Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Girl’s Lunch (TAG: Natasha)

Posted by Commander Daniel “DaVinci” Colter (Executive Officer) in Girl’s Lunch (TAG: Natasha)

Posted by Lieutenant Sheleah Ruby (Diplomatic Officer / CNS) in Girl’s Lunch (TAG: Natasha)
Posted by… suppressed (29) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Sheleah walked into the lounge, glanced around, and took a seat. Sighing, she was glad to have the time without Rex.

NE Waitstaff walked over, “Hi Counselor. Where’s your adorable plus one today?” he asked.

Sheleah tried not to frown, “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to tell Doctor Knight that you think she’s adorable.”

NE Waitstaff blushed and shook his head, “Iced tea with mint and lemon right?”

Sheleah nodded.

• Sheleah

“Hello Ruby,” Natasha said taking a seat at the table and looking at the waiter. “I will have a bowl of Borsch in a cup to go and a cup of coffee,” she said leaning back in the chair. Soup and Natasha went hand in hand. The CMO ate it at least once a day due to the fact she could carry it with her if she needed it. Being a doctor, illness and injury did not take lunch breaks. Having lunch always on the go meant she always got her lunch. “So how is today treating you.”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah sighed and settled in.

“Hectic and I’m glad for the bit of time away. I think I’m going to be working late into the evening. I have no idea why astrophysics is requesting another crew evaluation or what I’m going to do about Rex.”

She seemed to pause for a few seconds but was really just remembering his behavior over the last few days.

“Hey, can you do a checkup on an Ocelot?”

• Sheleah

“Sure what’s up with him,” Natasha asked. “Oh but full disclosure,” she took a sip of her coffee, “I am not a vet. Not much difference really for the most part but I just need to say that for the record,” she laughed. “People tend to freak out when I go from crew to pet. It’s kinda funny though.”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah laughed at that.

“Actually I think it would be creepy if it were the other way around so I’m not worried either way. I’m wondering if he’s going through puberty to tell you the truth. Maybe he needs his hormone levels checked or something. I should really ask Sam but he’s unreachable at the moment and, when it comes to Rex, he’s kind of prickly. I get the feeling he still isn’t happy I’ve taking Rex with me.”

Sheleah sighed and frowned.

“Just because I’m a counselor doesn’t mean I understand every male of the species even if I almost married that one.”

• Sheleah

“I have been with Dante longer than I haven’t and I still look at him and say ‘wait wait what’ when he does some things,” Natasha stated with a shrug. “I can also tell you that if it is the kitten phase there might not be much you can do. Most juveniles go through a destructive phase. Puppies chew everything, birds tear up things to make nests, kitten’s scratch your furniture and teens wreck your vehicles. Every species has a rite of passage but I can run a blood panel to see if there is anything else there. What is he doing exactly that has you concerned?”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah laughed at the mention of wrecking vehicles. She would have to tell Natasha the story about Tim’s motorcycle someday.

“He seems a little hyper, he doesn’t listen quite as much, his appetite is off the chart, and he’s getting destructive. Nothing unwarranted but he definitely needs more outlets for his energy. I swear, sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with him.”

The waiter returned with their orders, looked over the table, and left.

• Sheleah

“Sounds a lot like a teenager,” Nat laughed. “Bring him by tomorrow and I can run some tests. So what else is new with you,” she asked.

Natasha Knight CMO

Shall I wiped a bit of blue cheese from her Cobb salad off of the corner of her mouth and laughed.

“Well, I never actually realized he would be a teenager at some point. I guess I should have I mean All creatures grow right? I’m liking my job and in spite of not having a bit of companionship every now and then I’m pretty busy.”

• Sheleah

“This ship is a veritable love boat depending on how many drinks are being consumed in the lounge,” Nat laughed. “What are you looking for in a guy?”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah sent her drink down and laughed then she paused and thought for a few seconds. That was actually a very complicated question.

“Actually I think I’m just looking for something uncomplicated at the moment. I think the old term is good friend with good benefits? Yeah, Sam Rex’s father I guess you’d say, wanted something really traditional and that’s just not for me. I like a man who is a good friend and well more than a friend.”

• Sheleah

“So booty calls and no attachments?” Natasha’s tone was curious. “I am not a counselor but that never seems to work out past theory. One person always falls in deeper than the other and on any ship or station you are stuck running into that person.” She waited for Sheleah to confirm or deny this.

Natasha Knight CMO

Shalaya shook her head and motioned the waiter for some more tea.

