Diner and more work (open)

Tabitha had finally been run out of their working space with the other few xenobiologist. She's been working since way early that morning and now it was almost midnight. None of her colleges could understand how she could find so much work to do. Not ready to go back to her quarters she decided to head to the kitchen and eat. She managed to take one of their work notebooks with her so she could keep reading.

Thankfully there was still some food left over from diner. She grabbed a plate and found a table to sit down at. The food wasn't the freshest, but it tasted pretty good and Tabitha wasn't one to complain about something so simple. The bread roll she had was at least very tasty as she nibbled on it as she read. She would have to go to bed soon, but she wasn't quite ready to yet and it wasn't as if she couldn't sleep in a bit tomorrow if need be. She did want to wander over to the make swift hatching grounds and take a peak at the eggs, that is if she was allowed to.

Alex
Alex trudged inside the Dining Hall. He looked around noticing that there weren't a lot of people inside. After all, it was a late hour and most decent folk are asleep at this time of night. He shrugged his shoulders as he went towards the table that always held food. There wasn't much to choose from, but he was hungry so he just dumped whatever was left onto his plate. Over by the beverages, he took a mug of klah. He hated the stuff really since it didn't really compare with coffee but... it was the best Pern had to offer and he did miss coffee so... Anyways, he didn't really look which table to sit at, he just picked a random one and sat himself there, not even realizing that someone was already there on the table opposite where he sat. As soon as he settled down his plate, he began eating whatever he had dumped onto them. He didn't care what it was either. All he cared about was that it was food and it wasn't poisonous.

Beloved and Warrior never far from Alex's company settled on the table. Beloved noticed the woman, but she ignored her. Warrior on the other hand, warbled a greeting at the woman.

Tabitha was eating silently, reading her note books and not really thinking about what was going on around her. That was until she heard a flit warble at her. She looked up quickly and noticed the man sitting across from her. Tabby hadn't even heard the man sit down.

"Oh hello. I didn't even hear come up. Those are some lovely flits you have there." She said in a friendly voice. She didn't recognize the man, but that wasn't surprising for her since she didn't really know a lot of the people thanks to her work.

"My name's Tabitha, by the way. I'll try not to disturb your diner with my note books." She said, scooting her stuff closer to her so they wouldn't be in his way.

It was a tired medic who emerged into the dining hall, her eyes set in a squint of exhaustion and the lines of her face etched deep. A glance went to those who, like her, were not intelligent enough to be in bed and something like a smile teased at the corner of her lips. Pain was best when shared, and Gen wasn't going to turn down the opportunity for healthy dinner-mates when working a late shift.

Geneva scrubbed her hands on the front of her coveralls, although they'd already been washed, and went to get a plate. Limp greens and slowly hardening bread weren't her favorite fare, but better than an empty belly with hours left to work. A mug of klah rounded out the late-night meal. Then she navigated through the tables to take a seat at the end of the one occupied table.

"Hey," she greeted the pair, after setting the plate down before her. The mug she hung onto; it'd scald her tongue, but she intended to take a large swig of the stuff anyway, if only to shock her body into alertness.

[OOC: Hesper, Beloved is a Dragonet and Warrior is a Firelizard.]

Alex
Alex stopped the spoon that had been on his way to his mouth and look up from his plate. He had heard Warrior warble a greeting at someone. He heard her speak but the words didn't register in his head. She was someone new, someone he hadn't personally met before. His eyes beheld a beauty and Alex for a few moments just sat there staring at her.

Beloved, noticing Alex's dumbfounded expression, bugled for attention and then chirped an inquiry at Alex. She wanted to know what had made him stare at the woman on the other side of the table. And then, to make matters worse, at least in her opinion, here come another human to join their group. Beloved like she had the first time, ignored the new comer. Her eyes were all for Alex and no one else.

