2nd adventure: Proxy War

Fedler smiles, and steps away so Mihai can see the bucket of water she is putting the bowls in. "Do you prefer washing, or wiping?"

She gestures at a dishcloth, and a gray towel.

Mihai considers - "I think i've less chance to screw up the latter."

"Great. You're on washing duty then; you have to practice what you're not good at. Also, I prefer wiping."

She smirks at Mihai, and hands him the dishcloth.

Mihai shrugs and chuckles and takes the dishcloth - "Lot of things i'm not good at..."

"Well, I can safely say that you're good with your hands," she says in a teasing manner. "So that's one thing."

She waits for him to start cleaning the bowls.

He chuckles, slightly embarrassed, then gets started with the bowls.


...........but then teases - "So no more practice?"

A short chuckle escapes her lips.

"I can give you some pointers, if you want."

"Well, ok..." - he replies with mock resignation.

Fedler puts one of the dried bowls on top of another, and retorts with a deadpan tone, "Well, if that's how you're going to be, I guess practice is out of the question."

She focuses on the bowls now, feigning to ignore Mihai.

"Uh huh." - Mihai feigns right back, and keeps cleaning the bowls.

She puts another bowl on top of the little pile she's making, and starts humming a song; the one she sang to him the last time they both were in her cabin, back on the ship.

Half the bowls are clean.

Mihai keeps cleaning. And with a low whistle only she can hear, starts playing the backing track to her melody.

Fedler discreetly gets closer to Mihai, until their arms touch each other, and her humming starts to accelerate.

She almost has him at first, but he keeps his concentration just enough to keep his tone from faltering. He picks it up, keeping up the pace with her.

There's a big grin on her face now, but she keeps humming. She's playing dirty, and is intentionally hitting him in the sides with her elbow to make him laugh.

His tone starts to noticeably waver, but he powers through it as best he can. He puts his foot next to hers and leans slightly away out of elbow reach, stopping her from stepping in to get closer unless she leans into him.

Fedler leans on him with no hesitation, even if she has to slow down her hand movements since she is also trying to keep her own balance.

All the multitasking takes a toll on Mihai. Somewhere between the washing and the whistling and trying to keep his balance with her leaning on him causes him to falter and miss his footing. And tumbling down he goes.

Fedler lets out a yelp, and she falls down on Mihai. The dishcloth somehow gets in her face, and she starts laughing.

Mihai blinks a few times, not yet noticing the grin on his face. He pulls away the dishcloth.

"Cheater," she tells him, still smiling.

"Made you laugh." - he replies.

"Hey!" This is Fredrick's voice. "Are you guys okay?"

Fedler turns her head towards the door, even though nobody is there to look at them. "Um, yeah! Sorry, had a bit of an accident."

"Need any help?" asks Breeze.

"No, no. Already taken care of."

"Okay," says Fredrick.

They both can hear the others in the hall sit down, and small talk restarts. The young redhead faces him, still chuckling. Mihai has her hair all over his face.

"I still think you lost," she says. "You didn't even catch me."

"Yeah, i did."

His left arm goes around her, while his right caresses her face, parting her hair. He leans in and kisses her.

Fedler, the grin still stuck on her face, passionately kisses Mihai back. She puts her arms around him, and tightens their embrace. It takes a full minute before she pulls back.

"Next time, I'm washing," she says.