with growing up, but after the revelations about his father, it was difficult to go look those same people in the eye.
"The weather has prevented that thus fair, you never know when a good squall is going to kick up. I hope you haven't been too bored with the confinement."
-----
Medusa took a drink from her own glass. She really wasn't lying - this was one of her favorite teas. It was not cheap, not by a long shot...but one of the members of her network had arranged something to keep her well-stocked with it. Gifts to curry her favor did not really work, but his came closer than most.
"It comes from a small island off the coast of northern Vohemar, most of which is a large mountain. The tea grows there naturally; when people found the island, they noticed that the monkeys that lived there would pick the leaves to eat. They set to training the monkeys to pick the tea and bring it to them instead.
"I'm not sure how exactly being picked by monkeys makes the flavor better, but it is the most amazing oolong I've ever had."
She tilted her head at Ffamran's mention of his friends. "You make it sound like they never leave the labs. Then again - given how scientists are prone to act, maybe they don't. Still, unfortunate you could not see them - I...know how comforting it can be to see old friends.
"Not that I'd have gotten up to that here - most of the people I was close to in Academy are on ships elsewhere. They were...well, both envious and a little mocking when I told them which ship I was assigned to - I suppose they thought I had connections somewhere, pulled a few strings."
She smiled. "No, Admiral von Karma just needed a new radio operator." She shook her head, amused. "And he really did - aside from some time to explore, and a little time off the ship to sample a local restaurant, I've been in the radio room getting everything back in tip-top shape. I haven't had time to be bored!"
-----
"Monkey-picked tea?" Ffamran asked, completely poleaxed by the concept. He'd never heard of it. "Perhaps they simply are able to determine the most ripened leaves?"
He really had no idea, but he felt the need to take a stab at the reason anyway.
"Well, certainly they leave the labs, for evenings and weekends. They are worse than Academy cadets the way they party. I --" he chuckled, "may have been a frequent tag-along in such outings when I was younger."
Very young, actually, when he considered it in retrospect. He took another long drink of the tea. "At least you are entertained."
-----
Medusa shook her head, a faint smile on her lips. "I really don't know - I just drink it. Maybe they massage them, like people do to make really high-quality beef?"
His later comment made her start, though. "When you were younger? As in, before you went to Academy? You couldn't have been much older than thirteen...how exactly did you manage to be allowed in bars at that age? Let alone drinking - were you drinking?"
She shook her head. "Sounds like an exciting childhood - not that I approve of underage carousing!"
-----
Ffamran nodded - yes, he'd been about thirteen - and then shrugged. "I suppose in retrospect it was not the wisest thing for a young lad, but I was quite friendly with the scientists and they occasionally took it on themselves to educate me."
He frowned even more, not so much about the partying, as he only rarely considered that a bad idea. Instead, he was thinking about all of those people it turned out he really didn't know so well. People who he had thought were friends and turned out that they might have been working on Binary or something equally or more horrible.
He didn't really know them at all, in the end.
He tensed up, anger and exhaustion taking a toll all of a sudden.
-----
Medusa would have expected that memories of being included in an older crowd, being included for 'adult' things with people who are his friends, would have made Ffamran happier. She was, as such, slightly surprised by his despondent reaction. He was hiding something, that much was clear; what would it take to get it out of him? Best to take the tact that she said something wrong first.
"Ah - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scold you about it. I just meant that it seemed very young to be..."
She trailed off. "That isn't the problem at all, is it? You're way too tense for it to be from a little thing like that."
She drew closer to him, looked into his face with as much visible concern as she could muster. "Really, Ffamran - are you all right?"
-----
Ffamran realized that he wasn't being particularly happy at the moment, the last few days had taken a toll on him if he didn't even realize how much he'd been letting it affect the way he been behaving.
"I suppose it's just an aggregate of a lot of little things." He gave her a smile, hopefully charming and not too fake.
