She Whined So I Wined

Posted on Mon Jun 15th, 2020 @ 9:17pm by Ensign Duncan McManus

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Deck E - Officers Quarters
Timeline: Day 31, Month 2, Year 0 20:00
1650 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Duncan took a deep breath as he pressed the chime on the door of who he hoped was the woman he had met that morning. It had been a whirlwind and he had, had to look at the manifest to check her quarters but he was sure it was hers. With 79 people on board, it would soon get boring knowing everyone. He had swiped some popcorn from the film night that was happening in the mess to bring something. It was hard on a ship where they did not have much but he was trying to get used to the new life.

"Hi," Darcy said as the door opened. "Come in." She was in civilian clothing, just some comfortable things she'd brought with her, and her hair was down. "Make yourself at home in this tiny cramped space. I'm thinking of installing a hamster wheel because then at the very least I would get some exercise while I'm feeling claustrophobic." She stopped and looked at him, a shrugging action happening with her shoulders.

He stepped in and looked around at the familiarness of it all and grinned at her. "Looks familiar." The man commented on offering the bowl of popcorn. "You should really consider going for a jog out there." The man said. He did laps of his deck. it was not much but it was certainly better than some activities he could get up too.

"Yeah . . . .except I don't really like to jog so it's a moot point, I was just amused by a Human sized hamster wheel. I prefer Yoga or just walking," she shrugged and glanced down at what he was handing her. She smiled. "Thanks. Snacks and wine huh? Sounds like the perfect evening. So . . . I thought maybe we could just sit and talk? If that's not too boring?"

The man shrugged himself as he took off his shoes and set them by the door as was only polite and sat on the edge of the bed. He took a handful of popcorn before passing the bowl to her properly. "Not too boring." The Engineer spent most of his days in silence moving through tubes and tight spaces it would be nice to just chill.

Darcy didn't have any special glasses for the wine, she just poured it into what she could find, a couple of metallic mugs and passed him one then sat down on the bed leaving a few inches between them. "So I've been thinking about things that I could do to sort of get my mind off things. New hobbies for example. Have you ever dabbled in any kind of writing or art? I may not always have the supplies for it but I'm really trying to come up with something that interests me. I've always wanted to learn to paint and I thought maybe I would try my hand at poetry too. Does that sound too girly?"

Duncan watched her pass him the mug of wine and took a long sip of it before he put it down and smiled listening to her suggestions. Exploring a hobby was a really good idea, it would have an impact on someones mental and physical well-being and would have a positive impact on overall life satisfaction. He knew there had been a lot of research to confirm that engaging in hobbies had benefits that extend for hours, days and years beyond the actual time it takes to complete the activity it was why his father always gave people hobbies or encouraged them in activities.

He was being rather quiet though, was she talking too much? "Am I talking your ear off? Sorry. It's just nice to have someone I can talk to."

"No, it's fine. I am just listening to someone other than an engineer." He said grinning. It was nice just to hang out with someone different. someone he really did not know at all.

"Oh yeah, I have no idea how engines work. Well, I know how they work technically but I barely passed that class so there's no chance I'll bore you with stuff like that. You would think that a machine and biology wouldn't be all the dissimilar but I can't wrap my head around that for some reason. Course my field of study is actually Botany, or it was before I decided to do this. Plants I understand." Realizing she was doing it again she took a handful of popcorn and stuffed it in her mouth so she couldn't continue on.

"They are very different. I barely passed the required science stuff." Duncan admitted with a smirk. It had been hard and he had not been the best student ever in that field even with his mother being the grower in hydroponics. "Favourite plant?" He wondered thinking that was a good way to get someone to open up.

"Oh, that's hard. I love Himalayan blue poppies for their striking color but there's a Vulcan orchid that I've seen that is so stubborn and so beautiful to survive where it does. It's really hard to choose. Anything that blooms really, but what girl doesn't like flowers? I have a feeling they're going to be hard to come by here now." It made Darcy a little sad that she wasn't going to get to enjoy them nor have her own garden anytime soon.

"Yeah can imagine flowers are not going to be a priority once we get an area set up for vegetables and other edible stuff," Duncan said softly thinking of other ways suddenly he could make a flower for her. It was a waste of resources but sometime it might be nice to do.

"Nope. Oh well. I'll have other things to study. It's fine. Algae is pretty interesting stuff as long as you can't taste it." Darcy smiled. "So . . . hobbies. Do you do anything besides fix what's broken?"

"The algae is amazing. A photosynthetic eukaryotic organism that allows us to create food that keeps us alive. For something so simple it is a game-changer." He shrugged. He had a lot of feels around the algae, he should fell guilt over the Vrav but they had not known. "Reading and chess." He hoped that they never got to stage where he ran out of chess partner as books he was pretty much out of now already.

"Oh I never learned to play. Can you teach me? That is if there's a chessboard on the ship, I would think there would be." Darcy both asked and said, her sentences stringing together.

"I can teach you sure but not tonight. Tonight we have wine." He paused trying to detangle her words enough to make him own sentences and smiled. It was cute but hurt his head. "There are about four sets onboard between everyone who brought one. They are in the rec room or mine is it my cabin. It is sentimental to me." He admitted thinking about his father spending hours teaching him.

Darcy was sure she wasn't going to drink enough to scramble her brains cells, but he was welcome to most of it if he wanted. It was the last bottle most likely. Unless someone else was planning on inviting him to their quarters. "Ah," she replied, mentally checking that off the list unless he offered to teach her with it. "Well sometime, when we get bored and don't have things chasing and shooting at us," she nodded. "In the meantime I guess we just talk . . . which is already what we've been doing. Do you have any secrets? You don't have to tell me what they are." she assured quickly.

"Or things to do." He grinned teasing her just a little as he tried to think on thing properly. He had been so busy recently that he had not had time to just calm down and talk to someone like this in ages. "I would like that. It does not take long to learn the basics at all." He quickly assured but that was down to the individual. "Of course I do. I am a grown-up. We spend our lives hiding things from other grown-ups." He laughed just a little as he looked at her. "What about you?"

"I have lots of things I don't tell people. I don't know if they're really secrets though." she seemed to think about this for a moment. "I don't know, weird question anyway. You ask me something, I'm obviously in need of more popcorn for my brain to work right."

The man put the popcorn in her lap and chuckled. "Do you have a list of questions to ask me or something?" He wondered putting his glass down. This was not his usual evening with a woman but it was certainly a little different.

"Nah, I'm just not very good with small talk and asking questions is sometimes easier. I figured you might have some, that's all." Darcy snacked o the delicious white fluffy kernels. "Alright, if you don't want to go first." She thought about it for a moment. "Do you want to be friends?"

"We are friends. Not one person out of 75 people is not my friend. Some people obviously closer than others but not one person on this ship is not a friend." He told her with a grin. He had spent seven months cultivating friendships and relationships with the people around him. It did no good to not have good relations with people around him when they were stuck together for a very long time.

"Really? I don't feel that way yet. I suppose I will eventually. But I have trouble making connections with people sometimes. Then again I haven't exactly tried either." She shrugged. "Something to worry about another day. Pass that wine."

OFF::

Ensign Duncan McManus
Chief Engineer
NX Atlantis
(PNPC Leroux)

Ensign Darcy Blair
Science Officer
Nx Atlantis
(PNPC Davis)