Girl Talk

Though the number of guests in the establishment has picked up a bit since the last time anyone checked in on her, Rish is still in her accustomed place behind the bar, trying to find something to straighten.

Martine enters the resturant, pausing for a brief moment to speak with one of the waitresses. She nods and pats the girl on the shoulder, then heads for the bar. "C'mon, you're off. Let's eat." Lydia says to Rish, with a little smile. "Your relief is on its way up."

Arizhel blinks, and looks at the clock in vague confusion. "Huh, so I am. Well, heck, I'm out of here then," she says, grinning and making her way out from behind the counter. "What did you need to talk to me about, by the way?"

"Friend stuff, not boss stuff...if I rate as one still, that is. Do I?" She asks hopefully, with a small smile. "The other night made me realise how very distant I've been, and I need at least one friend I can talk to."

Arizhel chuckles softly, and smiles wryly. "Of course you do, Lydia. That's a silly question," she says, tilting her head to the side. "So, what, are we eating here, or out in town? If you wanted to head out, I should change, no?"

"I'd have to change, too. It's up to you, though. You wanna sneak out to a bar? Get some real bar food, have a couple beers." Lydia smiles lopsidedly.

"Sounds great," Rish says, nodding. "Sure. Why don't we both get changed, and we'll meet on the landing pad?"

"You got it." Lydia promises, turning to head back down to the crew quarters.

Arizhel makes a beeline for her cabin, shutting herself in, and emerging after a couple of minutes, definitely dressed down. She looks around the crew quarters, picking idly at her hair.

Martine exits a bit later, neatly dressed as ever, though (gasp) in a tanktop and not a long-sleeved shirt. The lack of sleeve shows quite clearly the tattoo starting at her shoulder and down her upper arm, a strange knotted, looping design.

Arizhel tilts her head to the side, eyeing the tattoo on Lydia's arm. "Hrm. Do I remember you having that? I'm not sure." She quirks an eyebrow, and taps at her chin absently with one purple-lacquered nail.

"I've had it for about a half a year, I think." Lydia admits with a grin, shrugging one shoulder. "Don't ask why, cause I won't tell you. Besides, you can't be the only one with a tattoo around here."

Arizhel chuckles softly. "No, no, of course not. I know you're as bad as the rest of us girls are. Did I ever show you the one I got on Quaquan, though?"

"No, and if it's on your rear end, I'll pass." Lydia says with a laugh, leaning down to fix her shoe buckle. "You ready to go get food?"

"Sure, sure," Rish says, grinning. "And it's on my back, but I think I'd have to take off my shirt to show you. I'll save it for next time I'm in a swimsuit or something."

"Oh, let me grab my money and my PDA." Lydia says, snapping her fingers. She ducks back into her room for a moment.

Arizhel laughs aloud, shaking her head. "Yeah, it'd help if you had money. Cmon, hurry up, woman!"

Martine shakes her head and follows with a grin, tucking her wallet in one pocket, PDA in the other. "All right, I'm ready. Let's hit the town, shall we?"

Arizhel walks into the bar, hands tucked into her pockets. "Hmmm, this is still a nice place," she says, smiling faintly. "So, where did you want to sit?"

"Bar?" Lydia suggests with a grin. "We can watch the kitchen from there." She heads over in that direction, finding a couple stools next to eachother.

Arizhel nods and takes a seat next to Lydia, chuckling. "So, I think, after the other night, I'm going to stick with some lighter fare at the bar today, hm?" She waves a hand, trying to catch the bartender's attention.

"I went light, I just drank about three bottles of champagne." Lydia says with a small grimace. "I'll have a beer tonight, something nice and dark. I wonder if they have Gunwhale ale here."

Arizhel chuckles softly. "Well, I -was- sticking to the champagne, till that cowboy started buying me Helixes," she says, shaking her head. "Then I had a Long Island, and that was lights out for me. Good thing Karlan rescued me, or I woulda fallen into that guy's lap, I think." The bartender arrives, looking at the two women expectantly. "What can I get you ladies this evening?"

"Do you carry Gunwale ale? If you don't, whatever ale you have on tap. And two menus." Lydia says, then nods in Rish's direction. "Well, our next one is going to be a gambling night. I'll need you to work half of that, it really hasn't been fair to Jens lately."

The bartender nods, and looks over at Arizhel. "I'll have the same," she replies, then shifts her eyes to Lydia. "Yeah, tell me about it. I was surprised that I got to go to this one in costume. I'll work the whole night if you like. Jens deserves to have a little fun too, hm?" Rish chuckles, a wry smirk on her face. "Besides, I'm not -that- good a gambler."

"Mmh...so, remember that talk I told you I was going to have yesterday? It didn't really go the way I planned." Lydia says with a small grimace, glancing down at her hands in her lap.

