Posted by Civilian Marishka (Lounge Host) in The Parthenon (Lounge/Bar)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Akirel Ros (Chief Engineer) in The Parthenon (Lounge/Bar)

Posted by Civilian Marishka (Lounge Host) in The Parthenon (Lounge/Bar)
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was sometime somewhere between dusk and dawn, between shifts, Marishka could always tell when it was between shifts. She was perched on a catwalk above the bar actually doing some cleaning. It was therapeutic on a way for her but, also, a great vantage point.

• Marishka

That time of night was Ros’ favourite to take a visit to the local bar, tavern or lounge of wherever it was that he had been over the last few years. Late enough that the rush was over but not so late it would be an empty wasteland of space. With enough time to return to his quarters and shower after the first shift of his new career on the Athena, he had decided a visit to the lounge he had heard so much about and taking his first meal amongst the crew he was to work with would be an interesting nightcap to his first day on board.

As usual, off duty Ros avoided anything resembling his uniform. Instead his attire of choice was simple jeans and a grey shirt, covered with an open, short collared and well worn brown leather jacket. Stepping through the doors to what he had been told was called the Parthenon, he paused a few steps in and looked around to get his bearings.

Dark green but intense eyes scanned the room and passed over people and tables before coming to rest on the bar, the earring in his right ear swaying slightly as his head moved, catching small glints of light in the multi-faceted surfaces of metal. It didn’t take long but the pause was there before the Bajoran stepped forward once more and made his way to the bar itself, looking along the surface as he took a seat on a stool and leaned casually forwards, elbows on the bench top and one hand covering the other as he looked at the bottles arranged behind it.

Lt Cmdr Akirel, CE

From her vantage point, Marishka had seen the new CE enter. She knew that Ted was on a break and decided to greet this one herself.

Shifting positions on the catwalk above, she seemed to appear behind the bar.

“Hello. You much be our new Chief. Welcome to the Parthenon. Which one of these bottles can I tempt you with?” she asked pleasantly.

• Marishka

“Hi,” Ros looked at her and a smile spread across his face as he did, he had been so intent on the bottles he hadn’t seemed to have noticed her appear until she spoke. He looked at her a long moment, the pause was obvious as connections formed in his mind. “You must be the Marishka I’ve heard so much about,” he smiled again. “Every person I spoke to about where was worth going to on this ship, said your name.”

“I’ll take a glass of the Código 1530 tequila, no ice,” he said and pointed to a bottle on one of the top shelves, “you can leave the bottle too if you like, I’ll be here for a few drinks.” It was an old habit of his, the first night anywhere he never spent alone in his quarters. The past few years it had been important to know the area he was working in, and now even though it was a Starfleet vessel once more, old habits died hard.

Lt Cmdr Akirel, CE

Marishka brought down the bottle and two proper glasses for it. She had noticed the way he turned the conversation but said nothing of it, that was hit right.

Noticing the two glasses she placed down, a small smile played at the very edges of his mouth but he said nothing. Instead, his eyes lifted and followed her as she moved behind the counter. His dark green eyes noting her intently. Her movements and her style, both graceful.

She moved silently behind the bar even though her arms were draped in bangles and she was wearing a shawl edged in dancer’s coins. Her long dark hair was twisted in a crown formation with copious amounts spilling down her neck and bare shoulders.

He leaned forward on the bar casually as people did when they were about to receive their drink but for Ros this time it had another reason, he was trying to place her scent. It was familiar, but at the same time he couldn’t place it. Maybe it was the long day, maybe not.

“I think I might have laughed you out of the bar if you had asked me to ice this particular tequila. The way I was raised that was simply not done.” she said as she poured, “My compliments to your knowledge.”

“Ice in any decent spirit is a no-no. If I come in here any time and ask for Ice in my drink, shoot me. You’ll know it isn’t really me.” Ros grinned and tilted his head slightly to look at her, setting the earring swaying again as his head moved.

She slid a glass and the bottle over to him and picked up her own glass.

“Welcome aboard.”

• Marishka

Picking up the glass, Ros smiled widely at her and raised it to her. “Thank you, for the welcome and the drink,” he said and took a sip. He let the fiery liquid run over his tongue and down his throat as he swallowed, feeling the smoothness, taste and heat that mingled with his own body temperature as it travelled down his body. He closed his eyes momentarily as the alcohol hit his stomach, real alcohol and not that cheap synthehol that he couldn’t stand.

