Marvelled at a first date (Part 2)

Posted on Friday, 20 November 2020 - 4:26pm by Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Ouroboros

Ryan was utterly pleased the rest of the day, and didn’t even complain when Amanda scoffed at him and demanded to do something with ‘that mop on the top of your head, my god Ryan, when was the last time you saw a barber’

Scarlet had been in a little world of her own for the rest of the day. Something drew her to Ryan. He was cute, and forward, but somehow still gentlemanly. It had been a busy day, but thankfully, the engineer had her civilian clothes in her locker and soon went out to meet Ryan

He may have let his sister style his hair, but he did not let her dress him, thank you very much. He was layered as any Bay Area boy knew to dress and was casual but well kempt. “Hey.” He made his way to Scarlet as soon as he spotted her. “Do you have anything in mind?” He asked, before offering up his idea.

"You said you're from near here," she replied, "I only transferred here a few weeks ago." She subtly looked him over. He looked different in civilian clothes. It was nice.

“Alright then. I’ll just have to show you the sights. Well sight.” He amended. “You don’t hate the beach or anything do you?” He asked.

"Gawd no," she chuckled, "only thing I hate is the sun. Being ginger means I have the same issues as vampires in that respect."

Ryan laughed. “Well you are in the right area for that not to be a problem.” He led her to a transport and they made their way to the beach he was most familiar with, less than 2 miles from Jack and Bev’s home. He kicked off his shoes and threw them in an open cubby hole at the ‘start’ of the beach. More or less a place for transports to park, a few food vendors were there, etc... “Come on.” He smiled encouragingly. “You have to have a corn dog if you are here.”

Scarlet did the same and followed him, grinning, "what the hell is a corn dog?"

Ryan led her to a small stand and ordered four, handing 2 to her. “batter covered and deep fried hot dog. Delicious.” He took a bite and groaned his appreciation. “I’ll diet later, so worth it.”

Scarlet looked it over, visually analysing it before taking a bite. A few seconds later, she nodded an appreciation, "ok, I get it, they're good! Gawd I'll get fat here."

Ryan snorted. “Fat and happy though.”

"Mm," she agreed, then swallowed to talk, "very happy."

They started off down the beach, apparently Ryan knew where he was going. They weren’t overly close to the ocean, but the waves lapping against the sand offered a slight background noise. “So, you said you’ve only been here a few weeks, what about before that?”

"I was in a research facility on the London campus. I was with a team in London, about 10 of us, all working on the latest tech stuff. Starfleet disbanded us so we could start implementing and see first hand what doctors need instead of us just doing what we wanted," Scarlet replied,"decided on the change of scenary."

“I have a list as long as my arm of things to go over with you, but no shop talk, or atleast no deep shop talk.” He smiled.

Scarlet chuckled, "I think I prefer my feet on Earth not some ship. Though maybe one day I'll go to a station, I don't know. Do you not find it claustrophobic on a ship?"

“No. I’ve never had that problem. My ship only has about 100 crew. I do miss this though.” He looked down and wiggled his toes in the sand.

Scarlet smiled at that, "I understand. How long have you been out in the stars."

“Well other than missions, six years. I just got to see my niece in person for the first time.” He smiled.

"Congrats, uncle Ryan," she commented with a grin.

He smiled back. “Do you have any family here?” He asked.

Scarlet shook her head, "no, just me." She smiled, "assuming you have a sibling."

“Yes, as any younger brother will tell you, a very annoying older sister.” But he was grinning, obviously teasing.

Scarlet snorted, "I can imagine. So tell me more about you."

“Ummmm” Ryan hemmed. Not really sure what to share.

"Secretly do ballet? Actually a Mormon with 4 wives? Like to fight crime whilst wearing tights?" she prompted playfully.

Ryan chuckled. That had broken the ice. “I do like ballet, but from the 3rd or 4th row. I’m not even completely sure what a Mormon is, and yes. Tights and fairy boots really do it for me. I do have one x wife.”

"Was it because of the tights?" she teased a little before continuing, "I've never been to a ballet. Think my parents wanted a boy."

He smiled, knowing it was a rhetorical question. He chose to leave Amanda out of the current conversation. “Well, we’ll have to remedy that. I’m sure something good is playing nearby. What do you like to do on your time off?”

"I doodle-mostly engineering styled diagrams of random things," she replied, "I read a little-mostly comics and watch movies. To be honest, aside from work related stuff, my downtime isn't really interesting."

Ryan smiled. “That all actually sounds really nice. The last time we were at a full station, I made a rash purchase and bought a baby grand piano. The thing barely fits in my quarters and I haven’t really even had a chance to play it. Or draw, or just listen to music. Normal stuff like that is interesting.” He took her hand and squeezed it gently, then just kept his hand wrapped around her smaller one.

Scarlet blushed a little at his hand holding hers and smiled. She felt comfortable with him even though she'd only known him for a day. "My mother used to say 'make time for the things you love'," Scarlet commented.

“That is an excellent sentiment.” Ryan smiled. “I’m pretty sure Beverly thinks anything can be solved with slightly burnt cookies. Actually, a lot of the time she’s right.” He chuckled.

"That your mum's name?" Scarlet asked.

Ryan nodded. He talked a bit about Jack and Beverly and Amanda, but didn’t linger, knowing she had no family of her own. They were able to enjoy the sunset after a bit, and for Ryan it was a perfect evening.

"You know, I didn't think you'd find me after unless it was to apologise, but I'm glad you did. You're certainly a good guy. It's a refreshing change," she sat on the sand, looking out to the setting sun.

Ryan frowned a bit. “Do you not often meet nice guys?”

She looked to him with a dopey grin,"I didn't say that. I just don't meet people. I'm too focused. This is my first date in maybe three, perhaps 4 years."

Ryan raised a surprised brow. “Well I would have tried to do better than the beach if I’d known that.” He only half teased.

"You'll just have to make up for it on date two," she giggled, leaning over and kissing his cheek.

He smiled, but didn’t reciprocate the kiss. He was perfectly content to enjoy the moment and not push for anything physical. “How about dinner and the ballet?” He asked. “I think I actually have a tuxedo somewhere.”

Scarlet nodded half teasing, "I think I have a nice dress and heels somewhere. When?"

“Friday Night.” He wasn’t sure what ballets were nearby, but Friday Night was always a good bet to catch a show.

"If it sucks, you owe me some cheesy superhero movie the following night, if you're not busy," she replied, "when do you ship out?"

“A couple of weeks. I’m not busy. We can watch a cheesy superhero movie either way.” He grinned. “But if you like the ballet, one from DC”

She mulled it over genuinely considering if it was worth it, playfully. She held out her now cold hand from where the sunset had made it chilly, "deal."