Relaxation, Finnish-style

Posted on 13 Oct 2017 @ 5:19pm by Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.

1,457 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: somewhere in Finland
Timeline: MD31 1430hrs

[ON]

Outside, in a wooded park, Tuula shivered slightly as she rolled herself up a path towards a small wooden building. It was a chilly spring morning in Finland, with a little snow on the ground, and she was wearing not much more than a simple bathrobe. She had reserved this sauna, and came a little early to get it set up. By now, she had had the room warmed up, the steam ready, and some post-sauna drinks and snacks ready. Mimi had asked about this sauna thing that she had kept prescribing for just about everything, and with their return to Earth, Tuula had decided to give her as authentic a sauna experience as she could.

As she took a breath and sized up her preparations, she heard a transporter beam activating behind her.

With her furr standing on end as it always did afterwards Mimi rematerialised, a moment later she cold hit her and she shivered a little, her skin goosebumping even though compared to Tuula she was well dressed for the conditions. "Hello Tuula." She called out seeing her not too far ahead.

"Hello," called out Tuula, turning in place to face Mimi. "I've got the sauna warmed up, and some cold beer and warm blood sausage for afterwards."

"Ok, what is next?" Mimi asked, she didn't like the sound of the after sauna snacks the blood sausage she'd tried had tasted horrible and after the events on the beach a couple of weeks ago she knew the beer wouldn't be good for her either.

Tuula smirked briefly in excitement as she pushed herself towards the door. "Come on in and find out," she replied, a cloud of fog forming at the door as the hot steam met the cold air outside.

Following Tuula towards the shack Mimi slipped off the coat she wore, regretting it almost immediately as she got even colder but she figured she'd warm up again quickly as she got inside.

Entering the sauna, Tuula rolled up to one of the cedar benches and pushed herself off of the chair and onto the bench, taking up a station next to the hot rocks and bucket and ladle. Taking a deep, relaxing breath, she closed her eyes for a moment and felt her aches and pains melt away.

After dropping a little more water onto the rocks to create some steam, she reached over and let her robe fall off her shoulders. "Just take off your clothes and relax," she said, her voice not having a hint of strain in it.

Mimi was completely surprised when Tuula dropped the robe she wore revealing every bit of her thin well toned and well tatoo'd body, she cocked her head to the side a little. "I did not think you would be naked under that robe Tuula."

"Where did you think we were going?" she replied, the beads of sweat beginning to form on her brow. "Clothes in the sauna is kind of a faux pas, you know that..."

"Well I thought that something like swimming clothes would be worn, that is what I have come in." Starting to feel the heat herself Mimi quickly took off her outfit leaving herself in just a green coloured bikini.

Tuula shook her head and giggled a little bit. "People always seem to think that," she replied. "Don't be shy; I am a doctor, after all."

Mimi thought about it as she sat down opposite Tuula. "I have never been naked in front of anyone."

Tuula took a deep breath. "Well, this is a good time to start. It's not like reproductive organs aren't something that I haven't seen before. But if you are feeling uncomfortable, I suppose you could keep it on..."

Mimi squirmed a little, it was not customary to be naked in front of anyone you didn't know intimately. "Maybe the next time."

"Suit yourself," replied Tuula. While the tradition was to do it in the nude, the worst thing one could do in the sauna was be uncomfortable. "Do they have anything like this on your homeworld?"

"I do not think so but then I was born on Kemi colony, both places were nice and warm so I do not think we needed places like this." Mimi replied. As they sat there she examined the unusual markings all over Tuulas body.

"Fair enough," replied Tuula, seeing Mimi's eyes lower and focus on the dark phoenix running up the side of her torso. "You're... curious about my tattoos?" she asked.

"Tattoos." Mimi repeated the word, "Are they permanent?"

"Yes," replied Tuula. "Well, there are options for laser removal, but it is difficult and can leave scarring. And I don't plan on ever removing them. I think they look awesome."

"They are certainly interesting but I do not see why people would permanently mark their bodies like that." Mimi remarked. She was starting to feel the heat now, the few sweat glands she had were letting out a steady stream.

"I do it because it makes me feel good," replied Tuula, in a calm voice. By now, she had been sweating profusely and had fully relaxed. "How's the heat?" she asked.

"The heat is good." Mimi said, her breathing rate had increased a lot over the last couple of minutes. "But I think the atmosphere is too wet for me."

"No more steam then," mused Tuula as she stretched back, pulling her hair behind her head. "So, what do they do on your homeworld to relax?"

"I do not know about the homeworld but on Kemi had two suns so it was very warm and when the adults were not working they often sat around in the sun near the lake we used for our water supply, when they were not doing their.... hobbies like music and dance and things like that." Mimi started to explain "The kids like me at the time were even more active."

"Seems like a nice place," mused Tuula, before closing her eyes. She had been feeling phantom pains that morning, and the sauna was the best way for those to melt away.

"It was, after a couple of years the colony was running perfectly and stayed like it.... till the Klingons came and ruined it."

"That's too bad..." mused Tuula as she reached for a poker from which to open the fireplace and stoke the fire. Staring into the ashes for a long time, she considered asking about the trial, about Lirha, and about what happened on Kreanus. But this was not the time or the place. To her, the sauna was a sacred place of relaxation, not a place to discuss emotionally charged issues. "I hope they keep the crew together..." she mused.

"Me too, we have been through a lot and splitting us up would not be good for us getting better."

Tuula smiled, seeing Mimi start panting heavily. "When you're done with the sauna, I brought some beer and sausages for after. Nothing like a cold beer after a sauna."

"After what happened on the beach I will take one, but only one." Mimi said, the gathering on the beach had certainly been an experience for her.

"Fair enough..." replied Tuula, still feeling a little bad over Mimi's experiences on the beach. "I hope your hangover wasn't too bad after that..."

"I had trouble balancing when I woke up." Mimi replied "But after some breakfast I felt a lot better."

Relaxing, Tuula stretched back and took a deep breath before adding a little more steam to the rocks. "That's good..." she said, trailing off for a moment. "With how drunk you were, you reminded me of house parties when I was seventeen."

"You saw the tricorder readings, I only drank maybe half a glass of Mirjaj's.. cockstail and it did not go well."

"Fair enough..." replied Tuula. "I did manage to replicate some low alcohol beer for you; just make sure to grab the one with the blue label."

"Thank you." Mimi said, she rolled onto her back on the bench and stretched herself out. "How long do you usually stay in one of these?"

"Depends. I usually do two 15-minute sessions with a quick break in the middle, but sometimes new sauna-ers like to do it shorter," said Tuula as she reached for her towel. "We could do our intermission now, if you want?"

"I think that is a good idea." Mimi said as she sat back up.

"Good," exclaimed Tuula as she reached forward to stoke the fire one last time. "It should still be warm after the break; lets get a breath of some cool, fresh air..."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Mimi
Operations

RSS Feed