Chance Encounters

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After having lounged around in the coziness of her bed for at least an hour after actually waking up, snugly enveloped in the covers, Sufi was finally forced to overcome her laziness when she felt control over her bladder beginning to slip away. Sitting up with her feet dangling over the side of the bed, her feet fumbled around blindly for a non-existent pair of fluffy slippers. "Great," she mumbled to herself, remembering that she'd forgotten to pack them when getting ready to move out of her apartment. She closed one eye and a half and clenched her teeth before braving the cold metal floor with the tips of her toes, recoiling slightly before trying a second time and managing to get both of her soles down. A shiver ran down her spine, reminding Sufi that a very hot shower would be pretty heavenly.

She hurriedly threw the previous day's clothes back on, fished out a new outfit to wear after getting cleaned up and grabbed her various toiletries before heading to the refreshers that were just a few steps away from her room. She hadn't crossed any of the others on her way, they were probably up and about somewhere. It was probably for the better since Sufi was kind of a mess, so having time for a bit of grooming wouldn't hurt. As usual, she didn't end up taking too long by female standards, although she did stand under the shower with very hot water running for a good five minutes more than normal. Having gone through the motions of her morning routine, emerged from the refreshers wearing a short pleated skirt, a simple t-shirt and sporting some decently tamed hair.

After dumping all of her stuff back in her room, Sufi went straight to the galley, having built up quite an appetite since she'd pretty much skipped all of her meals the previous day due to everything that had been going on. The tantalizing smell of food began teasing her nose as soon as the door to the galley slid open, and she could see that Mal was already up and about, preparing some sort of breakfast. Now that she felt a bit more at home, Sufi was noticeably less nervous and bouncy, although she was still in high spirits as could be inferred by the warm smile that she shot the Cathar when he turned his head to see who was joining him.

"Hello," she greeted him before getting a bit closer to see what he was concocting. "You didn't happen to make enough for two, did you?" Sufi asked sweetly while making completely exaggerated doe eyes, although she soon burst into laughter when she could no longer keep it up. "Seriously though, it's probably better if I didn't touch anything in here, I'm the clumsiest cook that you've never seen," she added with a slight grimace, remembering some of the disasters that had spawned from her previous attempts at preparing anything more complex than toast. "Been up long?" As Mal began to reply, Sufi went around checking behind every door and inside every container that she could find, hoping to stumble upon some fruit that she could snack on.
 

Jiang Winters

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Mal shook his head. "Haven't even figured out what I'm gonna make yet," he replied with a casual hitch of his shoulders. Her puppy dog eyes didn't even earn a second glance from Mal; he received such looks often enough from Carter that he was thoroughly desensitized to them. He laughed as Sufi explained her culinary skills or lack thereof and a smile worked its way onto his fuzzy features.

"I've been up thirty minutes, tops," he said as he watched Sufi browse through the cabinets of the kitchen. She held his gaze for a few moments, then he shifted his attention back to the fridge and pondered breakfast for a moment. Tempted as he was to take the lazy route and just eat cold pizza, he doubted Sufi would find leftovers as appealing as he did, and so he devised a plan for an actual meal. The feline dug out a package of bacon, square-cut potato chunks, and a carton of eggs, and placed the items somewhat haphazardly on the counter. "Nothing too fancy. Just fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast," he explained. "If you want a snack, there's some fruit in the fridge. Just close and latch it when you're done."

As he went about fetching the necessary frying pans and cookware needed to whip up breakfast, the feline asked, "So how'd you sleep, Sufi? Doc didn't blow himself up and wake you in the process, did he?"
 

Hideous

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"Fancy enough for me," Sufi reassured the Cathar as she redirected herself towards the fridge. She popped the door open and scanned the interior quickly before rummaging around a bit while she continued to chat. "Haha, I'm a really heavy sleeper, so even if he did I probably wouldn't have heard him," she commented while reaching to the back of the shelves and retrieving a nicely colored peach with just the right amount of firmness that she liked. She closed the door back up properly before moving over to the counter near Mal, leaning against it with her back and resting an elbow on its surface while taking a few bites from the peach.

