Romance in the workplace

"Aye." Brandon groaned affirmatively. "You're not only smart as hell and hot as fuck, but also really fun to talk to. That little lingering bit of an accent is a pleasure to hear." The Pomeranian nodded affirmatively, his eyes half closed with lust and tipsiness as he stared down Samantha, the buzzed man's eyes lingering strategically on certain parts of her body.

She raised her eyebrows at his statement, "oh?" She asked with a light smirk, bringing the glass to her lips and taking a sip before setting it down beside her.

"Nope!"  He cheerfully replied, taking her glass and filling it one more time before handing it back to her.  "You just did though, ma'am."  He chortled, loving the look in her eyes as they rolled in his general direction.  "Y'know, Sam, it's rare, to find a woman as fine as yourself in every way."  He winked at her as he spoke, grinning widely.

She gapped at him lightly, "did you finish the bottle?" She asked in utter disbelief, rolling her eyes at how quickly he managed it.

(Bump)

Brandon caught wind of Sam's dissenting little grumble and laughed loudly, lying much closer to her now but not making an attempt to touch the snow leopardess, not daring to make a move on the fiercely independent woman without her complete consent, preferring to hold on to his eyes.

She rolled her eyes at him, though took the moment to run her gaze down his body, she snorted at him and mumbled something along the lines of 'cocky bastard' she laughed.

"Damn," Brandon groaned, his stomach lurching a bit as the ship went over a particularly large wave, though he used the opportunity to act as if the motion of the ocean made him slide closer to her in the bed, the pair within arm's reach now. "Bloody smooth, am I right?" He grinned, pretending to slick his hair back and propping himself up on an elbow, lifting one leg to take up a pose as if he was a pinup model before the snow leopard.

She rolled her eyes at him, "you should know by now that I don't say no to a challenge" she almost purred and took the glass he offered without hesitation, although she'd had a few glasses it generally took a lot of alcohol to get her blind. A soft smirk on her face as she finished the glass rather quickly, raising a brow at him.

Brandon eyed her skeptically as she teased him, biting back another stereotype about Russians and their alcohol as he pointed at Sam again.  "Listen here, Lassie, I went to an American college in the American party capital city.  If anybody can handle a little squashed grapes, it's me!" as if to prove his point, he tipped the rest of his glass into his mouth, refilling hers and glancing challengingly at her with one eye as he passed the snow leopard's glass back to her, his body loosening and his inhibitions fading as the red stuff took full effect, the male's eyes slightly narrowed now in lust as he looked at her again.

She laughed and finished her second glass, "it seems you need lessons on how to handle alcohol" she teased leaning back, "you better stop drinking or I'll morally be reasonable for taking you to the medical centre" she taunted him, waving her wine glass jokingly.

"My specialty," Sam retorted, slurring the second word a tiny bit, "don't forget I work for tips dear." Taking another sip and having to refill his glass, he managed, somehow, to do it without soiling her bed, the hybrid dog's tail wagging happily as he just stared at her for a moment, lost in her elegance and beauty, wondering what was running through the snow leopard's mind at that same moment.

She smiled and jiggled her head, a sudden thought crossed her, she was aware of the poor salary on the ship, given her higher status the salary was reasonable enough for her to be able to stay but it was no where near what she would earn if she was at a land-based hospital, she suddenly felt bad for bringing up her salary, she knew he's wouldn't be a lot of money like hers wasn't, but because he wasn't an officer there was likely a large space between the amount of 0's on their pay checks. She happened to know that the cabin stewards only earned $28 a day on board, although they did get to keep any tips. "Aren't you a charmer?" She joked, pulling herself from her thoughts.

"I guess we have no right to complain, our jobs might have or might still suck ass, but we get to travel the world, see paradise!" Brandon gestured with his hands and exaggerated his voice as he listed off the perks they'd probably both seen on their brochures. Personally, the first time he'd come to Sam's cabin had been the first time he'd seen out a porthole, the rest of the lower decks-where he was based- lacking them of any sort. Refilling her glass first then his, the Pomeranian noticed he was beginning to feel a little tipsy, but that was fine. "Thanks love. You look right fucking sexy in that dress yourself." He pointed at her with his free hand before downing a sip of the wine, noting from the flashes outside the porthole and the increased movement of the ship that there seemed to be a storm outside. That was navigation's business though. He only had to focus on Sam.

Sam was thankful that Brandon had the sense not to smother her in any kind of pity, he probably would have thrown something at him. He listened to his story and couldn't help smiling by the end of it - her amusement probably was aided by the alcohol "ah don't be silly, you look hot in that uniform" she teased, polishing off her first glass. She offered her glass to him for a refill, shrugging one shoulder she told him, "its policy that they put people in lower priority jobs before they give them any kind of authority, I'm sure they'll see what your capable of -- take me for example, my first contract on this ship was two years ago, I was a nurse, barely any shifts horrible pay -- it took them a while to move me up, I mean I may have had the experiance as a doctor, but they didn't know me."

