Bizarre Foods: the Enceladus/Risa Episode

Posted on Fri Oct 15th, 2021 @ 1:06am by Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant JG Irynya

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Debbie's Diner; Deck Seven-Aft
Timeline: Mission Day 24 at 1300

[USS Sojourner]
[Debbie's Diner, Deck 7-Aft]
[1310 Hours]

Noah's appearance in Debbie's Diner was usually something overshadowed. He blended in well enough but today, he drew second glances. For someone wearing what he wore, the double-take might've been a vicarious glance at athleticism. Noah wore the skin-tight, leave-little-to-the-imagination bodysuit of a Velocity athlete. But what drew the attention was a glimpse of concern- he had the purpling of a black eye, a gaussed up nostril with a hint of blood, and a split bottom lip, cracked near the center with a thin dark scab.

He shifted, his lanky arms crossed with self-consciousness over his torso while he waited in line for the replicator. A couple of times he fidgeted with his curly hair to try and obscure his wound, while other times he just turned his face in profile.

While he waited a group of Yeomen seemed idly interested in his appearance- four women and a token man, all looking to be Enlisted. A sneer of contempt and confusion crossed the face of the blonde, pale one, and she shook her head. A young woman with pale spots and frizzy hair glanced at him and then back to her conversation. A Bajoran woman looked on, her carrying voice on the space said something about, "whatever," and "he lost." The redhead looked uninterested, stretching tall over her comrades to watch the door every time it opened. The token male, who had even caramel skin and long brown hair, didn't turn. He just raised his brows and moodily shoveled couscous into his mouth.

Noah was running ten minutes late for a lunch get-together with his budding friendship with Irynya. Once he had his tray, he lankily strode wide steps over to their chair. "Hi," he said with a cautious smile, "Sorry I'm late." He dropped into the seat across from her.

Irynya looked up from the PADD she had been skimming, a grin lighting her face briefly before she took in the evidence of what was clearly some sort of facial injury. The grin quickly turned to concern. "What happened?" she asked, completely unconcerned about his late arrival, but entirely concerned about the black eye that was rapidly making itself known.

Noah grimaced. With a quick sigh, he explained, his voice more nasal than usual, "Team-building exercise. Uh. I was t-trying to fit in. And be a good, um, a good sport." Noah's split lip tilted into a corner smile, "Latura didn't tell anyone he'd been, um, the-the Velocity Team Captain before the Academy." Wryly and ruefully both, Noah tilted his head, "We lost. Um." he pulled the gauss out of his nose, "By. Uh. By a lot." Rather than leave the gauss out like a gory conversation piece, he tucked it away in his lap, in some pocket who knew where. "How are you?"

Her brow furrowed, still clearly concerned, but she held back any comment on the propriety of Latura's team-building exercise. Instead, she sighed. "Exhausted," she replied, "but not currently bleeding so I suppose I can't complain." She gestured to the PADD she had set to the side. "Any ideas on how I can magically create a fourth pilot so we can go back to a four-shift rotation again would certainly be welcome, though."

Noah was about to shake his head but he paused. His dark eyes focused and it was apparently even through the acute nature of losing a competition, that he too was wiped out. "I was um, hoping we'd have a little wait at the Starbase but I hear we aren't going." He glanced up at his companion and though tried he did try to lend him a little energy through a smile, "Maybe they'll send some relief?" Noah touched below his nose to test if he was still bleeding. He wasn't. "Could we, um, well I mean you. Conn. Flight Control. Could you all put out a request from Ops for a temporary transfer? S-someone has to have some Helm training around here."

Irynya cocked her head to the side, considering the suggestion. "I wish I had thought of that before today. I'm sure Chaali could have figured something out. But..." she trailed off, a series of emotions running across her features in a matter of seconds. She seemed to shake it off quickly, though. "I guess I'll have to introduce myself to the new Ops Chief sooner than later," she said, finishing her thought although it clearly hadn't been the one she originally started.

Snagging a mug of coffee that had been sitting next to her PADD she tilted it in his direction, making a rough gesture toward his forehead. "I had been meaning to ask you how long it took to get your ja'risia off." The corner of her mouth tilted up slightly in amusement. "It occurred to me a day or two ago that the paints might react differently to your skin than mine."

Noah had picked up on the shifts of emotion at least a little, though he'd never call himself that socially adept. It was more the realization that a lot of people had been saying similar things around him. It was like an enormous inside conversation that the new crew was too new to really understand. "A lot of changes of um... of-of people," he said gently. He was cradling his own drink now- pale, long fingers around something brownish-black and fizzy. It had a thin veneer of foam on top. "And... a new ship and... missed faces." He sipped his drink.

