One Awkward Breakfast (Project_Epsilon and Harpsong) [Finished]

It was an early morning, about 8am, as the lights outside of the room were still rather dim. Many of the cohabitants of the Living District seemed to be still asleep, with a few exceptional early birds that seemed to be up and about. One of them, was Kaiden, who was at the time eating some cereal while flipping through his VeX for updates.

He didn't sleep very well last night, and it could've been realized by looking at his face, as there were some heavy bruises under his sleepy eyes. He would also once in a while stop eating to just sit still, as if his mind was barely keeping his motor functions going.

He had a few nightmares invade his sleep last night, mostly of his past, but also of the few things that happened aboard the ship already. Combined with the fact he always seemed to be a little slow in the mornings, he seemed to be barely living, as he was lazily sliding another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Wake up Kaiden, you have a shift in a few hours..." He said to himself, struggling to keep himself awake. He let out a sigh and began leaning back to turn on the radio and put some lively music to help him not fall asleep. He put it on a medium setting, without caring much about his room-mate still sleeping as he went back to his cereal.

Not too far away, the slumped figure of a sleeping Kerrfi is nearby... Last night she'd rather hastily tucked herself in after forgetting the time and staying up later than she'd planned, so all she had time to do was throw off her uniform until only her loose, over-sized grey vest and her padded Hoof-socks remained on. It doesn't take long for her to wake up, sensitive ears prone to sensing Kaiden's movements nearby...

Luckily, her Dreadlocks make Kerrfi immune to bed-hair, and all it takes is a few sips from a glass of water and she's feeling considerably more awake than her roommate. With food on the mind already, she comes into the kitchen, thankfully kept decent by her vest-come-nightdress as she spies Kaiden.

"Jump-to, Soldier" she states, before flashing a smile, knowing a little about the man already. "Have you eaten? And I do mean properly."

I sure hope he hasn't, that way he can cook for me as well...

Kaiden looks up to her from his Vex, and makes a rather confused expression as his eyes crossed a little. He had a good look at her as if he was trying to determine who she is, as he then soon realized. "Oh, Kerrfi, it's you." He said, as his mind seemed to be taking a little while to load even with the most simple of stuff. He really wasn't a morning person.

"Eaten..? I'm eating... cereal, yeah. Nothing... apart from that ... though." He spoke in a slow, cumbersome manner. He looked over to the Coffee machine, that has just finished brewing a fresh batch of strong coffee. The gourmet expensive coffee, not the cheap stuff from the local convenience station. "Mind pouring me a mug... I nearly forgot about coffee..." He said nodding lazily to the coffee machine and going back to his cereal.

Her expression darkens a little at the fact he's not going to do her work for her, but she resigns herself to it, going over to the Coffee machine. Her top did ride up a little at the back, enough to expose the lower half of that ample butt of hers, but with Kaiden's current state of being, it probably meant little. "You know, you're lucky I'm -nice-."
Kerrfi takes the mug now filled with some manner of steaming hot blend, and carefully moves it back over to him, wary of the heat of it. "Your not the only one who's had a hard time private." she muses "Right after getting asked compromising questions by that creep, Zalakar, I had to spend two hours yesterday fixing a single flickering light! Of course, I eventually determined that someone had incorrectly aligned the nearby EPS conduit, its a good thing we didn't-" she trails off, noting again just how much of a Zombie Kaiden is as she sits down next to him. Kerrfi just smiles a little, and slides the mug towards him "Coffee."

Okay, I admit it... he is kind of adorable when he's like this...

Kaiden looked over to the cup of coffee and sluggishly reached with his hand to grab it by the handle. He has already finished his cereal as he then held the coffee mug in both his hands, taking a slow sips from it. A smile appeared on his face as he exhaled. "Nebula Coffee, best on this side of space. Reminds me of the times I spent drinking it with Sergeant Liana in the officer's cafe, after dealing with riots back on Henta." He said softly, after taking another slow sip of his favorite blend.

He looked up to her, a little more alert as he nodded to her in a thankful manner. "Sorry, I'm a little slow in the mornings..." He explained to her in an open manner, adding a quiet chuckle afterwards. "What were you saying?" He asked afterwards, still taking small sips from the mug while looking at her with a more attentive look on his face.

She offered him a simple shrug at that. "What was I saying? More like complaining, don't worry about it." Kerrfi stands up again, and makes her way over to the nearby counter, taking the items she needs to fry something to eat, stubby tail drifting side-to-side as she works.

