Star Trek: Starbase 777 - khaa︱beach-house

A standard beach house complex - with plenty of love put into it over the over a decade it's been here. Right now, it had a lot of beach roses adorning the yard and the porch, and some warm lights that let visitors know they were always welcome - it was a popular vacation rental spot, after all, though it was mostly stayed in by friends of the owners or friends of friends of the owners. Inside, there was a large, open living room and kitchen when one walked into the ground floor, that looked ideally cozy and good in regards to interior design with the exception of a rectangular rug in a random off-center area of the floor. There were various other things in the backyard of the beach house - a firepit, a grill, beach chairs, a hot tub, et cetera - allowing for the party to continue even after the sun sets, plenty of cute little lantern lights strung across poles, and even some beach roses and native flora that grew near the house.

"Well, I... I guess I'll just have to stuff you with that later, but, mmm..." Currently, Allan was in the hot tub located just outside the house in the backyard, and one had a perfect view of the ocean from it. He shifted mid-thought in Xal's lap, the water moving slightly as he rested his cheek on his shoulder and gave him a small kiss at the base of his neck. "What about... there's this dessert I grew up with, dulce de leche cortada, a lot of words I know, but um, it's like.. both sweet and sour? They curdle the milk on purpose, I usually do it with a bit of lime, so you know, if you like key lime pie, it kinda... sort of similar?"

Xal was lounging in the hot tub, one arm lazing on the back of the tub, angled so that his hand was dangling in the water. The other arm was wrapped around a handsome redheaded engineer who happened to be sitting in their lap. The Cardassian-Romulan had his eyes closed, listening as Allan continued to talk about desserts. “Sweet and sour is better than sweet alone…perhaps. I do like the lime pie or citrus tarts at times.” The arm wrapped around Allan squeezed just a little, pulling him closer in the warm water. “Curdling milk on purpose is interesting. There are Cardassian dishes that use similar chemistry. I find I often prefer things with strong flavors, if you are really trying to please my palate.”

"I am." Allan said that as if it was a simple fact - which it was. One arm was wrapped around Xal, but the other was left free, since the engineer was a man who often always made sure he had one hand free. Mostly to talk with, gesturing here and there, occassionally splashing the water slightly as he did. He let himself be pulled closer, although there hardly was any space between them at this point. "I'm not like... super knowledgeable about the chemistry of the things, but I'm interested," as was he about most things he didn't know about, "strong flavors are kinda my thing too, I mean - you've sort of seen it in the stuff I usually whip up for dinners, I guess. Mostly strong in terms of seasonings, though, not as in like... strong as like, alcohol type strong, I guess? Or... I dunno how you would distinguish those. Are they the same, actually? I dunno, you're the languages person here."

Xal simply made a throaty humming noise in response, listening again as the Engineer talked for a while. Allan provided much information to soak in at almost all times, which benefited Xal who enjoyed being the recipient of information. It was a symbiotic relationship, theirs. "Well, I am a linguist but I am not a chemist, or a food scientist. However," He made a low sighing noise and shifted some to allow for Allan's weight in his lap. "- there are many words to describe flavor profiles of foods. I find myself drawn to more earthy, bitter, or savory flavors. I have noticed you are partial to spicy dishes, in both meanings of course, and definitely sweet things." He paused again, his eyes slowly opening to look down at the man in his lap. "The language surrounding food is vast. It makes sense, considering food is what keeps most beings alive and secure. It is really such a privilege to have so many delectable things at our fingertips, hm." And Allan would have felt a squeeze, from the hand that rested on his skin in the water, Xal's manicured fingertips gently pressing into his abdomen.

The engineer chuckled when Xal squeezed him, green eyes blinking up at... also green eyes, and wiped a few of his wet curls away from his face before he spoke again. "Yeah.. you'd probably like a lot of the things Chadrix'll make, then, he makes a lot of the savory and earthy and uhhh, what'd you say, brittle? I mean, Reman cuisine uses a lot of rocks, for starters," he shrugged, the water waving around some when he did. "A decade ago I thought he was totally crazy when he asked me to try some stuff, but he has this way of making the stuff easier for like, non-Reman teeth, it's actually sooo fucking good, and he makes this, uh.." he thought for a second, stirring two fingers in the water for a moment as he mimicked stirring a pot as he thought of what he was trying to remember, "...oh! Mac and cheese, he makes a really good mac and cheese. Cheese is savory, right? Anyways, he makes it sooo good. Shit tastes better than he does. You gotta trust me on that."

"Bitter." Xal kept the thought to themself that it made sense Allan wasn't particularly familiar with it. It was hard to imagine Allan enjoying many bitter foods, or having much experience with the emotion either. He was far to sweet. Xal had not met many people like him - being in the business he was, most people had chips on their shoulders, life-altering traumas. And perhaps Allan had gone through difficult things that Xal didn't know about, but for whatever reason they hadn't made him bitter. Not outwardly, anyway. He was soft, compassionate, loving, and eager to please - which Xal judged sometimes, but actually admired. More than he would care to admit. "Mm, cheese is widely considered to be a savory food. I am not a huge fan of macaroni and cheese, but I will try most things once. And you have yet to lie to me..." a pause, Xal watched as Allan made his little circle motion in the water. "I suppose your palate can be trusted." There was a hint of drama in his voice.

"Bitter, that's it." It wasn't that he wasn't familiar with it, even - he just wasn't familiar with the word itself, or that he was just a little too dazed to be thinking so much, though all of those were likely true. "Okay, cool, glad I got that right. It's, like... I mean, I guess sometimes it's more sweet or sour, like in cheesecake, definitely more sweet, or more sour in some things that I'm just not thinking about right now, but..." He'd kept stirring his finger in the water absentmindedly as he talked, his mind going back to the macaroni and cheese. "There's like, a thousand fucking ways to make mac and cheese, honestly, and -" he smiled, "it can, yeah. I mean, it's worked so far. Sooo... no reason not to, when you think about it. Right?"

