Warming Up over Cold Drinks

Posted on Sat Jul 13th, 2019 @ 1:17pm by Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Lieutenant Theodore Winslow

986 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Snow Birds
Location: Haumea Colony, Saloon
Timeline: after snowball fight

Two men entered the saloon with bits of snow clinging to every inch, despite their best efforts to brush off the worst of it.

Gunnar stripped off his coat. While the coat and the clothes beneath were embedded with thermoregulating textiles that had kept him relatively warm and dry even after being literally buried in a pile of snow, the coat's exterior was just this side of soaking wet. He also unwound his scarf, which was not high tech, but he'd put good traditional Icelandic wool up against 24th century textiles any day.

Stomping his feet on the door mat to shed a bit more snow from his boots, he nodded toward the bar. "What do you like to drink?"

"Something hard." The Security Chief mumbled almost as if he didn't want anyone to hear. It was exactly keeping with the persona he gave over most of the time but he needed to warm up. He was soaked and could feel that he would need to change uniform given the first chance.

Nodding agreement - something struck him as exactly what was needed - Gunnar headed to the bar. "Two akvavit," he ordered, then, not exactly sure what was available since he hadn't tried anything stronger than a Porter here, added, "or the closest you have."

Two glasses where shortly placed in front of him. Gunnar looked at them - the liquid was clear with the slight sheen one expected in alcohol, so that was promising. Taking them, he turned to Theo, handing him a glass. "I'm hoping this at least approximates akvavit."

Theo indicated some seats that were in a quiet area and lead the way over to it. They didn't need to be sat at the bar. "I don't know what that is but as long as it is hard after the snowball fight I don't care." The man murmured with a sigh as he sniffed it and took a sip of it. It gave him the burning sensation he needed so that was good enough for him.

"It's a favorite Scandanavian hard liquor - so consider it what experts drink to warm up after playing in snow," Gunnar explained with a slight wink. "Skál" He offered, lifting his glass in abbreviated toast, and took a gulp.

...And suppressed a grimace - it might technically count as akvavit, but it tasted closer to the 'moonshine' someone had clandestinely distilled on his first ship. "This one's ...*ahem*... not exactly top shelf, but it does have a good burn."

"The burn is what matters," The Security Chief assured as he took another gulp before putting it down. It would certainly chase away the cold soon enough. "I don't mind non-top shelf." Theo was a simple man at heart.

"I don't either. I just didn't want you to think this was representative. A bit of native pride there, I guess," Gunnar admitted. "Is there a drink that's typical of where you're from?"

Theo couldn't help but offer a small smile at the thought that he would think less of the man for a poor drink. He was a much better man than that. "Not really. I come from a strict colony." He hadn't ever had booze until he was at the Academy.

Gunnar considered the statement a moment. There were colonies founded by various movements that were very restrictive of practices that they considered immoral and/or disruptive to an ordered society. Most were religiously based, though some had no religion beyond a strong adherence to Spartan or Stoic types of philosophy. He'd met people from the Spartan type of background, and most had opted for security force assignments. However, those had retained their colony's discipline. Theo clearly had no personal qualms about strong drink, and so seemed to have left abstinence behind when he had left the colony. "Strict? In a religious or military or philosophical sense?" he queried. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"Religious. New Roanoke." The man said downing the last of the drink before he indicated for another round of drinks. "I broke my mother's heart when I chose Security." The man said with a wink.

"Ah. Quite religious then," Gunnar remarked. He knew of the colony only by reputation, and little of the details of its doctrine beyond suggestions that it might earth's Puritans look libertine in comparison. A number of questions came to mind - he was always curious about other cultures - but it wouldn't be polite to ask. Instead, he swallowed the rest of drink and added, "Almost the opposite of my background there, though my parents were also not thrilled about my joining Starfleet. However, the only time I could say it broke my mother's heart was when I was MIA."

The Security Officer smiled a little. "Where you go MIA too?" He wondered trying to get the subject off of him and onto the other man. He didn't mind answering direct questions but sometimes it was just too much. It sometimes brought up too many bad thoughts.

'Some level of hell' came to mind as an answer, but Gunnar wasn't sure if someone with Theo's background would take that as heresy. "Honestly, I'm still not completely sure..." he picked up the drink that had appeared in front of him and shot it. "I was abducted, and when I finally managed to escape the last thing on my mind was knowing how to get back there."

"That is the truth." Theodore had been in a similar circumstance many years ago but he didn't think about it anymore. The man smiled at the woman that returned with their drinks and a small whisper of thanks. "Well here is too surviving to live another day."

"To surviving another day," Gunnar agreed, lifting his glass solemnly. Then with a sea change of expression, his grinned merrily. "Even if all we survived today was band of rowdy kids."

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