An Interlude in Events

[Anna Scott]

20:30

Mess Hall
Meropis

The doors to the Mess Hall swung open, and one of the newer arrivals to Meropis entered. It wasn't often that Anna Scott frequented the Mess Hall, she was usually far too busy with her projects in her lab out on Pier 1 and usually picked up a sandwich to take with her, and certainly never hung around if the Mess was busy. Tonight thought it wasn't, and Anna strode in, dressed in her usual tight fitting civilian BDU's, picking up one of the remaining dishes from a hot cabinet, her nose wrinkling for a moment as she looked at it.

Taking a seat at an empty table with her food, Anna ate distractedly, her attention caught up in the datapad she was carrying. Streams of Ancient glyphs rolled across the screen, watched intently by Anna with the occasional tapping of the screen to alter the display in some way. Chewing distractedly, she shut off the device abruptly as someone blocked out the light, a brief look of irritation appearing for a split second before she gave the person a friendly smile.

"Hi, can I help you?"

<Open, preferably to military personnel>

[Dominic Evans]

2031
Mess Hall
Meropis

"Hi, can I help you?" Junior Scientist Anna Scott said, a hint of annoyance carrying on her voice as she looked up at Captain Dominic Evans. He'd finally found the lady, blonde, not bad looking, civilian - he thought somebody like that would stand out. Turns out Anna had a reputation for hiding in one of the lower reaches of one of the underground piers, working on all sorts of stuff the science department needed that was beyond Dom's skill level. He extended an awkward hand,
"Hi. My name's Captain Evans. You can call me Dom, short for Dominic." He rambled, instantly realizing he was doing so and desperately searching for something else to say. He hoped his British accent didn't make him seem even more awkward than he felt, "Chief says I'm supposed to make the effort to welcome some of the newer arrivals to the base, figured I check in on you once I found you. Mind if I sit?" He asked, gesturing toward the bench. Of course, he was fully prepared to walk away now that he'd both interrupted this woman's meal break and probably made her feel more than uncomfortable about the whole thing.

<tag Anna Scott>

[Anna Scott]

"It's nice to meet you Dom," she smiled charmingly, taking his hand and squeezing it warmly before gesturing to the seat opposite her, "please." She eyed the soldier speculatively, her gaze lingering on his physique for a moment as if she was assessing him for something, her formerly cold gaze now warm and welcoming.
"I'm Anna, but I guess you already know that," she laughed, "so now that you've found me what is it you want to talk to me about?" She asked, smiling coyly and twirling one of her blonde locks around a finger, crystal blue eyes fixed on his. "Or are your motives more personal? You wouldn't be the first guy here to ask me out on a date."
She grinned, her mind still going over the problem of parts that she had been attempting to solve, although she allowed herself to think a little of Dominic Evans. A Captain, strong, perhaps capable, he might suit her purposes but she would need to learn more first.

<tag: Dominic Evans>

[Catarina Caetano]

Catarina -or 'Navo', as she had often been called by her colleagues aboard the RAN ships she'd served on as a Navigation Officer- entered the mess hall. She had only just arrived -via the Gate-, and the Sun Tzu wasn't back from its patrol yet. The Australian officer looked through the huge windows as she collected some grub and saw the last bit of light coming from the sun just over the horizon. She'd been told that it was better than the SCRAN -Stuff Cooked by the Royal Australian Navy- that she was used to.

It wasn't until then that she looked around the room. There weren't too many people here. Then again, it was half past eight in the evening. Most people had already eaten by now, and the few that hadn't were either about here now, or wouldn't get off-duty until later. After a few seconds, she found a suitable table. It wasn't crowded, there only being two people there. As she walked up to the pair, she recognized the man's rank insignia as that of a Captain -the three stars were pretty much the same as they were in the Australian Army, all of which she had had learnt to distinguish fairly quickly at ADFA. The woman didn't carry any insignia other than the American flag indicating she was as the flag suggested, American. The Captain of course had the Union Flag. She herself had the white Ensign of the Royal Australian Navy.

"Hallo!" Catarina said when she was close enough. "You don't mind if I join you?" she then asked. "I'm Catarina. Caetano. From Australia" she then said a minute later by way of introducing herself to the others.

