Potboiler
Steve and Andy and I did this in one fell swoop in a group chat. This was a lot of fun, even though it took a while to get Vikki's dander up. She's trying SO hard to be the better person in all this. With regards to the title, I thought it worked on several levels and not only in the hack-work-to-pay-the-bills kind of way even though for at least one party, it probably is just another job.—Maer
Wednesday, 18 Jul 2525
Trans U, Polaris class Delilah
En route to Meridian
Evening, ship's time
Val was oddly feeling like he was back on Pacquin. Having this many people on board had kept him in full time manager mode, or pretty close to. When it was just the crew, there was plenty of downtime. But he was enjoying getting to feel like he was back at the Golden Dragon running a shift. And much like those days, Val didn't stay still for long. Which is how he found himself in the kitchen, checking on cooking.
The water for the pasta was nearly at a boil and Vikki was chopping up the last of the vegetables, humming as the knife flashed under her hands. She checked the water, added a little soy sauce and sesame oil, and went back to getting the carrots ready to cook. It was her turn in the galley and making food for 19 people was a stretch for her, but luckily she'd helped in community kitchens as a teen back home. Scramble the eggs and water the soup. It'll stretch to feed one more ... Or so the mantra went. She smiled as she scooped the carrots and put them aside. No stretching here. Valentine understood how important food was to morale. He kept them stocked with enough to go around. She'd just added the udon to the water and given the strands a stir when Valentine walked in.
"Oh hey," she chirped cheerfully over her shoulder. "You're just in time."
MaryAnn sauntered into the kitchen as well, lugging a heavy looking chest, and garbed in an apron with a Sihnonese restaurant's logo. She somewhat carelessly pushed Vikki's carefully arranged food and knives to one side clearing out a space for herself. "Hey, can I have a little space here, sweetie? I just need room to make some supper for Val and me."
"I'm sure there is room for everyone," Val said casually. The thought of being at the Golden Dragon kept right on going. Except now instead of defusing customers, he was having to defuse his own situation. "The kitchen is surprisingly big, after all." That statement might or not be true, but Val needed it to be true in the moment.
Vikki had spooned up a bit of the salad dressing for Valentine to taste and had the spoon midair. She stuck it in her mouth and licked it clean to disguise her intent from Mary Ann when the woman walked in unexpectedly. Vikki's eyebrows rose as Mary Ann bogarted the galley out from under her, but she rescued her bowls of this and that and moved them to the other side of the cooktop.
"Be my guest," she said, keeping her tone light. She'd promised Valentine she'd keep things professional. "I was almost done here anyway."
Mary Ann opened the crate and a puff of fog rose up obscuring the contents. She pulled out roll of plastic wrap with something white inside, two bamboo mats, and three medium sized fish, by the look of them a tuna, salmon, and yellow tail. She placed them casually nearest Vikki, and pulled out some seaweed paper and sauces. She paused for a moment and glanced at the half a cucumber in Vikki's section. "Um... Val can you spare a cuke?" She gestured past Vikki as though she wasn't there.
"There's another over here. I'll get you one." Val slid over to where they were storing the vegetables and grabbed one of the few remaining cucumbers. He walked over to Mary Ann, making sure to give Vikki a brief smile as he walked past her. The tightrope was a tight walk, to be sure.
Mary Ann takes the cucumber and hefts it appreciatively smiling salaciously. "Always glad to get my hands on some quality.. produce." She winks to Vikki and pulls from a sheath under her apron a dangerous looking chef's knife. "Got this on Shinon. Chef Mao gave it to me for services rendered. It's a bitch to sharpen, but it does the trick." she says slicing the cuke into thin slices.
"I'll bet." Vikki smiled back and added half the vegetables to the pasta pot, then took the rest and added them to the salad greens. That cleared everything she had chopped out of Mary Ann's way. She carried the salad bowl across the galley to toss and mix everything together. She held off adding the dressing to spare the greens from wilting too soon. She'd do that at the table. "Who's Chef Mao?"
Too late, she realized she'd left herself open to Mary Ann's sharp wit. It might hurt but I might also learn something.
MaryAnn massaged the sticky rice onto the mat and began to address the Yellowtail. "He's just a 'cook' back in the core." She smiled at Val knowingly. "So Val, that reminds me. I need a place I can store some things while we are on Meridian. I am not to worried out here in the black, but when we get to Meridian, I'd worry about them getting stolen. Do you have a vault or anything?"
Val had a brief but vivid flashback to Tian emphatically telling him that she didn't trust Mary Ann...that Mary Ann had an agenda. The vault and its surf records would be extremely valuable to someone like Mary Ann who knew how to distribute them. While he liked her quite a bit, he couldn't completely discount the notion. Which is why he chose not to mention the vault, and instead said, "Well, I've got a place in the cabin we could secure it. It's not a vault though. If it was really valuable, might be better to find a bank or something. Delilah isn't exactly a fortress."
"Just some place it can be locked up. Your personal safe is probably fine. I thought I saw a vault when I was checking the cargo." She waves the knife in the general direction of the lower deck.
"Oh, sushi!" Vikki spoke up when she recognized the dish taking shape under Mary Ann's hands. "That looks like a good dinner. Speaking of which ... Excuse me. I have to check mine."
