Arroz Arum: moves from the kitchen towards the front door, frustrated that the movers did not properly place the crates, and frustrated even more that his parents, as usual, did not label them properly. He steps out the door, just as a sneeze is heard. "What the devi...?"
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 looks up suddenly when he hears a voice, ready to explain himself to a nosy home owner. Then he sees it is Arroz. "Oh .. I didn't know you lived here." he states, wiping the dirt off of his hands and onto his pants. He looks down at them and grabs the tail of his shirt, using it as a towel. He steps forward and looks up at the younger man. "I was .. well .. looking at the way native houses are built." he explains. "They put me on medical leave and then promptly lent me out to the government like a servo wrench." he pauses. "When did YOU get back?"
Arroz Arum: moves away from the boxes and down the stairs, to offer his hand. A custom he has learned from the humans in Starfleet. "Just this morning," he says. "I sent you a message to let you know what we'd found," he looks at Nico closely, "You look worn out and... dirty," he frowns slightly, "want to come in for a drink?"
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 wipes his hands on his shirt again before taking the young mans hand. "You did?" he reaches into the side pocket of his pants and comes out with a PADD. Taps a bit and .. "Ohhh .. here it is ...." he reads and nods, then looks up. "I'm a little of both. Sure, if you don't mind." he brushes himself off as best he can before entering the house. "Good building. Nice structure." he hovers near the kitchen. "I've been crawling around the disaster area. Keep finding myself examining my own old house .. what's left of it." he sighs. "I'm glad you got a suspect too."
Arroz Arum: moves up the stairs and through the house, ignoring the packing crates, gets behind the counter of the kitchen and starts rooting around in a box for some glasses. "I have some Astra Apple Cider in the cooler. That much I was able to organize. I only got here a couple of hours ago. It looks a lot better now, but it's still a mess." He looks down at himself, "guess I ruined my uniform. Oh well. I have four days leave."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 nods. "That'll be fine." he agrees watching him. He looks at the high cielings. "I ... got no problems with mess, as lng as its ORGANIZED mess." he chuckles and looks at he uniform. "You alright? You mentioned you were sick on Gati." he frowns slightly. "I mean is it medical leave or ... personal?" he looks around the place again.
Arroz Arum: pours them both some cold cider, "I think these glasses are clean." He pushes one across the counter to Nico. "I hate mess. It's unhealthy," he takes a sip. "That's nice," he says, rolling the liquid in the glass, "I got sick, yeah, saw an interesting doctor on Gati... if you can call him a doctor, but he suggested I take some leave so I put in for it as soon as we got back to where comms worked." He leans on the counter, "what do you mean, what's left of your old house?"
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 chuckles and looks down at himself. "Well, I'm healthy. But I have a busy life and it requires me to crawl around in muck, dirt and mire. And mostly I am clean .... just ..." he shrugs. He isn't exactly an iron and press kind of man. "Gati has a doctor? That's bound to be interesting." he sighs. "I lived in Beryl. Just made it out of my house, helped some people out, was one fo the first to call in firefighters. I'm homeless now." he shrugs. "I won't go back to living on a damn station." he growls and plucks at his smudges wrinkled shirt. "These aren't even my clothes. I lost everything but my life, so I came out of it pretty good."
Arroz Arum: lifts his glass for another sip, enjoying the smooth liquer as it slides down his throat, "What happened in Beryl?" he asks, "I transported here as soon as I could upon arrival, I haven't talked to anyone or even opened my bag to look at my PADD."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 blinks. "It burned to the ground." he states. "All of it. Looks like arson to me and the fire crews. Twenty deaths. And the place is leveled." he watches the kid. "Rumors are that is was Treman somehow. I got put on leave the day before and now I'm the man helping rebuild the place better. Not so much wood and glass anymore, I think."