"You know how those little things can just pile up sometimes? I think that's it." He thought that sounded much more reasonable, everyone got like that sometimes.
-----
Medusa shook her head sadly; inwardly, she was nonplussed. Whatever it was that was bothering him wasn't something he would talk about openly, at least not yet. He needed to trust her more.
There was a simple way to start building that.
"Well, if worries accumulate, they make it very hard to relax. I can try something to ease the pressure a little, if you'd like. I'd mentioned at the party that I know some massage therapy techniques, and I'm betting that what is eating you is starting to work up your muscles in a bad way. If I can sort that out, it may make you feel better overall."
-----
Ffamran hadn't really been fitting about a massage or even really the tea when he had knocked on Medusa's doom. He needed a shoulder more than anything else.
"I wouldn't want to impose, but that sounds truly fantastic."
He realized he must be going out of his mind if that wasn't the first thing on his mind when he was in a room, alone, with a beautiful woman.
-----
Medusa smiled. "Not a problem."
She took another drink from her cup, finishing it, then walked behind Ffamran.
"Let's see how bad the damage is."
She began prodding and rubbing at his shoulders. She'd normally ask him to strip to his undershirt right away, but given the situation, that might seem a little *too* forward. It did not matter - she could tell he was in a bad way even with the layers of clothing.
"I've seen fewer knots in bad wood. Would you mind taking off your jacket and vest?"
-----
Ffamran chuckled at her assessment, he wasn't surprised by it at all though. The vest was a simple zip and he was able to shuck it with no problem, leaving him with just his shirt now.
"How would you like me? Sitting? Standing?" He drawled a little, flirtatious hopefully, without too much intent. He didn't particularly want her getting the wrong idea.
He certainly would have considered it if it weren't for Giselle and well ... it seemed like messing around with a crew mate was a recipe for disaster.
-----
Medusa caught the flirty tone in his question. "Sitting would be fine, for now. If it comes down to it...well, we'll see about laying you down on the bed."
She began rubbing and kneading, starting at the impressively large knots of muscle just off of his neck.
"Tell me if you'd like it harder." She added a little bit of huskiness to her voice at that - if she didn't flirt back a little, he'd get the impression she wasn't comfortable with his flirting, and that would hobble any chance she had of winning him over as an ally.
-----
She definitely was a flirt, Ffamran decided. Some girls - or boys of course - were uncomfortable with the level of flirtatiousness he brought sometimes.
"Oh, how about we wait until we know each other better?" His continued flirtation was somewhat undermined by the undignified little moan she managed to extract from him.
She was good at that! This was the best decision he'd made all day.
-----
Medusa smiled at his involuntary reaction to her ministrations - she might not exactly be winning him over like this, but she was certainly putting her best foot forward, it seemed. It would be amusing to see just how far she could take the innuendo.
"Oh, I don't know," she said, pressing hard on a particularly dense knot of muscle, "I've always been one to do what is needed when i find I need to do it."
-----
Ffamran wondered how dangerous a territory they were flirting with here. He didn't think she was serious but you could never tell with those sorts of things.
"Oh, I don't know, it's always so much more fun if it's ... well, fun! Obligations are hardly fun."
Advance staved off slightly, he settled back in to his own relaxation and enjoyed just the feeling of connection with another person and the wicking away of his tension. He'd had no idea how much he needed this.
-----
Medusa laughed, melodically. "Well, of course - but there's nothing wrong with enjoying things you have to do. Secret to a good life, I think - figuring out how to enjoy everything you come across."
She had almost finished working out some of the bigger knots in his shoulders; his relief was almost visible. With the lighter tone, and him clearly feeling better...perhaps it was a good time to see if he'd be a little more forthcoming as to what put him into this state.
"You know...these are the kind of knots I'd expect to see in some stressed-out middle-aged man. Really - what could have put you into such a state? If it's something I could help with - maybe just talking about it would help..."
