Card Games

Posted on 18 Jul 2016 @ 3:04am by Commander Thiago Teixeira & Commander Jayla Kij

1,621 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Talons
Timeline: MD 4 : 1900

Jayla sat alone in Talons, reading. Again. It seemed she was reading a lot lately. In fact, she'd been doing a lot of reading since coming to the Black Hawk. Was the ship just conducive to reading or was she in the mood to read? Perhaps both.

Tonight's great read was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. She'd been hooked from the first line. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." Who wrote like that except a genius? She was two chapters in and hadn't yet been disappointed.

Five kilometers was all Thiago could get through. His mind was too distracted to focus on his run. He'd intended to do twice that. But his inability to keep his thoughts centered on the task at hand forced him to call it quits. He grabbed his towel and tossed it around his neck before leaving the gym. He normally didn't run on treadmills, much preferring the holodeck to incorporate scenery and some faux realism into his exercise routine. But today, he'd gone with the easier choice.

He wasn't in the mood to be alone in his quarters, again, so he headed for Talons. He wasn't sure who would be there; maybe he would be able to meet some new people. He just hoped they wouldn't mind his appearance; light blue sleeveless t-shirt and black shorts were not, in his experience, typical in ship lounges. Especially not immediately post workout.

Arriving at Talons, he quickly surveyed the room to see if he recognized anyone. He felt a big grin creep onto his face when he spotted a certain Trill physician sitting, by herself, reading. He approached her quietly.

"We meet again, good Doctor," he said finally.

Jayla blinked and looked up to see the new XO standing by her table. "Hi!" she said cheerfully. "But, we're off duty. Please, call me Jayla."

"Fair enough, Jayla," he replied, purposefully overemphasizing her name. "Call me Commander," he joked.

"Fair enough, Commander, she replied, eyes dancing. "How was your day?"

"Mind if I sit?"

"Not at all," she said with another brilliant smile.

"My day was good," he answered honestly. "I think it's better now, though," he said with a playful smile. He leaned forward, closer to the Trill woman. "How about you?"

Ah, a flirt, was he? "Also better," she said; two could play at that game. "I've got everyone on half shifts so they can rest up and one of my nurses has taken it upon herself to enforce my personal schedule. I don't mind so much, but she's strict!"

"She cares about you enough to nag. It's not a bad thing, Jayla." He looked at the empty side table between them. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Sure, why not?" replied Jayla after considering it for half a second. It wasn't that she minded men getting her drinks, but she hadn't been entirely sure she wanted one. But, she thought, what the heck? "Surprise me," she told him cheekily.

Thiago's hand flew up to flag down a waiter. "Two maracujá caipirinhas," he requested. As the waiter scooted off to get the drinks, Teixeira looked at Jayla. "I assume you like passion."

Jayla blinked, surprised. "Uh... who doesn't?" she said, slightly confused.

He could see the confusion on her face. Instead of explaining, he decided to let the drink do the explaining when it arrived. "So, dear Doctor, tell me about yourself. What makes you tick?"

She grinned. "Gosh, if I knew that, I probably wouldn't be here," she said. "But, as for a little about myself, I've been joined for over half my life, I enjoy sports and Doctor Who holonovels and my sister is my best friend."

A sister? he thought. Interesting. "What sort of sports? I try to stay active. Have to counteract all the food I eat somehow."

"Mostly tennis," she answered. "But, I also enjoy rugby and zero-G handball. I attempted the super-ice version once and it is ridiculously difficult. I mean, imagine that aside from no gravity, the walls, floor, and ceiling are made of ice."

He smiled, again. "I'm not much for tennis myself. Most of my physical activity is of a less competitive and more solitary nature. Running, cycling, swimming. I also practice capoeira."

Jayla's head tilted to one side. "I'm not familiar with capoeira," she said, mangling the word rather badly. She grinned. "I can't even say it properly. What is it?"

Her reaction caused him to laugh. "It's a martial art, but it's more than that too. It incorporates dance and acrobatics too. It is quite beautiful."

