[Banana] Love or Lust

Posted on Saturday, 3 December 2022 - 3:04pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt & Crewman Leopold Eberhardt

Mission: Shore Leave

Banana:
They are completely bananas! Someone has feelings for you, and your character was not expecting it. Was it the Ferengi you bumped into at a symposium? or some married Admiral with a wandering eye? Who it is and how your character responds is in your control.

"This is the seventh log in the series for you, my love. I still hate these things as it assumes the worst, but I suppose if I ever didn't come back from a mission, you'd need someone to tell you all the things you need to know about life." Adrianna smiled a little as her next words fell from her lips, "this log is about love."

"Inevitably, you will fall in love one day, properly, but life will also throw you for a loop and make you think you're in love when you're not. It's merely lust. The feelings are so powerful that no one will be able to convince you that it isn't actually love. You have my genetics too, you're half Italian, so you'll be very passionate and fiery. Just don't kill anyone in the name of love, unless you are completely certain."

"Let me tell you of a time where that happened to me. When I was young, foolish and 'in love'."

—--

Adrianna quickly pulled a panel shut behind her. She was dripping with blood and sweat, though it wasn't clear where from. Her heart pounded out of her chest. She panted, as she tried to control her breathing to silence herself.

A hot hand suddenly went over her mouth, pulling her close to a body behind her. She bit the hand making its owner yelp. "Ade, it's me," came an angry whisper.

Realisation hit her and she frowned, whispering back in frustration, "are you out of your fucking mind!? I could have killed you, Constantine."

"Yes, well, you didn't," he shrugged as he vigilantly looked through the vent gaps.

"What the hell were you thinking? We had this! Then you decided you wanted more? That was not what we were ordered to do. So what if they disrespected me? I'm a big girl, I can handle it. Now look what you've done! You've caused violence to erupt and Baciami may have just lost an alli. You are blinded by ambition and a temper, for what? Fuck all! My father won't praise you for this! He'll probably kill you and then–"

"I think that brat went this way!"

"Shut up!" Constantine demanded.

"Oh and now you tell me, you superior to shut up? Gawd, I might kill you myself! This was my first mission and you screwed it up because you're such a–"

Constantine heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. He clenched his fists a moment, thinking as Adrianna hounded him for his actions. "Just–" he unclenched his fists and pulled her close to him, kissing her passionately.

The silence fell.

"Clear! They must have got out," came an authoritative voice, "hunt them down."

Moments later the footsteps faded. Constantine released his hold on the woman and stepped back. He stared at her, trying to gauge if there would be consequences for his spontaneous action and if so, how bad.

Adrianna blinked a moment and her jaw fell a little slack, "I– I don't understand."

"Ade, I stepped in because I could stand them talking to you that way and you weren't going to stand up for yourself. You are a Baciami and you have the ability to be scary as hell. You hold the power, not them," he sighed.

"I know that bit, you said it whilst we ran off," she rolled her eyes, "I meant that. What was that?"

He paused and looked into her eyes. The light from the gaps in the panel illuminated them just enough for him to realise that she was acting merely human and not as a Baciami. "Your father will kill me anyway– Ade, you're beautiful. We've practically grown up together. The years were very kind to you and you are no longer my friend's kid sister. You're a woman, one hell of a woman. I think– no, I know, I'm in love with you."

Adrianna seemed to look confused and the silence continued, agonisingly so. The fact that the pair needed to get out of the wall panel and flee from this situation didn't matter right now. "You," Adrianna hesitated and then shook her head as if to refocus her mind. She looked to the panel and started to push it back out, inconspicuously. The woman cautiously looked around and then stepped out, heading for the nearest, and safest exit.

Constantine threw his head back and sighed, closing his eyes as of praying to a deity that he wasn't about to be murdered by Adrianna, let alone anyone else. After a brief moment, he followed her. "Wait, you can't just say nothing," he practically pleaded, keeping pace with her.

"Now is not the time!" She responded, "and either way, your reasoning was only about looks. Is that all I am?"

—

"I mean, we had fun, but lust turned to heartbreak. I fell in love, and he chose not to. Looking back, I wouldn't have changed a thing. It made me who I am, but I could have handled the heart break a bit better. A lot better, actually. To this day, whilst yes myself and Constantine are on completely different paths, he will always be an amazing friend, and a set of fond memories for the good times."

"When it comes to actual love, I have been in love three times. At least, I thought I was. When things ended with Constantine, I rushed into something else. True heartbreak, and love, you don't even want to think about someone else for a while, if at all. It took years for me to get over someone I actually loved properly. I didn't trust anyone. Then I met your father. The first time he said 'I love you', I knew he meant it. I knew he wasn't confused with lust. Something in me just clicked."

—

Red alert. Was there anything worse. The team had been split up, to cover a larger ground. Intruders we're flooding the ship and it was almost Q-ish.

Adrianna spotted that the lower decks and engineering areas were looking almost deserted. Personnel had sought hiding or fleeing in favour of those willing to face danger. With stealth, and a raised weapon, Adrianna was not looking at shooting to merely stun. This was life or death. Her steps were light and deliberate, to ensure she was inconspicuous. Adrianna lead with her phaser, her eyes darting around, looking for the intruders.