[Dominic Evans]

"It's nice to meet you Dom, please." The enchanting looking new recruit said before gesturing to a seat opposite her. The Captain gingerly took a chair in front of her.
"I'm Anna, but I guess you already know that, so now that you've found me what is it you want to talk to me about? Or are your motives more personal? You wouldn't be the first guy here to ask me out on a date." She said, grinning at him.
He admitted that she was captivating, and he couldn't take his eyes off her as she spoke. His mind suddenly set ablaze, now that his fling with Major Eastlyn was dying down, could he perhaps ask her on a date? More to the point, should he? It wouldn't be right to do that to somebody who was barely finding their feet around the place. Before he replied, his eyes scanned the room out of habit. He noticed a female officer from the Sun Tzu meandering their way, looking for a seat. He caught her eye by accident, too late, she was coming over to say hello...

"Anna, I'm sure you've had plenty of attention this week, I'm just here to make sure you're... Settling in okay," he said, pausing to make sure that last part was phrased just right.
"Hallo! You don't mind if I join you?" The Australian accented Sun Tzu officer asked uncertainly. She looked anxious, she was also clearly new around here but Evans didn't get the manifest for the ship, only the base team.
"Sure, why not. Take a seat, I'm guessing you're new too?" Evans asked.
"I'm Catarina. Caetano. From Australia." She replied.
"Awesome," Evans extended a hand as she slipped in next to him and opposite Anna, "I'm Captain Dominic Evans, SM-1. This is Anna Scott, she's also part of your current intake of new staff. And for both of you, welcome to Meropis," he said, gesturing in a mock-majestic fashion to the dreary mess hall around them. "Now I know you'll have both watched that Doctor Daniel Jackson orientation video but I've been here since the start and, well, if you've got any burning questions I can answer - even off the record ones - now's the time to ask..." He smiled at the women each in turn.

<tag Catarina Caetano Anna Scott>

[Anna Scott]

Anna had seen that look in the eyes of many men before and knew exactly what it meant. He was interested, very interested, appreciating her beauty as was only fitting. Perhaps she might be able to begin the work of wooing him to her side, she had already profiled a number of the military men and concluded that the Captain might be a likely candidate, conversing with him would give her an idea as to his competence. She did not want to go to a lot of trouble only to find him useless for what she intended.

"I am," she answered softly, giving him a warm smile, "it's very kind of you to be so thoughtful Dom." She leaned forward, crystal blue eyes glinting coyly, when suddenly a voice rudely intruded on their conversation. Hiding a flash of annoyance Anna turned her gaze on the new arrival, greeting her with a cooler smile and gesturing to a seat. "Of course," she told her, thinking of how she could turn this arrival to her advantage. Two was better than one, after all, and with her skills it would not be hard to hook both at the same time.

"Catarina," she nodded, "a nice name, as Dom said I'm Anna, with the Science Department," she told the woman, giving her an idea of what she did, for the moment at least. "What do you do?" Having to make conversation was one of the things that she enjoyed least, but it did let her gather information, and outwardly at least Anna was the picture of friendliness, smiling warmly at the woman as if genuinely interested before glancing back to Dom. She would lead with him then try to draw the other in.

"Well I'm not sure, I guess one question might be whether you're single?" She asked, obviously teasing him, trying to draw a blush from the other officer, inviting Catarina to share her joke with a sly grin.

[Catarina Caetano]

Catarina gently set the tray with her items -a light salad, a chocolate-chipped cookie for dessert, and a one litre bottle of carbonated water- down on the table. Then she pulled back the chair and sat down. "Yeah, I'm new. Though I'm not entirely part of people here." the Sub-Lieutenant said before turning to the other woman. "Thank you" she said, smiling. "It's Portuguese" she added.

"As for what I do... Once she gets back, I'll be the new Navigator for HM... I mean just Sun Tzu" She noted, almost making the mistake of using the RAN prefix of HMAS. This was her first assignment away from the RAN, and it would take some getting used to.

As Anna asked the Pommie Captain if he was single, Catarina just looked away, feeling a little awkward. Surely, that wasn't supposed to be the first thing one asked when first meeting someone one would be working with, right? Turning back after it had been answered, she spoke up. "What about sports, mate? Are there any organized groups, or even just a nice and quiet lake nearby I can swim in?" she asked. The Caetanos had always been into sports, and the oldest of the bunch had loved swimming since she was young.