Ilyna raises a brow as she sees the white pudding miss the mark in the corner of her eye. "It's okay, I'll get a napkin," she says and puts her bowl on the table. She rises from her seat and heads over to the kitchen. Jason cornering Vasquez does catch her attention momentarily, but she is quick to return her focus on the mission at hand.
#RedrockAgency – February 4, 2021
Jason casually leans a shoulder against the fridge, looking as if he has no plans to move. His grin, likewise, seems to be happy right where it is, plastered across his face. "Oh yeah?" he asks through his smile, his back to Ilyna as she returns to the kitchen. "You wanna put that theory of yours to the test?" he challenges before tacking on a quick, teasing, "Chief?"
Halisi 's attention turns to the rogue pudding on Li's dress, ready to act, but as Ilyna leaves to fetch napkins she remains where she is.
Vasquez tilts her head a little, eyebrows rising further, expression amused and undeterred. "Bring it on, soldier." she says, arms dropping to her sides as she steps closer to Jason. She's moving slowly, and for a moment it almost seems like she's going to lean in for a kiss, but instead she suddenly tries to dodge past him.
Ilyna grabs a paper towel off the roll and begins on her way back. She does overhear some of the teasing going on by the window, which gets a chuckle out of her, but she continues on instead of looking. She sits down next to Li and begins wiping her dress. "It's okay," she says, with a reassuring smile. "This isn't a competition to see who can eat the fastest, you know. Take it easy."
Jason gives a small, amused raise of his brow but, once Vasquez takes a step towards him, he stands up a bit straighter, shoving off from the fridge with his shoulder. With a roll of his broad shoulders he stands up straight, feet planted shoulder-distance apart as if preparing for Vasquez to try something, irritating confident grin ever-present. When it looks as if she's going in for a kiss, he relents with a small snort, tilting
his head downwards as if to meet her part way. The sudden dodge catches him off guard, but only enough to set him off balance for but a second. Soon enough, those soldier reflexes of his are on display as he reaches out to his side in an attempt at wrapping an arm around her midsection and swinging behind her as she tries to slip past him.
Halisi smiles a little to herself as Ilyna returns to fuss over Li, nodding in agreement with her advice.
Cynthia leans a little towards the couch, stage-whispering to Li: "Don't listen to her, kid. She's only saying that cuz you were winning."
Vasquez is no pushover, and she reacts quickly, clearly having anticipated something this. "Oh no you don't!" she exclaims through a snicker as she spins around to try and get Jason into an arm lock and push him up against the fridge, although she fails to consider the efficiency of this on an arm of metal and polymer.
Ilyna narrows her eyes at Cynthia's bad advice, but her smile isn't fading. "I'm not," she says. "It's just that taking it easy means there's less food for the dress." She reaches for her bowl again and takes a small spoon of it.
Jason utters a quick, "Where do you think you're going?!" in premature victory as he reaches out, big smile audible in his voice as a snicker of his own slips out. But Vasquez' unexpected reaction speed allows her to narrowly avoid his grasp. Unfortunately for her, the counterattack proves rather fruitless and she ends up with little more than a firm grip on an arm that's joints are unyielding and quickly seize up. Despite the
failed arm bar, she does succeed in pushing him into the fridge, his back pressing against it with a thud and his large frame jostling the appliance a bit. It only serves to draw another snicker out of him. Arm now out in front of him, elbow bent upward at an unbudging 90 degree angle so that his palm is in front of his face, he lets out an exasperated deep breath, blue eyes slowly and pointedly scanning across his arm and
along the hand wrapped around it. Finally, his gaze turns to meet Vasquez' eyes, his lopsided grin as confident as ever. "You tried." he teases with playful condescension, victory in his tone despite the fact that he now finds himself pressed back against the fridge.
Vasquez is clearly caught off-guard, ending up off balance when the arm doesn't yield, one hand hastily leaving the arm and pressing against Jason's chest to keep from slamming into him. She actually looks a little embarrassed when she realizes her mistake, eyebrows furrowing in feigned annoyance to cover it up. "Cheater." she mutters grumpily, trying her best to keep from smiling as she remains close.
Cynthia snickers and raises her hands in surrender at Ilyna's narrowed eyes. Aa she sits back her attention drifts to the kitchen with the sound of the fridge being jostled, and she calls out: "Guuuuys! We talked about this! Think of the children!"
Li 's attention shifts between Cynthia and Ilyna, a giggle slipping out, but Ilyna's final comment draws a nod and a quiet "Yes mom..."
Halisi is eating silently when Cynthia's teasing makes her shoot a glance in the direction of the kitchen.
Ilyna nods to Li, before she also looks over at the kitchen following Cynthia shouting at them, wondering what they're fighting over. She does trust that it's all in good fun from the tone they had when she walked past them.
