First Date

Posted on Sat Apr 20th, 2019 @ 3:15am by Lieutenant Commander Magnus Grey & Lieutenant Shri Thais

5,115 words; about a 26 minute read

Mission: Mission 6.5 - Obtaining New Crew
Location: Spacedock - Liu’s Cuisine and others
Timeline: 2296/02/15 - 1855

Magnus Grey stood patiently in the main airlock of USS America leading into Spacedock. Wearing a pair of khaki pants and a black button-down shirt, some of the nicer clothes he owned. He wanted to look nice for his date.

He’d called ahead for reservations at Liu’s Cuisine. Mr. Liu was a good friend of his; years earlier while at the Academy, he’d taught the chef’s young daughter Federation Standard, and learned Mandarin from them at the same time. Since then, Mr. Liu always had time for the linguist.

He held something behind his back as he waited, not quite leaning against the wall so as not to break it. He waited patiently for the blonde half-Vulcan to come down the corridor.

Shri had dug through her clothes, wanting to find something nice to wear. She was no good at this thing: getting dressed up and going on a date. It'd been a while. Finally, she found a deep blue dress that went with her eyes, just on the darker hue. She didn't want to fall, so she slipped into a pair of simple black flats. Besides that: she was already three inches taller than Magnus was.

Finally getting to the corridor and the airlock that led into Spacedock, she smiled seeing him there. "I hope I'm not late," she said, as it seemed he'd been waiting.

Magnus smiled when he saw her. Between her face, smile, hair, and dress, he thought she was beautiful. “Not at all, I was a bit early.” He brought his hand back to his front, revealing the bright salmon-coloured rose he had for her. “A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady. And it goes well with your dress.”

Smiling, Shri took the rose and naturally gave it a gentle smell, “You didn’t have to get me any flowers, Magnus. But thank you.” She tried to keep from blushing, as she hated the fact sometimes that she blushed green.

Magnus, however, found the slight green blush attractive and endearing. He gestured down the gangway towards the interior of Starbase One. "Shall we? I've made reservations at Liu's. It's close by; won't take us more than five minutes to walk there."

Nodding, Shri walked along with Magnus. “I’ve heard of the place but never actually been there. Granted, I haven’t been here all that long before the ship got here. I have no issues walking though, especially with good company.”

"In the Academy I was up here all the time," Magnus said as they walked. "What better place to be exposed to different languages than the Federation's biggest port of call. In senior year they let me live up here and beam down for my classes."

"Never thought to do anything like that. Would have been amazing because of better views of starts up here." She grinned, "And yes, all the languages and people up here, it is amazing."

It didn't take long before Magnus and Shri were standing at the check-in desk of Liu's Cuisine. A young woman of maybe seventeen, wearing a bright pink silk dress, saw them and approached. Magnus recognized her immediately and smiled. "Mei! Nǐ jīn wǎn zěnme yàng?" (how are you tonight?)

The girl stepped around the desk and smiled at Magnus, gently touching his arm. "Wǒ hěn hǎo, mǎ gé nǔ sī. Xièxiè. Zhè shì shéi?" (I am fine, Magnus. Thank you. And who is this?) The girl looked at Shri and smiled warmly.

"I'm being impolite," Magnus said. "Mei, this my date tonight, Shri Thais. Shri, this is Liu Mei Zhen. This is her father's restaurant."

"Magnus used to spend time with me while at the Academy," Mei said to Shri. "When I was a little girl, he taught me Standard and we taught him Mandarin." She looked back to Magnus. "I have your table ready. Fùqīn will be out to see you shortly." She picked up two menus and brought them into the restaurant, sitting them at a table near a warm fireplace.

Shri enjoyed listening to the Mandarin, even if she didn't understand it. "You aren't being impolite, Magnus. I might not know what you're saying but that is okay." She smiled to Mei. "Pleasure to meet you, Mei. Your Standard is very good."

“Thank you, Miss Shri,” she replied as they arrived at the table. “I had a good teacher.” A simple wooden table with two chairs and two place settings sat close to the fireplace, which gave a pleasant warmth, glow, and smell. Magnus pulled a chair out for Shri.

