Welcome Home dinner with Intel Officer, Baumann
May 21, 2020 5:57:31 GMT
Post by Admin on May 21, 2020 5:57:31 GMT
This was played out 2.20.2020LlewelPendragonYesterday at 3:42 PM
She had dressed up, but was still casual. She had a sleeveless top on that matched the ankle length shirt in a beautiful antique rose color. She was barefoot, as usual, and her feet peeked out as she walked. Her hair was up, with a single silver comb holding it in place. A wide silver bangle was on her right wrist. A silver torc of twined metal around her neck.
The table was set for two and a salad sat in the middle with a decanter of wine and a pitcher of juice were waiting to be poured.
She paced, half an hour before he was due, wondering over and over if she should have just told him to join her in the Officer's mess. She glanced again at the cart in the corner with dinner and dessert on it under covers to maintain their temps. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 3:48 PM
The chime sounded at exactly the right time, and the door slid open. Baumann was framed in the door. Black pants, black sports coat over a deep blue shirt that was open at the neck where the top two buttons were undone. Dark suede shoes completed the outfit. In his hand he carried a single, unmarked bottle with a clear liquid inside. He looked at her and smiled. "Good evening, Captain. I trust I am on time?" he asked. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 3:49 PM
Captain...
[3:51 PM]
Ari smiled. "Of course, come on in, Commander..." She nodded to the table. "Let me know if you need or want ice for your drink. I didn't get much, but can send for more." She glanced back at him.
"You look good. I'm glad your recovery went well." She was remaining guarded and she glanced at the table once more. "Do you want drinks first or dig in? Don't know when you ate last." She shifted one of the glasses to make it more even. Fiddling rather than facing him again. Why did he look so damned good? <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:03 PM
As the door closed, he said "I'm in no rush, Ari. We can do drinks first, if you like. And, as directed, a bottle." and he set the bottle on the table. He looked at her and said "You look as beautiful as always." with genuine warmth in his voice. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:04 PM
She smiled and it warmed her to hear her name on his lips. "I think we could both use one... do you mind?" She pulled the shorter glasses over and set then beside the bottle. She still hadn't looked up at him. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:09 PM
"Of course not." and he grasped the cap and opened the bottle. A string herbal and citrus scent wafted up as he poured two glasses a quarter full. "Aguardiente. From Spain. I picked up a few bottles when I was recuperating." and he handed a glass towards her back. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:10 PM
She listened to the splash of liquid and turned to take the glass. "It looks amazing." Slowly she looked up at him and smiled softly. "To long lives and good friends?" Holding her glass towards him. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:14 PM
"And reunions of the former." and he clincked his glass to hers. He smiled and took a small sip. The scientist in her would see his pupils dilate as he looked at her. He looked away and around the room. "I see little has changed since I was here last. I always found this place... oddly comforting." <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:17 PM
"You're the first..." she murmured and took a sip of her drink. She had seen his eyes and a bit of tensioned eased from her shoulders. Moving to the edge of her desk to move a crystal around to see its interior from where she stood, she smiled. "I guess it 'does' kind of resemble some strange science bay..." she sighed and shook her head. Even as she spoke it, she had trouble seeing it that way.
Moving to the couch, she sat on the arm of it and watched Wulf move around as if reacquainting himself with the place. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:27 PM
He touched a few remembered items and then came and sat on the couch, not close to her but certainly not far to the other end. "No... I think it is more like you than a lab. Tangents and ideas and thoughts lay around in a manner that most would say is unorganized. But I know. If you need something, you know where it is mostly. Or at least the general area." and he chuckled. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:33 PM
She turned on the arm of the couch, her feet coming to rest on the cushions. "I do believe, Mr Baumann that you just said my quarters were filled with organized chaos." She smiled and shook her head once more holding her glass out. "Here's to finding what we want." It didn't occur to her the double edge of her words. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 5:57 PM
He looked at her, and a slight cloud passed over his normally stoic face. "Indeed." and he took a sip. The drink was strong... very... but that was why he had brought it.
"And what is it you want, Ari?" he asked his eyes locked on hers. There was a time when the German would have watched her slowly move through her thoughts as the scientist-turned-ship's Captain was want to do. But that time was passed, at least for the moment. Now they both had to deal, up front and openly, with their dance that had been cut short when he nearly died. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 6:09 PM
She took a good swig and coughed this time from too much in her throat. "Sorry..." she whispered, the back of her hand on her mouth a moment.
