Diplomatic Shenanigans [Will/Kinley]

[William Waring]

[Runabout Forrestal - Will's Cabin]

Will had finished up the preliminary reports for the diplomatic mission he was assigned to. He was the Federations Diplomat to secure mineral rights for an uncolonized world. However, he was no scientist and wouldn't be able to determine whether the planet was worth acquiring or not. That is where Kinley Garrison came in. She was exactly what Will needed to make the talks go smoothly and easier on the eyes then the Bajorian they assigned to the talks before being overruled by Will himself.

[Common Area]

Will exited his cabin and approached the replicator where he ordered a plain T-Shirt as his was ruined from the sweat he had from his nightmares.

He set the shirt on the nearby table as he replicated a coffee and a small bowl of various fruits before taking the acquired items to the table and indulging himself. He put on the shirt before sitting down to peel an orange.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Runabout Forrestal Á¢â,¬"œCommon room]

Grabbing a cup of hot chocolate from the Replicator, Kinley yawned. She probably shouldn't have finished that large fantasy novel within one night, but it was a good book, and she had no real respect for the morning. Mug in one hand, Kinley was poring over a PADD with the stats from the prelim scans  of this essentially uninhabited rock in the middle of nowhere.   Sitting down at the table across from Will, she took a sip of her hot chocolate. "Morning , Will. Sleep well last night?"

[William Waring]

[Common Area]

Will had just finished peeling the orange when he heard Kinley come and sit at the table. "Got about 45 minutes before I was forced back to the land of the conscious" he said as he broke a piece off the orange "I don't exactly get along with sleep." he looked around the fruit bowl before sliding it towards Kinley "Help yourself to some fruit. It's fresh."

He took a bite of the orange slice and took a sip of coffee. "Those the scans of that lifeless rock we have to buy?" He said motioning his mug towards Kinley's PADD "Still two days away. Whatever will we do to keep ourselves busy." He let out a chuckle and a grin "At least we aren't crammed in a Type 10". Even he had to admit that the joke was lame and he told some pretty bad jokes. How had he sunken so low as to make Shuttle jokes? Then again, how did me manage to actually secure Kinley for this mission. He understood his selection but Kinley was Will's choice for Science but he never expected it to be approved. They had only met once before but not more then professional. He liked to form a connection with his officers and Kinley was no different.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Runabout]
"I didn't get much sleep either. Though that might be my own fault though. I read until really late." Kinley smiled at Will as she snagged a few grapes from the fruit bowl. It was a strange feeling, to Kinley to have such a lazy morning, as usually she was manning the scanners her alpha shift. Yet another aftereffect of being promoted to CSO, she supposed.
"Yup. That's the stats for that rock we gotta buy. I don't see much of the purpose of us buying it, but apparently the Federation really wants it Something about mineral testing."    Kinley smiled as she popped a few grapes in her mouth. Silently snickering at Will's extremely bad joke, she took a long drink of her hot chocolate.

[William Waring]

[Common Area]

Will took a long sip of his coffee only to royally dump it on himself by nearly dropping it. The shirt did little to protect his skin from the scalding hot liquid and his stifled yelp showed that.

He urgently attempted to replicate a new shirt as the one he was wearing was nothing more then a coffee stained rag now. He quickly removed the ruined shirt which showed the scars he had gotten from a plasma fire years prior, running along his chest and upper arms.

As he fumbled about to put a new shirt on he tried to make the situation less awkward by talking to Kinley again "So...uh...what got you into...ya know...Starfleet" he asked, now desperately trying to not be nervous and failing.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Runabout]
Kinley saw the steaming mug come falling down almost in what it seemed like slow motion . Attempting to catch it, she dove across the table, only to see it shatter on the hard floor of the runabout, the contents splashing everywhere. As Will ran to the replicator to get a new shirt, Kinley noticed the darkened lines of  extensive scars, long since healed, running down Will's torso. Slightly flushing, she turned away, hoping she didn't appear as though she was staring at him, and began picking up the broken pieces of the mug.

As he fumbled about to put a new shirt on he tried to make the situation less awkward by talking to Kinley again "So...uh...what got you into...ya know...Starfleet" he asked, now desperately trying to not be nervous and failing.

"What got me into Starfleet?" She mused, pausing just a moment to pick up another shard of ceramic. "I guess you could say my brothers did. Mom didn't really approve of us going into space though. But that didn't stop them. " Picking up the last of the broken mug, she asked Will; "What happened? With those scars, I mean.. if you don't mind me asking. "

[William Waring]

[Common Area]

Will managed to get his shirt on relatively easily after fumbling about for a minute. He paused for a moment when Kinley asked about his scars. He hardly told anyone about how he got them yet he saw no reason to believe Kinley would go around telling anyone else of his injuries.

"Uh" he said scratching his face "The oldest ones are from a plasma fire I was in years ago. Those are the one on my arms and chest." He shifted uncomfortably as he continued "The ones on my back are from..." he paused was hesitant "...a whip. I was a captive on a planet of Amazonian Women who abused me and attempted to use me as a...sex slave. It was against my will and I ended up with another injury that would hinder my ability to have children." The last part of that was particularly painful for Will to say "There's still pain although the physical injuries have healed bar the scars." He awkwardly retook his seat and tried to avoid eye contact. This was no doubt awkward for both of them and he was considering excusing himself to his quarters.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Runabout]
Kinley mutely nodded at Will's account of how he got his scars. She didn't exactly know what to say about that.   Coming over to him, she gently placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to be as supportive as she could.  "I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have asked you that question."

[William Waring]

[Common Area]

Will reached up and put his hand on Kinley's, almost instinctively. "No no no" he said "You didn't know, it's not your fault. Sometimes it helps to just say it out loud, ya know. There's a lot they don't keep on my file that could fill books. Hardly any of it good..." Will suddenly realized he was still holding Kinley's hand and turned a deep shade of red "Oh...I...uh...should we...I mean...oh boy" he let out a sigh as he cursed himself out internally "What I was going to say is, I am sorry for making you comfortable. No uncomfortable not comfortable. I'm not to good at recovering am I?" He gave a nervous chuckle as he withdrew his hand, finally, to the table and instead at Kinley, face still deep red.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Runabout]
For a second, Kinley didn't notice Will's hand clasp, almost unconsciously over hers. Slightly surprised, she briefly glanced over at Will. It was certainly an unexpected move, but for some strange reason, she didn't seem to mind all that much. As Will became more flustered, Kinley couldn't help but laugh at his awkwardness.
"No, you aren't, Will." She playfully patted him on the back with a grin. "But that's ok. I'm not either."

[William Waring]

[Runabout Cockpit - Hours Later]

After the embarrassing exchange in the Common Area, Will decided it would be best to retire to his quarters until they would be scheduled to man the cockpit for the next leg of the journey.

Will was putting on his uniform jacket when he entered the Cockpit and took a seat at Flight Control and made minor course corrections and increased their Warp Velocity as they were running behind schedule.