Gauging Interest
Posted on Wed Apr 21st, 2021 @ 12:51am by Gunnery Sergeant Flarn & Gunnery Sergeant Gaagii & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sofia Cipriani
Edited on on Wed Apr 21st, 2021 @ 1:06am
1,517 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 11 - Family Matters
Location: The Snake Pit - Deck 9 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 1530 hrs
Sofia had butterflies in her stomach. She was nervous as she approached the main part of the marine barracks where she hoped Gaagi would be. She had struggled to get him out of her mind since they met in After 11 and she felt drawn to him.
This was not something she usually did. In fact, she had never done it before.
As the doors to the main barracks opened she went to walk through but walked straight into the chest of a Tellarite. He looked down at her and smirked.
"You lost?" Flarn asked.
"N-no, I was wondering if Sergeant Gaagii was here?" she asked.
The Gunny looked at her and raised an eyebrow before grumping. "I will go and see. You stand there before you get broken." he said as he pointed to the side of the doors.
Flarn skulked off to one of the auxiliary rooms off the Snake Pit. There he found Gaagii going over some recent engagement notes. "Gaagii the Captain's Yeoman is here for you. You keeping your nose clean?"
Gaagii rose with a smile, the smile was more for the thoughts about Sofia and less about the joke that Flarn just made. "I am staying out of trouble Gunny, I can't imagine what she is here for."
"Well better hop to..." Flarn ordered with a grunt.
Gaagii walked out to the Snake Pit proper and found Sofia there. He wasn't sure if she was here for business or pleasure. He decided to err on the side of caution and go with business. "Petty Officer what brings you down to the Snake Pit?"
As Sofia saw Gaagi she couldn't help but feel her face beam a little. Her cheeks felt a little warm and all of a sudden her clear mind became muddled.
Some eyes had shifted in their direction and it was making her nerves fire up. The hairs on the back of her neck, dry mouth and she had began to sweat a little. "I wanted to see you. Speak with you!" she corrected herself. "Do you turn the heat up down here, or is that just me?" she asked noting how warm she felt.
Gaagii wasn't sure what the young woman would want. He had two ideas, one was good and the other not so good. He hoped she was here to get to know him better, however, the other possibility was that the Captain sent her down here for some reason. As he was lost in his thoughts he realized that he had not said anything and that he should before too much time passed. "I believe the environmental controls are the same as they are on the rest of the ship..." He said while scowling to those giving her looks. "...Hey why don't we go to the RECONN lab and we can chat."
Gaagii led her into another one of the rooms within the Snake Pit. This room had a few chairs and a small table. In the center of the table was a holoemitter. It was clear that this room was used to scout out targets for the RECONN unit's snipers. When the door swished closed he turned to her with a smile. "So, this is a pleasant surprise."
"I wanted to see you." She opened with honestly if not abruptly. "After our chat at Chloe's you've been on my mind a lot. You seem different from a lot of the other men on board."
Gaagii cocked an eyebrow in appreciation. "I feel a little different." he said with a chuckle. In truth she had been on his mind since they met as well. However, in his culture it was the women who did the pursuing. So this was something he was going to have to get used to. "Thank you! I hope that you have had only good thoughts."
Her mind cast back to a dream she had a few nights ago, they were very good thoughts for sure but to bring up the details of the dream would be quite embarrassing for both of them. "Of course, always good thoughts." she smiled innocently.
"Well I would be lying if I said that you were not on my mind as well. I believe that for someone so young you must have an old soul, to make such an impression." He smiled softly not sure exactly where to go next with the conversation.
"I would say you're probably right. I love all things old... not that I mean you!" she said trying to track back a little. "I mean I read paper books, grew up with not a lot of technology around me. We lived off the land, off of what we grew and made. My dad..." she paused for a moment remembering he was gone. "He... ehm... is... was the town craftsman, speciality was in wood. Everything he made was beautiful."
Gaagii could sense the loss behind her words. "My people believe that someone is never gone. Their spirit walks with you in everything that you do. Sometimes they guide you through your animal guides. I too am a student and follower of the old ways. In fact the one thing I miss about being on a planet is stargazing. But doing it the old fashioned way, with your eyes. Making out the shapes and constellations, giving them names all of that. I am from Amerind in the Beta Epsilon system. It was there that I was able to grow up with my people in the old ways."
Sofia listened intently. She truly felt that her father was still around, and even if she couldn't see him he was definitely always in heart. "I have never been to that planet, is it nice?" She asked almost naively, obviously he was going to say yes. "I grew up in Italy. Our stars were pretty nice too. Sometimes just sitting on trips into the forest I'd sit on a cliff edge and get lost in the quiet."
"Hundreds of years ago my people left Earth in search of a less technological society. One that was perhaps less "civilized." There we lived happily until the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 came exploring. With that meeting came our return to the galaxy. However, few come to visit and few leave the planet." Gaagii replied with a smile. "I have been to Italy during training a very old and beautiful place."
"I suppose if you love your home and see no reason to leave it then you wont. I am the first in my family to leave the solar system." she admitted. "Much like your people we were part of a small pocket of Earth that didn't use a lot of technology. That's why I read paper books, like to cook from real ingredients, things like that." she added as he mentioned his time in Italy.
"I was born just outside Turin, beautiful village, surrounded by tree's, farmland. I honestly just get homesick thinking about it."
"Well then we will have to go there. At the very least on the holodeck and you can cook one of these meals for me. I am sure it will beat the MREs that we eat on mission." Gaagii just blurted it all out without thinking, that in and of itself was out of character for him. As soon as he asked he realized that he may have just asked her out on a date. Something he hoped he would not come to regret.
Sofia was caught a little off-guard by his assertive nature, it had been unlike what she had came to know of him. "Oh so naturally a woman must do the cooking?" she asked teasing him. "But yes, I think that would be a good idea. If I can make something nice that you like then I would be quite happy."
Gaagii laughed relieved that she did not rebuke him. "We can call it a cultural exchange. You cook some Italian food for me and in return I will cook you a delicious Navajo meal." For once Gaagii was relieved to have stepped out on a limb instead of being reserved.
"Well I think that sounds lovely." Sofia said as her smile widened. "I for one would love to see what Navajo food looks like."
"It looks like everyone else's food, it just tastes better." Gaagii said with a wink. "Listen we should get back before people start talking. But I will see you tonight?"
Sofia giggled a little at the modesty. She hoped the food was as good as he said it would be. "Yes, I'll see you tonight Sergeant." she said with a cheeky little wink and skipped off out.
A Joint Post By
Petty Officer Third Class Sofia Cipriani
Yeoman, USS Pioneer
Staff Sergeant Gaagii
RECONN Fire Team Leader, USS Pioneer
Gunnery Sergeant Sergeant Flarn
First Sergeant, The Cure
Rifle Fire Team 1 Leader, USS Pioneer
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