Posted by Lieutenant Cara Esmé O’Farrell (Counselor / Education Specialist) in Lost City of Atlantis or Saoghal eile

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk (Chief of Security) in Lost City of Atlantis or Saoghal eile

(snip

Mardusk took a bite of the cake, nodded approvingly, but chewed slowly and kept looking at her; his brow furrowed slightly. Swallowing, he took a drink and then said “What did you mean by that? That you just see me?”

Mardusk

She paused the fork half way to her mouth, “Well I canna see myself without a mirror and you are the only other person at the table.” She smiled, she was gently teasing him. She finished the bite on her fork, sipped the drink and sat back. “Now I ain’t evaluating you, or nothin’ of the sort. I’m just observant. I wanna make that clear. You keep expectin’ me ta act one way and when I don’t your eyes go really wide for a second tryin’ to figure out what’s goin’ on. First thing you did was apologize for yer size. And that wasn’t the only time. And when my first reaction wasn’t about yer size you blushed. Now I didn’t know at the time that was it, but I’ve been in yer company a few hours now. And I wasn’t lyin’ by the way,” she moved her booted foot from under the table showing off the India green design of it. “And one day I might even show you all the stuff in my quarters that’s that shade of green.”

“You told me you keep away the wolves and watched me like a hawk to see if I understood how ya might go about that. Or the reminder that ya could lift me over ya head. Really Gravel, ya picked me up from a dead weight off the bathroom floor with just yer hands. If ya strength bothered me, it woulda been then. You are not your size any more than I am just my hair. Yer smart, insightful, wickedly funny, and kind. Patient and forgivin’ to a fault too. If you were just all size and brawn, you would snapped Bubbles head in two long ago. No I see you, yourself. Or at least I’m hopin’ I’m startin’ ta. And I’d like to know more.”

O’Farrell

Gravel sat back and looked at her for a long time. He didn’t look confused. Or embarrassed. Or offended. He looked… inquisitive. “Ok. So then what is you want know? I’ll make you a deal. You can ask me whatever you want. Anything. And I’ll give ya the absolute honest truth. Nothing off limits. In exchange… you tell me one thing about you you want me to know. How’s that sound? Then the next time we get to… spend time together… we switch it. I ask you, I tell you.”

Mardusk

Cara laughed softly, “It’s not so much a what I want to know, but that I want ta get to know you. But I’ll take that deal.” She winked and held her hand out to shake his. “Alright then,” she dug out another bite of the cake and thought. She didn’t want to know about his work, not yet. She was sure there were plenty of interesting stories that made his career unique but Star Fleet was Star Fleet and he’d already told her about his mother. “Where and how did you meet Big Mike McKenzie?”

O’Farrell

Mardusk chuckled. Chewing a bite of cake, he smiled and took a drink, and then said “Ok. So I rebelled a bit as a kid. Torqued my mom… the Admiral, remember… something serious. So I got sent to a… let’s call it a ‘juvenile counseling camp’.” and he laughed. “Anyway, so there I am. And I’m surrounded by delinquents and aspiring criminals and general nere’do’wells… and I’m the only non-human. And I’m green. So the other kids think Im either a actual criminal… Syndicate… or I’m a target. I could hold my own, but there were a lot of them. One day in the cafeteria, kid named Jules… big big guy, probably four years older than me… he decides he’s gonna make me his ‘example’. I don’t see it coming… but this other kid did. Smashed Jules in the face with his tray right before he hit me with a piece of his bed frame. I turn and see a bunch of Jules’ guys grab this kid… and I decide we are friends. That was Mike. Ward of the state, so he was shunted off to kiddie jail because no one knew what else to do with him. We became best friends. When I left, mom finally cooled off, we stayed in touch. Best friends ever since.” and he took a drink.

“So… what do you want me to know about you?”

Mardusk