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“Urgh,” Mariner declared, and tossed back yet another shot of raktajino. “I’m going to need more.”
“That seems like an excessive amount of caffeine,” T’Lyn observed. “It does not seem good for your health.”
“Right now, I don’t care what’s good for my health!”
Although Mariner had a tendency towards the dramatic, that day it felt about as excessive as her caffeine intake. Their shifts had yet to start for the day, but Mariner had insisted upon coming to the bar for several raktajinos beforehand. As Mariner was generally not a morning person, this was odd. It was making T’Lyn suspicious.
“You seem inordinately irritable today,” T’Lyn observed.
“Yep,” Mariner ground out, glaring down at her now-empty cup as if it had done something to offend her. She was squeezing it so tightly that T’Lyn feared she would break it.
“This happened 28 days ago as well when you nearly got yourself into a brawl with Ensign Manhaver. I find it interesting that this timespan also corresponds to the orbit of Luna around Terra. Is this coincidental?”
Mariner looked up from the mug to turn that angry glare at T’Lyn. At first, T’Lyn thought Mariner might start yelling at her — as she had when T’Lyn stepped in to stop the brawl with Ensign Manhaver — but instead Mariner laughed.
“It’s just my menses, T’Lyn.”
“Your… ‘menses’? I am unsure of what that is supposed to mean. The Universal Translator did not offer a translation for this word.”
Mariner seemed to find this exceptionally funny, for she started to giggle. “My menstrual cycle.”
“Human menstrual cycles occur every 28 days? Vulcan womens’ cycles are seven years.”
T’Lyn could not imagine having to suffer such a thing occurring every Terran month. She found her pon farr distinctly uncomfortable every time it came around, requiring days of intense meditation in order to get through the disagreeable experience. It would be absolute agony to have to deal with it on such a recurring basis. No wonder humans were so emotional if they had to go through such an awful thing so frequently.
“Do we need to mate?” T’Lyn asked suddenly as realization crashed into her. Although she had been dating Mariner for a little over a month, they had yet to have sex. T’Lyn wasn’t quite sure she was ready yet, but she would do it to help her girlfriend.
“No, no! My menses start after my fertile cycle is over.” Mariner’s face screwed up in a grimace. “It would be super gross to have sex right now with all that blood.”
“Blood? Are you injured?”
Mariner waved T’Lyn’s worries away, which wasn’t exactly reassuring considering her past tendencies towards self-destruction. “Don’t worry; it’s totally normal. Because I didn’t get pregnant, my uterus is shedding its lining, causing lots of bleeding.”
“I agree; that is disgusting. Vulcan women’s uteruses only undergo a change after the egg has been fertilized during pon farr.”
T’Lyn was glad that she was not a human woman and did not have to go through something so horrible every lunar cycle. The frequency made it seem like it was worse than pon farr. She did not like the idea of part of herself bleeding out so recurrently. It felt like the sort of thing that should be reserved only for serious injuries, not regular occurrences.
“Yeah, it’s awful,” Mariner groaned, flopping back against the booth. “It also comes with cramps and mood changes because of hormonal drops. Sometimes it makes me want to rip my vagina out of my F***ING BODY!”
She practically screamed the last part out, causing several nearby officers to stare at them. All the men seemed confused, whereas many female humans nodded in sympathy. Perhaps all human females were inwardly as tough as Mariner acted if they had to go through such an ordeal every month.
“My pon farr also comes with unfortunate mood changes,” T’Lyn offered. “It also makes me excessively emotional.”
Mariner laughed at that. “You, excessively emotional? That’s something I would like to see.”
Normally, T’Lyn was rather apathetic about sexual activities and tended to dread having to go through her pon farr. However, the mating ritual had always been something she had to deal with alone. As Mariner gave T’Lyn a rather salacious look, for the first time in her life, T’Lyn found herself actually looking forward to her pon farr. She felt an unexpected jolt tingle through her loins at the thought of having such an intimate experience with Mariner.
“Then I shall eagerly anticipate that day. In the meantime, perhaps there is something I could do to help you through your version of pon farr. What makes you feel better, Beckett?”
“Well, caffeine always seems to work,” Mariner said, raising her still-empty mug. “You could get me some more raktajino from the replicator if you’re really serious about it.”
“I think you have already had too much caffeine this morning.”
Mariner slunk in disappointment at T’Lyn’s words, but the Vulcan did not think letting the human have more caffeine was a good idea. Too much of that could cause serious heart problems that Mariner did not need. Thus, T’Lyn would have to think of something else to make Mariner feel better. She, of course, would research human ‘menses’ when she had time in order to find the perfect solution, but she only had her brain at the moment.
She decided to start with what she knew of pon farr and experiment to go from there. Carefully, she reached out to brush two of her fingers against Mariner’s where they were still clenched around her empty raktajino mug. The beatific smile that came over Mariner’s face said that it was the right thing to do.
“Trying to make me feel better?” Mariner asked as her dark fingers unclenched from around the cup in order to better brush against T’Lyn’s. The delicate touch was rather distracting, the sensitivity nearly making T’Lyn forget her purpose in initiating contact in the first place.
“Indeed.”
“Thank you.”
Mariner’s fingers clasped fully around T’Lyn’s so that they were holding hands, nearly making the Vulcan gasp. At least the shameless smile on Mariner’s face was better than having to watch her act so moody. Slowly and carefully, giving T’Lyn plenty of time to pull away if the contact made her uncomfortable, Mariner lowered her head onto the Vulcan’s shoulder. Her curls delicately tickled T’Lyn’s cheek. Reflexively, T’Lyn’s arm slid around Mariner’s waist to hold the human in place.
The warmth of the human’s body was quite soothing, settling T’Lyn into a pleased sense of calm. She could very easily get used to this close contact every month if Mariner so desired. It almost felt like she had already settled into a comfortable meditation trance.
“Uhng,” Mariner vocalized, her hand slipping out of T’Lyn’s to press to her waist. “These cramps are hell.”
“Does this help?”
T’Lyn’s fingers — which had previously been lightly touching Mariner’s waist — began to dig in, gently massaging the area. It caused Mariner to let out another vocalization that this time sounded closer to a sigh of relief, which T’Lyn took as an opportunity to continue. As she did so, Mariner seemed to relax in her arms as the tension began to bleed out of her.
“You should do this more often,” Mariner muttered softly, her eyes closed in bliss. “That feels good.”
“I shall endeavor to help you however I can,” T’Lyn agreed, pleased to have found a way to help her girlfriend out. “You simply have to promise to help me out when my mating cycle comes around.”
Mariner opened her eyes and turned her head to face T’Lyn, grinning at the Vulcan. “Oh, you bet I will.”