Supper Time

Posted on Tue Mar 30th, 2021 @ 8:58pm by Lieutenant Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Commander Chire

4,200 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Personal Quarters

Previously...

His shoulders sagged in relief and promptly his cheeky smile returned to his lips. "I know, though its fun to tease you sometime. Saying that you do a good job of pulling my leg too. You certainly had me going for a moment." Dylan unstrapped his wings and flexed his stiff arms. "That would great if you don't mind, will help soothe these aching arms," he grimaced slightly noting how damp his uniform was for the first time. "Though I wouldn't stand too close I must stink."

"I don't smell anything. And my sense of smell is more acute than a humans. I just smell . . . you." She gave a small shrug. "But you are welcome. After this we might need to take a break for a few days. I think I will start to feel sore myself," she said as she led him out the holodeck as her wings tucked back into place so she could walk down the corridor without knocking people over. She sighed. "I could do with a good brushing too."

Now the Continuation...

Dylan nodded as they fell into step together: "A rest will be good, I'll also try to stay away from dizzying heights this time," he joked. "Sorry if I hurt you back there, I was a bit of an idiot."

"You did not mean to. And nothing is broken. I have broken my wing before, it was not fun. You can still feel where it broke, or I can. There is a slight bulge though they said the break was cleanly set. Come, we will shower . . . separately," she couldn't help but give a little smile about that. "And we can sit and talk about us."

"I guess this puts a whole new aspect on this dinner we agreed," he glanced sideways. "It's now an official date. I'm excited already."

A date is what Chire had meant when she asked, but as they had figured it out she did not answer him about that. As they entered her quarters she pointed toward the bathroom. "You can go first."

Half turning to direction she pointed Dylan questioned: "You sure you don't mind?" He then paused and asked: "You have towels, right?" It occurred to him it was unlikely she required them with her feathers. "I can just replicate some otherwise, I need some clean clothes anyway."

"You will need to replicate some. I have a special dryer for my feathers." Chire said, unsure why it was making her blush, but it was. "And yes, I'm sure. Go ahead."

"You have a special dryer?" he echoed with curiosity crossing over the replicator. "Like an oversized hair dryer? Bet that tickles."

"It's too powerful to tickle. It feels heavenly. I don't get cold often but when I do I just stand under that and I'm instantly warm. It also makes my feathers fluffy, which pleases me," she gave a small smile and shrug. "Enjoy your shower."

"Right," Dylan nodded returning back to his senses having been distracted by the fancy drier. He collected his items from the slot and crossed toward the bathroom, a faint smile still lingering on his face. Who would have guessed his day would end up like this?

Chire busied herself with thinking about a meal. The only thing was, she wasn't sure if she should make a meal for Dylan. She had not seen him eat very often and did not know what he might like. Most humans ate a variety of things but what if he were vegetarian? She decided to wait and just rest, refill her own body with fluids she might have lost during practice and otherwise feeling anxious.

The hot water from the shower felt blissful, a rare treat for the junior officer as the jets thundered against his skin soothing his aching limbs. The sense of cleanliness and refreshed sensation was certainly something sonic showers couldn't replicate. Another perk of being a senior office Dylan mused leathering his hair or at least dating one. He still couldn't quite comprehend the turn of events, one moment he was worried she was going to leave the ship and shattered their friendship then the next they broke the unspoken barrier between friends and stepped into the realm of something more serious. It was certainly and odd day he concluded savouring the running water caressing his face.

He keyed the dial, stepped through the curtain of mist and readied himself quickly recalling in a rush he was a guest despite what had transpired it would be inappropriate to linger under the hot water too much, beside she wanted to use it later. Still rubbing his damp hair dressed in comfy civvies Dylan returned into the main living area where Chire was waiting. "That was amazing," he said before returning the damp towel into the replicator. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed it. Did you want a meal? I can program the replicator while I shower. I'll be quick," she replied, not wanting to keep him waiting.

"There's no hurry," he assured her. "We can fix something after your done." The suggestion had made him feel suddenly hungry, he suspect she could hear his rumbling stomach from her position.

He flopped down on the sofa, lent back enjoying its comforting embrace while the shower ran in the second room. Dylan's movement disturbed a fluffy orange feather from the depths of the furniture. It was different to the one she'd presented to him before, that one was larger, stronger and smooth. This one was considerably smaller and softer like a down designed to insulate underneath the tougher exterior feathers, as he lightly fingered it he wondered if Chire knew how human's had utilized feathers to bring warmth and comfort previously. He could understand why she needed that fancy drier, so many layers that needed drying thoroughly.

He wondered what it looked like and how it worked, the thought caused him to sit straighter and peer around the room as if expecting to see it in plan sight. Truthfully it was likely located in her sleeping area a space off limits he concluded slumping back down a shade disappointed but respectful of Chire's privacy.

