Pointers
Posted on Sat Sep 27th, 2025 @ 7:56pm by Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil & Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus
1,764 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Athletic Facilities, Deck 11
Timeline: MD008, 0640 Hours
Jean-Baptiste watched Osirin break the surface, water streaming from his face.
"Relax your shoulders a little more," JB called across the lane, voice low, carrying without echo. "You’re stiff here," he added, letting a fingertip trace the arc of water as if guiding it. "Let the water hold you instead of trying to muscle through it."
The Akadian nodded his head as the treadled water. "Let me try that again,"
Osirin did try it again. The second attempt was better, but it wasn't quite right.
"Fuck," he muttered to himself. "This isn't working, my head is just not in it."
"No, that was better," JB said in protest. He rotated lightly in place, treading so his feet barely churned in the lane. "You're doing fine. Don't be so hard on yourself." He could tell Osirin was becoming frustrated, and perhaps he was correct--his head might not be in it this morning. "Remember to keep your head still. Eyes forward. Let your hips do the work."
"That's the problem," he said, "I've been letting the hips do the work instead of my head, and I'm messing everything up."
"I'm glad that was better, it just didn't seem like there was much improvement. I'm something of a perfectionist."
Jean-Baptiste tipped his head, a little grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid," he said ("Little by little, the bird makes its nest.")
"Can I ask you something personal?"
JB reached up, pulling his goggles onto his forehead, his brown eyes alive. "Always," he replied, using the palm of his hand to wipe the pool water away from his lips.
Osirin ran a hand through his wet hair. "You know I've been seeing Kash. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with him. But I slept with Iozhara last night. It wasn't just physical. I don't know what it means, but it feels like I'm cheating on both of them. On my world, it would be complicated, but acceptable, part of our culture, but this isn't my world, and I don't know what to do."
The Haitian security officer stayed still for a long moment, letting the water drip from his hair and shoulders, the bright overhead lights catching the rivulets like living silver. He leaned against the lane divider, one arm over it, eyes steady on Osirin.
"That's... a tangle," he said, voice quiet but not unkind. "I don't know if I've ever met either Iozhara or Kash." He rubbed his nose for a moment, feeling a slight tickle from the water. "Let me get this straight... you're in love with Kash, but you had sex with Iozhara just last night?"
Osirin put a hand on the edge of the pool, shaking his head back and forth blood rushed to his cheeks giving his face a distinctive ocher color. "That's about the size of it. Monogamy isn't normal on Akadia. Multiple relationships are."
"But, this isn't Akadia, it's a Federation ship, that's the first problem. The bigger problem is keeping things a secret."
JB reached for the edge of the pool, heaving himself up onto the edge. Water veneered off him in thin rivulets, tracing the lines of his shoulders and ribs before drumming onto the deck in little, systematic drops. He rose to his feet, twice rolling his chiseled shoulders before reaching for a thin black towel. He pressed the towel into his hair, giving it a quick ruffle before dragging it over his chest and along his arms.
"Osirin," he said, his voice full of prudence. "You need to be honest with both of them. And--more importantly--with yourself. Feelings aren't puzzles to be solved; they're more like... tracking weather. Sometimes is rains. Sometimes the sun shines." He said the last with a small, singular shrug. "You mark it. You move through it. You keep moving." In that moment, he thought of Jacqueline and the trials their love had faced. He then thought of Wren and felt an ache--a mixture of desire and comfort spreading through him.
Glancing back to the pool, he threw a reassuring smile at his Akadian friend. "Don't let one night or one choice make you forget everything else that's real."
"I won't. And in my defense, 'I didn't just have sex with Iozhara. I felt a connection to her. Not love. Not yet. Not what I feel for Kash, but something, it wasn't just that she had a pretty face and a nice body."
"I'm not trying to hurt anyone."
Jean-Baptiste's lips pressed into a thin line as he considered Osirin's words. He slung the towel around his neck, the dampness making it feel a little heavier.
"Well," he went on, "wanting connection isn't a crime." JB paused and crouched near the pool's edge. "Are you and Kash exclusive?"
Osirin paused before responding. "Not in so many words, I did tell him, however, that I was trying to change who I was, to be less Akadian; he told me he didn't want that."
"It doesn't mean it makes me feel less confused about what happened, what is happening."
