Kitchen for Old Friends (Eva)

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam hadn't known if anyone was actually going to take him up on his offer to give people cooking sessions in the kitchen, but Eva, with nothing else to do (comforting, right?) had said that she was going to come on down. She hadn't been received that well on board as far as he knew, considering she had previously worked for R4. But she would always have a friend in him.

It hadn't taken him too long to figure out what they were going to make - a stir fry was fairly simple, and easily customised to different tastes. He'd slung a variation of different ingredients onto the counter; carrots, peppers, celery, bean sprouts, chicken, along with the noodles and the sauces of course. Then he had something else stashed away in the cupboard for later.

With the oven warm, and everything ready, now all he had to do was wait. No sooner had he propped himself up on the counter and tilted his head back against the wall, he heard the door slide open and looked to see Eva enter. He smirked when he saw what she was wearing. "Cooking in style, are we?" he asked with a wide grin, waving her over as he hopped back onto the floor. "I feel under-dressed."

[Evangeline Irvine]

Already Eva was growing frustrated on the Venia. Because of her telepathic abilities, she'd always been shunted aside a little in R4 as well, unless the boss wanted something from her. But here it was even worse, because not only did they shun her for her ability, but also because she'd worked for R4.

She could hear them all, both in whispers and in their thoughts, commenting on her; "So that's the R4 scum we picked up," or "It's that terrorist girl!" She was downright sick of it. Yes, she'd worked for R4, and yes, that meant she'd basically been a terrorist. But she hadn't known. None of them seemed to understand that, or care enough to even try.

Only Sam treated her like she was an actual person--well, him and that psychologist, Julia, but she was trained to treat people kindly and with patience. When he'd thrown up a ship-wide offer for a little cooking session, she'd decided she might as well. She had no specific job around the ship anyway, it wasn't like she'd be missed anywhere.

When she entered the kitchen Sam was ready and waiting, ingredients set out on the counter for them to use if and when they felt like it. He himself was perched on a counter, and jumped down when she walked in. "Ha, ha, ha," she laughed sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "Very clever." Though in truth, she was a little amused. This was fairly casual for her.

"What are you going to have me help you make, anyway?"

[Sam O'Connor]

"I thought so," he said, wearing his grin with pride. He was a teaser, always had been, probably always would be. It was part of his jokey nature, and always made people laugh, even if it was sarcastically. He figured Eva needed cheering up what with everything that had gone on. He'd trampled all over a whole ton of her beliefs the other day by telling her the truth and then she'd be thrown in with a crew that hated her - must be absolutely wonderful.

"Well actually," he said, folding his arms across his chest, "I figured I'd get you to do it, lay out some random food, see what you come up with while I sit back and relax." He raised his eyebrows slightly, watching her expression for a moment before smirking. "Stir fry," he said, "we're making stir fry. Although my fake idea might have been fun to see."

Pulling out a pan and a wok, he set both down on the stove, starting the noodles off boiling before turning back to her. "All right, it's entirely up to you what we put in out of these things," he sectioned off the vegetables and chicken, pushing them towards her, "pick and choose, mix and match. Try not to eat it all before we get it to the wok. Especially the raw chicken, that can have some nasty after effects." He poked her gently to let her know he was kidding.

[Evangeline Irvine]

"No, no, no, bad idea," Eva laughed when Sam said he was going to sit back and watch her try to cook something. "Unlike you, I haven't spent the last eight years brushing up on cooking techniques. Honest to god, I can burn water." He then explained that they'd be making stir fry, and she nodded. That explained the plethora of toppings on the counter.

He pushed the said ingredients over to her, jokingly telling her not to eat the raw meat. When he poked her, she gave an uncharacteristically girlish shriek, and offered him a venomous yet entirely playful scowl. Being ticklish was an awful trait. "Tell anyone about that, and you'll find yourself with Nair in your shampoo. That lovely head of hair is at stake."