Jason's lopsided grin remains as his hand lowers to Vasquez' side. Her accusation garners a furrow of his brow, head jerking back against the fridge in mock offense. "You call it cheating, I call-..." he begins, his words soon cut off by Cynthia's scolding. It causes him to quickly pull his hand away from Vasquez' side, lifting both hands where Cynthia can see them in a show of innocence as he tilts his head to the side to better
peer around Vasquez. "What...!?" he asks as he passes a glance between the others- from Cynthia, to Halisi, to Ilyna- with a look of feigned confusion, as if he has no idea what Cynthia is talking about. But the big, dumb, guilty grin plastered across his face isn't doing him any favors.
Vasquez is biting down on her emerging grin as she leans closer to Jason, only for Cynthia's interruption to make her let out a slightly flustered scoff, grin emerging fully as her head drops a little. "Mind your own business, Spunkmeyer." she calls back without looking her way. She draws in a breath, her hand sliding up to Jason's neck as she leans in for a quick kiss. "Should get back to the others." she mumbles through her
Cynthia snickers, shooting the pair an accusatory look. She seems about to say something else, before she remembers Li's presence and reigns in the banter, taking another bite of dessert instead.
Ilyna chuckles at their reaction before returning her attention. She casts a glance Li's way, and smiles a bit at seeing her take her advice. She looks Cynthia's way for a brief moment, but she doesn't say anything before going for another spoonful of the dessert.
Jason's grin persists as Vasquez leans in for a kiss. "Mmhmm." he hums in distracted agreement, holding her gaze. "Guess we'll just have to settle this later."
Vasquez lingers in place for a moment after her hands leave Jason, watching him. "Looks that way." she agrees with a couple of nods, her grin widening a little before she reigns it in as she goes to fill up her own dessert bowl before starting to make her way back to their guests by the couch. "Guess it's about time we got this vid started, huh?"
Li is still eating, dessert apparently enough to keep her attention away from the toys for the moment, at least.
Halisi looks a little amused by Jason and Vasquez' behavior, her smile warm as they start to make their return. Given how troubled they usually are, it's good to see them happy.
Ilyna nods to Vasquez, and glances Li's way. She leans back in the couch, and continues to eat her dessert with moderate spoonfuls to practice her preach. Hopefully this vid doesn't star Devin Tanner.
Jason snickers as he recollects his beer follows Vasquez over to the dessert, quickly scooping himself a healthy serving once she's finished. "Sounds like a plan!" he offers enthusiastically in response to Vasquez' mention of the vid, still a couple of steps behind her.
Vasquez makes her return to the couch, retaking her edge seat. "Dessert okay?" she asks with a look towards Ilyna and Li.
Li nods with a mouthful of pudding. Apparently 'slow' doesn't preclude biting off more than she can chew.
Cynthia 's finger is hovering over the play button, watching Jason's approach as she waits for him to take a seat.
Ilyna returns Halisi's look with a feigned helpless shrug. What can you do? She does give her a firm pat on the shoulder as a silent urge to take it easy, but she doesn't repeat herself otherwise. "Yeah, it's good," she says. "I don't recall having had anything like it before."
Jason retakes his previous seat as well, dropping onto the couch with a relaxed sigh and a small gesture Cynthia's way to give her the green light. He gives his pudding a quick stir and is just about to take a bite when he notices Li's predicament. He blinks a few times, brows furrowing as an amused smile slips out. "You-... uhh-... gonna be able to remember to breathe between bites, small fry?"
Vasquez smiles a little at the replies and nods. "Used to have it-... or, well, something similar, anyway, when I was a kid." she comments, before shifting to lean a little against Jason as he retakes his seat.
Cynthia presses play on the vid with a flourish, setting her omni-tool down and reaching over to grab her beer and take a swig now that she has a hand free.
On the screen, logos start to flash by to the sound of slow-paced, suitably Christmas-y music. Soon, stars appear, before the camera pans down over a small outpost in a seemingly endless snowscape, with strong winds blowing. The text 'Christmas on Europa' fades in, written in cursive and probably unreadable to Ilyna.
Ilyna nods, and turns her attention to the movie. She tilts her head at the cursive text, though she doesn't deem it necessary to ask for a translation. The snow planet makes her think of the recent survey mission; hopefully these colonists has better luck. She won't voice those associations, however, considering the one left at home worrying about her is right next to her.
Jason's expression turns serious and he acknowledges Li's response with a few sharp nods. "Right, right. You clearly have this under control." he says, "My apologies." His amusement shows through, however, as he passes a glance past Li to Ilyna. With a small shake of his head, he sets his beer down on the coffee table and splits his attention between the screen and his dessert as he scoops up a quick bite. Soon enough he's
returning Vasquez' gesture, shifting a bit of his weight against her in turn as he gets comfy and settles in for the movie. Friends. Family. PUDDING. What more could he ask for?