Sunburns & Hyperdrive Troubles

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He grinned, but didn't say anything.

Instead he tripped his head back and closed his eyes. The Sofa was always devilishly receptive of those who would lay there for a nap, it's comfortable plush covering and its soft foam cushions made the thing almost as comfortable as his bed. Of course Kurt could have just waited to close his eyes, could have just eaten and then gone to bed, but he was tired. Today had been...interesting, vigorous in some ways but relaxing in others. There had been conversation, fun, relaxation, and a bit of sun.

Perfect really.

"Maybe." He mused, his voice sounding tired. "We'll see. I think for now..."

He trailed off as a yawn forced it's way from his lips, his eyes squeezing shut even more tightly and his fingers scrunched slightly as his body involuntarily stretched. "Food."

The word was finished and his eyes opened, head rolling to look directly at Kaile as though he were expecting something any minute now. The Courier really was getting hungry, his stomach growling and the puppy dog eyes he was showing to Kaile telling that very tale.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

“Yes, yes, yes!”

He was rather one-tracked minded when he wanted to be. Or mainly, when he was hungry. Oh, there were plenty of other occasions where Kaile didn’t mind that at all, but times like these -- he could get pretty insistent.

“How about you get off your tush and get plates and something for us to drink hmm?” hint, hint. hint. A wry grin was shot out over her shoulder, pouring in curry mixture into the pan. It immediately began to sizzle, the aroma of curry spices, veggies, and fresh caught clams wafting up in a steam around Kaile.

As she stirred, Kaile gave a pointed look over to Kurt. “Or are you gonna laze around all day while I cook and slave all day long?” that bit was said with a notable tease, aware that Kurt wouldn’t do so. If anything, he was very helpful and appreciative of everything she did around the Messa, especially cooking.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt thought for a moment. "That second thing..."

The Courier trailed off for a moment.

"That second thing sounds nice." His lips turned up and into a smirk. "Yeah lets do that."

He had thought it a victory, but a few seconds after he spoke the words he suddenly felt something hit him in the side of the head. A small ball pelted his temple, followed quickly by another, then another, then another. Kurt let out a slight curse as he opened his eyes and turned towards Kaile just in time to get another piece of whatever to his face. He tilted his head back, then looked back at her with a slight frump on his face. She stood there with a wide grin, eyeing him and holding small plastic rotary spheres, usually used to balancing starship parts.

He eyed her.

Then finally relented. With a heavy sigh he stood, pulling himself off the sofa as though he weighed a thousand pounds.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile could not help herself. As Kurt pulled himself from the couch as if about to walk the execution block, Kaile brought one extra rotary ball up. Scrunching up her face in growing devilry, she shut one eye, taking aim. A half snort and then a flick sent the tiny ball flying.

It sailed across the room, smacking Kurt right in between his chest. Her giggle immediately erupted, and she went scampering back to the stove. Just incase he decided to come after her, she added, “Almost done with this curry.. oh can’t you smell that? Yummmmm.”

A bit of dramatic flair was attached to that last bit, her eyes following Kurt warily as he ambled along behind her. He could very well pull any trick in the book. She just had to be cautious. Now, for that coconut.

Grating the thing to get coconut milk wouldn’t take too long. Pouring the juice into a glass, Kaile let the curry simmer for a bit while she quickly made work of collecting some coconut milk. This would make it a bit more creamier than normal.

Pouring it into the curry, it bubbled with glee. “Mmmm… “ this time, her own stomach gave a grumble. Okay, better do this quick before Kurt decides to take a bite out of me!

A few more stirs, then it was done.
“Okay, come on over grumpy.” fingers would beckon Kurt over to bring his bowl. “Get your rice and grab as much as you like of the curry.”

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Quickly Kurt stood, jumping to his feet and practically bounding over towards the kitchen.

Food was good, and whatever Kaile cooked usually smelled delicious.

