LtCmdr. Talos Dakora - Burning Questions
Travis
((1700 Somewhere Beach Bar, Risa))
Talos and Alroyo were seated at a kitschy little tiki bar as he made good on his promise to buy her a drink for what she’d done during the mission.
As they had waited for their drinks, the conversation had gotten a little personal, and the Helm Officer became the newest in the still-relatively-small circle of people who knew about him and Samantha. He wasn’t shy about turning the question around on the redheaded Bajoran.
Dakora: What about you? You have someone waiting for you at home? Or are you one of those married-to-her-job types?
She let out a soft sigh as she studied her drink.
Lyara: Married to nothing at the moment it’s… well… I believe there's a phrase from the man who inspired this bar. “Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame.”
Feeling the tumultuous mixture of feelings emanating from his drinking partner, Talos could certainly relate. Despite deftly avoiding commitment and attachment for most of his adult life, it finally caught up with him these past couple of years.
Getting older was weird.
Dakora: I’ll drink to that. ::He raised his shot glass.:: In good faith!
Alroyo raised the glass in kind and offered a response to the stereotypical Betazoid affirmation.
Lyara: To fortune and good health!
Talos was no stranger to whiskey, nor was he ignorant to the Bajoran penchant for spicy foods. But as the fiery liquid hit his tongue, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d just made a huge mistake.
There was the usual burn of high-proof alcohol, of course– but the spice-infused after-burn set his mouth alight. He managed to swallow the monstrous spirit, just before he descended into a coughing fit.
Dakora: Holy… ::He turned away to cough a few more times.:: …strokes! That stuff isn’t messing around.
It wasn’t quite as bad as the final stage of that hot wing challenge he and Addison had entered back on Cait, but it was pretty damn spicy.
The burn continued down into his chest as he sought to quench the fire with his fruity little cocktail. He’d only just begun to feel better when his slightly unhinged Bajoran companion signaled the bartender for two more.
Lyara: That wasn’t replicated either. It almost got me. ::She let out a giggle:: I’ll have to see if I can somehow get a bottle home with me.
Already a few beers in when Alroyo had found him, he felt the familiar tingly-warmth of a good buzz settling over him. Maybe he could do one more of those shots. Probably. Maybe.
Dakora: Yeah… ::He laughed.:: I like my whiskey to burn a little, but not quite that much.
Having regained mostly regained their composure, his attractive red-headed companion returned to he previous line of questioning.
Lyara: So commander, now that you and Sam are an item, your time on Risa a little more tame?
Talos leaned a little more heavily on the bar as the drinks did their thing, sipping from the curly straw that jutted out from next to the little umbrella of his drink, then casting a sidelong glance in her direction.
The good vibes and good drinks had him feeling talkative, which could be dangerous.
Dakora: Yeah, you could say that. ::He grinned.:: It may be hard to imagine now, but the last time I was here– back when I was an Ensign, like you– I went a little wild. ::He chuckled at the memory.:: I may have shown up to a crew function hungover and covered in body glitter at some point.
He set his now mostly empty drink back down on the bar top with a slightly devilish smirk.
Dakora: But yes, suffice it to say, I’m leaving my… uh… horg’ahn at home.
She seemed sort of preoccupied with something as she played around with her equally flamboyant drink before asking another question.
Lyara: And I hope you don’t mind me asking but, how’s the whole “beta quadrant to delta quadrant” thing gonna work for you two? I imagine it’s a little hard to start a relationship that far apart.
He winced slightly as she hit on the exact issue that he’d been worrying about the most lately.
Talos and Samantha regularly sent each other messages, but with the comms delay live communications or video calls were pretty much impossible. It wasn’t a showstopper, but it was certainly a challenge. The little surprises caused by his missing his injections back around Frontier Day had them trying to build a relationship after the fact and that definitely wasn’t easy with the distance between them.
Sooner, rather than later, something would have to give.
Dakora: I… I don’t know.
He paused, mulling over the question some more– an act that was made slightly more difficult by his increasing inebriation.
Dakora: We keep in touch, but that Delta Quadrant delay doesn’t make it easy. We’re figuring it out though. ::He laughed and shook his head.:: We kind of have to, you know? With the babies on the–
He realized what he’d just said moments after they had drunkenly tumbled out of his mouth, but the damage was done.
Lyara: Response
Talos may have been good at keeping Starfleet’s secrets, but apparently, a few drinks were all it took to spill the tea on his deepest personal secrets.
He splayed his hands and motioned for her to keep it down as he quickly looked around to make sure there weren’t any other Artemis crew nearby.
The bartender chose this moment to set two more double shots of the Bajoran nightmare-hellfire-liquid on the bartop in front of them.
Dakora: That’s not public knowledge yet, so keep it to yourself, please. ::He eyed the shots with concern.:: What in the Four Hells is in that stuff? Truth serum?
Lyara: Response
With at least a few seconds having passed since his last bad decision, he pointed to the shots and raised an eyebrow.
Nothing eased the pain of oversharing like getting hammered.
Dakora: Well, now I’m ready for round two.
He picked up the glass with a little trepidation and held it up again, waiting for the mandatory clink from his newest drinking buddy.
Lyara: Response
Talos threw back the shot, but thanks to some combination of knowing what to expect and already being a bit sauced, he managed not to cough this time.
He was nothing if not adaptable.
Dakora: Let’s turn this thing back around. ::He settled his dark eyes on her.:: It doesn’t take a seasoned Intelligence Officer or a powerful telepath to tell that you’re working through relationship issues of your own, but… you know, I’m both of those things.
He wasn’t sure the way that some of his words were starting to run together lent much credence to his claims, but he didn’t really care at this point.
Lyara: Response
TBC
LtCmdr. Talos Dakora
(Acting) Intel Officer
USS Artemis-A
O238811CD0