"You know, if you're having trouble sleeping, you can tell your boss, I'm sure they'd give you some time to recover..." she lifts up a package, glaring intently at the label. "The very worst they will do is tell you 'No'..."

She wasn't an expert at cooking, but you don't have to be to fry an egg of whatever came close to resembling a chicken in this part of space. "Anyway, this is the first chance we've gotten to properly speak to each-other, outside the uniform."

Kaiden looked at her a little curiously, as he remembered her question from earlier on. He observed her fumble and scratch around at the package of Atokan Khe'il eggs and put the two and two together. She must have been trying to cook him a solid breakfast he thought, but she surely didn't seem very adept at it.

He then stood up while rubbing his face a little and yawned, as he tried to become more alert, while taking a few steps towards her with his hand out. He seemed to have rolled up his sleeves a little, suggesting that he will be trying to take charge of the cooking.

"Let me help you with that." He said, offering her a soft smile, as his eyes seemed to be less tired by the minute. There was a certain boy-ish quality in his face, when he wasn't being dead serious and trying to follow every Law to the letter, a quality he would show seldom and certainly not to everyone.

Kerrfi was unaware of his moving about behind her, too focused on the products she's working with "This packaging is so... weird... can't those hippies just use a fiber-carton like everyone else does?"

Her voice trailed off after that, as she became rather quickly aware of Kaiden, namely due to the fact her pudgy figure had just softly collided with his body while she was fussing around, the soft, thin fabric of her top the only real thing between her body and him. Well, this is unexpected. Hope he doesn't get the wrong end of the stick...

Rather than becoming flushed or embarrassed, she simply cracks the egg in her hands into the waiting skillet, before moving away and gesturing at Kaiden "Thanks for the save, master-chef."

The usually prudent lion didn't even realize the brushing, as he went onto cooking some breakfast for both of them. He looked over to the slowly sizzling eggs as he took some pepper and salt, sprinkling both of them lightly on the top. He leaned over to the side, and after opening the fridge he took out some Jahaan maple syrup bacon, chopped it up into small strips and layered alongside the eggs.

He seemed to be in a different world then, as his moves were agile and fast, surprisingly for someone who was essentially a Zombie a minute ago. He sizzled the food on the pan, while also placing four pieces of brown bread into the toaster.

"Get two plates out of the cupboard, blue ones, oh... and I hope you are not lactose intolerant." He said, as he was making sure to not burn the bacon or the eggs, lowering the temperature a little.

Kerrfi does as told without argument for once, going over to take out plates and cutlery from nearby "Lactose intolerant?" she laughed "I'm nearly the opposite, I have an allergic reaction to anything that isn't fatty!" after laying the table, she slumped back in a chair, slouching a little as if she'd just performed some herculean task.

Naturally, in this pose, her clothing covered about 0% of her privates, but a mixture of fur, her casual demeanor, and the fact she was more fussed about getting something to eat meant that Kerrfi hardly cared whether he saw 'what momma gave her' or not. She just wanted those damn eggs, and her stomach made this crystal clear by emitting a low gurgle.

Kaiden chuckled lightly at that, as he finished making the bacon and eggs. He took the pieces of toast, and after buttering them on each slice he skillfully placed the bacon and eggs onto them. He grabbed some ketchup that was standing on the corner and added some to the sandwiches, before combining them with the other slices of buttered toast.

"This should do for the whole day..." He yawned a little as he said, placing one bacon and egg toasted sandwich on each plate and turning around. He placed the plates down onto the table, as he looked at her with a smile, seemingly not realizing a certain fact.

Kerrfi pretty much kept the same pose, relaxed in her slouching position, a posture she isn't able to take when at work. With the arrival of the food, however, she is spurred into motion, leaning over. Her eating is somewhat more exaggerated than it might be with someone else, due to how she has to lift her trunk before placing anything in her mouth, almost making a show of every morsel, in keeping with her gluttonous streak.

"Not the field-rations I was expecting!" Kerrfi laughs, with half a mouthful, before resuming, enjoying the food enough that her stubby tail twitches and flicks about, occasionally wafting the hem of her long vest.

Kaiden let out an amused laugh as he grinned in a somewhat tired manner still. "I've been taking care of myself for the last half a decade, so I know how to cook." He said with a dismissive manner in his tone, as if it was no big deal.

He began eating his own prepared sandwich, looking idly at the clock on the wall. His eyes wandered to her as he looked at her eating, something wasn't right he thought for a moment, while slowly chewing. Suddenly it hit him like a train, and he never felt more awake in his life.

