JP: Cadet Morro Caras & Cadet Sevantha Saa - A Star-Crossed Tune (Part 2)

[Morro Caras]

((602 Club, San Francisco, Earth))
((Stardate: 240012.14)) 

Caras: Great. Once the song changes we can really start to pick up on the energy.

Saa: You sure you didn’t come with anyone who might miss your presence?

Last thing she needed was to walk into another situation that added more complexity to the situation she was already in. Some simplicity and fun would be nice for a change.

Caras: Ah well, my roommate, but he was with someone and now ::looking around the club:: he’s gone. Not unusual for him however. I guess this drink is now yours.

Rahayu never stayed in one place for very long. He always had somewhere to be. He was one of the most scatterbrained people that Caras had ever met.

Saa: Lead the way ::she’d motion to the dance floor:: So what path are you on?

Caras: Engineering, Ops, that whole lot. Oh we better not set these down, best to ::he takes down one of the drinks:: finish it off now and get to dancing. ::he holds out his hand with the drink::

Cadet Rahayu was nowhere in sight. Morro had given him some advice to help attract a J'naii teaching assistant. Morro was hoping that it went well, but he knew here at the academy, his advice wasn’t always as good as it was back in the Vale.

Saa: Engineering? ::Taking the drink, her brows arched a little, he looked a little more like one of the Security Cadets:: Medical here. 

Reaching out, she’d thankfully take the drink from his hand and have a sip. A sugary goodness with a little alcohol, this wouldn’t do too much considering her love of Klingon Coffee, but it’d make the night less bitter than it had been. Plus, it was nice to have a little bit of attention from someone unrelated entirely to her problems. 

oO …A little edge off before an exam tomorrow? Why not? Oo  

Caras: Well then now we can get started. Follow me please.

Setting down her glass, she looked up at Caras with a spreading smile giving him her full attention. 

Saa: Lead the way. 

And with that, she followed.

By the time they got to the end of the dance floor the music picked up its pace and changed to something far more danceable. This is where Morro began to fall into the groove.

Caras: Here, you’ll need to have your body just kind of take over, and catch into a bit of the flow for dancing in a place like this.

For a man so tall, Morro danced with a high amount of grace and high flexibility. He was trained in multiple forms of dance and gymnastics, and as he went to them his mind became rote. Empty; his training and experience took over.

Sevantha blinked in surprise at the man’s unexpected talent. Who knew engineering students could take to the floor so easily. There wasn’t a thought in his mind, he didn’t have to think to perform, and admittedly she was fairly impressed with the ability to do so. Everything came with extra thought and consideration in her own mind, sometimes she was trapped in there, it was nice to see someone who could just escape it all. 

Saa: oO Here goes nothing Oo

Stepping out, she began trying to focus on the music, listening to the sound, trying to find the beat as felt the emotions around her causing a clash of issues. Everyone was so happy, except her, and if she let it fade away did that mean she was okay? Was letting go too soon sending away the pain? Yet she couldn’t escape the feelings and thoughts of others' joy and couldn’t escape the depth of her own mind. Sevan didn’t struggle to move, in fact dancing was something tended to enjoy, she was simply bogged down. 

Caras: No, you’re too tight. You need to just let go. Just don’t think. Feel. Easy into it. You have to push all of the weight you have aside and just… feel the energy.

Caras gave a very soft no, he didn’t want to discourage her from dancing. He wanted the opposite.

Saa: I… ::she blinked in surprise at the callout from the Orion:: Just… feel the energy? 

Feeling everything was important to her culture despite she had no desire to hold onto it. Was it the insecurity in herself suddenly? T’Vel was right there, as was Lorian, what did she want to project? He was happy, she should be happy, but instead she was miserable because of his choices. The Orion in front of her hadn’t a care in the world outside the music and the party, a Betazoid could appreciate that, and it was then she realized how much she’d smothered herself for Lorian trying to control her emotions for his Vulcan family. 

Caras: Yes, there is just a flow of the music and the energy in the room. They reflect and resonate with one another in some kind of harmony. Kind of like a resonance chamber.

Saa: How about you show me a little?

