There's a Martian in the Kitchen

Posted on Fri Nov 15th, 2019 @ 4:01am by Comm Tech Wulf Edevane & Pilot Allegra Jennings
Edited on on Fri Nov 15th, 2019 @ 4:05am

Mission: The Forgotten Arm
Location: Common Area/Kitchen
Timeline: 2 Years Ago

There wasn't much thought on Allegra's mind as she floated into the kitchen, clicking her boots and clunking to metal floor as she walked the rest of the way over to the coffee machine. That was what she needed after both reading and responding to the most recent message from her father. He still hadn't let go of the fact that she was no longer with the MCRN and wasn't about to let her forget it either. With a quick sigh she pulled a bulb, setting it in the machine and pressed the button that would lead to releasing the wonderful anti-murder medicine she desperately needed at the moment.

The bulb started to fill, the aroma of coffee rising upwards. Thankfully the machine wasn't on the list of two be fixed. Lifting the now filled bulb, Allegra dropped in the two and two she always used, tugged the zipper of the uniform jacket, revealing nothing but a standard black tank, and took a seat. Green eyes drifting closed as she lifted to bulb of steaming liquid letting the aroma invade her senses before taking that first magical sip.

It would be a lie to say he'd been exploring the ship, now he was officially a member of this new team. No, Wulf was looking for people. He'd been on the station for a while which had meant he'd been around plenty of humans, but he didn't trust any of them, and (probably fairly) they didn't trust him either. So, he'd made conversation, had the odd (and some odder than others) encounter, but not really made any long lasting connections. It remained to be seen how this job and crew would work out, but the two main dudes were sound - honest and straightforward in their recruitment approach anyway - and Wulf was feeling optimistic.

Rather than sneak up on anybody, he clanked a clenched fist on the side panel as he sailed otherwise silently into the next room and found himself in a kitchen. Place smelt of coffee, and already had a inhabitant.

"Hey," Wulf said, offering up a shy smile as his dark brown gaze searched her face for clues to a deeper insight into this stranger. He held himself in the air for now, gripping onto a cupboard handle to stay still. "I'm the new guy." He looked clean, as if he'd just used up a whole water ration on a shower before leaving the station, and his clothes were civvy street currently, dark brown cargo trousers and a t-shirt with a cartoon tiger on it.

With the Albatross being a small ship, Ally knew there wasn't much chance of her being able to enjoy her coffee in peace. Thankfully, she wasn't in the bite someones head off mood, and truthfully, if she had wanted a bit of peace coming in here wasn't the best idea. No, she had wanted what she held in her hand, the coffee. Actually, that wasn't exactly true, after dealing with message from her father she had wanted something much stronger and held an alcohol content. But coffee would do.

The clanking drew her attention, eyes opening and searching for the culprit. "Howdy." Her Martian accent coming through with the single greeting. The new guy. Wulf? Allegra let her eyes wander, the bulb hiding the tiny smirk that crept onto her lips. He wasn't hard on the eyes that was for sure and she'd definitely have to think of a nickname for him. She arched an eyebrow at his statement and stifled a laugh. It wasn't like they got new crew on the daily, of course he was the new guy. The new guy with a cartoon tiger on his shirt.

"Anythin' I can help ya with?"

Emerald eyes regarded him and for a moment Wulf simply stared. Then her voice wrapped a Martian twang about a word and his eyes widened somewhat. He hadn't expected that, but it wasn't an entirely unwelcome revelation either. This was the pilot, and she was gorgeous, long blond hair and while the loose trousers suggested feminine curves were in there somewhere, that little black vest didn't hide much. "Uh, I'm Wulf," said Wulf, and he clunked his magnetic boots down to the floor with a sudden ungraceful thump. "No, I'm good. Just... I was just... y'know, looking round. You're the pilot, right? Where ya from?" He asked, eventually remembering to be polite because he'd been brought up that way at least.

