PWD #08: Not rated for this conversation... (PG-13)
Not rated for this conversation..
Summary: A couple of pilots get to have some teasing fun with a young NCO. Nothing but trouble can come of this.
Date: 28/12/2012 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: None
Eric Cassie Madeline 
Mess Hall - Deck 3 - Battlestar Orion
The Crew Mess on the Orion is one of the larger rooms meant for occupation. The room is far longer than it is wide with the classic stainless steel tables that can be seen anywhere else on the ship, standard to all navy ships. Most of the chairs match, their padding on the seats worn down after several years. Towards the rear of the room is the food prep area and serving lines. During the time in between meals the Mess will serve midrats, or 'mid-shift rations', such as sandwiches and drinks. Coffee pots are left to run at all hours to keep people going as needed.
PWD #08

Ok, so. Eric. It's a relatively quite time of the day, all things considered - so it was probably not without too much difficulty that the blonde's managed to find himself a table all to himself. And there he sits in off-duty greens, the blouse off and tossed haphazardly over chair next to him. Then again, his solitude might also be due to the fact that he's got a wide swath of what appears to be plain butcher paper spread out on the table in front of him, upon which a greasy mess of … what is almost certainly not food spread out upon it. Bits of metal, rods, sand-casted sections, bolts, hoses and tubes, all apparently meant to fit together in some manner yet, quite obviously, _not_ right at this moment are arranged in a neat, if invisible, grid pattern upon said paper while he fiddles with brushing out a honeycomb apparatus that seems to be mostly made of aluminum and gunk. And, every so often - just to justify his presence in the mess hall - he snares a loaded potato skin from a nearby plate and pops it into his mouth. Hey, dirty hands couldn't make the things any _more_ greasy, right?

A shambling, near-zombie-like figure shuffles their way into the mess and through the room, winding their way around people and tables as if on auto-pilot. The target is eventually acquired and the path takes the tired pilot to where the coffee dispensers are found. A mug is picked up once there and the first cup is poured, it only after all that's done and the first sip is taken that Cassie looks around. Nothing of interest is noted at first but then she notices Eric and the mess set out before him, that gaining her interest. She starts to work her way around the tables again, this time meaning to come up beside him so she can give his project a little inspection.

Coming through the chow line, Madeline is making sure to load up on the fruits and water. She wants to make sure she fits in her chosen clothes for tonight's party, after all! Noticing Eric, she pauses for a moment. Yes, he's an officer, and it's totally against the rules.. but damn, she can sit with him, at least? Even if he's being a grease monkey. Coming over to the adjoining table, the Lance Corporal offers up a warm smile. "May I sit here, sir?" she asks. Not a bit of meat on her plate.

And Cassie is offered a smile as well, "Morning, sir." the little redhead offers to the Zombssie.

If he's not wearing the shirt, is he still an officer? It's not like he does that Marine thing and has his stripes _tattooed_ on his shoulder or anything. Ahem. Right. Whatever the case, the project at hand looks to be some sort of vehicle part; and judging from the amount of black grit that's accumulated on it, probably a ground vehicle. It is, in fact, a carburetor - if one has sufficient experience in old internal combustion engines to recognize it; but it's too small to be anything military. It's even too small to be out of a conventional car - more likely, it's from a motorcycle or something similar. Whatever the case might be, lifting the core to eye level and peering through the vents, Eric follows through with a light puff of air before scrubbing at it once again; only then sparing a glance to the first woman to approach; giving her a quick once over and lopsided little smile, then letting his attention drift on to Madeline. She gets a moment longer of consideration, then a brisk nod "Sure thing. How's the day findin' you?"

Cassie's own return smile to Eric is quick but warm, it then given to Madeline. "Hey," she greets them with a quick wave before claiming a seat. No, she doesn't ask permission but looks like she just might get up again if Eric gives protest to her presence if how she poises herself on the edge of the chair is any indication. "Hobby," she asks him quickly, not wanting to interrupt him if he's in a zone, the query poised swiftly. Another look is given to Maddy, then. "How are you doing," she asks of them both even though she's looking at the former actress.

Maddie remembers you from the other day, Eric! So yes, you still get a sir. Settling down, Madeline pops a slice of reconstituted apple into her mouth. "I'm well, thank you both for asking sirs." But even as she says that, she's taking out some paper and a pen to start to writing a note in script. "..how are you both doing? Going to Charlie's tonight? I hear it's a big party there tonight." She smiles.

Then her attention turns to what Eric is building and her nose wrinkles. "Are you building a new gun?" She doesn't know a carburetor from an alternator. Before the military, she probably thought that she turned the key, the magic hamsters trapped in each tire made her car go. Poor hamsters!

