Not-So-Alone (Open)

[karen5]

Three days. Sean had only been on board the Venia for three days, and already he was developing one of the worst migraines he'd suffered in years. And it was simply from trying to block out all the thoughts people were emitting. Usually he wouldn't have such a hard time of it, but there was so much pent-up energy on the ship that thoughts were louder than they should have been, meaning he had to work harder to shut them out. It was good practice, but annoying as hell. The romantic couples around the place were particularly bothersome.

However, when the choice was either to strain himself and receive migraines from shutting everyone out, or let all of their thoughts invade his mind and invade their privacy, it wasn't like he had much of a choice. Listening in on another person's thoughts without their consent, if you were caught doing it, was considered illegal in some places. He got the feeling that UGAP didn't enforce that law themselves, but that didn't mean that he should go around plucking the crew's brains.

The best way to deal with something like this was to find a place where you would be alone, but on a ship such as this one such a task was pretty impossible to accomplish. He'd spent the last few hours trying to hunt down a spot where he could just relax and tune the world out for a bit, and eventually stumbled across the mess-hall.

It was between the lunch and dinner rushes right now, and on account of that even the chefs had gone off to take a break. Perfect. A grin splitting his face, Sean meandered over to a table in the far corner of the room and hopped up onto its clean surface, settling down in a cross-legged position before unearthing his music-player from his pocket. It was outdated, and it still used headphones, but it worked well enough for him.

Flicking through the listings until he found a song he felt inclined to listen to, Sean slumped back comfortably into the corner and let the pounding drum-line carry his mind away. He didn't hear the mess-hall door open as another one of the crew entered the room.

[lizzycalvino]

Mannnn, it had been a long night. To make up for the fact that she had been ridiculously late for work the previous day, she had pulled an all nighter to get a whole load of stuff done. She was pretty sure at least half of the ship was working like clockwork now she was done, and she'd be sure to take it a little slower from now on. It wasn't just Will who liked to be on top of all the problems.

At around 6am this morning she'd practically walked through the shower before collapsing into bed and passing out. She'd woken up several hours later with an ache in her gut, and her wavy hair sprawling all over the place. Flattening her fringe, and tying back the rest of the mess, she clothed and headed for the Mess Hall without looking in the mirror. If she had, she would have realised that she still had a smudge of oil on her cheek.

She walked in, rubbing her eyes and yawning widely, seeing that the kitchen was empty. Ugh, not now, I'm starving! Never mind, she could get something herself, all would be forgiven later, she was sure. Stepping into the kitchen, she rooted around in the fridge and found some carrot sticks, shoving one in her mouth before continuing her foraging, seizing eggs, milk, butter and bacon, then nudging the door closed with her foot.

Lizzy picked up a frying pan and a bowl, opening up the eggs before looking up and actually seeing that she wasn't alone. A tall guy who she hadn't met yet was sitting cross-legged on one of the tables with his earphones in. How did I miss that? Was she even awake? She was beginning to doubt it.

Waving her arm around wildly, she tried to flag down his attention before lifting up the eggs and the bacon. "Want some?"

[karen5]

Bon Jovi's music was amazing, on occasion, and this just happened to be one of those occasions. How his music had managed to last this long Sean had no idea, but he closed his eyes and let You Give Love a Bad Name pound his ear-drums into non-existence, humming along under his breath so that the sound didn't carry--not like there was anyone to disturb. Slowly, his mind began to ease and he was able to think clearly again.

Quite abruptly the chorus was drowned out by the image of the fridge in the kitchen and the intention of food flooding his mind. His eyes snapped open in response, and he realized it was because a pretty brunette woman had entered the room. She was currently raiding the refrigerator of all edible contents. Effortlessly he shut her out of his head and lowered his headphones, letting them hang around his neck as he watched her wave energetically at him.

"Sure," he said brightly, sliding off the table and meandering into the kitchen to sit on the counter instead--out of the way, but close enough that they could converse. It was surprisingly nice to have someone else there. He didn't have to over-tax himself, but he had to work. It was actually more relaxing than having no one to block at all. Introduce yourself, smart one. "Right, I'm Sean Irvine, by the way. Who are you?"

[lizzycalvino]

Lizzy grinned as the man agreed to some food, she'd always loved cooking, her Dad providing her with a healthy outlook on food and his amazing Chef genes. It was even better when you got to cook for someone else, seeing the delight on their faces at the way the food tasted, exciting their tastebuds and making them feel generally satisfied.

"Great!" she said, putting the food back down again, she took four eggs, cracking them into the bowl in quick sucession, before adding milk and a small spread of the butter before beginning to whisk. She heard his voice cut through the sound of her whisking and stopped, turning to him, realising she hadn't remembered to introduce herself either. "Oh! Sorry, Lizzy Calvino. I'm new around here. And apparently left my manners back in bed this morning."

Once she was done with the whisking, she set the eggs to one side, giving her hands a quick rinse before going over to the bacon, opening the packet and putting several rashers into the pan before moving it over to the stove, turning up the heat before grabbing some tongs and facing Sean again. "What do you do around here?" she asked, figuring that was a safe place to start a conversation at, "other than pretend to be an attractive male Buddha in the Mess Hall after lunch," she chuckled, gesturing over to the table where he had been sitting.

