Cookie Meeting

Posted on Sat Oct 28th, 2023 @ 2:21am by Cadet Sophomore Grade Dane Pines & Cadet Senior Grade Ki'ana

3,044 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: 1 - Cruising through the galaxy
Location: Dane's Quarters
Timeline: MD 01 - 1800H

The notice had come through to everyone's PADDs early in the morning. Ki'ana remembered being sleepy and bleary-eyed when she read it the first thing in the morning after waking up. She'd glazed over much of the message; most of it were details about his history and where he'd been and what he could and couldn't (and at times needn't) do, including not needing to eat, and encouraging the others to socialize with him. Strange details for someone who seemed like a perfectly ordinary human teen from the attached photo - a very good-looking male human teen, to be exact - she'd assumed without reading further that he was an android of some kind or some new alien species that'd recently joined the Federation, in which case first impressions would be of utmost importance.

Then she read down a little further, and what she saw made her skin crawl and her ganglia quiver. Oh. Oh dear. So that was why the notice had been so insistent that others socialize with this insanely handsome boy. More than ever now his first impression of his new crewmates was even more important, and she'd have to do it as soon as possible, before some overzealous cadet in security or tactical decided to barge into his room and accuse him of being a spy, what with the war brewing on the horizon. She'd booked the recreational baking room that the bakers' club held their meets in that very afternoon, made a batch of cookies and packed them up nicely - sure, he didn't need to eat, but it just felt right to bring along something as a gift.

And so, little paper-wrapped package in hand, she'd made her way to his quarters that evening after her last lecture of the day and rang the doorbell.

Dane wasn't often in his bunkroom, half because he sensed that he made his roommates a little uncomfortable, and party because his work. But after getting here early and rushing around making himself useful, he'd stopped for some R&R and to address the decoration of his bunk. Arranging a few printed photographs along his wall as he heard the bell go off.

One of his roomies would have just opened the door after a warning beep. So he had to wonder who it was.

"Enter!" he called, the computer recognizing his voice and letting the doors slide open. Looking curiously to the door and offering a polite smile to who stepped in.

"Ah! You're...Cadet Senior Ki'ana, right? Science department? How can I help you, did I miss an appointment?"

Two things stunned Ki'ana into silence at that moment. One, the picture attached to his cadet's file didn't do the boy she saw beyond the doorway justice. He could've stepped off the cover of a beachwear magazine (or some other kind of men's fashion catalogue) and she wouldn't have questioned it. Her cheeks felt hot. Was that normal? Yes, definitely. Second, how had he learned her name when they hadn't even met yet? That was odd.

"A-Appointment? No! No, no! I'm just here to say hello." Ki'ana held out the container of cookies when she next remembered to breathe. Her cheeks had to be red, they just had to be with the soreness that hadn't been there before. "I do hope you've settled in alright?"

Doing a quick check of his PADD, the Abercrombie Man read a line of something and seemed to relax a little. Standing back up to full height and giving a much brighter smile to the girl who'd come by. With baked goods no less!

"Sorry if I startled you. I was working through the species who might have special considerations, AND looked into the science staff," he offered. "So I came across your file twice."

Stepping in to the girl and grabbing the plate, Dane was quick to set it down and invite her into the room properly. Gently putting it down at a common table and pulling out a small chair for her to take a seat. Doing the same and sitting on his bunk, making use of the limited space. All smiles as he took a cookie to enjoy as they talked.

"But not quite settled yet, though. I've been a little front ended with work as we're still in Sol, getting different cadets who need a bit of extra help settled. How about you, though? I am medical staff after all, I should be the one asking!"

"I- I'm alright, thank you!" Ki'ana smiled weakly and sat with a cookie in hand. "I'm perfectly fine! Special considerations, you said? What kind of special considerations could I possibly need? I haven't yet encountered any difficulties with training and such." Except higher doorways, perhaps, but she'd never needed to bend over to enter rooms as far as she could remember.

Dane nodded a bit listening to her, and couldn't help but chuckle at her energy.

"Well, your species has a suite of much higher senses than many others. I read 10km is the upper end of how far away some can sense danger, so I made sure you didn't have any recorded snorers in your bunkroom," he offered. Taking a bite of the cookie offered and letting out a small humm of appreciation.

"Thank you again for these. They're good! Buuut I gotta know...why'd you pick me to come check on?"

"If I had such keen senses I would have never been able to withstand my father's snoring as I slept between him and my mother as a child." Ki'ana responded with a giggle. "But that being said, I am grateful. Though my peaceful sleep thus far is mostly attributed to my roommates not being physically present. Cadet Langstead, or one, is constantly in the male dorms with whomever she fancies in bed for the night." The Kelpien's lilac eyes gleamed. "As to why I chose to visit you to come check on?" He probably knew about the notice to come see him, surely. He had to have. "I merely thought you could use a new friend." She responded. "I'm not sure exactly how the rest of the crew might treat you. So I decided to make a good first impression;"

Nope! Not an idea in his little head that people were supposed to be checking in on him. It wasn't part of his packet, and honestly the captain had disallowed him from getting other department's memos. This was just as much of a test run for him as Dane as it was for him as a cadet.

