Motorhead Pizza, Part 2

Posted on Mon Jul 10th, 2023 @ 4:50pm by Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant Irynya & Lieutenant JG Sheldon Parsons & Debbie Gless

Mission: On the Road Again
Location: Debbie's Diner
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 2100

[Debbie's Diner]
[Deck 7]
[MD 01 : 2100 Hours]

Previously...

"S-someone's been paying attention!" Noah exclaimed with pride while his fingers dappled the dough. "That's a-uh, a lot of... um... body parts to keep track of at once. How does anybody make sure everybody's having a good time?" Noah asked, looking up through his hunch with his bangs in his face. He looked at the three.

Arrayed as they were, Irynya wasn't exactly standing next to Noah, but he was close enough for her to keep one hand on her ball of dough as she shuffled to her left, beaming a bit at Noah's enthusiasm while she bumped him affectionately with her shoulder before shuffling her way back to her dough. She grinned down at her hands as she massaged the dough, delicate fingers pressing into it following the tactics that Noah, Sheldon, and Deb each seemed to know almost instinctively. Her teeth tugged at her lower lip for a second before she turned her gaze back to Deb. Adding punctuation to Noah's question. "Teach us your ways oh wise one," she quipped at the woman, shooting a wink at both of her roommates afterwards.

To both Iry and Noah's questions, Debbie winked. "The trick is to get them to kiss each other, too," she smirked with a hundred pounds of mischief. "More on that later, though," the matron demurred, looking down at the laden table full of prepped dough and toppings. "I think we're probably ready for final assembly, hmm?" Debbie asked, hands on her hips as she hawkishly purveyed the ingredients laid out before them. "Why don't you all get started and I'll fire up the oven. I've got three racks to work with, so should be able to get them all in at the same time. But I want a slice from each of yours, since I'm not making my own," the woman explained, her tone not giving much choice in the matter. "Got it?" she demanded, her gaze mockingly glaring.

And now...

"There's no way I could eat an entire one of these myself anyway," Sheldon admitted, shaking his head. He reached forward and began began spooning the replicated tomato sauce onto his dough, the way he'd seen his mom do it when he was a kid. Once a thick layer had been imparted, next came the cheese. Grabbing a giant handful, he began sprinkling the shredded mozzarella all over the top, forming a thick, white layer of the stuff. "Anyone want some green chiles?" he asked, the idea suddenly striking him. The heat from the diced up little peppers sounded so good to him but, of course, he'd need to go replicate those first.

"Is that a common topping?" Irynya asked, her experience having only really revolved around cheese and a meat called pepperoni. She had, a bit behind Sheldon and Noah, begun to assemble her pizza as well, spreading a layer of the deep red sauce before hiding it underneath a hefty layer of white shredded cheese.

"Capsicum or Anaheim? Or Poblano?" Noah rattled off for clarification, glancing up at Sheldon with his too-wide and entirely contented smile. He'd been busily layering his first disks of pepperoni- the ones that would bake under the cheese and sauce. Then he too pushed his hand into the cheese bowl and began to sprinkle- liberally. "Bell peppers, um, are." Again Noah's black eyes glanced warmly at Sheldon.

"Um...whatever the ones they serve in New Mexican restaurants are? I don't name their formal name," Sheldon admitted with a shrug before wandering away from the table, heading in the direction of the replicator built into the wall. He could be heard conversing with the unit as he approached.

"I'll let you know when the oven's ready," Debbie smiled before heading off as well, walking around the diner's counter and disappearing into the back kitchen. The sounds of the oven's controls being worked were audible, followed by loud scraping sounds as the matron rearranged the racks within.

Tags for whatever happens in the like, minute it takes for Sheldon to come back

Sheldon returned then. "Hatch green chiles. According to the computer," he said, setting down a small bowl of diced, snot-green pepper pieces replete with small white seeds, "the Hatch, New Mexico peppers are pretty similar to Anaheim peppers but just way hotter. I don't know if I've had Anaheim but these," he beamed a bit, "always make my head sweat. That's how you know they're good," he said, grabbing a fork and using it to start dolloping the chiles onto his pizza.