It was amusing in a way, watching mr. new guy as he hovered there with his hand latched onto the cabinet. Had she surprised him by actually speaking? Or was it the accent? Ten to one, Ally had a feeling it was the accent. It had a way of throwing people for spin, among other things. She couldn't contain the flash of amusement in her gaze as they both took another quick gander and were intrigued. Amused and intrigued. Especially with the way he seemed to stammer over his words. Not the reactions she normally got. "Wulf?" Allegra questioned, setting the bulb aside and leaning forward, elbows propped on the table. "You aren't playin dumb are ya? Comm tech an all, you know the accent gives that answer away." She spoke with her usual teasing manner, not that he'd been privy to such, it was like an initiation of sorts.

He knew. Of course he did. The Red Planet. Soldiers and dust. But she didn't look that dusty, and while he hadn't spent a great deal of time in his parents' company, those fancy schools had impressed a need for manners. A long time ago now. She seemed amused though as she mocked him, and Wulf canted his head to the side as he considered this conundrum.

Martian. She was what - twenty-something - and pretty much had to be (have been) military if she was flying. Didn't necessarily have to mean she was a hardcore flag-waver though, and even if she was he didn't see any reason to hold that against her. She seemed amicable enough. And everyone believed in something. So, Wulf smiled and let a little more of his real self through this time.

(1) "Mozhet byt', nemnogo tupoy, da, krasivaya ledi," Wulf said, correct accent lilting prettily about his Russian words. He bowed. "My apologies." He nodded, because her intonation did indeed tell him her truth. "You're from Mars," he said, simply.

Wasn't very long, the seconds that slowly clicked by as they regarded one another. There was small flicker in the back of her head that tried to tell her she should have just answered, but where would the fun have been? Surely it wouldn't have that look that was currently on his face, and that in itself was worth it. Allegra wasn't the best at reading people, at figuring them out with just a glance, but this one wasn't giving off a weird vibe and that was good enough.

At least for the moment.

She was Martian. And most times she didn't care who knew it either. Ask her about her time in the MCRN or her family? That was a different story. Allegra shifted, picking the bulb of coffee back up with a friendly upturn of her lips, "I am, indeed. Pilot as well. Wanna translate that bit o'Russian?" Perfectly spoke bit of Russian, that seemed to change the way his was presenting himself. Interesting.

He knew better, even with his mere twenty-four years of life, than to ask a Martian stranger for details of her background. The system, the universe - hell anywhere humans resided - worked like that. People, as Mickey Serendipity had warned him, had secrets. And they liked to hold onto them until they were damn well ready to share, if ever.

So, Wulf took his cue from the fact that she hadn't walked away or cursed or thrown something at him and he noted the slight sign of a smile on that well-put-together face.

"I said 'maybe a little dumb, yes, pretty lady'," Wulf translated, and he frowned as he considered it sounded much better in Russian. Languages, ironically, were a fun place to hide. "Pilot, huh?" He asked, with a small smile. He already knew that, but he wasn't about to tell her that he'd spied on the ship during his job interview, and besides, she'd had her back to him in that footage. "Sounds like a fun job?" He added, with a wince. Damn, he sucked at this right now. "Can I maybe get your name?" Wulf asked, looking across at her from under his lowered brow with a coy expression, half expecting to hear a harsh no. He'd not had a great experience with Martians so far this lifetime, not after the Hathor Incident.

Her smile, that small slight upturn of her lips only widened, growing into a full fledged grin that sparked a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she laughed. Allegra actually laughed at the translation. Not what she had expected, but yet...neither was she surprised. "I gotta say, Wulfie," the nickname sliding out without having thought about it, "that actually sounded much better in Russian. But compliments like that you could be talkin' to the coffee machine for all I know."

Allegra gave the simple questions a simple nod. "Yeppers. It can be." She sipped her coffee, green eyes focused intently on him from over the top of the bulb. Truthfully, he wasn't what she had pictured when she'd gotten the quick message about having a new comm tech, yet there he stood in that somewhat silly cartoon tiger t-shirt that she wasn't finding all that silly. "Allegra." There was no sense in not giving it. "Gonna stand there all day?"

