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She was early, sort of, for her meeting with Alex and she used her free time in the best way she knew, in the hotel bar. In reality she had been hired to write a fluff piece about the bar and accompanying restaurant so she was using it as an excuse to have the meeting with Alex in a fancy hotel. Shannon spent her time at the bar, absently making notes in a small pad while sipping a glass of middling red wine. She had kept to herself but was more than aware of the few others also in the bar, either sitting at the barstools like she was or chatting around one of the few tables they had in the small bar. It was a classy place, subdued colors, rich looking fittings, everything polished and clean. And yet, it still had ‘that’ kind of clientele.

“How much,” The drunk slurred as he leered down at her, his glaze square on her chest that the LBD, little black dress, revealed.

“Go away,” she sighed, turning to face the bar and making it clear she wasn’t interested in the drunk, nor was she that kind of company. When he continued she glanced at him, and then casually pointed at one of the singular customers sitting at a back table, “Leave me alone before I get that cop over there to come here and arrest you for attempted solicitation.” It was all BS but it made the drunk leave a bit less gracefully then he arrived.

“Can’t say as I’ve seen that tactic work before,” The bartender said as he slid up. “Do you need a refill or anything Miss?”

“I’ve found that men like him have a few issues with the police so making them think there is one nearby makes them scatter like the roach they are.” Shannon smirked at the bartender before shaking her head, “I’m fine with my current drink but I would love to know what kind of white wines you have available.” She took the menu that was offered and mostly tuned him out when he started to explain. Shannon really just wanted to see if he knew his stuff… that and he was cute. Maybe worth getting his number for later.

Shannon was just chatting with the bartender, getting information for her article while flirting with him, when the stool next to her was occupied. “Hey boss,” she glanced over and smiled at the shorter man before adding, “because it's the best place to meet some of the nicest people,” she winked at the bartender as he rapidly fixed Alex his requested water. “Oh you know, kill two birds with one stone and all that.” She gave a slight shrug but grinned at her General, the other man knew her well enough that she wasn’t just going for two ‘birds’ that's for sure. Probably three, if not four depending on how the night goes.

“I hope to use your discerning taste to help me judge the restaurant’s wares.” Shannon nodded towards the hotel’s restaurant and continued when the bartender moved further away. “I also figured we needed to go over official business for things that's happened since the last time I was able to check in with you.” She met her quotas but a lot of her ‘free’ time was spent on trying to rebuild her life here in the city that she left behind to see the world. She really, really wanted to get some info from him, mostly how to progress with her position because it was one thing if she was the only one in her team that was a lieutenant but she hated seeing newer and younger officers progressing upwards like freaking vines while she stayed as a lowly LT. It was not fair and she was not going to stand for it. Not if it was something she could correct.

Besides, raising in rank meant that she could make and get minions of her own. That was always a good thing in her mind.

“Preferably at actual tables but if you really wanted too I bet we could persuade our lovely Spirits Master to let us partake here at his bar.” She smirked at the bartender even as she replied to Alex before sighing and nodding towards the restaurant. “I really do need to eat there. Assignment specifically states the restaurant. I'm adding the bar more for brownie points than anything else.” She was told to review the open-to-the-public side of the hotel like the restaurant and bar, more so the restaurant. “Besides bars are good spots to find company so it's always worth checking out the clientele.” She was careful to keep it vague and only stressed the word when the bartender was far enough away not to pick up the odd phrasing. In her case, most of her bar hopping was for energy draining, but she still enjoyed the male attention she got while she went about hunting.

Shannon scribbled something on a clean sheet of her note paper, tore it out, folded it, and placed it under her empty wine glass before slipping off her stool and sticking her arm out as if she was the one that would be escorting her boss into the restaurant and not the other way around that common courtesy dictates. “Oh yes, please do tell once we settle in. I completely missed that little exploration since I was out working another job.” At a spa, but she wasn’t going to volunteer that information. Ducking out of officer stuff for ‘work’, no matter how true it was, didn’t really look the best. Even more so when ‘work’ was experiencing and writing up a new local spa. Her day was more relaxing than it was work. Unlike what it seemed that Alex went through. She really, really wasn’t going to volunteer her location during that particular mission.

“Wait! What?” She froze at the idea that there was another BBEG running the show. She really had missed quite a lot. “Who?” When was it going to be her turn for that growth?!?!?!?

