Overnight Company (backpost)
Posted on Sat Mar 14th, 2026 @ 8:23pm by Lieutenant Rala & Michelle Erilin
Mission:
Lower Decks
Location: Deck 3, Personal Quarters
Timeline: Immediately after "Late Night in the Lounge"
“Anything you need before we head to my quarters?” Rala asked the young half-Betazoid who had just agreed to keep her company overnight.
Michelle shook her head as she rose and reached out to accept the cup that Rala was using as well as her own, walking quickly over to the replicator to recycle them, "No, I was here just making sure everything was ready for self-service before I went to my own quarters, so I'm all set whenever you are."
Rala stifled a yawn. “Then shall we?” she asked, turning halfway toward the door and extending an arm toward Michelle. “I’m even on this deck.”
Michelle tucked her arm into Rala's in the accepted form of a courtesan who had accepted a contract, linked at the elbows and her hand around and resting on top of Rala's wrist, "As it so happens, so are mine, just for the proximity to the lounge of course." She smiled up at Rala, "The Captain sometimes gets the late-night munchies, so I keep her fed."
“I suspected yours might be,” Rala said, leading Michelle out of the lounge. “Me? I just got lucky...even if they are halfway across the deck.”
Deck Three on a Luna-class ship wasn’t that big, so a walk of ‘halfway across the deck’ still brought them to Rala’s quarters in about a minute. The door swished open, the lights inside at a medium level revealing what equated to a rather small studio apartment with no kitchen. A living area suitable for company but not parties, the door to the head off to one side, separated from a similarly-sized sleeping area on the opposite side by short partial-walls extending from the bulkheads. She’d managed to snag quarters in an outer section, though, so the ceiling gradually curved down into the far wall where a pair of windows showed a different angle of the same warp-distorted starfield that had been visible from the lounge.
“How’s that Human phrase start? ‘Be it ever so humble’?” Rala asked, somewhat sarcastically, as she led Michelle in. “It’s not much, but at least I’ve got a view. Please, make yourself comfortable.”
“Not sure how much more comfortable I could get, truth be told.” Michelle gave a light chuckle, glancing down at herself. It wasn’t apparent that under the robe was just her in her nighttime underwear, after all, she’d been just about ready for bed once she would have been done in the lounge, “I’m stuck with just some holowindows in my room, but they work well enough for me. I can ‘open up a window’ without worrying about letting all the air out.”
Rala extracted her arm from Michelle’s grasp and headed for the bed, shucking her tunic on the way and revealing she’d only been wearing panties underneath. “Computer, switch to standard translation,” she called softly, using two hands to remove her neckband while using the other two to remove her combadge from the tunic and set it on the nightstand. She tossed the tunic aside and hooked two thumbs into either side of her panties’ waistband before pausing and looking back at Michelle. “Um...I usually sleep nude, if that’s okay with you?”
“These are your quarters and believe me, I’ve been in bed with people from states of complete undress to fully clothed and with jackets on.” That last one had been an interesting client, but it had all worked out, “Besides, I should be the one asking you if I should be nude or clothed or however you desire.” Michelle gave a warm smile as she approached, “Trust me, Rala, if I’m ever in an uncomfortable position, I’ll speak up. I promise.”
“I said ‘make yourself comfortable’,” Rala said, stripping the rest of the way down and sitting on the edge of the bed. “That includes this. Whatever works for you is fine with me. Although,” she added, a slightly tired but genuine smile on her face, “that promise means a lot. Thanks. And, likewise.”
Michelle smiled at Rala and slid the robe off her shoulders, folding it neatly and placing it gently on a chair then hesitated a moment. Reading the room was important and part of her training involved doing just that. The hesitation lasted about a second before she reached up behind her to unhook the lace bra and fold and add it to the robe, followed by the matching lace panties. She could hardly go wrong by matching the vulnerability of her client, after all. She sat down next to Rala and placed a hand on the Draakri's knee, "Just let me know how you'd like me."
Rala chuckled softly, the air of formality she’d put on for her own amusement well and truly gone. “I don’t know. I haven’t slept next to someone else in ages. Plus, fair warning, I tend to move around some in my sleep.” She cocked her head in thought. “Come to think of it, the two might be connected.” She shook her head, looking back to her guest and asking, “What’s your usual sleeping posture?”
