Posted by Ensign Jazzin Lauren (Medical Officer) in 6-Forward Lounge (open for all)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Erin Hazen (Science Officer) in 6-Forward Lounge (open for all)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Paris Carisi (Chief of Security) in 6-Forward Lounge (open for all)
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

“Oh…” It was as if someone had dropped a bucket of cold water over her head. Her demeanor changed and a much more nervous Erin Hazen emerged. “I… I don’t know… Maybe we should go and say–“

But before Erin could finish her sentence, a newcomer grabbed her attention.

Paris entered the lounge and scanned the room. Life had been so hectic lately. It felt like she did not have a minute for herself. Maybe that was why she was out in public dressed in workout clothes with her hair in a messy bun allowing stray pieces of hair to fall casually about her face. She knew from experience that love in a tin can was hard but her parents had made it work and by damned so would she. Rising on her toes she tried to gain a little extra height as she looked about the room. At 5’4” the inch and a half it did give her didn’t help all that much. Lowering herself down so that both feet were on the ground she blew a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. Paris wasn’t going to troll the ship like a love sick puppy to find him …or was she. Even though they had said good night to each other sometime yesterday the daily life on a starship meant you could be roommates with someone and not see them for a week.

“Carisi,” the bartender called out seeing her at the door. He said nothing else but pointed in a single direction.

It wasn’t exactly bustling in 6-Forward, so the quiet call out of his girlfriends name was hardly clandestine to Mason as he sat in the corner on the sofa. He didn’t look however, it was far more fun to see what Paris came up with to get his attention. He had left her a message near the end of his shift but she hadn’t replied. That meant she was either busy with something, or asleep after her own workday and Mason was inclined to let her be if that was the case with the workload they had all had since Ferenginar. If she wanted to spend time with him, he knew she would come find him. Now, he just sipped his drink and pretended to be lost in space.

As Paris followed where he pointed a smile spread on her face. Bouncing over to the bar she set a cardboard box on the surface and opened the lid. Taking out a slice of pizza, Paris gave him a wink. “Call it a tip,” she smiled and turned back around with the box. Making her way across the room she hung to the sides instead of approaching the coach head on.

Erin’s eyes followed the blonde woman’s path to the bar. Was that… a pizza box?

“Yo I have a pizza here for a Maysoon…Manson…Mason Black,” she said in a thick teenage accent. “You…ah…know where I can find him?”

He turned his head to follow the sound of her voice, his own green grey orbs searching for and finding her blues framed by her long shock of blonde hair and smile that could light a room. He gazed at her for just a moment, they hadn’t seen each other for a full day and he wanted to savor the moment just a little first. Then, his eyes slowly dropped to the pizza box and followed her figure back up to her eyes again as his lips curled into a gentle smile.

As her eyes met his it was hard for Paris to stay in her role but far easier than doing what she really wanted to do in that moment. Even though Mason was the XO she doubted they could get away with public nudity if she did what was really on her mind. Instead she resolved to tease him a bit. The clothes would come off soon enough.

“Isn’t he that Denevan guy that drinks too much coffee?” Mason shrugged and sipped his drink again as if he had no idea where the guy was. “I haven’t seen him, last time I saw him he was on the Bridge pretending to work while reading dodgy messages on the Comm. You could try the Bridge?” Then he looked at the box again and raised his nose slightly, sniffing. “Is that what I think it is?”

“He got a pizza and I have been searching half the ship for him. I say his loss. What about you and I split this. You order me something more redneck like a beer and we get to know each other before we sneak off for a night cap. I’m Dorothy McDoodle and you are,” Paris playfully flirted with him hoping he had the stamina to play along. Mason, like herself had been so busy recently. Hopefully it was time for a little bit of fun.

Lt. Commander. Paris. Carisi. Cos

“Dyl, Dyl Pickle.” Mason said coming up with a completely random name off the top of his head, turning so that there was more room on the sofa and patting the empty seat. “Why don’t you come sit down and show me what’s in your box while we get to know each other? It smells amazing.” He flirted back softly, while managing to keep completely straight faced until he finished his sentence, then ruining the look by giving Paris an eyebrow waggle. He was quite aware of the other people in the room but, they were all off duty and it was good to let them know the senior staff were still just people like them, with friends and loved ones they cared about.

Hazen watched the interaction between the two officers, half awestruck and half in disbelief, wondering why she had been so nervous at the mention of the XO’s presence after what they were witnessing. She shook her head.

Turing back to Lauren, Erin said “Looks like someone really likes pizza…” There was a smirk on her lips and her eyes glistened slightly as she tried to hold her laughter. She wondered whether her companion understood what was going on – or whether he may sense it. “I… I would suggest we probably leave them alone… I wouldn’t want to intrude in their ‘dinner’.” The stress on the word was slightly suggestive. “So, what do you usually do for fun around the ship?”

Lt. (j.g.) Hazen, Science

Jazzin looked back from the scene between this newcomer and the XO with a short, quiet laugh. “Yes, I think … I have a feeling that our presence wouldn’t …” he shrugged with glint in his eye. “I think the Commander this ‘dinner’ covered.”

Tugging at the colour of his uniform, Jazzin wished he had changed after his shift, but he was enjoying Hazel’s company and wasn’t about to skip out any time soon. “To be honest, I’ve not done much in the way of ‘fun’ since I’ve been here.” He said. “I’ve been to the holodeck only once, and that was to be given a lesson by the Chief Medical Officer. When I’m not working, I go to the gym, study, and endure endless calls from my parents asking me how I’m doing.” He grinned. “They’re … protective! But, I’m sure once I get to know people outside of the ‘office’, that’ll change. What about yourself?”

Ens. Lauren
Doctor

Mason looked to the Bolian bartender and raised two fingers, followed by another signal that made the man grin and nod. He turned back to the woman beside him and looked into those large blue eyes a moment longer before reaching forward and casually but gently tucking that stray piece of hair that she had blown away earlier behind her ear. “So, Dorothy McDoodle. You can call me Dyl. What kind of Pizza did this Mason person order? I bet it was something with pineapple, am I right? You can tell a lot about a person by the toppings they order on a pizza, shall we find out what kind of guy this Mason character is? One bite at a time? Slowly?” As he said his last few words, Mason gently ran his fingers down her arm and to her hand where his fingers ran over hers and over his families ring he had given her on the holodeck a few months earlier.

Just then, the bartender arrived with two beers and placed them down on the table beside the pair and looked at them for a moment, arms folded. “Would you two like some napkins for the dribble?” He asked them, then laughed and turned around, heading to the table where the two other new patrons sat. “Would you like any more drinks? Your buying for the beautiful lady right?” He said to the young Doctor and collected their empties.

Back at the sofa, Mason picked up one of the beers and handed it to Paris. The label read ‘Wakachangi’ and had a picture of a vicious, vampire guinea pig attacking a man and woman with ripped clothes in a swamp while the man fended it off with a barbecue spatula. “Try this Dorothy,” he said to her and adjusted the pizza box so it wouldn’t get knocked from her lap. “It’s an ancient, revered brew that was voted 5 stars by Miniature Horse Monthly Magazine around 1648. The hops are hand milked at a very specific phase of the moon by monks in robes who travel the stars in sworn silence while washing dishes for meals they can’t pay for.” Mason smirked and picked up his own beer and tapped the lip against Paris’. “How about this pizza?”

Cmdr Black, XO