Let The Adventures Begin

Posted on Mon Oct 28th, 2019 @ 4:50pm by Ashe Zachariah & K'Lok Maarg

Mission: If You Like Pina Coladas
Location: Meria Colony
Timeline: Backpost - Shoreleave - Meria

The transport to the colony had been straight forward, though they had, by Ashe's choice, materialized atop a hill next to where their adventure was due to begin. The walk wasn't far, more a lazy meandering stroll down the side of a hill and through a picturesque garden that was clearly designed to be a welcoming place with tables and chair spread throughout and grassy areas set aside for picnics.

She smiled, inhaling the fragrant fresh air deeply. "It's nothing like the sterlized air on a starship is it? Though, even the sterile air is better than what circulates on those Klingon vessels," she finished with a grin as she looked across at him.

Kaarg shrugged, "I don't know what you meant by that last part. The air on Klingon ships is perfectly adequate," he said. "Mind you, you are right that neither beat the air on a green world."

"Honestly, I'm not sure the last time I set foot on a planet as green as this," She paused momentarily, smiling and inhaling before laughing and walking again. "It feels good to just be out of the ship for a bit, to just be able to relax and not have to think."

You'll have to let me know what that's like. Coming from a warrior race, we're always assessing our surroundings and being alert to some degree for the next attack. It keeps the knife of the mind sharp, though."

"So you never just relax and have fun?" Ashe asked, incredulously. "I mean, sure, I can understand why you'd want to always be on point when you're on a Klingon ship, and even to a degree on a Federation ship, but down here? It's so beautiful and idyllic? What could possibly go wrong?"

"You'd be amused just how many times I've heard those very words before it all goes belly up," Kaarg said, quietly. He followed that with, "I cook and tend bar as entertainment. I enjoy being a chef and I enjoy kicking people out of my bar, when I have one. I pride myself on being the best at both worlds, as well as pretty damned impressive in a fight." That last part was said with a wide grin.

"You should join me in the bar some nights then," Ashe said with an easy smile as they walked. "We could easily close down the kitchen for a night, or do a pre-prepped buffet style service and then you could sling bottles for fun. Hey, I'll even help cook! I'm actually pretty damn good at it!"

"My kitchen!" kaarg said with mock possessiveness. "Seriously though," he said, "the only reason I've not crashed your bar is lack of invitation. I'll even teach you how to cook properly as payment for letting me behind your bar." His grin got wider.

"How to cook properly? Are you implying that I don't know how to cook properly?" She gasped, a look of horror crossing her face before she shrugged slightly and started to laugh. "You're probably right, my mother always told me I was lousy in the kitchen. But with replicators in every room, who needs to get their hands THAT dirty?" she replied.

"I do," Kaarg replied. "It gives me something to do with my hands that doesn't involve weaponry," he paused for a moment, "of the non-inprovised sort, anyway." He grinned, then said, "where to first?"

"Down there, that building is where the Dégustation begins," Ashe replied with a grin.

A short time later, the two of them had found a table and the food had started coming out, a flurry of service people bringing platter after platter of incredible foods, two of every plate being placed at their table, each plate accompanied by a short presentation by their server over the dish, a description and a brief run down on the origins of the ingredients used, all locally sourced from the farms around the continent.

Glancing across at Kaarg, Ashe's eyes widened as she stared at the second plate. "I wasn't a huge fan of the Kohlrabi cream soup, but the chicken dumplings were delicious, though this looks amazing!" She said, motioning to their plates. "I love seafood, I was so excited when I saw they feature earth style seafoods on their menu here."

Kaarg looked up from his PaDD where he'd been making notes, "this will be interesting," he said. "I'm able to identify most of what's in these but there will be experimentation. Congratulations on being volunteered to be the sampler," he said, grinning.

"Hey, it's food! I'll gladly be the sampler! Especially with sweets!" She grinned as she picked up a fork, spearing it through what looked like a shrimp curved upright over an orange puree that had been dotted with blobs of green. "The presentation is a bit pretentious though don't you think?"

Kaarg nodded, "some people like pretentious. Me, I like to be in a food coma when I'm done with a superb meal." He grinned. "It's not bad though," he said, following Ashe's lead on sampling. "What sort of sweets do you usually go for? Other than my chocolate strawberries, of course!"

"Ice cream, I love ice cream," Ashe said as a miniscule bowl of palette cleansing sorbet was placed in front of her. "And creme brulee, creme caramel, anything caramel really. I think it's probably one of my favourite sweet flavours. Ice cream drowned in hot caramel fudge, that is pure heaven," she grinned at him. "What about you? Though you don't really strike me as the sweet tooth type, I'd pick you as being more the savoury kind of fan."

Kaarg shrugged. "I don't really have a favourite," he said. "It will often depend on my mood." He thought for a moment. "I like the occasional sweet thing. One of my favourites is an earth dessert called Churros; with lots of cinnamon and some belgian chocolate sauce to dip them in whilst they are still hot, they are wonderful."

"Churros are amazing!" Ashe replied with a grin. "Wonder if they have them on the planet here anywhere? Would have to be nicer than this..." her grin turned to a grimace as she motioned toward the sorbet. "How many more courses do you think they'll serve before we get to the good stuff? I want to try the liquors!"

Kaarg shrugged, "those sorts of things are usually left till last. You could be here a while."

"Well, we could always speed things up a little?" Ashe suggested, raising one eyebrow quizzically as she looked across at Kaarg. "I mean, the distillery is on the property, right? I dare you to come exploring with me," she challenged with a grin.