"It never does," Rish replies, grinning mischeviously. "He seems like a nice guy. I... ah, dunno about the rest of it, but his actions speak well for him, hm?"

"I really like him. A lot. And that surprised me. I guess you could say we're 'together', though I don't really know how together we can really be." Lydia gives a little sigh, then takes one of the menus as they're delivered with the beers.

Arizhel chuckles softly, nodding. "I think he's good for you. It was good to see you have fun the other night, in any case." She moves a strand of silvery hair out of her face with an irritated puff of air, and shakes her head, muttering. "Shortest Timonae ever..."

Lydia's PDA beeps quietly, and she flushes and quickly retrieves it, setting down her menu and flipping it open. "It's from him, sorry." She says apologetically, quickly scanning the message. "We've been chatting back and forth a bit. Makes it easier."

Arizhel giggles, covering her mouth with one hand. "Tell me about it. Sometimes the only time I get to talk to Karlan is via voice messages, when we're not on shore leave, that is," she says, grinning. "He seems really nice, though. I can't tell you enough how glad I am to see you so happy." At this point, the bartender returns, setting a Gunwale Ale in front of each of the two women.

"Happy...but stupid." Lydia says, reaching for her beer and taking a long sip. "I shouldn't be doing this, it's idiotic. What if he can't clear his name, huh? What then?" She shakes her head and sighs, going back to her menu. "I'm an idiot."

Arizhel snorts softly, and takes a sip of her own beer. "It's not stupid, and it's not selfish. Love will not be denied!" She giggles madly, attempting to stifle the fit with her free hand. "Sorry. I've just been so damn happy lately, it's good to see someone else sharing in the giddiness, no?"

"We're so much alike, Rish. It's really nice. Miles and I could never agree on anything, and Lar and I never really talked all that much." She shrugs, then sighs. "I think I'm going to get the grilled steak and shrimp."

Arizhel taps her fingernails absently on the bar. "That sounds good, actually. I'm just going to copy you, so I don't have to think about it." She chuckles, eyeing Lydia over her ale. "Look at us, Lydia. You with a Lunite, me with a Timonae... God, my mom is going to kill me someday for this."

"We're working on the trust. That's the hardest thing. He was...tortured at one point by the Fleet. The Martians. My people. It's a difficult thing for us to overcome, but we're working on it." She waves a waitress over and places their order, the kitchen catching her eye for a moment. "This is all in confidence, of course."

"Of course," Rish says, tilting her head to the side. "Hey, I know things have been a little weird with the whole boss/employee relationship not jiving with the friend/friend relationship, but I'd like to think we're still friends, after all this time." She shrugs vaguely, and takes another swallow of beer. "Heh. I feel like screaming every time Karlan talks about going home, I just don't let on. I don't think he even knows it bothers me."

"Then maybe you should tell him." Lydia says a bit absently. "You can't have a relationship without honesty and trust, Rish. I'm trying to be open with Jeff, even though it's hard for me." She shrugs a shoulder, and takes a long swig of her beer. "Ah well."

Arizhel nods slowly. "I guess you're right there. I don't even know what bothers me about it, really. Maybe the fact that the ship is 'home' for me. I'm trying on the trust thing, but everything I've heard about Timonae tells me that he's gonna up and leave just as soon as I'm getting comfortable." She shakes her head, and shrugs. "I guess, in a way, I'm trying not to get comfortable, then. Preemptive strike."

"Look at it this way. Long term relationship for him and you probably means two different things. He's going to live two to three times longer than you. Twenty years is nothing to him." Lydia grins, then winks. "I wouldn't want to be with -anyone- for a hundred and fifty years."

Arizhel laughs lightly. "In twenty years, my boobs will be sagging and my face will be wrinkled anyway. I'll be a hag," she says, grinning. "Then, I can retire and terrorize the young men at the local bar with lewd comments and ass-grabbing."

"Or find some nice retired serviceman and make his life a living hell." Lydia says with a grin, looking up as the food is delivered, steaming hot. "Mmh, this looks great. Don't get me wrong, I love the cooking on the ship, but sometimes you want solid, simple stuff."

Arizhel nods, and picks up a shrimp, nibbling at it delicately. "Hmm, I dunno, military types are so... stolid. Stuffy. Boring." She shrugs, chuckling lightly. "If it weren't for the species difference, I'd think things were perfect. But, anyway, we came out here to talk about you and yours, and here I am prattling on about myself, hm?"

"It's okay. It's nice to know what's been going on with you." Lydia says reassuringly, cutting a piece of stake and taking a good, healthy bite of it. "I just...haven't felt this way in a long time, and I'm a bit confused. A bit frightened, too. This isn't just two people. It's...him, and it's me. We're not just two kids that met on the street."