Warrior, growled and puffed his chest out at Tabitha as he heard her say that he was a lovely flit. He took exception to the word and he thought of himself as a very masculine Firelizard. Handsome, if he was to be more specific about it. However, with a newcomer arriving at the scene Warrior, more inclined to greet others than either Beloved or Alex for that matter, trilled a greeting at the newcomer and promptly forgot about his affront in being regarded as a lovely firelizard.

Alex, sort of woke in a daze as he heard Beloved bugle for attention. He visibly shook himself as if he was some dog trying to get dry. Not a most striking first impression to do if he was being concerned about it but, he's not one to care about first impressions. It took a few moments for him to find his tongue, but before he could speak to the lovely woman in front of him, another joined their table.

The other woman was also someone that he hadn't met yet. And so, sort of killing two birds with one stone, he apologized to the lady in front of him and then introduced himself to the two women with him.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name." Alex said, his customary scowling expression on his face. And then he continued to introduce himself and his pets. "I'm Alex. That's Beloved and that's Warrior." he said as he pointed to Beloved as he said her name and then to Warrior as he said his name. He then turned silent so that either woman would have time to introduce herself.

To Beloved, he mentally thanked her for bugling for attention and mentally waking him up. He didn't really act that way normally. There must be something about the woman who sat in front of him that made him be unlike himself. And then, Alex reached out to Beloved to give the Golden Dragonet a gentle caress on her head.

Beloved leaned into Alex's stroking hand. She really liked it very much when Alex was petting her like he currently was at the moment. And she purred in appreciation as Alex petted her.

(OCC: Trust me, she wouldn't know the difference. )

The man looked up at her and just stared at her for a moment, but then someone else came up and sat down at their table. Someone she also did not recognize. "Hello." She said to the new comer.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"That's okay." She said with a small giggle. "My name is Tabitha, it's nice to meet you Alex, and you Beloved and Warrior. I see the late night has drug all of us busy people to the dining hall for food and energy." She had never seen anyone like Alex before, so stern and almost mysterious in his own right. Something about him made her feel like a school girl again.

Geneva rested her arm on the table and brought the mug to her lips with the other hand, green eyes resting on the others as she took that first swallow of the hot beverage. The corners of those eyes crinkled with amusement; it didn't take a brain surgeon to recognize the pheromones that had just flooded the immediate area. The woman studied Alex's googly eyes, then tilted her head at Tabitha's giggle, and was grateful for the mug that hid her blossoming grin, crooked as it was.

"Geneva," she introduced herself. "Nice to meet the two of you. The infirmary doesn't shut down at night, alas."

A last glance was flicked at the little beasties desperate for their owner's attention, then she bent to the task of transferring food from plate to mouth. One arm curled protectively around that plate, as if she'd had past experience with firelizards giving the cold shoulder to provide a sense of false security.

Alex
Alex must be loosing it, for when he heard Tabitha (And wasn't that a beautiful name?) giggle, Alex would swear that he heard music. It was as if her giggle had a melodious quality to it. At least, this time he did not visibly shake himself awake again like some dog. He did shake himself mentally awake and reminded himself that he was, a sled pilot, a Flight Lieutenant in fact for Black Squadron. What would Mik say if he sees you now? Alex asked himself. He needed to get all his wits about him and not be scatter brained like some greenie flying a sled.

To the women he just said, "It's a pleasure to meet both of you." as he resumed his interrupted dinner. Every once in a while, he darted looks at Tabitha wondering things like... if she was with anyone, or if she would be amenable to maybe having dinner together... And then, he stopped himself from thinking. He really must be losing his mind because since he met Tabitha, his mind kept straying from work. And so, as he ate his dinner, he stayed silent, eating quietly, and hoping he won't make a fool of himself.

Beloved and Warrior came closer to where Alex's plate was, and once in a while, would help themselves to something that Alex seemed to be leaving on the edge of his plate for them to eat.

