It's a Conspiracy!

Posted on Sat Mar 9th, 2019 @ 5:49am by Civillian Ravi Azad PhD & Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus

Mission: Aftermath
Location: Lodge

Of course, at some point, while talking excitedly about science and engineering to Amelie, Ravi had let slip that he had almost not come to talk to her, but that his friend had convinced him to do it. That of course, led to the discussion that Jeremy had been interested in Ginny and that is why he had convinced Ravi to go talk to Amelie. Not only did he leave out that it had been completely Jeremy's idea in the first place, but he was so awkward, he didn't even realize that it would matter. In fact, he barely remembered that minor detail simply because he had been having such a good time chatting to Amelie. For the first time in his life, he was actually chatting to a girl and she wasn't insulted or annoyed by him.

And of course, now they were conspiring to get both Jeremy and Ginny to join them for dinner. Hopefully, it would work. So, he rapped on the door to Jeremy's room and waited for him to answer.

"Arcadia, I told you to put the key in your wallet!" Jeremy called out as he padded across the room wearing only a pair of sweats that he'd overpayed for at the lodge gift shop after realizing that in Arcadia's zeal to get going, Jeremy didn't pack anything. Socks and his tight, thermal undershirt rounded out the 'bored in his room' outfit. There was a cheerful fire blazing in the room's fireplace and he'd been lying on the bed, trying to find something decent to watch on the television. Which, he considered, he was watching a bit too much television lately. He opened the door and started to walk away, expecting it to be Creighton returning to the room.

"Come!" Ravi ordered cheerfully. "We are going to dinner!"

"No, thanks," Jeremy said, kicking aside his ski boots before flopping back onto the bed. "Not hungry." He crossed his arms and leaned against the headboard. "Got a nice fire going and my cocoa." He nodded to the large mug on the side table. "You guys have fun."

"I will not take no for an answer!" replied Ravi. "You are not sitting here all by yourself while the rest of us are having fun. Come. Perhaps there will be more pretty girls."

Jeremy settled into the bed a bit further, staring resolutely at the television. "Good for you. Apparently I'm invisible to the hot girls." Which is true. After Ginny blew him off, he went to the lodge coffee bar and tried to strike up a conversation with a nice redhead, who, it turns out, hated the military, America and, judging from her comments, herself.

"You made me come here," Ravi pointed out, "and I would repay you poorly if I did not drag you out of your room now. Plus, there is a band. I do not know what type of music they play, but it does not matter. You can come back and have hot chocolate later. Now food and music."

Jeremy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Are you making this a broquest?"

Ravi blinked blankly. "I do not know what that means," he said.

"It's a level one friend request from one of your bros - y'know, the guys who help you hookup with the hotties?" Jeremy said, changing the channel on the television. He didn't even know what he was watching anymore.

"Oh," said Ravi, still not quite understanding. "If it will get you out of this room, then yes, it is a broquest."

"Holy grail," Jeremy swore - well as close as he would come to swearing - "Fine, but only because it's a broquest." He sat up and looked about the room for his shoes. "Where we going?" he asked, wondering about the clothes he brought which consisted of either his uniform or ski apparel. He didn't really think about packing when Arcadia came to get him for this trip.

"There is a restaurant downstairs," Ravi answered. "It looks fancy, but nobody seems to care how they are dressed. It is mostly ski gear or jeans. Come! We must go!"

"Alright, give me a moment," Jeremy said, thinking. His ski gear was off the back of a chair drying out so that wouldn't be good, which left the only decent clothes left to him were his utilities. Sighing, and realizing he'd most likely hear about this from Arcadia (who had been able to pack for the trip) he quickly stripped out of the sweats. That the door was open and Ravi stood at it didn't seem to matter at all as he stood in just his undershirt and boxer briefs.

Having experience with this from o'dark thirty base attacks, he was in his uniform and ready to go in no time at all, even making sure that his hair looked regulaton. He sure as hell wasn't going to disrespect the Air Force by going out looking shabby.