Xal remained quiet for a few moments, genuinely considering whether there was reason or not to trust Allan. He had been half joking, but Xal was not quick to trust. And the four-odd months they had been spending time together were not enough to justify actual, real trust in Allan. Were they? He rolled his eyes and took in a breath, an exasperated-sounding sigh shortly following the inhale. He chose to ignore the redhead's question and instead focused on something a bit more tactile. One arm stayed wrapped around Allan's middle and the other moved from the back of the hot tub to the top of Allan's head. The tips of his pointed nails gently touched the engineer's forehead, then raked backward through his wet, curly hair to the nape of his neck. "There are better things to eat than viscous pasta. I do not understand why there are so many ways to prepare it when one could eat so many other delectable things."

Allan hadn't even thought for a moment about trusting him as a person. He'd just been operating on the plane of whether his palate could be trusted, which it could! He had a ton of people who could vouch for that, even people who didn't like him. People did disagree more on whether he himself could be trusted, though. There were still some grouchy Starfleet higher-ups who thought he would secretly betray Starfleet one of these days. There were still some people who think he killed someone. Only sometimes did that include himself. The engineer immediately leaned his head back into the touch, sighing as he sort of sunk into the water just a bit more. Warm... "Better than viscous pasta? Yeah, like viscous.." he paused, lifting his head up a little to smile at Xal and instead of finishing his sentence, gave him a little kiss just to be a little silly. "So many ways isn't that bad, it just adds to the amount of delectable things. It's infinite, you know."

To Xal, trusting someone at all could mean death, whether it was their palate or otherwise. But, there were a host of reasons Xal had chosen, stupidly if their paranoia was correct, to put small amounts of trust in the Engineer. The foremost reason being that Allan was dating Saren, and if Rojin didn’t have it out for him, Allan was probably fine. Harmless, even. And he also had other evidence that proved he was also acceptable to keep around. Maybe it was even a good idea! And all of this was crossing his mind, because the simple consideration of any kind of trust in any person always brought this line of questioning to the forefront of their mind. They simply couldn’t help it. They’d been in situations like this before and barely gotten out alive. He didn’t intend to repeat that experience, and was mostly following these threads to remind himself that there was, presently, no danger. Especially not in macaroni and cheese, of all things. The Cardassian-Romulan’s head turned very slightly to the side and they pushed all of the cluttered, intrusive thoughts to the side, making room for the feeling of Allan’s skin on their own, his lips on theirs, and the lilt in his cheeky voice. “I suppose that is one interpretation of infiniteness.” Xal could imagine many, many ways infinity could bring more pain or disgust, but chose to live in the more idealistic moment with Allan. Their hand trailed from the back of his neck down to his shoulder where it stopped, their fingers grasping at his deltoid muscles and latching on there. While Xal was not too certain about the positive infinite possibilities of macaroni and cheese recipes, he was certain that every moment he spent with this red headed engineer had been pleasant so far. And that had to be worth something, probably. (edited)

There were no such thoughts at the forefront of Allan's brain, actually. He was easy to trust people - maybe that was a flaw, but it was the truth. Had he had dangerous experiences that should have made him think otherwise? Sure. There was still that guy somewhere in the back of his mind that had been absolutely terrible to him, among others, but the guy who set his bed on fire once was probably the one that stood out the most on the list of reasons he shouldn't trust so easily. He was thinking mostly about mac and cheese and other warm things. Like the warmth of the water as he sunk more of himself into it, and the warmth of Xal's body as he was pressed firmly against it. "Mmm-hm. Exactly. Just like the universe." He paused, and thought about it for a moment, his mouth slightly open before he spoke again. "Well - okay, no, that's - I dunno if mac and cheese is actually infinite, if I start thinking about it like, actually, unless you want to think about it on a more exact chemical makeup type deal, then sure, maybe, but I mean, in terms of just ways to make it, I can't imagine that's actually infinite, it's the vibe of it, because, like, eventually it's not mac n cheese, it becomes, like, something else... um... like, compared to actual infinity, right, at least what we know could be - there's an infinite amount of space, infinite galaxies, infinite matter, infinite configurations of particles... the configurations of mac and cheese are just, like, infinite to our brains. Comprehensible infinity. It's more easily explored."

The way Allan was easy to trust, Xal subconsciously wished they could be. It was almost unimaginable to them, but somewhere deep down in the recesses of their mind, they wished they could have trust in more people. As it were, they had the Caernu, and Rojin specifically. There was also his cousin, albeit to a far lesser extent - though he was warming up to her again. And maybe even Allan, if they would simply choose to let him in. Time would tell, there. But for this moment at least, they had mostly decided to suspend a large portion of the paranoia and concentrate on the hedonistic sensations they were experiencing. “It’s probably not,” Xal said to the comment about infinite mac and cheese combinations. “But your comprehensible infinity is a fascinating concept. It reminds me of language. And, taking food as an example, they are both inextricably linked. As long as there are beings that need to communicate, there will likely also be food. And they will always inform one another. Like how orange fruits are the reason the color was named orange in a Terran language.” Xal hummed. “The vastness of the universe is hard to comprehend,” Xal said, their voice quieter than usual as a result of their pensive mood. But they followed this with a laugh and an ever so slightly tighter squeeze around the engineer’s torso. “I find that the feeling is also difficult to explain, but there is a certain satisfaction in being a small part of a larger thing. Like the universe, or perhaps a political faction, or oh, a member of a book club.” (edited)

Ok actually done editing now, Joe