"I really don't have one?" Michelle countered, "I can fall asleep in any position, really, and you'd laugh at some of the ones I've actually done that with, especially with multiple others in bed with me." She gave a giggle, "Trust me, nothing you can do will hurt me at all, I'm here to make you more comfortable, to ease your sleep. Did you need someone to cuddle with you? To just be here in the same bed, big spoon, little spoon? Someone to watch over you?" Her smile was gentle, "We can always try one thing and if it doesn't work, try another."
“Like I said, I’m not sure what will work best, but...back-to-back is what I usually did in the past,” Rala said, standing up and gesturing for Michelle to do the same so she could pull the covers back. “Just having you here might be enough.” She lay down on the near side of the bed, her back to the far side.
Michelle slid under the covers, but waited until Rala had settled in before she sidled back until her back touched the Draakri's. The heat of their backs together was much like she knew from previous encounters with others, but it felt like her companion's body was hotter, "Is this all right?" She asked, letting her empathic sense just drift around the pair.
Said sense would likely be picking up the fading traces of mild surprise being replaced by calm happiness, along with a faint hint of nervousness. “I didn't specifically mean touching, but...” Rala paused, cut off by a yawn that Michelle would have considered very toothy if they'd been facing each other, “but yeah, that's good.” She shifted slightly to get more comfortable. “Computer, sleep settings,” she called. The computer chirped, the room’s temperature dropped several degrees, and the lights dimmed to nothing, leaving the room lit only by the very faint light coming in from space. With one last thought, Rala flicked the end of her tail loosely over Michelle's ankles under the covers before letting herself start to drift off in the general direction of sleep.
As Rala drifted off, Michelle smiled to herself from looking in the opposite directly, not reacting as the heavier than expected tail draped across her feet. She remained awake, though her breathing was regular as she began to relax even more, just watching through her empathic sense to make sure Rala got into a deep sleep before she'd truly come down from her friendly vigil. Eventually, she too fell into a restful sleep.
This time it took Rala only a couple of minutes to fall asleep. As she’d predicted, though, she started moving around in her sleep some time later—not really tossing and turning in distress, so much as simply trying to find a more comfortable position, possibly prompted by something in her dreams. Eventually Rala rolled over entirely, placing two arms over Michelle and wrapping around her, including curling her tail over their shins, up, and back across their waists before settling back down into sound sleep.
While the first movement hadn't woken the half-Betazoid up, this last one most certainly did as it was an envelopment by Rala of her body and that sort of sudden unanticipated movement by a client always triggered her alertness. As Rala finally settled into her restful sleep again, Michelle exhaled deeply as she got used to the arms around her and holding her gently against the Draakri. A movement of her feet assured her that she wasn't fully trapped at least. One final mental check and Michelle drifted back off, but to a lighter sleep than before.
Rala gradually surfaced from—even if the details faded quickly—one of the coziest dreams she’d had in a while, subconsciously realizing she was curled around something warm. She shifted slightly, curling up just a little tighter, and realized it wasn’t a what, but a who. Cognition then returned rapidly, if not completely, and she realized she must have shifted into this position in her sleep. She pulled back slightly, removing her arms and the end of her tail from across Michelle even as she felt the younger woman beginning to stir.
Michelle blinked slowly this time, eyes searching for the chrono on the wall that wasn't there and then her brain snapped into focus once more. Right, she'd gone with Rala to provide comfort and... The rest of the night clicked into place as she came fully alert. Now with the arms and tail removed, she spun in place to face Rala, "Good morning," She gave a lazy smile to her.
The suddenness of Michelle’s movement caught Rala off guard. “Uh...morning,” she said somewhat groggily. She rolled partway onto her back and stretched all seven limbs as best she could without hitting her companion or disturbing the covers too much, before rolling back to her side and curling up on herself even tighter than she had been around Michelle. “How’d you sleep?” she mumbled.
"Not as well as you did, but well enough." Michelle gave a sly smile, extracting one arm from under the covers and placing it on Rala's arm, "It does seem that the company agreed with you in that regard, how are you feeling?"
Rala pondered her response for a few seconds. “Reasonably well-rested, for once, but still reluctant to get out of bed,” she said, snuggling into the covers tighter again until only her head remained exposed. She found Michelle’s hand with one of hers once more and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Apparently I really needed someone to snuggle with,” she said, a hint of laughter in her voice before she continued, a bit more seriously, “That didn’t bother you too much, did it? You said you didn’t sleep as well as I did...”