Chire didn't dawdle under the warm water. She hurriedly rubbed it over her feathers and head then stepped out under her drying machine which fluffed everything up quite a bit. She came out holding a unique wooden brush with bristles that were very wide apart to fit in the gaps between her feathers. She wasn't wearing a stich of clothing, but then again she was covered in feathers and no one could see anything. Her arm twisted behind her to begin brushing as she entered the living space where Dylan sat holding a small feather. "You must have a collection of those by now," she joked.

"You'll be wanting lockets of my hair to start you're own next," he chuckled lightly rising to meet her.

"Maybe not lockets. But I could use it for nesting material." She reached up and brushed his hair a little with her hand. She was of course completely joking but it highly amused her to tease him. "So . . . .a meal. What do you like to eat?"

"Nesting..." Dylan breathed feeling the now familiar heat rise to his face again. She was just playing, right? Otherwise this had really just leapt up several gears, thankfully Chire moved the subject along but the tingling sensation he'd felt as she brushed him lingered. It was then, in that long moment before he answered he noticed for the first time she wasn't wearing any clothing. He didn't quite know how to respond, she technically wasn't naked, the orange plumage covered every inch of her body the clothing were just an accessory much like a coat he'd wear in the cold. Still it was new to see her like this, natural, relaxed, he just had to convince himself to unwind too.

Certain his cheeks were glowing like a candle Dylan tried to focus on what she was saying, her blue eyes probing him for an answer; he licked his lips groping for words much as he did on the holodeck earlier. "Yeah, something to eat would be nice. Just skip the dairy it make me queasy."

"The Creoli can generally eat most Human foods but what I like most are steak and fruit if that will suffice?" She saw his expression was still colored and laughed. "You are too easy to tease. I will try to behave myself. I have no immediate plans to nest. I am not even sure how that would work . . . something for a later discussion. But I did ask you here to talk about this relationship thing we seem to have gotten ourselves into. I wanted to know if there was anything I should not do?"

"Wait, you like steak?" he asked surprised his embarrassment momentarily forgotten. "I had you figured at a vegetarian. You're certainly full of surprises, I'll need to keep on my toes. Though I get the feeling you enjoy watching me squirm," he shook his head slightly privately enjoying her toying it was amusing after all.

Accepting the offered plate Dylan sat at the small table and continued: "I don't think there's a right or wrong thing, relationships develop on they'll own or at least that's my experience. Have you been with someone before?"

"No, We eat meat often, it is a regular part of our diet. And no, I have not. I attempted to a couple of times, but they were not interested." Chire said, busying herself so she did not have to look at him in that moment. It was an area of great pain for her and she had nearly given up that she would ever find someone who liked her when Dylan had walked into her life.

"I see," Dylan replied noting how the conversation had made her uncomfortable, maybe one day she'll reveal more until then he wisely dropped the subject. He wanted to stretch over the table and take her hand but reconsidered: "They'll were fools, missing out on your wicked humour, big heart and attractive features. They'll loss is my gain."

"I was a fool but I am much happier spending time with you." She put a bowl of various chopped fruits on the table. "Thank you, " she said flattered. " I would say those things about you as well but what I love most is your curiosity and your calm demeanor. I do not like men who are easy to anger. And, I do like messing your hair. It's so soft."

"It takes a lot to make me see red," Dylan shrugged slightly. "I'm not except from loosing my cool every now and again nor am I immune to fear. When the Spock was attacked I didn't think we'd be coming home again, being left adrift, damaged and powerless was the worst, felt like we were on borrowed time." He fell quiet his eye fixed on the fruit as if lost in the memory of the event. "I'd rather been killed in the assault than suffer afterwards."

"Goodness, what a cheerful subject we've gotten ourselves into. Sorry. It's in the past. And you are okay, thankfully." Chire briefly put her hand over his as she sat down. She had been really worried about him when that had taken place, but she didn't want to dwell on it. "I hope your meat is cooked enough. I prefer mine rather rare but I cooked it a bit more as to not gross you out."

"Sorry," he muttered sheepishly pushing aside the memory. "You're right, that's all in the past no point raking it over again when there's loads to look forward ahead." He twisted his hand to cup hers before she could withdraw it. "It's not very often someone special cooks me dinner."

"Oh it was no trouble and you've had an . . . emotionally charged day." Chire did find herself completely distracted by his touch. She had been quite used to her family members grooming each other back home and it had been a long time since she'd experienced the touch of another person. She found herself just staring at him.

"You could say that," Dylan replied with a smile then gave her hand a gentle squeeze, she seemed transfixed like a rabbit caught in the headlights. "You OK? Cat got your tongue?" he asked.