Vikki eased past Mary Ann to get to the udon soup bubbling away ... and about to bubble over. As to her feelings, she felt a lot in common with the udon pot: she hadn't missed the barbs Mary Ann had been throwing her way but she refused to respond to them. At the mention of the vault, she made certain she wasn't facing Mary Ann to avoid giving anything away. Vikki knew that the surf records would be a major coup for anyone who got their hands on them.
"My dad left a lot of broken stuff on this ship. That vault is one of them. Didn't have the code." It wasn't a lie even if it wasn't the whole truth. Probably didn't speak well for the future of their relationship that he didn't trust her with that kind of stuff. But not like she had plans for something long term anyway. And his crew had to come first, regardless.
Mary Ann went a little quiet as she expertly sliced up the fish. She plated an assortment of the fish: some sushi, some sashimi, and a simple roll. She spooned a little wasabi on the side and cleaned the plate. In seconds her plate resembled something out of a fine restaurant. She turned to Val. "When you have something you really want, you need to keep it safe. I trust you."
That's it. Time to go. Vikki turned the heat off under the udon and wished she could turn her heart off just as easily. Don't think of that now. You've got people to feed.
She grabbed the pot off the burner and carried it toward the dining area. At least she didn't have to squeeze past Valentine and Mary Ann to get the soup to the table. She just passed them on the other side of the prep counter.
"Do you want me to save you any of the soup for later?" she said to the air in their direction, not quite looking at them.
"I hope Val won't need to go scrounging for any additional supplement." She turned and looked her in the eye. "At least not while I'm here."
Oh boy, he thought. He gave Vikki a smile and simply said to both of them, "I've got everything I need right here." He wasn't sure whether that would stabilize things...or just serve as ignition.
"Well, I'll just backburner it to keep it warm if you change your mind." Vikki looked Mary Ann in the eye in turn. "There's more than enough to go around for everyone, okay?"
Mary Ann watched Vikki take the food into the dining area. She looked down at the plate and stopped for a moment. "Oh (Chin. Shit). I left my good chopsticks in one of my bags." She paused, looking at the assortment of chopsticks collected in the jar, and then shook her head. "I'll be right back. Want to meet up on the top deck?" She darts down the stairs not waiting for a response.
Vikki had to step back quickly as Mary Ann brushed by her but the soup remained in the pot. Frowning, Vikki put the pot on a safe spot on the counter and spun to Valentine.
"Don't trust her, Val," she whispered emphatically. "She's fishing and not just in your shorts."
"Was that really necessary, Vikki? Did you need to take a jab at her?" It was like nobody thought he paid attention to anything. Of course she was fishing. That was what she did. So he just kept from mentioning the Vault and everything was smooth.
"I'm sorry for the kiss on our escape earlier, but don't let that influence how you treat Mary Ann. Please?" Mary Ann probably wouldn't last. None of his relationships did, but he wanted to enjoy what he had while it lasted.
That tore it. Eyes blazing, Vikki's chin went up.
"Exactly when did I jab at her? When did I do it to her face, here and now? Exactly when, Val?"
"Was that shorts reference really necessary?"
"So you're saying she hasn't gotten that far, then? Please." Vikki crossed her arms and glared at him.
"I'm saying that the details of my relationship should be my business, not fodder for a quick jab." He raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't get angry...but he was definitely feeling a little perturbed.
"Val, I don't care what you do with her in private," Vikki sighed. "I don't. Really. I just don't want to see you get your heart broken by her, you know? She's after something. She's ...God, how to say this before she gets back ..." Vikki raked her hands through her hair and tried to find the words.
"Growing up where I did, Val, I've seen plenty of women like her. She's all spit and polish and nice to your face, but the entire time she's undermining you at every turn, cutting you off from your friends, making you think that she's all you need. All you need to do in return is to do what she asks, just this once, baby." Vikki's tone turned sultry and wheedling at the same time. "Aren't I a good time, honey? Aren't I worth this one little thing? Share what you got hid away, baby, and I'll share what I got. I'll make it worth your while, sweetie. You know you want it." Vikki dropped back to her normal tone, like turning off a light. "And the minute you believe that, she's got you and she'll take you for everything you've got. Use you up, rob you blind, toss you aside. I've seen it all before. I know the look. I know the sound. I know the smell. This stinks, Val."
"Well." He left the word hanging there in space. The worst part about it was that Val knew the type well. He had been in relationships with the type before. So when Vikki went into detail about how Mary Ann was going to break his heart, he didn't hear it in her voice. No, he heard it in his mother's voice, the accusations about how he didn't do enough, about how he was his father all over again. And he couldn't deal with it.
He walked over to the counter and grabbed the plate. "I need to meet her on the top deck. Assuming she hasn't somehow stripped me of everything valuable before I make it up there." Val hated hearing himself say the words, but much like the arguments with his mother, he couldn't stop saying them anyway.
Val—! The exclamation was on the tip of her tongue but Vikki managed to bite it off in time. She saw the pain behind his eyes a split second before the walls went up. Vikki cursed herself for an idiot. Instead of warning him away from Mary Ann, she'd driven him to her. Taking a deep breath, Vikki put her game face on and carried the soup to the waiting passengers. A favorite saying of her mother's whispered from memory: When life is wretched, work is better than whiskey.
At this rate, she'd be working til Doomsday.
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