Do you have a problem sharing with a girl?

Posted on 14 Jun 2012 @ 6:49pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Aria Rice

2,445 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Junior Officer's Quarters
Timeline: MD07 - 1545 hours

[ON]

It would take little more than a moment for any being with eyes to see Andreus Kohl had been coming undone since he wandered into his quarters. He had left behind his trail of polish and protocol somewhere between the entrance and the sofa. His boots had been stranded in front of the double doors, and his socks were discarded not far behind. A cup of tea had been replicated and left untouched on the desk, and his uniform jacket was slung unceremoniously over a desk chair. Kohl himself --clad in his uniform trousers and a teal tunic open down the front-- was sitting on his feet in sukhasana position. Another cup of tea was sitting on a side table that was wet with fresh mug rings.

Clutched between Kohl's two hands was a widescreen PADD. Federation Standard characters spelled out facts and figures on the display. It was a duty log that explained the shuttle crash responsible for the death of Andreus' father, Elbon Kohl. For all the precision accuracy of sensor reading and computer logs, the minutia of details couldn't provide the only thing Kohl was looking for. Answers. The why of it all. The words were blurring together to his eyes, but there was a linked video file available. A picture was worth how many words again? Kohl hesitated before accessing the video. The report wasn't entirely forthcoming about what the video contained. Was it the crash itself, or the following investigation? Would there be... bodies? Kohl hovered his index finger over the LCARS contact that would open the video file.

Aria Rice didn't bother to knock as she dragged her heavy dufflebag in. She looked at surprise at the man on the sofa before frowning. Okay. Great. Roommate. She had been lucky on the Nova and had her own quarters. This was going to be new. She dragged her bag through, looking at Kohl. Ah, the nurse. She remembered him. "Yo...hello..." she smiled weakly, looking over at the two beds...which she always considered bunks anyway. Too much time around Marines in her youth. "Which one did you claim?" She wasn't exactly thrilled with rooming with a man, but she would have to deal with it. Sharing in general didn't sit well with Aria, who was...well...an only child, slightly spoiled and used to have things her own way when in her own space. And now she fancied a drink, but knew she couldn't. She still had people to see, people to meet.

However...as she looked at him, she smiled despite her initial instinct to start whining. Hey, it couldn't be that bad, could it? He had seemed like a decent sort of chap. She let herself study him now. He was tall. Like, massively tall in comparison to her. He was relatively lean, with rather brilliant eyes (she was jealous, she always wanted eyes like that and what was up with men having great eyelashes anyway?) and good hair. She smiled weakly and wished she was in her heels, just to add some much needed inches to her height. "So...you're Kohl. And I am Aria Rice...we met on the shuttle?"

Kohl's head snapped up at what sounded like an intruder, and he breathed out a startled "tt" between his grit teeth. In that moment of alarm, he came to recognize exactly how the XO had felt about meeting Kohl. Kohl hadn't heard the doors open for Aria at all. Self-consciously, he cleared the screen of the PADD and dropped it face-down on his lap. He remained where he was on the sofa.

"Yeah, no, you can call me Kohl," he said, and he said it entirely too faux-breezy. He squinted at his wrong choice of words. Sounding irritated with himself, he slowly said, "I mean-- I mean the exact opposite of what I just said. You can call me Andreus. And I haven't laid in either bunk. I've been checking in with the XO and the CMO."

"Well, which one do you want then...?" she gestured to the bunks, smiling, before arching an eyebrow. Oh, he did look slight confused. "Because it makes it easier if the tallest picks, Andreus..." she winked, because it mean the majority of people picked before her, pushing the large duffle bag in the general direction of the wardrobes. Clothes, boots...you named it. She had her good stuff with her, the rubbish would be sent from her mother's to the ship next time the Galileo was close to Luna.

Kohl shrugged at Aria and he waved one hand lightly as if he were swatting away her irritating mosquito of a question. He smiled at her, though, he tried to smile to avoid offending too much. Kohl turned the swat of his hand into a sweep towards the bed on his left. "I'll take that one," he said, offering her the bed closer to the head.

She nodded and moved to her bed. She sat down on it, undoing her jacket. "Aren't you just a ball of fun, huh..." she looked at him with a small smile, playful to the very end. "So which shift did you get?"

"Beta shift?" he said, but Kohl couldn't keep the questioning lilt from his statement. "I think? I was assigned to Bactricia before Galileo. Starfleet duty shifts feel unnatural after living with a solar day and night. ...My CMO gave me a couple of hours to decompress before I get back to Sickbay."

He took his nearest mug in both hands and drank deeply. Stopping abruptly, Kohl swallowed too much tea at once, because he had a question. As if looking to Aria through a fog, Kohl asked, "What-- what did you mean? The ball of fun reference?" There was no accusation in his tone, he only sounded perplexed.

She smiled gently, watching him for a long moment. "Just...you seem very serious and I might get on your nerves," she admitted and looked down. "Not that is matters. I haven't been told which shift I am but I assume I am Alpha..." she moved to unpack, opening her bag...and watching the clothes and shoes, padds and makeup just...explode out of it. "Oh!"

When Aria told him he seemed 'very serious', Kohl stared down into the murky contents of his mug. His cold hands clutched at the mug for warmth, and he spoke dully. "I'm having a hard day," he said, while Aria told him about her duty shift. And then her bag began to vomit clothing and cosmetics all over her bed. Kohl let out a similar exclamation of, "Oh?!" As if he were responding to a code in Sickbay, he reached his arm out to place his mug on the side-table, and his hand trembled as he did so.

Kohl's hands crossed over his chest as he rose from the sofa. He toyed with the seams of his open tunic, and he asked, "Would you like a hand with that?"

