| Even CAGs Have to Eat |
| Summary: | A collection of pilots, would-be-pilots, a marine, and a doctor eat dinner together. |
| Date: | 11 August 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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| Galley! |
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| Cafeteria! |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #165 |
<OOC> There was more to this scene both before and I believe after Devlin entered, so if anyone has more log and would like to add, please do!
It's dinner time, or as close as it comes to it on a battlestar with round-the-clock shift rotations and no day or night to speak of. The galley is relatively full, the chow line long enough to make standing in it something of a chore. Cidra is eating alone at the moment herself, however. She's already gotten her tray and is seated at one of the tables, reading over some bit of octagonal paperwork as she munches.
Marko collects his plate of 'I Can't Believe We're Calling This Food' and pauses to fill a small mug up at the bug juice machine. Spotting the CAG, he makes his way over, ducking through the crowd as he goes. "Heya, CAG. Mind some company?" he asks politely.
Lunair has a book under her arm, with a giant mint plant and the title emblazoned 'Herbs! They're good for you!' She makes her way into the line, scooping up a clean tray. Apparently your average marine can eat nearly anything that doesn't eat her first. She eyes the juice machine, as one would eye an adversary. There's a sigh, she fills her cup and - hey~! It's Marko and the CAG. She smiles a little and moves over. "Hello there, sir," And a sir to CAG as is due. "I didn't expect to see you two here."
Cidra's eyes lift from her paper, to Marko. The barest hint of a smile is offered to the ECO. "Scaurus. Hello. You may. Only if you desist in calling me 'CAG'." It's said lightly enough, though she does mean it. "The old LSO, Captain Hellicon, used to address me as nothing else. As if I were not but an acronym." An inclination of her head, and turn of that faintest of smiles to the Marine, when Lunair approaches. "Lieutenant. I do not see why you did not. This is a place all on the ship must come sooner or later throughout the day. Sit, please, both of you." A pause and she adds, "Unless you would prefer to eat among yourselves. I quite understand if you would prefer some privacy."
Marko takes his seat with a duly chastened look on his face. "Sorry, Major." he says, sighing a little and hoping the CAG doesn't notice the very slight roll he gives his eyes for Lun's benefit. "Oh, by the way, sir, I talked to Lieutenant Nikephoros yesterday." he says. "Just thought you'd want to know that we met." he explains simply before changing the subject. "Herbs…They're really good for you." he says, reading the title of the book. "Heh, well, give the author credit, hon. He at least got the jist of it." he smiles to his intended. "How's things?"
Devlin wanders out of the seemingly-endless line for food and turns to survey the rest of the galley as if slightly dazed, like he never really thought he'd make it this far. A moment is spent blinking, and then he wanders between tables and around chairs, looking for a seat and eventually ending up by the table Cidra, Marko, and (nearly) Lunair occupy. "Evening, sir," he offers the CAG, adding, "…and sirs," to the other two after a minute, smile friendly. He nods towards one of the empty seats, "Would you guys mind if I joined you?"
Lunair smiles a little. "It's good to see you sir, and oh. I can call you sir or Major if you like," She offers. Lunair is admittedly somewhat more hesitant, not entirely aware of Air Wing culture. She just goes quiet at the mention of Lieutenaant Nikephoros. She grins. "Yeah. I'm apparently rounding up all the folks with an interest in gardening. Miss Tisiphone runs circles around me in that arena," She looks amused. "So I'm learning a lot too," Nod. "But I also seem to spend a lot of time teaching," Boggle. Lunair is boggled having been a /passable/ candidate in school. She shrugs it off. "But they are going well enough. Someone has to take the boring watch," Smile. A pause, noticing Devlin as she sits with Marko and Cidra. "I um, see no reason to object personally." A peer up with strange purple eyes.
"They are, indeed," is Cidra's note, about herbs and their nutritional value. If any rolling of eyes is noted, it is not apparent. She slides her paper back in the folder she's brought with her. It looks to be some dry roster of some sort. A smallest of approving nods to Marko when he mentioned Nikephoros. "That is very good. Ah. Midshipman Devlin. Of course. It is a free table. More or less." She raises her fork, which is holding something vaguely passing for canned greens, and waves it a little dismissively at Lunair. "Call me what you will. We are off-duty. Toast is my callsign. Cidra is my given name. Major is my rank. Pick the one that you enjoy."
"Hey there." Marko waves to the newcomer when Devlin arrives. "You're….Nugget, right?" he asks, peering at the man curiously. "Seen you around the berthing area, but never had a chance to talk to you." he explains. "Marko Scaurus, AKA, Flasher." he says politely, offering his hand. "So, anybody heard any interesting scuttlebutt?"