She lowered her mug, wrapping her hands around it as he spoke. "Yeah," she said, staring down into her cup lost in thought. She hadn't realized quite how sad she was at Chaali's departure until a day or two ago when her Bolian friend has featured as the person harmed in her recently returned Vidiian nightmares.

"Um," he grinned around his drink, "a little while. I thought the, um, the shower would take it off the next morning but." He shrugged a shoulder, "I ended up with sonic skin exfoliator and that got um. You know. Most of it." His dark eyes rose and met Irynya's face. He smiled but for a moment he, too, was pregnant with a question. That or he was trying to put his words together. With Noah, it was hard to tell.

"S-so... what did you bring to try to-to bizarre alien-to-us food day." Noah set his drink down and his fingers hovered over a small ceramic dish with a cover.

The change of subject helped clear the melancholy slightly. One long-fingered hand pulled a tray from the side around in front of them. "It was hard to pick," she said, eyes twinkling, "but I settled on something that's a treat. So... Not necessarily the most filling thing, but it's a personal favorite."

A bowl, roughly the size of a cereal bowl, sat in front of her, a white substance making up the base topped with bright green and a clumped dollop of some sort of bean in a sauce. A smell not dissimilar to coconut wafted from the dish and a spoon stuck out of each side. "This is Delly Ice," she explained. "It's a cold dessert made with a sort of rice and nut milk combination. It's processed and frozen then topped with green jellies and sweetened red beans. This one also includes red boba jellies."

"Delly ice," Noah repeated, eyes on the dish as it was uncovered. He smelled coconut. But different. "Red... boba jellies..." he said, eyeing the different ingredients that topped the strange rice and milky liquid. He touched the bowl and confirmed it was a cold dish, whatever it was. Noah put his hands under the table and leaned his skinny chest forward against it with a hunch. "Sounds interesting. Um. well, I guess, um, my turn."

Noah's lanky limbs came up again and he pulled the top off his own alien-to-Irynya food. "This is, um, a staple for cold weather on Eilat Anchorage. It's n-nourishing, curl up and eat food." Noah's brow perked, "Every time I smell it, I want to... like... spoon it." He joked. He pulled the top off. It had a rich smell- but it was also subtle. The small dish was green and looked like a coarse paste of something that was probably once a plant. But it clearly had something creamy in the mix- and the occasional odd chunk of something white, that didn't melt.

"This is, um, originally from a part of Earth called India. This is Saagwala." Noah folded his arms atop each other behind the dish, where he didn't block Irynya's view. "It's um... spinach, and fenugreek and mustard greens.... umm..." he looked up, remembering, an eye narrowed, "Turmeric, chiles, cream, ghee, garlic, ginger, c-coriander..." he waved a hand, "A bunch of stuff. A-anyway... the greens are um... s-sauteed into utter submission."

Irynya inspected the dish as Noah spoke. One long-fingered hand reached for the dish, holding the back of her fingers just shy of it in an echo of the motion Noah had made with the Delly Ice a moment ago. The warmth from the ceramic ran along the back of her fingers raising a half-grin from her. She returned her hand to her side of the table, tucking it down into her lap. The smell of the dish was something else entirely and, as Noah listed off the various ingredients, she could see why. It was clearly a well-spiced dish.

"Big spoon or little spoon?" She asked when he had finished his explanation; eyes glimmering with amusement. "That may just be my new measure for if a food constitutes comfort food." She chuckled, the other corner of her mouth turning up as the corners of her eyes crinkled. "How much would you like to spoon this dish?" she quipped as though talking to an audience. "Your choices are... Absolutely not. I'm curious. Sure, I'd try it. Or get over here you delightfully comforting cuddly thing."

Noah's mouth had opened to say something when he picked up Irynya's riposte. While cheeks pinked and he glanced away, there was a fighting, fumbling smile. "Well...." he drew out. "I-I guess it depends on my mood. And their mood." Noah drummed his fingers against his elbow, still resting against the table, "I-I guess I'm a pleaser? But sometimes I want to be... you know..." He fingered his curls behind his ear, "Well, safe I guess?" He chin jutted to her. "And, uh, you?"

Irynya's grin widened slightly. "Same, I guess," she offered, considering her words as she spoke. One hand went for the end of her ponytail pulling it in front of her shoulder before twisting it absently around a finger. "It would depend a lot on my partner as well and... umm... whether it's cuddling or... well... cuddling," she said emphasizing the last word meaningfully.

