Promotion Party (D2 LE Butcher's Room)

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei stood in the hallway two doors down from John’s room trying to stop her knees from shaking. Unlike their first time together she had time to think about what she was doing. She didn’t dare stand in front of his door, he seemed too much like the kind who would notice and then he would see the nervousness.

Their first encounter had been so powerful and that if it hadn’t been for the light bruises she would have assumed it just a great dream.

Never meet your heroes. Pfft. Bullshit.

It had all been so perfect, all except the timing and she was still kicking herself that she had even left though a lot of good had happened after that.

But will he be as interested the second time? He called me HIS and QUEEN but lots of guys talk big while things are steamy.

She adjusted the hem of her skirt. He had asked her to wear something she didn’t mind getting destroyed and she was happy to oblige, she just hoped he remembered otherwise her whole act would just look stupid. Would he even like it? With a small platter of cookies in her hands she walked the final steps to his room and standing squarely in front of it she shook off her nerves and knocked.

[John Slaktare]

Answering relatively slowly, but not long enough to warrant a second knock. In his black tactical getup, he paused for a moment and looked her over. He didn't say anything for the moment, but rather put a hand on her shoulder and led her in before closing the door behind. There was an opened ration that he had been eating before she came in, sitting bedside and waiting for his return.

Being very gentle and deliberate, he takes the cookies and sets them on a foot locker. Then Butcher steps in her personal space with an aggressive posture.

He pulled her tight and their lips met. He held it for a short while as a reminder. It had been a few days after all. When he separated he finally spoke.

"Hi."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Hi." She said blushing lightly. "I heard the good news and I thought you might like to celebrate a little. Plus...I missed you." She nuzzled against his chest them looked up at him and smiled broadly. "I told you, they put you in the Command Company for a reason, they see all the potential I see in you."

[John Slaktare]

"Just wanted someone that'll do a job that needs doing, probably," he says. "But maybe."

"And I was celebrating. I got the ration with the candy bar in it," he says, pointing. "You eat already? If not, join me for some gourmet rations."

He guided her to sit on his bunk next to him.

"Even used that fruit flavored drink mix."

He offered the bottle with the drink. This was apparently his idea of celebration. Sitting alone eating rations, which he considered an indulgence, and probably not expecting anyone to visit.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Thanks" She took the bottle and sipped it. "Not much of a celebration if your doing it alone, not that I expected you to be in the officers lounge swinging from a chandelier with a lampshade on your head." She said with a giggle. "Though I would pay good money to see that. So will you be getting a room upgrade?"

[John Slaktare]

"Didn't ask. Probably not until after this contract though I imagine. Silly to move folks around in the midst of combat," he says.

"Your legs sore after the workout? The hill climbing stuff takes time to get used to," he eats a bite of chemically heated salisbury steak. Them he cuts off a piece with the plastic fork and offers it to Mei.

Not particularly sexy or romantic, feeding someone a bite of your reheated, packaged, infinite shelf life salisbury steak. But he gives it a try anyway.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

She had been in this life long enough to grow accustomed to MREs and Butcher had picked one of the better ones.

"Thank you." She said and took the bite.

"Yeah I'm a little sore but that doesn't bother me, thankfully the good doctor did a wonder on my leg. If I had tried to do that workout a few days ago I would have fallen off the treadmill for sure, probably knocking myself out and needing mouth to mouth. The rest of u=yesterday wasn't much better."

She looked down, disappointed in herself.

"I fell down in my mech twice, I goofed off for four months and let myself get rusty. Then when I finally got to unwind I found out Gi had an even rougher day and that bummed me out too. Today was better though and it's getting better by the minute." She said giving him a weak smile.

[John Slaktare]

He hands her the pack with the mashed potatoes, which had already been warmed and opened.

But then his eyes went a bit distant. "'Falling down is training to learn to stand up. May have done most of that training as a kid, but your always learning til you die...' and after she'd say that, she'd push me on my ass and we'd both have a laugh. But she was right. Even if you don't realize it, you learned something from it."

He took another bite.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei looked up and took the food but just held it while he spoke.

