Subject: Grail: "Unexplored Spaces" - 'Leaving the Jungle'
Tifa sat up and gave Logan Castle an angry glare. He had beaten her
on her own turf. She wanted to rip out his throat. 'Relax Tifa,' an
inner voice told her, 'he beat you fair and square. You can only blame
yourself and you know it.' Tifa relaxed a little.
"By the way," said Castle, "What happened to your uniform?"
Tifa looked down at herself and remembered how she had ripped it off
in anger when Castle had ambushed her at the ditch. Her light brown fur
was matted and full of mud, leaves and small branches. She was a mess.
She then looked over at Logan. The Lt. was also covered in mud and sweat
and was breathing heavily. He was also a mess. Tifa laughed. She could
see what her mother had seen in him. He had a good-looking, bad-boy face
and, now that she saw him without his uniform shirt, a good-looking,
bad-boy body.
"I guess I lost it somewherrre..." she said, still smiling.
"What's so funny?" Castle asked, intrigued.
Tifa laughed again.
"You don't remember me, do you?" she said as she got up. She began
walking toward the nearby pool of water. "We met a long time ago..." she
added before diving in.
Logan Castle stood at the pools edge and watched the nude young
Caitan swim. She taunted his memory, but he was distracted by her
sensuality. She reminded him very much of the only other Caitan he had
ever known. In fact, he could say there was something of a family
resemb....
"You're the little girl.", Castle almost whispered in a shock of
remembrance. "You're the little girl that followed me around that
night."
"Not so little anymore.", she said before nosing down into the
water, her legs stretching straight up, then sliding after her into the
water with barely a ripple.
"Not so little anymore.", Castle whispered with a sigh.
His first impulse was to strip off the rest of his uniform and join
her. But, he stopped himself. On too many levels it seemed wrong. She
being a junior officer under him.... under his command, he corrected his
own lewd mind, not the least of them.
And there were other reasons.
"How is your mother, Tifa?", he asked. There was as much genuine
concern in his voice as there was relief that he could think of
something to say.
Tifa climbed out of the pool on the other side. What was she
thinking, flirting with him? Castle wasn't going to join her in the
water, as her superior he couldn't. Then why had she thought he might...
because of the childhood image she had of him with her mother? Because
of all the good things her mother had told her about him? Getting on all
four, she shook off the excess water from her fur. Over the years, she
had idealized that childhood image, and now that she had him before her,
she had wanted to fufill her childhood fantasies. 'Grow up Tifa,' she
told herself, 'He's just a man like any other.' However, the man that
had just beat her at her own game didn't seem that different than her
chilhood image.
"She is still one of the most popularrr hostesses on Rysa. You
know, she always hoped you'd come back for a few days. She verrry much
enjoyed your stay." she said.
Castle looked at the young woman and nodded with a sad smile. "I
wanted to go back one day, but... " It seemed as if he wanted to
continue, but something was holding him back.
"She liked the man I was before I left for the Galorndon Core.", he
looked away from her, to the trees. "The man I became was too ashamed to
look her in the eyes again." The silence that followed was a heavy and
dark thing.
"We should head back." Tifa finally said, breaking the silence, "I
need to get a new uniform and I still have some work to do before the
end of the shift." "Computerrr, end prrrogram."
The holographic jungle and pool disappeared, replaced by the black
tiles of the holodeck. A few steps from them, on the floor, laid the
remains of Tifa's Starfleet uniform. The Caitan picked up her commbadge
and the clothing shreds while Castle picked up his own uniform shirt.
Then they both left the holodeck in silence.