"R-right," Noah nodded with a fast blink, "Cuddling with friction."

Her expression turned mildly mischievous then. "Delly Ice is more of a... cool down after the fact... sort of dish."

Hands returning to the table, she selected two spoons from her tray, holding one by the thin space just below the bowl of the spoon she flipped it and offered it to Noah. "You eat Delly Ice with a spoon." Her eyes were all mirth. "How do you eat..." she paused, forming the foreign term in her mouth before saying it out loud, "Sah... Saagwala? Did I say that right?"

Noah, taking the preferred spoon, nodded, "Saagwala. Or Saag Paneer. Paneer is the, um, the chunks in it," he pointed out one with the rim of his spoon. "You eat it with rice." He indicated the plain, loose-looking rice in the small dish. "And, well, n-normally you eat it with Naan. Not even a spoon. But I didn't replicate any Naan."

Irynya held up her own spoon with a flourish. "Spoons it is then?" She asked. "Seems appropriate considering our new food rating scale."

"It does," Noah agreed. He spooned with a curious reverence, almost scientific in how he tried to get all the various bits and layers of this odd dessert-like feature. His dark eyes waited for Irynya to do the same to the thick, almost sludgy green and cream dish.

Carefully she reached across her tray using the tip of her spoon to nudge a piece of the paneer into the bowl of the utensil before drawing it carefully through the creamy greens and spices mixture, making sure she had both in equal measure.

"At the same time?" She asked, balancing the spoon between her fingers over Noah's bowl, a curious expression on her face. She seemed to study Noah a moment as if she were cataloging his features.

Noah, eyes down with a pensive fascination at the dish nodded. He glanced at her and smiled his broad, kind smile. "At the same time. One, two, three...." Noah opened his mouth pushed the spoon in his mouth.

Irynya followed suit, eyes never leaving Noah's face as she did. Her lips closed around the mouthful, a myriad of flavors dancing across her tongue along with the varied textures of the paneer and the green sauce. Carefully she withdrew the spoon using her lips to make sure none of the spoonful was missed before chewing carefully. She could see what he had meant about wanting to spoon the dish. The mixture of spices was both warmly inviting and rich in turns. She chewed quickly, noticing the way the white chunk seemed to almost squeak against her teeth, the texture completely at odds with the smooth sauce.

Noah, succumbing to Human ways, didn't stare directly at his friend as he chewed but instead glanced at her and then politely away. Chewing was... oddly private. And sensing her watching him, Noah blushed and tried to both chew and not laugh at the same time. The flavors were rich, dense, and claggy. First, the sugary flavored rice, which was almost textbook claggy- it was heavy, sticky, fairly sweet. Like a brownie, but also in no way like a brownie.

The green, almost spaetzle-like twirls were gummy and sticky, but more resilient than the rice. They sort of reminded Noah of mochi, only very much not. Then his tongue and taste buds encountered the strange, sort of jellied cranberries, mealy, legume-like bits that reminded him of an Asian bean. "Hmm," Noah said thoughtfully, his brows knitting over his beaky nose. His brown gaze shifted to the giggling of some people behind him and then back.

"Tha-that's really different..." Noah said after the food and undulated down his long throat. "It-it's pretty sweet. Do, um, Risians have a strong sweet tooth?"

Irynya dropped her eyes to the dish in front of her considering. "I do, I suppose," she replied. Her expression had shifted from curious to thoughtful. "I'm not sure it's something you could expressly say about all Risians. My mom used to joke that if you wanted to get into my good graces you just had to show up with something sweet to share."

She looked up then, gesturing to his dish with her spoon. "That is delicious. What are the white bits exactly?"

"Paneer," Noah clarified with a nod. He'd dropped his hands under the table and was fidgeting fingers over fingers while he rested his chest on the table again. "It's a-a really simple cheese. You know, milk," he skewed his lips to the side and shrugged, "Um, lemon juice, and heat. Super-super simple. It's easy to-to make." His brows shot up and he gestured at his dish, "And it doesn't melt so... it's uh... it's texture, You know, like, um, smooth. But then this funny chunk..." Noah blew a quick shot of breath up into his hair.

Her ever-present grin returned, lighting her features. "That makes sense for the texture," she replied, trying to put a name to a similarly textured cheese from Risa and failing. "Mind if I...?" She trailed off indicating his dish with her spoon. It really was good.