Looking at him, she spent a long moment debating just what that was. Finally, after a longer moment than was comfortable, she spoke. It was low, and almost tentative. "I can't have what I want... but what I'll settle for, is you close to me once more. A hug when I'm losing it, a joke when I'm stuck in my head," she glanced at the board that usually had her sling shot project up and was currently turned off for the first time he would ever recall. "And a nudge in a direction... any direction when I'm stuck." She looked at him. Her heart was racing and her breath was shallow. This time it was her own eyes that were dilated and looking at him. She had lowered her shields, just a little. But more than she had since his arrival. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 6:49 PM
Wulf looked at her and was silent for a long time. He just looked.
"I can give you that, Ari. I can and I will. And I want you to know... I wish I could give you more." and he took a large drink for fortification. "But that as we are right now... I dont think that would be fair to you... or me. Both of us have things outside and inside this ship pulling at us. And that will just get worse, I fear. And neither nor I are vapid enough to believe that at some point... I will lie to you. And at some point... you will withhold information from me."
[6:53 PM]
He took a drink, draining the glass. "It is the adversarial nature of our duties now. I promised you I will do whatever I can to not do that... but I am a realist, Ari. It will happen. And if that occurred after... something... happend between us... honestly, I believe it would drive me from Star Fleet. But that would be secondary to me causing you any more pain than I already have. I simply dont want that. I came back to help you... protect you and the crew as I can. And you have my word I will." <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 6:58 PM
In one fluid movement she rocked forward and was on her knees on the couch. Her material clad knees pressed against his leg. "Yes, I will withhold from you, you will lie to me... things unique to our positions. To our titles." She downed the second half of her drink, another small cough happening, and set the glass on the table beside her. "But other things will happen. You will come to me when you can't ferret out one of your mind puzzles. I will come to you when I am torn between my Science and the Captain desires." She put her hand on his leg. "I will need to be held cause I can't sleep, and you will need a hug because it kills you what you can't do anymore. And those will happen because of who we are as well. What we are to one another."
She laughed and her face softened, her hand reaching up to brush hair back from his temple. "We will fight, and we will both hurt. But I know, because of who we are, whether we hurt before or after we've held one another, we will still be 'us'. I need you to believe that." <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:03 PM
He put his hand on hers and said "I am here for you, Ari. And if circumstances were... not what they are... this would be a wholly more... intimate... dinner, I think. But until our circumstances change, know this. You may come to me for consolation, for support, for encouragement... for freindship the likes of which I doubt we will ever share with another... and that has to be enough... for both of us..."
"At least for now." <e>(edited)
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:05 PM
Her eyes went solid once more. She nodded and smiled. "Of course...." She slid her hand from between his and his chest and picked up the glasses. By the time she turned around, she was smiling once more. "Well, I have you for dinner. So I am going to play it to the bitter end." She laughed and nodded to the table. "Come get us both another drink and let's eat before the salad, dinner and dessert are all the same temp." <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:17 PM
He stood and nodded. Making his way to the table, he poured the drinks and then pulled out her chair and waited to seat her at the table. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:20 PM
She nodded and smiled. "Thank you, my guardian." She looked at him wondering what his reaction would be. Before he objected, she set the glasses down and added, "I know whatever you do... lie, omit, or even give me more than I should in as much as your capacity allows. No matter what. You are looking after my crew and the ship. As far as I know... that makes you my guardian. Because your choices will help me protect them."
She knew one day, she hoped not in his rotation, she'd be sacrificed for some greater good. She'd go if it meant the crew was safe. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:29 PM
"However I can, Ari... I will be." and he slid her in.
Taking his seat, he dropped a napkin in his lap and said "So what does the fair galley gift us with this evening?" <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:35 PM
She could live with that answer for now. She had to.
They went on to eat dinner and for that near two hours, it was almost like old times. They laughed and joked. Ari brought him up to speed on those who had come and left since his departure and he spoke of his switch to Intel, leaving things out she was sure, and his demand to come here when her ship had popped on the roster.
Neither one of them said it, but she knew it was her last mission that had drawn the attention of the Powers That Be. She accepted it willingly, now, because it had brought Wulf home. To her, it was worse all the bad that was to inevitably come.