A bolt of energy discharging from an intruder that had found its way behind Adrianna ricocheted off a bulkhead just a smidge or two to her right side. Phaser fire shot past the woman and struck the intruder, and stepping closer was the butterscotch blondie from waste reclamation, not exactly looking like the Casanova hero featured on the dust sleeve jacket cover of an old romance novel. He was not muscular, he was not shirtless, and he did not wear a kilt nor was he mounted on a steed.

He was no Italian stallion, but a meek looking Ekosian with a questionable hairstyle. The two knew one another, but they were not exactly working closely together aboard the starship. His uniform was the color of a ripened banana and he gave an awkward shrug. Wasn't he supposed to be hiding somewhere? He thought it best to explain what he was doing with a phaser. "One of our security personnel..." Leopold did not need to say much more than that.

Adrianna quickly looked back to the Ekosian having followed the active firing. She offered a small smile and nod. "Go hide. We've got this from here," she whispered orders, "where is the security person?"

"Well, unless these things know necromancy, I don't think that security officer is going to mind my burrowing this phaser" Leopold shot back. "I was hiding but that didn't go so well."

Adrianna frowned, "this is not your job, Crewman, and keep your voice down."

"Want to make me?" Leopold said and immediately regretted the bravery. "Sorry, I'm nervous. There will be more of them coming."

"Gawd, you're an idiot," Adrianna rubbed the bridge of her nose before returning to the matter at hand, "how many?"

He grabbed her hand "Too many for even you. I have a hiding spot in mind, but you are not going to like it."

Adrianna considered his words for a moment. She could see shadows moving behind Leopold. He was right-- there were too many. They did need to hide so that Adrianna could call for back up. "Fine, best be close," she reluctantly agreed.

Pulling her into a room, he could not help but blush a bit nervously in the moment. Ever since they had first met, he had been playing this cat and mouse game with her, but every time he felt like getting closer he would let her slip by and wait. She's never going to say it he thought to himself. "This is going to be a tight fit" he gestured towards some sort of ejection port. "I don't usually squeeze in there myself unless it needs a deeper cleaning than the ship can handle itself."

Adrianna followed him. "Oh gawd," she groaned a little as a stench filled her nostrils, "remind me to never come round on the days you do clean this thing." He was right, it was pretty tight. In fact, they were practically chest to chest, if it weren't for the height difference. Even she had to admit that in other circumstances this would be rather hot. The slime coating the walls were definitely a nudge into reality.

Carefully she tapped her badge, trying to avoid sliming up her uniform more than necessary, "Captain, we have a minimum of 20 intruders at my location. I require backup. We have at least one fatality, the entire floor is otherwise clear. I'm taking cover. Baciami out and on radio silence."

The tight squeeze was not at all pleasant, but it did conceal them well. It also was about the only time Leopold had been able to get with Adrianna. "Do you believe two people who are completely different could ever make a relationship work?"

Adrianna looked to him confused, "basic science: opposites attract." She paused, her tone changing somewhat, "why? You know this would be a bad time to break up. I have a phaser loaded and not set to just stun, and you would be a point blank target. I could make it look like an accident, enemy fire." She rambled on, clearly a little nervous as opposed to her usual dark humoured self.

Leopold scoffed. "The moment we met I knew there was something special about you, that you weren't just going to be a shipmate. I've fallen for you since then, and I'm not going to die in a literal port of fecal residue without telling you that I love you."

"Oh gawd, why did you tell me we were surrounded by our own sh--" she paused, "wait, what?" Her heart began to race. She couldn't deny that she felt the same, but her heart had been broken enough times for her to not want to say it yet, without absolute certainty that the feelings were reciprocated.

"I love you, Adrianna, I have loved you for a while...the infatuation became more. It evolved and engulfed me" Leopold said taking a deep breath. "I can't run from it it. I can't hide it. I've tried to wait for you to acknowledge me, and if you can't or don't love me I understand, but just know..."

"Shut up," Adrianna demanded, "I love you too, even if you do have just... Terrible timing." A soft smile formed across her lips.

He always did have terrible timing. His parents had told him that and his teachers in school had reinforced it more times than he dared to recall. It was also why he was just not cut out to be an officer. He took too much time to make decisions, even if they ended up being correct, he would weigh options and contemplate. Leopold did not make moves until he was certain. For him to make this move with Adrianna meant something deep. "Banana" he blurted without intending to do so.

Adrianna looked puzzled "Banan-?"

"Sorry," he said softly. "I don't know why I said banana. Well, I kind of do" he confessed before explaining. "I was terrible at making decisions as a child, never acting on instinct or intuition. I weighed everything even what I wanted for a snack. I was just thinking back to when I was a kid on Ekos. My grandmother asked me banana or pear once....I think I finally made a decision. Bananas are better."

Adrianna tried not to laugh too loudly.

---

"So, to confirm: being in love- you know when it's real. Often it will surprise you. Your father surprised me. He was far from my type, and yet somehow, exactly what I needed."