"That sounds fascinating," she replied. "I'd love to see it sometime."

"I'd be happy to show you sometime. Maybe I can make a capoeirista out of you," he said with the a sly grin.

She grinned. "That sounds like fun," she said. "I tried dancing in secondary school. It was fun, but in the end, I stuck with sports. Still, this sounds like a combination of the two."

"You look like you'd be a great dancer," he said, slyly. "Perhaps we can go dancing sometime too. I don't know if I'm a very good teacher, but I can try. There's nothing like swinging your hips to some good music to brighten any day."

Still flirting was he? Or maybe not. Jayla didn't care. She was in the mood to flirt. "I think I'd like that," she said with a saucy little smirk. "If you think you can teach me to swing my hips, I'm willing to learn."

"Excellent," he replied, loving that Kij was flirting back. Before he could say anything else, the waiter reappeared, caipirinhas in hand. Thiago thanked the waiter and motioned to the glass in front of Jayla. "Enjoy."

Jayla grinned again, this time at the drink. Carefully, she sipped it and her eyes lit up even more. "Ooo, that's good!" she exclaimed. "It's sweeter than I would have thought." She took another sip. "Mm," she moaned happily. "So good."

Her reaction caused Thiago to laugh. Not just a chuckle, but a serious, solid laugh. "You weren't lying when you said you like passion, were you?"

She giggled. "No," she said, still not completely understanding. "All girls like passion. What's in this, anyway?"

"Maracujá is passion fruit," he explained. "If you like that," he said, pointing at her glass, "I've got a dessert you should try."

"Ah," she said, finally figuring it out. "A dessert, you say? With this stuff? Count me in!"

"Shall we call it a date? Dancing and passion?"

Normally, after a break-up, it wasn't a good idea to jump right back into dating, but as Jayla had told Harvey the previous day, it hadn't really been like dating. So, by extension, the break-up wasn't really like a break-up, either. Neither of them were hurt over it. Neither of them really felt any differently, really. So, Jayla grinned again. "Sure," she said. "A date. As long as we can have more of this stuff," she added, indicating the drinks in front of them.

"We're going to need more than one date," he said, before listing off the things they were going to do together. "Dancing, desserts, capoeira, more dancing, more desserts, hopefully more drinks...," his voice trailed off. "Definitely going to need more than one date."

"Oh, definitely," she agreed cheekily. "There's no way we could cram that all into one date if we took a week's leave. I'd say three at the very least. Maybe six, if you play your cards right."

"It helps if I know what the game is, dear Doctor," he fired back.

Jayla chewed her lip for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything cheeky. "Go fish?" she said lamely, then laughed. "Sorry, it seems I've run out of smart ass comments. So, I suppose, the game is... I like you. Keep it up and I might keep liking you. How's that?"

Thiago raised an eyebrow. He liked what he was hearing. "I'm not going to complain, Jayla. Another drink?" he asked, shaking his empty glass in the air between them.

Jayla looked at her own glass to see that it was nearly empty. "Wow, I don't remember drinking the whole thing," she said. "Okay, one more, but that's my limit."

Thiago looked around for a waiter and, catching one's attention, raised his glass to signify that he wanted another round. "So, dear Doctor, when should we have our first date?" he asked, his gaze returning to her brown eyes.

"Well, we're about to head into a nebula and look for some ships," she said, trying to not sound worried at the prospect. "Which could put a damper on things. On the other hand, we could probably use some down time to let off some steam and destress. What do you think?"

"What I think, Jayla, is that we should play it by ear. If we get some time to sneak away for a bit, we should take it," he responded, playfully. "After all, blowing off some steam might be exactly what the dear Doctor ordered."

"It might just," she replied with another cheeky grin. "I do tend to order that sort of thing from time to time. Granted, it's not usually with me, but for you, I'll make an exception."

He responded with a smirk as the waiter delivered their second round of drinks. "To you, dear Doctor," he offered, raising his glass. "And to new...friends."

She grinned, eyes sparkling. "And to you as well, Commander," she added, lifting her glass slightly to touch it to his.

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