One of the bowls on the counter was quickly scooped up and placed into his hand, his form shrouding over Kaile as he hovered for half a moment and looked down at the delicious meal she had cooked. His hand waived towards the container of rice, scooping up a medium portion before going to the curry and pouring quite handsomely onto the rice that he had just taken. When he was done Kurt turned to Kaile, focusing on her and handing her the bowl. "Chef eats first."

He grinned at her, then patter her rear to send her out of the Kitchen.

After seeing her off Kurt made his own bowl of food, giving himself a much larger portion and throwing in quite a bit more curry as well as rice. Kaile tended not to eat as much as him and truthfully...well he had a tendency to pig out when it came to delicious home cooked meals.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]


"Hey!" Kaile would give a slight start, curve of her rear stinging at the smack. Her jaw dropped and she scrunched her face, eyeballing him with the promise of an attack later on. Considering all the moments Kaile took advantage to grope Kurt's assets, this was really the Lorrdian getting her due. Any excuse to lay her hands on him was more than welcomed.

A shake of her head and then another smile spanned her pink lips, lingering between playful and devious. "Just you wait..." she warned him, flouncing over towards the couch with a full bowl of food and a very hungry belly. Eager anticipation lined the angles of her face, igniting the brown of her eyes. Plopping herself down, her hair bounced, and she took the time to find humor at the sight of Kurt happily shoveling a heavy hand of curry into his own.

"Hey, what if I want seconds?" she would exclaim with mock affront, grinning pearly white teeth at the pilot. Dimples flashed, peeking through under the fringe of dark brown hair fanning her face. Spoon digging in, Kaile took her first mouthful.

A moan of appreciation erupted from her mouth, licking the extra bit of curry sauce off her upper lip. With the grace of one who had no particular care, she went stretching across the couch, legs propped up lengthwise and her back against one of the arm rests.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"You?" He made a scoffing noise. "You barely finish your meals!"

Comparatively anyway.

Kurt practically scarfed down food at a rate that was difficult for most people to even comprehend, a trait that had mostly been picked up during his time in the military. It was one of those things, like catching sleep whenever you could. Eat fast or someone else will eat for you. For Kaile that might have seemed odd, but it was just the way that Kurt operated, it didn't help that he was naturally a fast eater, more often then not over indulging in whatever it was that had been prepared for him.

"It's delicious." Kurt complemented her after taking the first few bites.

The food really was, and Kurt couldn't help but enjoy all of the subtle flavors.

Sea food had never really been his favorite, mostly because the flavors were simply far too out there for him. This was something different though, with most of the taste being masked by the strong curry sauce and the hint of coconut that still clung to it.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

That pleased her. Hearing the compliment from Kurt brought a warm glow to her face. The apples of her cheeks puffed up, twin spots of indentions just below flashing. By all accounts, she preened under his praise.

"I'm glad," she would reply with joy. There was something about cooking and providing for someone you cared about. It went along the veins of being concerned about their well being. Their health. To see Kurt enthusiastically gobble up his meal with a quickness few could match made her laugh as much as it endeared him to her.

"You'll upset your stomach if you keep doing that so fast." came the warning, scooping her own mouthful to savor. Slowly, she drew up her knee, letting it sway from right to left. A pause and then she tapped the cushion beside her with her good toe.

"Come sit silly!" devilry shone in her eyes. "I won't bite."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt hadn't even realized that he was still standing in the kitchen, he had been enjoying the food so much that the thought hadn't even really entered his mind. Slowly he wandered over towards the couch, plopping himself down next to her while taking careful measures not to spill any of his food. He smiled at her slightly, then took another spoonful into his mouth. There was a slight tang this time, likely one of the fishy components of the meal.

"What do you think for tomorrow?" He mused. "We could try grilling."

That would be easy enough. "I think the engines can get put on low...and from there."

Kurt offered her a wide grin.

Of course grilling across The Messa's engines was a terrible idea for multiple reasons, chief among them being that exhaust tended to make food taste like utter shit. Still, the joke was pretty funny, and the idea of holding up to fish on sticks while the engines spooled up was quite amusing. It brought a wide smile to Kurt's face. "Or maybe just make a fire."