"Thanks," Devlin replies as they all agree, pulling a chair out with a foot and setting down his tray. He folds himself into his seat and then offers Marko a smile, clarifying, "I'm one of the nuggets, yeah. Not the only one, though. There are about a dozen of us, or so, I think?" His head bobs in a nod and he offers, "Nice to meet you. Alex Devlin. I haven't actually got a callsign yet or anything, of course." He shrugs a little and then adds to Lunair, "Sorry, I think we've met, but I can't remember your name. Are you the marine in charge of the garden?"
Lunair smiles at Cidra. "Toast, huh," She considers that. Best not to imagine one's CAG with butter. But she'll go with it. She nods. "Thank you." She looks to Devlin and smiles. "I see. I'm Lieutenant Raine Lunair, but Lun is fine off-duty," A smile and a shrug. "And yes, that would be me. Though I'm delegating out a bit. It's not really fair if I get to enjoy everything alone. Ensign Apostolos would be in charge of more traditional growing things and hopefully the medicinal herbs soon," She explains easily. "She knows more about it than me so…" She's happy to defer at any rate. Lunair pauses at the question on scuttlebutt. "Well. Supposedly our former CO's trial is soon. I'm kind of nervous about it. But honestly, I've been doing admin work and taking care of recruits and the garden. I think I'm happier that way," She admits quietly.
Cidra flicks a look over at Devlin when Marko mentions having seen the recruit around the pilot's berthings. It is tinged with amusement, perhaps. Just perhaps. She watches him for a second, then returns to her meal. "A dozen or so prospective pilots, yes," she affirms to Devlin with a nod. "We shall see what we can manage out of you. How are you coming with the Vipers, Midshipman?" Her dealings with the Viper candidates are not particularly hands-on. The CAG, whatever her technical qualifications, is a creature of the big birds. The faintest of smiles to Lunair. "Toats. Yes. A callsign is a thing all pilots earn. Sooner or later." Though her mood sobers at mention of the admiral's impending trial. "I will be glad to have it done, for my part."
"Heh, no kidding. I'm trying to pretend it's not happening." Marko replies between bites of his quasi-meal. "Sorry about the mix up, Devlin. You'll get sorted out in no time." he says encouragingly. "But, I gotta admit to wanting to know for sure what the story was with the Admiral. I mean, Abbot." he says, correcting himself and taking a sip of bug juice. "Wow…they're really watering this stuff down." he says, smacking his lips a little. "So, guess one way or another, we'll find out what's what."
"I keep meaning to stop by sometime and take a look," Devlin tells Lunair of the garden laboratory, "I haven't had a chance. Hopefully sometime soon. I hear it's nice. And that you're growing strawberries, even?" If he notices Cidra's faint amusement he doesn't show it, instead nodding to the major, "I think I'm coming along alright? Captain Sitka's a great teacher, and I've worked with a few of the other pilots in the sims, too, and on my own, so. Hopefully I'm making enough progress fast enough. Apostolos didn't say I sucked, and she would, so I've got to think I'm doing relatively okay," he says with a crooked grin. The admiral's trial seems to be something in which he's interested, but has no real opinion, asking only, "Is that coming up?"
Lunair smiles a bit. "Well, it's um, a good one." Nod. Even if it makes her think of a CAG and butter. Hmm. She sighs softly, "Me too. We had to up security a bit since he's in there." It might be stretching the Marines a bit to have so many various watches. She shrugs at that. "It'll be like yanking a bandaid off I guess. Tense until you do it, then it stings and is done," She pauses and looks to her juice. "Really? I'd better tell the plants to get on it doubletime," She winks. She nods meekly. "I only hope he gets a fair trial. Popular or not…" She seems to believe in fair. A smile and a nod at Devlin. "Some cherries and strawberries. For now it's mostly fruit, but - I hope we find more stock and get into veggies and medicinal herbs." She doesn't /say/ it, but outright it's implied fleet food might not last forever. "Though, Miss Apostolos is a pro gardener," Beam.
Cidra smiles the barest hint of an inscrutable smile at Lunair. "I like Toast." Not that she has any to eat at the moment. Just canned 'vegetables' and something that's passing for meat. Also from a can. She does not take part in the talk about the Abbot, though mention of her does turn her faint smile into the slightest of frowns. "We shall know soon enough." It's repeated like a mantra. To Devlin she nods approvingly. As far as his progress, that is. "That is for the good. I think some of your cohorts shall be ready for a real try at the flight line soon. The Sims are all well and good, but there is only so much one can learn outside the real thing. Is she now?" The last question about Tisiphone. "I knew she had an interest there. I am glad she is putting her time to productive use."