JB scratched at his temple, the towel slipping from his neck and hanging loose in one hand. He crouched a little lower, his nose meeting the tang of the filtered pool water.
"Feel like getting some breakfast?" he suggested, his stomach beginning to grumble.
Osirin gave the other man a brief nod. "That sounds like an excellent idea." He grabbed the edge of the pool and pushed himself out, "What did you have in mind. What were you in the mood for?"
"Eggs," came the reply from JB. He rolled his shoulders, slow as if loosening some old knots, then tugged at the edge of the black Speedo. The fabric clung closely, dark as ink, tracing the lines his body had earned--not through vanity, but the early morning rituals of long, punishing laps.
Osirin noticed JB's body; it would have been almost impossible for him not to. If they'd been on Acadia, where there were fewer restraints and everyone was playing under a different set of rules, he might have let his eyes and thoughts linger.
But that's not where they were. Besides, he and JB were becoming friends, and adding another complication in his life wouldn't have served either of them well. So, he pushed any random, mostly unwanted thoughts away and started moving toward the exit.
"Eggs sound good, but we have to add bacon. Well, I do anyway. We don't have bacon on my world. You're not a vegetarian, are you?"
JB smiled. "In some sense, maybe I am a vegetarian. I haven't had real meat since I was a child. Almost everything I've consumed since then has been replicated meat." He ran the black towel over his arms, ridding himself of the excess water still on him. "So no pork on Akadia?"
"No pork. We have a similar animal to a pig, but the meat is... rancid. Not at all like bacon. pork chops, and the like. I'm not judging, but what is the fascination with replicated meat?"
Jean-Baptiste slung the towel across his shoulders again, the damp fabric still clinging to his skin. He gave a little huff of breath, half in amusement and dismissal.
"There's no fascination," he said at last, the gravelly warmth sounding. "It's just easier on my mind. Knowing nothing with a heartbeat had to die so I could chew on its flesh." He lifted one hand, palm open. "A pig squeals. A cow breathes. A fish fights when you reel it in. All that--just so I can fill my stomach? Non."
"I suppose I can see your point," Osirin replied, "Have you felt that way all your life, or is it something new?"
"All my life," JB said after a short pause. "Or close enough. I grew up around goats and chickens. So slaughtering one--which occasionally happened--felt like killing a neighbour." He started toward the showers, his bare feet slapping softly against the wet deck. "Are there a lot of vegetarians on Akadia?"
Osirin kept walking toward the showers, but didn't say anything as he did some calculations in his head. "There are some, I don't know, maybe five percent. One of my shipmates on the Shadowstrike, the ship I was on before I came here, was a vegetarian. What about your world, are there many there?"
"That's a good question," JB replied, looking back at the pool as a Bolian officer dove into one of the lanes. "With replicators, we can resequence protein to taste like real meat. I would sooner believe there are a lot of vegetarians on Earth thanks to replicators."
They reached the tiled threshold. The air smelled sharper here--soap, steam, a tiny hint of disinfectant. JB hooked his towel onto a peg, then touched the controls until water hissed down in a heavy stream.
Had it been six months in the past, if he were being honest with himself, perhaps even six days ago, he would have stared at JB, or at least watched him. But that was then, and this was now. He glanced briefly in his direction, then away, his thoughts focused elsewhere as he peeled off his trunks and stepped underneath a separate shower head.
JB stepped under his own shower stream, the heat rolling across his skin, loosening the knots in his shoulders. He let the spray wash the pool water from his face, spat a little from his mouth, then spoke again without looking over.
"And dairy?"
"We do. Very similar to Terran cows, though not as common as the Earth variety. The milk is sweeter, but frankly, I never developed a taste for either. What about you, do you drink dairy?"
"Yes," JB said, letting the water flow through his close-cut hair. "Yogurt's one of my favourites." The shower stopped and JB began to towel-off, walking toward the changing area. "The Sugarplum Cafe makes great breakfast. I'll meet you there, Osirin." With that, he disappeared into the changing room to prepare for the rest of his day.
After Osirin finished with his own shower, only a few minutes behind his friend, he toweled off, changed, and made his way to the cafe.
Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acaincus
Mission Advisor
USS Astrea
Lieutenant J.G. Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
RSS Feed