Food Break (Zilla/open)

[Ensign Caro]

That was it. That was the last section of the last day's records that she had to rewrite in order for the rest of the ship, mainly the officers, to understand it. She really needed to learn how to write more legibly when she was writing fast, but it was a little hard, when you were trying to write down every word that was being said to you and the person dictating to you wasn't exactly talking at a slow or sometimes even moderate speed.

It was now time for a break, though she carried the notebook with the sloppy hand-writing in it with her. This was the one thing you would never see her without, as she was never really on 'break.' As soon as someone told her they needed a file, or for her to write something down, she was up and back on duty again. Hopefully this wouldn't happen soon.

Going into the mess hall, she took a look around. Not many people inside, they'd probably already all eaten. It was a rare day that she would come in there and there were actually people inside. Grabbing some food she set the tray on a table and sat down to start eating.

[Ensign Zilla]

Red checked his watch as he busily tried to complete the task he'd be charged with, only to find that his watch had stopped. "Cripes!" His tone was low as he muttered in annoyance, glancing around to find a clock nearby. Running a hand through his messy hair the young medical ensign sighed as his eyes darted over everything in the large lab area. A few others in the room caught his nervous-like gazes but ultimately ignored the young man. Dr. McCoy wasn't around and Redulio could swear it was about time for him to take some sort of break.

He'd been working for hours nonstop, his hands and eyes were beginning to make him feel just how hard he'd been working. "Well ladies and gentlemen," Zilla stood from his seat and gave a smirk to those still working. "Its time I got myself a nice meal. But by all means, keep up the good work." His grin widened as he quickly made his way to the exit.

Avoiding collisions Red made his way to the mess hall, inhaling the smell of the freshly made food. He wasn't actually hungry, but he was tired of doing so much boring work, all he needed was a minute to relax. Taking a large bite out of an apple he quickly dropped his behind in the seat across from a younger brunette. For a moment he just looked at her, eying the ensignia on her chest. "You're a newbie too, huh?" His eyes finally looked up.

[Ensign Caro]

The first thing she'd started on was the fries. They weren't as good as what she could get back on earth, but they were good. The taste was heightened even more when you were starving. They weren't exactly salted to taste, but she could grab some more if she was really wanting to. However, she was tired of being up, so, for now, she remained seated eating one fry at a time.

No one else had been coming in and the ones who had been in there when she'd entered had pretty much all left. It was then she figured that she was going to be eating alone again. These thoughts were quickly flushed out when she heard something across from her. Her eyes lifted up to see the somewhat older guy that had just sat across from her.

She raised a brow watching as he seemed to just eye her chest. Her eyes shifted down to see that, thank god, he was just staring at the ensignia, not that there was much else to stare at. Akiva wasn't exactly 'built' in that area, not like some of the other girls, well women, that were on board. It seemed her eyes looked back up only a few seconds before he brought up his and he asked if she was new too. Yeah she nodded her head I'm new. she took another fry off her plate and bit off half of it. I'm Akiva or AJ, depending on what you prefer.

[Ensign Zilla]

It had never occurred to Red that staring at her chest could mean that he was...staring at her chest. He took another bite of his apple as the girl looked up from her fries, answering him with a yes. Odd that he would just so happen to park himself near the only person who was sticking around. Apparently he had missed lunch after all, but it never hurt to eat in peace by your lonesome.

"Akiva. I like it, not much of an initials fan." He grinned as he crunched into the green apple once more, wiping his mouth of any dripping juices. She was a nice looking girl but Red could not really tell if she was younger or not, didn't really matter since he wasn't there for females though. "So, Akiva, which division are you with?" He was pretty sure that it wasn't medical, she didn't seem like one of those types. Then again he was trying to stereotype all of the medical workers. But if she wasn't in the same field as he was, that automatically made her interesting and meant Redulio wouldn't mind getting to know her.

"Oh wait," His smile vanished as the apple was lowered from his mouth, "I'm just intruding on your lunch like this. Would you like me to go?" Red really could be the type to enjoy solitaire, so he would understand if this Akiva wanted to just be alone for the time being.

[Ensign Caro]

Akiva. He actually liked it, or maybe he was just pretending to, but either way he had been one of the firsts to ever call her by her real name. To everyone she'd always been AJ, especially around her brothers and their friends. They'd established her as just another one of the guys, and AJ fit that title more than Akiva did.

He'd started to ask her about her division, and just as she was coming up with an answer he stopped himself. Now he wanted to go? or he thought she wanted him to. "No, you're fine" she said shaking her head "I usually eat alone, it's actually nice to have some company while I eat

She watched him for a moment, wondering if he was going to stick around or not. There wasn't much time for him to decide as she started right back up again, answering his previous question. "Well" she started "I'm not in a division, not technically at least, I do records. You know, write everything down, file everything, bring files to people, run around everywhere, answer to everybody in every division. That sort of thing." she finished with a slight smirk as she popped another fry into her mouth, one of the last few she had left on the plate.