At least it wasn't fancy dining if people were in ski gear and jeans, sohe woulnd't be completely out of place in what he was wearing. And while the senior of the ranks, Arcadia wasn't his CO so his 'pronouncements' were really more like 'guidelines'. "Okay, I'm ready," he said double checking that he had his wallet and ID.

Ravi- who had grown up sharing a room with his three brothers- didn't think twice about another man changing his clothes in front of him. He had, however, politely looked away while he did so. "Great!" he replied with another grin. "Let's go!" And he turned and hurried from the room.

"It's just dinner, Rav!" Jeremy called after as he checked to make sure he had his room key and the door was secured and locked. Then he did a light jog to catch up to the engineer. Which only reminded him that he'd been too busy over the last few days to really get a good PT session in and that made him feel as if he were becoming soft and spongy. Like a marshmallow. He hated marshmallows. "I'm sure they have plenty of food, no need to rush."

"Yes, but... but all the good tables may be taken," Ravi hedged. "We do not want to be stuck next to the rest rooms."

"Stairs then," Jeremy said, clapping Ravi on the shoulder as he pointed to the door to the stairway. "And it'll help you build...some muscle...maybe?" He went to the door then quickly descended, treating it like a field exercise until he got to the bottom. He didn't want to be out, but he had to admit he was starting to feel hungry. "You coming, Rav?"

A few seconds later, Ravi caught up with his new friend. "Now who is in a hurry?" he asked with a grin. "But, yes, come! Our dinner awaits!"

"Geeks," Jeremy muttered as he followed Ravi through the lodge toward the restaurant entrance. "So, O'Connor and Arcadia already here saving our table?"

"Something like that," Ravi replied, looking around as they entered the restaurant. "I... whoa...." He blinked several times, his eyes landing on Amelie, who had undergone a transformation. Her hair- which had been in a ponytail and under a ski cap earlier, now hung in soft curls around her face and she had put on a bit of eyeliner and some lip gloss. His mouth went dry. He was going to mess this up, he just knew it. Oh, well, hopefully things would at least work out for Jeramy and Ginny. "This way," he said, leading him towards the girls.

Jeremy looked to where his friend stopped. "Ah, Rav, no. This isn't right, it's called being the 'third wheel' and it's a terrible thing. Besides, what makes you think I want to see you and geek-girl canoodling?" He started to turn to go away when he caught sight of something else. Or rather someone else. "Whoa is that..." he trailed off, staring at the table and the - count them one two girls there. Jeremy clapped Rav on the shoulder hard enough to move him forward a step. "Is that Ginny?" he asked, with a smile. "Wait...does she know that I'm coming?"

"I believe so," he replied. "It was a misunderstanding. She thought you were only attempting to occupy her because I was interested in Amelie. Anyway, come on, they're waiting!" And he started towards the table."Good evening, ladies," he said with a smile. At least he could try to not stick his foot in his mouth. For Jeremy.

"Ladies," Jeremy said, suddenly wishing he had something else to wear. Something less...worn already. Not that he wasn't proud of his uniform as it represented his service. But, this was a meeting with a beautiful woman and this is what he would wear for work or everyday duty. A first meeting like this required Class As at the very least. "Nice to see you again, Amelie. Ginny."

"Hi," said Ginny almost sheepishly. "Sorry about earlier. I was... but I'm okay now." She gave him a grin. Truth be told, she was so used to being the pitty date that she had jumped to conclusions. "So are you guys military, then?" she asked.

"Well, I am," Jeremy said as he moved around Ravi to sit between Ginny and Amelie, but also where he had easy view of the entrances and exits. "Ravi here is a civilian contractor consulting on..." Jeremy thought for a moment, they can't mention the Stargate and probably shouldn't mention top secret projects at all. "Consulting on some new technology. It's really fascinating, but unfortunately you don't have the clearance so we can't say much."

"Really?" Amelie said, her brown eyes big behind her rimless glasses. "You're not in the military then? What kind of consulting do you do?"

