Chow time (D5 EE Cafeteria)

[John Slaktare]

Butcher nods at Lakshmi's description.

"Yeah. She did say she was into cookin. So that kind of stuff is good for gifts?"

[Richard Winter]

"Ey, I'm just tired of arguing with the high noses from the AFFC". Richard took his tray and came over. He turned to John, "Yep, cooking utensils, or sewing stuff. Books or magazines about fashion or cooking will make her happy. Or dig deep into your pocket and buy some jewelry,...as long as it's somewhat fashionable."

[Tessa Wentworth]

"Let us know if you need any ideas. We have shared cooking utensils, so she'd probably get more enjoyment out of the other items you suggested." Tessa puts in her two cents.

[Lakshmi Kaala]

"She's into knitting." Laks shares her knowledge. "Some sewing stuff and different threads would probably be good. Of course, you're also our Gunny now and she could use some more firearms practice... I think she has a laser pistol. You could get her a backup sidearm, something with bullets, so you have an excuse to spend more time with her." If that wasn't strategic thinking then what was?

[John Slaktare]

He nods at the different suggestions. "Yeah. She was knitting the other night. She said she thought I might like it," he says.

"Maybe I should get a couple sets of knitting stuff so I can try it out with her?"

[Richard Winter]

"That would definitely make her happy. Remember if she made you something to wear it once in a while, nothing makes her sadder than seeing people she made something for and they never wear it afterwards" he replied.

[Lakshmi Kaala]

"Good to have the expert on hand. Richard and Mei-Ling served together in the Knights."

[John Slaktare]

John nods in confirmation of that fact. "I appreciate the tips. I might have to make some time to get to the town," he says.

"I ain't all that experienced with gift giving so it's really helpful."

[Richard Winter]

"Yup, that's right, after all, we've been touring together for a while now." he said munching his meal

[GM Yuusha]

Tessa and Laks got stuck into their meals as the two men spoke.

[John Slaktare]

"I'm sure there's plenty of stories from those days. Got anything good you can share?" he asks.

[Richard Winter]

"At one point we had a job as a garrison on.... uh, never mind the planet name, in any case we were hired there to look after this factory. It wasn't a special thing, as far as I know it only produced small arms, but there was a dispute with a competitor and, well, you know, that can escalate quickly. Anyway, nothing happened for weeks and it was scorching hot." Richard laughed. "At some point it was too much for Mei and she dragged Luca and her people out and built a pool with her. Uhhh Luca was our chief mech technician.... But anyway, our C/O was pretty pissed about it, but could hardly do anything because little by little all the bored soldiers preferred to sit in the pool instead of being cooked alive in their mechs." He shook his head. "Then it came as it had to: alarms went off because there were foreign heat signals. A swarm of MechWarriors, all in bikinis and swim trunks ran like startled chickens into their Mechs, me among them."

[John Slaktare]

"I suspected she had more than a bit of troublemaker in her. Ain't surprised at that. Must've been the best lookin fight the Knights had though."

Butcher eats a bit more of his curry.

"I'm guessing she came up with more than a few clever ideas that she pulled others into?"

[Richard Winter]

"It was definitely the Knights' hottest fight," he quipped. "There's a bunch of stories I have, hold on..." He thought and weighed what he could tell without Mei kicking his ass.

"Once my prosthesis was in maintenance for a longer period of time, so Mei decided to be my 'right hand man'. I thought at the time that I had already heard every form of pun on the subject of my arm, but oh boy, was I wrong. With each thing she helped me with I witnessed an even worse joke, even Jester was amazed."

[John Slaktare]

"Nice of her to keep your morale up with some puns then. Sounds like you two have had quite a few adventures together. Lucky there's someone around I can get stories like this from. A lot harder to pull em out of the person you're talking to. Maybe we should all have dinner together sometime?"

[Richard Winter]

"Sure thing. I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other anyway, now that you're a gunnery sergeant. I have to calibrate my weapon regularly". he said giving John a smile.

[John Slaktare]

"Yeah, prolly gonna be seein a lot of people a lot more now. It'll keep me busy. I'm lookin forward to it," John replies.

[Lakshmi Kaala]

Laks had listened in and chuckled during the pool story. She thought it was nice to see mechwarriors in different companies getting along.

"Good luck as Gunny." Laks says to John before grinning at Richard. "I'll need to remember you know some fun stories. Maybe I'll pry a few more out of you over some drinks one day."

[Tessa Wentworth]

At the same time Tessa was finishing her meal. She was following the conversation, but she didn't have anything to add.

[John Slaktare]

"Thanks," John replies to Lakshmi's well wishes.

"Gonna drive me a bit crazy, bein grounded tomorrow. Don't like being stuck on base for repairs when other folks are out there."