She laughed warmly, meeting his eyes. "Yes please..." she said before the smile died a bit. She looked at him, her eyes gentle. "But first..." she moved to him, to stand right in front of him, looking up at him. Gosh, he was tall. She didn't touch him, but moved her hand between them as she held his eyes. "I'm sorry you've had a bad day...and you don't have to help me either. If you want me to leave you be, just say so and I won't be offended. And you can take a hot shower..." her eyes lowered shyly. She was genuinely concerned...he looked tired. He looked very tired and she felt guilty for just barging in and disturbing.

"I appreciate that, I do, but I want to help," Kohl said. For all his certainty, he didn't sound any less tired. "Simple problem solving, that's what I need. Besides, from what I hear, we're going to be roomates until Galileo transports the starbase personnel to their destination. There aren't enough junior officer quarters to go around for now. We can't spend all that time avoiding one another. ...I want to help."

She nodded at that, her eyes warm. "Alright then," she touched his arm and winked, pulling back. "I think if we tackle the clothes and shoes first, we can deal with the rest later..." she picked up a pair of boots, with a proper six inch heel and metal buckles. She smiled as she held them close. "These babies are my favourite...amazing how you can see the world from..." she looked at him and chuckled. "Never mind, you're tall so you live up there."

Kohl half-smiled at the comment about his height, as he closed the distance between himself and the bed. After he knelt on the carpeted floor, he began to sort through a tangle of black apparel and fold it out on the bed. Undergarments and overgarments, they were all the same to him. "Why do you have so much stuff with you?" he asked with naked curiosity. "Can't this all be replicated?"

She smiled as she helped, her eyes shining. "Because it's not all replicated," she admitted softly, glancing at him. "I like real stuff...the things that are made by people. Colonies, mostly...and they're expensive..." she blushed as she folded her clothes carefully. She glanced at him. He seemed unbothered by her clothes. "Can I ask you a personal question, Andreus?" she picked up some skimpy dresses and moved to hang them up.

Holding up one of said skimpy dresses to his eyes, Kohl studied the stitching. No matter how he turned it or squinted his eyes, he couldn't see a bit of difference between wearing clothing made by replicator or by real live hands. He supposed it was probably a Human cultural belief. When Aria took the dress from him, Kohl replied, "Aria, you can ask me anything."

She held his eyes and smiled gently, tilting her head as she looked up at him. Okay, he was tall...it might hurt in the future if she had to take these conversations with him standing. "Do you have a problem sharing with a girl?" she asked, taking a breath. Close to the real question she wanted to ask. Had to be close enough.

"I don't-- I don't understand what you're asking," Kohl said in his matter-of-fact timbre. He shook his head the whole time he spoke. "What role would gender play in a sharing? It might be hard to share with selfish people. Maybe. There's no difference in my ability to share with boys and girls. ...Also, share what?"

She chuckled and pulled back, opening her arms. "Share the space! I mean, I am annoying. I do my makeup in my bed, I sometimes end up being a total slob, I love being in my nightie if I am off duty..." she searched his face for a long moment. "And I mean...a man and a woman sharing...what about the shower? I like long ones...and when I am not well I will be living in that shower..."

The absurdity of the question evoked a single laugh from deep within Kohl. But in his shattered emotional state, it came out as more of a good-humoured scoff. "Dude, you just described me," he said. Kohl waved his arms around, pointing out the clothes on the floor and his exposed chest. "I'd have a harder time sharing with a person who wanted scheduled shower time, or scheduled tidying. ...If you're not sharing the shower some morning, I'll go find someone else who will share with me."

"Are we talking about sharing showers now?" Aria winked and smiled as she moved back. "I don't think I am quite what you're looking for..." she said with a warm smile and took her makeup bag, watching him. "You know, we can get on easily if we just stay honest. So...Hi. I'm Aria. I love music and dancing and I snore a bit and I shower for ages and I get grumpy once a month...I like partying and I can bring either a boy or a girl home..." she shrugged and smiled warmly. "But I will never lie to you about anything."

"Now, what are we going to do if you're feeling inspired to bring someone back here? (Or vice versa?)" Kohl asked, side-stepping an introduction of his own. He was gripping a small shoe in one hand and he was scouring about on his hands and knees for the one that would match it. "I suppose I could sleep in the sonic shower, but you might want to bring your company into the shower... I don't know how this works. I always had my own quarters before."

She chuckled as she watched him with humour. "Or...pray it is someone with their own quarters," she said and poked her tongue out. "Don't worry, I am not planning on hooking up with anyone. Have to focus on my work..." she frowned, shaking her head.

"Is this a new plan? A plan that hasn't been implemented yet?" Kohl asked. There was a skepticism to his tone. It wasn't that he was doubting she could do it, but the tilt of his eyebrows questioned if such a plan would be good for her overall well-being. Unafraid of loaded questions, he asked, "A plan inspired by recent... consequences?"

Aria looked at him with shock, blushing furiously before frowning. "Not that it matters much. And no, I didn't sleep around with the wrong person and got kicked off my old ship either," she said, sharply, moving to her bed. Inside, she was a bit angry. Okay, massively angry. She was trying to be funny, to cheer him up. And okay, maybe she overshared a bit. He was difficult to judge.

Kohl didn't follow Aria with his eyes. He stared at the space where she used to be standing, and his facial expression went slack. He straightened up his kneeling posture in a movement to get to his feet. Kohl took a couple of steps towards the head, and he said without emotion, "I think I will take that hot shower now." He shrugged his tunic the rest of the way off, as he padded through the doorway. Sharing a living space with a girl was the easy part. It was the sharing everything else that was so complicated.


[OFF]

Ensign Aria Rice
Security / Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

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