With that threat out of the way, she looked back down at the foods before her: peppers, celery, bean sprouts, carrots chicken, you name it. After a long moment, she chuckled and looked back up at him. "Can't we just use all of them?" she asked in amusement, "You know, so I don't have to show favoritism and all that jazz."

[Sam O'Connor]

"Burn water?" Sam positively hooted with laughter. "Wow, that takes talent, I applaud you," he said, bowing low whilst still chuckling. He'd known how to cook even when they first met, but she was right, he had got better over the years, to the point where his flourishes and talent had earned his Uncle's restaurant it's fourth star for food quality. That had earned him a bone crushing hug from the man half his size, and a raise. More moolah, nothing to complain about there.

The shriek definitely was not expected, and Sam had to practically suck his lips all the way into his mouth to prevent himself from bursting out laughing. Giving her a mock salute, he choked out a "yes ma'am. I understand. On pain of baldness." His hair had always been something that his best friend, Zoe, had been fascinated with, and now Eva was mentioning it as well. The copious amounts of it must be distracting or maybe even enticing for people.

"We can indeed," he grinned, "we don't want the carrots feeling sullen and rejected," he agreed, pulling out the carrots, peppers, and celery. "We need to cut all these into slices," he said, "make them easier to eat, so, pick whichever you want, grab a knife, and let the slicing begin." He then added, "just don't point that thing anywhere near me, I've seen you with a gun, I'd imagine you'd be just as dangerous with a knife." He smirked slightly, picking up a knife of his own, twirling it round his fingers and into his palm, waiting for her to choose what to chop first.

[Evangeline Irvine]

Sam's expression in response to her shriek was absolutely hilarious, and Eva couldn't help but fall to a fit of giggles. "Oh, go ahead and laugh," she managed to choke out, delivering a soft shove to his shoulder, "Just be sure never to mention it after this. I know that I certainly don't want to see you bald." To accentuate her words, she reached up and mussed his hair affectionately.

He agreed to using all the ingredients, and she smiled. "Yes, we definitely wouldn't want that. What if it marred their flavour? Then they'd never be able to be used. What a disaster that would be!" It felt odd to laugh this much, but she found herself rather enjoying it. Something about spending time with Sam opened up her playful side, and she found herself wondering if perhaps some day she'd have others she could say the same about.

Listening as Sam gave her instructions as to what they had to do next, Eva nodded and picked up one of the knives. At his following comment, she barked a laugh. "Sam, dearest, I specialized in knives, right up there with hand-to-hand. That's what I spent about six years of my life on. Working with guns was just a hobby, like my dancing."

She paused in order to toss the knife into the air, watching it spin a couple of times before catching it by the hilt. "Though I suppose I was better with throwing them than chopping vegetables with them." With a shrug, she pulled the celery towards her and began a steady chopping rhythm. A small grin flickered across her features. "You know, this has to be the first time I've even considered cooking for myself in... what, eight years? It's nice."

[Sam O'Connor]

What was it with women and his hair? They were drawn to it like a fat person to chocolate cake. "I shall, a thank you very much," he said, poking his tongue out at her, "laughing is good for you, it's how I keep in such great shape," he patted his non-existent stomach, it made a hollow sound. "I'd rather not be bald either, so I'll be taking your secret to my grave." He painted the cross in the air over his chest as a mock promise.

Sam was enjoying making her laugh, back when they'd first met, and even now, she was quite restrained, probably because of the way she was brought up. So, seeing her laugh was like a blessing, he felt honoured that he could make her smile. "Vegetable catastrophe!" he declared loudly, waving his arms in the air, "it'd be all over the news in an instant. 'Rejected vegetables, flavourless and alone, take own lives. The herb rack is still being questioned, the roasting pot under police cordon until further notice."

Wheezing with laughter probably wasn't the best idea when chopping vegetables, but he got started on the peppers, figuring they were the most fiddly out of the veg he'd picked. "You know that's not comforting, right?" he smirked across at her, taking the core out of each of the peppers before slicing them up. He raised his eyebrows slightly, wondering if she'd meant to admit that, "you dance?" he asked. He didn't actually know that much about her, he realised, but there was plenty of time to get to know one another now.

