astrakofe

[astrakofe]

The Expanse Intros x Colors

@pscentral event 17: vibrance

[astrakofe]

the more she speaks the wider his smile gets and it's not just the infatuation with coffee that has him hooked. although, honestly, he couldn't put a finger on it right then, just that he could keep hearing her talk for the rest of the night if the situation allowed.

" i've been called similar things, " the grin widens. holden holds up the mcrn mug before taking another blessed sip. " ranging from junkie to snob. not everyone gets the obsession coffee or just how wide a range there is between great and fucking terrible. " that didn't even start to cover the brew or the water. too hot and it tasted like char. some water accentuated the acidity of the coffee, making it even more bitter than it needed to be. ade had been the first person to really explain that part to him and his life had been forever changed.

with another glance up and down holden nodded in the direction of the walkway. each step is unhurried and a glance is spared behind him to make sure he's not leaving her behind. " luna? what brings you out here? " he'd heard through the grapevine that it was getting crowded and strained on the moon but he also didn't think it was bad enough to risk bringing people out into the belt.

"I ... have a confession to make? I'm kind of a huge coffee snob, so I ... will happily follow you wherever I can get a cup of what's in there," Hannah admitted, with a slightly bemused, slightly chagrined smile. "I got really spoiled on Luna with the good stuff, and there hasn't been anything here which has been even palatable and I know -- I know how that makes me sound, and I promise, I'm really -- I"m really not one of those people. Unless it's coffee."

She was talking too much, but she tended to always feel the need to overexplain, overcompensate. "I'm absolutely talking too much, I'm sorry. I would -- love to go on the ship for coffee, James." There's a soft flush on her cheeks, by now - she's just glad it's not worse. Her gaze danced up to meet his, before ducking down a little and towards the ship below. "And please, you're fine, I promise," she added, as she replayed the conversation in her head. "I also promise to probably stop babbling sometime soon."

[astrakofe]

" oh...oh... " call it the weirdness of the current political sphere but holden hadn't even considered the fact he was inviting a stranger onto the roci. amos's face would have a lot to say about that if he ever found out. then again, holden deserved a pass considering the whole clarissa thing. either way, he could also understand how it might come across to invite her onto a ship for the first time. " i'm so sorry. i haven't had a decent night sleep in who knows how long and my manners are shot. "

for a heartbeat he looks at the offered hand, smiles, and gently takes it for a shake. " james. most friends call me jim. " as he says his name he wonders if he simply assumed people would know who he was, that he extended the offer. at the same time, not being recognized was incredibly refreshing. a few years ago not a damn person knew him, his face, or his name. overnight he became the face of something bigger than he could imagine and since then people had counted on him to do the right thing.

" if you're not comfortable walking onto the roci - which i completely get, by the way - there's a place nearby that serves pretty decent coffee. it's where i go while we're re-supplying the ship. plus, then you'd have somewhere to get some next time you're looking for a cup. "

"I ...." There's a lingering hesitation, her nose scrunching up just a little as she weighed the pros and cons, and the risk versus reward. "I -- Normally, I would ... probably take the wiser course of action and decline?" Teeth pinched the corner of her lower lip as she eyed the coffee bulb one more time. "But I'm not going to lie to you, it's been over a week since I've had anything resembling actual coffee made from actual coffee beans, and ... I might be willing to risk following a stranger into a strange place for a cup right now."

"Does that make me a horrible person, or a really gullible one, or --?" She was already pushing her way up to her feet, her thermos cup slid back onto the thermos, tucked into the sling bag draped over her shoulder. Even if he didn't actually intend to follow through on the offer, she felt more than a little awkward trying to carry on a conversation with him from the ground. "I'm Hannah, by the way," she said, shoving her hand terminal into the same bag to free up her hand to offer out to him. She would blame it on the lack of caffeine, later, that she didn't immediately recognize him - to be fair, she had been listening to stories about him and his ship, without paying any attention to any of the attached video clips.

[astrakofe]

desi had been combative for a few days. not that there was anything new on that front. the only time that seemed to change was for a few days after they'd slept together then right back to business as usual. only, business as usual was how accompanied by the occasional stutter and or blush. better than a full blown shouting match, he supposed.

life was easier back on the canterbury in that regard. well, even before that. his younger days were a little promiscuous to say the least. holden enjoyed his body and what it could do. space allowed him to explore ways to amplify that. no gravity was terrible for certain help problems but sexual escapes? amazing. zero g allowed him to do things he never would've considered down on earth.

stress and trauma took care of that, though. he didn't mind being alone. the crew of the rocinante filled a hole in his heart he never realized was there. they were more family to him than anything else he'd known and he wouldn't trade it for the world. but sometimes, just sometimes, watching desi and amos together made him yearn for something more. a different kind of family, so to speak.

shaking his head, holden shakes the thoughts free. no need to take those back on the roci, where he tended to sleep despite the rooms offered by fred johnson. too much tied into those. without drummer there being in them just felt plain weird.

the mug barely has time to touch his lips before he's stopped in his tracks by a beautiful young woman curled up like she's waiting for a long haul freighter to take her anywhere else. eyebrows pinch together and his head tilts to the side. " uh, yeah. " he leans down to take a whiff of his mug. had it been that strong? he's so used to using the bulbs on the roci the smell is second nature to him now. " i've already taken a sip of this or i'd offer it to you. wanna come on board? brewing you a cup wouldn't take but a minute. "

@astrakofe gets a vaguely pre plotted starter.

