Ashley turns towards the gentleman next to her, but as she reaches for his proffered hand the barmaid heads over distracting her as the woman asks what she would like, "Yes I'm from Erie... oh, hold on umm... Kusari tea please", she says bashfully hoping they serve it here.
As the woman prepares the drink she asks in a thick Kusari accent, "What kind of Kusari dress is that? All my dressed full length kimonos or kabuki."
"Oh, um... its sort of... well you know how lots of Kusari got stuck in Bretonia when Gallia invaded? Well some of the families on Stokes were um... driven off by B.M.M. without being given transportation which was really unethical of them." "No surprise there", she mutters before continuing, "They kinda had to travel to the nearest inhabitable planet of Leeds as refugees in barely space-worthy shuttles. Some of them have now opened up shops and buisinesses in the area, and I picked this up from the mall. They have proper Kusari outfits, but they also do some of these um... I guess you could call them 'party dresses'. They're popular with the Bretonian youth right now, and I thought this one was really pretty. I liked the material and patterns and I think the colours go well with my flight suit."
While she was talking with Midori, his Grace Skarsi had walked over and spoken to the man whom Ashley had completely forgotten about when the conversation turned to dresses, "Now Harold, you are scaring her a bit. Ashley is a pilot for the IMG." He points at the IMG insignia on Ashley's suit neck. "Miss Ashley...." Skarsi makes the sign of Eris. "How have you been?. It has been a while since we met in Baffin."
Ashley snaps out of her fashion talk and bashfully returns another small bow tongue-tied as his Grace turns back to the man next to her, "Miss Ashley and myself met by chance when I was patrolling Baffin before the whole scuffle in 74. Ashley was passing through, and quizzed me about the TAZ."
After his Grace orders more drinks for his table he says, "Your attire is very aesthetically pleasing, Miss Ashley."
He turns to the man sitting next to her and chuckles saying, "Harold, close your mouth. Its not polite to stare, and your fish impression could be better."
The man seems annoyed at the insinuation and replies to his Grace, "Just offering my greetings, that's all, my Discordian friend. I may be leader of the Raiders but that doesn't mean I plan on beddin' every pretty young woman I lay eyes on. And I was more mouth-agape at you for putting yourself in between me and my one-sided handshake."
Seeing the man's expression, and being a somewhat pacifistic and open minded person she tries to defuse the tense atmosphere. Ashley works up the nerve to reply to the pope, "Oh um.. thank you, your Grace. Rin took me shopping when we came here to have a vacation at Mr. Garcia's place just over a week ago."
She wrings her hand nervously, "I've been mostly very well, your Grace. I have just got out of hospital though. I don't really remember clearly, but I'm told I was hit by a Corsair battleship's main gun at point blank range. I had to um... have surgery. I have a really, really big appreciation for doctors now as a result, and refugees from before so um.. I popped on down here with four thousand tons of pharmaceuticals as I had to come here anyway to verify a credit transfer to um..."
Ashley taps on her wrist bracelet and a hologram pops up of a recent bank transfer, "A doctor Doreen Nagger of Canaria Medical Center that I made when I was here on holiday a little over a week ago. Funds went out this evening."
Turning to the man next to her she offers her hand to shake without hesitation, despite his 'job', "My name is Ashley Valent. I'm a miner... um, well obviously."
She blushes at the silliness of her statement given the man already knows her employer. She winces very, very slightly at the grip of the man's handshake, and Ashley once more laments being born on a low gravity world, as everyone seems so much more resilient and stronger than her. Working up her nerve she jokingly adds with a cheeky grin, "Any chance I can avoid making a donation when I leave for once, tomorrow?"
The tensions seems to drain from the atmosphere, and his Grace offers the man a drink in the typical way men seem to defuse and apologise in these situations. She takes a sip of her tea and its a good sixty seconds before the words 'pretty young woman' sink in.