Mending relationships

Posted on Mon Oct 14th, 2019 @ 5:31am by Lieutenant Mica Rue

Mica leaned back, a small smile on her lips as her shoulders dipped into the bubbling water of the natural hot spring. At least, the man who had invited her into the venue had assured her it was natural. Normally Mica would question such a perfect phenomena's naturally-made existence on a pleasure planet but right now? No, right now Mica wasn't going to question anything at all.

Closing her eyes, she listened as the other inhabitants spoke among themselves. A few were speaking in low tones, voices dripping with sexual innuendos. Two men were speaking crisply, angry at each other. On the other side of the pool, a man steeped, merely staring at Mica. She could feel his eyes on her.

Smiling wider, she closed her eyes, lay the back of her head against the warm rock, and sighed in contentment. She was so calm, Mica didn't realize all conversation had ceased until the last of the echos had finished.

Opening her eyes, her sight rested on the large form of her brother. "Selin..." her smile dropped considerably, remembering their last conversation. She was sure he was there to lecture her some more.

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but the pool is being closed for the evening. Routine maintenance." he said, nodding to the pairs and loner.

The lovebirds didn't hesitate, the man's erection within his swim trunks evident before he even emerged. The blustery men grumbled but still got out, though in their sweet time. The lone man, well....he looked to Mica, raising an eyebrow and nodding suggestively toward the door. The woman glanced at Selin, seeing his balled hands and tense shoulders and smiled at the loner, shaking her head and shrugging.

He got out slowly, probably thinking Mica would be going home with the man who had ordered them out.

Seeing as how they weren't blood relatives, she supposed that was a valid assumption. Sick, but valid.

"I'm assuming the staff didn't give you permission to evacuate the hot spring." Mica stated, dragging her hand across the surface of the water.

Selin shook his head. "Actually, they did. It's amazing how much privacy you can get by flashing some credits. Well....a lot of credits." He shuffled his shoes. The heat in the place was stifling. He didn't know how his sister could handle it - she normally preferred cooler temperatures. "So are you going to come out so we can discuss this?"

Mica froze. "No, we can talk right here."

pacing slightly, the man sighed. "Come on, Mikey, let's go somewhere we can be alone, where it isn't so insufferably hot."

She smiled, unmoving. "I'd rather stay here."

"God, you are so pigheaded." Selin raised his voice, grabbing a towel off a rack into the stone wall. "As your brother I'm pulling rank. Now let's go. Get out of this damn pool!"

Mica raised her eyebrows. "As you wish, brother." Standing, she rose out of the water, waiting for a response. It wasn't that she couldn't have warned him, but she knew he would never have listened at this rate.

"Gahhh!" Selin spun around, reaching up to cover his face regardless. "Mica, why the hell are you naked?"

"Pfft," the woman spoke casually. "Because clothing is optional in the springs, and because I was going to get a mud scrub after." she stepped carefully as she walked around the pool. climbing the steps gingerly. "I certainly wasn't going to wear clothing during that. Have you ever tried to get mud out of clothing?" Reaching next to Selin, she took the towel he had dropped and wrapped it around herself. The thing was huge, and Mica ended up wearing it around herself twice, looking more like a sarong than a towel. "So? Where to?"

It took Selin longer than he wanted to get the thought of his sister strolling around the planet naked. And, with others in the pool with her, no doubt. She had tried to ensure him that two of the men had also been jay-bird free, but for some reason that did not make the reasoning of her nakedness any better. When they finally stopped walking, Selin realized his sister had been leading him, wrapped in only a towel, out in public, and they now sat in comfortable chairs in a private space at a cozy restaurant.

"Selin, are you alright? You haven't said a word since the pools." Mica was sitting across from him, her sarong-like cover not even looked twice at by the other patrons. Selin sat up straighter in his chair, resting his hands on the table.

"Mikey, are you happy?"

The women was glancing around, her fingers lifted to catch the attention of a waiter. "At this moment? I'm actually a bit thirsty."

Her brother breathed out heavily, reaching across the table to grab her other hand. "No Mica, in life. With your career. Are you genuinely happy?"

Mica's brows furrowed. She lowered her fingers and concentrated on the concerned eyes of her eldest sibling. Ever since she had joined the family at three days old, Mica had been Selin's pet. Some of her fondest memories were those of her following her brother as he got ready for school, skipping behind him while he flirted with the opposite sex. It was Selin's hand who had always held hers while she had received treatments for what they had told her was a skin disease as a child. It was to Selin that she had fled when she had learned she had been accepted into starfleet academy...

And through it all, always, he had called her Mikey. Mikey, never Mica.

Swallowing hard, Mica stared at their hands, noticing how alike they were. Similar in color, both humanoid in shape. No spots continued onto either wrist or fingers, no indication with this brief view that Selin and Mica were any different at all.

But Mica knew different. So did Selin. So would any other person who was observant enough to notice the color of the spots varied, that along the edge of Mica's temple was a set of plates disappearing into her hair. They were different. Selin and Mica, though brother and sister, were also genetic strangers.

Pulling back her hand, Mica smiled softly, looking down again. "I am, Selin. I really am. I know I'm not married, or have children, or live in one place for very long. But I have my career. I have ambition. I have friends in many places, and friendships still to be earned." She sighed, looking up finally. When she did, Selin saw the rare sight of tears in her eyes. "I know I'm not what mother and father wanted. I'll never be the perfect princess they wanted to raise. But I promise I'll always be Mica Rue, and I promise, I'll always do what makes me happy."

By the end of her speech Selin was shaking his head. He waited for her to pause. "Mikey, is that what you think? That our parents are disappointed in you?" He gave a short burst of laughter before reaching across and grabbing her hand again, holding it tight. "Mica Rue, you could never be anything but our perfect sister, mother and father's special daughter. I wasn't sent here to make you feel bad about your life choices. Although it was never what our parent's hoped for you, they are proud of your progress as an engineer. They...we...just don't want you to be along as you climb the ranks. We don't want you to regret not having a family later in life."

Selin let out a raspy sigh and he knew from the tear that trailed down his sister's cheek that what he had said may very well have repaired a relationship he hadn't even knew needed fixing.

"We all love you, Mikey, and if that means ensuring you alone for a little while longer, we are willing to do that." he smiled, drumming his fingers on Mica's knuckles. "Besides, I'm not sure I'm that eager to explain to your spouse how you are able to make them think that every fight ended with him agreeing to your every whim via memories." He tapped his temple with one finger and grinned.

Mica chuckled, using the back of her hand to wipe the wetness from her cheeks. The waiter took that opportunity to approach. Mica grinned back at her brother. "One romulan ale and an earl grey tea, hot."