[karen5]

The woman clearly knew her way around a kitchen, cracking the eggs effortlessly, measuring the ingredients by eye, and whisking with a practiced hand. For a moment Sean wondered if she was a chef who'd come back from their break early, but the smudge of grease on her cheek suggested that she worked in engineering.

Realizing that he'd spoken, she hastily introduced herself as Lizzy Calvino, apologizing for her lack of manners. "No worries, Lizzy," he said kindly, waving his hand dismissively. "If you're half as tired as you look, the fact that you're able to talk at all in a major accomplishment. That you can cook is just astounding."

He watched, oddly entertained, as she went back to whisking the eggs, getting them to her liking before moving on to prepare the bacon. She then turned to him and asked him what he did around the ship. Well, this would make or break any chance they had on becoming friends. That was the sad part of being like Sean--people were either comfortable with what he was, or they instantly despised him for it.

"Uh... well, I'm sort of the telepath they hired for R4 interrogations," he admitted, hesitantly letting a couple of her thoughts trickle into his mind to help him try and figure out how she was going to react. If she was going to chuck something at him, he wanted forewarning so he could duck.

[lizzycalvino]

"Half as tired as I look?" Lizzy said, gawking for a moment that he had actually said that, then laughed, rubbing her eyes with a spare hand. "I suppose I do look a little like I rolled out of bed, crawled into my clothes and came straight here." Him following the statement up with a compliment certainly saved him from losing out on his eggs and bacon. "And thank you, I will take that as a compliment."

The bacon began sizzling and she idly flipped the bacon over with the tongs so that they would be cooked evenly on either side. She put the tongs down for a moment, seizing a couple of plates, placing them in the top oven and turning them on so they would be warm for the food, freezing for a moment when he spoke again.

A telepath? Wow. She hadn't even known that they existed. After a few moments of processing, and him staring at her intently, probably trying to read her reaction, she said, "that's cool, really cool actually, wow." Looking back at him, she smiled, showing that she wasn't going to freak out on him. By the look on his face, people had definitely reacted badly to him in the past. Why wouldn't they? He had a potentially invasive power, he could read their thoughts at any given moment.

"Okay, so," she said, pursing her lips, "if I thought of a number right now, you'd be able to tell me what it is right?" She was perfectly willing to play this out. Her thoughts weren't all that private, most of the stuff in her head came spilling out of her mouth anyway. "Or, how about song lyrics? Guess the song."

She began singing the lyrics in her head, the first song that sprung to mind. Tommy used to work on the docks, union's been on strike, he's down on his luck, it's tough, so tough.

[karen5]

"As you should," Sean said with a nod when Lizzy said she'd take his comment on her ability to cook as a compliment. He truly was impressed by the fact that she was able to cook when she was as tired as she appeared to be. Already the kitchen was starting to smell marvelous, and his stomach grumbled a little in response.

She took his being a telepath better than most, though her thoughts were in mayhem for a moment when she first registered what he'd said. Then they were replaced by awe. Well, that was a first. Instead of being appalled, she was actually interested in his ability. Who knew? She said though aloud, though she really needn't have bothered.

"Well, I could, yes, but--" before he could explain the impoliteness of such a thing, she told him to tell her what song she was thinking of. With a slight sigh, he let the barrier drop again, and smiled when he heard the song she had playing in her head. Picking up where she left of, he began to sing out loud.

"Gina works the diner all day, Working for her man, she brings home her pay, For love, mmm, for love." He smiled at her as he blocked his mind again. "Livin On a Prayer, Bon Jovi. Nice pick."

[lizzycalvino]

The bacon was beginning to smell delicious, as it should be. Lizzy flipped it over another couple of times before she deemed it ready. Pulling the pan off the hob, but leaving the hob on, she removed the bacon from the pan and placed the cooked rasher on the plates in the top oven. She then put the pan back on the hob and put the eggs in there, grabbing a spatula to break the egg up with as it cooked. Not long now till they could eat.

Lizzy knew that reading someone's thoughts like that was potentially rude, but she didn't really mind right now. Her thoughts weren't on anything particularly secretive, anything that she didn't want Sean to know, and she had a feeling that when it mattered, he would probably keep out of her head. After all, he had been hesitant to even poke around in there in the first place.

She let out a laugh when he sang the next few lines out loud to her, thoroughly impressed now, and completed convinced that he was indeed a telepath. "Thank you," she grinned, "great voice, by the way."

The eggs were cooked, so Lizzy turned the hob and the oven off, humming more of the song as she went, pulling the plates out before spooning out the egg, grabbing knives and forks. "Here you go, buon appetito!" she handed him a plate and one of the sets of cutlery, then gestured over to one of the tables. She'd wash up later.

[karen5]

Sean, being Sean, gave an exaggerated bow at her compliment to his voice, laughing when he straightened again. "Shall I serenade you for the rest of the afternoon, in payment for that delicious-smelling meal you've prepared for me?" he offered jokingly, drinking in the wonderful aroma appreciatively.

