Matthys sighed in relief as the hot, soothing mud wrapped around his body like a warm hug. It immediately removed any hint of discomfort in his joints and helped the stress of the day melt away. He had once again borrowed some holodeck time credits from a science officer colleague. He owed a few people now due to having flown through his own rations.

Matthys’ job had been busy of late in sickbay as he assisted in caring for wounded but also dealing with some ill-mannered and stubborn teenagers. Truthfully, he barely had the desire to handle his job on a good day, but recent events made him avoid duties as much as humanly possible. He had managed to skip out a bit early on today’s shift and felt he deserved a moment to relax. There was the looming backlog of work, some of it of a group nature that he had been neglecting. Part of him had thought it best to get some of that done, but the desire to unwind had triumphed. 

“That’s the stuff,” he groaned and stretched as he closed his eyes and continued to embrace a private session in the mud baths of Parallax.

After entering the holodeck, Bollwyn looked around to find the one person he was on the search for. He couldn’t believe what he had entered. The entire environment looked like a pleasure palace. Eventually, his eyes caught his intended target, and soon, he stormed over. Like a bull in a china shop, there was no stopping him. “Clark, you owe me!” he called.

“Bollwyn?” Matthys had been so relaxed he had not even heard the holodeck doors open nor someone walking towards him but the shrill of his colleague’s voice might as well have been a symphony of brass instruments playing a flat note in fortissimo. The young man bolted upright and opened his eyes, they took note of the body expected to match the voice that had robbed him of his tranquillity. “What do you mean, I owe you one?” Clark retorted in a confused daze.

“You owe me for the extra shift that I’ve had to take in sickbay after Doctor Carrillion couldn’t find you,” Bollwyn answered, crossing his arms against his chest. “We haven’t stopped since arriving at the outpost and you’ve decided to take a break in this!” He flapped his arms around the room. “In fact, what is this?”

“Looking for me? Why would she be looking for me?” Matthys worked hard to hide the panic that now seemed to envelop him. He had worked out coverage for the later portion of his shift; he had been almost certain. “Was Nurse Fraser not covering my shift? How did you land with it?” He took a deep breath and began to rub his temples; his hands transferred the warm mud to them. If he did no-show, this certainly was not a good thing. Doctor Carrillion had already been lukewarm in his performance on the Columbia thus far – Matthys couldn’t really blame her, he had certainly not been putting in the same effort as his colleagues – colleagues like Samwell Bollwyn. Matthys had quickly taken notice of his Ventaxian counterpart’s work ethic in their short relationship as colleagues, a career officer in the making. It both annoyed him but also brought a familiar comfort to him, Samwell reminded him of his older brother in many ways – someone who went above and beyond to get the job done. 

“It doesn’t matter how I ended up with it,” Bollwyn replied. “It was all hands on deck helping the Talarians.”

“I…. Oh no… This isn’t good,” Clark sighed as he rubbed his temples again, getting more mud all over his face. “I… needed a break Bollwyn. I thought I had arranged coverage, but I guess I messed that up.” Clark leaned his head back in defeat and groaned. “I am sorry. I did not intend for you to pull extra time.” Matthys offered as genuine an apology as he could be capable of – a rare occurrence but he did mean it this time. “To answer your other question. These are the mud baths of Parallax. Why don’t you join me? You look like you could use some downtime yourself right now.” Clark voiced the invitation and gestured to the area at his right.

For a second, Bollwyn was annoyed at Clark’s lack of thought or care about his duties. Then, in the next second, he actually considered Clark’s offer. “Mud baths? As in the type of mud baths that the Tellarites enjoy?”

“I think they might enjoy them, whether or not they’d pass the joyous at heart test is another question. Depending on the Tellerite, I guess,” Clark grinned at the thought of that, a group of Tellerites at test with the flying bubble head, he didn’t want to generalize but more often than not most Tellerites he had encountered in his life had a certain grumpy edge to them. Of course, Clark had disabled that and the other background characters upon initiation of the program.

“Anyway, why do you need downtime?” Bollwyn inquired.

“I wasn’t feeling particularly focused or fully present today, I figured a little extra time to ground myself might be a good idea,” Clark stated softly, he had a sinking feeling his excuse wasn’t going to resonate fully with his colleague. He was not ashamed of his actions but they did have a direct impact on others. “You should seriously hop in Bollwyn, I’ll cover my eyes if that’s the issue,” Clark attempted to detract from the situation again in hopes he could soften the reaction to his honesty.

Technically speaking, Bollwyn was off duty and wasn’t expected back on until tomorrow afternoon to take on the beta shift in stellar cartography. For once, he took a leap of faith and decided to go with it. “Fine, but you still owe me,” Bollwyn smirked before he pulled his uniform off and, before long, was slipping into the mud beside Clark. The cool liquid hit his skin instantly. Initially, it felt weird at first, but then, as he submerged to his shoulders, he could feel himself starting to relax a bit. “So what do we now?” He asked, turning to Clark. He smirked at the odd bits of mud that were wiped across his face from earlier, he looked like a kid who had been caught by their parents after smearing paint over themselves.

“We breathe, enjoy the sensation of the mud, let our bodies and minds relax…. and manifest positive thoughts for the dressing down I’m going to get from Doctor Carrillion later on,” Clark chuckled awkwardly before his eyes moved off Bollwyn and closed. He leaned his head back and followed the instructions he had given. He breathed deeply and said his prayers for later. He had a feeling Carrillion would not be as forgiving as Bollwyn had been.