Janus Meet

Posted on Saturday, 13 March 2021 - 6:13pm by Crewman Leopold Eberhardt & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears

Constantine had been given guest quarters whilst his ship was being 'fixed'. He would be a fool to do business properly whilst on a Starfleet ship. He also knew Adrianna would be watching and now that she was a 'Fleeter', she'd inevitably get him arrested.

Adrianna was indeed watching and had felt nervous about him being so close, so she'd arranged to continue life as normal. Thankfully Leopold was on a similar shift pattern to her lately, so they were going to meet in the lounge after work for a drink. She hadn't told him that Constantine was here, let alone who he actually was to her.

Leopold gleefully entered the lounge where Adrianna had said to meet her when he was finished with his shift. Crewman Matthews had arrived ten minutes early and was willing to get a head start. So, Leopold left a few minutes early. When he reached the lounge, he proceeded to order a drink.

Then, he gave another look around. Adrianna had already been there waiting for him. He snatched up his mug of a carbonated beverage, proceeded to where she was and flashed her one of his affectionate smiles. "I got a bit early, but don't report me to Soral."

"Naughty," she teased, "how dare you put me in a position where I must lie to cover your ass." She leant over and kissed him, "work OK?"

"It was the same old stuff as always, but you know me. I don't have the most exciting position aboard. I still am a bit distracted. My parents keep coming up on my mind."

Adrianna smiled and reached out, holding his hand, "we'll get this sorted soon. I promise. We do need to talk, though, about the guy giving us a ride to Ekos."

"Someone you used to know," stated Leopold. "Or at least your family knows of. That alone tells me he's an unsavory type. What about him?"

Adrianna wasn't sure how to explain without putting Leopold off, "we grew up together. He's a few months older than me. We umm--" Her eyes caught sight of Constantine. Their eyes met and Adrianna stiffened up. "I guess you're about to meet him."

"I guess that I am," replied Leopold. He had a suspicion as to what she was going to say.

Constantine sat next to Adrianna, uninvited. He had a charming smile. "Adey," he kissed her cheeks, "this him?"

Adrianna took a breath, "yes, this is my fiancé, Leopold. Leopold this is Constantine. He's our ride."

The Russian muttered something in Russian with a smirk that made Adrianna blush a little, and try to mask her cheeks by taking a sip of her drink. Constantine smiled offering his hand, "sorry, it's a pleasure."

"What, no kisses for my cheeks?" countered Leopold who eventually gave in and took the man's hand. "Decent handshake. You have a worker's hand, firm and a bit rough."

Constantine chuckled before responding properly, "I could say the same thing about you." He looked at Ade and said something in Russian.

Adrianna tried to steer the conversation to remain in standard, and so replied as such, "no, I haven't. I was in the process of telling Leopold when you interrupted."

Constantine looked back to Leopold, "she's beautiful, but she can be bad with words. Whatever she says, I'm sure it wasn't that bad... At the time... Well, maybe."

Adrianna fidgeted a little and ran her fingers through her hair. This was uncomfortable, but she wasn't sure which part of this was the worst. Ex meeting the present, or just Constantine being there in general.

"She is just overprotective," Leopold said. "You are a reminder of her past, and by the way she's recoiled, I am going to guess you two knew each other very well. Why she thinks I cannot handle that, I don't know."

Constantine grinned and looked to Adrianna. Adrianna took the hint and reluctantly gave the rest of the story," Constantine and I were close. Our fathers always tried to push us to get married, but we didn't have the same outlook on life."

Constantine rolled his eyes, "I was her first everything and she didn't like that fact. She wanted to explore and left me for some security guy that worked for Baciami."

Adrianna sipped her drink, wanting to just be invisible.

"So, you were the appetizer to my main course," commented Leopold. "Like the little cocktail weenies they serve on Earth at dinner parties, cute but forgettable. They just make you want a real bratwurst when you get the opportunity."

Adrianna almost spat out her drink. Constantine stiffed up a little and coldly replied," perhaps, but being that it was only a few months ago that we last saw each other and seemed to enjoy flirting, I'd hardly say forgettable. So perhaps it's more that I am the bench mark."

Adrianna blushed and ran her hands through her hair, "that was to get that orb of Bajor. I was doing my job."

Leopold shrugged. "Sometimes we have our old classics we fall back on, but who am I to judge. You may be the bench mark, but I'm endgame."

Adrianna smiled at Leopold. He was end game and she just loved how he was holding himself. "Yes you are."

"Gawd get a damn room," Constantine rolled his eyes, "at least I'm not a Nazi wanna be."

Adrianna glared at Constantine. She knew his feelings towards Ekosian, but she'd hoped he wouldn't have stopped so low.

"That is not anything that I want to be," Leopold replied sharply. "The Federation caused that. My people were victims of foreign influencers puppeteering them over the edge. I may be from Ekos, but their views are not my own."

Constantine smirked and downed the rest of his drink muttering something in Russian. Ade just continued glaring at him and watched him stand to leave," sooner the better this is over, hm?"

Adrianna waited for him to truly be gone before groaning some choice cuss words under her breath. She reached out and took his hand, "I can fly his damn ship. He can have an accident after we leave."

"Baciami's are good at making accidents happen," Leopold said. "Though I'm sure you know that."

"I may have to give you a demonstration," she teased before turning serious, "you going to be OK? He's going to push you. He likes the game."

"Like your brother," Leopold replied. "Maybe the two of them should date and leave us alone. They would be a good pairing."

Adrianna snorted, "they hated each other growing up. Like seriously hated. They'd be beautiful together." She contently sighed, "thank you for being you."

"Gladly," he replied. "If he wants to continue to play games, let him. He's outnumbered two to one, and we're better at it."

Adrianna felt like a very lucky person. She'd had thoughts about how the meeting would go, but none had ended as well as this. She was grateful that Leopold could hold his own and she was even more grateful at the fact that he was not easily offended.

She looked her fiancé over and just smiled at him, "definite end game."