Kurt relented sheepishly.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile gave an avid snort at that, followed by a poke of her good toe at his side. "Yeah, we can have you hold the sticks while we are at it!" She emphasized this with another poke at his side. Mirth shone in her eyes, licking the back of her spoon free of curry while she mulled on the latter suggestion.

"Let's make a fire." A gesture of her spoon would emphasize the idea. The more she though about it, the more it grew on her. "We can grill something pretty easy.. I mean," she gave a glance around the Messa. "Could just grab one of the spare salvage flat pieces of panel and toss it on top of whatever hot coals we get." And they're get the nice smoky flavor that wouldn't be due to the exhaust.

"We can go looking around to see what we can find." If anything, Kurt should be good at getting critters the size of womprats. That was standard little boy from Tatooine scout skills right?

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Tomorrow." Kurt said firmly.

No way he was going out at night.

"Maybe we can explore the island together." They hadn't exactly done an entire survey of the place, and it would more than pay to see what was here if they were going to stay for another few days. If they found nothing here, he was almost entirely sure that the other island just a mile ahead of them would have something on it. The thick jungle and the massive spanning volcano indicated that there had to be some sort of life there, even if it was only a few small land mammals.

Kurt mused for a second.

"I wonder what the name of this place is." Kurt mused slightly. "It wasn't included on the map."

That would have been worrying, but they were in the outer rim, more often than not planets out here simply didn't have names. Cartographers were still charting the galaxy as best they could, but even they fell flat sometimes, especially when it came to names.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

For that, she gave him another poke of her toe to his belly. "I didn't meant right now, silly!" Her bemusement that he thought she meant at this present time dancing over her face, the apples of her cheeks high. Scooting a bit lower, she would drape her legs over his, eating more of her curry as she added,"Not sure. It ain't on any of my databases that's for sure."

Kaile had the added benefit of being about to tap into encrypted resources most in the verse wouldn't be able to access. One of the upgrades she was gonna get the Alliance to help out with us an encrypted sensor package. If anything, she could likely nag them to let them use decommissioned gear.

"It's pretty. Though honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of smuggler haven."

Or pirate...

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt shrugged. By and large smugglers weren't bad people. Sure there were some whose reputations were more than slightly questionable, but most of the time they were simply trying to get by. Kurt had met more than a few hundred of them in his time. Tatooine was often a resting spot for most smugglers, most of them knowing that there was at least a semblance of civilization there and no government to arrest or come after them. It was how he had grown up.

"Smugglers would be fine." He mused. "Pirates? Pirates would worry me."

Though even that he doubted. "Though we had nothing on sensors, so I would hazard to guess that this planet has nothing on it."

Which was strange given the climate.

This world was nice, really nice in fact, so why was no one living here? Kurt had no answer to that question, though if he had looked a little closer at the horizon earlier he probably would have realized the reason why. The planet that Kurt and Kaile were currently staying on was prone to mega-storms. Massive hurricane like thunderstorms that wracked entire halves of the planet. One was now brewing in the distance, though luckily it was moving away from them.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile precariously balanced a spoonful of fluffy rice over her bowl. Her chin went hovering over, making sure nothing spilled as she took the whole spoonful of rice into her mouth. Nodding in agreement, she chewed thoughtfully. If there were pirates, well, they'd be making themselves known soon enough. Slowly, she began to tap a small beat with her toe in the air. A song floating in her mind.

"Mmm... So," she licked a stray grain of rice from her lip. "Early tomorrow we can have more pancakes. Then we can go looking for what we can find to refill our food stocks." They would have to be careful, and only forage and hunt animals that were relatively familiar. Last thing they needed to do was end up with cardiac arrest because they ate the wrong type of berry.

"Then, we can start your first swimming lesson," Her eyebrows went waggling excitedly with that. The Lorrdian was looking forward to it. "How does that sound?"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Sounds good to em." Kurt said as a yawn pulled through his body.

The Courier didn't expect to pick up swimming immediately, in fact just the opposite.

