Shore Leave: Cottage 114

The Party

"Cassandra told me that you're Professor Vitan's daughter", Helena says. "But I won't hold it against you."
Lisa smiles when Alira confirms their friendship. She looks at the table and at Helena's drink "I would like something to drink. Um, whatever you are having."
Cassandra immediately walks over to he replicator. She turns her head back to the three of you and asks: "Do you want anything, Alira?"

Cass' cottage

The door buzzes again and after Cass opens it, Nic comes in.
He looks like he already had something to drink, not enough to get drunk, just a little headstart.
He walks up to Alex and looks her over for a bit, then slaps her on the shoulder and says: "I'm Nic, Cass' old friend from the academy, nice to meet you." Then, directed at both of you: "What are you two waiting for? We don't want to miss the whole party

Alex gives Nic a long, speculative look, a lopsided smirk on her face. "Oh yes, I’ve known a few of those..." she says in a low voice. She laughs, and adds, "We’ve been waiting on you, sunshine."

The Party

Cassandra hands you both your drinks. She herself is drinking a non-alcoholic fruit juice.
Her eyes keep glancing to the corner of the house where guests are supposed to arrive. "How are you feeling? Nervous about meeting your new shipmates and commander?", she asks.

Cass' cottage

"So nice of you to wait just for me", Nic replies to Alex. To Cass' comment he says: "Well, it looks like it all worked out, didn't it? I didnt get shot and I got out of that bar and out of talking to your engineer friend."
He says it with a grin but his tone is half serious when he mentions Moira.
"What are we waiting for now? Are you expecting any visitors, Alex?", he asks, already turning towards the doors

"You're a good officer, the best I could find. And I believe you will fit in well on the Potential. Cassano would be a fool if she refused you. And she's not", Cassandra says. She raises her glass to clink yours and Lisa's before taking a sip of her drink.

The three of you together leave Cass' cottage and after a bit of walking, reach the cottage that Darcy named in her invitation. You hear music from the backyard and there is a sign at the door to go around the house.

Helena takes the bottle. "Thanks, but Cass is the host tonight, not me. I'm just her moral support.", she laughs and hands the bottle to her sister who puts it on a small table with other bottles of various alcoholic beverages. She introduces herself to Alex and Nic and Cassandra Darcy asks everyone what they want to drink. You can all tell that she is stressing over this evening while Helena is completely relaxed and even amused over her sister's rather uncharacteristic stress.

He opens the door, dressed in not quite formal but still good civilian clothes. He has a bottle in his hand and looks ready to go. "Yes, I'm excited to meet the rest of the bridge crew. After all, I'll be working closely with all of you and I think this is an excellent opportunity to get to know all of them. As counsellor it's important to have a good relationship with your crewmembers. On my last ship, I had some problems with that because I didn't make the best first impression on the chief engineer. He said I talk too much, which I guess ome could consider a problem but I'm just a very open person. I don't think that's necessarily a problem, although of course some people might not enjoy it..."
He keeps talking while you're walking to Darcy's cottage.

Nic makes a stop at the table with the drink selection the Darcies provided and looks over the choices. As Cass talks to him, he picks up a bottle of Gornian Ale and pours himself a large glass. Without turning to look at her, he replies: "I don't think so, who is that? Is she coming to the party?" He puts the bottle back and turns to Cass. "If it's about what I think it is, I already have my eyes set on someone", he adds and subtly nods towards Alira.