She watched the Cathar get everything set up, thinking that perhaps she could take some mental notes or something that would help her the next time she tried her hand at cooking, but that got discouraging pretty fast. She couldn't even name most of the cooking ware that he was fetching, let alone picture herself putting it to good use. "So, I'm guessing you guys must see all kinda crazy stuff while traveling around everywhere, right? Got any cool stories that happened recently?" Sufi asked, wanting to learn more about the Turhaya's captain. "I'd share some of my own if I had any, but I've only been adventuring for like twelve hours and I don't think you want to hear about girls' sleepover parties. Although there were...actually, never mind!" she cut herself off before going into any detail. "So yeah, you were saying?"
 

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"Mrr!" Malcom growled playfully. "Sleepover parties, huh? I'd just love to hear all the juicy details about that," he growl-purred, waggling his eyebrows playfully at her. He dropped the act a moment later and smiled, saying, "Just kiddin'... Maybe."

The feline winked at her and went about whipping up breakfast, starting with the potatoes and bacon. "We don't have many adventures. None that you'd find interestin', at any rate. Generally speaking, a crazy adventure means that something's gone completely sideways for us. The only one I can think of off the top o' my head that we had recently was a slave run. We were contracted to move a load of slaves. Now, we ain't slavers, and I don't take too kindly to stealing other people's freedom. So I shot the slavers, we took the poor wretches, and we flew to Corellia."

His fingers tightened around the handle of the frying pan he was wielding. "Now, things were all fine and dandy. Sure, some wacky woman popped in and tried to hold us up for some reason, but what got us was a Jedi. Some goody two-shoes.... Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng of a Knight named 'Adrian Bac' broke into my ship, held us up at saber point, and forced us to fly to his family compound on Alderaan to free the slaves. But wait, it gets even better! Once we're there, his family threatens to have us arrested for tresspassing. I really kriffing hate the gorramed Bacs. If I was the vengeful sort, I'd sail back there and strafe their compound seven ways 'till Sunday while they're away, to teach 'em not to kriff with a Corellian."

The feline hitched his shoulders and sighed. "It's in the past now, though. Better to leave well enough alone; I don't need another set of enemies." He looked to her and smiled thinly. "Sorry if I bored you. Bet you didn't want to hear all that, huh?"
 

Hideous

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Sufi listened attentively, occasionally making faces to express her surprise or sympathize with Mal's exasperation when he mentioned certain characters that sounded a bit off of their rockers. She was also quite moved by the fact that the Cathar had taken such a firm stance against slavery, since to her it was one of the ugliest and most cruel things that any sentient being could force another to suffer through. It was safe to say that she was more than a little bit impressed. She finished the last bite of her peach and moved over to the nearest incinerator chute to drop off the seed that remained before leaning back against the counter and replying.

"What do you mean bored me? That sounded pretty damn epic if you ask me. Well, not the having to deal with bossy lunatics part, but you know what I mean," Sufi reassured Mal that she was far from being disinterested in what he had to say. If anything, listening to him just augmented her own desire to partake in something just as important and exciting. Patience had never been one of Sufi's virtues, and in the past few weeks she'd really been feeling some sort of primal need to get out and do something that mattered.

"Got anything in particular on the schedule for today?" she asked somewhat randomly, wondering if there was anything in particular to do or if she was just going to have to spend the whole day playing video games with Denise - not that she minded! Just having company was already a thousand times better than sitting alone in her lame apartment, dreading the next day of tedious and soul crushing work.
 

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"Well, I'm glad you liked it, I guess," Malcom chuckled. Truth be told, he wasn't used to having someone who wanted to hear the tales of his adventures. His tail curled at the tip, his ears folding back e'er so slightly as he pondered and cooked simultaneously. A part of him enjoyed the attention; having a willing set of ears that didn't belong to Denise was nice, and Sufi was very much so an approachable young lady. He'd taken a liking to her, and that was rare for Mal.

His left ear twisted about to face in her direction as she shot off on a different line of questioning. He rolled his shoulders nonchalantly. "Nothing mandatory. Exercise, routine maintenance around the ship, cleaning out the showers, and replacing a faulty light strip in my room. You can pitch in anywhere you'd like, or you can just hide in the Lounge with Carter and watch mindless movies 'till you're blue in the face. You're a paying passenger - s'far as I'm concerned, you can be as lazy as you can bear to be."

