Lieutenant Commander Cadfael Peters: Of Tea and Cooking
Zeph
((Esa’s Quarters, Deck Five, USS Astraeus))
Cadfael wasn’t very good with the socialization thing, and didn’t really know how best to interact with Trill outside of work. The reason for that stemmed from a previous posting, wherein he started to fall for Ayiana Sevo. His abrupt transfer from the Victory to the Darwin put an end to that rather quickly, and although he hadn’t written to her in a while, he still felt like he could at least call Ayiana a friend.
Esa, on the other hand, he’d interacted with a little bit outside of work, but not very much. Now, after hearing about some of the shenanigans with th eChon implant, he felt like he had an excuse to go visit and see how she was doing. Her love of cake aws legendary, and everyone on the shp knew it. So, Cadfael took it upon himself to make a rainbow cake, with a vanilla interior. Now, all he had to do was actually pay a visit. With a deep breath, he pressed the thumb of his free hand to the chime.
Kiax: :: Eyeing the cake, grinning. :: Oh! Hello Commander.
Peters: Hey, Esa. I brought you something. :: Hands over the cake. :: Thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing after the shenanigans on the station.
The Trill took the cake and smiled.
Kiax: Thank you. For the cake, and your concern…
She held out an arm, inviting him inside.
Kiax: So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?
As he came in and had a seat, he smiled softly and offered a shrug.
Peters: Call it a social visitation? Checking on a friend and trying to not spend all my spare time in engineering.
Kiax: ::Laughing softly:: Yes, we are all a little guilty of that, aren’t we… Noone ever said Starfleet Officers didn’t overwork themselves…
He nodded slightly in agreement and smirked, recalling one of the rumors he heard while working on Starbase 118 Ops some time ago..
Peters: There’s a rumor on a former posting of mine that Starfleet is called “Workaholics Annonymous.”
Kiax: Thanks again for the cake… I’ve just brewed some Orange, Mango and Cinnamon tea, if you’ve got a minute to stay?
Peters: Sure. I have more than a few minutes.
Esa smiled and plopped herself down on her sofa, adopting her usual position of curling her feet underneath her.
Kiax: Weird question, but do you find space… Lonely?
Indeed it was a weird question, but then again, Starfleet ws full of weird. If weird wasn’t part of the job, he likely would’ve stayed home in England with his parents and never come out this far. However, the question did pique his interest.
Peters: In what way?
Kiax: Like, we’re here on a ship with a thousand people on board… And it feels like I know next to nobody…
Peters: A lack of friends, perhaps?
Kiax: Oh no, nothing like that. I’ve got Andrew, Noa, Trip and Money, Ishka, Wyla… Plenty of friends, but there’s a lot I still don’t know about them. ::Flippantly:: I guess that a part of me still misses Maddi, despite the fact that she broke my heart.
Peters: I… :: He paused, trying to think of the right words. :: Am sorry for your loss. I have tried, numerous times, to form deep relationships with people and every single one backfired.
Kiax: Great at friendships, just suck at building meaningful relationships, I guess.
Peters: I’m bad at both. I have friends: Ishka, Toryn, Carter, Chythar, Lael, Tim…but I agree, I know less than I’d like to about any of them.
From the other room, a silver Bengal emerged from the doorway and stretched, as the cat made its way over to Esa and meowed in greeting.
Kiax: But hey, Noodle appreciates me, so does it really matter?
Peters: Maybe I should get a pet. :: He paused for a moment, the names Trip and Money not ringing any bells for him. :: Mind if I ask about Trip and Money? I’m not familiar with the names.
Kiax: Response
As she explained, it turned out that he was familiar with the people the names were assigned to, but hadn’t heard them referred to by such monikers. Now that they’d been explained to him, it all clicked in his head.
Peters: Ah, that makes a certain amount of sense.
Kiax: Response
Peters: So, this tea combination you mentioned. Were you planning on entering it into the cooking competition?
Once the tea was poured, he leaned forward to pick up the cup and sat quietly inhaling its aroma for a moment. It had a distinct bouquet, and he was always interested in trying new teas. Since he would certainly be going on those periodic biking trips with Jesse, the tea house in that program was likely to become a favorite hangout.
Kiax: Response
Peters: I was planning on entering something, yes. You'll just have to taste and see.
It was the best he could do about being coy with what he was entering, since he'd already sent an inquiry to Shewytch about it.
Kiax: Response