[Ensign Zilla]

AJ, it made her sound like a guy, and Akiva was original in Red's eyes, and like he said before initials weren't his thing. So far she was an okay person to talk to, she didn't seem as hyper and all over the place as most people he'd be put into close quarters with. Zilla had been ready to rise from his seat but to his surprise she didn't want him gone, she didn't say she wanted him to stay either, but she didn't mind him sitting with her. Red grinned as he resumed eating his apple once more, "Thanks." For a second he eyed her fries, it would have been nice to have something greasy right about now. But he'd be damned if that wasn't a good apple he was sanking his teeth into.

"Yeah, company's nice sometimes." It all depended on your mood, like Akiva Red also didn't want to eat alone today, as odd as it sounded. Resisting to take another bite, out of courtesy, Redulio listened to Akiva explain what it was she was charged to do on the ship. "Wow," At first it was the one single word that he could think of as a reaction to her job description. "That's gotta be tiring. Hope everyone's nice to you." She seemed like a nice person, it'd be awful if others treated her badly just so they could get the records they needed.

Her job had to be one of the most strenous out of anyone on the ship. At any given moment someone could approach her and ask for a random file, and she would have to know exactly where that file could be found. "In case you're wondering, I'm stationed in the medical division. I work under Dr. McCoy." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, that particular bit about himself he did not find interesting. "Name's Red, by the way. Red Zilla." Holding the apple between his teeth he extended a hand across the table toward Akiva.

[Ensign Caro]

He hadn't gotten up and walked away, that was a good sign. He'd also been the first person Akiva had had an actual conversation with since getting on this ship. With everyone else it always was work related. A light laugh escaped when he commented about her job being tiring. "It only gets tiring when more than two people want you to bring them something or write something down at the same time"

Medical? She really hadn't pegged him as that, though she wasn't sure what she would have pegged him as. "Dr. McCoy, that's cool" she said with a smile. The doctor was one of the few higher ranked officers that she'd yet to meet, and she hoped that when she finally did it wouldn't be as a patient. Like most people Akiva wasn't too keen on getting sick, but if she got sick she still had a job to do, and there wasn't anyone else on board who did her job. Keeping records, it sounded easy, but it was anything but.

"Nice to meet you Red" she gave her hand to his extended one, and gave it a shake. Red. She'd never met anyone named Red before, and the combination of Red and his last name Zilla almost made her want to raise a brow and stifle a laugh, but she managed to control herself. It wasn't polite to laugh at someone's name, especially when they don't actually give it to themselves, well in most cases they don't.

[Ensign Zilla]

"I guess thats true. I'm far too lazy to try attempting to keep track of records." He laughed mildly at his words but on the inside he stopped to think if that was the wrong thing to say. No doubt she wouldn't wanna end up on his table if he was indeed lazy, a lazy doctor wasn't very appealing. "I haven't really had a chance to meet him though, just in passing." He and McCoy hadn't had a real conversation or anything, so they were pretty much still strangers to one another.

The topic of medicine did not excite Red so he hoped that she wouldn't have any questions on the subject, he'd rather talk about things that were actually interesting. Wrapping his fingers around Akiva's hand he shook lightly, smiling as he grabbed the apple with his other hand and took off a chunk. He was getting down to the apple's core now. "Likewise, Akiva." It truly was nice to meet her, she was what he would call normal. If he had been trapped with talking to more of those hyper bodies he'd met in the medicine wing he would have gone nuts. "If you don't mind me asking, how'd you get interested in being the keeper of records?" He mused as he tried to gain just a bit more insight on the girl.

He wasn't sure how much more time they'd be allowed in the mess hall before having to get back to work, so he would have to make the best of this unknown amount of time.

[Ensign Caro]

After the shake had ended she retreated her hand back, laying it in her lap. "It wasn't exactly an interest, it was just sort of something that happened" she shrugged a little. "I really wasn't too sure what I wanted to do, I'd been leaning towards engineering, since I grew up learning how to fix things with my brothers, but I think that would make me a cliche of some sort" she reached to scratch behind her neck "and I don't want to end up being a cliche. I got this job basically because of my note-taking ability. Say anything at any speed and I can get all or at least most of it down. Good thing they didn't bother to look at my organizational skills, or else I'd probably still be back at the Academy trying to figure out what to do with my life."

That was enough about her for a few minutes. Sure, she didn't mind talking, but she wasn't fond of one sided conversations and since he'd asked about her, she only saw fit that it be her turn to ask about him. "So where are you from?" she asked him after eating the last of her fries. The question could have been about his division or Starfleet in general, but they were surrounded by that all the time, so it was good to ask questions that didn't pertain to that every now and then.

[Ensign Zilla]

Once he was done munching through his apple, Red discarded the core into a nearby trashbin. His eyes and ears were focused on Akiva, nodding as she spoke about what she'd originally thought of doing. A cliche of some sort? He didn't know exactly what she meant, but he did know what he'd think if she were an engineer. His mind drifted for a moment before she spoke of the Academy. "Ah, the wonder years." They weren't actually wonder years, but the sarcastic tone he held would let Akiva knew that he meant the opposite of what he'd said.

So she had brothers, it almost made him ask if there were any sisters, but he decided to not pry into her family business. "I'm from earth, if thats what you mean." Nowadays it was hard to tell. Alien species amazingly didn't look all too different from humans in most cases, something Redulio still found shocking. "But if you want more specific, I'm from Louisiana."