“No, not exactly. So maybe I was expressing my immediate need, yeah I’m not too ashamed to admit it. What you and Dante have is something that takes a long time to build and maybe that’s my ultimate goal. You have to start somewhere right? I’d like a friend who will be more than a friend and maybe build to something that will end up like what the two of you have. Maybe I’m not making any sense right now. I just don’t want something really complicated. Sam was somebody who was very driven and wanted everything all at once. He also wanted something traditional. He was a very hard person to pin down but he know what he wanted. He was just terrible at explaining it. We had to part ways because I just couldn’t figure him out.”

• Shaleah

“Men are easy to figure out.” Natasha poked around her food for a long minute deep in thought. “Dante and I have been together longer than I lived with my parents even though we have only been officially married for six years. There was a lot of building and a huge amount of destruction at the start,” she let out a laugh. “Dante was hot and heavy with a red headed vixen named Ashley Madison. She was a science cadet. Brilliant, beautiful…boring as hell. Once I saw him I decided he needed something more exciting than the bland diet he was about to eat for the rest of his life so I broke them up.” Natasha showed zero remorse or guilt and her appetite did not seem to suffer as she began to recant her story.

“The woman was zero competition but the hardest part was after. Dante was hell bent on being a captain and nothing was going to stop him from that…even me so I had to adapt. Don’t get me wrong,” Natasha leaned back in her chair. “It was not like Dante gave me an ultimatum but I was smart enough to know so I took a position in the same quadrant as him on Outpost 42 and waited. I know what it is like to be with a highly driven person. So why did it fall apart for you?”

Natasha Knight CMO

Shalaya had to hand it to natasha, the woman knew what she wanted and went after it. That was definitely an admirable quality. Sheleigh wondered if she possessed it in the same manner for the same reasons.

“Put it simply, Sam wanted a traditional human marriage structure. I don’t have a problem with that but he wanted it too soon for me. There was almost no build up. I want to get to know a person and I would like that to be something that happens naturally. There was pretty much no fun involved in our relationship except for getting to know Rex and everything associated with that. All work and all work does not a relationship make. Bravo to you for being such a Machiavellian vixen in your own right.”

• Sheleah

“It served my purpose,” she laughed. “Since you are not looking for something serious that opens up your playing field widely. Any dark horses in the running?”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah thought about it for a few minutes. She had met several interesting people in her tenure on the Saracen, but nothing stood out for more than a few bright shining seconds.

“Well, I had Charles, one of the engineers, come set up a system like what you have in your quarters for Bruce. He seems a very nice man and very good at his job. Also, remember the incident way far back when DaVinci was talking about turning the ready room into a strip club? Yeah I kind of went there and showed him what that would look like if I were a pole dancer. Unfortunately I also ended up showing him my tattoo. He’s very… um… interesting, nice guy.”

• Sheleah

“Colter is more than interesting,” Natasha gave Sheleah a grin. “He is also single. You should ask him out. I mean you seemed to have made the first move by showing him your tattoo. By the way what is it and where?”

Natasha Knight CMO

”, Well, it’s a series of alien symbols very colorfully put right below my right butt cheek. I guess it stands for Life longevity and amazing things to come, I don’t quite remember their full meaning. It was given to me when I was 16 and I accompanied my father to some negotiations with a largely matriarchal society. Oh my mother was so upset with him. In the end she realized what a negotiating tactic it was and that I seemed very happy with the work they had done.”

Sheleah remember that meeting she had had with Coulter to show him up for his remarks in that particular staff meeting. What she had intended to be funny actually had turned out to be a very nice lunch. She had actually never thought of dating him, hadn’t even realized he was single.

• Sheleah

“Did you want the tattoo or was forced to,” Natasha looked at her confused. “What do you mean by negotiating tactic?”

Natasha Knight CMO

“Oh no, I like the tattoo and I agreed to it most wholeheartedly. It’s actually very pretty. They called it a bridge of spiritual understanding or something like that. My father would have never allowed me to do something that I didn’t completely understand and wasn’t comfortable with. He can be a little brash and clueless when it comes to teenage girls but he’s my daddy and he has my best interest at heart.”

Sheleah laughed a little bit and brought out a pad and looked through it to find a picture of the tattoo and question. Frowning she realized it wasn’t there.

• Sheleah

“Is there a problem,” Natasha asked seeing the look on the counselor’s face.

Nat Knight CMO

Sheleah shook her head and slid the pad across to Natasha finally finding what she was looking for.