“My compliments on your bar,” Ros said to Marishka as he opened his eyes and looked at her, placing his glass down in front of him. “Not many people have this, and fewer still have anything decent over synthehol. I like the place already. Good company, good drink, what’s not to like. So tell me,” he said now, resting his chin on his fist for a moment as his eyes again rested on her. Not on her hair or the skin she was showing, but on her eyes solidly. “How did you pick me out for the new Chief Engineer? I’m not in uniform, I could have been anybody.”

Akirel Ros, CE

Marishka shook her head and leaned forward slightly.

“Once I get to know you better I may yet tell you many things aobut myself but, for now, I’ll just tell you this… My staff is made up of volunteers from every department. They come here on their off hours to cook, serve drinks, etcetera. Don’t you think at least one of them would be an engineer?” she asked coyly.

“Foiled by the team,” Ros laughed. “How am I supposed to keep an air of mystery if they talk about me?” Picking up his glass again, he took another sip.

Straightening back up, she waved Ted over and slipped out from behind the bar to sit next to Ros.

“Just so you know, if you ever come in and ask for ice with a fine spirit, I will shoot you because you’ve asked so nicely.”

• Marishka

“Good, make sure you make it hurt too, just so whoever asks for ice and is pretending to be me knows how bad it is to ask for ice in a good drink.” Ros turned to face her as she sat next to him and for just a moment, he let his eyes take her in. The bangles, the shawl, the way her long dark hair spilled over her shoulders. He looked, but just as quickly returned his gaze to her face. He didn’t rush the look he had given her but it didn’t linger either. It was clear he had seen what he had decided was enough.

“You are an attractive woman,” he smiled as he gave her the compliment and picked up the drink from where he had placed it after his last sip. “What keeps you here on the Athena? You know what you’re doing behind a bar, keep this place looking amazing. Everyone talks about it. Why here? Or haven’t I gotten to know you well enough yet to find out?”

Akirel Ros, CE

Marishka sat in silence for a few long seconds. She was pleased and surprised that he had gotten straight to so many points.

“You certainly do know how to speak your mind. I’ll bet you’re just as good at keeping your own council. Well trust me, so am I and that’s helped me quite a bit. I like my job here, the travel is exciting, and when the Captain, before our present one, put the call out for somebody to run a place like this, I was at the point inm y life where this is exactly where I needed to be.”

• Marishka

He listened as she spoke, nodded to her words showing that he understood. Then, Ros picked up the glass she had given him and finished the tequila in it.

“Things aren’t worth saying unless they are to the point and on your mind,” he looked at her as he picked up the bottle she had left on the bar and poured two finger into his glass exactly, needing no measure. “And yes I can keep my own council. I’ve only recently returned to being an Engineer. Before that, speaking my mind wasn’t exactly something that would keep me alive. I value directness these days.” Holding out the bottle towards her glass, he offered her a refill and smiled gently in her direction. “I guess you might say that, at this point in my life, this is exactly where I need to be.” He gave her a playful wink as he said it.

“Hey, can I get a bowl of Jalapeno poppers here?” He asked the man that Marishka had called behind the bar when she had joined him sitting down. “The spicy peppers, deep fried with cream cheese inside? They go well with this.” Ros indicated the bottle he was holding.

Ted nodded and took the order. He liked this man’s style but wondered how far he would get with his off duty boss.

“Where did you come from before here, that this ship was so appealing to you?” Right after he asked, he paused and looked her directly in the eyes. “Tell me if I’m prying too much. I just want to learn more about you.”

Lt Cmdr Akirel, CE

Marishka held out her glass for him and returned his smile.

Ros poured her the measure of tequila once more, then placed the bottle back on the bar and raised his glass to hers, gently touching the sides together before he took a sip as she spoke.

“Well, actually, I was at a wedding. No, it wasn’t mine and no, I really didn’t want to be there but, obligations are obligations you know? Also, you shouldn’t worry about prying, I simply don’t allow such things.”

Her banter was easy and friendly, she had no reason to be concerned about Ross yet.

• Marishka

“Not your wedding?” He smiled softly at that, his eyes seeming to light up with humor. Normally a deep green, they underwent a slight colour shift as he smiled and quickly turned to a warm amber-green as the brightness behind them seemed to increase.

“I suppose that means that point in your life when you came here, wasn’t to hide from a jilted groom you left at the altar then.” He nodded slightly as he sipped the drink again. “Sometimes obligations tend to get in the way of good sense, or a good time. I guess the people here are lucky you joined them afterwards. I doubt there is a person aboard that hasn’t appreciated you being here.”

Akirel Ros