"So sweet, Magnus, thank you," she said with a smile as she sat down in the chair he'd pulled out for her. "This place is amazing."

“My favourite when I lived up here,” Magnus said as he gently pushed her chair in. He took his own seat and Mei handed them each a menu. “Xièxiè,” he said to Mei as he took his. “So where were you before coming aboard the America?”

Shri took the menu and smiled again to Mei before looking it over and answering the question. "The Erdem, assistant chief. That's where all that drama with my former chief happened that I mentioned. What about you?"

“The Avenger,” Magnus answered. “Chief of Comms and Second Officer. And I’m sorry for the drama on the Erdem.”

A waitress started to approach them, but a short, older gentleman promptly shooed her away and approached the table. Before saying anything, the man looked pointedly at Shri. "Mǎ gé nǔ sī. Nǐ bù zhídé zhège měilì de nǚrén. Zǒu kāi. Dànshì bǎ tā liú zài zhèlǐ. Wǒ huì hé tā yīqǐ chīfàn." (Magnus. You are not worthy of this beautiful woman. Go away. But leave her here. I will eat with her.)

Magnus laughed. "Always good to see you, Mr. Liu. Shri, this is Liu Jiao-Long."

Having no idea what was said, Shri gave a polite nod and smile to the man. "Please to meet you, Mr. Liu. Magnus says the food here is excellent."

The old man smiled at Shri and smirked at Magnus. “He’s often wrong, that one, but he got at least two things right today. Do you like spicy food? And do you have allergies or is there anything you absolutely won’t touch?”

Slightly flushing, Shri shook her head, tucking her hair behind her right ear. "No allergies that I know of, and I have no issues with spicy food. What would you two recommend," she asked to both Mr. Liu and Magnus.

Mr. Liu took the menus off the table. “You just trust me, Miss. I’ll bring you both something delicious. I recommend the Spatlese Riesling wine. Not Sichuan, I know, but it’s good. We just received a shipment of bottles from 2290. It should pair well with spicy food.”

“That sounds nice to me,” Magnus said, looking to Shri.

"Agreed. I will leave it to you tonight to pick for me, Mr. Liu. I've never been picky on my drinks, nor my food." Shri gave a genuine smile then turned back to Magnus. "This is amazing, Magnus, truly."

Mr. Liu nodded and left the two officers alone, though he signaled a bartender to bring them the aforementioned bottle of white wine and two glasses.

“I’m glad you like it,” said Magnus. “So, I know a bit about you work-wise, but not much beyond that. Tell me a bit about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your family like? That sort of thing.”

"Talk about myself? The one thing I hate doing." She sat back a little, "Mother died when I was seven in an engineering accident on Vulcan. My father moved us to Earth shortly after. I turned introverted until middle and high school. Then the Academy Astrophysics, Odilon, Erdem, now here." She smiled a little. "What about you?"

The bartender arrived, opened the wine bottle, and poured a tiny bit in one glass. He offered it to Shri to sample.

Taking the glass that had the small bit of wine in it, Shri gave a nod of approval after taking a sip. "Thank you."

“I’m from Proxima Centauri Colony,” Magnus said as the bartender poured full wine glasses for each of them. “My mother is a maths professor at the University of Cochrane, and dad was a starving artist. A poet, though he occasionally taught poetry at the university, too. They supported my interest in language and linguistics, though I think they wanted me to wear a tweed jacket in a classroom and not a uniform on the bridge of a starship.” He lifted his wine glass. “What shall we drink to?”

Looking to the rose he'd given her earlier that lay on the table, Shri grinned, holding up her now full glass of wine, "To budding relationships, wherever they may take us," she said as she felt her face flush again, but didn't try to hide it.

Magnus couldn’t help but smile and blush as well. “To budding relationships, wherever they may take us,” he repeated, clinking his glass against hers. He took a sip, savouring the drink. “So, astrophysics?”