“Sorry bossman,” she wasn’t all that sorry but she did understand, “I’ll see what I can do but unless you or I pay for the meal we’ve got to eat in here. The magazine is footing the bill so I’ve got to at least follow the spirit of the contract.” Sadly Shannon wasn’t able to finagle them a tall table and even worse… They were in a booth. She hated booths. It was next to impossible to elegantly enter or exit a booth. There was no use for them at all, mostly. “Booths are really only fun when you're with a paramour.” She made a face at Alex, a mix of a smirk and a grimace. Acknowledging that he was going to be just as unhappy with their seating as she was, if not more, but noting that they did have their benefits. Just none that she would get to enjoy with her current ‘date’.

Shannon hummed as she absently looked over the menus that were presented to them. “Can’t say as I recognize the name, then again it's not like I’ve bounced around the departments either.” Like her General, Shannon tended to stick with her group. The few times she didn’t things went sideways. And forget about large scale things, only two really came to mind when the concept of large groups of officers came up. One was a mission overseas, the other was an exploration in the rift. There were others but those two were real standouts. “So does that mean anything will change for our group? Anything we will have to do to make the new highboss happy?” She hoped not. She really didn’t want to have to kiss someone’s butt when it could have been easily her.

They placed their orders, Shannon ordered some water as well as a fruity mixed drink. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll drink for the both of us.” She chuckled before shaking her head, “I’m just kidding. I only want to see how their mixed drinks are but other than the one glass of wine from earlier I think I’ve got a good feel for their selection.”

“Oh darling, if only you played for the other team I would happily teach you that any shadowy, secluded table can be useful.” Shannon just smiled at her boss and focused on the menu. He knew what she meant so providing any further detail would just be vulgar, there were times when that was useful but there was no need for that here. “Nope, no limits that way. I was given a budget so try to keep it under 200, anything else is coming out of my pocket.”

She had originally been told a smaller limit but had wrangled a higher one when she explained that taking an extra person allowed her to be more nondescript, try more things, and let her order some of their higher priced items which meant that the review would be more rounded. It would be more applicable to a wider range of readers. “But,” She did caution her companion, “it would be best if we each got something different. That way there is some range. Oh and save some room for dessert.” Their meal might end up over the budget but if she got to take home leftovers she would be ok with it, as long as it wasn’t too egregious. Besides, maybe she could get Alex to pony up the difference since he was a lot more flush with cash then she was.

Their waiter came back with the ordered drinks. Took their appetizer and meal orders and didn’t blink an eye when she pointed out another beverage that she wanted to get, just took the orders and stated that he would be back shortly with her additional drink. Unless she was mistaken it would be one that Alex would love, and she also wanted to mess with him some. A buzzed Alex might let slip some info that a sober Alex wouldn’t, like the best way to get a minion of her own or a way to skip a few steps in her own, sadly quite lacking, progression as an officer. “Have you ever known me to get drunk?” Buzzed sure, but knock-down drunk wasn’t something she did often. “And fine, one more bigwig to answer too. Oh goodie.” Her dry tone made it clear that there was little that could make her actually give a crap about the new head boss.

“You know, if they actually paid us I would be so much more inclined to be proactive.” Shannon shrugged but sat up straighter as she remembered something she really did want to talk to him about, one of the reasons she asked him out for this dinner. “Speaking of money… I’ve really got to talk to you about those schemes I passed you. I’ve found some good spots in the city to use but we both know I can’t bankroll squat and I have got to figure out how to make some small trinkets to leave behind.” She still had no clue, and honestly didn’t care, until she started to come up with her ideas on how energy sinks were crafted. Shannon wanted them now though… It would make energy gathering so much easier.

Shannon just smiled and shrugged, no point in answering Alex’s question since they both know that for her it was more about money and power then much else. Though being handsome and young really didn’t hurt. And she wouldn’t be caught dead with an octogenarian no matter how much money. Ten, maybe twenty years older is really her limit… though honestly with the way George Clooney looked at 61. Her rules could shift. “Together but I might be able to get them to cover a little extra as long as it’s not completely overboard.” The hotel was nice but not super fancy, it was upper middle business class, or at least that was the vibe she got from it so while it wasn’t going to be hard to go over 100, one person eating shouldn’t go over by that much. She hoped, if only for Alex’s wallet.

As tempting as it was to dig deep into her General’s credit card she kept it pretty limited, all things considered, when it came time for her to place her order. House carbonara and the side salad it came with. She wasn’t being ‘frugal’, not with Alex’s wallet on the line, but rather selecting something that was both simple and yet painfully hard to get perfect. It was something she picked up over the years that she had been reviewing various places. Pasta dishes were popular, and it was stupid easy to tell when it was batch made and sat under a heating lamp until it died. Side salads also had the same fate, kind of. One could tell if a restaurant wanted to be upscale by what their ‘comes with an entrée’ salads are like. Crappy bathrooms were also a very large red flag in her book.