His cheeks pushed up as his smile widened, "See the southern charm?" He joked before leaning back in his chair. "Lived there all my life until moving to San Francsico for the Academy. A few years there, and now I'm in space. Not really where I wanna be though." His shoulders lifted and fell in a modest shrug. Space was not what he was regarding by his last statement, he was thrilled to be in space, just not as a medical officer.

[Ensign Caro]

She lauged at the sarcastic undertone to his comment on the Academy. For the first time she hadn't been the first one to use sarcasm in a conversation, and it seemed he'd enjoyed those years, just about as much as she had. Sure some days were okay, but others she just wanted to strangle every instructor and cadet on campus. Then she thought of her dad and brothers back home. They were better off with her there, dad didn't have to make as much money in order to put food on the table or keep the house.

Louisiana, she'd heard of the place, but had never actually been there herself. The only place in America she'd been to was San Francisco for the Academy. A light laugh came from her as she saw the smile "Yeah I see it" she joked a little back at him. That was one thing she did know about men from the south in that country. They were supposed to be gentlemen, charming, and full of manners. This was of course probably a stereotype of them, so Akiva didn't believe that everyone of them was like that, or that they possessed all those qualities.

"Where do you want to be then?" she asked as she looked down at the empty plate. She was still hungry, obviously fries didn't do much for the stomach after running around for the past few hours with no other food in the system that day. Her eyes shifted back up giving him a smile as she waited for the answer.

[Ensign Zilla]

The Academy wasn't so bad, it wasn't that he was complaining it was just that he didn't love being there. Some things needed to be done and were great to be taken part in, but that did not mean he'd look back on his days as a cadet and smile. While Akiva had her brothers to think of Red didn't really have anyone, just the parents that he currently weren't talking to. He laughed and nodded as she continued the joke by saying she was what he meant, that made her even cooler in his book. He could tell she wasn't from the South like him but as to where she was from, he was stomped.

"Where do I want to be." The man repeated with a smirk, leaning forwad with his arms folded and elbows on the table surface. "Where I really wanna be, is in the commander's chair. I know, I know. Kids think that they can be the Captain of their own ship, but I know that I can do it. I mean my dad was a horrible Captain, but a great doctor. I'm a horrible doctor...I'd have to be a great captain." Dark brows went up as he shrugged slightly, that was the way he made sense of it.

"What about you, where are you from?" Not polite to hog the conversation, and since he was trying to make a friend here it'd be good to learn a little more about her.

[Ensign Caro]

His philosophy, or reasoning about why he wanted to be in the commander's chair was actually kind of amusing. The opposite effect that his father had, maybe he was right, maybe he would be a good captain. It wasn't going to be on this ship that he would find out though, at least not that she could think of right then and there. Of course things always did happen, but it'd be a line til it got to Red's chance at being the captain. Sort of like how there was a line to the royal throne, there was a line to the captain's chair.

"Oh me, I'm from Queensland" she smiled before deciding to add on something else "It's in New Zealand." Not a whole lot of people knew where Queensland was exactly, so she'd added on the last bit just in case he was part of that majority.

Placing her elbows up on the table and rested her chin in her hands "So tell me" she smiled across at him "if you were captain, what would be the first thing you would do?"

[Ensign Zilla]

To be captain, it was a dream of his ever sense he could remember, yet it was a dream he was not allowed to pursue. Damn his parents. He remained leaned against the table as he eyed the dark haired girl seated before him, thinking as she told him where she was from. Queensland. As if she had read his mind Akiva was quick to supply another location that he was familiar with, New Zealand. When she gave that bit of information he nodded slowly and gave a draw out 'ooh'. "Okay, yeah. Nice there?" It would have been nice to see other places, but he had been restricted to only two states out of the entire country in which he lived, another country was nearly out of the option. Funny that he'd reach space before another country.

"First thing?" Her smile made him smile, she seemed to be pretty cheerful. "First thing I'd do would be to assemble the best damn crew possible. The second thing would be to say to hell with protocol and all of these rules. Space is too vast for us to take it slow and watch everthing so closely. Most of this we've already seen. I'd wanna go deeper, farther, than ever before." By the well he spoke it was easy to see that this was a subject that truly facinated him, but he was nowhere near reaching the rank of Captain. For now it was all wishful thinking. "And of course I'd need someone reliable to keep record of it all." He grinned at her as he laughed.

[Ensign Caro]

"Yeah it was, is, pretty nice" she corrected herself. Just because she wasn't there anymore didn't mean it had lost it's beauty or adventure "You can go one place and be snowboarding and then another be swimming by a waterfall." That had been one thing she truly missed about the place, about how you could do a million different things all in a few hours drive. With her brothers and their friends just about every other weekend had been spent doing something like that.

When he started going about what he would do she smiled just a little bit more. He seemed to be really into this. "Well it seems like you have it all planned out" she said with a soft laugh. "and as long as you decide not to have me running everywhere on the ship, maybe, maybe I'd consider keeping your records" she said flashing a grin back at him.