The curious Enceladan hadn't seen these particular chiles before. He knew of a few- but most had an African, Indian or Mediterranean lean. "It doesn't look like something I'd put in a curry, but..." He bobbed his head in thought side to side, and then fished a piece of the green, squishy chile pieces out of the bowl. He licked it off his finger. "That's not too bad," Noah said after a moment. "It's less than a prik jinda." Noah smiled. His eyebrows slowly rose, "Nice though. Sort of, um," his nose wrinkled to find the right word while he absently wiped his finger on his shirt, "Uh, buttery almost?"

Irynya regarded the green goopy pile with wariness. It wasn't that she minded spiciness so much as she was interested in comfort food at that very moment, and if it turned out to be spice that didn't sit well with her, she wasn't sure she wanted yet another sort of discomfort to endure. The moon had been plenty. "I think I'll pass," she said congenially, following her cheese with a bit of each of the meats available and then more sauce and cheese. She watched the mixture and realized that the sauce and a bit of the cheese had escaped to one side as if the pool of toppings she added were trying to escape.

For a moment, her hands fluttered as if unsure what to do before finally settling on trying to push the mess back onto the crust with a finger, only half succeeding and finding herself with a cheesy, saucy mess on her pointer finger. "Umm..." Irynya said, holding her finger gingerly above the pizza so she didn't make more of a mess. "Is that going to be a problem?" She waited until they were looking and then looked pointedly at the containment breach. Absently she popped her finger in her mouth, pulling it slowly back out, a move that came off as much as a sensual gesture as it did a need to clean her finger.

"If a pizza isn't overly gooey and melty, you're doing it wrong, Iry," Sheldon snarked. "Which means," the engineer clarified, "it'll be perfect." His smirk broke into a smile then as he finished with the last of his toppings. "I think mine's ready to go in the oven," he said, looking at the totality of what he'd done and nodding with satisfaction. "How about you two?" Sheldon asked, eyeing Noah and Iry's creations with curiosity.

"Glad you asked because," Noah dropped a last piece of pepperoni on top of the cheese, "Done here too." He leaned on his backward hands, his elbows hyper-extending. "I-I agree with Shelly. It's needs to be meaty and cheesy and gooey." He tilted toward Irynya's pizza and grinned his too-wide smile. "You-you can have some of mine."

Irynya's finger was back in her mouth having made another attempt to scoop the still oozing pizza ingredients back into place despite their insistence on charging the breach in her crust. She glanced from Noah, arms bent akimbo, and Sheldon, whose expression was at once kind and curious. Once again ahe pulled her dinger through her lips, this time wiping it surreptitiously on her pants before grinning back at them both. "I'd love to try a bite with the chilis," she said then added, "and I think mine is ready too?"

Noah leaned toward Irynya, dabbed his finger in the sauce of her pizza- and then smeared it down her cheek. "N-now it's ready."

For a moment Irynya actually gaped at her friend, eyes wide as she eyed the bit of sauce that remained on Noah's finger. "Noah!" She squealed as a surge of playful joy overtook her. Quickly she rubbed at her cheek mostly succeeding in smearing the red sauce further but getting enough on her hand that with a quick step towards Noah she could rub the remaining sauce from her cheek onto his. She laughed as she did, dancing away quickly and dipping a finger in the sauce again before racing around the back of the table, eyes shifting to Sheldon, a grin of absolutely wicked mischief on her face.

"Phwoah!" Noah protested as Irynya's finger, laden with red stick, was aimed at his own face but he, in his attempt to dodge, she got him in the shell of his ear. "Yuck!" He chuckled even while Irynya was reloading to go after Sheldon. "I wonder how you say Wet Willy in Italian," Noah mumbled goodnaturedly as he took a wiping towel and started to clean his ear.

"Oh no," Sheldon said, holding up his right index finger as Irynya looked his way. "I do not consent, Iry," he said, full of priss in his rebuke but anticipating the Risian would probably come at him anyway. In fact, Sheldon was already backing away in anticipation, holding up his pizza in a baking pan and moving in the direction of the kitchenette. "You wouldn't risk me dropping this would you?" the engineer asked, holding the pizza out like a shield. His eyes widened with worry as Sheldon looked at Noah, his lips forming a silent "Help" as he regarded the sauce-smeared cadet.

