Making Time
Posted on Fri Aug 11th, 2023 @ 8:41pm by Warrant Officer Iryna Voznyuk & Staff Sergeant Nathanial "Nate" Cusack
Mission:
Sojurn
Location: Relea
Timeline: Day 339
4518 words - 9 OF Standard Post Measure
I'm booking you for tonight, wear something warm. I'll pick you up around 1900 local.
- N
P.S. Everything smells like disinfectant and rolling bandages gives me a rash. When do I get the fast cars and golfing holidays?
It hadn't been the intention on either of their parts to go a full cycle without seeing each other but, as Nate had very quickly found out, the medical field tended to foster anti-social hours. Now that the decision had been made for him to cross-train, the marine had thrown himself into preparations with a familiar mixture of intensity and cavalier charm that hadn't got him very far where Daglish was concerned, though he didn't think he'd annoyed her yet. The nurse seemed perpetually in a good mood in any case and mostly dealt with his slight pushing of limits by throwing gauze at him. Or ice packs. It hadn't been a bad start, it had just been a long day.
And then it had clashed with Iryna's night-shift and he'd sulked. Not ostentatiously, he'd spent most of the night trying to pretend he wasn't, but there had come a point where he realised his agitation was mostly the fault of monotony and a certain degree of loneliness. Even without the intimate developments in their relationship, he'd got used to her being there in the evenings, presiding over barracks shenanigans with the raised-eyebrow of unconvincing disinterest. Going to bed alone had been unpleasant, frankly, and waking up alone hadn't been much better. There'd been an hour or two before he was due back in Sickbay for him to put the wheels in motion to avoid a similar problem later that evening, which may have accounted for the brevity of his message. Or perhaps he was just rusty at leaving love notes. Either might have counted.
The day had been busy enough and time had passed more quickly than he'd feared. Showered and dressed once more for a trip planet-side, Nate realised only as he was making his way from his side of the barracks to the senior officers' side that he hadn't stipulated which of her current lodgings he intended to pick her up from. It was her rostered day off, she'd probably spent the day off the ship if she had any sense...
He pressed the door chime to her quarters. Only one way to find out.
The sound inside indicated that someone was at the very least inside and the door opened to reveal the Warrant Officer standing there wearing well-worn jeans, and a band shirt with her uniform jacket over it. It suited more than the nice coat she had replicated with her credits on the planet. She paused for a second just taking him in and enjoying the sensation of seeing him for the first time in a day. She had thought to bother him over night but there had been a drunken squabble and a missing crew member to sort out. "Hey..." She said tugging him into her quarters.
Despite falling prey to a slight element of surprise, Nate followed dutifully and with minimal protest. "This is the wrong direction," he pointed out, grinning in a way that negated any attempt at complaint. "Or, I suppose, the right direction depending on how impatient you are to get to the end of my plans for the evening." He winked then, fairly certain that he'd wind up with a dead arm for that one, but absence apparently did wonders for his sense of mischief.
"I know but..." She leant up and kissed him softly before setting herself back on her feet. "I wanted to kiss you before I put my lipstick on." She commented not giving him a chance to pull her back or anything as turned around and disappeared into the small bathroom to stick on the lipstick she had gotten earlier in the day.
"What about after you put lipstick on?," he called after her, bemused. After a pause, he added, "Smothering that stuff on your lips won't save you!" He grinned at the closed door, content enough to wait despite the additional delay.
The woman was less than five minutes and she reappeared red lipstick on and her hair up in a pony tail ready to leave. “Ready.” She announced letting them out of her quarters and letting him lead the way to the turbo lift waiting until the door closed before she answered. “All depends on if red suits you I suppose.”
"I think I could pull it off," came the confident reply, before a far rarer veer towards outright compliment saw Nate add, "Though it probably looks better on you." The dance of his eyes was appreciative though he seemed more interested in studying her face than anything else. As the lift doors opened, he took her hand, an unmistakable demonstration and rather bold given their capacity to be sprung, and gave it a squeeze. "Busy night huh?"
