Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates
Posted on Fri Nov 29th, 2019 @ 5:50pm by Lieutenant JG Ryland Dedeker & Lieutenant Sophie Xiong
1,718 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Mission 0: Everybody Has A Story
Location: Sophie’s quarters
Timeline: Morning after “Exploring”
There is something extremely disappointing in waking from a lovely dream.
This is what Sophie about to do. She was dreaming of a lovely day on Ixlight, the sun shining brightly and a fine sheen of sweat on her face as she wandered through the jungle with machete in hand. As she walked, she reflected that it must be a dream because it was nighttime and night never fell on Ixlight. No sooner had she thought it than she felt herself begin to wake.
“Mmff,” she muttered, trying to stay asleep. Attempting to roll over, she found her way impeded by another body and all at once, the dream slammed shut and her eyes popped open.
Damnit.
She sighed in agitation, both over the lost dream and the other body wound so tightly around her that she had no means of easy escape. Well, now what? She could wake him- a sharp elbow to the ribs would see to that- but did she really want to? After all, it was early. Her alarm had not yet sounded. She could just stay here a bit. Perhaps she could go back to sleep and get back to that wonderful dream.
"I won't... I won't tell..." The words were jumbled and muffled at first, but as Ryland began tossing his head to and fro, they became louder. "No... I won't... never... please, Max... No!" His limbs began to thrash. "I WON'T TELL A SOUL! NO!!!"
That did earn him a sharp elbow to the ribs. “Dedeker!” she snapped. “Stop it! You’re hurting me! Dedeker!” Another elbow to the ribs. “Wake up!”
Ryland jolted awake and nearly fell out of bed. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"
“You were kicking me!” retorted Sophie irritably. “That’s not exactly how a girl likes to wake up in the morning.”
"I was?" The half smile on Ryland's face said he was unsure. "Well, sorry. How will I ever make it up to you?" He leaned over to run his lips across her neck.
"You could stop kicking me," she suggested flatly. "What time is it?"
Ryland shrugged. "Hell if I know. You got somewhere to be?"
Sophie rolled her eyes and propped herself up on one elbow to check the chronometer. “Duty shift at 0800,” she reminded him. “It’s nearly 0700. May as well just stay up.” But she didn’t move. She wasn’t one for getting out of bed until she absolutely had to.
"Doing what, though?" Ryland asked with a scoff. "This isn't a regular duty station. We just... screw around until somebody pushes the big red button and we come runnin', hopin' and prayin' we don't get killed by some mad scientist or cosmic horror or whoever the hell else we can scare up."
“I’m new,” Sophie pointed out. “I need to learn everything I can about this station and where everything is located. I can just ‘screw around’ as you so eloquently put it.”
A cocksure grin came over Ryland's face. "I dunno, you screwed around somethin' fierce last night."
She gave him a withering look and rolled out of bed. “I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “Are you coming?”
Ryland hopped out of bed and rubbed his hands together in excitement. "Most definitely! Lead the way, baby."
“Don’t call me baby,” ordered Sophie, turning on her heels and making a beeline for the head. “I hate it.”
"Sure, darlin'," Ryland quipped. As he followed along, he couldn't help but admire the litheness of her gait. "You know, a fella' could get used to this. What's say you about makin' this a regular thing?"
Hm. That was a thought. Sophie rarely found men who could keep up with her intellectually long enough to stick around for a second round. It was an interesting concept. "Perhaps," she replied, stepping into the sonic shower and activating it. "We will see."
"Oh, come on! Who else is going to keep you company around here? Not that geezer doctor or the spazzy administrator." The mere thought made Ryland bust out laughing. "And I didn't hear no complaints last night."
"That's because I didn't have any," she replied, running her fingers through her hair as the steam started. "But that doesn't necessarily mean I want to do it again." But it didn't have any conviction to it, even to her. Truth be told, she had quite enjoyed it and actually would have been open to more trysts if Dedeker wasn't so crude and infuriating.
Ryland smirked at her nonchalance. "Liar." He had no way of knowing for sure, but he loved to keep women off balance. And something told him that Sophie would be as fun of a verbal sparring partner as she was in bed. "You want to do it again tonight. Maybe even right now." His eyebrows waggled suggestively.
She shrugged. "Maybe," she replied. "But, I have work to do. I haven't got time for that nonsense right now."