"Hah! Well, the counselling office has condoms and dentals dams for a reason. But I'm glad that you're able to sleep well. I'm pretty early in my xenobiology studies, and sensory systems are the woooorst. It took me 10 years to feel out how receptors and taste," he offered.

But he did lean a bit in, head on his hand, elbow on knee. Thinking it through.

"It's been weird though. So far it's cold war. Very few people have died, yet. So no big...revenge plots. Do Cadets have full access to my science department file?"

"It was sent to us all, yes." Ki'ana admitted. "Albeit somewhat truncated. You feel safe on board, then? That is good to hear. I was somewhat concerned that the others might make you the target of suspicion or bullying or worse." Ki'ana had been lucky enough never to experience such treatment. She might've looked weird to a humanoid, but at least her people were part of the Federation. She received the occasional quizzical look and odd question but elsewise she had been treated well.

There was one more thing that caught her attention, though. She leaned in slightly with an eyebrow raised. "Condoms and dental dams? Really, now? Did you suppose that I'd come hoping to get in bed with you, Dane?" She teased, the tiniest smile curling the edges of her lips upward. Not that she would've minded, actually - but she wasn't quite the kind to get in bed with a handsome boy she'd met for less than a day.

Dane laughed at the insinuation, and played a bit into it. Looking to the female cadet with a much more mischievous smile on his face. Eyes relaxed and half lidded, looking at her with this casual knowing expression. Switching to rest his chin on the back of his hand. Practiced. Demure. He'd done this before, no doubt.

"They're to help ease comfort in interspecies relations. But I'm potentially every species, Cadet Ki'ana. Why would I need any of that?" he offered. Before that hand under his chin came up, smoooothing from chin to the back of his head. Features completely changed, now the spitting image of a famous Kelpien singer heart-throb.

"You should make sure your room-mate is aware we haven't even been in space for a week, though. If the instructors catch wind, it might affect their grade."

Ki'ana giggled and reached over, booping him on the nose. "First, there's a mole on his left cheek that you missed out. Second, you need to go a bit deeper. He's deeper than you when talking. Nice try, but not all there." She grinned. "I'm a fan. One of my aunts brought me to one of his concerts when I was eighteen. Otherwise, not bad! I love his music. Question is, can you sing like he can?" She smiled and decided to leave the sentiment there.

"Oh, and about the roommate thing? My Academy roommate, I mean, unless that wasn't you - though my current roommate doesn't snore either. So, good job."

Booping him on the 'nose' it's definitely her kind's skin. Perfectly so.

"Who said I'm anyone? Or that the person I might maybe not really am mimicking doesn't add the mole in makeup and deepen the voice in post-audio?"

Another hand on his face and he rubbed until he was human again, smooothing his hand back over his forehead and sprouting all his hair back in just the way he'd left it. Not a single strange out of place. Completely smoothing over the singing comment, too. Trying to avoid being pushed into a performance like that.

"You lost me on the room-mate, but so long as your CURRENT roommates are pacing themselves, all is well. I didn't have control over the academy dorms, I was always talking about the ship, hon."

"Well, in any case - thank you. You've done an excellent job." Ki'ana smiled. "I'm glad to not hear snoring in my ears at night. How are the cookies, by the way? I spent the afternoon making them. Chocolate chip - most species tend to like chocolate from Earth, or so I've heard."

Dane chuckled that they'd pivoted the conversation again, nodding lightly and grabbing another! Just to show he was indeed liking them, to pair with his words.

"They're good! Very soft, and chocolate was a good choice. They don't seem like replicator cookies, though. We're so shallow into our trip, did you already start a hobby?"

"I have a few already," Ki'ana replied. "I do plenty of exercise when I can, I cook my own meals, I'm planning to learn how to play the Kelpien lute soon - not much but I consider it progress," She said proudly. "Besides. We'll only have so much free time. Maybe I'll have more down the line, but I'm happy with what I now have. You? Have you found any hobbies?"

Humming lightly at that, Dane nods and seems to think for a moment. Looking down Ki'ana's legs and smirking the tiniest bit.

"Well, if you need a running partner, consider me. I can keep up. Though we might break some treadmills, I think. As for hobbies, it sounds like you have a lot! That's really great. though remember to take time to decompress, too. Our department is always here for you."

Sitting back, though, the mention of his own hobbies had him wonder a bit.

"Well, outside of training and dating, I like pranks quite a bit. I won't tell you what kind, else that'd ruin the surprise. But I'm the morale officer for a reason. Beyond that? Lots of work. There's only one morale officer in a big crew."