Wulf rolled his eyes as she did just exactly what the last Martian soldier lady had done him. Made his name sound ‘cute’ and then dropped him down a couple of notches. In fairness though, Allegra was definitely nicer about it, and their interaction this far had involved zero punches to the gut or slaps to his face. He considered that a minor win, and rallied quietly as she watched him from over her treasured beverage.

“Wulf,” he corrected her gently, not really expecting that his personal feelings about that damn ‘i and e’ would alter the way she addressed him. “And yeah,” he shrugged. “Something gets lost in the translation.” He flashed a quick grin. “A Russian would be way more impressed.”

“Hi Allegra,” he said with a more confident upward nod of his head now that he knew her name. Then he added. “Nope.” To answer her question.

With considered steps Wulf clunked over to stand on the opposite side of the table, close enough for Allegra to hear his stomach growling. He smiled and regarded the Albatross’ pilot as he slipped a small backpack off one shoulder and carefully unzipped a front pocket. From inside said pocket Wulf drew a clear sealed packet which he handed over to Allegra.

“Xiāng lán dàngāo,” he said in Chinese, then in English before she could ask. “Pandan cake. It goes well with coffee.”

T'was cute, that little roll his eyes. She knew it was because of the way she'd butchered his name, the nickname. Or at least Ally thought it was. It could have been his reaction to her comment about him calling the coffee machine a pretty lady. Whichever, it was still cute. And being the only woman on board? There had to be something for her to use as a defense mechanism. Allegra nodded, relenting briefly, "Wulf." Her smile fading faintly, "Didn't say it wasn't impressive."

Allegra quirked an eyebrow as the low rumble reached her ears. Her gaze followed his hands until he was holding a package out, which she took, flipping it over in her hands. "Of course it does." She held it back out, "Guess you need to be gettin' yourself some. Just be sure to call it a pretty lady again, they do like the compliments."

She surprised him by correcting herself, but he paid for that in the loss of her smile. Not a fair trade, Wulf thought. Should have kept his mouth shut and taken the damn nickname. But they were new and stuck on the Albatross together for at least a couple of months for his probation cargo run... There was plenty of time to get to know the rules a bit better.

With warm fingers Wulf reached out to touch Allegra’s open hand in a small gesture of comradeship and grinned. “It’s okay, I have a couple more,” he declared amicably, grabbing a second sealed packet from his backpack. With an impish smile, Wulf nodded coyly at this friendly Martian and decided not to worry too much in the moment.

“Tus ojos como joyas de esmeraldas, tu cabello del color de las arenas movedizas del desierto, y tu risa es el canto de los pájaros que vuela libremente en el cielo,” said Wulf, in Spanish, his voice rolling like thick melted chocolate tickling the words.

"Much obliged." Allegra nodded, shifting the foil package in her hand and tearing it open. "This isn't like, bribery or anythin', Wulfie?" Her head listed sideways, as she tore a piece of the cake off and ate it, "Nahhh. I don't like Wulfie. Guess I'll have to give it more thought." Maybe. It was one she wasn't quite sure about, but then again, neither were any of the the others when they tumbled from her mouth.

And then she nearly choked, another small bite almost to her lips. No, she had no idea what he actually said, but it was oh so velvet smoothly voiced. She took a small sip of her coffee, cleared her throat, "Dude. I have no idea what you just said, but it so sounded like a pickup line."

Wulfie. There it was again. He let it slide this time because, well, she had a beautiful face and it wasn’t awful to hear her accent lilt about the bastardisation of his name.

“Bribery?” He asked with a chuckle. “Nope.” He wondered what he might be bribing her for exactly. Then that thought wandered off and found a deeper concern. Wulf’s eyes sought Allegra’s own and his forehead wrinkled. “Should I be bribing you?”