"Damn," Brandon cursed, downing the entirety of his glass in one go- an impressive and probably unhealthy feat, not that he cared much. "I'm sorry to hear that, Sam." Not showering her in empathy, seeing as it seemed like she'd gotten past that a long time ago, he started his own story instead. "I got pretty tired of the fog and shit in Blackpool, so I worked hard, got good marks in secondary school, kissed some ass, and got myself into uni in Las Vegas." He explained, pouring himself another glass, intending to take it a bit slower with this one as his previous gulp's effects hit him full on.

"While I was there I worked on and off in the Strip casinos. Bartender, dealer, bloody porter- you name it I did it." Taking a small sip as he locked eyes with the pretty woman to say something earnestly, he stated "Quickly realized that the 110 plus summers there- In Fahrenheit, mind you, still haven't shaken the habit of using that damn American system- Weren't right for me either. So I signed up for something with the line, hoping that maybe I'd find a climate that I appreciated at one of the ports and maybe-maybe- get an executive job there. So here I am, licensed to serve liquor, licensed to make sure people aren't trying to pull shady shit at a blackjack table, and where does the company stick me? In the bloody cargo hold." He chuckled, taking another sip of the wine.

Sam cringed, "you can call me Sam while we're off duty-" she told him, since abbreviating an officer who ranked above you was frowned upon by other ship crew - some people believed it was a sign of great disrespect. "-you sound like my grandmother." The old leopard was very strict in a by-the-book kind of way. She brought the glass to her lips, indulging in the alcohol before she dove into the story. "I was a doctor in Russia for several years, quite well known" she explained, shrugging one shoulder she took another sip, "one of my good friends was a nurse, she was still in training and very new to the systems of the hospital. She seemed to be getting the hang of it, so I assigned her a patient. She reported that the patient was flirting with her, tried to hug her but I didn't think much of it, some patients were just thankful in their own ways. The next day I got a call that she'd been raped and beaten, she died within hours of someone finding her. I couldn't stay in the hospital knowing her death was very much on my conscience and moving to another hospital would feel like I was betraying her, but she always wanted to travel, so I decided to try this." She didn't look at him as she spoke, it was long enough ago that she didn't get too emotional when she told the story, she just hoped he wasn't the type to drown her in horrific amounts of empathy -- he would most likely never understand how she felt about the whole ordeal and thus shouldn't pretend he did, Sam wasn't the type that dealt with emotions too well, nor did she deal with any emotions that weren't anger, or lust too well.

At her wink, he quickly poured them both a glass, handing one to the snow leopard before crawling onto the empty spot in the bed, enchanted by Samantha for a moment after her wink. Snapping out of it, the male smirked back at her as he took the first sip, finding the taste to be quite pleasant. "So, Samantha. What did you do before you got work here?"

"Of course" she said with a light wink, as soon as you walked into her cabin, you were supplied with a large double bed, television mounted to the wall - which was much larger than the televisions of lower staff and passangers. There was also a second room that contained a small desk and second television along with various cabnets and another door that led to the smallish bathroom. She sat on the ground with her back to the bed, patting the spot beside her, running her hand over the space as if it were a comfortable lounge, laughing jokingly.

"Hey!" The Pomeranian greeted the woman, his tail wagging softly as he stepped inside her cabin, gazing around it. He noticed her wet hair but didn't comment on it, figuring she probably had a good reason for having showered so late. "I brought the wine as promised. Shall I pour you a glass?" He set the bottle and glasses down on her large nightstand, looking up to her to see what she requested.

Sam made it back to her room by 9.30 although she showered to clean the smell of vomit off of her thanks to a rabbit anthro that was horrible at aiming. She redressed in her navy dress and opened the door when Brandon knocked - she after all hadn't invited anyone else at 10 o'clock at night. Her wet hair dropped her her shoulder, leaving small wet patches on her dress.

Brandon's jaw dropped visibly as she reciprocated his flirting on her way out, earning an encouraging pat on the back from one of the other porters. Taking a moment to recollect himself, he then padded away to his quarters, where he changed out of his work uniform to something a bit more appropriate for the occasion. As 10 PM approached, he grabbed his wine from his nightstand and headed up the stairs, his level only one below the medical deck. Arriving at her cabin once more, he checked his watch, waiting until exactly 10:00 PM before knocking a few short times, having 'borrowed' a pair of wine glasses from the kitchen on the way.

She purred lightly, "my shift ends at ten -- I'll see you then" she promised him and stood up, if she didn't leave immediately she'd be late for her shift. She began to walk off though turned when something came to mind, "you know, if you continue with these bets I'll have to give you a card to my room." She flirted with a wink. She returned to her cabin and changed before returning to the Centre of deck four.

"So," he replied, a victorious smirk on his face as he watched the snow leopard come down from laughter, "When may I meet you?" He polished off his food as he waited eagerly for an answer, his tail wagging softly against the bench beneath him.

Sam laughed, her hand over her mouth, she suspected him to sprout some kind of answer that would have her gapping again, she never suspected him to kid her. She rolled her eyes playfully, "I suppose your not wrong.'