-----
Ffamran smiled and opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything, his father, the secret projects, hell, even the stress about the Commander before his brain caught up and his mouth snapped closed.
He was surprised how raw he was if he was ready to start spilling his guts to some girl he hardly knew. It was only going to get worse if he let her continue her very expert ministrations. He was going to have to get better control of himself and his emotions before he allowed himself to do this again.
Ffamran stood up, escaping the loose grip of Medusa and standing, rubbing his hands together. "Ah, it's nothing. I actually think I should get going." He finally put a lid on his own babbling and managed to turn the suave back on. "I wouldn't want to get too much of a good thing."
-----
Close - so close. Medusa doubted Ffamran suspected her of anything more than concern and interest in his well-being...which meant that whatever he *was* hiding was likely something of great importance to him. She was even more curious as to what it was, now - perhaps it would give her some leverage over him, maybe even enough to get her access to pick his father's brain. That could be a gold mine.
For now, though, best to let him have his space. He'd come back.
"Oh, but I hadn't finished yet." She gave him a smile. "No, that's quite alright, if you need to get going. Hopefully that was enough to let your body start naturally working out that tension. If not - stop on by again when you have a chance, won't you? If it starts affecting your sleep...well, I'd prefer not to have an exhausted, tense navigator plotting our course."
-----
Ffamran sighed, realizing he'd made it obvious that there was something truly bothering him and that it wasn't something as simple as a few annoyances compounded together. This was making him lose his cool, he needed to get back under control, and fast.
He certainly couldn't do that with his mind swirling like it was.
"Well, I'd best make my leave." Ffamran gave a little bow. "Thank you for the tea and companionship."
He showed himself to the door. He definitely needed to get out of here as quickly as possible.
Content: Trying to get his mind off his troubles, Ffamran goes to have some...tea.
Setting: Medusa's room on the Victoria II
Time: Afternoon, the day after the storm
Warnings: Trained monkeys, Massage with no happy ending, Medusa is evil
The storms hadn't quite passed yet, but Ffamran had already plotted out a best course to Bellicus and was wandering the corridors feeling the tension ever time a particularly loud crackle of thunder passed by.
He wasn't even scared by it; it just set him on edge right now, reminding him of the Commander which reminded him of his issues with Draklor which made him even more tense.
He'd met a cute lady who'd promised massages and tea just the other day, though, so things were possibly looking up. He probably should have messaged first, but he was already in the area, and Medusa had invited him to stop over.
He knocked on the door and plastered on his best 'of course there's nothing wrong' smile.
-----
Medusa was going over the results from Sho's bloodwork - she had eliminated several possibilities for what his mother was, human amongst them - when she heard a knock at the door. She frowned - between monitoring the radio and ather small tasks she'd had not nearly as much time to work on this as she'd have liked. Hopefully this would be a short distraction; she took a sweet tone of voice.
"Just a moment, I'll be right there."
She put the papers back into the file they came from, replaced that in the hidden drawer in her desk. Her coat was on a hook by the door; she put it on. She did not quite want to display her tattoos for any passerbys to see quite yet; they could raise some awkward questions.
Finally ready, she opened the door.
"Oh! Ffamran!" Medusa was torn; on the one hand, her research called; on the other hand, the young navigator seemed like he'd make a handy pawn, if he could be brought over.
"Here to take me up on the offer of tea, by any chance?"
-----
Ffamran smiled at her warm welcome, that was probably the nicest reception he'd gotten in days.
He sighed a little. "That would, in fact, be lovely. Something about being cooped up on the ground is so much worse than being cooped up in the air, I think."
He hadn't been invited in yet, so he stood at the door, maybe he should have gotten some sort of gift.
"I hope I'm not interrupting something." She had taken quite a while to come to the door.