With the waiter gone Shannon focused on the more ‘work’ related conversation. “But that's just it. If we do actually do the bigger scale plans we will have to deal with upper management. That means it's a much bigger headache.” And a bigger slice of the pie that was going into someone else’s pocket. “Still though. Might be worth passing on some of the more ambitious projects to them if only to get some good will going.” Bribery. It was down right bribery. That and it would mark them as someone who could think outside of the box, make large scale plans, and was someone who was looking to progress as an officer. “Truthfully I think some of the smaller plans would be best to start with for our team, and should be easy enough to bankroll with just minor funds, especially once the weather turns. But they really would need something more than just the active officer to act as a collector. The largest ‘small’ scale plan just needs the start-up costs like renting the space in a strip-mall.” Although that particular plan might be best to ‘naturally’ grow from a ‘at home’ kind of a business.

She fell silent when the waiter came back with the salad, asparagus, and her additional drink. With a grin Shannon slid the drink over towards her boss. “I think you might get a kick out of this.” A Coffee Brandy Alexander cocktail. She thought it was pretty fitting for Alex.

“Sure, my article thanks you.” Shannon agreed with the idea of ordering a stake as well since Alex was very right. It was another thing that was pretty popular but regularly screwed up. Nor was it cheap so she added, “my wallet thanks you as well.” She poked at the salad, it wasn’t impressive but it wasn’t just bagged lettuce plonked down on a plate. It had typical house salad add-ins like cherry tomatoes, cheese, and red onions. The former and the latter were fished out and put on the side. Neither were things she ate if she could avoid them. The vinaigrette dressing was added and she started to delicately eat the greens as Alex debated if he liked the drink she picked out or not. “Meeting at your house will work just fine. I figured it would be best to start small before possibly working our way into a bigger plan. The bigger it is the more we will have to lean on the organization for assistance.”

Going into too much depth here in a public place wasn’t something she was going to do. But getting Alex to agree to a sit down meeting to actually get at least one ball rolling was what she wanted. What she desired. “But for now… tell me. How is the asparagus?” When the waiter came back with their entrees she put in an order for a stake as well, letting Alex pick the ‘done’-ness, and got them to bring two extra plates at which point she dished up a little bit of her pasta on one of the spares and passed it over to her ‘official taste tester’, aka Alex. She took a bite off of her own plate and hummed before announcing her first take on it. “Ok. Not the worst, not Michelin starred either, not that I expected it. Pasta’s a little over done but not mush which is good.” She took another bite before writing down her first impressions on her little notepad. “Not mushy is a good start at least. What about you? How is your surf while we wait for the turf?” With the other part of her work squared away, at least as much as it could be, it was time to focus on the actual work she was getting paid for.

Shannon just smiled at her general and let him know that she would let him know her next non-work day. When one works primarily as a freelancer, with some steady work as well, then things become much harder to juggle when it comes to free time. Especially when you had bills to pay. With that at least settled as much as it would be at this moment she focused on the food and her notes, quickly writing down Alex’s observations before adding her own. Even noting the kissing comment because that would make a good ‘just one of the common folk' insert into the writing. A good way to connect with the reader and maybe make them chuckle. Stuff like that is how she got repeat business. “Yeah, not quite al dente. A shame but not a deal breaker,” she nodded and added while they were discussing her choice in entrée. She had her thoughts on the carbonara and shared them, as well as scribbling them down in her notepad.

“Oh most certainly!” She passed him one of the small extra plates the waiter had provided when she asked. It wasn’t every day she got to eat lobster, her budget wouldn’t allow it. Not unless someone else was paying for it. The waiter returned with the ordered stake and it was quickly shared. The night passed like that.

Food being shared, observations noted, little snarky comments interspersed. Overall a pleasant evening. The bill was indeed higher than her limit, not obnoxiously so but they still needed to use Alex’s card to pay the last bit off. Ah well… he had offered. With everything squared away and the evening wrapping up, Shannon made a promise to contact him later, wished him well, and headed out with her share of the leftovers. She had an article to write and it was best to at least get a rough draft out on paper, as they would say, before her first impressions faded.

Once again she silently wished that being an officer actually paid money. It would make things so much easier.