"Or," he added in, "I could probably conjure up another tall tale or three for you to listen to, if you're really bored."

The first helping of food was cooking now; it wouldn't be long until they could sit down and eat up. The delicious aroma of sizzling bacon and eggs and potatoes filled the air; the galley tasted like breakfast, that much was certain!
 

Hideous

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"Mmm...cleaning showers or mindless movies," Sufi repeated pensively before pressing her index up against her lips and jokingly pretending to ponder the choice. "Guess I'll have to sacrifice myself and watch the movies." Even though she wasn't the greatest fan of traveling and being confined into a relatively small space for long periods of time, she didn't really mind it in this particular instance. She really enjoyed speaking with Mal, finding him as interesting as he was difficult to decipher - in a good way, of course.

The Cathar was very relaxed and well-natured, but some of the things he'd said also hinted towards him having a considerably more volatile and spontaneous side. Particularly the last story about the slavers which had really won her over. In some ways, Sufi figured that the two of them were pretty similar although Mal definitely seemed to be more grounded. She'd obviously never had siblings and therefore didn't really know what having some would be like, but it probably would have been really great to have an older brother like Mal.

In fact, thinking about it actually made her a little bit sad that she didn't have one since it felt like she'd missed out on something special in some way. Sufi hoped to at least find a real friend or two that would fill that role in her life eventually, believing in the old adage of better late than never. Of course she was already beginning to feel attached to Mal, but she also had to keep reminding herself that they were only temporarily traveling together. In a sense, it would probably be safer not to get too close to him to minimize the risk of getting hurt when they had to part ways.

Pondering those last few thoughts for a bit, Sufi leaned back a bit further against the counter, gazing up at the ceiling quietly. Her little moment of silent introspection could possibly seem a bit out of character to the Cathar, who'd pretty much only seen Sufi at her bounciest thus far, but she actually did get tangled up and lost in her own thoughts quite regularly.
 

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"Hah!" Mal exclaimed, gesturing wildly in Sufi's direction with his metal spatula. "So you would rather watch a movie than listen to me! I'm on to you now," he growled. He was teasing, of course, and it would be difficult to take him seriously with the cheeky smirk that tugged at his lips.

He shifted his attention to their food. After experimentally prodding at each dish with the spatula to ensure that it was done, the feline produced two plates and plopped a hearty helping of chow on each plate. He fished out utensils and set them on the table, along with the food and a pair of empty glasses. He filled one with blue milk, then set the milk jug on the table between plates. "Okay, food's up. There's milk if you want it, or juice and water in the fridge. Take your pick."

The Cathar sat down and wrapped his tail once about his own leg. Being a military man, Mal wasted little time in digging in. He didn't think much of 'manners'; he viewed such things as time-consuming niceties that got in the way of putting food in his aching stomach. In that regard, he tended to think of manners as villains imposed upon him by the diabolical wills of commanding officers and overbearing parents, and thusly, he felt zero guilt when he ignored them.

Besides that, he found that he could shut his ears off and focus on his own thoughts when he was stuffing his face. And so, armed as he was with a few precious minutes in which to think hard about recent events, the feline began to muse about his passenger. Sufi was a nice enough girl; he and Carter got along with her, and Carter had taken fast to her. Even he'd warmed up to her inside of a day's time, and that alone was more than he could say for most of their passengers. Perhaps, if she stuck around long enough for him to get to know her, he'd offer her a spot on his crew. Gods above knew that he needed another able hand, and she was energetic and sharp-minded; both admirable and useful traits, provided she could apply them to labor.

In the short term, though, he had to admit that he wanted her to stay around. She was pleasant and, much as he enjoyed his friendship with Carter and Doc, he was immensely enjoying having a new face to chat with. She wasn't adding any stress to his plate, and so long as she didn't make herself a problem, Mal figured that there'd be no issues with her sticking around for a good long while.
 

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Taking a seat alongside Mal at the counter, Sufi followed his lead and dug in with delight at finally getting some food. Excellent, home cooked food at that. She hadn't really payed much attention to her diet in recent weeks, living mostly off of fast food and snacks, so it was quite a welcome change to eat something that she didn't need to feel guilt about. Sufi was so preoccupied with eating that she was about as silent as Mal apart from a couple of compliments to the chef.