-----
Medusa smiled. Had she *really* wanted to mess with the young man's mind, she could insinuate that the reason for her delay was that she was dressing, but from what she'd seen of Ffamran so far, it wasn't likely that she would be able to ensnare him in a useful fashion by going down that route.
"Oh, no, I was just...scanning some radio logs. I needed my head to clear for a moment - sorry to have you standing at the door so long. Please, come in - I'll start preparing the tea."
She went to a small cabinet in her room - there was a device not unlike a coffeemaker, to boil water and, if needed, keep the mixed tea warm. After filling it with water from a pitcher and turning it on, she bent and opened the cabinet, soon coming out with a number of small containers.
"Do you have any preferences? On days like these, I favor this one," she said, indicating a container with a stylized monkey on it, " an oolong, but I've many others - a very nice blend of hand-picked mint, some flavored greens..."
-----
Ffamran felt like an ass, of course Medusa was worried about her home and her family, just like Ffamran was in his own way. He gave a genuine, but awkward, smile. "As long as it's no trouble."
Ffamran entered the room and took in the surroundings, everything seemed to be -- normal.
"I have a preference for the oolong, then." He gave her a warmer smile. "How are you settling in?"
-----
Medusa nodded, opened the container with the monkey, and added the leaves to a small tea leaf strainer. Setting it down near the thermos, she only had to wait for the water to boil - a few more minutes, at most. She turned to face Ffamran again in the meanwhile.
"Oh, well enough - busy, though. I think the old radio operator was very lax in his duties, there's a hundred little things I've needed to do. Anyway - I've got the lay of the ship now, I believe, and I've started to meet the crew. You've some...very interesting characters here." She considered him for a moment. "How have you been since the party?"
-----
Horrible was his first thought. He'd been to Draklor since then, after all, his father had completely forgotten his birthday and that was probably the least of his concerns.
"A little stressful." That much was honest. "Nothing specific, just missing out on the sights and sounds of Melior while I was back home."
He had been particularly tense the last few days and between the rain and Giselle and a number of other things he'd hardly been able to get out and unwind the way he would usually like to, so he was stuck with tea and a gorgeous tea companion.
-----
Medusa narrowly avoided wrinkling her brow. He was from Melior? She'd remembered his family name when she'd first heard it? That almost certainly meant that his father - or he - was some researcher whose work she'd read. It would probably not be a link worth much - she doubted that any human would really be proficient in magic or magitech to a degree that would help her - but one never knew.
"Oh, you are from Melior? I didn't know. Funny, you'd think it'd be relaxing to come home to see things relatively at normal. Certainly better than the chaos of the last town the Victoria II was in, I'd think."
With that, the tea maker pinged, and she began preparing the pot of oolong for the two of them.
-----
Ffamran usually liked to brag about his parentage, but he didn't particularly feel that was appropriate today. Still, it would have been out of character not for him to bring it up.
"Oh, yes, born and raised, son of Cidolfus Demen Bunansa." The name usually proceeded him.
"It was good to be home but the weather was nasty enough to keep me inside more than I would like. I missed hitting my old stomping grounds." Ffamran looked around for the tea cups and the like.
"May I help you with our cups?"
-----
That name was even more familiar - it must be his father that she remembered, Medusa thought. She would have to ask - not knowing would be irritating, like a fly buzzing around her head.
"Ah...pardon me if I'm prying, but your father...is he an engineer of some kind? I'm certain I've heard his name before, back in a textbook at the academy. I want to say it was Introduction to the Principles of Magitech, but the details of it escape me, and it'll be bothering me for days. You know, like when you're trying to remember a word, and it's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't remember it exactly."
She looked back to the tea - it was just about finished brewing - and smiled. "Yes, I could imagine people wouldn't want to go out in stormy weather - what use is dressing up to go see an old friend or visit an old haunt if you're going to arrive soaked to the skin?"