"Tonight it is." The smirk only broadened on Ryland's face.
“Maybe,” repeated Sophie in a tone that indicated yes. She felt sufficiently clean now and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel to wipe away the remnants of the mist.
Ryland shuffled out after her, eager not to let her off the hook. "Maybe ain't no," he said. "Maybe I'll bring you something nice."
"That would probably help your cause," she replied non-commitally. "And chocolate might be my favorite."
"Chocolate it is," Ryland said. "Try not to piss off Ferrofax between now and then."
"I'm not afraid of him," she replied. "But, I don't piss anyone off. Unless, of course, they don't like the truth." She shrugged. "I don't see him having a problem with the truth."
"Heh..." Ryland shook his head. "Truth is what powerful people say it is. Never think otherwise."
"A lie does not become the truth simply because many people believe it is true," Sophie countered. "Nor does a lie become true no matter how much power you put behind it. There are absolute truths."
Ryland cackled viciously. "Spoken like a true recovering wild child," he said. "So who'd you rebel against, darlin'? Was it ma?" After thinking for a second, he shook his head. "Nah, it was daddy, wasn't it? Daddy's girls always wind up with bad boys like yours truly. Ask me how I know." He grinned so hard the tip of his tongue poked between his teeth.
Sophie rolled her eyes. "I'm not with you," she reminded him. "We had sex. That doesn't mean I'm with you."
"That's what I meant, dummy." The barb was delivered with a teasing smirk from Ryland. "Every minute spent doing the No Pants Dance you was thinkin' of how royally pissed off your dear old pops would be if he only knew."
"My dad couldn't care less who I sleep with," she said, heading to the closet to find a clean uniform. "Nor could my mother."
The terse denial elicited a snicker from Ryland. "Yeah huh. Right. Whatever you say, darlin'."
She blinked dispassionately at him. "Thank you," she said ironically. "Now put on your clothes and get out of my quarters."
"Keep talkin' like that and maybe I won't come back tonight." Ryland folded his arms and shifted his weight to one leg.
Now it was Sophie's turn to smirk. "Chocolate," she reminded him. Then she gave him a look up and down again, for good measure and nodded approvingly.
"Yeah? Get your own chocolate!" Ryland stormed out of her quarters only half-dressed.
The doors to Sophie's quarters slid open to reveal a penitent Ryland holding a small package in his outstretched hands. "Here's your chocolate, but don't think this is how it's gonna' be goin' forward."
Sophie looked up from her book, a satisfied grin on her face. "Of course not," she replied without even a hint of sarcasm or smugness. She set her book down. "Come sit down," she suggested.
One look at the grin on her face made Ryland want to high tail it out of there. But then again she was down to bone, and the pickings were slim lately. In the end, he returned her grinned and flopped himself onto her sofa, letting his jackbooted foot hang over the arm. "Don't mind if I do."
Well, at least his shoes weren't touching the sofa. That was something. "It's the good chocolate," she added, half surprised, as she accepted the box from him.
"Were you expecting any less from yours truly?" Ryland shuffled his head in a cocky gesture. "Only the best, I always say."
A million thoughts went through Sophie’s mind including that the best was not always necessary, that she actually had expected less, and that she didn’t know him well enough to know what to expect. But, she said none of it. She opened the box and chose one of the chocolates, popping it whole into her mouth, then offered the box to Dedeker; it would be rude not to share, after all, and Sophie was definitely not rude.
Ryland jumped off the sofa and greedily grabbed a handful. "Don't mind if I do!" he repeated as he thrust at least three chocolates into his mouth. "Aw, yeah, that's the stuff!"
Sophie rolled her eyes, but said nothing. This guy was such a tool, but the sex was good. She asked herself if it was worth if, but quickly decided it was. After all, she didn’t often find a guy willing to come back for more with her. “Yes,” she said finally. “They’re delicious.”
"So," Ryland said, licking his fingers clean, "we gonna do this or what?"
“Nothing like foreplay to turn a girl on,” muttered Sophie. “All right,” she sighed. “Let’s go.”
Puling his clothing off like a snake shedding its skin, by the time Ryland reached the bedroom, he was naked as a jaybird. He nearly somersaulted onto Sophie's bed. "If you say so, darlin'. If you say so."
Sophie sighed as she followed him to the bedroom, pulling off her shirt as she went. This was probably a bad idea.
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