He certainly does not seem to mind the company; nor does he appear to be too very engrossed in what he's doing. It's more a rote, muscle-memory sort of thing; physical activity that's been undertaken in such a repetitive fashion over such a protracted period of time that it's become all but second nature. Somewhere along the line, though, he does drop a hand to slide the plate of potato skins <more, plate of bacon, cheese, assorted herbs, butter and sour cream piled on the thinnest sliver of peelings so as to make themselves worthy of the menu item title> towards a more positional-neutral position on the table, before offering a fractional nod to Cassie, first. "Yes 'n no. Had an old offroader when I was stationed on Aerilon that I need to reconvert back from usin' TVO." Then, to Madeline, a quicker flash of that half-edged smile. "It's a carburetor; alot of the old engines used 'em before they went to injection models. They adjust the air and fuel mix before sendin' it into the cylinder. This one I modded to run on tractor vaporizin' oil when I was dirtside - but that stuff's impossible to come by off of an agri world, it seems."

Eric's choice in food is eyed warily, Cassie looking as if expecting them to jump off of the plate and attack her. "I see," she utters before she manages to shake herself out of her stupor. "I never got into the whole… biking thing, myself. But it must be fun." An elbow is braced upon the table and her hand used as a chin rest, her gaze lowered as she considers the question about the party. "I might," she drawls after a bit of thought. "I would have to do some sim time first but I can probably squeeze in an hour before the to-do." And who knows… maybe she'll be lucky and be able to attend with a cetain Major.

It's one thing to discuss JTACs, targeting reticles, and humping through the brush. That is stuff that Madeline understands. Everything that Eric is currently saying might as well be in the legendary lost colony language. She tilts her head, much like a puppy, and pops a thawed out blueberry in her mouth. Oh face it, he could be reading from the phone book and she'd pay attention. But still. Cassie's comment snaps her back. "Oh, I hope so. I want to have some fun tonight!" she admits with a giggle. "I took the morning JTAC duty just so I could get over there tonight and still have time to get prettied up."

Back to Eric, she tries, really hard to translate. "So.. the carburetor? It takes the oil, and uhm.. greases everything up to make it go?" she asks, starting to reach for one of the parts to study it more. "Does this connect to the battery or the engine?"

"Mmn. I'd love to make it tonight, but I'm on patrol." Eric allows after a momentary shake of his head; letting the silence linger for just a breath before picking back up. "Oh, I was into everything back home - biking, snowmobiles, cats, you name it. If it's got an engine and a control yoke, I can crash it." There's a faint upturn of the corner of his lips at that whilst he sets the metal chunk down and snares another skin; popping it into his mouth and nomming idly for a moment. Crystal blue eyes sideline towards Madeline a moment later, however, before he continues "Engine. In a normal unit it'll mix the gas with the air intake and feed it in. This one's been modded to run on a different kinda fuel - see, here;" He selects a peculiar, pot-bellied nozzled thing from the mess of parts before him. "Farm vehicles usually run on this thicker, kerosene stuff rather than conventional gasoline. The fuel needs to be vaporized before it gets to the carb; this feeds in the exhaust to do just that. Not as efficient as a regular engine, but there was alot of it."

"Now I regret never having gotten on a bike," Cassie grumps, pouting slightly. "Ah well. I grew up being into art so it probably is a good thing I didn't get into anything too dangerous. Can't draw if you got a cast on your arm or whatever." Sniffing, she reaches out and dares to poke at one of those potato skins, her brow creasing. A glance up from under her lashes puts Madeline back into her line of sight and she watches her, curiously. "I could definitely use some fun," she says at the same time the food is poked at again, her face relaxing. "Been putting so many hours in trying to keep up with Duke's training tempo. Doesn't exactly leave a lot of time for recreation."

"My paw used kerosene back on the farm.. before I was whisked away to Caprica." Madeline admits. "Stuff smells terrible." It's all she says as she chews on another blueberry and follows it with a strawberry. "Recreation is what you make it, sir." she offers to Cassie. "Like last night, I wanted some cardio, so I went to the pool and challenged Ensign Dolly to ten laps in the pool. I won, and he has to do my laundry for a month. And I got my exercise." A bright smile at that.