Rolling hand over hand, Noah added, "It's just to, um, mix things up." He screwed his mouth in a sort of shrug, "You know. Um. Please yeah. Go-go ahead." Noah said looking down at the dish. He started to get up, "D-do you want me to replicate some more?" He asked, his long fingers spanning out on the table as he stood. He looked ready to fetch another dish of it, skinny body in the Velocity body sleeve poised to fulfill.

"Noah..." She used his name to stop him from getting any further. She had a suspicion that if she didn't stop him he would be halfway across the room before she even had a chance to respond. "I can get it. Sit down." She used her spoon to snag a tiny mouthful from his dish popping it in her mouth with a grin. She swallowed quickly. "I assume it's programmed into the replicator? What was the name of the thing you eat it with?"

Noah's body froze like a buck that had just been sighted. And very slowly he lowered back down into his chair. His shoe squeaked on the floor. "Uh," his eyes darted aware and back, then narrowed, "You-you sure? I really don't mind." He had a hard time reading if she was annoyed with his eagerness to get up and go, or if she just wanted to do it herself. "Naan. N-A-A-N. It's... s-sort of a flatbread?"

Irynya nodded, pressing her lips together thoughtfully. On one hand, she appreciated his offer. On the other, she was used to doing things herself. "I'm sure," she said, smiling disarmingly. "I appreciate the offer, it's just... You really don't have to." She rose quickly, meeting his eyes for a moment and repeating "Naan," before darting away to the replicator.

Noah's slenderness twisted, watching the Risian approach the replicator on the other end of the room. His brows flexed, weighing if he'd done something wrong. He wasn't sure, but he leaned on the side that Irynya wanted to do it for herself.

She returned a few minutes later a fresh tray with the same ceramic dish he had arrived with and a round basket with a small stack of fragrant flatbread. She was grinning again, proud that she had gotten the pronunciation right.

"I think you win this round of new to you foods," she remarked sliding the tray between them as she sat.

Noah studied the blistered, unleavened replica of the Indian bread. He tore a disk of it into four parts and handed one to Irynya. "What you do is," Noah said. "Get some rice in there," and he scooped at the rice- which sort of slipped and slid unevenly about the Naan, "N-normally you just combine the Saagwala and um, the rice," he said with a brow raise. His lips skewed to the side and back, annoyed at the rice. "Then You scoop up some of the saag," and he did so.

He folded the naan roughly like a taco around the glob of creamy green savory mush. "And, um, eat it." Noah sort of wiggled it into his face after a false start and a snicker. He bit it and some of the Saag squirted out the fold's back. "It's... um..." he hid his mouth- and a blush- behind a hand while he chewed, "Messy."

She watched him as he demonstrated how to use the naan as a scoop, pressing her lips to each other to keep from a laugh when the food escaped the makeshift edible utensil. While he chewed she followed suit, carefully sliding the naan under a small pile of rice and cupping it into a small bowl to keep the rice from escaping. Satisfied that she wasn't going to lose the rice she repeated the motion, burying the rice under the savory green mush. Cupping one hand underneath the food she brought it to her mouth, leaning forward to be sure she remained over the table.

The naan was warm and added an entirely new dimension to the flavor. Some of the green mush escaped where she bit into it. She snuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, quickly licking the excess to remove it without missing any.

Swallowing she gave him a grin. "How'd I do?" She inquired.

Noah was licking at the corners of his mouth after his failed bite. He grinned and chuckled, "Um," his tongue darted out to try and nab some at the edge of his lips but had to concede to using a napkin, "Better than me," he said with a warm smile. Noah moved to scoop rice into his Saag and gave it a mix.

She followed suit, copying him and finding the scooping much easier once the rice and saag were mixed. She lifted a fresh pocket of heaped naan this time failing to do so gracefully, a press just a touch too hard causing the green rice goo to escape the top of the naan, catching on her fingers. She giggled, quickly biting into the naan, despite the mess. She finished it in a few quick bites, using her fingers to bring an escaped bit of paneer to her mouth and licking them delicately.

"Ok, less good that time," she remarked with a chuckle. "If that keeps up I am going to need a shower."

Noah's brown eyes focused on his friend before they dropped. He puzzled at his lip a moment, before his brows perked under his curly bangs. "W-well at least we have one of those back h-home, right?" He flashed a smile while a knot of mastication worked in his cheek. He started to gather up another bite.