It had been busy which had been a welcome distraction. “Da. A drunk argument and a missing crewman. All fixed pretty quickly but yeah busy.” She admitted looking at his hand in hers, confused as she moved toward the security check. “What about yourself? What did you get up to?” She wondered turning the question around on him.
"Would you have pegged Daglish as having a sadistic side?," Nate chose as his response. With a weary hunch of his shoulder, he added, "Apparently the first part of medical training is inventory stocktake. I think I'm just being taken advantage of because nobody else can reach the top shelves." Sensing her tension, he jostled her gently. "Nothing as exciting as your shift."
Iryna narrowed her eyes at him and smiled. She could see the merit of using him for his height to be honest so could not blame the nurse. “Oh completely sadistic. She’s been fooling around with Johnson enough.” She reminded of there fellow MACO as they were logged out the ship and instantly the cold greeted them as they stepped out into corridor that connected the ship to the space port.
Nate screwed up his nose. "I don't know who I feel more sorry for." It wasn't the point of the night to discuss the nurse's personal life, however, and once the blast of cold air reminded the marine of all the reasons why they really needed to find a tropical planet next, he dropped her hand to wrap an arm around her shoulders and jogged with her out into a slight snow flurry.
"So I did actually make plans for tonight," he called over the wind. "Forecast was for a mostly clear night so hopefully that holds out."
The woman grinned. She had spent a long time with Johnson she knew exactly who she felt more sorry for but that was her opinion and a higher rank. “So where are we going?” She wondered intrigued that he had made plans. She could not say that she had been with a man before who cared enough to make plans.
"Uh uh." An index finger held up bought Nate the time to orient himself. Now that they'd stepped from the docking bay into the road system that would take them towards the city centre, it was clear that the smattering of snow was more the fault of a pesky wind unsettling the already-fallen flakes. Overhead, the stars were already appearing and, as he checked the palm of his hands for the hastily scribbled instructions he'd scrawled on his way out the door, the marine offered the first surprise of the night by turning left instead of right, which would have taken them into the heart of the city.
"I did some research," he finally continued, which was an overly-generous estimation of his rushed enquiries that morning before work. "And now that the festival has officially started, there are a few opportunities very specific to the time of year that will allow us to explore a little further afield." As they trudged along the frosty road towards a faint glow around the bend that suggested a well-lit destination, Nate flashed a grin sideways. "I've hired us a snow-buggy-mobile-sphere...thing. Apparently there's a festival route through some nearby ice structures that is worth looking at if you like that kind of thing."
The woman had not taken that route before and grinned as she took in the surroundings of somewhere she had never been before. Iryna could feel the bubble of excitement in her stomach as they got closer and closer to the lit up area. She was going to have to figure out a way to surprise him in a similar way as he was trying so hard. “It is very much my thing.” She assured softly squeezing his hand around her shoulder.
"Yeah, I figured." The was a moment that bordered on adorable where Nate tried not to look ridiculously pleased with himself, and failed entirely. "It seemed like a good compromise. You get all the fancy natural light shows you could ask for and I get to drive a weird alien space orb through the snow." An arm around her waist held her close enough for him to kiss her temple before he murmured, "And yes, I am driving. One of us needs to have eyes on the road."
The lodge was lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree, though rather than the warm lights associated with the human holiday, the colder glow radiated blue and purple as it bounced off the frozen cliff-face the structure backed up against. It was a busy venue, popular this time of year for those taking the opportunity to hire one of the vehicles, or simply enjoy a meal at the adjacent restaurant. It didn't take long to locate an attendant with their booking details and the first enjoyment of the night was trying to figure out how to get into the oddly-shaped snow-orb gracefully. Nate, having watched others struggle, grinned as he opened up the vertically-rising door and offered Iryna a hand. "No touching buttons."
It was most likely the best compromise that they had made over the last couple of weeks as they tried to adapt to their new situation and what was between them. “Yours or the weird alien space orb?” She asked flirting as she took the hand and moved past him into the orb. She grinned as she shifted inside and sat in the small space with practise ease of someone who was used to being in small spaces.