The potato skin does not, as a matter of note, poke back. Nor does it shriek with the hollow scream of ten thousand lost souls. Just saying. Straightening slightly while scrubbing his fingers clean - relatively speaking - on a nearby napkin. "Have one. Shouldn't kill you _too_ quick." He might be joking, maybe; that lopsided little smile certainly remains plastered right where it had landed. "But yeah, I hear that; most of my off hours have been buried in Lawn Dart tech manuals. Figure we need to get sorted on those things - and sooner's probably better than later. Still;" There's a jerk of his chin towards Madeline there "She's got a point. If you're going to exercise, might's well have some fun doing it - or at least find someone to grind beneath your heel and make your personal servant… unless, y'know, they're one in the same thing." Then, turning back to the redhead, he follows through with another nod "Yeah, it does; but it was a heck of alot cheaper and easier to get ahold of on Aerilon, and I figured I was stuck there for at least a year and a half so - went ahead and modded."

There's a blink and then a shake of Cassie's head when she realizes that there's a bit of misunderstanding where the subject of training is concerned. "Not that kind," she says while politely turning down the offered food with a lift of her hand. "Flight training. A lot of my free time has been spent in the simulators." After the explanation is given she downs a bit more of her coffee, the sweet, wonderful nectar of the gods, the only reason she's awake at the moment.

"Oh." Madeline says, and then a little pink tinges her cheeks. "Sorry, thought you meant PT." Snacking on more of her fruit and chasing it with water, she seems to be avoiding those oh so delicious looking potato skins. She nods to Eric's explanation to things. "Oh, okay!" she finally offers. It's the totally safe answer.

"Yeah. Got a line in with an ECO to run some of the Pred sims with; but until then I've just been cramming the tech specs. Most of them seem workable; but there are still a couple of practical considerations that sort of bother me about the things. Still, we'll see how it comes out in the wash. And, hey;" this, followed by a cut of his gaze towards Madeline "Flight training can be PT - especially if you're live flying in atmo." Smirk. Again. Ever so slightly.

"Between patrol and sims, I feel like I get ridden hard and put away wet," Cassie points out, that said just before the last of her coffee's partaken in. The empty mug is set down close to the plate once it's no longer of any use to the pilot, left alone for now. "You should see us once we come out of the birds, Madeline. Drenched in sweat, muscles sore. We feel like we were put through a marathon." Pause. "Or an all-night frak session." The latter is added without so much as a blink, it said in total dead pan.

Madeline gets a little smile at Cassie's comment. "I dunno, it's been so long since I've had a good frakking, I think I might have forgotten what it feels like." She shakes her head in amusement and draws in a breath to finish off her fruit with a fresh peach. Mmm, the privilege of celebritydom. "But I'll do that if you're waiting for me when I get back from a week in the slop with no shower, razors, and whatever we forage to go with our rations."

"Yeah, and…;" pause. Blink. Eric's gaze shifts from one woman to the other; then back again, then over once more before he grabs not one, but two, skins and crams them into his mouth. Chomp. Nom nom. Such continues for a few heartbeats longer until one hand raises, index finger extended "I…" pause. Again, as Madeline starts in; followed by another quick look towards her as well. Swallow. Swallow is good. Ahem. Clearing his throat briefly, a quick series of blinks follows through before he tries again. "Well. I would just like to say that…" the gaze flashes from one, to the other again. "I support this line of thinking, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter?"

Cassie could play one-upmanship and comment on how long it has been since she's been frakked but refrains, the pilot not really in the mood to flaunt the fact that the last time she was with a guy was when she was still in art school, her lack of a sex life a direct result of being too career minded. No need giving anyone any reasons to tease her, after all. Besides. What could she say? 'The last time I got frakked you were still in elementary school, Maddy'. Yeeeeeeahno, not going there. She almost figures out something to say instead but Eric jumps in, causing her to facefault, giving her fellow flyer a bit of a double take and then she just laughs. "Gods… did you… did he… just say that?"

Madeline blinks, not expecting that from Eric. She nearly chokes on her water and coughs as she looks up at him and then over to Cassie with big blue eyes. "I think he did." she says with a small chortle. "Maybe we should get him a subscription to Presidential Suite Confidentials." she winks at Cassie. And she can't be that old.

"What?" Completely innocent now, despite the up-ended grin - showing just the barest hint of teeth - that's soon covered by another chomp into one of those steadily depleting potato skins. Swallowing this time before trying to speak, Eric glances from one to the other again before continuing "Pilots are the only folks you'll find who'll talk about nothing but frakking while in the cockpit, and nothing but flying in bed. It's true. So what's wrong with that?"