She paused and gave a small laugh, as if remembering something funny. "Well, unless you *really want* to go to a bar or something. And speaking of drinks - the tea is done. If you'd get the tea cups - not the ones with saucers, the tall cylindrical ones - they're right on that cabinet by the door."
-----
Ffamran headed over where Medusa had indicated and opened up the cabinet and got two glasses.
He tried not to think about Medusa arriving somewhere, shirt soaked, it didn't help his promise to be calm.
"That's him, Draklor's Doctor Cid. Magitech ...? From time to time certainly, he usually overseas airship construction and he's been known to do a few smaller projects. I know he's written plenty of books that are used in various Academy courses."
Many of which Ffamran had to actually study from while he'd been at the Academy himself.
"But yes, I know the feeling-- quite unpleasant."
-----
Medusa scrunched up her face. "Oh. Maybe it was Basic Airship Engineering, then. I don't know, the academic stuff was fine, but...I'm not quite sure why they would think a radio operator needs to understand how the engines work."
Yes, that was it - there was an paper perhaps two years ago about the magitek conversion of a standard engine to one that ran on mana crystals. An underling working in Draklor had sent it to her, thinking it useful, and she'd gone about building one not long after absorbing it. It was a tremendous boon for her work; she had a relatively large supply of mana crystals, but not as much in the way of coal or other conventional power sources.
She'd been trying to figure out how to reverse the process for some time - something of a side project. One could never have enough mana crystals.
Curiousity satisfied, she poured tea into the two glasses, and handed him one. She would offer to help him relax more soon, but now was a time to enjoy tea, and chat.
"Had the weather been less severe, what would you have occupied your time with? I've never been to Melior, and have no idea what a native would do for fun." She smiled. "Though if young Melior men are anything like those I went to Academy with, I imagine it involves one or more bars, and perhaps a club."
-----
Ffamran chuckled and took a sip of the tea.
"This blend is quite good." He was impressed. He was quite the connoisseur and Melior had a lot of excellent options, but this was quite a nice.
"I must admit I am more familiar with the clubs in Bellicus, where I went to the Academy. I was mostly a boy when I was living here. No I supposed I had wanted to visit some old friends at the lab."
That was the truth, but the rain was hardly what had curtailed him.
There were dozens of scientists he had been close with growing up, but after the revelations about his father, it was difficult to go look those same people in the eye.
"The weather has prevented that thus fair, you never know when a good squall is going to kick up. I hope you haven't been too bored with the confinement."
-----
Medusa took a drink from her own glass. She really wasn't lying - this was one of her favorite teas. It was not cheap, not by a long shot...but one of the members of her network had arranged something to keep her well-stocked with it. Gifts to curry her favor did not really work, but his came closer than most.
"It comes from a small island off the coast of northern Vohemar, most of which is a large mountain. The tea grows there naturally; when people found the island, they noticed that the monkeys that lived there would pick the leaves to eat. They set to training the monkeys to pick the tea and bring it to them instead.
"I'm not sure how exactly being picked by monkeys makes the flavor better, but it is the most amazing oolong I've ever had."
She tilted her head at Ffamran's mention of his friends. "You make it sound like they never leave the labs. Then again - given how scientists are prone to act, maybe they don't. Still, unfortunate you could not see them - I...know how comforting it can be to see old friends.
"Not that I'd have gotten up to that here - most of the people I was close to in Academy are on ships elsewhere. They were...well, both envious and a little mocking when I told them which ship I was assigned to - I suppose they thought I had connections somewhere, pulled a few strings."
She smiled. "No, Admiral von Karma just needed a new radio operator." She shook her head, amused. "And he really did - aside from some time to explore, and a little time off the ship to sample a local restaurant, I've been in the radio room getting everything back in tip-top shape. I haven't had time to be bored!"
-----
"Monkey-picked tea?" Ffamran asked, completely poleaxed by the concept. He'd never heard of it. "Perhaps they simply are able to determine the most ripened leaves?"