"I think I know what you mean," Rish replies, cutting her steak up into little bite-sized pieces. "Mmh, it must be fate. If you believe in that kind of thing." She gestures vaguely with her fork, chucking faintly, before spearing a couple of the tiny cubes of steak and chewing on them thoughtfully.

"This could ruin my business, Rish. If things got out. It could ruin everything. I'm an idiot, this is dangerous..." She trails off, then sighs and stabs a shrimp on her fork.

Arizhel shakes her head. "If worst comes to worst, and someone finds out, deny all knowledge of it," she says, shrugging before she cryptically amends, "Not him, but it." She picks another couple of steak-cubes up on the fork.

"Besides. This doesn't happen often. This sort of connection. I can't just throw it away." Lydia sighs slightly, then shakes her head and smiles, taking another big bite of steak. "I'd be stupid to pass it up, and stupid for taking it."

"Damned if you do..." Rish starts, trailing off before she speaks the second half of the old cliche. "Yeah. I'm catching hell from my mother for what I'm doing. She had a friend on the first cruise that told her every time she saw me together with Karlan. Heh, she doesn't even want me to visit now."

"You know what I think of your mother." Lydia says dismissively, waving a hand. She nips the shrimp off of her fork, and chews before continuing. "She's a nasty, mean old woman who gets her kicks from running other people's lives. And that's what my Mama said, so you can't get mad at me. Speaking of, mother says you'd better be eating enough, otherwise she'll come here herself and feed you. I think she likes you better than me."

Arizhel snorts softly, shaking her head. "I've already put on a few," she laments, poking at her stomach. "That K'raktic can cook, I have to admit. I've had to make with the working out, to keep my girlish figure." She chuckles then, nodding. "She's pretty spiteful, yeah, but at least she used to want me to visit. I think I should take Karlan to Sivad just to give her a coronary." Rish looks down at her own fork, apparently just now remembering the little cubes of steak, and nibbling absently at one of them.

Long comes in from the outside, seeming at least slightly exhausted as he makes his way for a table.

"You eat like a bird." Lydia says in amusement, then laughs. "Of course, I shocked Jeff one day with my ordering habits. I like things being exactly the way I want them. What's wrong with that?" She pauses, stirring her fork through her food. She and Rish are seated at the bar. "Mother sent me a mail today, she and father are thinking about coming on the next cruise. If that's true, I'd feel bad for K'raktic. I can see her up in his kitchen, bringing him down to size."

"He needs someone to take him down a peg or two," Rish muses. After a moment of nibbling at the steak cubes, she simply pops them into her mouth, chewing before she continues. "And your mom's just the woman to do it, hm?" She chuckles, and spears a shrimp on the fork, and moments later, it follows the little bits of steak.

Long chooses a table near the bar, his body visibly relaxing as he takes a seat. He looks up towards a clock, and doesn't look too happy with the result. When a server comes by he orders a coffee, even at this hour.

"More than likely. Most likely, they'd get along and gang up on everyone else, my mother cursing in Spanish. She says she doesn't swear, but we all know the truth." Lydia shakes her head, and laughs. "I'm glad I didn't get her height. I told her if she loses another couple inches as she ages, she'll be legally handicapped."

Arizhel laughs, then reaches for her beer. "Man, your mother is something else. I need to brush up on my Spanish, though. I never use it. Maybe I should, if only to confuse Karlan, since he insists on speaking Timonese sometimes." She takes a healthy swig from the mug, then munches thoughtfully on more tiny cubes of steak.

"I never picked it up, myself." Lydia admits. Most of her meal is gone by now, and she focuses on her beer. "Not more than a smattering, anyway. My father, you know how he is about dead languages. He keeps wanting to go to Waldheim, but mother won't hear of it."

Long continues to wait, the Sivadian man looking at the triangularly folded stand up on the table advertising breakfast specials. Overall his expression falls in the category that could be referred to as 'blank.'

"Waldheim? Ay," Rish says, chuckling and shaking her head. "Well, there's worse places, I'm sure. Nalhom. Ungstir." She shrugs pragmatically, and picks up a shrimp with her fingers, nibbling at it.

"He's already studied Ungstir. If he wanted to be a linguist, he should have done so. But it's his hobby, so I guess we can't complain too much. Though...ugh...with his conspiracy theories...if he actually finds out about Jeff and I, can you imagine? I'll never get him to leave the poor man alone!" She sighs slightly, staring into her beer glass.

Arizhel chuckles dryly, nodding. "So just make sure he doesn't find out, no? Though, I'm sure he's got some line on that particular type of information, being so hot on the theories and all. Hmmm..." She trails off, sipping again at her beer.