"Who is "she"? She sounds pretty important to you."

[John Slaktare]

"My grandma, she was important. But now she's gone so I just got the memories. Has to do," he says with a shrug.

"Don't really like talking about her, but that advice seemed to fit."

In a jarring transition, he asks, "Where'd your recon take you earlier. I was out at the comms station. How'd it go?"

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

A million questions raced through her mind but when he said he didn't like to talk about it she swallowed and pushed them down.

"It went really good, we headed for the Barracks to do some terrain mapping and got a really good read of the place. They did a good job of setting the place up so it's not gonna be a cake walk but I think I found some cheeky angles of approach and I think Yori ended up heading out there as well so Klaus should have a lot to work with. How did your recon go?"

[John Slaktare]

Butcher nods along with her explanation. He reaches to take the bottle and sips from it before setting it between them.

"So we'll be ready for the barracks too if we head that way. I got the ground level view, but most of the good stuff had already been figured out by Alison with her drones. We got good intel on the comm array."

He looks to the pouch, "Not hungry?" It sounds more like an assumption that a question.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I got lost listening to you."

She took a quick bit and passed it back to him.

"I didn't bring a toothbrush so I shouldn't eat too much. So have you met Alice yet? You're into metal are you a BfE fan?"

[John Slaktare]

"With how clean I keep my room, do you not assume I have extra toothbrushes and other bathroom stuff? They cost next to nothing and fresh ones are better for cleaning hard to reach places," he explains.

"I'm sure it felt good to get back in your mech again after so long. Was a relief for me. And I'd heard them before but didn't recognize the name of the band or songs. I'm bad with that kind of stuff. But I got familiar again during the trip here. I wouldn't say I'm a specific fan but I do like the music."

Butcher trades the steak one for the potato one and has a couple small bites.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

She found me playing my ghetto drumkit the other day and I'm not going to lie I freaked the fuck out. She was super cool about it though, total pro and she even complimented my playing. I think she wants to jam with me and Alex some time which would be insane. I'm still blown away that one of the galaxies biggest acts would give that life up to do this but I guess everyone has their reasons."

She took a bit a couple bites of the meat then set it down and picked up the drink.

[John Slaktare]

"She offered singing lessons, after I joked about singing over the scrap of my defeated enemies. Haven't taken her up on it and not sure if I will. Don't think singing is for me honestly. Don't have a lot of range to my voice after all," he replies, referencing his own usually neutral tone.

"But it's great you'll get to jam together. Let me know when the first Blood-fueled Angels show is."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Blood-fueled Angels, I like the sound of that. Well if you wont sing with us I hope to see you in the pit at least, just try not to bash little Cat too bad. It will be cool of it happens but I'm not going to hold my breath, there is a lot going on in a warzone and this being her first fight Alice might see what we do and lose interest in the merc life. It's a lot easier to talk, or in her case sing, about death and murder when you aren't actually surrounded by it.

I gotta admit I was surprised to you supporting the comms target assault, figured you would itching for a real fight by now."

[John Slaktare]

"We got a strategic officer for a reason. Much as I might think he's as entitled as the liaison jackoff, he wouldn't have the job if he didn't understand that stuff much better than I do. Decisions on where to go are definitely not my thing."

He opens another of the MRE pouches that has a dense "dinner roll" if it could be called that. He took a bite and offered it to Mei-ling to have some for herself too.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"No thanks the roll never sits right with me, plus you're gonna need your energy." She said with a coy smile.

"You and Klaus don't get a long? I guess that shouldn't surprise me he is a bit arrogant. he's a puppy compared to some of the assholes back home. Imagine the type of person who visits a pleasure world, utter fuckwads." She said with a hint of venom. "I haven't met the liaison yet or the local informant."

[John Slaktare]

"The guy from the briefing," he reminds her. "The other nobility looking guy."

"And me and Zinzer got different opinions on each other. And they're not positive, but that don't matter because the job's the job. Gotta get it done."

He eats another bite of it then sets it aside before taking another sip.

"Your mech running well? Techs got it prime?"