Leaping lightly from the counter, he came over to hover a little distance behind her as she prepared their plates. When she continued to hum the rest of the song, he grinned and joined in quietly, so as not to be a nuisance. "How'd you learn to cook like this, anyway?" he asked when she handed him one of the dishes and utensils so he could eat, leading the way over to a nearby table. The food looked amazing. "You study as a chef or something?"

[lizzycalvino]

Lizzy laughed out loud at his offer, almost tipping her plate of food all over herself, but managing to save it at the last moment. "That's something you shouldn't suggest unless you're serious," she grinned, "because I would definitely take you up on it, no hesitation." And she meant it. She was a big enough goof as it was, doing embarrassing stuff was second nature, so having an attractive guy following her around singing all afternoon would just be hilarious.

"Jealous?" she joked, putting her plate down safely on the table, making sure to gently sit in her chair without stubbing her toe on the leg or tripping over. "No, no, my Dad was the chef, I just hovered in the kitchen watching everything with wide eyes and bugging him to let me help," she said with a smile, "he loves telling people this story about how, when I was three, I built a waffle Eiffel Tower. I had to teach all his staff to make it and he used it as his signature piece for over a year." She grinned, waiting for him to sit before tucking in. It was brilliant, as always. "How about you? What wonderful things did your parents give you, except for the obvious of course. Unless, did that actually come from them, or are you just special?"

[karen5]

Snorting, Sean conjured up the lyrics to another Bon Jovi song and began to sing, as if he were seriously planning to be her walking, talking MP3. "Why, you wanna tell me how to live my life? Who, are you to tell me if it's black or white? Mama, can you hear me? Try to understand. Is innocence the difference between a boy and a man?" He broke off, laughing.

"Okay, let's forget about that. I guess I'll just have to pay you back some other way. Maybe I can return the favour sometime? Of course, my cooking usually involves a restaurant, with chefs that do all the work for me." Aware that he was coming dangerously close to sounding as if he were suggesting they go out for supper together, Sean pulled back a bit.

It wasn't that he didn't like Lizzy--from what he'd seen so far, she was witty and kind, a great chef with good taste in music and she was undeniably beautiful--but he didn't want to be overly forward, and he'd already peered into her head. While he'd only been searching for the lyrics he might have picked something else up without noticing. The hazards of reading minds.

He took a couple of bites of his meal, and the explosion of flavour on his tongue had him digging in more heartily as he listened to her explanation. When she asked him about his parents, he stopped and sighed, wondering how to explain without making things awkward.

"Well, to be honest, I couldn't tell you. Before my parents could give me anything beyond my name--and of course, my gorgeous eyes," he threw in, batting his eyes teasingly to lighten any heaviness his next words would carry, "I was taken away to a training institute to learn how to master my 'special ability'. I don't know who they were, or what they looked like, or even if they're still alive."

Shrugging casually, he turned his eye back to his plate, taking another mouthful of eggs and waiting to see how Lizzy would react. He'd managed to downplay it fairly well, he thought, but all the same...

[lizzycalvino]

Lizzy burst into laughter once her finished singing and applauded, "bravo, bravo," she said, loving that he had just played along. It would have been funny if he had continued, but the singing probably would have stopped him from eating, and she rather he didn't let it go to waste. Or, more, if he didn't eat it, she would. "Tell you what, if we were being serious, I would have dragged you to engineering to liven things up a bit in there. Singing while we work would certainly make it more entertaining."

"Forgotten," she nodded, then smiled at his offer. "Deal, but beware, if the food isn't decent, I can't promise I won't tear it to shreds, or jump into the kitchen myself to sort things out." She offered him a hand, wiggling her fingers as a gesture for him to shake it. Lizzy wasn't sure what she was looking for here. Sean was a great looking guy, but this was literally her second day on board, and she wasn't going to dive straight into anything. Friends for now would be fine with her, with the promise of something later? It didn't matter either way.

A grin spread across her face as he began really tucking into his food. It always gave her a buzz to see people enjoying the food she'd prepared, all chefs did - or, all chefs who took any pride in their work anyway. His explanation about his parents though automatically made it feel like she'd pryed into his history a little too forcefully there, she hadn't meant to bring up anything like that. But then again, she hadn't known.

Lizzy managed a smile at the 'gorgeous eyes' comment, even a chuckle. "Wow," she said, twisting her fork in her eggs, "that must be weird, not knowing them or what they look like. I can imagine you look a lot like your Dad," she mused, "maybe with your Mom's eyes or something. That seems to fit," she gave him a genuine smile, trying to lend a hand in playing off the situation as well. "Or is that too cliched? Too Harry Potter? I don't know," she shrugged her shoulders innocently, "me, I'm the spitting image of my Mom, if she were eight inches taller, and all my Dad in here," she patted her chest. She'd spent a lot more time with her Dad when she was little, so it was a given that she would end up like him.

And if she hadn't done enough to lighten the conversation, she added, "I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, I'm wanted dead or alive," she grinned, "wanted dead or alive."