His only response had been a wink, a mischievous refusal to deny that part of the appeal of the venture was disappearing into the wilderness cozied up together in a very confined space. Coordinated enough to be a decent dancer, he likewise didn't find getting into the driver's seat nearly as complicated as others had made it seem, and took only a couple of minutes to figure out how to turn the machine on. It had, after all, been designed to be driven by tourists. How hard could it be?
Releasing the brake, he cleared his throat as the first movement sent them several metres backwards. "Yep, that's definitely reverse." Taking a moment to turn the instructions he'd been given, propped up in front of him, the other way around, Nate grinned sideways and waggled his eyebrows. "Ready?"
It wasn't quite the acceleration forward that he'd been anticipating. It was exactly because the vehicle was intended for use by novices that it had a controlled top speed that fell just short of satisfying. Still, it handled with interesting precision and, robbed of an ability to go fast, Nate made the most of being able to turn circles in the snow. "Okay, o reader of the map." He handed her the map. "Where are we going?"
Iryna had left out a squeak of laughter as they went backwards instead of forward. She glanced back to see that there must be a proximity barrier to stop them crashing into other in a giant game of bumper cars. “Follow the green lights for a quick route, orange for a long route and purple for a route that allows you to get out and explore. Which one do you want to do?” She asked. It looked early in the evening so all options were open and not at all busy.
"Purple it is," Nate declared, steering them out of a final spiral to head towards the first allocated light-post. It seemed, at least to his best attempt at guessing, the option she would prefer and he hadn't committed to the idea to short-change her the experience. Besides, it felt good to be behind the wheel again, even if the meandering orb wasn't quite the same as taking the bike up the coast.
Iryna smiled and leant over stroking his neck playing with his hair at the base of his neck for a moment before she turned her attention to the start of the display. “Purple it is.” They were slowly moving from the lights of the lodge further into what Iryna assumed was a park or at least what she would call a park.
"Not so bad with a roof over our heads." Ducking his head to peer out the front window, Nate then risked taking his eyes off the road for a second to glance directly up. The stars were easier to see the further from the light pollution they moved and he was inclined to believe the advertisement's assertion that the next few nights would provide the best visibility before the weather set in again. "You drive anything back home?" It occurred to him that it wasn't a discussion they'd ever had.
“I had a motor bike at one point.” She said with a shrug. The bike had likely been scrapped by her family for credits when she had been declared MIA. “It was easiest way to get around anywhere easily before I decided to take a chance on Military Assault Command Operations.”
"Only way to travel," he agreed and then, somewhat oddly, lapsed into silence. For the most part, whenever Nate had referred to anything back home, it had been in reference to his checkered career path and the bitter disappointment of being his father's son. Sharing the personal details, the things that actually mattered, the stuff that he actually missed, was vulnerability he didn't normally allow. "Lost count of the times I used to pack up the bike and just head up the coast, find somewhere to pitch the tent and hire a surfboard for the weekend."
“Sounds nice. I just used it to travel from place to place trying to find somewhere to belong when I ran away.” She said quietly keeping her eyes levelled on the ice sculpture that was quickly coming into view. It looked like a sea monster to the woman but who was she to judge when it could simply be a sea creature on that planet.
"Oh, I was running away. I wasn't very good at it though because I kept going back." Consenting to slow down the vehicle so they could explore the dimensions of the first sculpture, Nate kept his eyes trained on the designated path around it and added quietly, "I guess time will tell if that was a bad idea or not." He glanced across at her. "I'd say currently it's not all bad."
“There is bad?” She wondered softly feeling his gaze on her as she turned from the sculpture to look at him. “Sure the ship is lost in space but I think I’ve loved more in the last year than previously. I’ve not had to be someone I am not. It’s healing.”
"I mean, there's argument for there being enough back home worth avoiding to make the prospect of never making it back more appealing than not." He'd never said as much to anyone, for all it wasn't that hard to judge by his attitude at times that Nate didn't really seem to mourn the distance from home like some of the crew. "It's not entirely disagreeable to be able to stretch the legs again though."
