Dinner and...?

[ltlbtovik]

Nora breathed in deeply and adjusted her hair again, making sure the bun wasn't falling out. The seafood place where she'd agreed to meet Jana was nice, somewhere between casual and fancy, and the evening was comfortably warm and balmy. Her smile widened as she saw Jana approaching, and she waved, walking over to join her. "Hey."

Comments

[jana_in_space]

Jana told herself it wasn't nerves that was bubbling up inside her, but just excitement. "Hi," she waved back, settling into the seat across from Nora. "Sorry I'm late," she said. "I might have gotten a little lost."

Jana's navigation skills weren't as strong planet side as they were in space. "You look nice."

[ltlbtovik]

"Thanks." Nora cleared her throat as her cheeks reddened. "So do you. I, uh, I thought I might be too early anyway, so no worries." OK, you can shut up now, she told herself, and took another breath to make herself sound a little more normal. "You're right - this place is nice."

[jana_in_space]

The waiter came by and took their drink orders - Jana ordered some Risan ale - and left some assortment of olives and bread on the table. "Did you do anything special today?"

[ltlbtovik]

Nora ordered a mai-tai. "Not really," she said. "Slept in, then went down to the beach and swam for a while. How about you?"

[jana_in_space]

"I got another massage," she admitted, pulling apart a piece of bread. "I don't know what I'm going to do once we get back on board, without my daily trip to the spa."

[ltlbtovik]

"I suppose you could always get Keenser to give you a back walk," Nora jokingly suggested. "He climbs so much that it would be like a spa trip for him, too." She reached for a piece of bread, too, and took a bite - mm, crust.

[jana_in_space]

Laughing, Jana nodded. "I might be able to find someone on board who can help me with that." Little flirty smile, just to test the waters.

"You said you worked in Engineering. What exactly is it that you do down there?" she asked, curious.

[ltlbtovik]

Nora caught the flirty tone and smiled back, her cheeks a little pinker. "I'm a transporter technician," she said. "More fixing than operating, but it's still kind of fun to pick up the anomalies."

[jana_in_space]

"I bet there are some stories down there..." she grinned. "We had kitties on board for a while, was that because of you guys?" she laughed.

[ltlbtovik]

"Okay, that had nothing to do with the transporter. It just...happened." Nora nodded, remembering the kittens' shenanigans. "They were adorable, though. All paws and big eyes." She looked at Jana again from under her eyelashes. "Do you like navigation? It sounds like it takes a lot of cool finagling."

[jana_in_space]

"Navigation, its a lot of fun. I work mostly beta shift, so its a little more casual without the big guns on the bridge." She looked a little wistful as she thought about her chair. "The stars are beautiful. I could look at them all day."

The waiter came by and took their orders, and from somewhere in the restaurant Jana could hear music start to play. "You like dancing?"

[ltlbtovik]

"They sure are." Nora nodded. "I love to watch the stars when I can." She'd lain outside for a while the night before, in fact, doing just that.

"Dancing?" She wasn't very good, but hey, it wasn't as though she'd be mocked for that. "Yeah, I like it."

[jana_in_space]

"I used to sneak out of my house and look at them at night, with my brother." The best times of her childhood.

Jana looked pleased to hear that. "Maybe we can find a club later and dance."

[ltlbtovik]

"Yeah, that sounds like fun." It did sound exciting, and Nora felt her heart beat just a little faster in anticipation. Dancing with someone new. "Mm, I tried to watch an eclipse with my brother once, but he fell asleep."

[jana_in_space]

The food arrived and Jana inhaled deeply, the smells overwhelming her. "Are you close to your brother?" she asked, picking at the shrimp-like crustacean that she had come to enjoy here.

[ltlbtovik]

Nora had ordered scallops; they looked very appetizing and smelled amazing. "Both of them, yeah," she said. "They're twenty and sixteen. How old is yours?"