Most important meal of the day

Posted on Mon Feb 17th, 2025 @ 7:54am by Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery & Ensign Mercy Mourne

Mission: Remnant
Location: Rendezvous Camp
Timeline: Day 409
1524 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

Mercy let out a jaw cracking yawn as she crawled out of her tent. She quickly sealed it behind her to prevent any critters stealing into her sleeping back, then stood and stretched the sleep out of her bones. It was still early. She could some gentle snores coming from one of the nearby tents, but she wouldn’t want to hazard a guess as to who it came from. Although if pressed she wouldn’t want to put her money on Duncan.

She looked around and spotted Lexi by the cooking area they had set up the night before. Walking over she waved to the woman, feeling a little shy. It was unusual for the two of them to be alone. “Good morning. Can I uh… is there anything I can do to help?”

Lexi looked over and grinned at the woman as she noticed that someone else was awake. They had not discussed breakfest or anything the night before but Lexi had woken up early to try and catch William before anyone else was around so it had left her plenty of time to do something which was make the strange egg like substance with the protein resquenced meat into wraps for them all to eat when they wanted it. "Morning. Make a coffee pot?" She suggested.

Mercy wrinkled her nose, but nodded. She herself, was not a huge fan of coffee, honestly preferring tea, but she knew there would be demand enough in the rest of the camp. “Sure. How did you sleep? You been awake long?” She filled up a coffee pot, getting ready to heat it on the small camping stove. It would be in the weaker side of medium, but she wasn’t sure how long before people woke so it would have plenty of time to brew.

Lexi smiled as she pottered around on the stove. It had been far too long since she had cooked as chef just kicked her out whenever she wanted to try. She had even been kicked out when she had been hobbling around with crutches and memory loss and even she had not been given a little leeway. “I’ve been up a little while. I wanted to talk to William if possible.” She admitted with a shrug. “Did you sleep okay?”

Mercy came to sit nearby, took a sip of her coffee and tried not to wince at the bitter taste. She wished they had sugar or cream. Perhaps those berries they found could make some sort of hot chocolate substitute? “I slept quite well. Woke up a couple of times convinced I could hear noises, but think it was just my imagination.”

"Nothing activated the proximity barrier." Lexi reminded pointed to all the silver tubes that were around the camp area. Nothing had activated it so Lexi did not worry about that kind of thing at all. She was feeling pretty calm but that might have been the sedative she had taken to take the edge off her worries about coming down to the planet after her last away mission with abandoned buildings had not gone quite so well.

“Right, just not used to sleeping without the steady noise of the Atlantis in the background I guess.” Mercy rubbed a hand through her hair, her bangs stuck up comically. “What’s on todays plan for you? You pumping gas or exploring?”

"It has become a pretty steadfast noise for us all." Lexi agreed slowly setting out to bring all the items together to make the wraps. "I am hoping to explore a little and look anything I can about the alien language." Lexi had Beth had plans to go in a different direction but that would all depend on the Captain and how she was feeling. "Would you like a wrap whilst I am making one for myself and leaving the rest to wrap?" She offered.

"Oh yes please, I can assemble and help make us the portions for the others." She set about helping as much as she could without getting in Lexi's way. "That sounds like it will be interesting. I was hoping I could take Madi back to the berry patch today, and maybe have a look around the structures there a little." She then paused in her food prep to take a look around them. "I wonder what this place was like when people lived here? What their language might have sounded like? What kind of conversations they would have had in the mornings?"

Lexi nodded allowing the woman to plate stuff up for the others and leave them cover to keep warm so they would have something. "I do not know yet but give me a little time to figure it out and I might have an understanding of it all. But Lieutenant Darru and Chief Karalo said they were smaller than us so that would have played a part in their routine." Lexi had not found an intact structure as of yet so that would be interesting to find and try and work out if anything did remain.

“Smaller than us is a start. It would be good if we could find something of them. Photos or drawings maybe?” Mercy covered the last plate for the others and then grabbed her own breakfast. She settled in her seat once more and took a bite of food, her face brightened as she chewed and swallowed. “Oh that’s pretty good. Thanks, Lexi.”

“I might never make a proper housewife but William doesn’t know what he is missing with me cooking.” She laughed having enjoyed doing the cooking for once. “Chef does not let me since what John Smith did to the senior officers but thank you for the compliment.” Lexi smiled and sat back down with opposite the woman with her own wrap.

“Chef does guard that galley jealously I must say. But this is good. Besides I doubt William would want you as anything other than what you are. It’s… well it’s cute as hell honestly. Clearly you are both well suited.” Mercy smiled softly at Lexi. Her and William were well matched and in love. It gave her hope to see it, that even out here people could find happiness.

"Chef needs to teach people how to cook and cross-pollinate skills." The blonde commented as she took a big bite and just savoured the taste of something fresh that she had made. It made all the difference to her mental health knowing that she had done something for herself. "I would most likely keep the cute part to yourself." She added grinning.

Mercy grinned in response, tapping the side of her nose. "Duly noted." She wolfed down the rest of her breakfast wrap in a few quick bites. "And hey, if this is how you cook, I will happily act as a decoy for chef so you can sneak in as long as there are some leftovers in it for me. It's a dangerous game, distracting the person who works with knives all day." Mercy waggled her eyebrows.

“I grew up quickly so I needed to know how to do a lot of things by a before I should have and I got good at cooking so I did not starve.” She said taking a big bite and sighed happily. “Could do with some red sauce or some type of kick to it but not bad at all. Yes let’s not risk Chef’s wrath if we can. I still want to eat without their glare on me.” The small blonde laughed as she got more comfortable despite glancing around as if she was trying to see something else around them.

"Mmm, I used to cook for my siblings. I have three of them, all younger. It's funny I don't mind not cooking for myself, but I miss cooking for others." She gestured to the now assembled wraps. "Why it's nice to help." Mercy just shrugged off the comment for red sauce. It would be nice but she had made a habit of not wishing for things they didn't have. She did chuckle at the comment about chef. "For sure. Just the thought gives me indigestion."

Lexi laughed a little and shook her head. "So I think I will just stay how I am." She decided thinking about her plans for exploring and looking around at the culture. She just wished that she could find something linguist to sink her teeth into and make a discovery. "Not entirely sure we have anything for indigestion long term."

Mercy smiled and nodded. “Nothing yet at least although I’m sure the Doc could whip something up.” She then heard the other ensign stirring in the tent they had shared. Grabbing one of the breakfast wraps for her friend. “Better go drag Madi from bed. Days a wasting and I saw something yesterday that I wanted to show her. Good luck with your explorations Lexi! Thanks for the breakfast!”

Lexi nodded and smiled. She watched the woman walking away wondering just what had they found they interested the pair so much?