Tabitha smiled at both of them. "It's very nice to meet you Geneva. Is it safe to assume that you are a medic?" She asked politely of the woman. She couldn't help but kept taking a peek at Alex when she was chewing her food. A few times she caught him looking back at her and she would quickly look away hoping he didn't catch her as well.

"I'm a xenobiologist, by the way. Again excuse the mess I've made here. What about you Alex? What do you do?" Tabby asked sweetly.

"Alex, Tabitha." The names were murmured, a mental note to help her remember to apply them to the right faces. Her green eyes flicked over the pair again then quickly lowered before she could betray her amusement.

"Medic, yeah. They have me working night shift to cover a nurse who's out with a baby. Due back there in..." Geneva paused in shoveling greens into her mouth to look at her timepiece. The curse that escaped her then was thankfully muffled by the mouthful of food.

The mug of klah was grabbed up and downed in a gulp, heedless of any burning danger. Then, after a polite but hurried nod to the couple, she vacated the dining cavern... but only after snatching up one of the remaining dinner rolls on her way out.

No sense in rushing on a stomach that still needed filling.

Alex
Alex paused on his eating and looked up to answer Tabitha. He was about to speak when Geneva the other woman who had sat with them said, that she was indeed a medic who was covering for a nurse's shift. She had been about to say when she was due back but when she looked at her timepiece, Geneva stopped mid-sentence and was suddenly drinking up her klah which Alex knew must still me hot. He winced as he watched her drink all of it and then she snatched up a dinner roll from her plate and was dashing away from the dining cavern.

Alex raised an eyebrow at Geneva's sudden leave-taking and said in the silence, "I guess she was due back much earlier than she thought." with a shrug of his shoulders. Then he continued in answer to Tabitha's earlier question. "I'm a sled pilot." he said. Then he added as an aside, "Tabitha's a nice name. Do you have a nickname?" He mentally smacked himself in the forehead. What was he doing asking about nicknames? the asked himself in silence.

Tabitha was waiting for a reply from Alex when Geneva, mid-sentence, got up and left. "Nice meeting you Geneva." She said, but the woman probably didn't hear her she was moving so fast. "Poor thing. I bet that's a rough job." She commented.

"A sled pilot, eh? I bet that's very exciting." She said, her eyes wide with excitement. "Thank you. Most people call me Tabby for short. Some like to call me Tabby Cat, though I just prefer Tabby if anything." She answered him. "I'd ask your nickname, but is there really a nickname for Alex?" She asked, not being too serious.

Alex
Alex blushed a little when asked about nicknames. He said, "Actually, Alex is my nickname. My full name is Alexander. Alexander Freeman." as he looked down and shoveled a few bites of his dinner, setting aside those that he didn't want to eat on the edge of his plate for Beloved and Warrior to eat.

Then he looked back up with a smile, a rare occasion and a special privilege for anyone concerned for Alex rarely smiled at anyone. "Tabby Cat, that's funny. You don't look at all like a Tabby Cat, more like a Tigress." he said unconsciously and then his eyes bulged in wide-eyed surprise at what just passed from his mouth. He quickly looked down on his plate and began shoveling his dinner into his mouth hoping Tabby wouldn't notice his embarrassment. He could feel his face was red from it. He was not going to look up at her until he was sure that he wasn't blushing in embarrasment.

"That explains it then. That's a nice name, Alexander, very strong." She said, then felt a bit silly for saying something like that. Oh well, it was out now and there was no way to take it back. She looked back down at her food and ate some more, but her interest wasn't really in food anymore. It was in the man sitting across from her. Even work for once wasn't the foremost thing in her mind.

She couldn't help but giggle at what he had said. "Thank you. I like that, Tigress. It's the red hair isn't it?" It was almost impossible not to notice the red color his face after he had said that. Tabby found it endearing and sweet. If she was correct then he was feeling the same way she was. "So what do you do for fun, Alexander?"