He shifted instantly forward, boots off, to hang in the air above the table when she made a sound as if cake had got stuck in her throat. Awkwardly dropping back down to the short side of said piece of furniture, Wulf watched the Martian pilot with a tilt of his head.

“Bribery, corruption and pick-up lines, huh?” He asked, with a mischievous smile. “That’s what you think of me?” He hadn’t - didn’t - immediately offer a translation this time though. “I think pretty much anything in Spanish sounds like a chat-up line,” Wulf added, enigmatically.

"Me?" She queried with a bit feigned innocence, the light smile on her face shifting into a faint smirk as Allegra pointed at herself with her free hand. "If you want, sure, but isn't gonna get ya anywhere." Allegra wasn't sure why she was teasing him so, the new guy, the com tech. They did have to work together after all. She'd only been on the ship a bit over six months herself. Settling in was a bit easier than originally thought, but words or wisdom? None were coming to mind.

Yet, he wasn't letting her slide either, it seemed. His question made her laugh. This one was going to be fun to have onboard, "Nah. I don't know you intimately enough for that. But," because there was always, always a but, "as right as you may be, I just don't think that bit o'Spanish was something other than a line." Allegra finished, green eyes still sparkling with amusement. "Does that usually work for you? Or is it just that smooth caress of how effortlessly it rolls off your tongue?"

She was nothing like the other Martians Wulf had encountered so far in his near quarter century in the system. The rest of them had been terse, angry at the world and either pissed off or indifferent of a comtech who didn't share his background as a trick to get along with others. This one smiled, verbally poked at him, and seemed... outwardly friendly... which was kinda nice for a change. Alarm bells rang behind the prevailing voice in his head though as Wulf watched Allegra's expressions change, as he listened to her speak. New ship. Small crew. Badass top team. STAY AWAY. Good alarm bells. But he didn't always heed those, hence being stuck on the rock he was just leaving in the first place. Not that the last kick up his butt had been a romantic entanglement, but a warning was a warning.

"Well," he said, with a wolfish smile, dark eyes scanning her emerald ones. "If it's not gonna get me anywhere..." He put the whole tiny cake in his own mouth and munched it down before he added. "Then we'll just say we're sharing cake."

She laughed and Wulf turned his attention to that mental warning for the fifth time in as many minutes. "Intimately?" His eyes widened. Was that an open invite? No. Don't. Do. It. "Yeah," he admitted boldly and shamelessly, seeing no reason to lie right now when he was already busted. This time, he stayed in English though. "Spanish is a magical language, made for romancing. Did it work?" Wulf asked, curious to see how far he could push before she pushed back.

Sharing cake. Just sharing cake. Wasn’t that the truth of it, what else would they be doing here? Just two crew sharing cake and enjoying getting to know one another. Right? “Isn’t that what we’re doin’, Wulf?” her smooth voice still holding on to the teasing tone as she continued to tear of pieces of cake and eat them. Shoving the whole cake into ones mouth just seemed to be too much rushing. Some things were just meant to be savored.

Allegra lifted one shoulder into a nonchalant shrug. Yes, she had used that very word. She was rather surprised, and amused, that he hadn’t attempted to worm his way out of answering, or just flat out lying. Points to him for owning it. The corner of her mouth lifted upwards into a small smirk as curious, green eyes traveled over him before returning to meet his. “Guess that for me to know.” She grinned and tossed the last bite of the cake into her mouth.

"That's what I think we're doing," Wulf answered, but his expression was somewhere between amused and mildly perturbed now. She didn't seem to be unhappy, her voice lilted in a way that suggested Allegra was comfortable and - well - probably just taking the piss out of him. He observed her with a casual air of friendly interest as she eating her free cake. "It's good cake, huh?" He asked, and offered a lopsided smile.

She had the home-ground advantage here, and the crew on her side, she had every right to put him through his paces. But as she looked him up and down, Wulf couldn't help but feel a hell of a lot more comfortable on the Albatross. She looked like she was enjoying more than the cake, and that was good to know. Even if he couldn't do anything about it. Soto and Mickey didn't strike him as the understanding type in that regard, not with a whole hour of probation under his belt.

