The Life And Times of Eden

Posted on Fri Sep 13th, 2019 @ 6:18pm by Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 10 - Temperance
Location: Various coridors/Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 06 0700 Hours
1331 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Eden woke up stiff and sore. She'd been doing so much extra work trying to get Mary Rose up and running again even though everyone else seemed to have decided they were leaving the ship and were working on fixing up the yeager. She showered, dressed absentmindedly and walked out into the corridor braiding her hair. She stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor realizing she'd forgotten her hair tie and turned to go back only to realize she'd nearly run straight into Jake. "Oh, sorry."

"My fault, probably..." Jake started, then realised who it was. This was probably the second or third time they'd had the exact same exchange. "This is becoming a habit," he said, a little smile on his face as he looked down on her. It had been a good few days since they'd had dinner together, with everything going-on the whole crew seemed busier, and more stressed.

"Of the times we've met this is by far the easiest. I didn't have to climb on you and you're not floating on the ceiling." She glanced around as if waiting for the corridor to explode. But then again they had met the other night for a walk and a meal and nothing had happened. "I forgot something. You don't happen to have some string on you?" She held up the end of her braid.

"String?" he echoed back. "It's not really something I've been likely to carry..." he patted his uniform anyway, despite knowing that he had nothing on him. "What do you need it for?"

"My hair, I forgot the tie." She said. "Are you okay? You seem tired." She stood there, forcing others to go around her as she examined his face and eyes.

"I think everyone is," he admitted. "This whole thing with the Temperance has everyone working double shifts. Maybe I need some more of the doc's coffee." He thought about suggesting she try some, yet the thought of Eden high on caffiene was a terrifying prospect.

"Well . . . . I'll walk you there if you want?" She let go of her hair, giving up. Eden didn't want to have to go back to her quarters, not that it was far away. "I could use something for breakfast."

"You know what, breakfast sounds fantastic right about now," Jake nodded, stepping aside and doing the gentlemanly thing of letting the lady pass first. He had time before he was supposed to be on shift anyway.

The mess was quieter than usual, probably for the reasons they'd already ascribed; the crew were more swept up than usual. But that meant easy access to the food replicator for once. Jake glanced over at Eden as he made his way towards the closest unit. "Get you anything?"

"Hmmm . . . maybe some oatmeal this morning." She made herself comfortable at a table. "Ooooh and hot chocolate." She practically liked her lips at the thought.

Jake tapped the panel in front of the older model replicator. Nothing happened immediately, so he shot Eden a little look then decided to 'Fonz' the bulkhead a little on a hunch. The replicator responded, but not in the way that he'd expected. A thick, oatmeal-like substance suddenly burst from the hole in the wall, spraying itself all over Jake's lower chest. If that weren't bad enough, it was quickly followed by a small shower of hot brown liquid that could only have been the drink order. He let out a yelp and staggered back towards Eden in surprise and discomfort as it started burning his skin under his uniform.

Eden jumped up with her hand over her mouth for a moment before she hurried to him. "Take off the top of your uniform." She said as she grabbed some napkins to get the hot liquid off his skin. "I am so sorry," she started spouting apologies even though it really hadn't been her fault.

"It's not your-" Jake was halfway through peeling the sopping wet uniform off when his boot lost purchase on a patch of the oatmeal and gave out from underneath him. He landed on his back, his chest suddenly bare as the uniform top dangled from one of his hands, sprawled at Eden's feet.

At that moment two crewmen entered the mess. Coincidentally, Jake noticed, they were the same two crewmen who had been waiting outside of the turbolift a few days earlier when they'd had their mishap. "This is..." he started, then sighed. "Ah, what's the point?"

She thought about explaining but then decided it was really none of their business and she'd given up a long time ago worrying about what other people thought. Except Jake, she did rather like him and why did everything seem to happen to him while she was around? She held out her hand, making sure her feet were securely planted underneath her. "Are you all right?"

"Only thing bruised is my pride," Jake mumbled, taking hold of the offered hand and scrambling back up to his feet. "Although don't quote me on that." Noticing the splatter of something on her cheek, he used his free hand to wipe it away for her. Realising that he was still standing there shirtless he suddenly cleared his throat and awkwardly looked around for a towel or something to clean himself up with.

The touch surprised her and she stood there with her eyes a bit wider than normal staring at him. "Right," she finally started spouting words when her brain began to work. "You . . . should probably go change. Are you sure you're okay? Because I ended up in sickbay after our last incident, it turned out I was allergic to that goo. And I don't really think anyone is allergic to oatmeal but you did get hot liquid sprayed on you. You might want to get that looked at."

"Really, I'm okay. If only you'd seen some of the things that have been spilled or sprayed on me over the years..." he explained gently. Working in bars and some run-down old cargo haulers had left him with more than a few memories of being covered in worse than oatmeal and hot chocolate. "I'm starting to think I should have stayed in bed this morning, though."

"Well . . . go back to bed. I won't tell anyone where you've gone. I'll even walk you there." It sounded casual enough but she wondered if he might get the wrong idea. She wouldn't mind being in his quarters with him but she wasn't going to go to bed with him this early in the relationship, if that's what this was.

"That's much appreciated," he nodded. In a small corner of his mind he wondered if they would somehow get themselves stuck in another turbolift, or maybe the gravity would reverse itself again. They did seem to be crossing fate somewhere along the way. "What about your breakfast?" he realised, tossing a glance back at the replicator. "I still owe you something to eat, don't I? Maybe we go find something that's not going to try to explode all over us?"

"That would be a bit more preferable. I don't think I'll be ordering either of those for a while." She picked up his shirt and handed it to him then took his hand. "Someone should write a book about us. This is getting ridiculous and I'm starting to feel like somehow I'm the cause. Can ships be possessive of people?"

"This would be a first..." he admitted. "Though I am starting to wonder." He motioned towards the door. "My place it is, then?"

Eden nodded. This was certainly going to cause gossip. Them walking down the corridor holding hands while he wasn't wearing a shirt. She inwardly smiled at that. Might be interesting to see what people came up with. They needed something to think of other than the that ship.

:: OFF ::

Eden Bowers
Chief Helmsman
SS Mary Rose


Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose