Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Set just after New Years))

“I have a reservation for McCord,” She informed the hostess. “My guest isn’t here quite yet.” Shannon was early to this meeting. She had arrived early on purpose, mostly to get a feel for the place as a whole since she had been able to sell the dinner meeting as a review to a local restaurant blog. That ment at least some of the bill would be covered. The rest she kind of figured Alex would cover…. Maybe they could get it written off by the ‘office’ since she was hoping to discuss more of her plans with him.

“Oh yes, it is quite alright. When they arrive we will escort them right to you. This way please.” The hostess led the woman past the various low lit tables and booths before coming to a stop at one of the booths tucked away. “Here you go, a booth just like you requested. Enjoy your meal.”

Honestly, the hostess probably thought she was on a date since Shannon was in a nice dress and had dressed up but it was just because the establishment was relatively upscale. She didn’t want to stand out by being too frumpy, not that she ever dressed like that. She enjoyed the attention too much. Shannon glanced out her phone and once checked the time. Still a good five to ten minutes before their set meeting time.

“Both of course,” She smiled and waited until he settled himself before she got the general pleasantries out of the way. “How are you doing? Home life ok?” All perfectly acceptable conversation for close acquaintances, one could even refer to them as friends… it wouldn’t be all that accurate but close enough. The power dynamic between them really was too wide to really be ‘friends’. They were definitely friendly though. Shannon second the request for hot drink, hers was a hot mulled cider, a rather festive drink considering they were just past the holiday season and soon would be swinging into February's nonsense.

The only reason she liked February at all was that it became soooooo much easier to hit her energy quota. Men were such suckers for a ‘lonely’ woman. “I’ve made some adjustments to our business plans and would like to hear your take on them but I also wouldn’t turn down your opinion on the restaurant's food for my piece.” She smiled at him before checking out her own menu. A brow rose at the prices listed, “Good lord. We would make a killing if we sold food at this cost.” She had actually written up a proposal for a food truck as an energy and money making scheme as a small scale test but maybe focusing more on a restaurant or café was a better idea.

Shannon mostly just nodded at Alex’s response to her general ‘home life’ question. She honestly didn’t care all that much but it was a safe enough topic when waiters and civilians were walking past. “I wanted to get your opinion on passing up some of the more large-scale plans. I’ve made some adjustments after the last fiasco so I think resubmitting a few of them wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Her business that went up in flames really had gathered a surprising amount of energy for the short time it was open. Sadly it burned while she was still in the red for the cost of the whole operation but it wasn’t far off from being financially viable. “I still have some of the product that needs moving but I was wondering if they can be repurposed.”

All the remaining products from her little venture were still available and lately she had been playing around with the idea of maybe, just maybe, revamping the plan for a more MLM vibe. The CDs and books might be a write off but the bracelets and the draining crystals… Those might be useful. Somehow. The crystals could at least be reworked into her other plans, especially in the more transient ones where tracking their movements would be much harder. “As much as I detest the outcome,” And boy howdy did she detest it. Just the thought of it made her blood boil and the desire to put a fist in one of those white mooners’ faces got stronger. “I did learn a few things that I hope to implement in the next task.”

She took a sip of her cider, their drinks had just been delivered, and took a deep breath. Anger would do her no good when facing her General, even if he was just a civilian right now. The comment about picking up the bill greatly reduced her rage at her failure. Having others cover her bills always made her happy. Free was such a nice word. “How about one of the fish dishes for me this time. Something other than lobster,” Shannon smiled over at her companion. Teasing him for his fish dish the last time they were out having dinner for her review work. She was about to say something else when a shadow caught her eye. “Is that a hickey? Oh, my, god! Alex has a hickey!” A wide grin wiped any remaining anger or sadness right off her face as the amusement of the very thought of Alex, General, ********, Benitoite, Evans, had the marks from someone sucking on his neck like a lamprey. It was glorious! She was absolutely ecstatic over this little turn of events. “Does this mean you're getting laid? Do tell! Who is he? I must know,” Her chin fell into her hand as she leaned over the table, practically chuckling at the thought of Alex getting some nookie. “The dry spell has finally passed, hallelujah.”

