Posted by Lieutenant Auleraine Brison (Engineering Officer) in Pre sim - Guess who’s coming to dinner…

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk (Chief of Security) in Pre sim - Guess who’s coming to dinner…

<snip>
“Ma…” she started to ask why he stopped when he told her to shush and listen. She frowned a moment then heard the voices. Her eyes grew wide as the woman freaked out. She actually had to put her hand on her mouth to keep from laughing as the woman talked about her cocked up on his arm.

When the man mentioned Mar had punched a shuttle and won, she looked at him with a questioning glance. And as the conversation ended, she turned beat red and actually buried her head into his shoulder. “Oh gods…” she was caught between murmuring and laughing in embarrassment.

In a couple minutes, she had the hiccups from laughing till tears choked her throat.

Lera

When she looked at him about the shuttle, he shrugged and smiled a guilty grin. And when the woman talked about Lera passing out, well, it turned out that Orions blush slightly red. But as Lera laughed, so did he, enjoying the feeling of her face in his shoulder.
He looked at her as he caught his breath and said “I am SO sorry. I had no idea Lieutenant Hines had such a dirty mind!” and he laughed again.

Mardusk

She bit her lip as her body jerked from a hiccup. “I’m sorry too. It’s not gonna get easier, Mar… it’s gonna get worse. Are you ok with that? You are security and have to be able to do your job. I don’t want that compromised for…” she wasn’t actually sure what they were, so after another hiccup, she finished, “for anything…”

She didn’t realize it, but she was being the Protector again. Worrying about others instead of herself.

Lera

He grunted and started walking, her form still perched on an un-moving arm. “They’d talk if we hid, they’d talk if we didnt. And dont worry about me not being able to do my job. He wasn’t lying about the shuttle.” and he glanced down at her and grinned. “Just cause I’m dat… um… wit… seei… spending time with you doesnt change the way I do my job.” and he looked forward again. “Just means I get to look forward to end of shift a bit more.” and he smiled as they came to the Arboretum doors.

Mardusk

She looked at him. She wasn’t sure what the stutter was for, she had trouble following it, but somehow she realized he wasn’t sure what they were either. “Well, then. I guess we will both have reasons now not to spend the better part of three shifts in our uniforms and in our work places, huh?”

She laughed because that’s exactly how they had spent the last couple days. She knew, because she had been in his office and he had been there.

Lera

He set her down, slowly, and his fingers lingered on her noticeably. He looked down at her and said “Best reason I can think of right now.” and his hand went to open the door and he stopped. “I haven’t… well… yeah, never mind.” and he opened the door. Before she could ask he said “Some conversations I dont mind having in public… most really. I got nothing to hide. But some…” and a giant green finger slid gently and with surprising grace down her cheek, “… some need to be held in private. And I think I mentioned dinner.” and he looked up and then, just as when they left Mike’s bar, he put his hand on her back and gently steered her forward. As they started walking, he grinned.

“Need to get some food in you before you… you know… pass out.”

Mardusk

She laughed and pressed back slightly into his hand before he let go. “I’m open to suggestions if there is somewhere else you want to eat. We can always get the food and go elsewhere.” She glanced up sideways at him and grinned. “I have faith in your decision for a quiet and private place for us.”

As they walked, she wondered what had done it? What had broken that barrier that had them ready to completely break down at the sight of one another one moment, and now he was holding her like a treasured possession and not caring who saw?

Lera

“Well…” his voice rumbled after a moment, “… we can go to my place. I mean… I don’t mean…well… I just mean… you know… its private… and we could talk.” he stuttered and stammered out the suggestion, and there was an obvious embarrassment in his voice. “We can swing by the Mess and just grab some food? Yeah?” he added with slightly more bravado than necessary.

Mardusk

She hiccupped and turned suddenly, making him stop short or run her over. She was prepared to step back if she had caught him off guard. “Hey…” Her hand, small and lithe, pushed to his chest. She couldn’t have actually stopped him if he didn’t want stopping, but she hoped she could get his brain to register she was there and stop him on his own. “Your place is perfect. And if it makes you feel better. We can just use the replicator in your room.” She smiled and nodded down the hall. “We have to go to Mike’s opening together in two nights, or we are in far more trouble than I think either of us can handle.” She laughed and hiccupped once more. A small growl behind it at her feeling foolish. “So if you want some privacy till then, I’m ok with that.”

Lera

Mardusk’s mouth opened and closed, and then he cleared his throat. “Oh… ok… ok then… let’s.” and he led her to the turbo lift. In a few minutes they were at his door. It slid open for him and he and she stepped inside.

The room was nice and comfortable, and well kept. The oversized, overstuffed furniture was clean and comfortable looking. In one corner of the room, where the window met the far right wall, stood a tailor’s dummy on which sat a full set of Klingon Nobel House Ceremonial armor and robes. Hanging above the door was a truly massive bat’leth, points down. Various odds and ends lay scattered about.