Long hears the mention of conspiracy theories, and seems to have some recognition of Martine. "You two need a theorist?" he asks, somewhat casually as his coffee finally arrives. "I know a professional about it."

"I think he just thinks he is, honestly." Lydia says dryly, then grins. "He's not as well connected as he supposes." The Martian woman sighs, finishing up her food and leaning back slightly. She starts in surprise at the new voice. "Oh! Mr. Long, no, we were just discussing my father's...interesting hobbies. Good to see you again."

"Only if you specialize in far-fetched conspiracy theories," Rish replies, with a mischievous grin. "Though, we get quite enough of those from her father, now that I think about it." She chuckles, and looks back over at Lydia. "I'm just glad -my- parents haven't decided to take the cruise. I think I'd shrivel up and die of embarrassment."

"Yes, good to see you as well." Andrew says as he begins to put cream into his coffee. "Theorists like that are all at least somewhat... eccentric. This one spends most of her time figuring out what the Sivadians are up to, worked for them a while back or something."

"My father's a history professor. He's a bit eccentric, but mostly just too enthusiastic for his own good." Lydia says with good humour, finishing up her beer. "He likes to think he's got his finger on the pulse."

Arizhel chuckles, and spears another shrimp, studying it contemplatively. "Depending on who you ask, Sivad is either the devil, or the savior of the galaxy. Sometimes both, in the same sentence," she observes, then nips the shrimp delicately off of the fork.

"Sivadian mind reading is a form of entertainment." Long begins, then he begins to show a smirk, as if beginning a dry punchline, "Especially when the Legion uses their Vollistan interrogators."

"I'm sorry, I really should get back to the ship." Lydia says abruptly, but apologetically. "I've got a lot of work waiting for me." She pulls out her wallet, and digs out the money for her meal.

Arizhel giggles, one eyebrow quirked upward. "Tell me about it. My mother lives on Sivad. She's not Sivadian, but she's learned nonetheless." Rish looks down at the remnants of her dinner, and tucks a strand of silvery hair back behind her ear. "Hrm. I should probably get back soon myself. When I'm done with my beer, that is."

Good day, then." Long replies. Then he looks over at Arizhel, considering a moment, "Terran?" he finally asks.

Arizhel nods to the captain as she leaves. "See you back on the ship, Lydia." She quirks a brow then, and shifts her gaze to Long. "Yeah, how'd you guess? Oh, uh, about the hair. It was kind of an accident," she says, blushing faintly.

"Too tall to be Ungstir, too dark to be a Lunite, and you don't occur to me to be a Qua. Terran is all that's left." Andrew answers. Then he smiles slightly, "I know a few others like that, parents are human, but lived on Sivad."

Arizhel nods, and sips at her beer. "Mine moved there so they could get me an education. That's what they told me, anyway." She shrugs vaguely, and tilts her head to the side. "Hm. I don't think I've seen you around before. I must confess I don't get off of the ship a whole lot, though, and I haven't been to La Terre in a couple of years."

"I've been on Sivad until a couple months ago." Andrew answers, taking another drink of his coffee. "Andrew Long..." then he smiles slightly, "I'm completely irrelevant to anything that happens here."

"On a cosmic scale, we're all irrelevant," Rish replies, smiling sweetly. "It doesn't make us any less interesting, though." She brushes a wayward lock of hair out of her face, then continues. "Arizhel Velasquez. There's more to it, but we'd be here all day, hm?"

"True, and life stories tend to be quite dry, for the most part." Andrew comments, punctuating this with another drink of the coffee. "Saying you're someone that wanders around acquiring memories sounds too dramatic and soap opera-esque, anyway."

Arizhel chuckles and nods. "That it is. I tend to say that I wander, and just leave it at that. Acquiring memories is sort of a given, in any case." She shrugs slightly, and takes another swig of beer.

"Are you with the Masquerade as well, then?" Andrew asks next. "I've only ever been aboard one time, so I likely didn't see you."

"I tend bar on board," Rish replies, nodding in agreement. "I've actually known Lydia for years, and I was ecstatic when she offered me the job. Hm... and no, I don't recall ever seeing you. You either didn't go to the bar, or you were there when it was someone else's shift."

"It must have been another shift." Andrew says. "At the time I was interested in seeing what had ruffled the Sivadians' feathers. It is a nice ship, I must admit."

Arizhel grins mischievously and nods. "It's home, it's a living. I can definitely think of worse places to live and work." She pauses to toss back the last remaining swallow of her beer, setting the mug down on the counter and paying for her meal. She stands up from the stool, and nods to the Sivadian, offering a bright smile. "It was good to meet you, Mr. Long. I should get back to the ship, though. Hopefully, we'll see you on board again soon."

"Very well, good day to you as well." Andrew agrees.