Alex
At Tabby's last question about Alex doing something for fun, he grumbled a reply while looking down at his dinner, "Umm, fun and I don't mix together." Then, he looked up from his plate as he said a smile breaking his stern face once more, "However, I do love to watch Warrior when he is cavorting up in the skies. And, I just spend quality time with Beloved while I watch Warrior." After a pause, he asked, "How about you? What do you do for fun?" as he once more shoveled more food into his mouth.

Tabby smile sweetly at him. "Sounds like me, only I don't have flits to give me entertainment. I mainly just...work." She shrugged as she said work. She honestly didn't know if she knew how to have fun, so use was she to just working. "I bet is it amazing to watch him flying and Beloved is such a darling I can't blame you for spending time with her."

Alex
Sounds like me, only I don't have flits to give me entertainment. I mainly just...work."

Alex smiled back at Tabby. "Yeah, I probably would never stop working if not for Beloved and Warrior. Work is all I think about as it is. I'm always thing of ways to make our squad sear more Thread in the skies. It's Spring right now and glad that it's been cold enough to kill the Thread. But, it will be Summer soon and that means more Threadfighting for me." Alex said with a little frown as he once more started thinking about flying formations.

"I bet is it amazing to watch him flying and Beloved is such a darling I can't blame you for spending time with her."

When he heard her, he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he is, and sometimes it makes me wish that I can fly a sled like he does. It would be real helpful in dodging Thread." And with regards to Beloved, he said, "She saved me twice you know. Once for getting me out of mourning for my adoptive father. And the second was that first Threadfall. If it hadn't been for her and Warrior, I probably would be here eating and talking with you."

Alex was being chatty with her and he was not real sure why that was. He just always found himself, wanting to engage her in a conversation, and just wanting to hear her voice.

Tabby involunterily shivered at the thought of thread. "God, I don't see how you can stand to be so near that stuff. It's the worse thing I've ever seen in my entire life." She said almost sick thinking about it. "I always go as far into the caldera as I can, just to be as far enough away from it as possible. Normally xenobiologist are interested in strange life forms. Well this is one life form I don't want anything to do with."

Tabby remembered the first thread fall, she had luckily been inside the lab where it was safe. She heard the all the ruckus going on outside and was rushing to see when one of her coworkers came in running, blood pouring from his arm. He told her not to look outside or go outside, so she didn't. She instead helped to bandage his arm from the thread score. So far she hadn't seen anyone killed by thread and she really didn't want to.

"I'm sorry. For you father. I'm sure that was very hard. At least you had Beloved to help you." She said sympathetically. One of her better coworkers had been killed by it and she had been depressed for days cause of it, but she couldn't imagine what it was like to loose a parent to it. "A lot of people owe their lives to these little darlings."

Alex
Alex shrugged his shoulders as Tabby expressed her opinion about him fighting Thread. "I guess, I'd rather fly up there and fight Thread knowing I am doing something about instead of just burrowing inside the Caldera." Alex said. After a pause, he added, "Besides, I just wouldn't feel right if I don't do something to help the sled pilots knowing that I'm a pretty good flyer myself." as he resumed his dinner.

He was quiet for a few moments, listening to Tabby speak with regards to his foster father. Again he shrugged his shoulders once Tabby was done speaking and replied with, "Don't get me wrong, father died well before Thread came. But, I just felt so lost when he died that I lost my drive." After yet another pause, he added, "I was sort of in mourning for a year after he died. And yes, it was really thanks to Beloved that got me out of that funk of depression." as he gave Beloved another loving caress while he smiled at the gold Dragonet.

Then as if an idea struck Alex, he asked, "Say, why not try and get yourself a Dragonet or a Firelizard if a clutch is found?" Then he continued with, "That way, you'll have a companion who'll remind you to eat. I know Beloved and Warrior always reminds me when it's time to take a break from work and eat." as he smiled at his two pets. "I wouldn't mind giving you one of Beloved's eggs if she ever lets me know that she's clutching." he said with a scowl at Beloved. For some reason, Beloved never lets Alex know if she is mating or if she is clutching. She just disappears for days at a time and then she's back as if nothing had happened.

