Lt. JG Om-Zora - Not the biggest on PDA
Ace Christensen
((Zeyva’s Kitchen, Clean Hall Lounge, Deck 6, USS Ronin))
To keep the peace, he let Zeyva tuck the napkin into his uniform. However, as she was finishing up, making sure he was ready to eat correctly, the door to the clean hall opened.
Thoné: Guests! Please, come and sit down!
Om-Zora looked over and saw Quentin Beck. It wasn’t that he had a direct problem with the man. He most certainly didn’t. He barely knew him, really. But he had an infamously terrible sense of humor. Technically, they had at one point both worked in the medical department. But he was somewhat unsure if Quentin Beck really knew him anyhow. They’d never really talked more than an in-passing work dynamic. Something that, up until this point, he took a little bit of pride in.
Quentin Beck, he secretly feared, was someone who could potentially make him seem almost personable in this scenario. And he did not need strangers thinking they could so easily approach him in friendship.
And he didn’t know the one called Evinrude at all, and thus had no known opinion of him formed… yet.
Om-Zora: ::in a monotone:: Evening to you both.
He would be… polite at least. It didn’t mean he liked them.
Beck: Lieutenant. ::to Thoné:: Correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't look like a medical emergency, Ms. Thoné. ::a beat:: Mrs. Thoné? I apologize, I am not familiar with Klowakhan formalities. Maybe 'Chef' is more appropriate, considering the setting?
Evinrude: ::To Om-Zora.:: Evening, Om-Zora. We haven't really been in the same room for long. ::He added affably, then turned to Zeyva.:: Representative. ::Then Robin.::
Robin double-checked the crispness of her napkin as the younger of the two men nodded at her.
Evinrude: Tess Evinrude, I don't believe we've met.
Robin: Lieutenant Tho- ::Clears throat:: Just call me Robin.
Om-Zora: I didn’t realize there would be more people.
Beck: ::under his breath:: You and me both, sister. ::clearing his throat, louder:: I, uh… brought a bottle of Andorian wine as I was given no parameters for what I should bring. I hope that works.
Om-Zora was close enough that he could hear what was said under Beck’s breath, and he froze for a moment. He felt slightly exposed. He knew Beck was one for sarcasm. He was pretty sure it had nothing to do with him. And yet he felt exposed. No one ever really referred to him in a feminine manner. He didn’t know how he felt about it. Conflicted. Mostly because he didn’t like feeling like he was having a warm feeling in front of people he didn’t know very well.
(But didn’t everyone have a possibly illogical little wish to be seen differently than they were?)
oO No time for that now. Oo
So Om-Zora shoved that feeling very deep down and ignored it like always.
Thoné: Ah, my taste-buds! An interesting selection. I shall source some fine chalices for this.
Evinrude: Yes, apologies for arriving empty-handed. I didn't realize this would be...a party. Zeyva Thoné, always full of...surprises.
Robin: You may want to hold that thought, Lieutenant.
Thoné: Plenty more to come! It’s going to be an evening of delightful food
Om-Zora: Well, you know what they say. Birds of a feather, and all that.
oO Why did I say that? Oo
He immediately cringed internally. He’d been spending too much time with Dekas and Odette recently, and he was certain it showed just then.
Beck: So… what's on the menu, Chef?
Thoné: To start, a selection of Cardassian Quale Eggs, harmonised with the essence of Sweated Bajoran Moba Fruit. For Mains, I shall pair your wine with a roasted hogfish on a bed of Lemon-Soaked Terran Potatoes and assorted vegetables. Finally, for dessert, Vanilla Ice cream with sprinkles.
Robin: Sounds beautiful as always, mother.
Om-Zora nodded. It all sounded nice, but for lack of better worded options with a beak, Om-Zora had something of a sweet tooth. He was possibly looking forward to the dessert especially. Though he did know the rest would be good, too. Zeyva was Klowahkan, after all.
Evinrude: I'm afraid the broiler isn't ready yet, trouble adapting the fuel supply safely. But we've got some solid equipment installed, surely enough for such an...accomplished chef.
Om-Zora would give Evinrude one thing. He certainly didn’t mind speaking his mind to Madame Thoné, and Om-Zora almost respected him for it.
