Side RP: Lunch

Day 2, before the beach thread

After waking up in the morning, Alex messaged Julia to ask her to meet under better circumstances than they had met the previous night. The two agree to meet for lunch for an hour before Julia has to go on duty.
As Julia knows the planet better than Alex does, she suggests a small cafe on the side of town away from the beach.

Alex arrives there at the specified time, feeling a bit hungover but in a much better condition for important conversation than she had been last night. There are three people at the cafe, not counting Alex and the staff, two of them wearing spacefleet uniforms, the third just casual clothes. Alex already has time to order something before Julia arrives a few minutes late, wearing a gold spacefleet uniform with the collar marking of an ensign

Alex notices that Julia's posture is just a little bit stiff as she sits down at Alex' table. "How's the head?", she asks with a grin.

"I know. Funny how the universe works sometimes. When I saw you, I was sure you were here because of me." Julia waves at a server who just nods and goes inside. "I listened to your message last night. I feel terrible about missing it when it arrived. Are you okay?"

"There's nothing to tell. I graduated, big deal. So did you a few decades ago. I'm happy I got this job right after the academy. You know that I always wanted to go into terraforming. I thought I would have to wait years to actually get a TF position." She smiles for a moment, then says: "I havent been working yet today. I was with Maen. I'm not sure how much you know about Farredans but they are accustomed to zero gravity. He can't stay in 1g for extended periods of time so he brought an antigrav chamber that we are living in at the moment. You must have seen it. It's right at the entrance to the cottage village"

Julia hesitates for a brief moment, then she says: "We met eight months ago. I was still at the academy. He came in to talk to my professor about a project he was working on. Maen is not a terraformer by career but he has a deep passion for it - and especially for stellarforming like they performed here, on the star of Caspera. I was working on my final thesis and we spent a lot of time in the science lab together. It was his first time on Earth. I showed him around and we spent a lot of time together... After he returned to his ship we stayed in contact and... well, here we are."
The server arrives and brings Julia an herbal tea mix, the same thing she used to always drink when she was younger. She thanks the server and puts her hand around the cup as if to warm them, even though it is already very warm here.

"He's the captain of the Neptune", Julia replies, her voice filled with pride. "And it shouldn't mean much for my career, aside from the fact that he helped me get the position here. But from here on, I'm planning to make my own way up the career ladder. And yes, I love this planet. It's incredible what they made out of what used to be nothing more than a lifeless rock floating around a dying star."
Julia looks up at the sky for a few seconds before turning back to Alex. "You have been assigned to a new ship as well. The woman you were with yesterday, she's your commanding officer, right? She seems nice - not very strict."

"I just met her in an awkward moment, I guess. I would like to get a second impression of her.", Julia says.
Her expression turns a bit sad. "I know. We've been talking about that. I will spend my shore leave on the Neptune, he will spend his here but we will be apart a lot." Julia's face lights up as she remembers something else. "I told him that you're on the planet. He said he wants to meet you."

"That sounds great. I'll ask him about it. Send me the location and time and we'll be there. Just one more thing..."
Suddenly, Julia gets interrupted by an announcement over the speakers:
"Attention all guests of Caspera-13. There has been a security breach in the cottage village. If you are currently in the village, go into your cottage. If you are currently in town, go into the nearest building. This is just a safety precaution and there is no danger to anyone. Please stay inside and wait for further instructions."

"That has never happened before", Julia comments. "Should we go inside?"

Julia takes her tea mug and walks inside. The two of you sit down at another table. "It's just about his name. It might sound strange to you but you're a diplomat. You should understand different cultures and customs. When you meet him, he will most likely offer you to call him by his core name but until he does, you should call him Theliak. Anything else would be inappropriate."
She looks out the window and asks, half Alex and half herself: "What do you think how long this lockdown will last? I'm supposed to be at work in a bit over an hour."

"I haven't. Not in a long time. I'm going to tell him, though. I want him to be there for the wedding. I wish I could just run into him like I did with you. That makes it so much easier. But unless I somehow end up on Earth, that's unlikely."

Julia shifts uncomfortably in her chair, mirroring her mother's movements without realizing it. "I don't know. It's not that you're hard to talk to. Sometimes you are, when you don't listen to me and think you know better than me anyway. Sometimes it's just easier not to talk to you."
She takes a sip from her tea but puts it down as it is still too hot to drink. Her eyes are focused down on her mug as she plays with it with both hands and avoids looking directly at Alex. "And I guess I was worried you wouldn't approve. Not that you could stop me even if you tried. But I want you to approve."