Whatever thoughts she had, she’d find a way to bury them for the moment, and briefly that learned vulcan repression technique melted away. There was almost a genuine smile as she observed his ability to cut loose and have fun in the crowd full of people. Sevantha had never been much for being at the center of the stage, she was a wallflower, but there was something undeniable to be found in people who were truly enjoying themselves. Their emotions were infectious.

Caras: Music is like waves right? You have to find out how your body interprets those waves. Then how your waves might  resonate with someone else's waves. :: raising both arms up, letting the groove flow through him:: It’s as simple as that

He would occasionally brush up next to her after every other significant movement in the sound, only so that she could feel his metaphorical waves and find her own.

Flowing with the beat, she closed her eyes for a moment letting the music be the only thing in her ears, while focusing on the orion, whose head was somehow miraculously empty of any thoughts except the music itself, amplifying the rhythm in her mind. There was a brilliance to the ability to do so, listening to the music on two wavelengths. Eventually there’d be a flow more suited to the music. There were a few minutes of song where nothing was said, nothing needed to be, just cutting loose as was routine for him and she desperately needed to forget. 

As the song changed, she took a few breaths, it’d been awhile since she’d marathoned more than a few songs. 

Saa: I’m Sevantha ::She’d finally say out loud:: But you can call me Sevan. 

Caras: Morro, just Morro. You’re doing well but you need to feel it ::he moved himself behind her:: you have to go with your hips, feel mine, and now, just groove

He began a shimmy and then a grind, nothing too distasteful. There were some things the Orion knew that would get him if not kicked out of StarFleet, at least relegated to waste disposal at his first posting. He decided to save those moves only for when he really needed them. Morro felt that this woman, Sevan, was still gripping on to her thoughts. It was like her head was 50KG, and all that weight was on her shoulders. He felt like he had to do something about it.

That’s when he saw them, two Vulcans looking over the dance floor. Like they were above it all. He did know vulcans could dance, but it was too technical, and was usually for mental or physical exertion or practice. Never for the love of dance. Never to express themselves. What kind of dance was that? Even the most simplistic Earth dances had emotions tied to them. 

He did eventually feel both of the vulcans’ gaze. 

Caras: Looks like we have an audience

Saa: …What?

Morro felt pretty stupid, why did he bring attention to them?

There was a brief lack of response until she was trying to focus on everything but them, but as she turned to see Lorian and T’Vel overlooking the dance floor… she froze like a doe in front of bright lights.

Caras: Look, I don’t know your history but this is just the universe testing you. I care way too much about what others think, but this is the one place here that I feel I can let go. 

oO Why did i tell her that? That is very embarrassing Oo

Saa: …I ::She struggled to speak for a moment:: It’s complicated… I shouldn’t have dragged you into this, I’m sorry. 

Caras: Well if they want something to look at, I’ll give them something to look at ::removing his shirt, revealing something that could barely be considered an undershirt:: Dance harder!

Morro then proceeded to do a move that might have gotten him a lesser duty post as a holodeck scrubber if a superior saw it, but luckily the reaction from the crowd was a few gasps and then some laughter.

Sevan’s expression went from shock to something a little more distressed. The feeling of everyone else laughing, having a good time should have alleviated her, it was something Betazoids loved best about parties… yet tonight it made it worse. She appreciated Morro’s attempt to steal the show but she felt herself withering even from being a wallflower. She wanted to disappear.

She’d tossed off the restraints of Vulcan repression and control methods but his gaze immediately brought them back. The reminder that her emotions, her gifts, were at the source of all their problems with his family that ate at her. Was she out of control?

Saa: Morro… I’m sorry, I can’t… ::She stepped back::

There was a thankfulness in her voice but anxiety had started tearing her up on the inside. Every move she took she wondered what Lorian or T’Vel were thinking, if they were judging, she wanted to disappear. 

Saa: Thank you for the dance…

Caras: ::Shouting:: Wait, Hey! I’m… 

There was no point in yelling. Maybe he had embarrassed her. That was fine, He was the one that looked like a scummy orion. Sometimes he couldn’t help leaning into what people thought was the stereotype, they were going to believe it whether he was perfectly behaved or not. Z’Mat had told him to use that to his advantage when he left for the academy.

((TBC)) 

Lieutenant LG Sevantha Saa

Medical Officer

USS Astraeus 

A240105SS2

and

Ensign Morro Caras

Engineering Officer

USS Octavia E. Butler

O240106MC1