As she leaned back, another glass of lifted to her lips, her dessert half eaten, she shook her head. "This was great, Wulf. I think we need to make it a weekly thing. A way to decompress for us both. How does that sound?" She bit her lip, her leg curled under her as she leaned on the table. "Just the dinner part each time, not the mess before hand." She thumbed over her shoulder at that couch. She was tipsy. The bottle he had brought was almost gone. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:39 PM
Wulf felt warm, and knew the drink had done its job. "I think that is acceptable. But only on the condition that we vary the location between our respective quarters. Not fair that one of us should hold the advantage of home field every time." and he smiled at her. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:43 PM
She laughed and nodded as she upturned and finished her drink. "Agreed..." Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she looked at him for a long moment. "I'm glad you're back Wulf. Honest. And I won't lie. I will keep trying to get a kiss from you." Yeah, she had had more than she should and her inner thoughts were leaking to her mouth. He had known her long enough, and seen her stress drunk often enough, to see the signs. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 8:31 PM
Wulf said "I know." he said with his little half smile. He looked at the chronometer. "And before your temptations and the alcohol make me a liar, I must go. I have equipment arriving in the morning, and I am sure the security and engineering departments will want my head on a platter as they can't see any of it." and he looked at her and smiled fully. "Care to walk me to the door?" he asked as he rose. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 8:40 PM
She nodded and stood up. Her gait wasn't steady enough to be suitable for duty. But she managed better than most. "Good idea. Hate to be responsible for temptation." Thankfully she didn't laugh any different. "I am honestly glad you're back Wulf. I mean that." She leaned on the wall beside the door. "Your place next week, right.?" <e>
RhinoYesterday at 8:44 PM
He nodded and went to key the door and stopped. He turned and looked at her. He slowly bent down and kissed her, firmly but with gentleness. He slowly pulled away and said "No matter what, part of this will forever be yours." and he put a finger on his heart. He then stood up and walked through the doors and into his quarters. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 8:47 PM
She touched her lips where he kissed and nodded. She'd been to stunned to even react except to slightly part her lips.
When the door closed, she slid to the floor, wrapped her arms around her legs, and cried. <e>
She had dressed up, but was still casual. She had a sleeveless top on that matched the ankle length shirt in a beautiful antique rose color. She was barefoot, as usual, and her feet peeked out as she walked. Her hair was up, with a single silver comb holding it in place. A wide silver bangle was on her right wrist. A silver torc of twined metal around her neck.
The table was set for two and a salad sat in the middle with a decanter of wine and a pitcher of juice were waiting to be poured.
She paced, half an hour before he was due, wondering over and over if she should have just told him to join her in the Officer's mess. She glanced again at the cart in the corner with dinner and dessert on it under covers to maintain their temps. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 3:48 PM
The chime sounded at exactly the right time, and the door slid open. Baumann was framed in the door. Black pants, black sports coat over a deep blue shirt that was open at the neck where the top two buttons were undone. Dark suede shoes completed the outfit. In his hand he carried a single, unmarked bottle with a clear liquid inside. He looked at her and smiled. "Good evening, Captain. I trust I am on time?" he asked. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 3:49 PM
Captain...
[3:51 PM]
Ari smiled. "Of course, come on in, Commander..." She nodded to the table. "Let me know if you need or want ice for your drink. I didn't get much, but can send for more." She glanced back at him.