She blinked, shook her head and then frowned. "Yes. But there are no cats here." She gave no indication about whether she was being serious. "I was just thinking."

His lips twitched noting how his comment clearly went over her head. "What were you thinking?"

"That it had been a long time since I felt the touch of anyone. As a fledgling and amongst our kind it is common for those who are close to us and members of our family to brush our feathers. I had not thought of that in a long time."

Brushing the back of her hand with his thumb causing the small feathers to stand upright Dylan lips curled into a smile: "A happy memory I hope."

Chire looked down and watched his thumb. She nodded. "It almost seems like a lifetime ago, but yes, a happy memory. And that tickles, move your thumb the other direction. Down as apposed to up. Actually, wait, I have a better idea." Pulling her hand away she rose from the table and picked up the brush that she'd discarded when she came out of the bedroom. "Here."

Briefly Dylan inspected the unique brush with its wide thick bristles and rubbed a finger down its length testing its resistance and composition. "How should I use this?" he asked. "Downwards too, or in a pattern to go deeper?"

"Just lightly is fine, until you get the idea. It can go deeper, it's designed to fit between the feathers and smooth them down. But any pressure would feel good. I'm sorry, I kind of took over your dinner but it's been ages since anyone else brushed me. "

"That's alright, dinner can wait," he explained keen to allow her to enjoy the moment and memory of home. He wondered if the Creoli practised community grooming similar to primates or if this was more of a private experience.
Standing Dylan rounded the table to be directly in front of her and gently lifted her arm before stroking her feathers with the brush softly as directed: "This OK?" he asked glancing up.

"Yes," Chire said, just blinking slowly. Her brain went a bit fuzzy, but after she had gotten used to the sensation a little bit she began thinking of things she could do to repay him. Finally her mind settled on making him something. Perhaps a traditional Creoli woven blanket? "That will suffice," she said after a few minutes. "I don't want to keep you from your meal."

"I promise I won't starve or fade away without subsistence," Dylan joked laying the brush aside and retaking his seat unable to hide his smile that Chire had accepted his invitation to hold his hand. The joy he was currently experiencing had out weighed his hunger.

"I know. But most humans like their meat warm. And we have all the time in the world," Unless of course the ship blew up. But she didn't allow herself to say that out loud. "Huh, I've been around humans too long, I've picked up their cliche's." Chire sat back down in her seat as well and watched him for a moment. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you are welcome to stay here tonight. I know you don't sleep well in your current situation and I don't need to use the bed. You can have it."

"We have a habit of rubbing off onto others," he chuckled. Her offer was sorely tempting just like it had been all the times before she'd made the same suggestion. He'd been polite and had always declined not wishing to intrude on her personal space and her privacy. Today however Dylan wanted to change that, aside from the baby steps they'd taken to express their feelings of attraction to one another he'd seen beneath her generous heart, playful banter and sea of orange feathers Chire was hurting. She was lonely, shunned and rejected from her people and an outsider among her peers teetering to fall further into the abyss of depression.

He couldn't allow that to happen.

"Thank you, I'd like that very much."

Chire smiled, pleased that he was not worried about image with the rest of the crew. "Tell me about your family. Do you have siblings?"

It was odd Dylan realised that they hadn't covered this topic before especially as she'd been forthcoming with her own background. "My family are dedicated to serving the Federation, both my parents and older siblings are posted on active Starfleet ships, it very hard to see them in person as you could imagine but we try to correspond over subspace whenever possible." He explained. "I'm the youngest of three and was the closest not to follow in the tradition of serving - I nearly dropped out of the Academy or should I say close to being kicked out." He shrugged his shoulders at the memory. "I wasn't exactly the model student, landed myself in hot water on several occasions."

"Really? That surprises me. You are so . . ." she struggled to find the right word. "Collected, calm, I am not sure I can explain it properly. I don't think of you as a trouble maker at all. So what did you do?" She was very curious, even leaning forward slightly, her food all but forgotten.

Cutting a slice off his steak Dylan smiled at her response. "I was quite the joker, as the youngest I used it to gain attention from my parents. Normally it would be harmless stuff a scare, impromptu soaking you know friendly stuff just for chuckle." he struggled chewing on his meal. "Remember I told you when my classmates burned my hair on my birthday with the cake candles? Well it wasn't the only thing that caught alight that evening." Dylan cringed at the memory. "They'd stupidly disabled the fire suppression system I found out later so when I batted the flames from myself they spread and before we knew it the room was blazing. Naturally, because it was my dorm I was deemed the culprit despite my protests. I'd already had a few black marks against my name before this, one more and I was out."

