SIM:Adarnis - Drinking Games, Part Two

(( Ten Forward, USS Constitution- B ))

T'Lea: I said, frell off!

:: With that she was heading for the exit and knocking over a few empty chairs on her way out.::

:: Dade was up an off with her, trying to get rid of the murky feeling going on in his brain. He gripped the bridge of his nose and shook it off, following T'Lea out of the door to Ten Forward. She was moving pretty fast for someone three sheets to the wind.::

:: They got outside into the corridor and Dade caught up with her, grabbing her arm.::

Adarnis: You're not fine. What the hell is wrong with you?

:: Good question, she grimaced sensing a pinprick of Tash for some reason, and then she reeled even more when she felt Dade's flesh make contact. It nearly sent her to her knees. It felt like the inside of her skull had a million splinters sticking at her brain.::

T'Lea: ...frell… OFF!

:: His hand flew off her like she was at boiling point. He wiped his hand over his face and the stubble breaking through his chin and cheeks.::

Adarnis: What has got you so obsessed? First off I can't touch you without you freaking out and now, we talk, we drink and you go running!

:: With a hand rubbing at her forehead, T'Lea started to back down the hallway, away from him like he had the plague. Being drunk, however, the walls kept banging into her.::

T'Lea: I am not having this conversation with you.

:: The conversation being the truth.::

T'Lea: We're done here.

:: He walked after her again, pushing another Officer out of the way.. His temper was rising, although he wouldn't admit it. He loved this hybrid, not that he'd ever tell her. Now, she was finding every reason to escape his presence as soon as it suited her.::

Adarnis: I'm not; I'm just trying to understand this!

T'Lea: Fine! You want to do this, we'll do it! Right here in the corridor where everybody can see.

:: Suddenly and without warning the headache subsided, again at about the same time Tash trapped Della in his quarters.::

:: The Romu-vulc kept her distance from the Marine, but with her magic inflatable ego powers she was still able to expand her reaches of intimidation across the safe gap.::

T'Lea: We can't be friends. We can't be bondmates. Hell, we can't even be civil towards each other. I don't love you, I don't even like you. You were a fling, something to conquer, plant my flag, and then move on. I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you and I don't want to have a drink with you. We're nothing. Get it? Nothing. There's nothing between us, there never was.

:: It was for his own good, she kept telling herself. She was saving him a lot of heartache down the road, and possibly saving his life by disassociating herself with him. That was where she drew her energy from. What she was doing right now was giving him back his life. But on the inside she wasn't just breaking his heart.::

:: Taken aback, Dade stumbled slightly trying to get to grips with what she was saying, what she meant and the alcohol that wasn't letting him comprehend quite a lot but the words coming out were thrashing itself inside him. He inhaled, widened his step to his shoulder width, like the at ease position, very military.::

Adarnis: If that was true, if I was just another notch on your belt, then what we've been through together wouldn't have happened. We'd have split on the Challenger and that would've been that.

T'Lea: I left Challenger to get away from you, and then I left Indria to get away from you. I've slept with other men to get away from you. I keep running because it beats beating you senseless and doing more prison time. I don't know how else to explain it. Go find another friend. Go get laid. I don't care. You mean nothing to me.

:: He crossed his arms. It made sense and didn't; a real contradiction to everything that had transpired since the Challenger. Inside, right at the core of it, he was crushed between her hands, squashed up and spread over the walls. The rest of him was joining his manhood on the partition of the Challenger's lounge. He was being surprisingly calm.::

Adarnis: If that's the way you feel, I can't change that. I can change your mind about as much as I can change your genetics. Maybe everything we've done doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me...

T'Lea: Then you're more pathetic--

:: He gripped his bottom lip and cut her off sharply.:: Adarnis: Let me finish my damn sentence before you shoot your mouth off!

:: She crossed her arms as if to fortify her defenses from a fatal blowback. What came next wasn't quite what she expected.::

Adarnis: It means something to me... ::he hit himself in the chest, quite hard:: ...so I don't care if you want to sleep with half this bloody ship, tear arse your way round the quadrant, get high on Bloodwine and drink yourself stupid. There's a part of you that's connected to me and it's killing you, because you can't control it.

:: This was damn well going to send her to an even earlier grave. But if she could get him to hate her guts, maybe he could forget her and move on.::

T'Lea: In case you hadn't noticed… in case you haven't felt it… whatever connection we had is gone.

:: She was talking about the bond they shared, the freaky little Deltan/Vulcan touch telepathy bond that was as intoxicating as the booze they'd consumed this night. It wasn't really gone, it was just blocked, and any physical contact between the two had the potential to short out T'Lea's chip and kill her. She was doing this for both of them.::

T'Lea: And in the brief amount of time it was there… ::dry chuckle:: … it wasn't that great. In fact, I've had a lot better, and will continue to do so.

:: Dade breathed a laugh and stepped back with his left foot, as though ready to head back to safety in Ten Forward.::

Adarnis: Do what you like. I'll still be here, waiting for you to come back and find me again but at the end of it, you'll need me before I need you.

T'Lea: ::plainly, unemotionally, and cold souled.:: Understand this. I will die before I ever need you. My feelings for you are uncomplicated. I hate you.

:: He inhaled, looking her up and down as if it would be the last time he laid eyes on her. It was slaughtering him, torturing him, tearing him up. His heart was breaking with images flashing through his mind, memories connecting themselves to his sight with perfect detail. He went to walk back to Ten Forward but turned back, nearly shaking.::

Adarnis: The funny thing is... I love you. ::another breathless laugh:: You were gone, but I still loved you. You're here now and the only thing I can do is love you. ::his hand gripped into a fist:: I can't hate you; when I thought you'd died, I would've given my life in a second to bring you back. Every damn second of every damn minute, I'd have died a million times over if it meant I could see you again. I mean nothing to you, T'Lea, nothing. Don't let me come between you and your conquests again.

T'Lea: :: the Vulcan brow:: Go to hell.

:: With a sturdy turn she steadily walked the long narrow walk down the corridor to the turbolift, each righteous step an invisible bloody footprint of her bleeding heart.::

:: It was done.::

Lt. T'Lea
Historian & Archaeological Specialist
USS Constitution- B

&

MC Dade Adarnis
Platoon Leader
Winter Company
USS Constitution- B