"You look good. I'm glad your recovery went well." She was remaining guarded and she glanced at the table once more. "Do you want drinks first or dig in? Don't know when you ate last." She shifted one of the glasses to make it more even. Fiddling rather than facing him again. Why did he look so damned good? <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:03 PM
As the door closed, he said "I'm in no rush, Ari. We can do drinks first, if you like. And, as directed, a bottle." and he set the bottle on the table. He looked at her and said "You look as beautiful as always." with genuine warmth in his voice. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:04 PM
She smiled and it warmed her to hear her name on his lips. "I think we could both use one... do you mind?" She pulled the shorter glasses over and set then beside the bottle. She still hadn't looked up at him. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:09 PM
"Of course not." and he grasped the cap and opened the bottle. A string herbal and citrus scent wafted up as he poured two glasses a quarter full. "Aguardiente. From Spain. I picked up a few bottles when I was recuperating." and he handed a glass towards her back. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:10 PM
She listened to the splash of liquid and turned to take the glass. "It looks amazing." Slowly she looked up at him and smiled softly. "To long lives and good friends?" Holding her glass towards him. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:14 PM
"And reunions of the former." and he clincked his glass to hers. He smiled and took a small sip. The scientist in her would see his pupils dilate as he looked at her. He looked away and around the room. "I see little has changed since I was here last. I always found this place... oddly comforting." <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:17 PM
"You're the first..." she murmured and took a sip of her drink. She had seen his eyes and a bit of tensioned eased from her shoulders. Moving to the edge of her desk to move a crystal around to see its interior from where she stood, she smiled. "I guess it 'does' kind of resemble some strange science bay..." she sighed and shook her head. Even as she spoke it, she had trouble seeing it that way.
Moving to the couch, she sat on the arm of it and watched Wulf move around as if reacquainting himself with the place. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 4:27 PM
He touched a few remembered items and then came and sat on the couch, not close to her but certainly not far to the other end. "No... I think it is more like you than a lab. Tangents and ideas and thoughts lay around in a manner that most would say is unorganized. But I know. If you need something, you know where it is mostly. Or at least the general area." and he chuckled. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 4:33 PM
She turned on the arm of the couch, her feet coming to rest on the cushions. "I do believe, Mr Baumann that you just said my quarters were filled with organized chaos." She smiled and shook her head once more holding her glass out. "Here's to finding what we want." It didn't occur to her the double edge of her words. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 5:57 PM
He looked at her, and a slight cloud passed over his normally stoic face. "Indeed." and he took a sip. The drink was strong... very... but that was why he had brought it.
"And what is it you want, Ari?" he asked his eyes locked on hers. There was a time when the German would have watched her slowly move through her thoughts as the scientist-turned-ship's Captain was want to do. But that time was passed, at least for the moment. Now they both had to deal, up front and openly, with their dance that had been cut short when he nearly died. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 6:09 PM
She took a good swig and coughed this time from too much in her throat. "Sorry..." she whispered, the back of her hand on her mouth a moment.
Looking at him, she spent a long moment debating just what that was. Finally, after a longer moment than was comfortable, she spoke. It was low, and almost tentative. "I can't have what I want... but what I'll settle for, is you close to me once more. A hug when I'm losing it, a joke when I'm stuck in my head," she glanced at the board that usually had her sling shot project up and was currently turned off for the first time he would ever recall. "And a nudge in a direction... any direction when I'm stuck." She looked at him. Her heart was racing and her breath was shallow. This time it was her own eyes that were dilated and looking at him. She had lowered her shields, just a little. But more than she had since his arrival. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 6:49 PM
Wulf looked at her and was silent for a long time. He just looked.
"I can give you that, Ari. I can and I will. And I want you to know... I wish I could give you more." and he took a large drink for fortification. "But that as we are right now... I dont think that would be fair to you... or me. Both of us have things outside and inside this ship pulling at us. And that will just get worse, I fear. And neither nor I are vapid enough to believe that at some point... I will lie to you. And at some point... you will withhold information from me."
[6:53 PM]
He took a drink, draining the glass. "It is the adversarial nature of our duties now. I promised you I will do whatever I can to not do that... but I am a realist, Ari. It will happen. And if that occurred after... something... happend between us... honestly, I believe it would drive me from Star Fleet. But that would be secondary to me causing you any more pain than I already have. I simply dont want that. I came back to help you... protect you and the crew as I can. And you have my word I will." <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 6:58 PM
In one fluid movement she rocked forward and was on her knees on the couch. Her material clad knees pressed against his leg. "Yes, I will withhold from you, you will lie to me... things unique to our positions. To our titles." She downed the second half of her drink, another small cough happening, and set the glass on the table beside her. "But other things will happen. You will come to me when you can't ferret out one of your mind puzzles. I will come to you when I am torn between my Science and the Captain desires." She put her hand on his leg. "I will need to be held cause I can't sleep, and you will need a hug because it kills you what you can't do anymore. And those will happen because of who we are as well. What we are to one another."