She's lost track of how long she's been sitting there -- it doesn't really matter much, it isn't like she has anything to do, or anywhere she needs to be. Na-- Desi was dealing with something at the gallery, and Amos was ... she wasn't actually sure where, but she'd still not quite worked up the nerve to be anywhere without her brother to act as a sort of buffer between them. She was trying, she was, but he made her nervous.

So, after a quick breakfast, she'd refilled her thermos with tea from the hotel lobby -- their coffee had been too sickly for her to even brave, and wandered around the main sections of the station for a while. Eventually, she'd come to rest outside of the docking ring, finding herself drawn to the walkway that looked down over the ship that her brother and Amos had arrived on. She'd queued up one of the local's podcasts, about the adventures of the ship and crew, and even taking the stories with a grain of salt, she found they made her slightly nauseous at the thought of her brother being involved with any part of them, even if he had said he usually stayed on station.

Tucked into one of the railings with transparisteel glass between her and the bay below, she'd sipped her tea, and let her mind wander, a handful of sketches of gowns and suits that she wasn't really quite happy with, but were at least a start, sketched out onto her hand terminal's display. A whiff of something, caught her attention, a hand lifting to tug out one earbud as her gaze followed the scent, honing in on the cup held in the stranger's hand, her stomach rumbling hopefully silently at the scent. "Oh my god, is that real coffee?"

[astrakofe]

Perseids 2023 l Juan Carlos Casado l Sant Llorenc de la Muga, Spain

[astrakofe]

@pscentral event 18: adaptations ↳ THE EXPANSE (2015-2022)  

[astrakofe]

@somebadguys said, ‘  you  know ,  i  liked  you  a  lot  better  before  you  got  laid .  ’

" wren... " holden crosses one arm over his chest while the other lifts to pinch the bridge of his nose. nevermind how she knew. he was concerned the difference was so staggering it was practically tattooed onto his forehead. that hadn't been the case once upon a time; on the cant and before when he was much more free with his intimacies. things changed after eros. they changed after watching the entire crew get blown to bits and everything that followed. sex didn't seem quite the same after that.

" what i do or do not do with desi or even amos is not really any of your business but i'll keep the personality in mind before i jump in bed with someone. " there was not enough coffee in the world right then; not to remove the heat from his cheeks and not to remove the sudden paranoia that all his personal business was out there on display. " can i help you with something? "

[astrakofe]

[astrakofe]

Yayoi Kusama, Fireflies on the Water, (2002)

[astrakofe]

The Expanse Intros x Colors

@pscentral event 17: vibrance

[astrakofe]

Cosmic Rose, Lagoon, Horse and Jellyfish captured by Hubble

[astrakofe]

Crux, Carina & the Magellanic Clouds at Cowcowing Lakes, Western Australia

[astrakofe]

poor bobbie keeps trying to do the right thing and it keeps blowing up in her face T_T

[astrakofe]

The Expanse | 4x02 Jetsam

[astrakofe]

" .... i can't hate you for doing what you thought was right. "

gods, this man. i will protect him at all costs.

[astrakofe]

@unityfcrged said, ‘ i would love to play cops and robbers , wear a mask , and feel important , but guess what ? recess is over . it’s grown - up time . ’

since the undersecretary stepped onto the rocinante with the walking powersuit all he'd heard was how he needed to do this and that. earth this. mars that. war. there wasn't enough god damned coffee on the boat for him to listen to all of it. even less so not that he'd had a little, uh, mishap with the coffee machine. it happened to look at him the wrong way after he was pissed at naomi.

and now, holden was regretting everything.

pinching the bridge of his nose, the captain shoved down every profane word that was careening through his mind. fingers clench against the thought of putting the tiny older woman in the airlock, if for no other reason than not having to listen to her babble for a few minutes. but, he was the captain. he had his moral code to hold on to.

" i really appreciate how much you need to get back to earth, i do. as soon as we're done on io we'll do our best to... " do what? everyone was going to have their guns pointed at them if someone so much as sniffed the tachi. it wasn't like they could touch down in front of the un and kick her down the ramp.

" i'm not actually sure how to finish that sentence because i don't know where to drop off diplomatic question marks. point me in the direction of safe harbor and we'll drop you off. how's that? "

[astrakofe]