"Glad to hear it," Sam grinned, "I cook for a living, so I can't exactly say the same. But, it is great; you get to feel accomplished, and you get to eat after. Win." Setting the peppers to one side, he pushed the carrots towards Eva, "seeing as you're doing such a fine job," he grinned, then grabbed the vegetable oil and seasame oil, lathering the wok with an even amount of both, listening to the sound of the oil crackling upon touching the hot metal surface. The garlic came next, then they'd need the peppers and carrots.

[Evangeline Irvine]

A hand flew up to slap over her mouth when Eva laughed louder than she'd meant to, and she allowed herself a moment to catch her breath before responding to Sam's joke about the vegetables. "Families of the deceased proclaim the fruits were behind it, causing an uproar in Refrigerator Town," she tacked on with a giggle, shaking her head a little at the silliness.

"It wasn't intended to be comforting," she pointed out with a smirk of her own. "After all, not all of us can be chefs. Some of us have to make a living by sneaking through air-ducts and listening in on top-secret government meetings. And those things can be long, believe me. I was stuck in a closet for four hours once, just eavesdropping."

The surprise evident in Sam's voice made Eva glance at him, and she blushed a little. Not many people knew about that. "Some, yeah," she admitted. "I've been in lessons for a few branches of dance--jazz, contemporary, ballet, and even some belly-dancing, though I wasn't very good at that. Same goes for most ballroom dances." After a pause she offered a little timidly, "I could show you sometime, if you wanted."

When he pushed the carrots toward her, she arched an eyebrow, but then simply shrugged and pulled them in front of her and began chopping. "What about you?" she asked as he turned his back on her, working over the wok for a moment. "You can't have been cooking non-stop since the last time I saw you. Surely you've got your own hobbies?"

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam literally had to stop what he was doing and bent over double, finding it difficult to breathe through the laughter. This was a whole new side to Eva that he was loving. "Oh my word," he gasped, straightening up somewhat, his eyes tearing and his cheeks rosy, "Refrigerator Town in the Republic of Kitchenonia." This conversation had broken down into madness, and yet, it was completely hysterical. Wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands, he managed to reach a point where he could speak properly again. "It appears we have a comic genius in our midst."

"If all of us were chefs, I would probably be out of the job," he pointed out, "but no, that doesn't sound fun. I guess James Bond and Ethan Hawke had to endure the same sorts of pain in order to be awesome." Both were 20th Century spies, the movies they were in still re-ran every Christmas on the holo. "You don't have to worry about that here, unless you feel like randomly crawling through the air ducts, in which case, be my guest. If you get stuck, you might get lucky, and one of the hunky engineers could save you."

Sam snorted, "belly dancing. Something which I've always wanted to do but never got round to it," he teased. He had no hips, or waistline to speak of, so belly dancing would be impossible for him, he'd probably just look like he was fitting or something. He smiled across at her when she offered to show him sometime. "Yeah, that'd be good," he said with a little nod. "It can be in return for teaching you this meal."

"Me?" he said, reaching across to side the now chopped vegetables into the pan, "well, it's mostly all about cooking. But, being the lofty height of 6'1", I have been known to play basketball. And I'm really into music, can strum a few notes on the guitar and tinker with a piano," he said modestly, "much prefer listening to it though." Surprisingly, he adored classical pieces, it was the sort of music that took you to a whole other place, set your imagination free. "My dancing is abomnibal," he smirked, "moonwalking and the running man is about all I've been able to master."

[Evangeline Irvine]

It surprised Eva a little when she found she had to wipe tears from her cheeks. She'd never laughed hard enough to make her eyes water before. "You're not so bad yourself," Eva laughed, shaking her head and chuckling "Republic of Kitchenonia" under her breath. Not able to abolish her laughter completely, she simply giggled the rest of the way through chopping up the carrots.