She laughed and her face softened, her hand reaching up to brush hair back from his temple. "We will fight, and we will both hurt. But I know, because of who we are, whether we hurt before or after we've held one another, we will still be 'us'. I need you to believe that." <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:03 PM
He put his hand on hers and said "I am here for you, Ari. And if circumstances were... not what they are... this would be a wholly more... intimate... dinner, I think. But until our circumstances change, know this. You may come to me for consolation, for support, for encouragement... for freindship the likes of which I doubt we will ever share with another... and that has to be enough... for both of us..."
"At least for now." <e>(edited)
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:05 PM
Her eyes went solid once more. She nodded and smiled. "Of course...." She slid her hand from between his and his chest and picked up the glasses. By the time she turned around, she was smiling once more. "Well, I have you for dinner. So I am going to play it to the bitter end." She laughed and nodded to the table. "Come get us both another drink and let's eat before the salad, dinner and dessert are all the same temp." <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:17 PM
He stood and nodded. Making his way to the table, he poured the drinks and then pulled out her chair and waited to seat her at the table. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:20 PM
She nodded and smiled. "Thank you, my guardian." She looked at him wondering what his reaction would be. Before he objected, she set the glasses down and added, "I know whatever you do... lie, omit, or even give me more than I should in as much as your capacity allows. No matter what. You are looking after my crew and the ship. As far as I know... that makes you my guardian. Because your choices will help me protect them."
She knew one day, she hoped not in his rotation, she'd be sacrificed for some greater good. She'd go if it meant the crew was safe. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:29 PM
"However I can, Ari... I will be." and he slid her in.
Taking his seat, he dropped a napkin in his lap and said "So what does the fair galley gift us with this evening?" <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:35 PM
She could live with that answer for now. She had to.
They went on to eat dinner and for that near two hours, it was almost like old times. They laughed and joked. Ari brought him up to speed on those who had come and left since his departure and he spoke of his switch to Intel, leaving things out she was sure, and his demand to come here when her ship had popped on the roster.
Neither one of them said it, but she knew it was her last mission that had drawn the attention of the Powers That Be. She accepted it willingly, now, because it had brought Wulf home. To her, it was worse all the bad that was to inevitably come.
As she leaned back, another glass of lifted to her lips, her dessert half eaten, she shook her head. "This was great, Wulf. I think we need to make it a weekly thing. A way to decompress for us both. How does that sound?" She bit her lip, her leg curled under her as she leaned on the table. "Just the dinner part each time, not the mess before hand." She thumbed over her shoulder at that couch. She was tipsy. The bottle he had brought was almost gone. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 7:39 PM
Wulf felt warm, and knew the drink had done its job. "I think that is acceptable. But only on the condition that we vary the location between our respective quarters. Not fair that one of us should hold the advantage of home field every time." and he smiled at her. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 7:43 PM
She laughed and nodded as she upturned and finished her drink. "Agreed..." Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she looked at him for a long moment. "I'm glad you're back Wulf. Honest. And I won't lie. I will keep trying to get a kiss from you." Yeah, she had had more than she should and her inner thoughts were leaking to her mouth. He had known her long enough, and seen her stress drunk often enough, to see the signs. <e>
RhinoYesterday at 8:31 PM
Wulf said "I know." he said with his little half smile. He looked at the chronometer. "And before your temptations and the alcohol make me a liar, I must go. I have equipment arriving in the morning, and I am sure the security and engineering departments will want my head on a platter as they can't see any of it." and he looked at her and smiled fully. "Care to walk me to the door?" he asked as he rose. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 8:40 PM
She nodded and stood up. Her gait wasn't steady enough to be suitable for duty. But she managed better than most. "Good idea. Hate to be responsible for temptation." Thankfully she didn't laugh any different. "I am honestly glad you're back Wulf. I mean that." She leaned on the wall beside the door. "Your place next week, right.?" <e>
RhinoYesterday at 8:44 PM
He nodded and went to key the door and stopped. He turned and looked at her. He slowly bent down and kissed her, firmly but with gentleness. He slowly pulled away and said "No matter what, part of this will forever be yours." and he put a finger on his heart. He then stood up and walked through the doors and into his quarters. <e>
LlewelPendragonYesterday at 8:47 PM
She touched her lips where he kissed and nodded. She'd been to stunned to even react except to slightly part her lips.
When the door closed, she slid to the floor, wrapped her arms around her legs, and cried. <e>