Taking another sip, she nodded as she set the glass down. "Not that I've had much use of it, just general sciences because of my former chief. But, hoping to get to use more of the studies now that I'm in charge of the department."

“Speaking of which, I managed to secure a couple of items on your want list,” Magnus said. “Tomorrow morning, you’ll get a shipment from Spacedock Operations with a new microcellular analyzer and an upgraded containment unit safe for handling most chemicals and microbes. And you’ll be getting limited upgrades to the sensor relays. It won’t be as good as on an Excelsior, but you’ll see an improvement. They’ll also send a computer tech to make sure it all works.”

"You got all that?" A wide smile crossed Shri's face. "That...that's amazing! Thank you, Magnus." She hadn't expected much of her list, but the bigger items were the ones he'd managed to get for her. "I...I don't know what to say."

“You’ve already said it,” said Magnus. “With your smile. I hope you’re able to make good use of it.”

Her face flushed green again as she looked down and bit her lip. "I'll do my best. That's about all I can say."

A waiter came out with a tray of food. He placed four dishes in the centre of the table, with a fifth containing steamed rice in the centre, and gave each of them an empty plate. Mr. Liu followed behind. “What you have here is garlic duck served in beer sauce, beef with curry and green peppers, lamb with cumin and hot chili pepper, and spinach with ginger sauce,” he explained, gesturing to each plate as he described it. “Qing màn yòng.” (Enjoy your meal)

Magnus smiled at the meal before them. “Xièxiè,” he said to the elder restauranteur.

Finally a word she knew how to say it and what it meant. "Xièxiè, Mr. Liu." Shri looked over the spread, "This looks amazing. I can see why you like eating here."

The old man left and Magnus took another sip of his wine. “Garlic, ginger, curry, cumin. Honestly those are four of my favourite flavours. I could eat them every day. His duck breast is just to die for.”

“Looks like I know what to cook for you...err...if we ever have another dinner that is.” She bit her lip and instead of looking away, looked over at him for a reaction. She felt like she was making a fool of herself, and she wanted this to go well.

Magnus grinned. "I'd like that." He scooped himself up some rice and a portion of each of the dishes. "So, you cook?" he asked. It wasn't a common thing among Starfleet officers, but he always appreciated good cooking skills.

Doing the same, taking a bit of each food, Shri shrugged slightly. "A bit. No where near like this. I'm decent though I suppose, but I've never had anyone really test my food besides myself."

“Well, I volunteer to be your first test subject,” joked Magnus. “Food is a great way to explore culture. I make a point to try the cuisine on any new planets I visit. Only once did it almost kill me, but I feel like having a Science Officer with me would have prevented that.”

Shri bit her lip, "Err...okay. I guess I'll find something to cook for you at some point then," she said with a smile. "I doubt a science officer would have done any good with something like that."

“Oh no, you absolutely would have made a difference,” replied Magnus. “The way it was explained to me, all life on that planet contained a chemical group in its proteins that, when digested, was highly toxic to most other species. I was pulled away from my plate before the first bite because our position was attacked by local separatists. But if I had a science officer with me who knew about chemistry or ecology, I wouldn’t have even sat down at the restaurant.” He took his first bite of food, closing his eyes as he savoured a bite of beef, peppers, and rice.

"See, you left that part out," she said after taking a bite. "Okay, I'm no where near good enough cook to compare to this. I haven't had this much spice in a long time though. Makes me a bit hot under the collar...though I don't have a collar I suppose on this dress."

Magnus laughed. “Well, I promise you dessert is a lot cooler. It will be soothing after all this heat.” He was enjoying his date with Shri. Not that he didn’t think he would, but he didn’t anticipate meeting a beautiful woman and hitting it off with her quite so soon. He didn’t anticipate a lot of things this assignment. A Captain that didn’t want him. His encounter with Dr. Iona Vrell. This date was another wonderful surprise to come from his assignment.

“So what do you want out of this assignment on the America?” Magnus asked. “Do you have anything specific you want to do or achieve?”