"You? Keep up with me? Last time anyone else tried, I left him in the dust," Ki'ana snickered. "The only other person who ever paced with me was another Kelpien - and no, turning into one doesn't count." She retorted. "So dating is a hobby of yours?" She leaned forward slightly, fixing him with her large lilac eyes. "How many girls - or I suppose boys too, if you're so inclined - have you charmed already? With your personality, I'm willing to bet many."

"It's soooo not cheating, it counts!" he laughed. Holding up a leg and showing the Kelpien as it shifted and liquified, and snapped into being as the leg of one of her kind. Tense with racing muscle! Giving a good laugh at it before putting it back down and digesting the next question.

"Wellll, I'm not gonna answer that, to be honest. Gentlemen don't kiss and tell. Plus, it'd be kind of scummy to keep track. I had a lot of fun as a teen, and at Starfleet. Absolutely. How about you, though? I'm pegging you as the 'constantly pining romantic comedies on the brain' type."

Heat immediately flared in Ki'ana's cheeks. "Uh... no comment," She stammered, wringing her hands in embarrassment. She decided not to disclose the entire box of rom-com books she'd brought with her from the Academy. Now that would've just made things worse for her. "Though people usually don't find me attractive at all. Not humanoid enough, my feet look weird, not enough chest or something like that that humanoid girls have." She sighed and deflated just a little bit. "Oh, well. That's alright by me. I'm not desperate for a partner,"

Dane grinned like he's caught the canary, chuckling and nodding to himself. Though, they started to get a bit down on themselves.

"Oh come now. Kelpiens are an attractive species, top 10 for certain, in my experience. You've got angles you're just not working, and need to build the confidence to work them. It's all a confidence game," he explained.

"Keep up with your passions, work hard at your job, care about how you look, and be good to people. Boom. The secret to genuine romance."

Ki'ana looked at him quizzically. People who placed her kind among the top ten most attractive they'd ever met in their experience often didn't have very good taste in her experience, when there were plenty of species with more familiar and more attractive faces in their immediate vicinity - but she wasn't here to judge Dane's taste in women. "I already do all of those things. I take care of my appearance, I work hard, I try very hard to be good to everyone I meet - you know that, definitely - and I like to think that I'm fairly passionate about that." She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it really is a person by person thing, hm?"

Dane listened for a moment and...slowly shook his head, actually. Just giving a smile to try and reassure them.

"Attraction physically is definitely a person to person deal, and people have different personal ideals. But those steps are universal between every species. After those steps, is just...putting yourself out there. Messing up, looking at yourself to see why you did, and then trying again."

Shrugging, he motioned to himself, up and down.

"I'm literally a puddle. I don't sleep with people who don't KNOW I'm literally a puddle. After that, it's all the confidence game."

"Confidence," Ki'ana hummed thoughtfully. "Well. I suppose there's something I ought to give more thought to. I've never been all that confident, I think, in the sense of... you know, sexy confidence. Being comfortable in your own skin and letting it show in your posture and things." She shrugged. "I think I'll have to start reading up on that and finding out how, I guess,"

"Well, I can't find it for you. Counselling staff and self help literature can help for sure, but the answer is still going to ultimately come from YOU," he offered. "I mean, I was SUPER anxious my first time courting someone. Just...hugs were too hard, I was awake at night not sure how to do this or that, insecure about them using my shapeshifting to fulfill that or this."

Chuckling through it, it seemed like they were fond memories. "Eventually, I messed up so much I learned how to communicate and advocate for myself. How to hold myself. I still messed up. A LOT. Like a LOT a lot. My first girlfriend could tell you stories for hours about my mess ups. You'll build confidence on the failures, soon as you make friends with them."

"Okay." Ki'ana replied dumbly. So she did have a lot of work ahead of her - more than she'd expected. Fine by her. She hadn't gotten here without a lot of effort on her part. "Well, um." She glanced at the chronometer on the wall. "Well, it is getting quite late - talk again?" She asked with a small smile.

Dane looked as well, and slowly stood up, nodding a bit as well.

"You hit the nail on the head. I'll let myself out. But we'll see each other around, I'm sure! Keep an eye out in the mess's board for my activities. I'll be holding games, events, animal therapies. Lots. Unless there's anything you needed before I go?"

"You mean I'll let myself out. These are your quarters, silly." Ki'ana retorted playfully as she stood and began to make her way to the door. "I don't need anything at the moment, thank you - though it has been lovely speaking to you. I hope you'll enjoy the cookies!" She slipped through the door, and vanished down the hallway.

Dane just took a moment and looked around, chuckling. So they were. So they were.

Off:
CDT (Sr) Science Officer Ki'ana

CDT (Sph) Morale Officer Dane Pines

 

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