Family Outing Part One

Posted on Wed Apr 5th, 2023 @ 2:42pm by Ensign Rene Rouen & Ensign Minerva Delacroix & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Michelle Erilin

Mission: The Interim
Timeline: Prior to leaving for Trarim

Jenna didn't even bother to knock as she and Minerva made it back to Rene's quarters, she just triggered the door and walked right in with her friend in tow, then called out loudly, "Salut je suis de retour! J'ai amené mon meilleur ami avec moi pour dire bonjour! Elle s'appelle Minerve!" (Hello, I'm back! I brought my best friend with me to say hello! Her name's Minerva!). She held the smaller suitcase in front of her, "Rene, Amelie, Louis! Venez la rencontrer!" (Come meet her!)

Rene came out of the master bedroom in blue jeans, a white button up, and black running shoes. He looked at Jenna and chuckled. "Looks like we had the same idea for attire. Though your footwear is probably more comfortable than mine."

Amelie stepped out of the hallway to the smaller bedrooms and cast a curious glance at Jenna and Minerva. She walked up to Minerva and shook hands. "I'm Amelie. Honor and privilege to meet you."

Minerva returned the handshake. "The pleasure is mine Amelie."

Louis stepped out of the hallway a few moments after Amelie and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Minerva. It took hima moment to adjust his gaze from Minerva's ample cleavage and look her in the face. "I...um. Hello. I am Louis Rouen at your service Mademoiselle."

Minerva glanced at Jenna with an amused expression.

Jenna only smirked at Minerva with a knowing smile. It appeared that Louis was going to become infatuated with many of the ladies on the crew. 'It's about a sixty-forty girl-to-guy ratio here,' She reminded herself, making sure to remember that Minerva herself was one of the best looking of the lot, "Ah had a bit of help in figurin' out what to wear," She said quietly to Rene, "Ah was probably gonna just put on sweats to come back here, but Ah got ambushed when Ah got back to my quarters."

Rene didn't catch Louis ogling Minerva, his attention on Jenna for the most part. "You look magnificent as always mon amor."

With only a moment's hesitation, Jenna grabbed the suitcase from Minerva and placed it near the door to Rene's bedroom, "Louis, remets tes yeux dans ta tête." She gently teased the younger Rouen, "But as you can see, Minerva, Ah'll be in good hands here."

Minerva nodded and turned to go. "Have fun you guys. See you all soon."

Jenna rushed up to her before she was able to get out the door and gave her a hug from behind, "Thanks, Minerva, Ah'll be home... In a couple days, at least to see you." She then released her and turned back to Rene and the teenagers, "So, what's the plan for tonight?"

Rene looked at his siblings as Minerva made her exit. "What would you like to do?"

Amelie took a moment to think about what she wanted to do. She had been cooped up in a small cabin with her two brothers for the better part of a week. She was curious about their new home. "Is there anything fun to do aboard the ship?"

“Well, we’ve got a hydroponics bay, but while it has trees, it’s primarily meant for growing fresh fruits and vegetables so that we’re not always eatin’ replicated stuff.” Jenna pondered for a moment, “Other than that we’re really just limited to holodecks and that sort of stuff. Ah’m afraid we haven’t set much up in the way of R and R type gear.”

Rene turned to face Amelie. "There is also the Hydra Lounge. It serves food and drinks. It is one of those places on the ship that many go to relax after work." He glanced at Jenna. "We could go there for dinner."

"Ah think that'd be a great idea!" Jenna agreed, "Ah happen to know that Anara and Michelle can make just about anythin' you could want and only use the replicators when they absolutely must. They made need to replicate the ingredients, sure, but the cookin'? Much better than me, that's for sure. What would you two like?" She addressed Amelie and Louis, "Whether you want French cuisine or anythin' else."

Amelie and Louis looked at one another for a moment before turning back to Jenna with smiles and shouting in unison. "Pizza!"

Rene just chuckled as he stepped up next to Jenna. "Well I guess we are going out for pizza then."

Jenna shrugged and laughed as well as she took Rene's arm in hers and entwined her fingers into his, "Pizza it is then!" She shook her head, "Ah suppose that you two are barbarians who like pineapple on pizza?"