She smiled, "Glad that it will cool off later. As for what do I want out of it? Honestly? Just to be able to be out there exploring, seeing things I've never seen." She took another bite then a sip of the wine with a shrug, "Guess that's the scientist in me."

“I’m in the same boat,” said Magnus. “I want to meet new civilizations. Learn their languages, experience their cultures.” He took another bite, this time of the spicy lamb. As he enjoyed it, he heard a soothing sound. He looked over to see Liu Mei Zhen, playing a romantic melody on a violin. Magnus smiled and blushed.

Glancing to the sound, Shri turned many shades of flushed green as the music played. “You’d think they were trying to hint at something, Magnus.”

"This is actually them being subtle," quipped Magnus. "Be glad Mr. Liu hasn't come out to serenade us. He thinks he has the voice of an angel but he's lost more than one customer like that." He started to prepare another forkful, but had an idea. "It is nice, though. Mei plays beautifully. There's actually a small dance floor near where she plays. Would you care to dance?"

Eyes going wide, Shri finished her bite, “Um, I suppose so. I haven’t danced in...years”

Magnus set his utensils down and stood. He held his hand out to Shri, beckoning her to join him. He wasn't normally much of a dancer himself, but the song was romantic and slow, and he figured despite their lack of experience, they could simply sway to the music for the duration of a song.

Taking his hand, Shri stood up and let out a shaky breath, “I’m really out of practice, Magnus...” she whispered.

"Oh, so am I." Magnus led Shri a few feet over to the small wooden dance floor, close to where Mei was playing. Still holding her right hand with his left, he wrapped his other arm around Shri's waist, pulling her close. "Just follow my lead. It will come back. And if it doesn't, you're wearing flats, so you can't do too much damage," he joked with a charming smile.

Nodding, she put her hands into the opposite spots that he had put his and let her eyes meet his. “Right, not much damage I can do to your feet or my ankles, yeah?” She gave him a nervous smile.

"That's right," Magnus said. The two swayed gently to the music, garnering the attention of a handful of other patrons. Some were mildly annoyed, though within a minute a middle-aged couple had come to the dance floor as well. New romance and love everlasting were both on display in Liu's. A few other couples were inspired to dance, including Mr. and Mrs. Liu. The matron of the family gave Magnus a wink as she hugged her husband of more than twenty years.

Magnus found himself lost in Shri's eyes, so much so that he didn't realize the song had ended.

Having not noticed either that the music had stopped, though she had stopped her swaying to it, Shri's eyes still stayed locked on Magnus', completely lost in them. She wasn't even sure what it was, but she just continued to gaze into his eyes.

“Ahem,” came the voice of s young woman to their side. Magnus turned away from Shri to see young Mei smiling at them. “Your food is getting cold.” Magnus smiled, blushed, and turned back to Shri. He released Shri’s waist but kept holding her hand as he brought her back to the table.

Biting her lips and flushing again, Shri let Magnus lead her back to the table. "I get a feeling people were staring at us," she whispered.

“I think you’re right,” Magnus whispered back, leaning in close to her as he did so. “But so what if they were? What did they see? Two people very much enjoying a first date?”

"And they don't even know it is our first date..." she said as she smiled at him. As they got closer to the table, before she decided to sit back down, she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Magnus smiled as her lips left his cheek. He hadn’t been expecting that, but he welcomed it. “What was that for?” he asked. “So I know to do it again.”

She shook her head, "I'm honestly not sure. It..felt like the thing to do. I'm...I really don't know."

"I'm glad you did," Magnus said. "Now let's dig back in. I promised you a cooler dessert, didn't I?"

“You did, and I hope that is true. That spicy food, plus the dancing, plus just an overall nervousness...”. Shri flushed again. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden?

It wasn't much longer until their plates were clean. Their wine glasses had been refilled and Mr. Liu came out with two small bowls containing three different frozen desserts. He put the bowls in front of Shri and then Magnus. "Tonight the lady will be tasting a chocolate ice cream, a green tea gelato, and raspberry sorbet. They're not Szechuan, but I have an arrangement with the station's ice cream vendor. Nothing but the best."