Normally, she preferred juice in the morning, but the beautiful blue hue of the milk won her over, so she poured herself a glass of that to go along with her breakfast instead. By the time she'd cleared her plate, Sufi was already feeling quite full and was looking forward to just lying lazily on the couch in the lounge. First, though, she helped Mal clear the table and get everything into the dishwasher. It was the least she could do after he'd cooked her such a nice meal, after all.

She still found herself surprised at just how good the atmosphere was on the ship despite the fact that she'd only known the others for no longer than a day. There was no stress, no pressure and Sufi felt like she could completely be herself without fear of being judged. Basically, it was the type of environment that she could thrive in, and far closer to perfect that she'd expected to stumble across.

"Thanks a ton for breakfast. Now, time to let myself digest it properly," Sufi announced before leaving the galley and heading to the nearby lounge. She plopped herself belly-up on the couch, her body spanning its entire length while one of her arms hung off of the edge. She used it to grab the remote control that was on the nearby coffee table, having to stretch out as far as possible until the tip of her nail finally hooked on to one of the buttons which allowed her to pull it closer. It would have been a lot simpler to simply move a bit closer to the table, but when Sufi was in her lazy mode - which was often the case after a good meal - she was really quite lazy.

She turned the television on and began surfing the channels in search of something interesting to watch, although it took a while to get used to the set up which wasn't the same as what she'd had back home. As much as Sufi appreciated the occasional quiet and alone time, she was hoping for some company. The prospect of watching random movies with Denise - which Mal had brought up earlier - still sounded just as enjoyable, but she wouldn't have minded spending some more time with Mal or finally meeting Doc either. As long as there was someone around to chat and be silly with, she'd be more than satisfied.
 

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"Trouble finding suitable channel? Not surprising, very limited selection. Hyperspace restricts media selection to pre-recorded shows. Only thirty channels available, unless you want to use the holo-vid player or game console. About two hundred vids available and sixty or seventy games. Very good selection."

The rapid-fire chatter came from none other than Doc. The hyperactive man stood in the doorway, hands hovering at his hips as his eyes flicked from the entertainment center to Sufi, back to the center, then to Sufi yet again. "Oh, sorry, forgot my manners. My name is... Well, unpronounceable. Doc will do fine."

The eccentric engineer slash scientist slash doctor slash mad inventor smiled brightly at Sufi. "You are Sufi, yes? Of course you are, Carter and the Captain said we had a guest. Regret not having met you sooner, Carter seems to like you very much." Not one to offer so much as a pause in which Sufi could interject her thoughts, the nutty man kept on chattering. "Are your accommodations satisfactory? Recently renovated the room that you are using, worried that it is not... What's the term... Up to par? Up to code? Irrelevant, simply not sure if it is satisfactory."
 

Hideous

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Sufi's eyes peeled away from the screen to the character who'd just walked into the room. To say that Doc was energetic would be a tremendous understatement, as Sufi would probably seem like she was asleep compared to him even when she was in her most hyperactive mood. There was obviously no way to get a reply in with Doc's rapid-fire verbal barrage, so she just sat up and tried to listen without missing any parts until he was done. She was still feeling quite full and lazy, but it would have been quite impolite to remain sprawled over the couch while meeting somebody for the first time; especially somebody that she was living with.

"Umm, yep, that's me," Sufi acknowledged once Doc had gone quiet. "Nice to meet you too. Oh and yes, the room is lovely, thank you! I mean...uhh, satisfactory. Yes, definitely very satisfactory." She smiled appreciatively while reassuring the extremely animated man that he'd done a good job with the renovations.

Luckily, Sufi wasn't the type of person who would get annoyed by overly vivacious behavior, so she found it no less enjoyable to hang out with somebody like Doc than she did with a far more normally paced person. He seemed like a lot of fun in his own wacky little way, and from what she'd heard from Mal and Denise, he was really smart too. With the incredible speed that he could speak at, Sufi could maybe even learn a thing or two...thousand. "wanna join me?" she asked while patting the couch cushion to her left. "I don't think I can figure out how to work all of these buttons on the remote by myself. Women and technology, you know how it is," she joked, still smiling.
 
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