Arroz Arum: opens his mouth in surprise, "OH, I'm totally stunned. The whole place?" He shakes his head, "I had no idea. I wonder if I knew any of them.." his voice trails off. "Awful. Treman? I had heard we are at defstat two... if I didn't have a doctor's note I wouldn't have been approved for leave." He leans on the counter, looking at Nico, "You alright then?"
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 nods. "Leveled." he confirmes. He paues. "I have the casuality lists. They're being updated every few hours. A lot of the survivors are in the hospital still." he nods. "You didnt want to. It was hot as the sun in there at first. Once I got out I wasn't allowed in until I was approached for the rebuild effort. Reconstruction is sort of my speciality." he leans on the counter too and grins. "I'm fine. You worried about me, kid?"
Arroz Arum: looks down at his empty glass. "Life is way too short. What a mess. It was a pretty village, only half developed if I remember correctly," he nods slightly, "You were pretty broken up over Slate, now this... a village gone, more people dead, even your house..." he pauses for a moment, "Would you like to stay here?" He lifts a hand, "Lots of room and the parents aren't coming for a month."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 nods. "Yea. It's not really been my month." he agrees. He blinks at the offer, his mind quashing inappropriate thoughts. Besides ... he DID need a place to stay. "Well .... sure .... Thanks for the offer. I was going to have to live on the station, like you." he pauses. "And I am a fairly responsible housesitter. Don't let my service record fool ya." he has no idea if the young man has looked into his record ... but he figures he may have.
Arroz Arum: shakes his head, "I hate the station. A junior officer like me has to share quarters with three other guys. In spite of inspections, the room is a mess, they never clean the shower, and you can't sleep at night. This place is big. There's a bedroom and a sitting room upstairs, plus all the space down here. Not much for furniture though."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 chuckles. "Yea. They've let me keep having private quarters, even though I'm not a Commander anymore." he shrugs. "I'm quiet but not that big a housekeeper, I confess. But I can keep my clutter to my own personal space while I look for another place ...." he pauses. "Or just build one since I'm working on drawings." he looks around. "I'm not much on furniture. I'm going to be out a lot anyway with meetings." he snorts. "I think the councelor wanted me to get my mind off of Slate. Mission accomplished." he snorts.
Arroz Arum: moves away from the kitchen to look around the living room, "There is some more furniture coming. They want me to set it up, get some artwork, decorate the place. Or... Mother does. Father could care less about artwork." He sniffs. "The walls look empty to me. I like the view though," he looks out the window at the ocean, "and it's fairly private too. Must have cost some latinum." He nods to Nico, "Just don't leave dirty dishes in the sink, drives me crazy. Do you want top or bottom," he says innocently, hands in his pockets, looking at the sea.
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 moves with him to the window. "Yea .... I'm kind of with your father on the artwork. All I have is pictures of my work." he looks around. "I can do dishes. In the next couple months it may be as close as I get to washing my hands." he teases, looking out at the water. His brows raise at the question and he swallows before answering the question, as casually as he can. "Oh .... I've always been a top man." h admits, biting the inside of his cheek. "Your parents are still alive?" he wonders, probing a bit. "How old are they? Are you an only child?"
Arroz Arum: raises his eyebrows, "Of course they are still alive. I am only 23. They run a big business to the south, but they lost some money last year during the epidemic. I have a sister, she's married and lives down there too. They all work in the family business but me. I'm the maverick," he turns to Nico, "I was never interested in farming."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 shrugs. "Well, you never know. My parents were both firefighters." he tells him. "They had to drag my mother out of the stationhouse .. she didnt want to quit." he laughs lightly. "I was the maverick also. Joined with Starfleet out of school. My father has lost plenty of latinum to me on when I would be dishonorably discharged." he quips.