"Heh, I can't imagine Tisi in gardeners' kit." Marko chuckles softly. "I gotta see that one of these days." he grins. "Or better yet, take a picture!" he laughs, then winces. "Of course, she just might kill me for doing that." he adds, "Soo…probably not a good idea." he says, turning back to his food. It may be disgusting, but a hungry man's a hungry man. "How are things down there, Lun?" he inquires. "I haven't had a chance to take a look."
Devlin nods to Cidra first, agreeing, "Yeah, I hear that's the next step, getting into the flight line. I'm hoping to get there soon, but I'll just have to keep working as much as I can, and wait and see what the captain decides." He takes a sip of water, and a few bites of greens before noddin at Lunair, "Cherries, too? That's neat. But yeah, I can see how medicinal stuff would be the priority, even if having a little bit of fresh fruit would be awesome." Marko gets a chuckle and he offers, "She does seem like the type who might nail you for that if you weren't careful. I don't know, though, she's a lot friendlier than she was when I first met her. Relatively, at least."
Lunair smiles. Lunair nods, accepting that Toast is indeed, a fine name! She just accepts that. "I bet that's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. A first flight," Here eyes widen, eyebrows lifting a little. "Good luck. I bet you'll do fine," She nods again. "That she is. I think it's probably kind of stress relieving really. And it's her project, I won't poke in unless I'm checking progress for the XO or something." Lunair seems content to be a hands-off leader, guiding rather than dragging. She ggrins at Marko, "I don't think I could save you if you did that." Angry Saggy! She eats well enough too. "They go well. I hope we keep expanding. The XO would like to supplement our rations with fresh fruit. It would beat having to hope we have vitamins and such," She frowns a bit. Then a smile at Devlin. "She's a good person. You just have to get to know her. Reserved is the word."
"I can, actually," Cidra says to Marko, sipping at her water, at his comment about Tisiphone and a gardeners' kit. "People can surprise you, Flasher. She does sew as well, as I do understand it." She makes no remarks up on Tisiphone's friendliness, or lack of it. A short nod to Devlin. "We shall see. In general you lot do seem to be coming along better than I expected." It vaguely sounds like a compliment, though one might wonder what she was originally expecting. A small nod to Lunair. "I think there nothing wrong with having a little personal reserve." Then, out of the blue, she asks of Marko and Lunair. "So. Have you a date yet?"
"Tisi's good people, you just gotta get to know her, that's all. She's been through kind of a lot lately." Marko says to Devlin, nodding a little. "Not that we all haven't, but, well, yeah. That's pretty much it." he says, sipping his bug juice again. "Glad to hear it, hon." Marko smiles, reaching over to cover Lunair's hand with his. "You think we've got enough of a harvest to make that feasible, though?" he asks on the XO front. "Don't wanna burn through what we've got too fast." he notes cautiously. "At least not until we know how sustainable all of this is gonna be long-term." he adds. To Cidra's question he merely sighs and shakes his head a little. "We keep trying to get up with the Chaplain, but we're both so busy, we barely have time to see each other, much less anyone else." he sighs shrugging a little. "It'll happen, though. Count on that." he smiles.
"Oh, yeah, no, I know she is," Devlin assures them all with a smile, "I like her. I just meant… yeah, reserve's a good word for it, I guess. But no, she's cool. She's willing to do sim time with me, which is a huge help, so, yeah." His head bobs a few more times, and he continues eating his dinner, which appears to be the healthiest collection of stuff one can put together from the galley offerings. He eats, and listens to the talk about the harvest before blinking, realization dawning obviously on his features, "Oh! I met you in the marine CO's office," he says, gesturing with a knuckle towards Lunair, "That's where I remember you from. You were asking permission to get married. To you, I guess," he adds to Marko with a grin, "Congratulations."
Lunair just smiles, "Really? She sews? I have my old loom…" She considers. Wow. Her and Tisiphone have a lot more in common than they thought. She blushes. "Yeah, and not to collide with any other events," She admits. They don't want to schedule badly. "The Chaplain is a busy person, but with all the stresses of late, I can see why. And I know. I doubt it'll happen right away but… fleet food is - well." Shrug. Finite? Not quite so tasty? She leaves it alone. "Hopefully we'll have enough soon to show that we're getting results," Lunair admits quietly. She nods. Then a deep blush at where Devlin remembers her from. "Ah hah, thanks. I was pretty nervous," Lunair admits. She squirms a little in her seat. "Mostly - even if it's not for a few months, I'd like the garden to make people happy for awhile. Sometimes having a way to pass time that is pleasant means as much as a meal. though I look forward to the meals too." Marines are some of the hungriest people around probably! "Although- I am very lucky," She admits and smiles at Marko. "And grateful."
"Do keep me apprised. I would not miss it," Cidra says simply to Marko and Lunair, real happiness for them in her eyes. Her plate is pretty clean by now, and her water finished, so she stands. "Now, I must take my leave. I have matters to attend to. Flasher, I shall see you later. I have you slated for one of the Raptor runs back to the colonies. I shall prepare a proper briefing for you in the coming days."
