Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Captain’s Quarters - Dancing On Toes, Losing The Rhythm

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Captain’s Quarters - Dancing On Toes, Losing The Rhythm

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Captain’s Quarters - Dancing On Toes, Losing The Rhythm
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Alex looked at her and said “Lesson nine-hundred-and-six… as Captain, you are rarely if ever alone. Even when you want to be.” and he laughed. He let go of her and looked at the plot. “Okay… let’s get dirty together.” and he looked at her and grinned.

Alex

Faye bust out laughing. “You know, if people half heard the majority of our conversations without knowing better there would be more rumours going around than you can shake a stick at.”

Moving over to her raised bed, Faye showed him what essentially was a hasperat ingredient bed plus a bunch of lovely flowers. “I’ve been harvesting off the hot peppers quite heavily and that larger plant in the corner is where that spicy seed pod I make the hasperat brine out of. Got a while longer before they’re ready, but I bet I’ll get a few off the plant before I go,” she said with a grin. “Can’t leave without adequate hasperat supplies. But several of my crops are getting finished, so I can teach you how to start new ones so we can take out the finished ones and replace them with starts. How much detail do you want to get into today? Or do you want the overview and more booze back at your place?” she said knowingly.

~Faye

“I was told to mind my drinking when I was having a hard time. So dirt it is. Let’s get to gardening.” Alex said with a tone that was part resignation and part anticipation.

Alex

“Damn right you were,” she said and Faye knelt down, kneeling on the edge of the bed. “Okay, so let’s harvest any peppers that are ripe or nearly ripe and then we can…” Faye paused and looked at Alex and then pointed to a thick stemmed vining plant with large leaves that was spilling over the edge of the bed. “Go ahead and pull up that plant. But I warn you, it’s good strong roots that might be tangled underneath with other plants. It’ll be tough to get out, but you need to do it delicately.” Ripping out plants always felt good when you were upset about something. It was that physical exertion that helped.

~Faye

“Disentangle the strong roots form the problem without causing damage to the surroundings… I think your metaphors are getting more and more transparent, Faye.” and he smiled and laughed… and it was a sincere laugh, if short. Alex knelt down and began digging around the base of the problem plant tracing roots with his fingers. Soon, he was lifting the plant slightly higher, untangling roots from other plants and making sure those roots were recovered, and generally throwing dirt all over himself as he physically fought with the metaphor in the ground.

Alex

Faye laughed as she watched him tackle the one plant. Sure, what she said was fitting but it hadn’t been intentional. But that was how things were a lot of the times- seemingly accidental.

While Alex went at his task, Faye crouched in front of her peppers and brushed back the leaves in hunt of the ripe peppers hidden underneath. Reaching in, she pulled up the pepper and snapped the stem off, setting it beside her on the path before going back in for another. “Don’t let it get the better of you there,” she said with a smirk as her eyes flicked to Alex.

~Faye

“Now…” he said and grunted as he yanked free a mass of roots, “… when have you ever known me to let something do that?” and he glanced at her and shot her a quick grin before going back at the now mostly uncovered but unexpectedly large root ball.

Alex

“Never, but let’s not start a new habit,” Faye said with a chuckle. “But admit it, it feels good, doesn’t it?” she said waggling her brows. “The energy required, the exertion, the smell of the dirt. It’s like some sort of primal connection.” She screwed her face up into a frown. “Which sounds really weird now that I say it aloud, but you know what I mean.” Alex usually did. Unless he didn’t and they had one of their confused arguments until things were made clear.

~Faye