Thoné: Well, that’s bitter lemon man. But a chef never blames their equipment, only their ingredients and customers.
Beck: Okay, then… do you have any specialties? I am a bit of a foodie myself, so I'm willing to try something I've never had before.
Robin smacked her wing against her face. Apparently, Om-Zora had much to learn about Klowahkan sensibilities about these things. Because that was evidently the wrong thing to say on Beck’s part. Om-Zora assumed Beck was generally used to saying the wrong thing.
Robin: You… You shouldn’t have said that, sir.
Robin's reaction was met with an equal opposing reaction from Zeyva herself.
Thoné: Ah, a foodie! Finally, someone on the ship who makes sense! You’ll have to come back, alone. Yes?
Beck folded his arms together on the table just in front of him, fingers curling against his elbows.
Beck: So… what's the occasion? I've never been pranked into a dinner before…
oO I have. Being friends with Dekas is something else. Oo
Evinrude: Wait...pranked? ::Tess smiled, ignorant to the circumstances.:: Do tell...
Robin: ::Bluntly:: She thinks you two are gooey lava cakes for each other.
Evinrude: ::Looking more confused, but still smiling.:: Oh, no no, Quentin and I are...acquainted. We shared a rather...intense experience on Bajor, some time ago.
He knew what “intense experience on Bajor” meant. He’d been on the ship at the time, and heard about it later from Dekas. So it was one of the few times Om-Zora felt an urge to nearly laugh. He didn’t. It wasn’t that funny. Certainly not funny enough to give someone the satisfaction. He stayed straight-faced the whole time. But wording it like that did not help Evinrude’s case at all to anyone who didn’t know about the experience on Bajor.
Robin: Oh, a holiday? A Lover's retreat?
Om-Zora: I don’t think they’d call it that.
Beck/Evinrude: Response
Robin: Ah, my apologies.
Om-Zora: I wouldn’t apologize. Beck certainly has a reputation. It’s an easy mistake. And they are… a handsome couple now that they’re here. By human standards, anyway.
He was going to let them assume what they wanted about what it possibly meant for Aurelian standards.
Beck/Evinrude: Response
Robin gazed at Om-Zora, putting her wing around his back. And Om-Zora had to force himself to remain nonplussed about it. He didn’t have issues with Robin, per se. He was, however, not the biggest on PDA toward him. Especially when the people around him were notably not people he considered friends.
How Om-Zora kept managing to attract the touchier birds to him, he didn’t know. And how he kept finding himself fond of them in one sense or another was even more perplexing. Perhaps he had a type.
Robin: Yeah, we’re an item. He’s my little sour-cake.
At the very least, it was something to be considered. But then Robin hadn’t really courted him. Nor had he truly courted her as of yet. Not enough time for either of them to really do so since they’d met. But he did… like her. And for the moment, in this room, he supposed technically, logically they were an item for this social outing. The same way that Zeyva had made Beck and Evinrude an item for this social outing.
Robin kissed Om-Zora gently on the head, and he leaned down to make it easier without thinking about it until after the fact. And he didn’t make any moves to seem “embarrassed” about that fact. If he didn’t give it attention, no one else would need to say a thing about it, either.
Om-Zora: Thank you.
Beck/Evinrude/Robin/Thoné: Response
And then there were glasses for the apparent alcohol. He felt some mild judgemental thought about humans and their need to imbibe in situations, but Om-Zora still took the glass offered to him, and looked at it for a moment.
Om-Zora: Well, typically, I don’t like drinking for a first outing. But I suppose the point of this is dinner. So pour me one. ::a beat, realizing a distinct lack of politeness on his part:: Please.
Whether or not he actually drank it would be the real question. He hadn’t decided if he thought these people were worth it. But he figured it might be nice to at least have a glass of something to chug down in case Quentin Beck said something particularly stupid.
Beck/Evinrude/Robin/Thoné: Response
Tags / TBC…
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(OOC: For posterity’s sake, I love Beck dearly as a character. Very entertaining and charming. Om-Zora is just a judgy bird. All thoughts and feelings are purely in character lol.)
Lt. JG Om-Zora
Science Officer
USS Ronin
J239802D12
Pronouns: They/she (player), He/him (character)