"Ha, no doubt they did," she said with a grin, "But while Bond might have run around in that classy tux of his, I was stuck in an uncomfortable skin suit." She'd truthfully hated that thing--though Theo had certainly liked it on her, which at the time had made her roll her eyes and smirk. Now it just made her grimace a little. She'd have to sort things out with him eventually, one way or another.

But those were thoughts for another time. Besides, it was hard to focus on much besides holding her stomach as Sam sent her off laughing again. "Hunky engineers, huh?" she chortled, smirking at him in amusement. "Doesn't that sound like one hell of a way to meet a guy--go and get yourself stuck in an air duct. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on and all the girls will be doing it soon."

"You? Belly dancing?" Just the thought made Eva chortle. "Somehow I don't think you have the right kind of physique"--she rolled her hips teasingly--"to pull it off. But watching you try could be entertaining." Apparently, he felt the same about watching her dance in general. When he proposed that it be in exchange for the stir fry, she nodded. "That sounds fair."

While he answered her question, she wandered over to lean against the counter next to him, watching him as he worked. There was an ease in his movements that only came with practice, and like most people she found watching such effortless work fascinating. "Not only are you an exquisite chef, you're also musically gifted and show prowess on the court. I'm impressed."

Though her tone was teasing, she was partially being serious. All in all, Sam was a perfectly wonderful guy. And what with his goofy charm and sweet smile, he surely had the ladies fawning all over him back home. He was too modest to believe such a thing though, she knew, and oddly enough that thought made her grin. He was a downright lady-killer, and he was absolutely oblivious to it.

[Sam O'Connor]

"Thank you, thank you," he said, taking a bow as she complimented him on his wit. It was his most coveted trait, what he believed he had to rely on in order to encourage people to like him. At the skin suit comment, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, "are you sure they were making you wear that for practical reasons?" he asked with a smirk, "or maybe if you accidentally fell into the meeting, your outfit would provide a suitable distraction in order for you to get out of there - you'd be vaulting the fence and they'd still be picking their jaws up off the floor."

Sam snorted, "I shouldn't be the one to observe that they're hunky, should I?" he snickered at himself, it was all meant in jest anyway. "Maybe that'll be the way you can earn yourself some new friends," he said with a chuckle, "be a trendsetter, get all the girls on the ship boyfriends, they'll love you then." He only knew of one male engineer that was taken, the rest were still up for grabs and eager, he imagined - men always were.

He rolled his eyes as she showed him just how easy it was for someone like Eva who had a figure - and was female - to do something like move her hips. "I think it's more likely that I'd look like I was having a seizure or something," he said, pulling a face, "you'd be better off getting me to something like... ehhh, a waltz, something that doesn't require me to bend in any way." Not that dancing the waltz would be easy either... harder even.

Next went the celery and a handful of bean sprouts into the wok, sizzling away with their friends while Sam coated them in a healthy dose of soy sauce. He snorted when she listed off his qualities, making him sound wonderful. "I wouldn't put it quite like that," he said, "I'll accept the exquisite chef part though."

Tossing the vegetables over themselves inside the wok, he looked across at Eva who had gone quiet. She looked like she was thinking about something, and whatever it was, it was making her grin. He couldn't help but grin back. "You have a beautiful smile you know," he told her, sliding the vegetables out of the wok and into a dish for the moment, setting the wok back on the stove, "you should use it more often."

[Evangeline Irvine]

"Well, it was certainly easier to move in than some silly dress," Eva allowed, but then shrugged and nodded with a humored grin, "Though you have a point. I suppose they could have simply had me wear it for their own gratification. Not likely to ever happen again though, if I can help it. I'm small enough to crawl through ducts without having to wear spandex suits, thanks ever so."

Sam pitched the idea that it might have been meant to serve as a distraction, and once she'd regained her composure after suffering a mild laugh attack, Eva merely grinned at him. "I suppose that could have been it, too," she agreed, using her thumbs to wipe the moisture from her eyelashes. His next comment almost set her over again. Once you started laughing, it was damn near impossible to stop, it would seem.