Iryna had thought the same thoughts several times so it was no surprise to her nor did she respond to it for a long moment until they were back on the darkened path. “I do not mourn being out here.” She finally said. “I hated being the woman men used because pretty or convenient and I needed the affection. Being out here has taught me that I am a better person and deserve more.”
"I wasn't too fond of it at first." She'd been privy to the way he'd handled himself, all the way up until recently. To say that his remark was an understatement was putting it mildly. "I still don't know how it's going to feel cramming myself back into the barracks but I guess I have a top shelf full of medical gauze to keep me occupied now." The cross-training was pivotal. Without it, Nate wasn't sure if even this burgeoning relationship could have dragged him up out of inevitable darkness. The risk of it becoming his only lifeline left far too many opportunities for it to become a dependence issue and that, from the sound of things, wasn't something Iryna was going to deal with well.
Iryna said nothing as the silence resumed. It was not heavy but it was filled with emotions that had made them both vulnerable. It was two sculptures on that Iryna finally broke the comfortable silence. “I think around the next big corner there is a Star gazing station if you want to brave being out there for a few moments?”
"I've weathered the ice storm for months now." The twitch of his lips betrayed his mischief. With a wink, he glanced across at her and grinned. "A few minutes is nothing."
“Having that top shelf of medical gauze has made you cheeky.” She responded with a grin as he shifted off the path into the barely white lit boxed area. Iryna waited until he had stopped before she started to shift around.
"I beg to differ, all my cheek is naturally and organically produced in-house." It took several attempts but Nate managed to put the pod into neutral and then pulled on the parking brake before turning off the engine. Immediately, the silence of the area became apparent. In fact, if he thought to recall, they hadn't encountered anyone on this particular route so far. It made sense, apparently the longer, structured route was the most popular, which was admittedly another reason for opting for this one.
He hit the button the saw both doors rise slowly upwards.
"Holy balls, that's cold." Stuffing his hands beneath his armpits, Nate hop-stepped around the front of the vehicle intent on helping Iryna out. By the time he'd navigated the snow-covered bush he'd parked a little too close to, his attempt at gallantry was mostly unnecessary.
Iryna took the offered hand though and took the final step out a little more elegantly then she had been managing and just smiled up at him as they walked towards the small hut. The lighting was low enough that the night vision she had developed was not lost so she easily found the entrance.
"Now, that's a night sky."
And it was. This far from the city, the swirl of various auroras cast ribbons of green, blue and purple amidst the vast blanket of stars that, for once, weren't obscured by snow-clouds. It was touted as one of the major drawcards of the tour and, Nate had to admit, it didn't disappoint. He'd spent a good chunk of his adult life living amongst the stars but it took the view through a planet's atmosphere to really bring out their splendor.
“Isn’t it just.” Iryna agreed as she pushed open the door and slipped in side the star gazing room that held a telescope. She quickly looked through it to get a better look at the auroras. “My parents, when I was really small and before we moved back to a city, were caretakers for an observatory. We never saw skies this beautiful.”
It spoke to a level of personal growth that Nate kept quiet and wrangled his own recollections of childhood out of the picture entirely. Eventually, perhaps, he'd be able to pick through to sift out some of the shinier parts to share with her but there had been plenty of Nathanial Cusack's Relationship With His Parents on display since they'd left Earth. This was the first time he'd heard about hers and, slipping behind her to wrap both arms around her waist as an excuse for leaning over her shoulder to look through the viewfinder himself, Nate found an ounce of wisdom for once not to change the subject.
"No urge to follow suit?," was what he asked quietly before elaborating. "No isolated little outpost in some godforsaken corner that time forgot?" He brought his chin down to rest on her shoulder. "Nobody tells you that life amongst the stars never really lets you see them properly."