"That's a definite maybe," Wulf told her. Then he opted for a safer question. "You been with Soto and Mickey for a long time?"

That was definitely what they were doing. They were sharing cake and having a little get to know one another session. She couldn’t help but chuckle at the way his expression shifted. Allegra was the friendly sort, loved a good tease, and yeah, she was a bit of a flirt when she wanted to be. “Sharing cake means we’re best friends now. No take backs.” Just to see if she could earn another wave of expression from that boyishly handsome face. “It is rather good cake. Have I thanked you, yet?”

Yes, she took an appreciative glance and it hadn’t thrown him a bit. Interesting. Maybe he’d fit in just fine with the crew. Allegra washed the last bite of the cake down with a few sips of her coffee. A definite maybe? She quirked a questioning eyebrow upwards, a maybe, maybe. But a definite maybe? Allegra decided to let it slide as he asked a more professional question. “Not really. Six months, I think. So far so good, though.” Then she tossed out one of her own, “What made you want to join the Albatross, Wulf?”

"Besties, huh?" Wulf's face broadened into a shy expression countered by a wide, open mouth smile. "I could live with that, sure," he agreed with an element of happy nonchalance. A Martian in the kitchen was his new best friend? Well, wasn't the Albatross just full of wonders. "But you don't know anything about me," he said with a conspiratorial raise of his eyebrows and a tilt of his head. Clearly she trusted the Captain and XO in their recruitment strategy, Wulf supposed.

He didn't scour her face for information or study her like prey, Wulf simply let his dark brown gaze lock with her verdant one and that told him enough. She wasn't currently dangerous. But he was only scratching the surface right now, people ran far deeper than coffee and cake pleasantries.

"Six months, huh? They're alright then?" He asked, with a faint smile. Dumb question. He jumped onto hers by way of avoiding that sense of idiocy. "I needed a job," Wulf answered with a shrug. "And your Captain and XO are the first people that I had a half decent feeling about working for." That was the truth, but, again, the person ran deeper than that simple answer. "How'd you...?" But he stopped, recalling Mickey's words about secrets, and looked a little sheepish. "I should probably go get some work done," Wulf said, with an apologetic shrug.

Allegra nodded, the Captain and the XO weren't bad people to be working up under. But then again, they didn't ask very many questions. Or rather, they knew which type of questions to steer clear of asking. Kinda sorta like the one Wulf had cleverly deviated from. Her smiled flashed across her face, that full, friendly one that brighten her expression and created a mischievous twinkle in her emerald eyes. Eyes which tossed a quick wink before she stood and scooped up her bulb of coffee, "You and me both. You and me both."

As she passed him, her hand lifted to give him a pat on the shoulder, "Welcome aboard the 'Tross." And then just before she clicked her boots off and exited, "Laters, babycakes."

In his mind, Wulf lightly wrapped his arms about this dangerously adorable young woman, brought her in close to him and hit her with the best kiss she'd ever had. The one from those old school black and white romance movies, the one where the the handsome boy always got the awesome girl.

Reality however was a little different. His gaze followed Allegra, expression happily awestruck, dark eyes bright, and he harboured that big smile of wondrous fortune, right up until she patted him on the shoulder. And called him - babycakes?!

Trapped in a moment of confusion, Wulf was late in his own parting shot. The kiss blown off his fingertips towards her back as Allergra left the room was followed by a quietly whispered. "Definitely. Martian-fox."

He stood there for a few moments longer, just watching the space into which she'd floated off, and grinned. As Wulf headed towards engineering, he sang a happy little tune to himself. Hell yeah he'd picked the right boat to work on.

End Scene.

OOC: (1) Russian - 'Maybe a little dumb, yes, pretty lady.'
OOC: (2) Spanish - ‘Your eyes like emerald jewels, your hair the colour of the shifting beach-born sands, and your laughter is the birdsong flying free in the sky above’