“This is the tattoo in question. I know it looks like a lot of Lacey scales but it’s in the nature of their culture. They are slightly reptilian so you can understand how that affects their artwork. I don’t remember what all of the symbols mean, something about life, longevity, and good luck in all things concerning women. And, this is what I showed coulter.”

She showed Natasha to pictures. One was of the tattoo as it looked the day she got it and the other was the program she had made for Coulter of her on the stripper pole complete with exotic dance moves.

• Sheleah

“Wow, you are a woman of many talents. So I have a question,” Natasha let out a small laugh. “If you have shown Colter you on a stripper pole why aren’t you a hot and heavy couple?” The picture did not shock her as much as knowing Sheleah was questioning who to date on the ship. The XO was smart, sexy, and fun. So why was Sheleah not dating him? Was there more to Colter than even Nat knew.

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah I thought about it for a few seconds and then begin to laugh.

“I made the program and showed it to him as a joke because I thought what he said in that particular meeting was well I don’t know. I actually never asked about ,I was just looking to make him laugh or something. I am kind of terrible with guys to tell you the truth. I know, maybe that’s hard to believe but well, it’s just the way I am.”

• Sheleah

“Guys are simple,” Natasha took a sip of her coffee. “In a way they are like babies. Keep them fed. Keep it quiet meaning don’t try to blow them up like you are hanging with your girlfriends. Keep them…cuddled.” They were in a public space so Nat needed to mind her words some. “You should ask Colter to hang out. What is the worst that can happen? You have a meh time.”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah had to think for a minute, when was the last time she’d actually been cuddled. It had been too long perhaps.

“I honestly don’t think Coulter does meh time to tell you the truth. The thought just really never occurred to me because thoughts like that just don’t occur to me. I think I use Rex as a shield. A silly furry time consuming shield. He gives me lots of cuddles but not the type you’re meeting.”

• Sheleah

“So if you are avoiding relationships by using Rex why do you think you want one now,” Natasha asked. Sheleah was very complex. Maybe it was because she was a counselor and spent so much time fixing other people’s problems she didn’t have time for self care of herself. It was not too far of a stretch. Many times Nat walked around with a sniffle or a cough and never used the tricorder in her hand to self diagnose.

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah laughed and set her fork down it was definitely a question worth pondering but she had never done so.

“Wow, show up for lunch and jump straight into a therapy session. No, it’s okay, I understand what you’re saying. I don’t know, I never thought about it. It probably has to do with my childhood but, doesn’t everything? I think I’m lonely for the type of companionship, physical and emotional, that an adorable ocelot can’t offer.”

• Sheleah

OOC: Some eye candy for the ladies

IC: DaVinci stepped into the lounge wearing a white tank top, known as a “wife beater” in his time. Printed across the chest was “Property of US Army”. The grey sweat pants he was wearing had printing on them, as well Down the left leg, it read “U. of Wyoming Football”.

He had just come from a workout in the gym. A fine sheen of sweat gleamed from his gladiator-like arms and shoulders. The numerous scars only added to the impression of battle-readied fighter from the Roman Colosseum . The only thing that looked out of place was the Special Forces tattoo on his upper right arm.

Colter ordered bottle of Miller beer from his private stash. A stash he had confiscated from a warehouse on Earth when the Saracen traveled back to 2025. He downed half the bottle in one long draw, enjoying the ice cold flavor. After a few minutes of relaxing, he finished the bottle and turned to leave. Walking to the doo, he noticed Nat and Sheleah sitting at a nearby table chatting.

Sheleah had never doubted Coulter was a handsome man, but his showing up the way he did definitely confirmed it. There was something about the way he just seemed to own the room without even making an effort that was definitely captivating. Some type of magnetism she rarely had an opportunity to observed caught her attention.

“So you are looking to knock a little boots, shaking the sheets, engaging in the bedroom rodeo, finding the wand in the chamber of secrets,” Natasha teased Sheleah with terms that could be used in public but never demonstrated.

“Um, well, yes. Intimacy on every level is important to most creatures I’ve known. Physical intimacy is something I haven’t had in quite some time and I miss it.”

As he walked past them, he smiled, gave them a nod and politely said, “Ladies”. . . .

Colter (XO/CIO)

“Speaking of doing the old two-person push-ups…how are you doing Colter,” Natasha said not sure if he had heard her litany of naughty references. “Just getting back from the gym?”

Natasha Knight CMO

Sheleah tried to take her eyes off of Coulter. She actually wanted to use her way down through the plating of the deck. What was below 10 forward?

• Sheleah