“Thank you, Mr. Liu. Chocolate is a bit of a weakness for me,” she said with a smile. I’ve not had green tea flavored anything but green tea.” She glanced across the table at Magnus, for whatever reason, her face blushing again as she then looked down at her bowl.

"Actually, the green tea is a new one," Magnus said, looking back at Shri. "I've not had it before. Shall we try that first? Save your weakness for last?" He picked up his spoon and grew a spoonful of the green tea gelato.

Shri nodded. “That’ll work. I’m always up for new adventures.” She took her own spoonful and took the bite, savoring the flavor. “Oh wow...”

He put his own spoon in his mouth and his eyes went wide at the flavour. After swallowing it, he went straight for another bite. "I normally don't like green tea very much, but this is so good."

Taking another bite, she smiled, “I agree completely. I can’t say it would be a new favorite but it is very good.”

A couple of bites later, it was time to try the raspberry sorbet. “These are usually my favourites,” Magnus said. “Sweet but not too creamy.” He put the first bite in his mouth and closed his eyes as he savoured it. “I may have gained a few pounds that year I lived up here.”

Smirking, Shri dug into the raspberry sorbet and let her own eyes clothes. “I can see why, Magnus. I would visit there every day to try something.”

“Mrs. Bianchi runs the ice cream shop,” Magnus said as he scooped more sorbet. “She owns a few shops on-station, as well as a few locations on Earth and Mars. She always had a smile and a fun anecdote for me. I wonder if she’s aboard. I’ll need to say hello before we launch.”

“I might have to join you...errr...if you want the company that is.” She shook her head to herself and looked back down at her sorbet, blushing like mad.

“I’d like that,” Magnus said. “I’m enjoying your company. I hope you’re enjoying mine.” He took the last bite of his raspberry. Now it was time for the finale. The chocolate.

Eying the chocolate, she made sure her others were gone before pulling it over. Before taking a bite, she finally looked back up at him. “I am. I truly am. This is the best time I’ve had in a long time, Magnus.” She caught herself gazing into his eyes again, not paying attention to the chocolate in front of her.

“I’m very glad,” said Magnus, gazing back into hers. “Um, I think our chocolate is...melting.”

Realizing what he'd said, she finally blinked and looked down to her chocolate. "Um, right...it is." She took a bite and kept looking down. She'd never done this on a date before, so why was she doing it now?

Magnus was also taken aback by his own reactions. He’d dated plenty, and had serious girlfriends, but this was...different. He’d never asked a woman to dance at Liu’s, and he’d never been quite so distracted. He ate his chocolate ice cream, but in his lack of attention, let some dribble down his chin.

Glancing up, Shri couldn't help but chuckle a little before reaching over, "You've got some um..." she wiped away the melted ice cream from his chin with a deep blush.

Magnus chuckled in a way that might’ve been mistaken for a nervous, excited giggle. “Thank you. I guess I’m not the cleanest eater. How are you liking the chocolate?”

"It's good. But honestly? I think we're both distracted." She cleaned off her finger with a smile. "Though...I'm not sure what's got you distracted..."

“I’m distracted by a lot of things,” Magnus said plainly. “How beautiful you are. How much fun I’m having with you. What I can do to get another date in the next little while. What I should avoid saying or doing so I don’t ruin it.”

Shri smiled, not caring how much she was blushing, “I..I’m not that beautiful, Magnus. But I agree on the fact that I’m having fun with you. You can have another date...whenever you want one. Though...” she caught his eye, “Just because dessert is almost gone doesn’t mean the date has to be almost done...”

"Oh, I wasn't proposing we end the date now," Magnus said. He also wanted to say something to contradict her opinion on her beauty, but it seemed inappropriate. She knew his opinion on the matter, even if she disagreed. He smiled again, looking her in the eye. "Did you have something in mind we could do once we finish dessert?" he asked, taking a bite of his chocolate ice cream.

“Err...” She didn’t really want to say where her mind wandered off to. There was just something about him that just made her want to do things she’d not quite done before. “Um...you um..sure you want to know what I’m thinking? I don’t even know why I’m thinking it.” Had she been one to blush red, her face would have nearly matched what the color of their raspberry sorbet had been.