Irynya stilled for half a second before scooping another mouthful from her bowl. Her eyes stayed glued to what her hands were doing, flicking up only a moment to gauge Noah's expression before returning. She worked hard to remain neutral, but her heart rate kicked up nonetheless.

"Mmmhmm," she answered, taking another bite before making herself look up. Chewing quickly she swallowed offering a slightly strained smile. "Thank you again for fixing that so quickly."

Noah's eyes dropped. He nodded apologetically. "Sorry I didn't catch it before. I-I was just so busy." He grimaced a smile, "But now we have a full crew so... we-we can really shakedown." He glimpsed out the windows. "Wha-whatever the Captain is doing, he's putting the ship through an intense test."

She nodded, thoughtful, "I don't think that's his intent, but yeah." She set her spoon down. "You know that the shower thing... I mean... That wasn't your responsibility," she said, cheeks flushing slightly. They hadn't, exactly, talked about the incident since it had happened and for a moment she worried that he felt responsible for her getting stuck.

Noah's eyes rounded, "I-I... sorry I wasn't criticizing him. He-he has to do what he has to do." Noah grimaced, "He intimidates me. He's... big and... you know... Captain-like. They-they call him The Kodiak in the computer core." Noah blinked, "Like the um, the bear? It's a special type of grizzly bear?"

She nodded, her expression shifting to disarming quickly. "No, no, I didn't think you were," she reassured him. "He looks big and intimidating, but he's really very kind and open." She thought back to the Vidiian mission, when circumstances had meant she and the rest of the Second Stringers were working much more closely to him than normal.

Noah frowned. "No. It was." he set his spoon on the table, "I just m-missed it. I was tired and I think I missed a few things. I-I mean... we had less than a full shift aboard. In Main Engineering." Noah shrugged slightly, "I'm still sorry. If... that was a weird day huh. Sorry again about my... you know... naked state."

She pursed her lips to the side, parsing out her reply before speaking. "It was a weird day," she said carefully, "But not because I walked in on you. That kind of stuff..." She shrugged, "It didn't bother me nearly as much as it bothered you I think. I was more worried about making you uncomfortable than anything I did or didn't see."

Noah acquiesced with a slow nod, "To-to be honest, yeah... Enceladus has a uh, strong m-modesty streak."

She came back around to his comment about missing things. "People miss things sometimes, Noah. It's ok, really. I am sure your focus was on the things that keep us alive here. A shower door latch... That's not life or death."

Her body betrayed her even as she said it, cheeks flushing lightly and heart rate picking up. It may not have been life or death, but somehow her brain disagreed.

Noah's eyes stayed on the green, savory sludge in front of him, "Still, who likes getting stuck in a sonic shower." He smiled amiably, "They're great when you want to be in there. But... well, anywhere. Who wants to get stuck anywhere."

They were both staring at their food now. "Yeah," she agreed. Her spoon had found its way back into her hand, but rather than use it she was toying with the chunks of paneer in her bowl, pushing them around distractedly. "It definitely wasn't my finest moment."

"But," Noah said, "It'll probably never happen again either. And... you were with friends. You were... you-you were gonna get help..."

Irynya pursed her lips at that. He was right, of course, but she had undertaken this exact line of reasoning several times since the event. She still couldn't bring herself to use the showers in their quarters. For a brief moment, her mouth opened, poised to tell him everything. But then she closed it, snagging a spoonful of saag and popping it in her mouth instead.

Bite consumed she finally replied. "I was with you, yes. Thankfully." There was a tension to her voice--a hint of the anxiety that even talking about this had raised. "I'm glad it wasn't just me. I'm... I'm really not sure what I would have done if you hadn't been there."

Noah studied her for a moment before he set down his spoon, and his slender body rose. He swept away from his chair and over to Irynya's. His skinny, long arms wrapped her in a hug.

Irynya stilled as Noah's arms threaded around her, as surprised as anything by the move. It only took a moment, though, for her to react to the warmth of the gesture. She leaned her head to the side against his chest, and brought both of her hands up to grasp the arm that circled the front of her in a sort of half-hug--the best she could do from a sitting position. She let out a long breath, some of the tension going out of her as she did. "Thanks," she murmured, appreciating the hug more than he knew.

Ever the awkward, Noah held the hug for a beat too long before he finally let her go. He moved to sit down, his eyes still fixed on her with a mixture of pensive thoughts. "You're welcome," he murmured with a tilted smile.

A Post By:

Lieutenant Irynya
Acting Chief Flight Controller

&

Midshipman Noah Balsam
System Specialist