Irynya hesitated slightly, determined both to smear sauce on Sheldon's cheeks and to make sure his pizza was not harmed in the process. She slowed, stalking toward him now rather than rushing. "Aw, come on Sheldon. Don't you want a hug?" Her tone was teasing and she too glanced at Noah, curious if he would come to Sheldon's aid or help her make sure Sheldon had a smear to match each of their own.

With one eye squinted, Noah was still cleaning out his ear. But he did see Irynya- and Sheldon- look at him. He saw Sheldon's silent plea. He'd started this. But it'd escalated quickly. His mind was spinning but it was spinning away from any idea of how to help his fellow Engineer. So he just sort of... worked against instinct? He had to unfreeze himself and then he started to walk around behind Irynya. "N-nope, nobody's ruining pizzas. The pizza are-are sacred."

"I said nothing about ruining the pizza," Iry commented wryly, though her wicked grin remained and she continued to stalk forward slowly even as she began to need to work to split her attention between Sheldon in front of her and Noah who had moved into her periphery and nearly beyond her line of sight.

"Yes-yeah, but if he drops it while you try to get him..." Noah protested around a sort of breathy chuckle. His hands were up and fingers splayed out in a show of peace.

For all rights and purposes Irynya appeared to be determined to drag Sheldon into their play... Until she didn't. With two quick dancer-poised steps, the Risian pivoted so that her movement was diverted towards Noah who had moved within arms reach of her. Ducking under his arms she wrapped her around the wiry muscle of his torso, steps continuing to propel them backwards until both of them tumbled over onto the floor in a rush of exhaled breath.

Iry recovered quickly, though, and pinned the cadet's legs under her hips, stretching and dancing her fingers over his sides in an attempt to illicit laughter at the sudden introduction of tickling.

"No. Pizzas. Ruined," She huffed out.

Noah arched- at first it wasn't clear if it was because Irynya was trying to tickle him, or because he was straining to get out from under here. He'd proven to be quite featherweight for the Risian to lift and drop and for all of Starfleet's efforts, no sense of muscle memory for self-defense had even vaguely manifested for his protection. He'd grunted as he was landed so easily.

He tried to plant his feet to lift his hips but this was the reality of being from a low-gravity world. She was stronger than he was. He huffed. "Sheldon. Help." He moved up on his elbows. "This looks really a-awkward."

Deprived of a fit of giggles, Iry's hands stilled, returned to her sides, then the floor, and assisted in levering her body off of Noah's legs. Standing, she wiped her hands on her thighs and then offered one to Noah, eyeing him with a thoughtful look as he got back to his feet before turning to grab her own pizza tray to head towards the kitchen.

"See," she quipped airily at neither of them in particular, "the pizzas were preserved."

If she had meant to come off cool and collected the amused grin that spread across her face as she walked destroyed the impression. "Pretty sure I won that round," she added, glancing at Noah, eyes dancing as she did.

Sheldon watched all of this play out with a curious look on his face. Something felt different about the way Iry and Noah were interacting since coming back from Shaddam. More physical, more playful...a bit more connected, maybe? It was hard to pin down, whatever he was observing. But it left him with a feeling of being a little on the outside of whatever it was. "I uh...I agree, Noah. She definitely won," Sheldon said, forcing a bit of a smile he suddenly didn't feel. "Let's get these in the oven? May have to take mine to go, though. Got some things I need to do..." he trailed off as headed into the little kitchenette.

Noah grinned at Sheldon, craning his head back on the ground to look at him. He felt something in him... reading people was hard. Was Sheldon sad about something? "I-I didn't know it was a contest," he said to them both. "I thought you were coming to help." Noah's grin widened and he too got himself up. He returned to his pizza and fidgeted over some of the cheese and pepperoni before he, too, joined the others in the kitchenette.

A Post By:

Debbie Gless
Matron

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist

Ensign Sheldon Parsons
Engineer

Lieutenant JG Irynya
Assistant Chief Pilot