Rene gave a hearty laugh as he laced his fingers with Jenna’s. "I guess the Rouen’s are all barbaric then." He glanced at his siblings. "What kind of pizza do we like."

Amelie just smiled. "Hawaiian."

Louis gave an emphatic nod in agreement with his older brother and twin sister.

"Well, perhaps Ah can cure you all of that particular weakness?" Jenna joked with them, "Ah'm partial to a good barbeque chicken pizza myself. Chicken with a red sauce, mozzarella, onions, bacon and some good barbeque sauce drizzled on top? Just about perfection." She paused a moment, "Ah'll tell y'all a secret Ah'd never admit to in public, but Ah did have it with some grilled pineapple on it a couple times and it was actually rather good."

The Rouen siblings all looked at one another and nodded. Rene spoke for everyone as he gestured to the door. "We'll try your pizza. Shall we?"

One of the benefits of having a set of the family quarters for the Rouens was that it was actually on the same deck as the lounge, that was to say Deck 3. This was probably for the best given the two teenagers and once again Jenna was forced to remind herself that she herself wasn't much older as her own stomach growled, demanding to be fed.

The door slid open to reveal the lounge still in the early stages of the 'dinner' period and set up more like a mid-scale restaurant with Michelle glancing over at the two occupied tables to make sure they didn't need anything at the moment, then smiling broadly at the group of four that came in, "Welcome to the Hydra Lounge!" She said jauntily from behind the hostess pedestal, the green dress off of one shoulder matching the heels she wore and the highlights of her makeup, "Group of four today, Jenna?"

Louis was rather tongue tied when he saw Michelle. He was going to have to talk to Rene later to find out if every woman was a goddess

"That's right, Michelle." Jenna smiled as the hostess grabbed a set of menus and guided them to a table, "And we're gonna go with one of my barbeque pizzas, but add some pineapple to it? Oh and make it a large, Ah think we're gonna annihilate it, what with two teenagers and all!"

Michelle chuckled at that one, flashing a smile meant for each individual person of the party, "Most certainly, I'll get that whipped up right away, take about fifteen minutes? In the meantime, can I get anything else as an appetizer? Drinks for everyone?"

Rene, Louis and Amelie ordered lemonade and settled in to their seats. The two younger Rouen siblings were looking about at the other people in the lounge and just trying to get a feel for the place.

"Ah'll have some of those mozzarella sticks with marinara myself." Jenna had been looking over the menu, "And a lemon-lime soda? Ah don't need any caffeine today, already got an adrenaline rush goin' on!"

"Of course." Michelle's smile was dazzling, "I'll be right back with the drinks, it is truly a pleasure meeting you all."

Louis watched Michelle leave to fill their order. He turned to Jenna. "Tell me she is single and loves dashing young men."

"Ah can tell you that she's single, Louis, however umm..." Jenna knew about Michelle from spending some time talking to her, but how to explain that she was off-limits to Louis without saying that directly? "While no doubt she's into dashin' young men, Ah don't think she's lookin' for someone to settle down with right now either. Besides, Ah think she's a bit out of your age range at the moment?"

"Bien foutu." Louis sighed as he turned his gaze back to the lovely young woman already headed back with their drink order.

"Ah wouldn't get too overly concerned, mon frere, there's still plenty of time to find love, trust me." Jenna gave a more motherly smile, "And there's a lot of the galaxy still to discover ahead of us!"

Michelle came back into earshot and had caught some sort of emotional turmoil, but smiled nonetheless as she passed out drinks and placed an overloaded basket of fried cheese in the middle of the table with several small bowls of marinara sauce. Only one person had asked for them, but she knew. "It's just going to be a few minutes for the pizza. Anything else I can help you all with?"

Amelie grinned like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland as she leaned close to whisper in Michelle's ear. "Just give my brother one of your best smiles."

Mischief rolled off of the teenager and Michelle knew that to do so would be to give into a sibling prank, but there was no malice involved in that empathic read and no hint that anyone else had heard what the younger woman had whispered. Besides, with what was coming from the subject in question… The smile she gave Louis was one that would have melted the heart of a curmudgeon, soft and sweet and disarming, with a wink thrown in where neither of the putative adults could see it as well, “I’ll be back in just a few more minutes.” She said quietly, before heading off to another table with a slight flounce meant just for Louis. She snickered to herself for being so bad, but there should be no harm in it.