He really had no idea, but he felt the need to take a stab at the reason anyway.
"Well, certainly they leave the labs, for evenings and weekends. They are worse than Academy cadets the way they party. I --" he chuckled, "may have been a frequent tag-along in such outings when I was younger."
Very young, actually, when he considered it in retrospect. He took another long drink of the tea. "At least you are entertained."
-----
Medusa shook her head, a faint smile on her lips. "I really don't know - I just drink it. Maybe they massage them, like people do to make really high-quality beef?"
His later comment made her start, though. "When you were younger? As in, before you went to Academy? You couldn't have been much older than thirteen...how exactly did you manage to be allowed in bars at that age? Let alone drinking - were you drinking?"
She shook her head. "Sounds like an exciting childhood - not that I approve of underage carousing!"
-----
Ffamran nodded - yes, he'd been about thirteen - and then shrugged. "I suppose in retrospect it was not the wisest thing for a young lad, but I was quite friendly with the scientists and they occasionally took it on themselves to educate me."
He frowned even more, not so much about the partying, as he only rarely considered that a bad idea. Instead, he was thinking about all of those people it turned out he really didn't know so well. People who he had thought were friends and turned out that they might have been working on Binary or something equally or more horrible.
He didn't really know them at all, in the end.
He tensed up, anger and exhaustion taking a toll all of a sudden.
-----
Medusa would have expected that memories of being included in an older crowd, being included for 'adult' things with people who are his friends, would have made Ffamran happier. She was, as such, slightly surprised by his despondent reaction. He was hiding something, that much was clear; what would it take to get it out of him? Best to take the tact that she said something wrong first.
"Ah - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scold you about it. I just meant that it seemed very young to be..."
She trailed off. "That isn't the problem at all, is it? You're way too tense for it to be from a little thing like that."
She drew closer to him, looked into his face with as much visible concern as she could muster. "Really, Ffamran - are you all right?"
-----
Ffamran realized that he wasn't being particularly happy at the moment, the last few days had taken a toll on him if he didn't even realize how much he'd been letting it affect the way he been behaving.
"I suppose it's just an aggregate of a lot of little things." He gave her a smile, hopefully charming and not too fake.
"You know how those little things can just pile up sometimes? I think that's it." He thought that sounded much more reasonable, everyone got like that sometimes.
-----
Medusa shook her head sadly; inwardly, she was nonplussed. Whatever it was that was bothering him wasn't something he would talk about openly, at least not yet. He needed to trust her more.
There was a simple way to start building that.
"Well, if worries accumulate, they make it very hard to relax. I can try something to ease the pressure a little, if you'd like. I'd mentioned at the party that I know some massage therapy techniques, and I'm betting that what is eating you is starting to work up your muscles in a bad way. If I can sort that out, it may make you feel better overall."
-----
Ffamran hadn't really been fitting about a massage or even really the tea when he had knocked on Medusa's doom. He needed a shoulder more than anything else.
"I wouldn't want to impose, but that sounds truly fantastic."
He realized he must be going out of his mind if that wasn't the first thing on his mind when he was in a room, alone, with a beautiful woman.
-----
Medusa smiled. "Not a problem."
She took another drink from her cup, finishing it, then walked behind Ffamran.
"Let's see how bad the damage is."
She began prodding and rubbing at his shoulders. She'd normally ask him to strip to his undershirt right away, but given the situation, that might seem a little *too* forward. It did not matter - she could tell he was in a bad way even with the layers of clothing.
"I've seen fewer knots in bad wood. Would you mind taking off your jacket and vest?"
-----
Ffamran chuckled at her assessment, he wasn't surprised by it at all though. The vest was a simple zip and he was able to shuck it with no problem, leaving him with just his shirt now.
"How would you like me? Sitting? Standing?" He drawled a little, flirtatious hopefully, without too much intent. He didn't particularly want her getting the wrong idea.