She's not wearing pants, he thought in his head, as his face assumed the 'poker face' expression while taking small bites of his sandwich. There was a certain part of him that wanted to run away at that moment, make some shitty excuse to just not be near her until she would get decent.

Why does this keep on happening to me..?

Kerrfi rather quickly picks up on his change in expression... the way his pupils shrink and the fact he stopped moving entirely for a good few seconds, not to mention where he looked...

I see... maybe I assumed he was a bit -too- rough and ready... you never can tell with a home-world like his...

She straightens up a little, although not necessarily taking her anatomy out of his view, and offers a reassuring look "Relax, chief, that isn't an invitation, I'm just lazy and unashamed... simmer down, alright? I'm not about to do something you'll regret." And with that, she carries on eating, watching him closely to measure his reaction.

Kaiden sighed as he covered his eyes with his hand, in order to stop himself from looking. He was after all, highly well mannered and gentle-man like, so he thought he would give the woman some decency... even if she didn't particularly want it. Since he has already finished his food, he then decided to stand up and place the plate into the sink, all while being quiet as a stone.

"Please put some clothes on." A response came out after a small while, as he was cleaning his dish, and a few others that have seemingly stacked themselves up in the sink. His tone seemed tired, as he continued scrubbing the plates clean with utmost care, making sure he doesn't leave a smallest stain behind.

Kerrfi watches him for a few moments, almost... confused by his behavior, and the fact he practically ignored what was, in her mind, sound reasoning... However, when he finally instructs her to put clothes on, she assumes something, and looks a little grave herself, standing up, tugging her top down, and looking a little apologetic.

"Hey, I... I didn't know you had a partner, or something... I guess I shouldn't be set to 'Bachelor unless proven otherwise', huh?"

Kaiden wanted to turn around to face her, but his dignity once more disallowed him to face the indecent woman. He finished cleaning, nay, polishing the plates and stacking them into a nice neat pile on his right as he sighed and replied. His tone was cold, tired, and somewhat guilty in a sense as he simply stood there leaning on the sink.

"I don't have a partner." He spoke, as his tail twitched from side to side, but his ears seemed to almost fold backwards. "I can't and shouldn't ever have one." He added, as a certain sound played inside of his mind. A sharp, exploding sound of a gunshot rippled and echoed inside of his head as he rubbed his face a little.

Her features take on a somewhat lopsided quality as she -stares- at him.

Okay, this guy has problems... if only the 'psychiatrist' on this ship wasn't insane himself...

Once again trying to play it tactful, but barely able to suppress her urge to verbally slap him for what was, in her opinion, some of the most stupidly chivalrous behavior she had -ever- seen, behavior that had no place in any of the last seven centuries at the very least, she speaks to him, more like a parent or guardian than a friend now.

"Listen, hon, I know you're only tryin' to be the hero, and its sweet of you, really, but you can't just crumple up into a little ball the moment you see somethin' you remember from Biology class! Imagine what'll happen when you go to the entertainment district and take a wrong turn, or if you meet that woman I heard about who seduces people... if you don't loosen up..." she sighs, glancing away, clearly a little concerned for his well-being "You're gonna hate being here..."

"I don't really want to be the hero. My job requires me to keep people safe, that's it." He said, as he stood there leaning on the sink. Kaiden really didn't feel like the hero of any situation, he had no need for 'glory' or fame, he just wanted to do his job right. He wanted people to be safe, not to be some sort of knight in shining armor.

Soon as the 'seducing woman' is mentioned however, he sighs once more as he explains. "I already met her." He said, as he rolled his eyes. He started packing his backpack, as he added a small container in, presumably some sort of lunch he would take with him to work.

Kerrfi groans and rolls here eyes as he gives the speech on how he's 'just there to do the right thing'.

Oh brother.

Watching him walk off, she simply exclaims. "If you've ran into her, then why are you still... I... just... oh grow some gonads! Seriously..." she looks down at herself "Its not like you can see anything either... I mean... I can't remember the last time I trimmed that..."

Kaiden stopped suddenly before walking off and turned his head around to reply. "Who said I had sex with her?" His eyes narrowed in an annoyed manner as he explained further, his tone was cold and slightly emotionless.

"I don't screw all women I meet, especially not those that assault me. It's called having decency and dignity, not like you would know anything about that." He finished his punchline and walked off, with the backpack over his shoulder.

Shortly after Kaiden leaves, she simply rubs her face with her hand again.

Why-oh-why did I get lumped in with the only guy on the ship who's scared of women?