“Of course, of course,” She practically waved off his concern with regards to her record keeping. She might not be the most diligent officer but she did actually keep up with her work. Most of the time. The inventory from her failed scheme was one of those documents. Most of it was stored in one of the unused offices in the castle, an office she was kind of hoping to use once she could get those boxes out of there. Although if she was offered a different place Shannon wouldn’t turn it down. “I just figure it would be interesting to see what kind of quality they will have on their fish in the dead of winter.” The woman knew that it was likely frozen since she couldn’t imagine any fish being really fresh in January unless it was coming from far away. And as such…. Frozen solid.

“But enough talk about food,” Shannon was much more interested in Alex’s love life. She just grinned as the man spilled the tea. “Oh, I don’t know Alex. Sometimes having an ‘attached dalliance’ can be fun.” She gave an exaggerated eyebrow waggle. All her lovers were either ones that knew the score or were one-night stands. She didn’t do relationships. “Besides, when they get too clingy they are useful for other things you know.” She had hit a few of her quotas that way. “I’ve found that repeated humiliation,” she held up a finger and then let it fall to imitate what she meant, “works wonders in breaking a man’s spirit. They don’t really come around much after that.” She just had to drain them enough to make things not work right, or send them to sleep and when they get up it's as simple as telling them that they couldn’t get it up… or just knocked right off to dreamland. Add in some ‘it was quite disappointing’ and other types of talk, and before long they weren’t calling anymore.

The pushy ones were those that ended up in the hospital… if they were lucky.

Shannon wanted to laugh, she wanted to crack jokes about knowing exactly what Alex wanted his lover for, but she held back for a myriad of reasons. Primarily the fact that the man sitting across from her would be footing the bill for dinner… also she suspected if she messed with him too much he would find some way of making her life a living hell for a while. So she kept the s**t eating grin off her face and kept the crass jokes to herself, instead making understanding noises. Even if she didn’t really understand. Relationships were like tissues for her, once they were no longer useful they got tossed. Shannon was doing her ‘best’ to get why Alex was rather unhappy with the current situation but was coming up empty. Lucky for her the waiter came back before she had to actually say anything.

Their order was taken and her reprieve had passed. Luckily she had taken that chance to come up with a non-baudy response, “Sorry boss-man. It sounds like you want something along the lines of a Friends with Benefits but those do have a tendency to be infected with ‘feelings’ so… damned if you are, damned if you aren't.” Shannon shrugged and tried to look sympathetic. “If you ever just want to hit the clubs and get smashed I’ll be happy to tag along.” She paused and thought for a moment, “If you want, I can put out a request to see if anyone knows someone who bats for your team that just wants ‘no strings attached.” She didn’t really think that anyone in her little black book would be able to help much but it never hurt to ask, besides… there were a few she hadn’t talked to in a while. It might be worth it just to see if they were still worth keeping in the book.

Shannon happily sipped her cider and nodded, “I’ll be glad to act as your cupid.” She had to get a slight jab in there somehow. She didn’t get his issue but hey, ‘happy wife, happy life’ and all that. If Alex was happy she figured there would be less BS she would have to deal with. It would also be a massive card in her hand for when she wanted s**t. A real, ‘do you remember that time when I introduced you,’ kind of card. Really, it would be the perfect card for someone like Alex, who adored his family.

“So, on to different topics,” She changed the whole flow of the conversation and turned things back to work. She mostly stuck to her writing gigs but there were one or two lines about her ‘side work’. That was still fairly paper based since she couldn’t front the money for more active large scale jobs. Once the food arrived, her notebook came out and any conversation was geared towards reviewing the cuisine. Going to dinner with Alex really was quite beneficial.

She would have to get him to come out more often! If only because it eased the strain on her wallet a bit.