Ocean Spray (D12, EE Beachview Fine Dining)

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei slid into the booth until she was practically pressed against the window and she stared out it watching the waves. She dressed causally in a way that she though complemented his style

"I hear this place is the best in town, I hope they are right."

[John Slaktare]

"Is it?" He asks, sliding in across from her. "Well, you're here and there's no place I'd rather be than with you. So this is definitely my favorite place right now."

He looks out the window for a moment then back to her. "Nah... I chose wrong."

Moving to sit next to her on the same side, he slides in next to her. "Yeah, this is the right side," John confirms as he takes her hand, kissing the back of it.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

She rested her head on his shoulder and looked up at him.

"Good choice, the view is better from over here. A nice quite dinner for two as we watch the sun go down. A real date."

[John Slaktare]

"You look beautiful this evenin. I'd have probably suggested the cafeteria most days. But I wanna try new stuff with you," he says before kissing her forehead as she looks from his shoulder.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"The cafeteria is nice and all but we needed to go on a real date, just the two of us. And look at this place, Pryvidok is a beautiful place and the people here are pretty nice considering everything that's going on."

She grabbed a menu and slide it between them so they could start looking at it though she was only looking at him.

"I'm glad your deployment went well, I'm not allowed in the command areas but I was doing a lot of pacing around it while you were gone."

[John Slaktare]

"I don't pace when you're gone. I know that you'll come back to me. No other world's worth imagining," he replies.

He peaks at the menu for about 3 seconds then nods. "Know what I'm getting."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"That was fast." She closed the menu dramatically and smiled. "OK then, what did you pick?"

[John Slaktare]

"I pick whatever they recommend. They know their food better than I do," he replies. "How about you? Got something in mind?"

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

She scrunched her nose at him then opened the menu and finally started looking at it. "That feels like cheating but I'll allow it because of how cute you are." She flipped the pages back and forth a few times. "I would love some oysters but that's an expensive way to get full so maybe just a couple and then a nice salad, I can't remember the last time I had a really good salad."

[John Slaktare]

"If you wanna fill up on oysters, go for it," he replies. "Just want you to be happy since that's what'll make me happy."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

She continued to flip through the menu, now seemingly intent on finding the perfect dish.

"I am happy, how could I not be? a scenic romantic dinner with my man, how could I not be happy?"

She turned to look at him and smiled then gave him a kiss.

"I'm always happy when I'm with you, and I'm extra happy because my body has stopped trying to kickbox with me.

So what was your mission today, anything exciting or risky? You came back without a scratch on you but how is (Chinese) Warden of Joy?

Yori had a close call today from what I understand so I imagine her mech is gonna be out of commission for a while, what about you?"

[John Slaktare]

"I was facing the scout patrol early in the day. Took them out pretty quick. Two folks had some internal damage and we didn't leave a lot of salvage. Winkey kicked a shadow hawks ammo and was at ground zero for the explosion. It was not ideal, but the job got done."

"I'm glad you're feeling a better now too. You take the time you want and let me know what I can do. Ain't nothing I ain't happy to help with."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Ouch. Poor Winky, did any of the leg survive? I'm honestly surprised that they are still trying to run patrols, we have pretty well taken the lower half of the island but they just wont give it up and consolidate in the north.

As for me I am back at one hundred percent thank fuck. All systems nominal."

[John Slaktare]

"It only blew after he pulled his foot out, so just singed and scratched," Butcher clarifies. "Glad that Yori is okay too. She's been getting put through a lot."

"Oh? Then you're gonna wake up sore and tired for a different reason tomorrow," he says, lifting her hand to his lips, kissing the back gently.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"I hope so." She said with hungry eyes.

"OK, I think I'm gonna get the Fisherman's Stew, anything with that basic a name must be an old dish that has survived for centuries." She closed the menu and slid it to the edge of the table. "So the rumor is that we are gonna get some down time pretty soon, I'm not sure how that works exactly seeing as we are in a war but maybe we are advancing too fast for the mainland forces or something but either way what do you wanna do if it's true?"

[John Slaktare]

"Really depends on what the downtime will be. If it's just a temporary thing while we wait for the mainland then we'll probably still be doing some defensive patrols and protecting the base. So that would mean still staying around the region. If it's an indefinite ceasefire or if they're expecting a surrender or not needing our services anymore, then we'd probably have the run of the whole planet right? So we'll have to wait and see. But whatever you're up for with local travel and sights, I'll come with you. Maybe we can see what kind of festivals or celebrations they might have around here? They might still hold them even with the fighting."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"That would be great, I would love to see more of the local life. Maybe we could get a room at that B&B for a night, one with a big bathtub we can soak in or maybe get a massage. Do you do massages? Or maybe just get some friends and rent a boat, go out and do some fishing and partying far away from everything."

[John Slaktare]

"Apparently Skipper is a sailor, according to Alex at least. Knows how to do the sailing stuff I gathered," Butcher replies. "So he probably knows about that stuff. Not saying he should have to sail everyone around, but he probably knows how all that boat renting stuff works."

The waiter approaches and brings glasses of water for the two of them and does the whole sales pitch for specials and asks if they need more time to order. But John shakes his head no and asks for the server's suggestion and orders that.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei ordered the soup and squeezed some lemon into her water.

"I still want to organize a company pot luck so maybe this is the time for that." Mei abruptly shifted topics. "How do you feel about the simulator, does it do anything for you or does the lack of danger bore you?"

[John Slaktare]

"It doesn't do as much as actually piloting," he replies, going with the shift. Planning some big party is not something he was looking to do.

"But just cause I don't get a thrill from the simulators don't mean its something I'll ignore. Jogging is pretty boring but I do that regularly too."