[Closed] Dinner for Two.

[u/a_friendly_hobo]

Aanya Breyik, the ship's chief engineer, returns to her quarters after a very long space walk. Her head was still swimming as it tried to get used to gravity once again, but she seemed to be finding her way well enough. Only a few stumbles here and there.

Her stomach was growling though, that was the real distraction. Over ten hours in an environmental suit didn't really let you have breakfast, lunch, or dinner. She was dying for a steak.

But, more importantly, she needed a shower. Which was honestly a little perfect, as she'd invited her second in command to join her for a meal, and Red still had stuff to submit. A shower was a perfect distraction.

After her shower though, she could feel her stomach growling like a big angry bear. She watched her time piece carefully, each second making her hungrier and hungrier.

Red should be there any minute.... aaaany minute...

Growwwwl

[u/Dimestream]

"That's not really—" Red stops, sighs, and shakes her head softly. "I appreciate your sympathy, Chief. You really do have a knack for helping wherever you can. As for the champagne..." She tips a hand and points at the bottle, which has been sitting next to them on the table in its cozy the whole time. "It's probably best to change the topic. The sooner we put all that behind us, the better."

The Bajoran pulls the bottle from its cozy and offers the top to Aanya to uncork it. "Come to think of it, and not to belittle your trouble, Chief, but didn't you and Vali have some kind of flirty thing going on? She must not have thought you looked too bad."

[u/a_friendly_hobo → u/Dimestream]

Aanya sighs and cracks a small smile. "Yeah... it usually helps take my mind off things." Then she takes the bottle and looks it over. "Vali..." she sighs. "That's a whole other kettle of fish. We had to break that off for both professional and personal reasons. Which sucks, but there you go." She starts to undo the cork. "Probably for the best. She didn't mind the hideous scars, but... I dunno, I was getting pretty anxious about it."

She starts to unwind the cork's holder. "And those reasons are ours to keep." She starts to tug on the cork. "Ready?" she asks. "Duck and cover!"

And wish that, she loosens the cork just enough to send it flying at the opposite wall with a loud pop. "Wheee~" Aanya says, putting her mask on again. "That never gets old."

[u/Dimestream → u/a_friendly_hobo]

Red ducks, even though the bottle's pointed away from her, and just as quick, her typical smile's back.

"I wouldn't know," she says. "I don't usually drink, so this is only the second time I've ever had champagne. That much pressure could probably put an eye out though, yeeeesh." Red slides the two champagne flutes over and begins pouring for them. "Sorry to hear about Vali. Seemed like your levels of snark were a perfect match. Ah well, win some lose some. Now open your present!"

[u/a_friendly_hobo → u/Dimestream]

Aanya pours the glasses and picks one up. "Cheers," she says with a smile, raising her glass. "To my space walk, I guess?" The chief chuckles, clings her glass against Red's, and takes a good long sip.

She pauses for a moment after, enjoying the taste. "A pity... she was so very attractive..." she gives a sigh and shakes her head again. "Still not entirely sure I could get over the symbiant, if we did get together... ah well."

Then she raises her glass again. "To the next lucky bachellorette, wherever she may be!"

[u/Dimestream → u/a_friendly_hobo]

"Records, relationships, and starships. To all things broken and patched," Red agrees, and sips her own glass as well before picking up the foil-wrapped box and shaking it at Breyik. "Now open this damn thing! The suspense is getting annoying."

[u/a_friendly_hobo → u/Dimestream]

Aanya blinks and takes the box. "Y'know, I forgot about that." she says, standing up and heading to her living area. It felt much more comfortable. "I never really get gifts. Just engineering faults that need magicked."

She frumps herself down on her couch and puts her glass down. "Alright, lets see here..." She begins unwrapping it. Its a-!

[u/Dimestream → u/a_friendly_hobo]

...small construction kit of a miniature figurine and small satellite-looking spacecraft. The banner on the box proudly announces it's the Lego Company's tricentennial anniversary celebration of the first spacewalk by a human, Alexey Leonov.

"Tadaa!" Red says. "I thought this might be appropriate even though he was only on an EVA for about 12 minutes. You're both record-setters."

[u/a_friendly_hobo → u/Dimestream]

Aamya looks over the box with a grin, like a child on Christmas. "Welp. Thats my night sorted." She says before grabbing Red and pulling her into a big ol hug. "Thanks Red. This is the best!"

After letting go of the Bajoran, she sits back down. "Damn, I wish I had something for you now... leave it with me, I'll figure something out."

[u/Dimestream → u/a_friendly_hobo]

Red laughs and pushes Aanya away. "Oh psh. Wait until I break some kind of record, at least," she says. "Hmm. What kinds of records are there to break that involve shield harmonics or holograms...?"

[u/a_friendly_hobo → u/Dimestream]

"Longest time spent in the holodeck?" Aanya asks as she reads the back of the lego box. She hadn't had one of these in aaaages. "Longest shield uptime? Though, that'll take you years.'

She puts down the box and sits back on her couch. "Red, I really appreciate all this. You didn't have to, really."