He certainly would have considered it if it weren't for Giselle and well ... it seemed like messing around with a crew mate was a recipe for disaster.
-----
Medusa caught the flirty tone in his question. "Sitting would be fine, for now. If it comes down to it...well, we'll see about laying you down on the bed."
She began rubbing and kneading, starting at the impressively large knots of muscle just off of his neck.
"Tell me if you'd like it harder." She added a little bit of huskiness to her voice at that - if she didn't flirt back a little, he'd get the impression she wasn't comfortable with his flirting, and that would hobble any chance she had of winning him over as an ally.
-----
She definitely was a flirt, Ffamran decided. Some girls - or boys of course - were uncomfortable with the level of flirtatiousness he brought sometimes.
"Oh, how about we wait until we know each other better?" His continued flirtation was somewhat undermined by the undignified little moan she managed to extract from him.
She was good at that! This was the best decision he'd made all day.
-----
Medusa smiled at his involuntary reaction to her ministrations - she might not exactly be winning him over like this, but she was certainly putting her best foot forward, it seemed. It would be amusing to see just how far she could take the innuendo.
"Oh, I don't know," she said, pressing hard on a particularly dense knot of muscle, "I've always been one to do what is needed when i find I need to do it."
-----
Ffamran wondered how dangerous a territory they were flirting with here. He didn't think she was serious but you could never tell with those sorts of things.
"Oh, I don't know, it's always so much more fun if it's ... well, fun! Obligations are hardly fun."
Advance staved off slightly, he settled back in to his own relaxation and enjoyed just the feeling of connection with another person and the wicking away of his tension. He'd had no idea how much he needed this.
-----
Medusa laughed, melodically. "Well, of course - but there's nothing wrong with enjoying things you have to do. Secret to a good life, I think - figuring out how to enjoy everything you come across."
She had almost finished working out some of the bigger knots in his shoulders; his relief was almost visible. With the lighter tone, and him clearly feeling better...perhaps it was a good time to see if he'd be a little more forthcoming as to what put him into this state.
"You know...these are the kind of knots I'd expect to see in some stressed-out middle-aged man. Really - what could have put you into such a state? If it's something I could help with - maybe just talking about it would help..."
-----
Ffamran smiled and opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything, his father, the secret projects, hell, even the stress about the Commander before his brain caught up and his mouth snapped closed.
He was surprised how raw he was if he was ready to start spilling his guts to some girl he hardly knew. It was only going to get worse if he let her continue her very expert ministrations. He was going to have to get better control of himself and his emotions before he allowed himself to do this again.
Ffamran stood up, escaping the loose grip of Medusa and standing, rubbing his hands together. "Ah, it's nothing. I actually think I should get going." He finally put a lid on his own babbling and managed to turn the suave back on. "I wouldn't want to get too much of a good thing."
-----
Close - so close. Medusa doubted Ffamran suspected her of anything more than concern and interest in his well-being...which meant that whatever he *was* hiding was likely something of great importance to him. She was even more curious as to what it was, now - perhaps it would give her some leverage over him, maybe even enough to get her access to pick his father's brain. That could be a gold mine.
For now, though, best to let him have his space. He'd come back.
"Oh, but I hadn't finished yet." She gave him a smile. "No, that's quite alright, if you need to get going. Hopefully that was enough to let your body start naturally working out that tension. If not - stop on by again when you have a chance, won't you? If it starts affecting your sleep...well, I'd prefer not to have an exhausted, tense navigator plotting our course."
-----
Ffamran sighed, realizing he'd made it obvious that there was something truly bothering him and that it wasn't something as simple as a few annoyances compounded together. This was making him lose his cool, he needed to get back under control, and fast.
He certainly couldn't do that with his mind swirling like it was.
"Well, I'd best make my leave." Ffamran gave a little bow. "Thank you for the tea and companionship."
He showed himself to the door. He definitely needed to get out of here as quickly as possible.