Marko smiles with unbridled, love-addled, goofiness at Lunair "You're not the only one who's lucky, you know, hon." he says, eyes sparkling as he gives her hand a gentle squeeze. "Or blessed, either." he adds, sitting there for a long moment before shaking himself a little and snapping back to reality. "Will do, Major." he nods. "Just as soon as we can get things arranged."
"Looked like it went pretty well," Devlin smiles at Lunair and then nods some more, "Yeah, I'll definitely have to come by and see the garden sometime. I did some gardening myself for a bit, actually. Well, landscaping. But there was some gardening involved, sometimes." As Cidra gets up to go, he gives her a polite nod and offers, "Have a good evening, Major."
Lunair nods, "I promise to find you if Marko doesn't." Lunair smiles at that, grateful for Cidra's happiness. She waves. "Be well, Toast." She nods. There's a faint flicker of concern at mention of a raptor run back to the colony. But she says nothing and her bearing returns. She is promptly sent back into smiling goofiness by Marko thoug, "Thank you. I am glad you think so." She warms right back up, pleased. She returns the gentle hand squeeze. She looks to Devlin. "That would be nice. You're welcome to come by. But be sure to keep up with practice if you do, I'd feel bad if I got you in trouble." Grin. She's sitting at a table with Marko and Devlin, Cidra seems to be departing.
Cidra has just risen from the table she shared with Marko, Lunair and Devlin. "I shall have to come by your garden as well sometime, Raine," she says to the Marine. Whose first name she apparently knows. Though this may be the first time she's used it, she does it easily enough. "I was never much for plants myself, though my father and brother were quite involved in gardening. They were both nurses, in addition to their service to the cult of the Lord of Healing, and most interested in herbs of all kinds."
"Looking forward to it, Toast." Marko grins wolfishly to the CAG. "Pleasant evening to you." he says, nodding politely as Cidra takes her leave. "Be nice to have an actual mission to fly instead of just CAP." he sighs, settling back in his seat. "Talk about boredom."
A white labcoat floats down the line for grub, or more, well, hunches down the line actually. Lab coats are never a good sign, though one seems more likely to inhale than impale as Rachel makes her way to the newly vacated spot, nodding to the empty space at their table and asking, "You mind?" She sits down though before anyone really gets a chance to answer, grabbing her fork and wolfing down whatever is in front of her.
"Oh, I will," Devlin assures Lunair with a smile, "Work comes first. I'll just stop by for a little in my free time one of these days. We'll see." He listens to Cidra and Marko curiously, and then looks up at the labcoat's arrival, blinking once and then shaking his head at her question, though he doesn't quite get a chance to offer a seat before she's taken one.
"I would be honored," Lunair smiles up at Cidra. She seems faintly surprised, but happy. "Oh?" She seems grateful to learn more about Cidra in turn. "Well, it's nice to sit in the misters sometimes too. Freshest air onboard," She smiles wryly. She looks to Marko and nods. "I suspect so, but I'm allowed to worry a little," She winks at him. She pauses, seeing Raachel make her way over. "Erm, not at all," Lunair manages after a moment. Her eyes widen. "They must be keeping you very busy," She considers. "And I'd be glad to have you by," A smile to Devlin.
"Heh, oh, no doubt they've got Dev here hopping like a jackrabbit." Marko chuckles softly, giving the man a sympathetic nod. "I remember flight school for us Raptor types. Can only imagine Vipers were even worse as far as the workload goes." he grimaces. "Speaking of misters, is that cursed thing still playing nice with the other children?" he asks Lunair. Rachel gets a little bit of a smile and a polite nod as she arrives. "Not a bit." he says happily. "More the merrier."
In between bites Rachel manages a quick, "Thank you!" A few bites later though she sets her fork down to breathe, shaking her head slightly, "Frak, some days I swear I forget there'll be food tomorrow." She grins at the rest of the table as she wips her hands on a napkin, shaking her head at herself. "What's this about playing nice if I might ask?"
"Oh yeah, real busy," Devlin nods to Marko with a smile, "I don't know how much they must be cutting out to teach us this stuff in a matter of weeks when usually it'd take more than a year. It's crazy. But, you know, it goes, and I'm doing my best. The sims are kind of fun sometimes, actually, and I'm sure getting into a real plane will be exciting, if they let me. Anyways," he smiles, mouth pulled wide in a warm, friendly grin, "I should be getting back to those, actually, but it was nice to meet you, Marko, and see you again, Lunair. I'll catch you guys around. Evening, ma'am," he adds to Rachel politely as he gathers up his stuff and heads off.