"Well, it is a little misleading. Unless, of course, you've been keeping something from me...?" She arched an eyebrow and eyed him studiously for a moment before cracking into a grin and reaching up to tap his nose playfully. "I guess that has the potential to make some of the girls on board like me more, yes, but I can't see the chief engineer being too pleased at having all his male engineers off bedding various women."

Whether it was his words, or the face he pulled after, Eva wasn't sure, but she had to bite the inside of her cheeks to stop from howling with laughter. "It's like you're setting out to kill me," she choked, fanning her face in a fruitless attempt to help calm her down. Goodness, she really needed to relax. Laughing was good for you, yes, but she was sure there was a point when it grew unhealthy for you, too.

"Waltzes aren't bad," she said with a nod, her voice steadier now. "Though I've never really been that great when it comes to dancing with a partner. Turns out that I've got a certain knack for stepping on their feet, and they never really thank me for that." Sam went on to argue with her analysis of him, and she smirked and patted his shoulder. "Don't be so diffident," she chided.

At least he accepted her remark on his cooking ability. That one had been a no-brainer, as was proven when she breathed in the scent of soy and cooking vegetables. "It certainly smells like it." She continued to watch as he worked, wondering if he'd complain much if she seated herself on the counter-top, and glanced up when he spoke again.

As if it knew it was being complimented, a smile appeared on Eva's face again, and her cheeks turned an almost imperceptible shade darker. "I can't imagine it'll be too hard, with you cracking jokes left and right," she pointed out. By then he'd set the vegetables on a dish, and she curiously reached over and grabbed a piece of celery. Despite its heat, she popped it into her mouth, and her eyebrows shot up.

"You must be a god," she teased once she'd swallowed, "To make it look so simple to make and yet have it taste so good." After stealing another bite she asked, "So how much longer until it should all be ready, do you think? I can get us something to drink, if you tell me what you'd like and where I can find the appropriate glasses."

[Sam O'Connor]

It probably sounded like someone had deployed laughing gas in the kitchen, the way Sam and Eva were going. Sam was laughing because Eva was laughing, and Eva was laughing because Sam was making her laugh. It was a vicious circle of laughter. "Hey, on this ship, anything can happen," he said, "you might end up in a spandex cat dress scaling walls and fighting off sheep-pirahna hybrids that are invading the ship." That sounded like something from a nasty drug trip, but out here in space, the possibilities really were endless. "The result of some genetic experiment gone horribly wrong."

A lot of the nonsense that was flowing from his mouth was in order to keep the laughter going, and it seemed to be working well. He cleared his throat and looked shiftily from left to right before snorting, "nah, ladies all the way." She tapped him on the nose and he grinned, reaching down to tickle her ribs in return. "Ahhh, yes, William wouldn't be pleased," he agreed, she hadn't even met the man and yet she'd hit that nail right on the head. He was a good guy, but he tended to be quite strict when it came to the expectations of his officers.

Sam shrugged his shoulders slightly, "yeah, those feet can be pesky little buggers, especially when it comes to foot work," he said, if you actually watched someone's feet moved as they danced, it was actually quite complicated. "Can't stop me from doing this though," he grinned, reaching to take one of her hands, twirling her in before twirling her out again. "Tada!

He had to admit, the food did smell great. His stomach let out a low grumble and he decided it would probably be a good idea to get this meal done. Seizing the already diced chicken, he slid it into the pan, adding more olive oil on top. While it sizzled away, he looked across at Eva again, beaming. "Then I definitely won't relent," he said, "with the joking. Might even step it up a little," he smirked.

"Practiced," he corrected her with a snicker, "I'd rather not be smited for accepting a blasphemous compliment." Not that he really believed in a higher power or whatever, but always accepted compliments with a joke. "All the glasses are in that cupboard over on the right," he nodded his head towards the appropriate one, sliding the vegetables back into the wok now that the chicken was cooked, "and there's a whole selection of drinks in the pantry on the far side of the kitchen, I'm not fussy." The last of the soy and oyster sauce went into the pan, and he tossed it all expertly; it was nearly ready to serve.