Chapter 22 - The Bajoran Time of Cleansing (Info Page) (Patreon)

"Just be glad that this isn't the Time of Cleansing," she remarked, to which I practically shuddered in remembered suffering, the memory putting a sudden grimace on my face as I remembered that terrible time.

The Bajoran Time of Cleansing was a custom in the Bajoran religion during which people fasted for a month and abstained from all worldly pleasures. You’d think that during the Occupation they’d have given themselves a pass, like I know humans would have, but nope, they strictly adhered to it. Well, assuming you were physically capable of it. The very young and the very old and the sick whose health would be adversely affected by the fasting were exempt and no one would look down on you if you chose not to adhere to it. It was a personal choice.

I was not looking forward to that time again in the future. An Augment’s libido was a fearful thing. When not satisfied, well, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty and Gothic quickly became a moody and unhappy boy. I don’t know if it was all the frequent sex in this dimension that had spoiled me or some aspect of Augment physiology I hadn’t previously known about, but my hand just wasn’t sufficient to meet those enhanced needs and get me back to emotional equilibrium. The Resistance lacked a Federation trained doctor, but I suspected I might have been suffering from a hormonal imbalance which played havoc on my emotions. It was the only thing that explained why I’d lost my shit at one point during that period.

Normally the Resistance between missions was like a free love commune, with many of the lady terrorists seeking me out in particular for some vigorous Augment-level sex whenever the mood struck them, which was a lot. Then the fucking Time of Cleansing came and then suddenly, without any warning ahead of time, it was like I went from being surrounded by hippy nymphomaniacs to devout nuns who had forsworn all world pleasures and only sought communion with the Prophets. Without that outlet available, I had turned to the only other method available that warriors throughout history had available to purge their strong emotions. The last Cleansing had seen me take out that frustration on the Cardassians in such extremely brutal and bloody ways that Shakaar had had to ask me to tone it down. Now that had been a surreal conversation for both Shakaar and myself.