He knew that it was a skill that would likely take time to cultivate, and they really had only so much of that while staying on this island. Eventually they would have to leave to find water and get to Raxus, with the Hyperdrive fixed and everything working well that time would be rolling around sooner than they had both expected. Kurt was mostly okay with that, though there was a small part of him that would have preferred to stay in the paradise of this island, relaxing within the cove for the rest of his natural born life.

"We'll need to find water, too." Kurt mused. "We can keep filtering, but eventually It'll get stale."

Which tasted awful.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Yeah, we can probably find a spring inland." That would take more hiking. Which wasn't bad, but would take time. The Messa wasn't an exploratory vessel. It didn't have the sensors required to search for such things as food, water and other necessities. Speaking about the filter, it reminded her of what they were going to have Kurt's father help them with. The Hottub.

"Did you want to see if we can get a larger tank on Raxus, or leave it as it is?" There were plenty of mods they could do, but more salvaging meant more days, which mean less money, which after all that, mean very little food.

And food was what made Kurt's Diva stay out of sight and out of mind. A though came to mind. Did he want to search for another island?

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

He shook his head.

"Nah." That would hurt them in the long run. "Larger tank means more water, more water means more weight, and more weight means less speed."

That was what he was on about, after all, speed.

"I want The Messa to be as fast as we can possible get her, the hot tub hurt us enough." That was a joke of course, the hot tub had been his own idea and he had carried through with it for the fun of it. The Water on The Messa was already plenty enough for the two of them. Sure they could only survive on it for a week, but that was really enough when one considered just what the purpose of his ship was in the first place. He wasn't meant to survive on it, just have fun on it.

If they crashed on some wild world...water would be the least of their problems.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

One empty bowl of curry in her hands, Kaile went bending forward and to the left to set it down on the floor. At this point, she was at a great spot. She could even fell the slight onset of a heaviness in her eyes, in her limbs. Food coma hit the the Lorrdian fairly quickly. To the point that it wasn't strange to see the brunette nod off against Kurt from time to time.

Hands free, she decided to indulge. Swinging her feet off of him, she swiveled her position on the couch. Turning a one-eighty, Kalie now faced the direction of his lap. Without further ado, she sprawled herself upon the acceleration couch. Only this time, she used kurt as a pillow. Snuggling close, she was able to fulfill her two desires. Be able to cuddle Kurt and still be able to see him.

She so did enjoy watching him as he spoke.

"Hmm... I can see if the Alliance can let use make use of some of their old decommissioned encrypted and sensor suites."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Absent minded Kurt began to play with Kaile's hair. "I dunno."

On the one hand, he liked the sound of that, but on the other...

"I'm worried about weight." He began, then looking down at her. "Not ours obviously, but The Messa's."

Weight didn't factor much into a starships speed, at least not when it got going. There was no drag or anything to stop the ship once it was already fast enough, but this was more than that, it was about acceleration, that initial push into speed. If the ship weighed less it would take the engines less effort to get up to speed, less effort meant faster results and faster results meant a faster Messa. It was that easy, that simple and it was what Kurt wanted.

"I think...I think after everything else we start thinking of replacing The Hull, something lighter, but still strong." He nodded slightly, tipping his head back against the couch.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

The cafune would elicit a soft moan of pleasure. It was a content noise, purring from her throat. Lids fell shut, and she found herself curling up against him, turning onto her side. Her head nudged against his, affectionate in its search and silent encouragement for him to continue. They had many moments like this before, and it was some of the few instances she felt utterly at peace.

There was something magical about having fingers run through one's hair. The slow coax, the slight massage of a scalp. All the more when a light firm grip came with it. Kaile sighed happily, curling her one hand under her chin, while the other came to rest against his hip. There, her fingers would start to lightly dribble. Her movements would be predictable, as the Lorrdian was wont to enjoy skimming her fingertips along his skin. She sated herself with small, slow lazy circles.

"Mmmokay," she said in a soft murmur. Honestly, he could ask her anything while he played with her hair and she would give it. It was one of the best sensations in the 'verse.

A small smile curled up at a small thought.

"It will be nice once we have the hot tub up and runnin'"