Mardusk simply said “Lights.” and the room lit up softly as the door slid shut silently behind them. He stepped to the side and said “Well… make yourself comfortable. You want a drink? Like… a real one? Or something to eat?”

Mardusk

She walked around the room admiring everything, pausing before the armour. “I’d love a drink, though I warn you, I think I’m already a bit buzzed.” She laughed and reached a hand out, pausing to run her fingers lightly over the armour, just above the surface so she didn’t leave smudges. “It’s beautiful,” she half whispered. “And I guess we probably both need dinner.” She turned to look at him, her hands going behind her as she leaned on the wall under the window. “My guess is, if I didn’t eat, you probably didn’t either.” She smiled and nodded to him daring him to prove her a liar.

Lera

Mardusk went to the cabinet an pulled out a large bottle, then used an old style bottle opener to take the top off with a slight swisssh-pop sound. Taking two glasses, he filled them with an amber liquid with a pale brown foam at the top. “Beer. Nothing heavy. And what do you want to eat? One of my guys hacked the Skipper’s replicator menu, so we can have anything.” and he chuckled. A hand wrapped itself around the glasses and he moved to the low table and sat them down.

Mardusk

She moved over to the couch and kicked her shoes off. Grabbing a bottle, she sat on the arm of the couch, stocking feet on the cushion. “Ummm… well the Reuben was a good idea but I’m up for,” hiccup and growl, “dammit… up for almost anything. Though I admit I’m not a fan of Klingon food.” She tipped up the bottle and downed three big gulps trying to kill the hiccups.

Coming up for air, she held her breath. Hoping it was over, she exhaled.

Lera

Mardusk grinned and tapped some commands. A few seconds later he turned and held a platter. Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, and chocolate brownies. “Yea or nay?” he asked with a smile.

Mardusk

Her face lit up and she nodded. “Definitely, yea!” Laughing she scooted down on the cushion, leaving plenty of room for him beside her. “I love your choices. Haven’t had grilled cheese in ages.”

Lera

He set the platter down and settled in beside her. There were an inordinate amount of sandwiches, probably a gallon of soup, and at least two pans of brownies. He looked at her and said “So, yeah… um… I eat a lot. Just fair warning.” and he laughed.

Mardusk

She laughed, grabbed a sandwich half and nodded. “Good… then I don’t have to be polite and only eat one serving around you.”

She took a bit and hummed in pleasure. Probably the closest to a human purring as it got. She scooted back and crossed her legs, shifting more to face him.

After several bites, she looked up at him. “What was it you felt was off?”

Lera

He looked at her after having bit a sandwich in half with a confused look. He chewed and swallowed and took a gulp of beer. “Off? What do you mean?”

Mardusk

She took a sip of her beer and looked at her sandwich. “The holo… you said something was off. That’s why you had Koll put the program together.” She took another bite of her sandwich.

Lera

Mardusk stopped mid bite and looked at her, his eyes narrowing, but a sly smile on his lips. “And just how exactly did you know Koll was the one who put it together, huh?”

Mardusk

Her face dropped. She set the beer down very carefully and the sandwich crust she almost finished. She took a deep breath and turned to him. “He told me. I made him. A file was sent to me. A recording of you on the holo deck running the scenario. I asked for his help because I wanted to see your eyes. I had to see your eyes. You had stopped to look at me… that me… and you stormed out.” She put her hand lightly on his arm. “I thought you had seen disgust… a woman who’d asked for it… or had seen the tears and seen weakness. I had to know. And I needed him to erase it from the security files.” She looked at him for his reaction.

Lera

He looked at her for a long time, his eyes boring into her like had rocked so many suspects before… and then he said…

“Ok. That seems reasonable.” and took a bite of his sandwich. He looked back at her and made a silly face with a mouthful of grilled cheese, made sillier by the size of the face making it.

Mardusk

She bit her lip and her heart stopped. Her feet were perched on the floor about to launch her to the door if he went after Koll.

With his statement of it being ‘reasonable’, she exhaled. And when he made the face, she laughed and shoved on his arm. She picked her bottle back up and one of the brownies. Scooting back to lean on the arm of the couch, she frowned slightly. “You didn’t answer my question, Mar… and please don’t be mad at Koll. He took me to Mike afterwards. I was a mess. Promise me… please.... And yes, Mike knows. I was a wreck. I thought you despised me. That’s when he told me I had 3 days to figure it out and come to the opening with you or there’d be hell to pay.” She took a bite of the brownie. “And that is how we ended with where we are tonight…” Suddenly the bottle in her hand held rapt fascination for her.

Lera

Gravel leaned back and laughed. He then calmed and got a bit serious. “Ok, let’s just get everything out in the open, all right? No secrets. You want me to go first? Or you?”

Mardusk