“I never do when I’m in someone else’s bed, or they’re in mine.” Michelle giggled lightly, squeezing Rala’s hand in return, “Call it professional paranoia or me making sure the other person is doing all right or something of that sort. Besides, what’s the worst case scenario? You go off to your duty at some point while I go to my quarters and slip a bit of a nap in? The bonus of making my own hours.”
“Understandable, I suppose, but unfortunate,” Rala said, yawning and then letting out a frustrated grumble. “Guh...stars, I don’t want to get up,” she complained, rolling over until her back was to Michelle. “Computer, time? And remind me which shift I’m on today?”
”Zero seven thirty-two hours. You are scheduled for bridge duty on Beta shift.”
“Mmm...good, I don’t have to worry about being late if I do this...Computer, turn the lighting back down to twenty percent and set an alarm for eleven hundred.” She waited for the confirmation beep, then mumbled, a bit of humor in her voice, “That six hours and change was great, but I’m not sure it was enough.”
Michelle let herself settle in again behind Rala, nestled up against the far larger woman, placing one arm on Rala's side, "Would this bother you and disrupt your sleep?"
Rala giggled softly. “A little unexpected, but no; I’m...honestly not sure how it’ll affect my sleep, but I don’t mind. Just be careful of my horns, for your own sake.”
"I'm pretty good at dodging, just don't throw your head back?" Michelle giggled, "And if I bother your sleep, just let me know and I can change position."
“Mm-hmm,” Rala mumbled, already starting to drift off again. She shifted, snuggling further down under the covers and slightly back into Michelle.
For her part, Michelle reached out to watch over Rala as she fell asleep again, sliding her hand down to just over the Draakri's stomach and hugging her to make sure she knew she was safe. Then she too drifted off once again.
The sound of the alarm started softly, and faded back to silence as Rala gave a soft groan, as per her personal preferences. It would return in a few minutes until either she vocally cancelled it or the computer detected her actually leaving her bed.
Rala had once again shifted in her sleep, although only slightly. As consciousness returned—slowly, but still more quickly than she’d have liked, as usual—she found she’d once again flicked part of her tail over Michelle’s ankles, and one hand had come to rest lightly atop the one her companion had hugged her with as she’d drifted off, still draped over her stomach. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she gave the hand a tiny squeeze as she waited for Michelle to stir.
Michelle was awake instantly at the squeeze, old habits dying hard and she squeezed back gently to let Rala know she was present there, "Better?" She asked softly.
“Mm-hm,” Rala murmured. “Not quite as nice as before, but still much better than the last few nights.” She gave one of her signature enormous toothy yawns before scooting to the edge of the bed and sitting up, leaving the covers to her companion. She stretched, four arms splaying in all directions, then pulled one of her upper arms behind her head with the opposite hand. The movements gave Michelle an excellent view of the skin of her back rippling and shifting as the complex arrangement of muscle and bone moved beneath it.
She stood, briefly stretching her lower limbs as she did so, before stepping over to the replicator and making a manual selection. She glanced back to the bed as the replicator hummed and said, “I’ve got to eat and get ready for my shift, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”
"I'm going to have to get up and get to work setting up for the day at the bar." Michelle slid over to the edge of the bed and standing as the covers slipped off of her as well, stretching languidly, then walked over to the Draakri and placed a hand on her right upper arm, "If you need someone to help you sleep again, all you have to do is ask."
The replicator finished and Rala picked up her meal with two hands, giving Michelle a side-hug with a third. “Duly noted, thank you.” A twinge behind her eyes made her wince, and she rubbed at her snout briefly as the pain faded into a dull ache. She turned back to the replicator and ordered a basic painkiller to go along with her meal.
Michelle leaned over and briefly placed her cheek against Rala's shoulder for a brief moment, then padded over to where she'd placed her robe and underwear, considering for a moment before she tucked the latter into a pocket on the former and slipped the robe on before tying the sash at her waist, "I'll see you around, Rala, at the bar at the least." She gave her erstwhile companion a smile, "I'll see myself out."
“Sure,” Rala said, stepping over to her table and sitting down to eat, watching Michelle gather her things as she went, her eyebrows climbing by a centimeter or two as the young woman pocketed her underwear rather than putting them on. She kept watching as Michelle headed for the door. “Michelle?” she said impulsively before the other woman left. “Thanks again.”