"I must say I've been pretty lucky in regards to people close to me dying." Tabby remarked. "We're lucky there are brave people like you out there willing to fight the stuff. Otherwise I don't know what we would do." She said complimenting him.

Tabitha decided she would rather spend the rest of her evening awake talking to Alex than looking at her note books. So she put her note books to the side so all her attention could be on the handsome man she had just met. "I've thought about it, honestly. I just don't know if I would have the time for one. Of course if your Beloved has a clutch I'd be more than honored to have one her eggs." She said happily.

Alex
Alex nodded, "Yeah, we are lucky that we have people like me. Mind you, Mik is just as much a daredevil as I am when we are flying against Thread." he said with respect clearly shown for Mikhael O'Neil. Then he was silent again and finally finished the rest of his dinner. There were still enough leftovers in the plate for Beloved and Warrior to share and eat from.

Beloved crooned in pleasure as Alex gave her another caress but like Warrior, she was a bit more interested with food and after a while, she moved to place herself beside Warrior who was now stuffing himself from the leftovers on Alex's plate.

"I'll be sure to hassle Beloved the next time that she disappears. I'm sure that she's been having her clutch during those times and don't come back to me after they hatch. When she does that again, I'm gonna ask Warrior to track her down. I've never really had a reason to track her down whenever she disappeared but now, I do." Alex said as he started to plan what he would do the next time that Beloved turned up missing. He was going to make sure that he gets an egg or two for Tabby.

Then Alex commented on her earlier sentence, "So, umm... if you don't have people close to you... umm... are you seeing anyone special?" Alex asked. He was blushing a little in embarrassment. He had let his curiosity about Tabby get the better of him.

Tabby couldn't help but giggle at the thought of anyone haggling a gold firelizard. She'd heard how persnickity the little things could be. "As long as poor Warrior doesn't get any wrath for following her." She said with a smile.

Tabitha was a bit taken off guard by his last question she almost choked on the bite of food she was chewing. After clearing her throat, she looked at him a bit wide eyed. It had been a long long time since any male had asked her that. "Um...no, I'm not. Seeing anyone special that is. I'm a bit of a loner you might say. Of course the thought of having someone...special...is nice. I guess I've just never have the time to look for that someone. How about yourself?" She answered and then asked him back, her cheeks a bit red herself.

Alex
Alex blushed but smiled as he heard that Tabby wasn't currently seeing anyone special. "Same with me. I've never really had the opportunity to be with someone special. And then Thread made me focus more on my work than actually trying to find that special person." Alex said as he twiddled his thumbs while he looked at them. Then looking back up to look Tabby in the face, he asked, "Umm... I am new to this and I really find you fascinating... So, um... do you think we could spend another dinner together? Just the two of us without anyone else joining us?"

Tabby nodded in agreement. If anyone knew how work could consume your entire life she did. Of course she was not expecting him to ask what he just did. "Um...yeah. Sure. I mean yes, I'd love to." She said blushing uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, I am new to this too. So please look over my awkwardness. I must admit the feeling is mutual. I find you extremely interesting as well. So what did you have in mind?" She asked him.

Alex
Alex scrunch his eyebrows as he thought silently of what he and Tabby could do. He really didn't want to spend dinner with her in the Dining Cavern where other prying eyes might see his expressions that he normally didn't show to just anyone. Then an idea struck at him. Maybe we could have an intimate dinner in our quarters? he thought to himself.

Looking back at Tabby he suggested the idea to her, "Umm... maybe we can have a dinner in our quarters. Yours or mine, doesn't really concern whose. But, I'll have to warn you that I am not a good cook. So, if dinner was at my quarters, we'll only have what's served at the Dining Cavern." Alex said with a shrug of his shoulders.