Ensign Quentin Beck - JP: Beck & T'Ama: Heaven is like a Dream...

[Marty Tucker]

I love this sim from @Quentin Beck & T'Ama is fantastic.

Quote

((OOC note: The actions taken by any characters not written by myself or T'Ama's writer are obviously not to be taken seriously - this is Quentin's goofy brain while knocked out on the neurosedative.))

 

((The Afterlife…?)) 

 

In his mind, Quentin had died. A man of science, he'd never really believed in any kind of afterlife, but instead of just blackness… he found himself bathed in light. Floating along, weightless, with no longer a care in the world. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around, his eyes widening when he saw he was surrounded by beautiful women, some old, some new.

 

His ex-girlfriend from high school, Sharon. Another ex from early in college, Georgina. Luxa, Kirsty, Alieth, Hopper, Iko, Jovenan, Vailani, Rox. They, each one of them, reacted to him differently, but there was still some semblance of adoration, some sense of desire. This had to be heaven.

 

Beck: ::fingerguns:: Hey, ladies. Plenty of me to go around.

 

As he floated past, approaching a raised dias, he was drawn closer to each in various states of undress, who each pulled him into a kiss, leaving him smothered with lipstick marks and messy hair, a woozy, almost drunken look on his face. Only as he started floating up the steps did he realize there was a throne on the dias, and his eyes widened when he saw who exactly was draped over it.

 

She wore a wine red silk dress, bare legs over one arm of the throne as she lounged sideways on it. She watched his approach through half lidded eyes, her chin tilting up imperiously. One Vulcan brow raised expectantly as he spotted her.

 

His eyes shone with admiration as he floated closer, his eyes boggling and his jaw hitting the floor like in one of those old Tex Avery cartoons before his body followed a moment later, plummeting into the steps at her feet.

 

A slow smirk spread across her face. She snorted with amusement and cocked her head, watching to see what he'd do.

 

T'Ama: What are you waiting for?

 

That was the question of the day. He knew he'd had his reasons not to pursue her, but that had been before he died, while still trying to navigate his feelings, his disappointments, his successes. He'd only just gotten her back as a friend, and he wasn't sure he'd wanted to risk alienating her again.

 

But… here, in the afterlife?

 

Quentin stood up, smoothing out his shirt and swiping a hand back through his hair before stepping up to her level. He held out a hand to her. Her eyes shone mischievously as she gracefully placed her hand in his…

 

Wind whipped her hair into her face and she shook it out, laughing. She danced away from him, into the crashing waves of the surf. Now she was wearing a crocheted bikini top with little cowrie shells along the bottom, and a sarong wrapped around her waist. She turned her face up to the sun, enjoying it.

 

He blinked a few times, blinded for a moment by the sun, then looked down to see he was wearing a flamingo-emblazoned Hawaiian shirt and a pair of purple swimming trunks, his bare feet burning in the sand. Arching a brow, he looked up at her again, delighted at the way she danced and laughed across the beach on Risa, then he realized he was clutching a horga'hn, hiding it behind his back.

 

Stepping forward, he tried to take her hand again with his free hand.

 

Beck: Hey, c'mere.

 

When they touched again, there was a sudden flash, like a camera going off… and he found himself sitting in a photobooth in the arcade on some planet whose name he couldn't remember offhand, and he was younger. 

 

She peered into the photobooth. She was younger too. Heavy eyeliner, a nose ring, too many earrings going up her pointed ears. She wore heavy boots with impractical amounts of laces and chains on her pants.

 

T'Ama: Move over, dork.

 

She pushed her way into the photobooth with him. This was not how the memory actually went. He let out a grunt as his shoulders impacted the back of the booth, but he did his best to make room for her.

 

Beck: What is…?

 

T'Ama: Do you ever wonder about the paths not taken?

 

His brows lifted at the question, something he was not expecting to hear. In truth, he did wonder. It was a side effect of his overactive imagination, the creativity that had brought him to where he was before he died.

 

Beck: Always. So much so I can get lost in it sometimes.

 

T'Ama: ::smiling wryly:: I know. Like this, the day we met and you were too much of a massive dork with your dumb mustache to kiss me.

 

He studied her curiously for a moment, amused by the extensive jewelry and particularly punk-rock style that he was pretty sure she hadn't really worn for a long time. The mention of his mustache made him raise a hand to his face - and there it was again, just as he remembered it, tickling his nostrils and upper lip. His brow creased slightly with confusion before he looked to her again.

 

Beck: I wanted to, I just… we'd only just met and I barely had the confidence to talk to you, let alone try to kiss you, and–

 

T'Ama: :: snorting:: Whatever. Dork.

 

She leaned in, her hand on his neck guiding his face in for that kiss. Just a split second before their lips actually touched the flashbulb went off again.

 

The warp core hummed comfortingly. The bed was warm and cozy, bigger than normal. His eyes opened to the captain's quarters of some starship he knew was his. She lay beside him, turned on her side away from him, long dark hair spread across the pillow, mussed from sleep.

 

For a moment, he hesitated, afraid to try touching her if only because he was sure he'd dispel the whole image. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be learning here, what this all meant for him in death. But after steeling himself, he touched her shoulder and ran his hand down her arm.

 

She rolled over to face him and smiled, reaching out to run a thumb across his lips where she had almost kissed just seconds before. There were some deeper lines in her face, though not many, and her gaze held a deeper maturity than he'd seen before. A pair of uniforms were crumpled and laying on the sofa across the room - one cut more obviously for him, command red with four pips on the collar, and a much more slender uniform that included the bars for Admiral.

 

T'Ama: This is one you didn't make it to, you know.

 

Beck: ::brows lifting:: This is… what, the future? Something that could have been?

 

T'Ama: Maybe. Had you tried. This will have to do.

 

She smiled a little sadly and shrugged. He pushed out his lower lip thoughtfully before pulling her closer, wrapping her up in his arms and dragging her bare body against his beneath the sheets. She was soft, a little warm, though certainly cooler to the touch than he might be, and it all felt so real. Could he truly feel things like this in heaven? Did it really allow you to live out choices you hadn't made before, to see how things might have been different?

 

Beck: If this is all there is in the afterlife, I think I'm okay with that.

 

His hand rose to cup her jaw as he studied her intently. She grinned back, biting her lip. The corner of his mouth pulled up into a smirk, his brow arching slowly at her grinning, then he pulled her closer still, gliding one hand through the hair at the back of her scalp.

 

Beck: Gimme some sugar, baby.

 

And he gave her the deepest, longest kiss he could imagine.

 

Things went black.

 

[Quentin Beck]

@TAma gotta get tagged too

[TAma]

Thank you, Marty. ❤️

[Marty Tucker]

8 minutes ago, Quentin Beck said:

@TAma gotta get tagged too

See I was spelling it T'Ama...and the tag wasn't coming up. Sorry @TAma!