"Okay, now I really want to know what you're thinking!" Magnus said with a big grin. Given how much she was blushing, he got the feeling he knew what she was thinking, but he didn't want to spoil it if he was wrong. But maybe she didn't want to say it out loud. He didn't want to embarrass her either, even if hearing the words was incredibly attractive. "Maybe you can tell me what you're thinking back on the ship? We can have a nightcap, either in your quarters or mine?"

“Yeah, not here. The nightcap sounds great. My quarters are..a bit of a mess. Went shopping and haven’t put it all away yet.” Shri figured he knew what she was thinking about, and was glad he suggested that they not discuss it here.

"Mine are mostly clean," Magnus said. He tried to keep it tidy, and changed the bedsheets the previous night. "Some books loose but that's all. And I have the stuff to make a nice drink to end the evening with." He stood and offered her his hand, exactly as he had when he asked her to dance.

Taking the hand, Shri stood up and gave him a nervous smile. “Books don’t bother me, I have a few myself as it is that normally stay scattered around. So...I guess lead the way?”

It wasn’t long before the two found their way back to Magnus’s cabin. The walk to back to the ship was nice and pleasant, though the few moments in the turbolift alone with her were surprisingly tense. When they reached his door, Magnus stepped in first. As he said, it was fairly tidy, though his small dining table was home to about eight books, mostly large textbooks.

Magnus looked deeply into Shri’s eyes. “I could make you a drink if you like,” he offered, “but honestly what I really want to do is kiss you.”

Looking back into his eyes, Shri slowly let her arms wrap around his neck. “Go with what you’re wanting to do, Magnus. I’ve...wanted to do that most of dinner.”

Wasting no time, he wrapped his own arms around Shri’s waist and pulled her up against him. He pushed his lips against hers and kissed her with a passion fueled by everything that happened over the course of the evening. Her dress. The food. The dance. Everything. As he kissed her, his hands slid up her back to find the zipper on the back of her dress.

She didn’t try to move away, as what her idea had been that she’d wanted to discuss not at the restaurant didn’t need discussed at all. They both had the same thing in mind. She allowed her hands to move slowly to the buttons on his shirt, trying to undo them while not pulling away from the kiss. She pour just as much passion into it as he was.

Once her zipper was low enough, he worked the dress off her shoulders, careful not to interfere with her working his shirt. He slowly backed up in the direction of the bed, pulling her with him and letting the dress fall to the floor.

Stepping out of the dress as it fell to the floor, Shri managed to get the last button undone and worked the shirt off his shoulders. Although she wasn’t sure if things were going to happen this way tonight, she’d still worn matching blue lace bra and panties under her dress. It took all her might to not push him down onto the bed.

Magnus had the chance to glimpse her lingerie as threw his shirt off to the side, and it further stoked his fire. He resumed kissing her and returned his arms to her waist, putting his hands on the top of her thighs and running them up over her bottom, holding them a moment at the small of her back, and then reaching her bra clasp. He continued to explore her mouth with his as he deftly unhooked it.

Her desires were taking over as she ran her hands down his chest before moving down to undo any buttons that were on his pants. She fumbled with it as she allowed her tongue to intermix with the kiss.

He wanted desperately to claw off her blue lace panties, but doing so would absolutely get in her way. As his pants came undone, he lowered them and his boxers to his feet and sat down on the edge of the bed to step out of them. He stayed seated, completely naked, as she stood, their embrace continuing.

Slipping out of her bra, and then her panties, Shri continued the kiss as she pushed herself down against him on the bed. Finally, she had to pull back to catch her breath and gazed into his eyes, allowing a hand to run through his hair.

Magnus gazed back. He found himself needing what was about to happen. Craving it, even. “I’m going to lie down,” he said, breathing hard as he spoke. “Care to join me up here?”

"Do you even have to ask..." she asked breathlessly and before wrapping herself around him, returning to the kiss.

 

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