He cut another slice: "You're not the only one who can't hold their liquor," he glanced up. "In my first year having never been exposed to so much choice and freedom off campus I had.... a few dust ups with the locals or other cadets, hence the black marks on my record."

Chire turned her head slightly studying him. "How different we were as youths. I was never the top of my class but I always tried to stay under the radar of anyone." Chire shrugged, her feathers poofing out slightly and settling down again. "It doesn't matter, everyone makes mistakes in their lives. That's what living is all about, learning things and moving on." She finally took to her steak, not caring that it was cold.

Dylan nodded in agreement: "Learning from our mistakes might sometimes been a painful lesson but sure as hell works."

She smiled. "What else don't I know about you? Now I am very curious. What is your favorite meal and favorite color?" There were two very good reasons for asking this. The first was that she could prepare meals in the future for him and the second questions she asked because she wanted to make him something.

Her interrogation was amusing as were her fluffy feathers, he was intrigued to know if she had any control over their behaviour if it was a reaction to how she was currently feeling. Reserving that question for later Dylan answered them honestly: "I love Italian foods, pasta, tomatoes, olives, bread that sort of thing though it hard to single out a clear favourite. My favourite colour is a bluey green like a sun soaked ocean, it reminds me of the rare holidays we took as a family."

"Good, I will make note of that. I have never seen the sea. Perhaps you should create a holodeck program of your home and we could visit it?" Once he had given his answer however, her mind was wandering to future meals and the item she wished to create for him.

"Wait, what?" Dylan asked surprised, so much piece of steak he was about to eat sat forgotten on the fork. "You've never seen the sea? You don't have any oceans on your home world? Did you not explore at the Academy? The Gulf was right outside the window."

"No, just the great river and lots of underground water. And I did quite a few of my classes on Psi Epsilon III, not on Earth. I . . . I will admit that perhaps I'm a little bit cautious about so much water. On my planet we have that safety net of the trees after all. I'm just not used to so much water and although I float what if the current were to take me out so very far?"

"That makes sense," Dylan nodded polishing off the last of his meal. "I'm sorry if I sounded a little rude, I just found it strange that you'd not seen an ocean before. I can't really argue as I grew up on a Starship but we'd try to go back to Earth as much as possible to see grandparents and other family."

Pushing aside his plate he continued: "I'd love to make a holo program to show you what it's like and maybe we can answer that question about how far the current could take you and how to prevent if needed."

She narrowed her eyes. That didn't sound like a lot of fun to her. But it was only a holodeck program and the safeties would be on and he would be there. "Alright, I think that's acceptable."

Catching on that Chire wasn't keen Dylan backtracked: "I mean we could work to eliminate your concerns perhaps, but only if you wish to. Otherwise we could explore the beach, collect shells that sort of thing."

"No no, I need to face my fears and this is just a test. It's not a real ocean after all, it will mimic it but there is no danger of me drowning or getting lost at sea. And after I have been tortured we can look for shells." Chire joked. "That reminds me of you picking up that feather shortly after we met. Do you still have it?"

With the corner of lips twitching at her humour Dylan nodded: "Yes I still have it, though I don't have it with me. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. " Chire grinned. "I was curious if you'd keep it. At the time I would not have realized how odd it might feel for you. It's not like picking it up on the beach because after all you know me. "

The human paused trying to put his thoughts and feelings into words. Idlily he played with his cutlery: "You're right, its different to finding a feather discarded by a wild bird. I considered it a gift and therefore shouldn't be treated disrespectfully," he explained. "It occurred to me later it was a rather personal item to give away, I felt humbled as we'd only just met. After the punch incident I..." he paused swallowing awkwardly. "I wanted to make sure you're were OK, I felt indebted after you saved me from Targaryen and his wife, plus I'd insisted we'd drink. I felt guilty that I'd put you in sickbay."

Chire barely remembered the instance of stepping in and talking to the Admiral. It oddly had not entered her mind that Dylan might be shy for he was very relaxed around her most of the time unless he became embarrassed. "You did not put me in sickbay, the bartender did and it was only a misunderstanding on his part, there was no malice. You may have all the feathers you like, as long as you do not pull them out on purpose." Chire smiled as she finished her meal. In truth she was getting a little tired. "I think I will curl up and try for some sleep. Do you need anything? You can replicate it."

"I'm sure I can manage," Dylan smiled. "Thank you for the meal and the invitation of staying tonight."

"Oh no trouble at all. Not at all." Chire returned the smile and moved to set up her bed.

"Sleep well," he said standing while stretching. "I know I will in that luxurious bed going spare."

She grinned and nearly decided on pulling a practical joke on him while sleeping. But, perhaps some other night. She settled herself down on the sofa, pulled her wings around her so that her head disappeared and fell right to sleep without another word.

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