Arroz Arum: smiles, "My parents like to travel, so my sister and her husband and their kids live on the farm and look after it." He shakes his head, "Now that I've actually been on a real mission for Starfleet... I'm not sure I like it. I wish sometimes I'd followed my original plan to join the APF." He looks to Nico, "Were? I guess that means they're gone? But you're from Earth, right. A long way. Funny you end up here, standing next to me in this house."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 grins. "A farm sounds nice. But the dirt might drive some people crazy." he teases, lightly. He moves to the windoa and begins to run his hand along the frame. "You know, Starfleet is not a prison term, no matter what people have overheard me saying. You can quit anytime. Hell, even *I* am considering resigning my commission half the time. So its never too late, Arroz." he looks back. "My father is still alive. My mother died just before I transferred here. And I'm from the moon ... Luna a lot call it." he leans against the apace between windows. "I've done a lot of traveling in my twenty years." he murmurs. "A lot of beautiful places, a couple dumps. But ... I like it here." he turns again to look out of the window. "Might make this my last stop, even if I don't have my time in yet. Find someone to take care of me in my old age."
Arroz Arum: watches Nico run his hands over the window frame. He shakes his head slightly, "The problem with Starfleet is that... well," he runs his hands over his bald head, "I think I chose the wrong branch. It's good I didn't get into the APF as well..." he sighs, "I thought I wanted to be a detective, and solve mysteries... but now I don't know. It just seems so... nasty. Dirty. Maybe I don't want to see the worst in people. And I have to go to... so many places that are filthy, where people are sick, or poor, or angry... it's not what I imagined at all." He shrugs. After a couple of minutes, "I like this house. And, I haven't been very far from Astra, but I like it too. It's home. It's special." He tilts his head, "Do you have a girl here?"
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 listens to him as he looks out of the window, peering close to see its thickness and what its madeor ... and how to improve it. "Yea .. you choose the wrong branch, but ... what's clean? Engineering .. a bit. Maybe you could help with the rebuild too somehow. I never really considered the neatness and hygenic qualities of my profession." he takes the silent time to tap on the glass. "This really is a beautiful place." and then Arroz mentions a girl and he looks back sharply. But then his face softens. "No. I .. had a lover on Tellar Prime a long time ago. Ten years we've been apart and we were together about seven years." he paises. "Been a long time since I thought of hi .. them." he trips over the last word, then glances at the floor, then finally, back out the window, allarently actually looking at the scenery outside the house for once.
Arroz Arum: shakes his head, "I don't think I'd be a good Engineer. I'm probably supposed to be an artist or an interior designer... or maybe an architect. I could never be a doctor," he shudders, thinking over what Nico had said. "Tellar Prime. Wow." He looks out the window too, "It is very beautiful here and it's special too. In all my studies I never read about another planet that was like this one. Alive, in her own way, they say in the myths. Softly sensual and with a sense of humor. Like they say a good girl should be," he shrugs at this, "I've only really known a couple of girls. And I don't know..." he confesses softly, "Maybe it was timing or someting but, they never worked out."
NicoP.Caito @hypergrid.org:8002 nods absently. "Interior design. That sounds like you. I build it, you decorate it." he looks over his shoulder. "Beautiful land, beautiful archetecture ... beautiful people." he listens further and narrowly avoids laughing. "I've never been married myself. Like you ... never worked out with the women." he looks at him, evenly. "But that's okay too, you know. Not everyone is suited to the so called normal life of marriage, hearth and home." he sighs. "Anyway I had better get back to my schematics. I'll come back here .. not like I have anything to pack ...."
Arroz Arum: nods to him, "Take the upstairs, it's tidy. I'll sleep on the old couch. I like it, it's comfortable. Do you cook? If not I have a replicator coming. Or we can go to the cafe sometimes, if you prefer." Smiles, "That's an idea... have our own business? Something to think about," he doesn't really think it will happen, it's just idle chat. He looks around, "I have a lot to do in here. But hey... there are some spare clothes upstairs, and you could have a shower, it' all set up." He moves away, starting to root in another box. "Just have a look in the dressing room there, if you don't mind old stuff, there's a ton of my Father's farmclothes there." He gets to work.
=^=
