ASR: Paloma meets Lunaro and Lunaro's food

[8:30:15 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: "So," Paloma remarks to herself, "this is a pirate ship."

It doesn't look like a pirate ship. From what she's seen, it doesn't look all that different to some of the boats she flew back in college. (Though much more lived-in, she notes, trailing a hand along the metal.) "Dove, please access models-"

Her stomach growls.

"- Dove, cancel request," Paloma corrects herself, and her glasses go inert. ('Oh, sure, cancel request,' a string of text flies by at the bottom. 'Definitely don't ask me about anything now we're here captured by pirates. I can't imagine any way I could help. Go on! I'm sure you can handle it!') She pauses for a moment to orient herself, and then makes for where she's been told the kitchen is. Not too far! ... hopefully no one's been listening in on her.

[8:44:58 AM] Madeline (Splat): A door slides open on Paloma’s left, and out walks the resident cook aboard this scenic pirate ship. Lunaro is holding a stack of books under one arm, and the room he is exiting seems to be his sleeping quarters. He lets out a long yawn before noticing that he’s not alone.

He looks Paloma over before offering her a warm smile. “Hello there. You must be one of the new… Recruits. I do not believe we have met before!” He offers his free hand to shake.

[8:57:37 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: "Oh! Hello!" Paloma chirps in response, startling a little but quickly getting a hold of her senses and shaking his hand. She doesn't seem very phased by the feathers, aside from that initial jump. (As the face of Shukra & Friede, after all, it's always been in her job description to gracefully accept aliens.)

Paloma smiles back, taking back her hand after a moment. She scratches at her chin, laughing nervously. "Recruits? Eheh... well, I'm Paloma! I'm glad to make your acquaintance!"

[9:13:54 AM] Madeline (Splat): He laughs. “Charmed. I am Lunaro. I do the cooking for this humble band of ruffians and thugs.” He grins at her. “As unrewarding a task as such may be. My current goal is to make something so good the Captain is forced to compliment it.” He chuckles again at his own joke.

“Joking aside, you seem a bit lost. Can I help you find something, Miss Paloma?” He shifts his weight and readjusts the stack of books in his hands, and gives Paloma another warm smile.

[9:22:08 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: Paloma laughs - perhaps a little nervously, but who wouldn't be, in her position? Still, she smiles. "That sounds like quite the mission. And, ah - actually, perhaps you're the best person to help with this - I was just looking for the kitchen, to be honest." She turns her hands up with a little shrug. "I'm sorry if that seems presumptuous, mister chef! It's just that, um, given the trouble and all that panic and being brought in and checking everything and..." She checks off each item on a finger, before waving her hand in a hapless gesture. "Um, I haven't really eaten anything in a long time."

[9:28:53 AM] Madeline (Splat): Lunaro gasps audibly. “You have not eaten, you say? Come with me right now!”

He grabs her arm and effectively drags her down the hallway and into the kitchen, finally depositing her in one of the chairs at their modest dining table. After plopping down his stack of cookbooks on a counter, he ties his apron around his neck so that it’s properly covering his chest feathers (can’t have anything messy get on those after all). He turns to Paloma, positively beaming.

“So, what are you in the mood for, Miss Paloma?” Is he… Bouncing a little? Probably just your imagination.

[9:36:48 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: "-eep!" Paloma squeaks in surprise when she finds herself dragged down the hall, somehow managing to keep up. She settles down on the chair she's swept into, folding her hands in her lap.

"I, um..." Paloma /was/ just going to scrounge up a sandwich, but seeing Lunaro's excitement, Paloma knows she can't just say something like that. She pauses for a moment, tapping her fingers, going through the options before she settles on one which seems a better suit for a proud chef. She looks up, smiling. "Could you make me some fried rice, please?"

[9:44:20 AM] Madeline (Splat): Lunaro frowns. “Just fried rice? Are you sure?” He pauses. “Well, I suppose I can work with that. Though I hope you do not mind a bit of… Embellishment.” He shoots her a grin before turning to the cabinets and beginning to gather the necessary ingredients.

“So, I confess I do not know all the details surrounding you and your college suddenly joining our crew,” he says nonchalantly, as he begins preparing her dish, “what were the two of you doing in so remote a star system anyway? With the unruly sorts that tend to frequent these places, there are certainly safer places for a two-man crew to travel."

[9:52:11 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: "I'm not really familiar with what you have available here," Paloma confesses, "but please, make whatever embellishments you'd like. I look forward to it!"

Paloma watches Lunaro as he gets everything together. "Well, actually, the remoteness is sort of the point - or, um, it was. We're relief aid workers! We go where we're needed to help people in trouble. Well, I mean, Elizan does most of the helping, she's a /doctor/, I just get her there and talk to people..."

[9:57:32 AM] Madeline (Splat): Lunaro nods to himself as she explains. “A noble calling, if every I have heard one. Sounds like the two of you were doing good work before you ran into our crew.” He smiles sympathetically at her over his shoulder. “Sorry you have gotten a little of course, my friend.”

He grabs some sort of unknown liquid substance from the fridge, along with some weird meat, and adds both things to the pan. “Hopefully this arrangement does not keep you from your work for too terribly long!"