Louis blushed slightly as a smile crossed his face. He looked at Jenna and smiled as he gave a nod in Rene’s direction. "See. No woman is immune to the charms of the Rouen men."

The blush that crossed Jenna’s face was a deep red as she caught Rene’s eyes, then tried to cover that up by shoving a whole stick of fried cheese in her mouth and focused on chewing it, “Ah refuse to dignify that comment with a response.” She muttered, “Or is it that Ah refuse to incriminate myself with said response? It doesn’t matter, because it was me that charmed a Rouen man rather than the opposite direction!” she stuck her tongue out at Louis.

Rene looked at Jenna affectionately before glancing at Louis with a nod. "It's true little brother. Although, I would like to think the lovely Miss Jade did find me a bit charming when we first met."

Amelie sighed and looked at Jenna. "You might want to climb on top of the table. It is getting quite deep with...the manure these boys are slinging."

"Ah've always come prepared with hip waders whenever Ah've gone on a date with your big brother, only had to use them once or twice though!" Jenna theatrically glanced to her side, then pursed her lips in thought, "Ah suppose we could wait another few minutes before tryin' to dig ourselves out of this mess, but beyond that, we may be drownin' in it. Besides, everyone knows that it's we ladies that bring the class to the table." She fanned herself delicately with a hand.

Rene simply smiled at Jenna and nodded. "Well, you are the classiest lady I know." He leaned over and planted a quick kiss on Jenna's cheek.

Louis tore his eyes from Michelle finally and shrugged. "Well, I suppose there are other ladies aboard the ship that would love to meet a dashing young man."

Amelie nodded. "Your probably right dear brother. I will keep an eye out for just such a gentleman. Please let me know if you see one too."

Jenna accepted the kiss as if it were her due, then smiled appreciatively at her beau, "For that, Ah'll go easy on you when Ah drag you into a holodeck for a match of tennis. Ah won't embarrass you too much." She winked.

"I don't know." Amelie looked between Jenna and Rene for a moment. "Rene is pretty good at sports. He might surprise you."

"If he would like to go up against me across the court, Ah would welcome him to try." Jenna's smile turned almost positively feral for a moment as she tried to imagine it, "He's seen me play and while Ah've never actually played professionally, Ah was ranked number one in my Regionals durin' high school and was in a few invitationals. Made it to the semifinals in one of them when Ah was fifteen, but decided Ah didn't wanna go pro. Up for the challenge, Rene?" She gave him a nudge with the hand on her forearm.

Rene looked at Jenna with a smile. "I would be honored to play tennis with you." He glanced at Amelie for a moment. "Though Amelie here is probably a bit more optimistic about my skills with a racket then what is truly warranted."

"Your funeral." Jenna said smugly, leaning back in her chair. She'd not go easy on Rene because she loved the game and always went all out.

Michelle finally arrived with the pizza and placed it on a low stand in the center of the table along with a pair of pizza servers, "One large barbeque pizza with pineapple." She said with a smile, "Anything else I can get you ladies and gentlemen?"

Rene shook his head as Louis and Amelie grabbed spatulas and started piling slices on to their plates. "We are good for now. Thank you Michelle."

"All right then, Bon Appetit!" She flashed a smile before bouncing off to her other duties.

Rene saw his two siblings raise slices to take a bite and let out a grumble. "Aren't you two forgetting something?"

The twins put their pizza slices back on their plate and took his hands as they reached out for Jenna.

Jenna had initially clasped her hands in front of her, but she recognized the intent and reached out to grip the two hands offered to her.

Rene bowed his head. "Oh Heavenly Father, we thank you for this food. We pray it will give us strength to do Your will in all things. Amen."

The twins echoed their amens.

"Amen." Jenna said softly, then squeezed the hands and reached out to acquire a couple slices of her own, "And now you two black holes can dig in!" She winked at the teens, "Ah do hope you enjoy the new flavor."