Cassie grins lopsidedly. "I'd like to call bullshit on that but I know you're right," she mutters to Eric, her cheeks going a bit red. Granted, she hasn't done anything since becoming a pilot but she knows he is telling the truth. "And there's nothing wrong with it, I suppose." A quick glance is given to Maddy to make sure she's alright as well as to catch her reaction to what has just been said. "You do know you're supposed to swallow that, not try to breathe it, yes?"

"Yes…" Madeline manages, coughing a few more times, her pink tinge turning red as she looks down. "Are you two sure I'm rated for this conversation as a poor NCO?" she asks with a laugh, as she glances around for something and settles on sipping on more water.

"Hey, if you can't participate - at least you can get frequent updates. Or, y'know. Live video feed." Ahem. Right. That coupled with a slight tilt of his head and a shift of his attention from Cassie to Madeline; then, a beat later, a doubletake to Madeline. "Ack. Stop that." Yes, a definite ack - spoken, rather than sounded out; coupled with a straight armed index finger point to her rising blush even as he reels back like a vampire from the sun. "That's just too, too adorable. Really. Shouldn't be legal." He even goes so far as to clap one hand over his eyes - peering out between two fingers for a moment; and even as the posture fades back to normal, the hand remains in place - naturally - as he turns back towards Cassie. "But… hm. I dunno, maybe this conversation _is_ above her clearance level. Think she should be suitably punished? Six lashes mebbe?" Dry, deadpan, but probably not in the slightest bit serious. Maybe.

Cassie rolls her eyes as Eric gushes, that expression very genuine. "Oh for frak's sake," she hisses before putting her head down on the table, arms used to cushion her face as she does. "No," she eventually grunts, voice slightly distorted thanks to the close approximation of the table to her mouth, "we've said too much. Flogging won't do. We need to airlock her." Alright. Now that's a joke. Hopefully it'll be seen as such and no one will get their panties in knots.

Madeline listens to the ideas of punishments, looking between the two, and smirks. She swallows her water, and listens to the ideas, and everything. And then she draws in a couple of breaths and says simply..

"It's only fraternization if I'm on top."

And she leaves it at that as she sucks on the juice out of that peach.

"Whosuckwhatwhere?" Yes, he went there; almost completely straight-faced apart from the upturn of the brow. And, of course, the palm of his hand still pasted to his face. The gaze seems leveled on the collapsed Cassie for the moment or so then; before he turns back to Madeline a breath later. "I dunno; why not a flogging and _then_ a vac? And, technically speaking, is it still fraternization if it's two girls?" Honest questions that need answers. Yep.

Cassie is not a prude but damnit, this conversation is rapidly approaching the threshold of what she can handle. Thankfully her face is still hidden so neither Eric or Madeline can see how red her face is getting. "I think we better dial this down a few notches," she muffledly suggests, not wanting the wrong people to hear this. Never know who is within ear shot and all that frakking nonsense. At Eric's question she lifts her head slightly, her eyes narrowed. "Do not even get your hopes up," she hisses, trying to sound angry but instead comes across as anything but.

Madeline agrees readily, as she looks between the two as she looks down and finishing off her peach and putting the pit to the side. "Yeah.. don't." she can't really even finish that statement, the idea has her blushing again.

"Too late." The response falls out, probably, unbidden before Eric abrubtly shakes his head and reaches for one of the last skins. The expression sobers briefly - slowly, in a vague trickle, but discernably through a few moments of silence before he continues; punctuating the statement with a slight roll of a shoulder. "Hey. Never said _I'd_ be involved; it's been my experience women don't generally talk so freely about it around guys they're actually interested in - friend zone 'n all." The tone seems more musing than anything else; a statement for the sake of being a statement before he chomps down on the skin and swallows, finishing with "So. Yeah. Carburetors."

"I'm into guys so if you're hoping to hear me talk about a hot night with some babe while in the head you're going to wind up finding yourself wanting." There. It's out. Cassie looks at Maddy as if to say 'no offense', almost as if perhaps expecting her to be put out by how she's not… well. Yes. Sitting upright, she brushes some hair out of her face and stands, smiling as she gives Eric and Madeline both a little wave. "I got to get to the simulators and clock in some time before tonight's festivities. See you guys later."

"Likewise." Madeline agrees. "And I should get to my duty so I can spend a couple of hours primping for tonight myself. I'm sure making out with her would be hot.. but not for me, sir." She winks and stands, wrapping up her plate to toss away. "I hope to see you both planetside."

"Yeah, yeah; I know." There's a bit of an offhanded wave there despite the grin as he looks over Cassie, then Madeline. "Still, can't fault me for liking the image." The expression slips to a bit of a smirk there - more teasing than in any way serious - before, as the pair take their leave, he turns back to the bits at hand.

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