[10:03:09 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: Paloma laughs, shaking her head. "Thanks for your sympathy. To be honest, Lunaro, I'm surprised that nice people like you are pirates at all! Oh," her hand flies up to her mouth, "I mean, I didn't mean to imply-"

[10:06:35 AM] Madeline (Splat): He shrugs good-naturedly. “We have a lot of different backgrounds on this ship. Save for one notable exception, however, we are not especially vicious. Though the Empire will be quick to tell you otherwise.” He winks. “I suspect you know not to believe everything you hear, of course."

[10:20:00 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: "Well, yes, of course - over the years I've seen a lot which school couldn't have prepared me for. Life can be quite difficult this far from the heart of the Empire. Still, having only seen attacks... considering the law, I can't say I've ever knowingly been served food by a pirate before. It's just not safe, you know, legally, with the aggressive way criminals can be prosecuted... there aren't many people in my position who'd willingly cross that gap to hear the other side of the story."

(Somewhere in the back of Paloma's mind, a light flashes on and off over a sign which just says 'TERRIBLE IDEA'.)

Paloma laughs, trying to dispel the tension of those ideas. "And it's quite a funny story, isn't it? I mean, I've always tried quite hard to avoid this situation exactly because there are a lot of unscrupulous people around, and yet we have to clear off Yendel 5 in a hurry and don't get that thumping fixed and the engine fails and we /do/ run into pirates and you end up helping us instead of leaving us for dead? I mean -- I suppose you did seize everything but you didn't have to take us with you -- though I'm quite glad you did, obviously, and geez I'm rambling aren't I."

[10:29:23 AM] Madeline (Splat): Lunaro laughs as he turns off the stove and retrieves a plate. “Just a bit, but it is no trouble. I would not have asked if I were not interested.” He scrapes a healthy portion of the fried rice dish onto the plate, and sets about making it look a lot nicer than he needs to. Presentation is important, after all.

“I suppose we do not typically adhere to the same set of morals as the average person, but I would not label any of our crew as ‘bad people’ per say. I mean, the Captain even used to be…” He trails off, concentrating on making an especially elaborate flourish with some sauce. “…And…. Done!”

He plucks up the plate and sets it down smoothly in front of Paloma, smiling at his work. “Dinner is served, Miss Paloma. Enjoy!"

[10:38:46 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: Paloma nods as she listens to what Lunaro has to say, watching as he finishes work on the rice. It's fascinating, to be honest. (The people. Okay, also the food. Definitely the food, especially right now.) When Lucaro sets the plate down, she gasps, a smile on her face. "This looks /great/!"

She plucks up her fork, and takes a bite. "/Thank/ you," she says, and proceeds to wolf down the food with all the ferocity of a very hungry beast.

[10:51:58 AM] Madeline (Splat): Laughing at her enthusiasm, Lunaro sets about cleaning up his workspace. He puts the unserved rice in a container and sticks it in the fridge--but not before scribbling something on the lid. “My, you were hungry, were you not? I am leaving the extra for you in the fridge—and don’t mind the discouraging note, as that is for our first mate and engineer. They are both incorrigible midnight snackers,” he says with a laugh.

He takes a seat across from her and watches her enjoy the meal with a satisfied look on his face. “Seems like everything came out okay then?"

[11:04:10 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: Paloma at least has the manners to stop and swallow before she replies. "Thanks - and yeah, it did! Sorry, I was just -- really hungry." As testament to that, she goes back to cleaning out her plate once she's replied. It doesn't take long, and once she's done she sets the fork down where the rice used to be. "That's - that's /much/ better, thank you. The food was delicious!"

[11:29:42 AM] Madeline (Splat): He beams, fluffing up with pride. “I am happy to hear it!” He swipes her plate from in front of her and saunters over to the sink to wash it. “Do tell me if there is any sort of food you are especially fond of. I am always ready to add new things to our dinner rotation. Or simply make something for fun.”

Once he’s washed the plate, he puts it away back in one of the cabinets. The kitchen looks as pristine as if no one had even used it—just the way Lunaro likes it. “Would you perhaps like some desert? I was thinking of making some cookies."

[11:38:12 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: "Well, I quite like thai," Paloma muses, "though to be honest, I'm not too fussy about my food. I get to try a lot of new things out here, and I like that!"

And then Lunaro mentions dessert and it's all over. "Oh! Cookies?" Paloma perks /right/ up. "That sounds wonderful. Can I offer any help?" She looks completely ready to get up and Assist, which, to be fair, is an expression she's had a lot of time to perfect.

[11:41:58 AM] Madeline (Splat): “Oh, um…” He seems quite taken aback by her offer. “Do not worry about that, I can, er…” He flounders, trying to think of a way to phrase this while still sparing her feelings. He draws a blank. “…Here!” He flips to a dog-eared page in on of his cookbooks and sits it down in front of her. “You can help me by reading these directions,” he says quickly.

[11:47:22 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: Paloma laughs, taking up the book. "Okay, sure!" Maybe she noticed how awkward he just was, because she doesn't push the subject any more, though she does take a long look at the rest of the stack of books. "Say... do you like to read other things, too? Or just cookbooks? See, I have a nice little library with me, so..."

[11:47:59 AM] Λ WINTERMUTE.LIP: And, well, whether or not she ends up loaning Lunaro books, she's quite happy to read him instructions and not interfere in /any other way/.