“Mechanical engineering, mostly,” replied Ravi. “We have got some... experimental technology. But, like my friend said, we cannot really talk about it too much. Top secret and all.”

"Oh, isn't mechanical engineering fun? I'm working on my doctorate in experimental physics myself. I'm here because Ginny though I was doing too much schoolwork and needed some fun." Amelie pushed up her glasses as she spoke. She tried to lean on the table but put her elbow on her bread plate which flipped over, rattling around.

Ravi managed to somehow snag the plate before it tumbled off the table. “I do it all the time,” he assured Amelie.

She pushed up her glasses again and muttered a "thank you" while hunching in on herself, embarrassed by the faux pas. "Are you working on a new plane?" she asked. "I understand the Air Force has been working on some interesting new engine designs that will push current flight capabilities by twenty percent."

"Something like that," replied Ravi with a grin.

"What do you do, Ginny?" Jeremy asked, smiling at the two geeks.

“I just finished nursing school,” Ginny replied. “Pediatric nursing. I got a job in the NICU at a hospital a couple hours north of here.”

"Peds?" Jeremy asked, "ah, I bet that's the best. I'm a medic in the Air Force, so, not really the same job, but close, right? Is peds where you wanted to work?"

"Oh, yes," replied Ginny with a fervent nod. "I actually want to have a lot of kids. Probably an unreasonable amount, so I thought, well, if I can work with kids, that'll be the next best thing. And I have have three or four of my own and that'll be enough."

"Three's a good number for kids. Just the right number, especially if they're spaced just right." Jeremy said before they were interrupted by the waiter asking if they were ready. Jeremy shrugged as he realized he hadn't even looked at the menu yet.

"Can I place drink orders for you?" the waiter asked.

"I'll have a white wine, something dry, please," Amelie said. "I like a dry wine." She giggled slightly as she said it. "And we're staying at the hotel tonight." She gave Ravi a side look as she said it, then hugged herself as if she was afraid of the response to what she said.

"Rum and coke," requested Ravi, then he looked at Amelie. "So are we," he told her. "We can all drink as much as we like."

"Merlot," said Ginny with a grin. She was probably only having one, though; her body couldn't handle much alcohol.

When the waiter said they didn't serve Pepsi, Jeremy ordered an ice tea without lemon. Then ordered a steak with garlic steak fries and the steamed vegetables.

TAG for orders

"Is it okay that we've ordered drinks?" Amelie asked, buttering one of the rolls the waiter brought over. "I mean, if you can't drink?"

"Oh, no," Jeremy said, laughing slightly, "it's regulation. No consumption of alcohol in uniform. And Staff Sergeant Arcadia was in a rush to get here so I didn't have a chance to pack anything else." He shrugged as if to say "whatcha gonna do" but in reality, it was a convenient excuse and saved him from having the typical "so you don't drink because..." conversations.

Meanwhile he gave Ravi a tap to the shin and tried to convey to him that he should be asking Amelie questions about her. Show that he was interested in learning about her.

"You have any pets, Ginny?" he asked, hoping the engineer would get the idea.

"Two cats and three angelfish," answered Ginny. "I'd love to have a dog or two as well, but they need so much attention and I'm not home much, so... cats and fish it is. Maybe I'll get a bearded dragon or a turtle or something."

"A turtle?" Jeremy asked, leaning toward her, leaning on the table. "Why not just get a large rock. But a lizard, that sounds interesting, but is it a good idea? Colorado seems awfully cold for a reptile."

Dinner continued with a small talk between Ginny and Jeremy, with occasional prodding by both to their friends to actually engage the other person at the table. After all, it was their idea to do the setup! If there were any real snags from dinner, it came with the bill. Ginny refused to allow Jeremy to pick up the tab, insisting that they should pay their own way. This rubbed against Jeremy's old fashioned values but, eventually, he had to give in to her wishes, especially since it came with the privilege of letting the boys walk the girls to their room.