“If only that had ever been an option. We moved back to the city not long after that life got a bit difficult and harder.” It had been the start of a downward spiral for her parents that had effected her for many years to come. “I would have loved a little place like this but you are right no one tells you that life among the stars never gives you a chance to admire them like this.” She agreed closing her eyes at the closeness.
"There's always options, if we make it back." It had been a long time since Nate had ever phrased it as 'when we get back' but there was a shift in mentality just to hear him talk with any hope of happiness beyond the endless voyage. "That's the point, right? Coming to the conclusion that life's too short for compromise you can't live with."
“Maybe. Time will tell but this compromise is good so far.” She said softly as she turned around dislodging his chin on her shoulder. “But I am content here and you seem happy being the only person able to reach the high shelf.” She teased just knowing it was going to a journey for him.
"Happy might be a long shot," he warned, but consented to looping his arms around her waist with a degree of pragmatic acceptance. "It's a new direction and anything away from where I was headed is probably an improvement. Time will tell."
“Time always tells.” She said nodding at the fact her phrasing could have been a little better but she accepted it with grace. They were both trying which was enough in her books. She quietly kissed his chin and grinned at the fact her lipstick stained it just a little.
It earned her a wrinkled nose. "Couldn't help yourself, could you." The hands that had been clasped together at the base of her spine released their hold to move surreptitiously towards her sides. "Was that a declaration of war, ma'am?"
“I wanted to check. I thought it might not stain you. I wanted to check if I could kiss you.” She declared softly biting her lip as she grinned up at him. “Seemed romantic under the stars. Me and you in a little hut.” She hinted at.
A rakish eyebrow rewarded her flirtation with a hint a surprise mingled in with the amused approval. For as long as it had taken her to relax, there was something to be said for having the patience to wait it out. Her confidence in command had always been an attractive attribute, even if he hadn't wanted to admit it all the times it had been directed at him. Nate certainly wasn't inclined to complain now that it was showing signs of turning up in her personal life.
"Uh huh," he replied, turning them in a slow circle so that he could test just how little the hut's dimensions were. It took only a couple of steps to find the wall and allow her to settle against it. "I think you're just trying to find another way for me to disgrace myself in front of the locals."
She was not at all uninterested but she did not want him to get anymore into trouble with the locals. “Only if you are caught but I just wanted a kiss. I do not want you to freeze.” She whispered as her back hit the wall. It seemed solid enough as she settled there and looked up at him pulling him closer by his jacket to kiss him.
It was, Nate mused to the best of his ability to concentrate at all, probably a good thing that they'd opted not to heat the small space. Wisdom, perhaps, an understanding of the temptations of tiny huts in the middle of no where. It certainly worked a treat on staving off impatience, though his resolve had taken a noticeable hit since Iryna had removed the hands-to-self clause from their arrangement. Cold fingers found the soft flesh of her stomach as a tease, and Nate grinned into the kiss, which had not done too badly at smearing shades of crimson across his face. "We hitting the road again or...?" The trail-off was intentional, mischief dressed up as a dare. This was the Nate she knew, the man who constantly pushed the envelope whilst refusing to back down from challenges.
“We better go back on the trail before we end up testing the structure.” She teased kissing him hard one more time before she started to attempt to wipe some of the lip stick off of him with her thumb. “Suitably marked though.” She admitted with a laugh as his fingers across her stomach tickled her.
At least part of him was relieved, quite possibly all the bits that would have struggled to perform optimally in the cold. The culmination of her deviousness was not met with utter contrition, however, Nate found excuse enough to ensure he scooped her over his shoulder the moment they were clear of the hut. It was cold enough that he didn't dally, however, and took a moment to work the feeling back into his fingers before starting off again.
"There is hot chocolate, or some variation of, at the end of all this," he reminded her. "And a grill if you're hungry." Glancing across, Nate added, "You're the navigator, where to next?"
Iryna only let out a whoop of laughter as she was practically thrown over his shoulder. She said nothing to distract him as he was walking in snowy conditions. But she was relieved to climb back in the device and to warm up ever so slightly. “Back out on the trail and turn left at the next turning and straight on until dawn…” she offered grinning.
