"Sounds good." Oh, yes. Dinner in new home with a Noah... Very happy and excited Veli.

And Noah traveled off to the kitchen, keeping the little fact that there was going to be no meat in this meal to himself. He wanted to see if Veli would like it anyway...

The merman flitted around, first to the kitchen to watch Noah, then back up to the bedroom to figure out how much paint he'd need, then to the bathroom to look at the tub, and so on and so forth.

And then Noah called for him. The entire house smelled amazingly of spices. Mmm, rich...

Veli sniffed the air and came when called, still calculating paints and what he was going to do. Serious Veli!

"Mmm, Smells amazing, No'."

"Thank you~" Noah smiled and turned, kissing Veli's temple. Unlike certain men, he didn't feel the need to wear an apron.

"Can you set the table?"

"Of course." Veli grabbed plates and silverware. "What do you want to drink?"

"Pop's fine," Noah nodded, although he didn't specify what type. He didn't really care.

Veli got Noah his pop, getting himself some water, and sat both down at their respective spots.

"Do you need help with anything, Noah?"

"Nope!" Noah smiled, putting the pot in the dishwasher (ah, a beautiful invention!) and came into the dining room area with two bowls, full to the brim with fragrantly-spiced vegetables.

When you liked good food and didn't want to eat meat, you learned to cool well-made, rich dishes.

Oooh... Veli sniffed, his nose wiggling slightly.

"That smells amazing." He repeated, eyes large.

"I'm glad you think so," Noah smiled and sat down, beginning in on his own bowl. Mmmm...

Veli hummed as he ate, beaming. Mmm, Noah was a good cook!

"S'good as it smells, Noah." He said happily.

"I'm glad you think so," Noah grinned, "See? You could be a vegetarian if you tried hard enough." He winked and snorted.

"I see one immediate problem," Noah said, brow furrowed as he scrutinized the slowly rotating 3D model on his screen, "The resistance caused by the external command center is liable to rip it off at some point..."

Stupid newbies and their "new" ideas.

"...but it'll simply drag behind the rocket and--" The young man in the video screen looked like his whole world had been crushed.

"And the weight of it will tear it off at such a slow speed."

"..."

Ah, work. Noah was starting to love it. Didn't even have to wear pants!

...even though he was.

Veli had spent most of his day in the bedroom, painting perfect little bubbles on the walls. He was probably... A fourth of the way done with his murals, and it looked amazing. Just like home. The smell of paint... That he could do without.

He put down his brush after a while, looking at the walls critically. This was a different side of Veli, serious and composed. He took his painting seriously. Very seriously.

He also, however, took a rumbling stomach seriously. Getting to his feet, covered in splotches of paint, he made his way down to Noah's room, sticking his head in.

"Hey. I'm going to fix myself something to eat. You want anything?" He called in, smiling at the sight of his man. Yaaay, Noah!

Noah looked back.

"Sure, hon. I'll have whatever you're having, minus the things-what-once-had-lungs."

The kid on the screen looked confused. Noah ignored it.

"Well, I have another model..." And something else popped up on Noah's screen. He watched it rotate, and a slow smile spread over his face.

"Now this is good..."

The boy grinned. Oh, how he longed to be praised. Noah was, after all, the third in command. He was the only man of any rank that spoke to the scientists and saw their rough drafts before bringing it to the higher powers himself.

The man nodded, going to the kitchen and humming as he prepared food. He returned to the living room a bit later, putting food and drink on the table beside him, leaning against the table.

Good Lord, Veli, how did you manage to get paint up your nose and in your ears?

"The only problem is we'd need to re-fit the--what the Hell...?" Noah turned to Veli and picked some paint from his ear.

"Weirdo."

The poor kid looked confused.

"Sorry. Uh. Yeah, we'd have to refit the larger equipment," and a bite of food, "It'd take a lot of money, but if the Powers That Be like it, it may jst be the new generation of rockets."

"Thank you, sir!"

"Noah."

"Noah."

"Talk about UFO sightings during the testing phase..."

The model on the screen was a kind of disk with a triangle on one side to cut through air. Yep. Very UFO-like.

"Painting," Veli said, mouth half full of whatever it was he'd thrown on his sandwich, "is serious business. sometimes, it winds up in all kinds of places."

UFO's, huh? Psh, silly NASA. Half of those 'UFO's weren't from outer space. Silly Science, wanting to explain everything.

Well, duh. NASA had to test in secret, didn't they? And Hell, some looked like damn sci-fi props.

"Obviously," Noah snorted. Goodbyes were said and Noah and the boy signed off. The camera was turned off, the "someone-wants-me" alarm turned back on, and Noah leaned back.

"How's the room look?"

"Good. I experimented with a bit of a new technique on the bubbles. They look great, better than my old paintings." Serious Veli, again! "I'm still debating what kind of fish to use. Tropical, probably, because of the variety of colors. I'm pleased with how it's turning out."

And since Noah was done with Work, Veli moved across and flopped down on his lap. Yay!

Noah began petting Veli's hair affectionately.

"Sounds great," he nodded, "I'll pick up some sealant tomorrow, let it sit in the right temperature 'til you're done. Lookin' for shiny or matte?"

"Mmmm, not sure. Probably matte, since I can do any shine needed on the scales of the fish by themselves." Veli leaned against him, smooching his cheek.

"So, UFO's?"

Noah nodded.

"Yeah. UFO sightings go up ninety-four percent when NASA tests its new models," he chuckled, "I gotta say, some of these new ideas are......trippy."